The Valkyrie Project Read Free

ship."
    Ana raised an eyebrow and a half-cocked smile. "Just probably?"
    "You got any guns on your ship?"
    "Not that you'll be able to get to."
    "Then I'm coming with you."
    "Okay, but don't think I'm going out of my way to save you when he starts shooting."
    "Deal."
    Ana started down the beach again, more cautiously this time. She followed the trail of footsteps left in the sand, working them like a crime scene, recreating the path that the escaped prisoner had taken and his thought process as well. The indentations grew ever so slightly closer together. The pilot wouldn't have noticed it, but Ana had.
    "My name is Jrue, by the way." He had a careful, low, almost handsome voice. If a voice could be handsome.
    "I know," Ana said without looking back. There was blood. Barely perceptible at first, like the shortening stride, but ahead there was more. And the footsteps headed for the water.
    "Looks like he got injured too, eh?"
    "Looks like it." She didn't mean to be so terse, but she was examining the details and trying to concentrate.
    Yes, looked like he headed for the water to clean up. Just after the footsteps intersected with the tide, they went straight into the forest.
    The pilot —Jrue—was still limping heavily, and Ana wondered how safe he would be pursuing the suspect into the jungle, no matter how injured the other guy was.
    "You sure you can make it in there with me?"
    "Beats baking out here waiting for him to double back and take me out."
    So they headed up the beach side by side, and just as they stepped from sandy white onto lusher green, Ana heard the distinct whine of a MP-11.
    It was one of a few pulse weapons with an entirely watertight casing. They were prohibitively expensive, so she hadn't thought that there might be one on the downed ship.
    The Valkyrie gave Jrue a smack to the head as she spun, hoping to knock him to the ground. With her other hand, Ana drew her gun and aimed at the noise. It was indeed a Maxplanck model 11, held by a man she recognized from the briefing as the missing prisoner. The MP-11 was aimed and ready to blow them—and all matter immediately behind them—into more pieces than one person would be able to count in a lifetime.
    Actually, since her palm had driven Jrue down as she'd intended, he might be left with enough pieces intact to survive the blast. Not that he'd necessarily want to have survived at that point.
    "A Valkyrie , eh? I must be worth more than I thought. Of course, now I have two people that the Agency would hate to lose. And I'm not talking about the pilot there, Ms. Valkyrie. I appreciate your efforts, but I could care less if he lives."
    Ana's stomach turned at the glee that pervaded the man's voice. She couldn't make out more than his hulking silhouette against the glaring sun behind him. The shadowy figure seemed to fit the sinister tones permeating the man's otherwise gravelly speech.
    "Don't think that just because I know how valuable you are that I won't use this, though." He patted the barrel of his gun. "I am worth more to me than you'll ever be."
    This time the evil joy came sputtering out in a high-pitched laugh. This show, though, only reinforced what Ana already knew. He was a highly intelligent egotistical maniac and the world would likely be a better place if she blasted him right there instead of racking her brain for ways to bring him—and hopefully Jrue—in alive.
    The standoff lasted only a few moments before Ana lowered her weapon. She felt bad for a moment for forcing Jrue to the ground, but with him there it left him fewer available options and made his actions easier to predict. With her palms out, she set the gun on the ground.
    "The pack, too."
    She dropped her bag to the ground next to her gun.
    "You. Up."
    Jrue got to his feet, giving the evil eye to both Ana and their captor. She'd given him two chances, and he'd thought he'd be better off with her. He'd have to deal with the way she worked. Of course, they'd have to work together