Rising Tomorrow (Roc de Chere Book 1) by Mariana Morgan (essential reading txt) 📕

blast came back into the room, the rest spreading down the wide corridor, wreaking havoc and shredding bodies.

Under the cover of more clouds of dust, Palmeiro grabbed Eloise and shoved her across the floor into Gonzalez’s arms. He didn’t pause to check what happened next, his attention back on the gaping hole and the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. Sleeping-dart gun discarded, he grabbed his favourite laser with a steady grip.

Sergeant Atkins was by the door they had entered through, his own laser gun in his hand. The blast wave had sent him off his feet and into a wall, but he had been lucky to avoid any hurtling debris and his armour held. Back on his feet, he took the semi-conscious Eloise from Gonzalez’s arms, ready to head for the exit, but Gonzalez turned back.

Palmeiro’s laser gun was coughing steadily, the power pack fully loaded and capable of over a hundred shots. Whoever was lurking in the corridor was replying in kind but wasn’t trying to advance.

‘Aisha?’ Gonzalez skidded to halt in front of a crumpled body. She was covered by debris, but her armour looked undamaged and its med-panel was flashing green. He shoved a piece of the door aside and saw a rapidly growing patch of dark red blood, a large sliver of metal impaling her abdomen.

‘Go,’ she whispered. ‘Take Moretti and go…’ It was hard to stay conscious; everything was so cold.

Palmeiro’s steady firing rhythm faltered as he turned to look at Ingram. Only a few hours ago he had been fantasising about her naked body while she threatened to kick his ass. Now, that seemed like a lifetime ago. With murderous desire he was back facing the enemy, his laser discharging steadily. And then he was down too, half of his head gone.

‘Go!’ Ingram insisted.

There was no time for any words, any goodbyes, any ‘It was an honour serving with you’. There was only time for Gonzalez to lift his own gun and blow Ingram’s head off so they couldn’t take her alive.

But he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Without another glance at Ingram, he threw a nano-grenade into the corridor and ran out of the room. Catching up with Sergeant Atkins, he took Eloise out of his hands, allowing the other man to cover their retreat. He slung the feebly resisting and still dazed body over his shoulder.

‘Take care of my Andy…’ Ingram’s feeble voice reached him via his earpiece as they took the last bend, the exit in sight.

CHAPTER 47

Airspace

West Alps

Afro-European Alliance

Thursday 30 April 2725

DAY 11

Fresh air hitting Eloise’s lungs was enough for the woman to recover some semblance of consciousness. She wriggled off Gonzalez’s shoulder just before they crossed the fence. Her armour had suffered only cosmetic damage, and the Elite woman could stand on her own, partially supported by its framework, her medical needs—a mild swelling in the brain—taken care of by basic nanobots.

‘Down!’ Gonzalez ordered as movement in the trees caught his attention.

Both his and Sergeant Atkins’ lasers discharged at the same time. The traditional double-taps took the guards to the ground before they could fire back. They had clearly not been expecting anyone to make it out of the building and their own guns were negligently slung over their shoulders.

‘Where is Ingram? The others?’ Eloise burst out, turning around in panic.

‘Gone!’ Gonzalez spat, pulling her down the slope towards the Hippogryph. ‘Sarge, go! Get the Hippo ready for flight.’

‘Yessir!’

‘No!’ Eloise wailed. ‘Ingram is alive, I heard her! You left her! She is alive!’

‘I don’t have time to argue with you! Go!’ Gonzalez’s grip on her arm intensified into downright painful as his speed down the rocky slope increased, pulling her along.

‘We have to go back!’ Eloise tried to turn around, but the momentum and Gonzalez’s grip were unyielding.

‘I said I have no time!’ Gonzalez shouted. He had drugs with him that would knock Eloise out, but the desire to manhandle her physically to vent some of his anger was too strong. Part of him had died when he had to leave Ingram behind, and he didn’t need to be reminded of it. Especially not when he was focusing on getting the rest of them out alive.

It might have been his icy voice, or maybe focusing on the treacherous terrain was too much for the concussed Eloise, but she followed without further complaint, half slipping, half stumbling down the steep slope.

‘No hostiles in the air,’ Rivas reported as they boarded. ‘No sign of fixed defences being activated either.’

‘That’s odd,’ Sergeant Atkins replied from the cockpit. ‘Ready, sir?’

‘Go!’ Gonzalez ordered the moment his hand slammed the hatch shut, sealing them inside.

‘How could you!’ Eloise pulled at her armour, lifting off not only the visor but the whole helmet, and glared at him with pure venom. ‘She was alive!’

‘Do. Not.’ Gonzalez barely throttled his anger before facing the Elite woman. ‘Put your helmet back on, sit down and strap in. There is no telling how bumpy this is going to get.’ His knees bent instinctively as the Hippogryph lifted off faster than any civilian traffic control would ever allow, but Eloise nearly lost her balance.

‘What is going to happen to her?’ Eloise appeared not to have heard him, her mind completely side-tracked, working itself into agony, trying to process what she simply couldn’t comprehend.

‘I said, sit!’ Gonzalez grabbed her throat with one hand, the other supporting the back of her head.

Eloise looked at him, panic filling her huge round eyes. Her arms shot out to grab his wrists, but it was like wrestling with a rock. The tightness in her chest that she had experienced so often in the last few days was a familiar companion by that point, but the sheer terror that enveloped her now was definitely new. There was a rage in Gonzalez’s eyes she had never seen before.

‘I don’t know what is going to happen to her! She might bleed out and die or she might not! I don’t know! But I couldn’t have carried