Abandon Read Online Free

rubbed his eyes and blinked real fast.
    I’d woken everyone up in the middle of the night, but Zenn had come off his watch. He looked pretty bad too. Some things couldn’t be helped. Gunn yawned, and his eyes were bleary with exhaustion.
    I’d never actually gone to bed last night, so yeah. I didn’t feel sorry about waking them up.
    My brother folded himself into a chair next to me at the rickety table. “Is he dead?”
    Vi stiffened at the mention of her possibly deceased dad, and I threw Pace a shut-the-hell-up look. “Way to be sensitive, bro,” I said. “We don’t think Thane is dead. Indy says there was plenty of blood in the farmhouse, footprints and such, like someone carried him out. Just no body.”
    “Director Hightower got him,” Gunn said, real quiet-like, the same way he says everything.
    “I don’t think so,” I said. “No doubt he ordered Thane to be collected, but the better bet is the Director in the Goodgrounds sent a crew.”
    “Who’s there now?” Zenn asked, sliding me a paper across the table. I didn’t even look at it. I couldn’t stomach the sight of his neat handwriting, detailing the fifteen billion things Ihad to do in the next hour. Sure, he’d immediately taken his place as my second-in-command, but come on. A list every time I saw him? So unnecessary.
    “Director Shumway,” Pace said. “A real piece of work.”
    “No wonder Indy and her team were all busted up,” I said, more to myself than anyone else. I’d heard of Shumway, which meant he wasn’t exactly on my side. Or even close to crossing over.
    “We’ll need the whole group for this,” Gunn said, pushing himself away from the table.
    “Probably. But we can spare a few hours, I think.” My jaw popped with every word. I rubbed it but still heard the clicking when I said, “Let ’em sleep till five.”
    “You got me up to say let’s wait until five?” Pace grumbled as he stood to leave. I should’ve felt annoyed, but all I could muster was a yawn.
    I should’ve been more concerned, probably. The fact that Thane was MIA was about as bad as bad can get. Without him, all we had was Starr, and she spent most of her time in the Education Rise trying to gather intel without proper codes and clearances.
    I thought briefly that losing Thane might actually be a good thing. I wasn’t even sure he was who Gunn said he was, and twelve years of hating someone doesn’t just evaporate.I’d ordered his location and pickup. That had to count for something. Too bad the bleeder wasn’t even there.
    I cradled my head in my hands as Zenn left, huddled close with Gunn. My to-do list stared back at me from the table. The top item? Assign interrogators for Indy’s team.
    Which seriously needed to be done, but for the first time in a long time, I didn’t want to be the one to do it.
    Under that, Zenn had written, Get implants already.
    Hell to the no. I’d refused—over and over—to have my wrist ported up so I could see someone’s memories, or a vision-screen enhancement layered over my perfectly functioning sight. And getting an implant?
    Never.
    I didn’t want that tech up in my brain. No way did I want someone to be able to contact me at any time about anything. Or people to track my location just because I activated my cache to tell Vi she’s the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen.
    “I’d love to discuss the subject of implants, just so I can convince you that Zenn’s right about them,” Vi said, gently putting her hand on my elbow and helping me stand. “But first you need to sleep.”
    “I’m fine.” I almost added “babe” like I used to. But Vi and I weren’t quite back to that level yet, even though we’d spent nearly every waking moment together for the past threeweeks. She was still stuck in her whole Zenn-loves-me-and-has-saved-me-so-many-times loop. And our argument about Indy hadn’t been fully resolved yet.
    “I’m fine.” Besides, I have the Resistance to run.
    “You’re such