Black Hole Sun by David Macinnis Gill Read Free Book Online Page A

company?
    â€œâ€”not having to listen to those two idiots alone.”
    â€œNot exactly the answer you were hoping for,” Mimi says.
    â€œHush!” I say aloud, hissing, and then clap a hand over my mouth when I realize my mistake. Vienne draws away. Damn. “Sorry, I didn’t mean you! I was just…just thinking out loud.”
    â€œI’ll go.” She pushes back her chair and starts to rise.
    â€œNo!” I snag her by the wrist. “I mean, um, sorry I offended you. Didn’t mean to. It’s not that I wouldn’t like to—” You’re blowing it, Durango. “It’s just that.” Stop! “Think I’ll stay here and enjoy the sunshine.”
    The sky overhead is blanketed with clouds. No sun in sight. “Sunshine. Got it. Listen, if you want to be alone, just say so.” She tugs on her arm, and I realize that I’m still holding onto her, my fingers pressed against her wrist. Then I notice that I can feel her pulse, and it’s beating fast.
    â€œOne hundred and two beats per minute,” Mimi says. “Vienne’s baseline resting heart rate is forty-nine beats per minute.”
    â€œHush.” This time, I don’t say it aloud, but I do have sense enough to let go of her wrist. “Vienne, it’s not that. I—”
    â€œYou don’t have to lie to me, chief.”
    â€œI’m not—”
    â€œI’m not stupid. I know what you’re doing.” She slaps thecoin on the table. “How much longer are you going to starve yourself? You’ve not eaten a full meal in weeks.”
    â€œUntil I’m not hungry?” Whew, that was close. Relieved, I sigh loudly and rub my temple, which is sore. Since the AI implant surgery, it’s always sore.
    â€œHave it your way,” Vienne says with a hint of frustration. “But being chief doesn’t mean you’ve got to do everything yourself.”
    Not knowing how to answer that, I watch in silence as she climbs the stairs and enters Ares’s pub. I spin the coin again. What was I thinking, grabbing Vienne that way? You’re such an idiot, I tell myself, and when Mimi doesn’t pipe in, I can tell she agrees.
    I drag my chair over to the side of the building and lean back. Pull the cowling over my head and pretend to nap. It’s only a couple hours since dawn, but it’s been a long day already. That happens when your day starts off on a space elevator. A jump from atmosphere to surface. I still can’t believe I screwed up the courage to do it.
    â€œMe, either,” Mimi says.
    For once I ignore her. I’m too tired and too unsettled to bother arguing.
    I’m still visualizing the tube drop when I drift off to sleep, where like always, the nightmares are waiting for me. Images of wounded troopers, disfigured bodies, my own soldiers at my feet, dying.
    â€œRegulator,” a young voice calls from outside the dream.
    I awake panicked, my hands pawing the searing pain on my face. My skull is melting away, I’m sure of it, and I catch the indelible stench of digestive enzymes.
    â€œExcuse me, Regulator,” the young voice says again, and someone pushes my chair.
    â€œWhat in the f—,” I say, standing up with a raised fist. Then I notice a familiar aristocratic face staring up at me.
    â€œJean-Paul Bramimonde.” The boy reaches up, offering his hand. “I have a business proposition.”
    Like his sister, he cleans up well. The young jack looks entirely different in a plain gray jumpsuit. His hair is coiffed, too, slicked close to the scalp, and he’s had a manicure. “What’re you doing in the core city, kid? Looking to get snatched again? Because there are a hundred cutthroats who’d gladly do it.”
    My warning doesn’t even faze him. “I am here to hire you.” He opens a small purse full of coin. More than his mother paid me. “I want to train to be a