High Flyer - Michelle Diener Page 0,15

jumped straight up, and when she landed back down, he was sprawled over the rock, unconscious.

His feet and lower legs were still in the water, though, and the current was already moving his body from side to side.

He'd fall in if she left him like this.

She stood staring down at him for a moment, wrestling with herself, but in the end, on a sigh, she jumped down beside him and maneuvered him carefully over her shoulder.

She didn't have to go far--the riverbank was close, but it was steep and Lunn was heavy and a good head and shoulders taller than her. With a surge of effort she reached the top and dropped him to the ground.

The night was cool but not cold. And he would wake in two hours.

She gulped in air.

Even with her upgrade, she felt the strain. She ate an energy bar, wriggled her toes in her boots, and commiserated with herself about getting her socks wet again.

She shook out stiff shoulders, and then started back for Lancaster's camp and Iver.

Two down. Four to go.

Chapter 7

“Where's Nuness?” Lancaster asked as the guard pushed Iver into the Dynastra.

The old VSC fighting ships had a larger hold than his Sig, but they didn't maneuver as well. Some of them had been recommissioned after the war for more commercial purposes, but their blades made them an oddity, useful on Faldine only. This one still looked like the troop carrier it had been designed as, and he wondered who owned it.

“Nuness went to get Lunn.” The guard prodded Iver deeper into the hold, obviously meaning for him to sit on one of the benches in the back.

Instead, Iver did a slow turn, taking in the whole runner.

“Nice ride. Yours?” he asked Lancaster.

“Sit down and shut up, Iver.” Lancaster stood up. “Oniba, go out and kick Lunn and Nuness' asses, they should be back. We need to go.”

Iver sat down slowly, suddenly knowing why the two guards weren't back yet.

Hana.

Just the thought of her sent a thrill, a spike of emotion, through him, and he fought a shiver.

Oniba shared a quick glance with Lancaster before he disappeared out the door, and something in the look they exchanged made Iver wonder if they were lovers.

He leaned back against the wall and turned to Lancaster, waving his hand to encompass the runner. “Did you fly it here?”

Lancaster was bent over a screen, and from the irritation in his expression and the way his finger was jabbing, Iver guessed the connection was cutting in and out. The joys of using tech on Faldine.

Lancaster set the screen aside with a vicious thump. “Yes. I flew it here. The fewer people who know about this, the better.”

“I recognize Nuness and Oniba. They work for you? For me?” He hadn't seen Oniba together with Lancaster, though, and wondered if their association was new, or if Lancaster had purposely hidden it.

“They used to.” Lancaster shrugged. “They resigned from your employ a few months ago.”

“To work for you in another capacity, I take it?” Iver shifted on the hard bench.

“I get you want to work out what's going on here, Iver, but I don't have the time or the inclination to tell you. You trusted the wrong person, me, and now you and the VSC are screwed. Accept it and know that's just how it is.”

Iver lifted an eyebrow. “The VSC is screwed? That's a pretty big statement. How are you going to bring down the whole system?”

Lancaster lifted a shoulder. “Fine. The VSC's interests here are screwed. The rebels will rise again, and in the time it takes for the VSC to put them back in their place, some people who have offered me a good deal will take what they need from Faldine.”

“And by the time we sort it all out, they'll be gone?” Iver wondered again what was hidden between Touka and Permeo.

“Something like that.” Lancaster's smile was dry.

“What could the Caruso possibly offer you that's enough to stir up war?” Iver wondered, as he made a guess on who Lancaster was helping. “And where could you even spend what they've promised you? The two breakaway planets are VSC vassals now.”

“The Caruso--?” Lancaster shook his head in one quick, violent movement. “It doesn't--”

Oniba stepped inside, his pant legs wet up to the knees. “Nuness is down. I've sent Linnel and Killian out to look for Lunn.”

“Down, how?” Lancaster stood.

“Dart in his back.” Oniba glanced at Iver with suspicious eyes.

“You think Lunn did it?” Lancaster's question was sharp.

Oniba tipped