Forever Until Tomorrow (War Eternal Book 5) Read Online Free

said. "No funny shit, or we kill you all."
    "Don't worry, Captain," the woman said. "There's nothing funny about any of this."
    At that moment, Ivers heard the boots on the floor behind them. He tried to shout a warning to his team, but it was already too late. Deafening gunfire echoed in the space as his team was gunned down from behind. He shifted his rifle, trying to pull the trigger. Trying to defend them.
    The woman was on him in a flash, grabbing the gun and forcing it up, her strength more than he expected. He shoved back against her in an effort to push her away, and she fell back a step and let go of the gun. Then she bounced back at him, grabbing his arm and throwing him to the side where he hit the wall. He managed to regain his balance and get a shot off, but it was harmlessly wide. The woman punched him in the gut before grabbing his arm and snapping it in half, forcing the rifle to the ground.
    Ivers gritted his teeth against the pain, reaching down with his good hand to grab his knife. She beat him to it, pulling it from his ankle and slicing his hand.  
    He lost his will to fight then, his hands dropping to his sides as he fell to his knees. He could see the rest of his team face down on the floor, dead. The two shooters from outside had joined the rest of their team, which meant Cohn and Olson were most likely dead, too.
    "Whatever you're doing, someone will stop you," he said.  
    She smiled. Again, it seemed awkward. "No one will even know we, or you, were ever here."
    She dropped the knife and returned to her work on the body.  
    A bullet to the head dropped Ivers a moment later.

4

    Major Katherine Asher breathed deeply, feeling the pull of her dress at her abs as she filled her lungs. For the hundredth time already, she questioned her sanity in picking something that was so fitted. Just because she worked her ass off to keep her mind and body conditioned didn't mean she had to wear clothes she couldn't breathe in, did it?
    "Too tight?" Michael asked. He was standing perpendicular to her in the small elevator, trying to deal with his own discomfort. Unlike Katherine, it was nothing he could alleviate by tugging.
    "I'll survive," she replied. "It's okay, Michael. There's nothing to be nervous about."
    "That's easy for you to say. I feel like a sausage in this thing, and you know I hate crowds."
    Katherine reached out and put her hand on Michael's arm. They had been friends for as long as either of them could remember, and she knew that was the only reason he had agreed to escort her to the Admiral's Ball.  
    "I appreciate that you're here," she said.
    "I could have been at home playing Xeno Troopers, or finishing that launch module that I'm already a week behind on. I could have been wearing jeans instead of this monkey suit." He paused, using his handkerchief to wipe some of the sweat from his face. "You're welcome. Don't get me wrong, as much as I love Xeno Troopers, I wouldn't miss the chance to see you get announced as a crewmember of the Dove for anything. How many people failed the training again?"
    "Over a thousand," she replied. One-thousand one-hundred forty-three, to be exact. She had beat out a crowded field of some very impressive soldiers to be here.  
    Then again, she had always believed she would.
    From the day on the playground when she and Michael had watched XENO-1 come down, from her time in service during the Xeno Wars, from her years of training as part of the secret program to put a starship based on the crashed alien craft back in space, she had always known it would happen.
    "I still can't believe you couldn't find a handsome Corporal or something to bring you," Michael said. "I'm not exactly gigolo material."
    "And I'm not exactly into gigolos," she replied, laughing.  
    It was true that Michael had only added to his already large frame as they had moved from childhood to adulthood. He was at least three hundred pounds, with a round body and a wide face, and they both knew he