Wraith (Debt Collector 10) Read Online Free PDF Page B

times, usually after a full payout. It should be trained by now.
    With a soft tone, it grants me access. A gentle puff of air brushes my face from the vent overpressure, bringing with it a wash of relief at seeing Miral already working. She’s bending over the micro-manipulator and peering through her telescoping goggles. Her full electric-white bunny suit makes her look three times her normal size, but her short legs and small white-bootied feet dangling below the stool show her true, petite size. She looks up, cocks her head, then puts down her micro-tools to shove up the goggles. They sit like mechanical horns on top of her head.
    “What are you doing, Alexa?” she scolds me. “You think I wear this for my health?” Her ink black eyes are not pleased. Probably because I’m shedding minute dust particles all over her ultra clean room.
    I cringe. “Sorry, M.” I glance back at the door, wondering if it’s too late to retreat.
    She heaves a sigh. “Well, you’ve contaminated it now. I’ll have to do a full purge. Might as well come in all the way.”
    She gestures me over while she pushes back her hood and pulls off her gloves. Miral’s petite east-Indian face is lost in the billowing fabric of her suit, and the bronzed skin of her hands is a vibrant contrast to the sterile-white. While I was growing up, my child-self couldn’t understand why she and my father never married—either to each other or to someone else. My mother died shortly after I was born, Miral had never married, and she and my father were both top-flight inventors. My adult-self understands it now: they were both married to Sterling’s secret inventions and the Lifetime cause. My father’s non-profit group advocated against debt collection through protests and politics, while Sterling fought it with new, innovative technology. It was an all-consuming, relentless war that left little room for anything else.
    “It’s good to see you back, Lexy,” Miral says more gently. It stabs a little, the nickname my father used, but I don’t protest. I’ve only seen her once since the funeral, and back then, I tried to put on my best face while I picked up the suit.
    “I’m afraid I’ve wrecked one of your toys.” I hold up the bag with the suit. It’s one of our secret projects that stays off the balance sheet.
    She takes it and peers in, then runs her gaze over me. “If it had malfunctioned, you wouldn’t be standing in my lab. What did you do, put it through the wash? I told you, no water.” She scowls at me, and it brightens my day.
    “Just a rough landing,” I say, while I hold back a grin. “Worked great in the field though.”
    She lifts it out of the bag, making a face for the shredded leg. The misty fabric is so light it billows in the small breeze of the clean room vents.
    “Can you fix it?” I ask. I don’t strictly need it for collecting, but it’s part of the total package. And I’m already looking forward to the next fix, once I get things sorted on the payout side.
    Miral slips her telescopic goggles down over her eyes and inspects the wreckage. “Of course I can fix it. Maybe not for a couple of days, though.”
    “A couple days is good,” I say, even though my heart sinks with her words. “Tomorrow’s better.”
    She snaps a look to me, then shoves the goggles up again. “In a hurry to jump off some more buildings, are you? Why can’t you have a normal sport? One that’s actually legal. And safe.” She’s tucking the suit in the bag, but her hard stare is all for me.
    I swallow. She’s never questioned it before. “It’s just… a hobby.”
    She squints at me. “A hobby.”
    “Recreation.” Heat’s building in my face. If she knew… well, the only person who hates debt collectors more than Miral is my father. Hated. Past tense.
    She locks me in a gaze that lasts for seconds. Finally, she looks away. “Tomorrow then.”
    My chest sags with relief.
    The door clicks behind me.
    Wyatt steps through the