Paired Objective: Matched Desire, Book 2 Read Online Free Page B

hour’s worth of juice left by now, according to the gauge. Cam had a bad feeling there was something wrong, though, that the plane was seriously damaged. He’d done quick calculations in his head, marking out the most likely areas for landing within a short radius.
    Their UV-sabers were fully charged, meaning they could fight off Barks if necessary. Given it was barely eleven, that scenario was painfully likely.
    “So long as we don’t land in a nest of them,” Russ sent.
    “I don’t plan to take us down next to a City. I’m banking on the plane being able to recharge without us having to source parts.”
    That could be risky, but less so than plunking themselves down in the midst of a couple hundred aliens. Cam wished he knew the extent of the damage to the wing. The auxiliary battery was damaged, but the way the main one was running down, there was something wrong with that one as well.
    The dash beeped, warning of low energy. When they ran out, they could glide, depending on how strong the updrafts were. That wouldn’t take them very far, though. Maybe five or ten miles—and his maneuverability would be shot to hell.
    Cam brought up a map and studied it briefly. It was fundamentally flawed, of course, as all maps were post-Invasion. He chose to set down near what was once an interstate highway. Flanked by fields in the middle of nowhere, they stood very little chance of running into anyone—or anything—sentient. Livestock would have been devoured or carted away to live within the protection of walls, leaving aliens nothing more than wild animals to sustain themselves upon.
    Unless there were a rogue human settlement out here, they would be fairly isolated. With that knowledge in mind, Cam began a slow descent. No runway meant a risky landing, and he needed to scope out the land thoroughly while there was still power left.
    Russ monitored his side while Cam scoped the other. They cruised at fifty knots, eight hundred feet up, well above stalling speed but not too fast. Here and there, abandoned cars sat like boulders, but they were few and far between this far away from any civilization.
    When Cam found a decently clear stretch, he circled back, easing down. The plane’s tires hit concrete, bumping over potholes as he braked to a stop. One wing overhung the grassy highway median, but it wouldn’t be a problem to turn her around in the morning and take off again. There was a nice long stretch of highway behind them.
    Just as he was congratulating himself on a job well done, movement in the darkness snagged his attention. A slow-moving armored van came to a halt on the other side of the median, directly across from their wing. Cam cursed himself for not spotting them earlier.
    Next to him, Russ clicked off his seat belt and reached for the gun he kept holstered against his chest. The weapon wouldn’t do much against the Barks—they had an uncanny tendency to mold themselves around bullets, their jelly-like flesh absorbing much of the impact. Against humans, however…
    Cam glanced over his shoulder at Abby, who sat still and rigid in the darkness. He hadn’t heard her make a sound, which likely meant she was used to being woken abruptly. Her wide eyes were fixed upon the armored van, which still sported its company’s logo on the side. He’d initially estimated Abby’s age to be between late twenties to early thirties; now he mentally subtracted a few years.
    Drawing his own revolver, he turned his attention back to the van. Ironic that it had once been used for security—now it was almost certainly driven by bandits, who’d exploit the van’s bulletproof windows to rob fellow humans.
    Looked like they had a new target in their sights.
    “Oh, they’d better not,” Russ sent.
    But even with his genetically enhanced vision, Cam couldn’t see inside. Couldn’t get the measure of whoever owned the van. That was unnerving.
    “Out,” Cam ordered, sensing Russ was in full agreement with the idea. He