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

the only place she could hope to reach, but that hope was growing dangerously thin. Gonzalez, if he had made it, would be there. If not, the automated systems would recognise her. Everything she could possibly need to fix herself and stabilise Eloise’s condition would be there. She could almost feel the nano-painkillers coursing through her bloodstream, and the pillow under her head, and—

‘Fucking hell, girl, focus!’ she snapped as she felt herself nodding off.

She was approaching one of her hourly checkpoints, when she would stop the car and switch the engine off to listen for any sounds, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. The hum of the engine was soothing; the silence was scary. And if there was anything lurking in the shadows…

‘Chill, girl. You’re getting really paranoid now. It’s the sleep deprivation talking. There is nothing lurking in the shadows.’

For a moment, her heart thumped so hard she could hear it, but then she forced a few deep breaths in and out. Sleep deprivation or no sleep deprivation, she still had enough self-control to lower her paranoia-increased heart rate.

‘In another hour you’ll be happily knocked out with painkillers, and when you wake up there’s going to be coffee and food waiting. You can do it, girl.’

She sighed.

‘I don’t really have a choice,’ she added grimly.

Talking to herself had become the norm over the last few days. It wasn’t something she’d ever want anyone to know, but it did calm her down, so she didn’t try too hard to stop it.

‘Besides, I’m not talking to myself.’ She laughed humourlessly, giving Eloise a quick glance.

The Elite woman looked even more sick than she had a few minutes ago, and Ingram felt her resolve strengthen.

‘I will get you out of this, I promise!’

Even in the darkness gently broken by moonlight, Ingram could see just how hard the last three days had been on Eloise. Her healthy Elite appearance was gone, replaced by sunken cheeks and a haggard expression caused by heavy doses of nano-drugs, hardly any food and dirty water. She was completely covered in grime, along with some blood, and her once shiny platinum hair was a greasy grey mess. Hard to believe what three days of misadventuring in a rotten hellhole could do to someone.

‘Yeah, call it misadventure, and when Gonzalez kicks your ass for it, you might actually learn to call what you did by name.’

The nano-patch had held for nearly forty-eight hours, keeping the Elite woman just short of consciousness, but then Eloise had started to emerge from the coma-like state. And Ingram had to… improvise.

‘Dammit, I brought you this far, Elite. Don’t you dare quit on me now,’ she growled, and bit her lip hard.

Absent-mindedly, she nibbled on the bloody cut while her training reasserted itself yet again. She forced all unnecessary thoughts out of her mind. Priorities. Stay awake. Keep the car from tumbling into a ravine.

The pain in her cut lip felt oddly reassuring. Compared to the rest of her injuries, she could hardly feel it on a conscious level, but it did help sharpen her attention. For a few minutes it distracted her from the barely resistible temptation to pull over for a nap.

She feared she didn’t have long before the involuntary micro-sleeps would make her a danger on the narrow, crumbled roads. Or worse yet, the hallucinations. She had managed a few hours of sleep in the Underground City, but each time she had rested she hadn’t been able to protect Eloise. So she had cut the sleep to an absolute minimum, and then some more. Now her body was shutting down—she could feel it.

‘Stop whingeing, girl! We’ve gone longer without sleep before!’ Ingram shouted.

Eloise groaned like someone coming around and Ingram held her breath, cursing herself silently for raising her voice. She didn’t have it in her to deal with this again. Not now.

Luckily the Elite only rolled her head within the restraints and remained blissfully unconscious.

The perimeter wasn’t that far away. If only she could get within range of the BCC scanners…

CHAPTER 14

Roc de Chere

Lac d’Annecy

Afro-European Alliance

Friday 24 April 2725

DAY 5

Gonzalez rubbed his eyes wearily, just as the security system pinged loudly.

‘Ingram. Sergeant,’ the computer voice announced, and both men twitched, tiredness instantly forgotten.

They were sitting in front of various holo-screens, analysing what the Stealthy had recorded. It had been a couple of slow days, full of waiting and frustration. They now had three separate runs to compare and various algorithms in action combing the data for anything of relevance. It was mind-numbing.

‘Display!’ Gonzalez snapped, energy he didn’t know he had coursing through his bloodstream, and a new holo-screen blinked to life right in front of him.

Fuck yes, Rivas thought, watching CamN3 show the face he had thought he’d never see again.

The cams worked almost as well in daylight as they did in partial moonlight. In fact, light so faint it would barely allow the human eye to penetrate the darkness was enough to give a fairly good recorded or transmitted image. Just a tad grainy, perhaps, but still of remarkable quality.

The person in front of the cam looked like death, hunched and exhausted beyond belief, but their identity was unmistakable. It was also the confirmation they needed that Ingram was really there, not just her BCC.

Although neither of the men would have admitted it out loud, they had both considered it. The possibility was there that either Megan’s or Ingram’s BCC could be used to access Roc de Chere without the wearer’s consent. With appropriate tweaking, the BCC could be made to function as normal while the body was unconscious. Or worse, it could be removed from the body and artificially kept functional. Rivas couldn’t quite shake the image of a blood-covered BCC in someone else’s hands approaching the perimeter.

‘What—’ Rivas began, then cut himself off abruptly.

Before he could process his relief at seeing Ingram, or notice the glaring lack of Eloise Moretti nearby, his friend’s haggard figure turned around and started walking away.