High Flyer - Michelle Diener Page 0,78
with a SAL, Bret holding a long piece of pipe.
Bret jerked back and swung the pipe wildly as he caught sight of them.
Hana dropped, easily sliding into a crouch, and the pipe struck the wall above her head.
Iver stepped away from the wall, ready to hit him, when Hana rose up, arm coming out so fast he barely saw it move before she had the pipe in her grasp.
She yanked it, and Bret let it go, stumbling forward.
“You!” He narrowed his eyes. “Get out of here, Sugotti. The engine is mine.”
“We're getting out.” Iver kept his voice low, fury forcing him to breathe slowly, fight for control. “But what do you think you can do with it, Bret?”
“Sell the tech for big money to one of the Beyond planets, be that the Caruso or someone else, and use the money to set up another Haven, with the shielding tech to keep us safe.”
“Safe from what?” Hana asked.
“From the VSC and its interference.” Bret held out his hand for the pipe. “Get out of here, Sugotti, and be grateful I don't have the capacity to keep you a prisoner as well as fight Craven and Jake. I don't want to see you again.”
Hana did not hand the pipe over, she stared him down, and for a moment Bret stared back, flummoxed, before leaning forward and yanking it from her grasp.
He and Baxter tried to move past them, but Iver stepped in front of them, blocking the way.
“Iver.” Hana gave a tiny shake of her head.
Iver stared at Bret, then Baxter, the urge to strike holding him in its grip, but at last he forced himself to move and the two men edged around him and disappeared into the gloom of the passageway.
Hana took his arm and pulled him out into the sunlight. “The Dynastra next?” she asked.
He hesitated. They needed to know how badly the runner was damaged, but he'd prefer to get in the lander and just get out of here.
“If it's not too damaged, and Linnel doesn't get in my way, I could try to fly it out.” Hana jogged toward the wall.
“That would be a good solution to a lot of problems.” Iver didn't have high hopes, though. And he didn't want Hana anywhere near Linnel.
The runner lay at an angle, nose down in the water.
The back was propped up on the bank, and two of the air blades were dug into the turf.
“Well, that's not going anywhere.” Iver sounded strangely pleased.
“Not necessarily.” She glanced at him in surprise. “It doesn't actually look like its taken much structural damage. It's wedged into the river, but if they can push it off the bank into the water, and get it to float down to that wider section of the river, it might be able to take off.”
“How likely is that?” Iver moved ahead of her, keeping parallel with the path below them. She followed, her gaze on the runner.
“There's Jake.” Iver pointed and she saw him come around the side of the Dynastra with Lia on his heels.
Roj scrambled up the bank to the side of them, his face streaked with dirt, and then, much slower, Linnel clambered up behind him.
They conferred together, and then leaned back down the bank, to help what turned out to be Brynja and Tillis carrying a stretcher with another person on it.
They set the stretcher down, and then Jake made gestures toward the camp.
Brynja and Tillis jogged back toward it at a fast clip, and after a moment, Lia followed them.
Roj, Jake and Linnel stood around for a few more minutes, and then eventually Jake and Roj picked up the stretcher and walked to the camp as well, Linnel trailing behind them.
Hana moved as soon as they disappeared, running down the slope with Iver right behind her.
The engines were still ticking, cooling down, and Hana crouched beside them.
“Is that sand in there?” Iver spoke over her shoulder.
“Yes.” She rose up, with hands on her hips. “This isn't flying without some very careful cleaning.”
“How careful?”
She shook her head. “Very careful. I wouldn't fly it unless it was taken to a workshop, pulled apart, cleaned and put back together. The Sig has a better design. If they'd been flying one, they'd probably be okay, but this isn't a Sig . . .” She shrugged. The runners used on the VSC planets just didn't work on Faldine, and the solution engineers had come up with as a quick fix had been the Dynastra. They worked, but