Heart of Annihilation Read Online Free Page B

you following me?”
    A shiver stole across my nerves like there was voltage racing through them. My muscles tensed.
    “N-no. Of course n-not.” I shuddered out a breath. “Sir.”
    I blinked and found myself staring down the barrel of an Army issue, 9mm handgun. It looked as beefy as a 50 caliber machine gun under the circumstances. Justet’s finger hovered near the trigger.
    “Then what were you doing in my office?” His voice was sharp and loud enough to carry to the men behind him.
    “I wasn’t in your . . .” I let the lie die on my lips.
    A brief lilt of music echoed from the distant NCO club. A chatter of voices and smattering laughter rolled after the sound. Lieutenant Justet glanced behind him. Nothing said foul play quite like threatening a US Army soldier, on a US Army base, with a US Army-issued weapon. He hid the pistol in his belt, straightened his fatigues over it, and brushed casually at his sleeves.
    “Talk, Rose.”
    “Let me up first, sir.” I raised myself onto one elbow, expecting at least that much respect.
    Justet leaned over me, resting his forearm on his thigh. His weight forced my elbow to skid painfully out from under me.
    “Just answer the question,” Justet said.
    The voices from the direction of the NCO club increased in volume. Several of Justet’s men shifted uncomfortably. I was surprised that I recognized most of them. A couple stood too far in the shadows for me to identify.
    There were a couple of privates, including Private Luginbeel; an overweight staff sergeant from another company and, unfortunately, Sergeant Sanderford. Sanderford was a former drill sergeant, and there couldn’t be a worse person glaring down at me. He stood in a partial hunch, and I realized who I’d kneed back in the hall.
    “What the hell were you doing in the armory?” Sanderford tore the wad of papers from Justet’s garbage can out of my hands. I hadn’t realized I still had them. He smoothed them out, studied the words with a rapid flit of his eyes, and then tossed them on the ground. “Who sent you?”
    Sanderford grabbed for my lapel. Justet put an arm across his chest and heaved him back.
    I opened my mouth to reply that the commander sent me—yes, that’s right, the Hornet herself. For a moment I enjoyed the thought of her sharp face and razor tongue coming down on Justet. And Sanderford. And every last one of them.
    Or she’d just pat them on the head and give them a gold star.
    Lieutenant Justet ground my shoulder into the asphalt. I wheezed, grasping his boot with one hand.
    “What makes you think I didn’t have permission to be in there?” I barely got the words out.
    “Did you?”
    Our eyes locked. I pressed my lips together, breathing shallowly through my nose. The energy surging through my body was incredible.
    He ground his heel into the soft spot between my shoulder and chest. I groaned to keep from crying out and dug my fingers into the laces of his boot.
    “Get off,” I gasped, my teeth clenched.
    “Just tell me who sent you.”
    “Get off. Get off!” The energized tension spread throughout my body, threatening to tear me apart if Justet didn’t comply. I slammed my fist into his calf. The raw wound on my knuckle split my hand with pain. Justet grunted and then laughed.
    “Get off me!” I shouted.
    A metallic taste filled my mouth. Voltage-charged fire raced through my hand. I struck him again. A fierce electrical surge rushed from the open skin in my knuckle, into Justet’s scrawny leg.
    A flash of jagged blue light and a violent popping sound severed the air. The back of my hand smacked into the ground, driving agony through my knuckles.
    I barely noticed Justet’s foot releasing me from the ground or the long string of cuss words he was yelling. I rolled onto my side and stumbled to my feet, cradling my damaged hand.
    Justet groped for the gun tucked in his belt.
    My mind rode a maelstrom of conflicting emotions. I couldn’t decide what to do. Should I run?