Torrent (Cosmic Forces Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

earlier?” Her chest heaved with exertion and her battle to regain self-control. “Who is he to you?”
    He sat up. “Who are you?”
    Blue eyes with a cold fire stole her breath away, made her body react in ways that pissed her off. She clenched her hands into fists, pressed them into her thighs. She’d be damned if she was going to answer that question.
    “I asked you first.”
    He frowned, looked at the arm that was seeping blood, then reached into a green pack and took out a first aid kit.
    Who was he? Who traveled with a first aid kit?
    He worked on his arm as if she wasn’t there. The wound looked like a cut, not a bullet’s track. Had he been attacked with a knife?
    “What happened to you?”
    He didn’t even look up. He was ignoring her. She fought the urge to kick at his boots. Work boots. Steel toe, if she wasn’t mistaken. He probably wouldn’t feel her kick. In fact, it would probably break her toe in her lightweight, loose-soled shoes.
    Her foot itched with the urge to kick him. She shoved her toe into the concrete to quell the desire.
    Screw him if he wasn’t going to answer. She had to go.

Chapter Eight
    T orrent watched the hotheaded , dark-haired beauty storm off. Her hips swayed invitingly, and his eyes stayed on her ass far longer than they should have. She’d waited, not very patiently, for him to answer. When he’d avoided her gaze and declined to engage in conversation with her, he knew she was getting agitated from the way her foot tapped, then dug into the concrete.
    Less than thirty minutes later the sun was beginning its fall. He slipped out of his spot and through the hallways of the semi-abandoned building that the beauty and the package lived in. Luckily, he didn’t encounter a single soul.
    He didn’t want to have to explain himself to anyone, and he was sure a stranger would get second looks and would be remembered. By the time he made it down to the ground level and had crossed the street to the building where he’d set up to watch from when the road was dark, the power was out, the sun was gone. Light from the low-hanging moon didn’t make it over the high-rises, leaving the streets nearly pitch dark.
    Just before he entered the building where he’d set up his watching post, he heard the shuffling of many feet.
    Using his night vision, he made out the figures in the dark. He saw the little dark-haired spitfire leading them. A set of teens again. He couldn’t tell if it was the same ones from the other night or a different group, but they were definitely being led by the woman who lived in the building. The woman with the full lips, luscious hips, and flashing eyes.
    Torrent followed the curvy brunette as she made her way from one building to another, collecting a child at this one, two at the next one, then one more, then two again, making her way down the block, staying close to the buildings’ walls and out of the street. She was in dark clothing, as were the teenagers. She had a black backpack slung over one shoulder. The kids all had backpacks or satchels.
    Torrent felt a sense of pride at how organized they were and how she kept them all quiet. They moved with precision as if their very lives depended on their every step. Thinking of the privateers with their damned weapons and attitude, and of the Leaguers with their searchlights, Torrent realized that their lives did depend on it.
    He counted twenty kids as they made their way throughout the city blocks and buildings. He knew the searchlight was coming their way, but it wasn’t like he could warn them. The searchlight came from overhead. Torrent listened to the whine of the engine. It was a Siblatan A-91, a helicopter that was retired after the war. Evidently ‘retired’ didn’t mean that the Leaguers wouldn’t use it to keep the Texans from being out after dark.
    Sure enough, on schedule the light shone on the block, traveling up and down the street. The woman dropped into a recessed staircase, and twenty kids