Fringe Runner (Fringe Series Book 1) Read Free Page A

hanging on because we’re coming in hard and fast.”
    It took them only a couple seconds to close the remaining distance. They flew into the airlock and slammed into the door on the far side of the small pressurization chamber.
    The outer door clanged shut behind them, and with a low hum, the ship’s EM field cycled up the gravity in the room. The men dropped to the floor with grunts.
    Reyne pulled himself to his knees, seeing stars through the pain. “ Hell ,” he ground out.
    Sixx sat up. “That wasn’t so—”
    The Gryphon shot into jump speed with no warm-up. Reyne and Sixx were lifted off the ground for a tiny instant before smashing against the back wall.
    Reyne couldn’t breathe for several long seconds before he realized Sixx was lying on top of him. He managed to unhook their suits and roll the other man off.
    The red light by the door switched to green. He twisted off his helmet and sucked in cool, fresh air. “You…were saying?”
    Sixx came up on his elbows and tossed his helmet. “Now, that was a wild ride. Shit . That hurt.”
    Reyne dragged himself into a sitting position and leaned against the wall. “What are you complaining about? You used me to cushion your fall.”
    “Yeah? Try having a biome kit smash through your helmet.”
    Reyne looked to see Sixx gingerly touching his bloody, broken nose. Dark circles were already forming under his eyes. “You good?”
    Sixx touched his forefinger and thumb tips together to form an O, for Okay .
    Reyne continued. “How’s the package?”
    Sixx set aside his biome kit and rolled over the metal box. “A few scratches but still sealed.”
    “Let’s hope the contents are secure and that they survived a scalar freeze, or else we won’t be seeing a paycheck. It’d be a whole lot easier if I knew what was in there.”
    “As long as they pay us, I don’t care,” Sixx said.
    “Agreed.”
    Reyne winced, tentatively rubbing his tender chest. “Hell, it feels like I’ve bruised or broken half the bones in my body.”
    “Only half?” Sixx asked as he climbed to his feet, and helped Reyne up. “We pulled out pretty good, then.”
    They kicked out of their suits and hooked them up to charging stations.
    Sixx bent over and picked up the single biome kit. “This baby’s all mine. I’ve already got a nice piece of property on Spate picked out for it.”
    “You about got yourself killed for it.” Reyne shot his friend a hard look. “I ordered you to stay put on the Gryphon .”
    “What, and let you have all the fun?”
    “There are several women who would be very sad if you died in the swarm.”
    Sixx smirked. “How right you are.”
    The inner door to the pressurization chamber opened, and Boden stepped inside. The sandy-haired Alluvian took a quick look at each of them and gave a reassuring nod. “I was beginning to think you two weren’t going to give up your front row seats to the star swarm.”
    “Nah. That show’s overrated,” Sixx replied.
    Reyne nodded to the mechanic. “Quick thinking with the cable. You saved our asses back there.”
    “Throttle would kill me if I left her father out there to die,” Boden said.
    “Hey,” Sixx chimed in. “Don’t I count, too?”
    Something clanged against the outer hull, quickly followed by another something that sounded like it tore a hole through the ship.
    Boden spun on his heels and sprinted away.
    Reyne pointed at the box in Sixx’s arms. “Get that package secure.” Then, he took off at a run, or at least as fast as a battered, arthritic man could run.
    “Status,” he called out as soon as he reached the bridge.
    Throttle didn’t look up from her instrument panel. “We were too late going to jump speed. We’re getting dinged up by the leading edges of the swarm, but the jump shields are holding. We’ll get through it in time.” She tacked on, “I hope.”
    “You hope ?”
    She didn’t reply.
    He turned his attention to the view panel. A cacophony of tiny collisions sparked