Absolute Zero (The Shadow Wars Book 4) by S. A. Lusher Read Free Book Online Page B
Authors: S. A. Lusher
stretched away from them, likely running the length of the structure itself. There were several doors along either wall. Trent led the way again, rifle tucked up tight against his shoulder. He couldn't get the sound of that massive beating heart out of his head. Had he imagined it? It didn't seem likely; he wasn't really the imagination type.
There must be some explanation. He was hearing his own heart inside the suit or maybe it was some kind of malfunction or perhaps even just a natural background noise that the building, for some reason, produced.
Glancing at the signs posted above the doors, Trent managed to piece together that the hangar was to the left and several different rooms were along the right. They passed a storage room, a break room, a bathroom, a security center. They reached the end of the corridor without incident and passed through it into an open room of blue carpet, blue-tinted walls and a blue ceiling. A handful of couches occupied the area along two of the walls.
“Tram station,” Trevor said.
“At least we don't have to clear it,” Trent murmured, staring around. There was nowhere to hide.
Opposite of their current position was an identical door, presumably leading to an identical corridor. Corporations loved symmetry. To their left were a pair of doors, each one leading to the actual trams, Trent figured. They approached the pair of doors. Trevor got there first and hit the access button. Nothing happened.
“Fuck,” he muttered.
He knelt and pressed a few more keys, then sighed heavily and pulled out his kit.
“This is going to take a minute.”
As he finished his sentence, a rapid series of knocks, something hard against metal, filled the room. Everyone spun around, pointing their collective arsenal towards the origin of the sound: the closed door leading to the opposite corridor.
“Check it,” Sergio murmured.
Trent, Drake and Gideon broke away from the group. They crossed the room, keeping their weapons aimed at the door. Trent got there first. Drake and Gideon covered the door while he hit the access button. It slid open smoothly. Nothing waited for him. He stepped through, his rifle raised, finger inside the trigger guard.
Trent heard the others moving in sync with him, as precise as any military squadron, covering all the angles.
“There!” he shouted, spying a blur of dark movement about halfway down the corridor.
It had gone left, into the hangar. The trio hurried to the nearest door along the left-hand side. Trent opened it and they poured through, moving their weapons in tight arcs, covering different portions of the massive room they found themselves in.
“What do you have?” Sergio asked over the radio.
“Don't know. Something dark, roughly human sized, went into the hangar,” Trent replied.
As tense as he was with anticipation and a small amount of fear, Trent felt hopeful that he might finally see what had the corporate dogs so spooked. He scanned the hangar. It was immense, its far walls and ceiling lost to the shadows. A handful of jump ships and small cargo-haulers were scattered across the area, some of them in varying states of repair. Not what he had expected to find. If the situation was as bad as they painted it to be, then why weren't all these ships gone? Or at least the ones that could still fly.
Why hadn't everyone bugged out?
Maybe these were the ships that couldn't fly, but there were a lot of them. There must have been close to a dozen of them. There was no time to check and see anyway. This was a smaller mystery for later, if at all. Right now, they had bigger fish to fry.
“Anyone see anything?” Drake whispered.
“I've got nothing,” Gideon murmured back.
“No,” Trent said quietly.
They moved slowly through the hangar. There were any number of places to hide in the dim light. Behind piled crates, underneath or inside of ships, the shadows. Hell, even the vents. After another moment, Trent sighed, feeling the tension going out
There must be some explanation. He was hearing his own heart inside the suit or maybe it was some kind of malfunction or perhaps even just a natural background noise that the building, for some reason, produced.
Glancing at the signs posted above the doors, Trent managed to piece together that the hangar was to the left and several different rooms were along the right. They passed a storage room, a break room, a bathroom, a security center. They reached the end of the corridor without incident and passed through it into an open room of blue carpet, blue-tinted walls and a blue ceiling. A handful of couches occupied the area along two of the walls.
“Tram station,” Trevor said.
“At least we don't have to clear it,” Trent murmured, staring around. There was nowhere to hide.
Opposite of their current position was an identical door, presumably leading to an identical corridor. Corporations loved symmetry. To their left were a pair of doors, each one leading to the actual trams, Trent figured. They approached the pair of doors. Trevor got there first and hit the access button. Nothing happened.
“Fuck,” he muttered.
He knelt and pressed a few more keys, then sighed heavily and pulled out his kit.
“This is going to take a minute.”
As he finished his sentence, a rapid series of knocks, something hard against metal, filled the room. Everyone spun around, pointing their collective arsenal towards the origin of the sound: the closed door leading to the opposite corridor.
“Check it,” Sergio murmured.
Trent, Drake and Gideon broke away from the group. They crossed the room, keeping their weapons aimed at the door. Trent got there first. Drake and Gideon covered the door while he hit the access button. It slid open smoothly. Nothing waited for him. He stepped through, his rifle raised, finger inside the trigger guard.
Trent heard the others moving in sync with him, as precise as any military squadron, covering all the angles.
“There!” he shouted, spying a blur of dark movement about halfway down the corridor.
It had gone left, into the hangar. The trio hurried to the nearest door along the left-hand side. Trent opened it and they poured through, moving their weapons in tight arcs, covering different portions of the massive room they found themselves in.
“What do you have?” Sergio asked over the radio.
“Don't know. Something dark, roughly human sized, went into the hangar,” Trent replied.
As tense as he was with anticipation and a small amount of fear, Trent felt hopeful that he might finally see what had the corporate dogs so spooked. He scanned the hangar. It was immense, its far walls and ceiling lost to the shadows. A handful of jump ships and small cargo-haulers were scattered across the area, some of them in varying states of repair. Not what he had expected to find. If the situation was as bad as they painted it to be, then why weren't all these ships gone? Or at least the ones that could still fly.
Why hadn't everyone bugged out?
Maybe these were the ships that couldn't fly, but there were a lot of them. There must have been close to a dozen of them. There was no time to check and see anyway. This was a smaller mystery for later, if at all. Right now, they had bigger fish to fry.
“Anyone see anything?” Drake whispered.
“I've got nothing,” Gideon murmured back.
“No,” Trent said quietly.
They moved slowly through the hangar. There were any number of places to hide in the dim light. Behind piled crates, underneath or inside of ships, the shadows. Hell, even the vents. After another moment, Trent sighed, feeling the tension going out
Similar Books
28 Summers
Elin Hilderbrand
The Prison in Antares
Mike Resnick
The Icemark Chronicles: The Cry of the Icemark
Stuart Hill
Hyde
Tara Brown
Murder Mile
Tony Black
Nerve
Jeanne Ryan
JACK
Adrienne Wilder
Where Love Lies
Julie Cohen
