Morgan's Choice by Greta van Der Rol Read Free Book Online Page B

burning she got herself onto her knees.
Panting, she rested a moment before the final surge. She hated
this. She hated this. On
her knees, helpless.
    The officer reached down, grasped her
shoulder in one hand and pulled her upright so fast her feet left
the ground. He let go and she swayed, regaining her balance. The
light winked on the gold sunburst on his shoulder.
    Well, well. Her heart beat steadied. Maybe
she wasn’t for the firing squad just yet.
    “Welcome back, Morgan Selwood.”
    She stared at him, straight into slit black
pupils in an amber field. She was supposed to look down, wasn’t
she? Well, fuck him. She wasn’t beaten yet.
    “You have not yet learnt manners, I see.”
    “Where I come from, meeting a man’s gaze
shows honest intent.”
    “You are not where you come from.”
    He struck her face. Her head whipped around.
She staggered sideways and stumbled to her knees, her cheek
stinging. She hadn’t even seen him raise his hand. He hauled her
effortlessly, one handed, to her feet again. He must be enormously
strong. His fingers must have left dents on her shoulder.
    “So. Let us start again.” That even, baritone
voice. He might as well have been at a cocktail party.
    No, she wasn’t where she came from. Wishing
she could rub her cheek, she bowed her head. “Admiral.”
    The word stuck in her craw. She fixed her
gaze on his rank insignia. Daryabod —Full Admiral. Second only to Daryaseban —Grand Admiral in the manesan fleet hierarchy. A
very, very powerful man. Another bastard admiral.
    “ Better. You have not been entirely honest
with us, Suri Selwood.”
Still with that cocktail party voice.
    “I told you no lies.”
    “You left out quite a lot. Such as your
ability to connect with our computer systems through the
sensors.”
    She met his gaze for a fraction of a moment
and looked away again. “Who told you that?”
    “Come now. Let us not be disingenuous. Your
colleague Jones was happy to tell us what he could.”
    “The sensors were off when I was brought
here.”
    “Yes. We did wonder why you seemed to stare
at them so intently, so often. But it was confirmed in the last
conversation between Sayvu and Jones before your escape attempt, so
we ensured that option was not available to you here.”
    “So she was in it? In this trap?”
    He turned, lithe and graceful and prowled
over to the chair, the light glinting off the ornate silver clasp
that held his hair. He sat, long legs thrust out before him,
crossed at the ankles.
    “ She was trapped herself, you might say.
There are always Bunyada cells on
large warships. Prasad had begun to suspect the young lieutenant.
We expected that Bunyada would be
most interested in your colleague in particular, because of his
round eyes. We offered the bait and she took it. Of course, we had
our own informer in the group and that individual eventually
managed to hide a listening device on Sayvu’s person.”
    “What will you do with Sayvu?”
    “She will be executed.” He tossed the remark
away, as if it didn’t really matter.
    “Jones?”
    “He has been most cooperative.” Ravindra
smiled, a curve of the lips that sent a shiver of fear down
Morgan’s spine. “Amazing what a little pain will achieve.”
    So not averse to torture. Why would she be
surprised?
    He sat up straight, placed his hands on his
thighs. “Jones is of no further use to me. I will send him to
Military Headquarters for further interrogation. But you… you have
talents I can use.”
    She stared at him until a quirk of his
eyebrows warned her to avert her eyes. “To do what? Is this
something to do with the Bunyada? Because I don’t know anything about them. Not a
thing.”
    “ The Bunyada is a canker which I would like to erase. But I have a much
more pressing problem. The Yogina ,
the aliens you were in company with when we found your
ship.”
    She sighed and shook her head. No, wrong. But
the head jerked back for no seemed so inadequate. “We weren’t in
company