Sunset in Silvana (Da'ark Nocturne Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

had a sudden flash of memory: he was standing beside such a cannon, dressed in armour and carrying an advanced combat rifle.  He tried to hold on to the vision, but it shredded to tatters as his heart began to race.  Better not to think on the past, he decided.
    As the day wore on, he found himself recognising more and more military components among those he was servicing.  He kept his suspicions to himself, however, until Ivan came over with a puzzled expression and said, “This panel I’m flattening out is too heavy for a tractor – it’s some kind of armour.  I wonder what’s going on.”
    “I don’t know,” Boris replied, “but some of these parts are definitely not for agricultural equipment – unless they’re building cultivators with mounts for surface-to-air missiles nowadays.”
    “Should we talk to Major Valentine?”
    “Oh, he must know – and he must realise we’ll work out that these parts are military.  The foreman told me that he wants to address us all at the end of the shift.  Let’s wait and see what he has to say.”
    Ivan nodded his agreement.
    “Anyway, at least we’ll have something interesting to tell the others this evening.”
    “Too right.”  Ivan returned to his task.
    -------------------------------------------
    It should have been Anoushka’s turn to cook that night, but since she was still indisposed, the duty fell to Boris.  Ivan wasn’t around – the usual situation when there were chores to be done – so Talia volunteered to help him prepare the vegetables.
    “How was your day?” she asked as she peeled a potato.
    “Different,” he replied, and she looked up at him, one eye-brow raised.  “We spent it doing transit repairs on some new agricultural machinery.”
    “Really?”
    “Yes – sent by our allies in the Dainworlds.”
    “We could do with it – just look at this.”  She held up a scrawny excuse for a carrot.  “What sort of equipment?  Tractors?  Combine harvesters?”
    Boris thought for a moment.  “That’s funny – do you know, I can’t remember precisely what it was – just general farming equipment, I suppose.”  He shrugged.  “Anyway, how was your day?”
    “A bit tedious – I’m looking forward to the weekend.”
    “So am I.”
    The stew was bubbling nicely when Ivan turned up.  “Anything I can do to help?” he asked with wide-eyed innocence.
    Talia raised a cynical eyebrow, and he had the grace to blush.  “Well, you could help us eat...” she said.
    “Hah!  I’m always ready to do my duty for the Republic – however onerous.”  He grinned.
    Talia shook her head slowly and sighed.  “Pour yourself a drink and sit down.  Boris tells me you had an interesting day.”
    “It was certainly a change,” he said as he sank down into a chair.  “A shipment of agricultural machinery – and your lover-boy was there, too.”
    Talia’s cheeks coloured slightly.  “Oh?” she said with careful nonchalance.
    Boris could see that Ivan wanted to tease her further, so he gave him a warning look.  “Isn’t today check-up day?”
    “I guess so.”  Ivan sighed.  “I’m getting fed up with being pushed and prodded every week.  How much longer is this is going to go on?”
    “As long as necessary,” Talia told him as she served the stew.  “And don’t think I haven’t noticed the way you ogle some of the nurses.”
    Ivan gave a wicked laugh and tucked into his meal.
    The medics turned up at ten o’clock precisely.  They always arrived just as everyone was preparing to go to bed, as their patients needed to be sedated in order to perform the more intrusive tests.  These were, Boris and his comrades had been assured, simply intended to ascertain how well their bodies were recovering from the effects of Pregeor.
    Boris lay on his bed as the nurse assigned to him expertly located a vein in his left arm and he felt his mind dissolve in warmth.

Chapter 3
     
     
    Talia woke on the eve of the weekend in