High Flyer - Michelle Diener Page 0,13
ripples at his death, there would be tsunamis.
She assumed it would be a lot less trouble for Lancaster if Iver could have been found burned to a crisp in the Sig, but that chance had already pinched to the black and was long gone.
“You want to tell me why?” Iver asked.
“It's complicated.” Lancaster sounded genuinely regretful.
Remembering that's just what she'd said to Iver herself earlier that day, Hana's breath hitched.
Lancaster and Iver walked away and the man still standing in the river stared after them. Hana repressed a shiver, and not because of the cold water. Iver had better watch himself around that one.
Lancaster, too, if she was any judge.
He was not happy at being left like a flunky and ignored.
The man made his way angrily to the bank and scrambled up on his own. Linnel had either gone with Lancaster or wasn't prepared to help him.
They were a cohesive, friendly group, all right.
She waited, crouched low in the shallows, until she was convinced they'd moved back to where the runner had landed.
She didn't know if they planned to take Iver away or kill him right here. She couldn't let them do either.
She carefully moved upstream, keeping to the shallows and the dark edges, until she could climb the bank without any fear of being seen.
She was shivering by the time she found a large rock to hide behind. She rubbed herself down with a towel from her pack and changed into dry clothes, feeling immediately better. She ate an energy bar while she dressed to give herself the calories she needed after time in the freezing water, then she hid her pack and stood for a moment, eyes closed, centering herself.
The upgrade, as she called it, the thing that had somehow become part of her since she'd been shot down during the war, stirred inside her. Not at full strength, but the magnetic field was far enough below the ground here not to interfere too much.
These days, it was so much a part of her, she barely thought of it, but when she focused like this, it seemed to amp up her advantage.
She deliberately connected to it, wanting what it had to offer.
The warm, friendly exuberance of it flowed through her. Blowing out the breath she'd held in, she stepped out from the rock and embraced the night.
Hana crept a little closer to the fire burning next to Lancaster's runner, Iver finally in her sights.
“So, how are you going to kill me?” Iver leaned toward the fire as he spoke. He hadn't shaved in over a day, and the shadow on his jaw, illuminated by the dancing flames, gave him a harder, edgier look.
“That's a problem, to be sure.” Lancaster's voice was calm. “But whatever the method, I'm afraid it'll have to be soon.” He stood up, moving out of Hana's view. “Unfortunately, I can't retroactively burn you in the Sig. Whoever the VSC sends to investigate will see through that in seconds with the kind of equipment they'll have at their disposal, even with the magnetic field issues. I'll have to transport you back to where the Sig went down, have you make hard contact with a rock in the river and then let you float down a little way, making sure you drown.”
“Harsh.” Iver's tone was slightly amused.
“Shut the fuck up, Iver.” Lancaster's sudden venomous hiss made the guard beside Iver jerk a little in fear and surprise. “You don't know how much trouble this has been.”
Iver threw back his head and laughed, and Hana heard Lancaster swearing, and then the thud of boots as he stamped off.
She slid a little further to the side, managed to see the silhouette of what she guessed was Lancaster as he disappeared into the Dynastra.
That wouldn't do.
There was no way she and Iver would be safe unless they took the Dynastra and left everyone else behind.
She didn't want anyone's blood on her hands. She'd seen enough killing to last a lifetime, and she'd made a promise to herself when she resigned from the military that she wouldn't do it again.
If it was a choice between life or death for her or Iver then she'd break her vow, but first she would try to find another way.
Leaving them behind would work best.
The hostile guard from the river came into view, no longer in wet clothing. Hana guessed he had been in the Dynastra changing and had been sent back by Lancaster.
“We're all accounted for now except Lunn.” He spoke to the