Stranger King Read Online Free PDF Page B

only lighting was the sunshine beaming through darkly tinted windows. She frowned. Maybe she was already losing her night vision. Maybe Sam could give her an injection next week to help her retinas heal.
    She felt out of place as the wealthy mingled among them, asking about their adventures. Lena was glad for the confidentiality clause, as it allowed her to smile sweetly and say, “I really can’t talk about my work.” While this would have bored her, it seemed to appeal to the upper class, who could continue to dream about what those in the daylight would do. Not that they envied them, they just needed something else to gossip about.
    She saw Kozol looking bored in the corner while a potential client discussed a transaction with him. Kozol drank his champagne, barely listening until he caught Lena’s eye. She looked away and drank from her own glass.
    At the opposite end of the room, Calvin was looking strained under the obvious interest of a woman whose hand was resting on his arm as if she’d claimed him. Lena snorted and walked over, putting a deliberate smile on her face.
    “Calvin?” she asked sweetly. “I’m sorry, but I need to ask you something about the account for next week. I meant to last night but we were a little … occupied.”
    The woman blushed and removed her hand, “Well, I better let you go at it, I mean, get to work. Nice meeting you both.”
    Calvin mouthed, “Thank you.”
    Lena grinned, “You could just tell her you’re not interested.”
    “They think we’re just prizes to be won,” he grumbled, shaking his head. “‘No’ means ‘try harder’. We’re not like them, we’re not worthy of actually being treated as human beings; just something to use up and throw away.”
    Lena looked up at him in concern.
    He sighed, “I’m sorry. I appreciate your help. I do.”
    “Things didn’t go well this week?”
    “It was okay. Nothing as exciting as up north, I heard.”
    Lena smiled, “They had to break me in, I guess.”
    “You’re both okay?”
    She nodded. “Stiar’s healed up now and there’s barely a scratch on me. My injuries were almost entirely from tripping on the way back to the transport.”
    Calvin smiled. “And they say we’re the best of the best.”
    “They tend to exaggerate.”
    They turned their heads as the crowd grew suddenly quiet. The vid-screen on the other side of the room had come on, showing images of the facility in Haida Gwaii, text quickly scrolling on the bottom. This was interrupted as the audio tuned in, and Lena recognized the Prime Minister on the screen.
    “My fellow Canadians,” she said softly. “As of noon today, we have relinquished control of Haida Gwaii to the American government as a sign of peace and cooperation.”
    The crowd rumbled, quieting as she spoke again, “It has become clear to both our governments, due to new information, that the Canadian government may be unable to fully protect itself in the coming days. Therefore, American military services will be deployed to unoccupied Canada as a way of protecting its friends to the north. We are still a free people. This is a peace mission. The Canadian military will assist its American counterpart in the weeks to come. As more information becomes available, it will be released to the public.”
    As the vid-screen cut to news footage of troops being deployed, their exo-suits gleaming as they stepped off their ships, Kozol signaled each of the crew to his side.
    “Staff meeting,” he hissed. “Now.”
    *
    “What the hell happened up north?” Kozol growled, slamming the door shut behind him.
    Stiar answered first, “We wrote everything in the report, Kozol. We were hired to run security, under the guise of collecting scientific data. We wrote up everything that we heard.”
    “I was asking Lena,” Kozol said, turning to her, “How much do you know?”
    “I heard the suspicions of a delusional man under severe distress from his wounds and radiation sickness,” Lena