Return to Dark Earth Read Free

Dathan said. “Ready for a
swing?”
    Nik rolled his eyes. He was pretty sure he
wouldn’t be swinging across terrifying abysses on nice, boring,
professional archeological digs. He nodded.
    Dathan released the grappler from the
now-vertical platform, and they swung back toward the other
side.
    “Woo hoo!” Zayn’s voice echoed in the
cavern.
    Behind them, Nik heard a crashing sound.
Ahead, the sheer wall of rock rose up to meet them.
    He tensed. Damn . This was going to
hurt.
    They slammed into the wall. Pain flared in
Nik’s shoulder, and Zayn’s boots slapped him in the face. Below
him, he heard Dathan swearing with his usual impressive vocabulary
of the galaxy’s curse words.
    But they were all alive, hanging from the
grappler line. Dathan pressed the retract button and the three of
them whizzed upward.
    Nik pulled himself over the edge and sat for
a second, staring back at the pillar of rock that had once held the
platform. The platform was completely gone now—no doubt smashed to
a million pieces below.
    Dathan finished retracting the grappler and
slipped it onto his belt. “Come on, boys. Let’s get out of here
before those dickhead Institute grunts show up.”
    They jogged back out of the cavern, avoiding
the booby traps. At the cave entrance, they paused, the humidity
smacking them in the face. Even the dappled light was harsh on the
eyes.
    Nik glanced around. The insects were making
a huge racket in the trees, but the vegetation looked as it had
before. There was no sign of an Institute team hacking away at
it.
    Dathan consulted his Sync, then nodded.
“This way.”
    The three of them moved in single file,
following the trail Nik had cut through earlier.
    Suddenly, a man clothed in a gray and black
uniform stepped in front of them. And lifted a laser pistol.
    “Stay where you are. The Galactic Institute
of Historical Preservation has invoked the right to obtain any
artifacts found on this planet.”
    Dathan raised a brow and looked at Nik. “We
got any artifacts?”
    “Nope. Just out for a stroll.”
    The Institute agent frowned. “Stay where you
are. You will be searched and questioned.”
    Dathan snorted. “Not today.” He threw
something.
    The small silver ball hit the agent in the
chest and exploded. Pink goo splattered everywhere and the agent
cursed, trying to pull the stuff off with no success.
    “Let’s go,” Dathan said with a wave.
    The brothers moved into a run.
    “Lala gave you some of her goo balls?” Nik
asked.
    “Yeah. She said she was trying a new recipe.
Stickier than before.”
    Nik shook his head. The young explosives
expert they’d adopted last year was trouble from the top of her
wild pink hair to the bottom of her scuffed, pink combat boots. But
the girl was a genius with explosives. At least, they’d mostly
convinced her to stop blowing stuff up and stick to less lethal
things like the goo balls.
    As Nik vaulted over a fallen tree, he
focused on running. They dodged under vines, leapt over fallen logs
and skirted low-hanging branches. They heard voices yelling behind
them.
    “They’re coming,” Zayn said.
    Damn Institute . Nik had left them
years ago, and they still managed to bother him, now and then.
Lately, they’d left him all sorts of messages asking for a meeting.
He’d ignored every single one.
    They broke into a clearing and ahead of them
stood a line of four gray-and-black-suited agents.
    “Fuck,” Dathan bit out. They skidded to a
halt.
    “Our boss would like a word with you, Dr.
Phoenix,” a tall agent with dark skin asked, his face set in an
impassive mask.
    Nik froze, his gaze going to the man’s face.
A man who’d once been his best friend. Until Nik discovered he was
as rotten as the rest of the Institute. “Galen. So, you’re with
Institute Security, now.”
    “Yes.” Galen Ryant looked older, harsher.
“Now, like I said, my boss wants to talk.”
    Nik took a deep breath. “Sorry, I’m busy
today. Tell him to call ahead and make an