Torrent (Cosmic Forces Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

shuffled in after her with unprecedented speed.
    He found he was holding his breath until the light had passed over the kids. And the woman. Especially her.
    They started back on their trip, single file, going forward, with Torrent on their tail.
    She stopped suddenly in front of a building that was more demolished than not, and held her hand up for the others to halt. After pushing a board out of the way to reveal a dark hole, she waited for all of them to enter. When they had, she pulled the board over the opening.
    He approached quietly, ears attentive to any noise that would signify danger—to him or them. Nothing. Crossing the street, he headed directly for the board she’d moved. He listened for anyone who might be nearby, then slowly pushed it aside. Peeking in the vertical opening, he could barely see the last kid as he made his way down a dark hallway littered with boards, bricks, and crumbled concrete.
    Pushing the board silently, he entered the hole, then closed it behind him completely, not leaving the hole she had. That gap concerned him.
    Further down, the teens were traveling single file down the narrow passageway. They were going into another room. And there was light in that room. Power?
    No. The light flickered. Candles, it would seem. Or torches. The amount of light indicated candles, not torches.
    Torrent followed them all the way in, then stayed behind a column, in a corner, completely hidden, invisible to her, the kids, and anyone who might be approaching.
    “Take out your notebooks,” she said. “Let’s start with algebra.”
    Well, hell. She was teaching. They were having a secret school. The Texans had decided they weren’t going to pass on an education and were sending their children to secret schools. And the curvy brunette with the soft voice lined with steel was their teacher.
    The League of States had declared that teaching school would be punished by death. Did she have any idea what she was risking?
    Of course she did; she’d snuck over here and had all of those set up precautions because she knew exactly what she was doing.
    Torrent found the seed of admiration he’d felt for her sprouting. He’d never met a woman like her.
    And now? Now it didn’t matter. CRBE’s contract prevented Cosmic Forces team members from having relationships. That’s what the Delta Lambda Forty Eight was for: to give the Cosmic Forces what they needed without having to become involved with relationships, marriages, children, complications.
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    T orrent watched the woman teaching the teenagers all the things he remembered learning in high school. Was she trained to be a teacher? Or had circumstance forced her to do this, the need to bring tokens in to support herself and her family? What kind of family did she have? Brothers? Sisters?
    Husband? There’d been no wedding band on her hand, so he was sure that wasn’t the case. And though he didn’t want to admit to it, he was relieved; happy, even. Then a thought he didn’t like occurred to him. What about a boyfriend? Did she have one of those? The thought of that saddened him. Even though he knew he could never have anything with her, the idea of her being with another man… that didn’t sit well with him.
    Swiping her hair behind her ear impatiently, the raven-haired beauty looked at her watch. “Time flies. Whoever said that was right. We’re late. Pack up. Time to go. We’ll need to hustle.”
    The students shoved papers and books into bags and backpacks without a murmur of protest. They worked quickly and efficiently, lining up, ready to go back into the darkness, having risked their very lives and their teacher’s life as well by coming out to learn.
    Torrent hustled out of his hiding place and the building with as much speed as he could while remaining silent. He stood behind a column, waiting for them to appear from the same hole they’d gone in.
    Moments later, after leaving the same way they’d come in, she pulled the board in front