Between Burning Worlds (System Divine #2) - Jessica Brody Page 0,158

a military hangar at the Queenstead spaceport. My security clearances are all still in effect, so I can get you to that hangar, but I suggest we leave at once. Dawn will be arriving soon, and it will be much easier to sneak you in while it’s still dark.”

Marcellus couldn’t see any reason to stay on this planet a second longer. “Then let’s go.”

* * *

Less than ten minutes later, they were all back inside the aerocab as it pushed out of the docking shelter and lifted easily into the air. In the darkness, the twinkling lights of the small house, then the street, and then the town receded behind them. They soared up and over a vast quilt of shadowy fields and rolling hills.

Everyone was silent. Marcellus hugged the canister with the inhibitor to his chest, as though he were afraid one dip of the aerocab might destroy this fragile hope he was holding on to.

One week.

The general would have his weapon in one week. It would take them five days to travel back to Laterre, which meant they’d have only two days to distribute the inhibitor into all eleven water treatment centers. And that was if nothing went wrong.

Sweat began to form beneath the collar of his uniform. He didn’t like their odds or their timeframe. But failure was out of the question. He could not allow the general to take control of the Third Estate. He could not allow him to turn them all into weapons. People like Gabriel and Chatine.

Chatine.

The thought of her made his chest ache. The thought of her turning into one of those men in the plastique cage, fighting to the death, made his heart fill with rage. And he still didn’t know where she was. He’d searched her location on his TéléCom a thousand times on the voyageur flight here, and each time, he’d received the same frustrating response.

“Location unknown.”

Marcellus hugged the canister tighter to his chest and gazed out the window at one of Albion’s many glowing moons. Wherever Chatine was, he would not allow her to be turned into a weapon. He would not let her down again.

Soon, Marcellus could see the Queenstead spaceport looming up ahead. Yesterday, the skies around the port had been dotted with aerocabs. But now, at this predawn hour, only the lights from the domed terminal building glittered in the darkness. The rest of the complex, which spread out for kilomètres around the terminal, was a shadowy puzzle of flat-roofed buildings, launching pads, and huge spacecraft hangars.

“Here we go,” Dr. Collins said as the aerocab descended and they approached the security entrance to the spaceport’s military wing, where Marcellus could see two guards stationed in front.

“Should we duck or something?” Gabriel asked.

“No,” said Dr. Collins sharply as he maneuvered the aerocab to a stop in front of the entrance. “It will only draw suspicion. Act like you belong.”

Marcellus sat up straighter, trying to wipe the pure and utter terror from his face. Dr. Collins opened the window, slipped his monoglass over his eye, and stared into a glowing control panel affixed to the side of the guard station.

Then, time slowed down.

The edges of Marcellus’s vision fuzzed.

Albion seemed to complete a full orbit around Sol 1 before the panel finally glowed green and, in a lilting accent, the guard said, “Welcome, Dr. Collins. Please proceed.”

Dr. Collins gave a tight, professional nod and proclaimed, “Sols save the Queen,” before pushing up the throttle and gliding the aerocab swiftly toward the shimmering hangar in the distance.

“Oh my Sols,” Cerise whispered once the window had resealed. “My heart is pounding so hard.”

“I know!” said Gabriel. “The guard glanced at me for a second, and I swore I was going to throw up.”

Cerise chuckled. “That probably would have given us away.”

Marcellus exhaled loudly and glanced over at Alouette. But instead of seeing a mirror of his own relief reflected in her eyes, he saw only apprehension. “Are you okay?”

She bit her lip and darted a nervous look at Dr. Collins. “I don’t know. I just …” She hesitated. “Did anyone else feel like that was, maybe, too easy?”

“There’s no such thing as too easy when you’re breaking into an enemy spaceport,” Cerise said.

“She’s right.” Gabriel flashed Alouette a wide grin. “Relax. Don’t overthink it. Dr. Collins said they didn’t suspect him of helping us, and it’s as simple as that. Right, mec?”

They all turned to the scientist for confirmation, and it was only then Marcellus noticed that Dr. Collins’s body