Landlocked (Atlas Link Series Book 2) Read Free Page B

twenty-one-year-old with his face cemented to a computer screen while she was off training with Sophia.
    I was no soldier, and I knew that. I’d known it all along.
    Evidently, as much had changed as had stayed the same since Lemuria stole SeaSatellite5. At the moment of its taking, Chelsea and I weren’t exactly on super solid ground in our relationship. We’d just agreed to deal with things slowly. When we’d joined TAO, I thought we would eventually find our way back to how things were before the hijacking. And you know, things were generally fine until the first anniversary of SeaSat5’s theft came around, and “Grand Summer Shit-Show” happened, and then it all went to crap.
    Not saying I wasn’t as off-kilter. It seemed pointless to dwell on the fact that they were gone when that time could be spent actually working on ways to get them back. SeaSatellite5 didn’t up and disappear. The station was out there, somewhere, in time. Hiding. Waiting. Hopefully with the crew still alive. It was impossible to know for sure, or to know if, to them, any time had passed at all.
    Would Captain Marks hate me once we found them, not for Lemuria winning again, but instead for their rescue taking over two years? If we ever found the station, would Chelsea forgive herself? I missed her warm smile. It came out in spurts here and there, but she’d never been the same. When I thought about it, our entire relationship was pretty laughable.
    The system beeped at me.
    “Finally done with your updates?” I asked.
    Another loading screen appeared, and the program continued merrily on its cleansing way. My head fell back in time with a frustrated groan escaping from my lips. I rubbed my eyes with the palms of my hands. Some days, all I could think about was how
stupid
this all really was.
    “Why are you still here?” a voice said from the open doorway of my lab.
    I spun my chair to face Major Howard Pike, otherwise known as Major Iron Tights for being such a hard-ass all the time. He was the kind of guy you could joke about behind his back, but if you ever said it to his face, he was as liable to laugh with you as he was to throw you against a wall and yell the skin off your face.
    You could imagine, then, the fun he’d had getting acquainted with Chelsea and me, especially given Chelsea’s civilian-minded insubordination issues of the last twenty-eight months. I could count on one hand the only military officers she truly respected in that time: Captain Marks; Weyland, SeaSat5’s old Head of Security who’d been reassigned after the hijacking; and Freddy, our friend. All gone, but they were the only three that hadn’t ended up an enemy, like Dave. And after what she’d perceived as failing to save them, Chelsea hadn’t exactly been the best team player.
    I couldn’t blame her, though. A lot of weight had been placed on her shoulders—part of that being my fault—and suddenly there she was, the center of an attention she wouldn’t have had if we’d never met. Our current situation started when I had left the Franklin through the same door she had on the night I’d ran to Boston to escape the military. If I had never gone through that door, none of this would have happened.
None of it.
    “I couldn’t sleep,” I told Pike, who was still waiting for an answer. “And we’re behind.”
    He leaned against the doorframe. “I know what day it is. Wasn’t surprised when you guys high-tailed it out of the base earlier.” He pointed to my computer. “That stuff can wait. I plan on talking to General Holt about our travel schedule first thing in the morning. Even a Link Piece every two weeks is too much.”
    There were only five of us that traveled through them, to minimize damage to the time-stream and history. But that limitation had worn us thin now that we had a mission to complete: bringing SeaSat5 home.
    Still, my eyebrows rose. He’d insinuated Chelsea and I were tired. More of this military, non-military bullshit.