Phoenix Rising (Book Two of The Icarus Trilogy) by Kevin Kauffmann Read Free Book Online Page A

cared he would have been upset over having to pay for the damages, but Roberts knew better.  The angry man had fallen into his own misery.  The young Crow watched as Warner looked back up and shook his head.
    “Jenkins is dead.  Let’s just call it like that.  The new kid is someone else and hopefully they’ll trade him away so I don’t have to hear anymore of this bullshit.  If any one of you talks about him like he’s a fuckin’ saint one more time I’m just going to have to kill you,” he said before falling silent and looking at the ceiling.  It was quiet after that.  Warner had bared the hearts of all those who still held hope.  The despondent soldiers hadn’t even looked at Warner.  Roberts knew their names, but he never counted on a single one.  Corrigan, Haywick, Lewis and all the others like them practically slept through each match.  They had given up and it showed.
    Roberts let a few moments pass before he looked around the loading bay.  Carver had placed his helmet back on his head; Cortes was looking at the floor.  Feldman hadn’t moved since the tirade and Abrams was staring at her hands.  Roberts seemed to be the only one that wasn’t thinking about Warner’s words.  The only thing that had bothered him was his transparent addiction.  Christopher needed to be more careful.
    He looked down the opposite bench and realized that Templeton was sitting there without his helmet.  Roberts had never bothered to pay attention to the thin soldier; he was barely above the skill level of the three drones sitting at the end of the loading bay, but now something was different.  Roberts looked at Templeton and didn’t see a scared man.  The thin, black man was watching each of the soldiers very carefully.  It wasn’t the gaze of a curious man; it was the calm, analytical stare of someone taking mental notes. 
    The man was not what he seemed.
    -
    Roberts watched as Templeton dressed himself in fatigues.  Masked in glances and peering from his periphery Roberts had watched the man since that first realization.  The entire flight had been filled with anxious thoughts and conspiracy theories.  There had been no one to fill the silence after Warner’s rant; Norris, Jenkins and Goldstein had been killed during the game so there were no inappropriate stories of wartime or other stray comments.
    Roberts had avoided eye contact in the shower room.  He had not wanted the thin man to think he was interested in anything sordid; one could never tell on Eris.  There were not very many women on the asteroid and prior to the games many of the soldiers were convicts stuck in prison.  It was best not to give any real opportunities to potential suitors.  Luckily, the constant resurrections and the pain associated with them were enough to kill the soldiers’ sex drive, but Roberts did what he could to avoid any sort of interaction.
    As Templeton left the locker room Roberts tried to follow from a careful distance.  The boy soldier was somewhat afraid of what the other man might say.  It was a discomforting thought that only a few hours ago Roberts had just considered him an incompetent soldier.  And after the revelation that his addiction was common knowledge, Roberts realized he needed to be more careful in every aspect of his life.
    Following the soldier down the hallway, Roberts wondered what Templeton was actually doing among the Crows.  The slave soldier was just good enough not to get traded, but not good enough to warrant any unwanted attention; he was clearly undercover for something.  Roberts’ immediate theory was that he worked for the Commission.  The giant organization, a sub-committee of War World Entertainment which was responsible for the entire planet, was always trying to quash any revolts or any infractions before they had even began.  It wasn’t unheard of for them to plant soldiers in the games in order to keep an eye on their investments.  Things like Goldstein’s black