The Ghost Rebellion Read Online Free PDF Page B

of the terrible sight lines. As she smoothed down her trousers, Eliza checked by habit the location of her pistols under her jacket. Wellington had been gone some time, and that meant her mind conjured all sorts of things happening to him.
    Then a voice broke though, tearing her away from the horrific phantasmagoria. “Eliza?”
    At the sound of her name, she spun around, hand already reaching for her pistol, but then she stopped. Those who approached were practically on top of her, but thankfully they were friends. One of them at least, while the other looked strangely familiar.
    “ Now the Eliza D Braun I am familiar with,” began Agent Maulik Smith, his artificial vocal apparatus unable to remove the mirth in his tone, “would have never let me sneak up on her like this.”
    “ Long voyage,” she returned with a twist of her lips.
    “ A pleasant one, I hope.”
    She managed to keep her face still. “More like eventful.”
    “ Oh dear,” he said, “I am surprised the ship is intact.”
    Maulik looked the same as ever, his entire head encased within the large mask he was forced to wear. He never talked about the mission that sentenced him to a life within a walking respirator. Besides, it was not as if his abilities in the field were ever dampened by this disability. He was as formidable now as he had been the day she first met him—just in different ways.
    Things, however, had changed following the Diamond Jubilee. His battle with the Maestro had bought Wellington and Eliza precious time to escape with Queen Victoria, but had cost him his ability to walk. Before their departure, Eliza had seen her friend in a wheelchair, provided by the hospital. This one looked as if it had been provided by R&D.
    “ You mentioned returning home to India,” Eliza began, extending her hand to him.
    “ I did, but not quite as I would have imagined,” he chortled, bringing her hand up to where his lips would have been.
    “ Come again?”
    “ What Director Smith means,” said the young female protégée at his side, “is that retirement did not suit him in the least.”
    Eliza stared at Maulik. “ Director Smith?”
    “ Shortly after you and Wellington went off gallivanting across England and such,” he began, “Director Sound approached me with a proposition. He was rather dismayed about losing me, it seemed, so he asked me to take the reins here.”
    Eliza released a delighted laugh. “Then congratulations, Director Smith.”
    The masked agent shook his head. “No. Still not used to hearing that.”
    “ Do not let this modesty fool you,” said the Indian woman tending to him. “He rules with an iron fist.”
    Maulik turned his head to the agent and held up one of his hands. “I prefer leather-encased fist, thank you very much.”
    “ The work he has accomplished in these past few months has been a true credit to the Ministry,” she said, patting him on the shoulder. “Director Smith has been an inspiration to all of us here at the India office.”
    The dark-skinned girl, her features seemingly plucked out of a memory, continued to distract Eliza. What was it about this young lady?
    “ I take it you are an agent of the Ministry then?” Eliza brazenly asked.
    “ Oh, where are my manners?” Maulik said. He then motioned to the diminutive girl at his side. “May I introduce Field Agent Pujari? Your liaison for the length of your stay.”
    The name from the past almost knocked Eliza back a step.
    “ Pujari?” she asked, offering her hand to this new, yet familiar face. “I take it you are—”
    “ I am Vania. Ihita was my sister,” she replied, her grin somewhat tight.
    All of a sudden, Eliza did not know where to look. Ihita, one of her closest friends in the Ministry, had not been the first agent killed in the field, but her loss had hit Eliza particularly hard. Her death had been painful and completely unnecessary.
    “ She was a fine agent,” Eliza stated, her voice suddenly sounding frail even to