Accord of Mars (Accord Series Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

where we were, and the open link would help my side find us. I just had to hope they’d arrive in time.
    The extinguisher gave out. We were a good distance from the station now, but the gunman was still closing on us. His thruster suit was a lot better for flying around out here than my makeshift device. I saw him raise his rifle. There was a flash from his muzzle.
    Nothing. No hits. In a vacuum, I couldn’t see or hear where the bullets had gone. But he was changing magazines now. I started to hope we had time to get out of this.
    “Nick...” George’s voice sounded harsh, strained. I looked down just as his fingers loosened from my leg.
    I grabbed his hand before he slipped away. Blood was blooming in streamers of long bubbles from his chest. At least one round had hit him.
    “Damn it, Hawk! Where are you?” I shouted into the radio. I was going to lose George right here if he didn’t get to medical help fast.
    “Here,” came the reply.
    There was no warning. The thruster suit simply vaporized, turned into a smear by a burst of high velocity rounds. Something black and almost invisible against the dark of space slipped by at high speed.
    “Medical emergency here,” I said. George wasn’t going to last long enough for my ship to pick us up.
    “I gotcha.”
    The Hawk glided into view. My newest ship - a small, fast fighter. It was sleek, black, crafted from the best stealth materials we had. It barely reflected light, and was almost invisible to radar. It was braking hard. I winced, hoping that the pilot was good enough. Otherwise, we were about to become a smear on her windshield.
    She was. The fighter slid up alongside us without so much as a nudge. I nodded in grudging respect. I’d given this program to the best pilot, all right.
    “Now what?” I asked. I was pretty sure she already had something in mind.
    The canopy cracked open, venting some air into space. Inside, the pilot was in a suit of her own. She slid out of her seat, hooking one leg onto her console, and reached out of the ship toward me.
    I grabbed her hand.
    With a yank, she tugged us both down toward her ship. There was a copilot seat behind hers that was empty. I slid down into the seat and pulled George onto my lap. Above us, the canopy was already closing again.
    “Where to, boss?” Keladry asked.
    “Station. Max thrust.” I couldn’t tell if George was still breathing or not. We didn’t have time to get him groundside. We’d need to stabilize him here in space.
    “We’re risking giving away the Hawk,” she warned. But she was already firing up her thrusters. Acceleration grabbed hold of us as the ship shot toward the station at a speed that would be reckless for just about any other pilot.
    “It’s George,” I said. We’d have to take the chance. The fighter program was absolutely secret. Not even George was aware the damned fighters had been built. Thomas didn’t know. It was as need-to-know as my original armed ships had been. Because it was my ace against Earth, if they attacked sooner than we thought they would.
    It was starting to look like that was a real possibility.
    “Just get us in there,” I said. “Then get out as soon as you can.”
    It would have to be enough. George was too important to the future of Mars. If I had to give away my ace to save him, so be it.

Chapter 6
Thomas Stein
    W ord about the attack on Mars Station reached me about the same time I arrived in Earth’s orbit. I wasn’t sure which emotion hit me harder - worry for my father, or a strong desire to strangle the man.
    He’d done it again. He must have known that the attack was coming, and he’d shipped me out just in time to avoid it. But of course he had stayed behind to deal with the threat. It was infuriating. Would he ever take me seriously enough to believe that I could handle myself in a crisis? I had a feeling that he was always going to try to get me out of harm’s way, no matter the cost. If I’d been there, maybe I could