Read Crystal Horizon: A Short Prequel to Crystal Deception for Free Online Page B

responding and
disappeared from sight.
    Contemplating the dead soldier on the carpet, Sid plopped to
the floor, pulled off the man’s boots, and squeezed his feet into them. He
stripped the soldier of his military-style shirt and pulled that on as well.
    Searching for a weapon, he checked the floor around the body
and then patted the man’s pockets. He stood and turned in a circle, scanning
the furniture for signs of the wayward firearm. Jack must have it , he
concluded as he made for the door.
    Hurrying down the stairway, he peered through the front windows
for signs of the soldiers Jack had mentioned. He didn’t see any activity, and long
shadows and glistening dew on the plants and statues told him it was dawn.
    He hustled to a back door and, hugging the outside of the building,
ran to a group of tall bushes at the eastern corner of the villa. Standing in
the shrubbery, he surveyed the grounds.
    On the far side of the property, a trail wound up a rise and
vanished into craggy hills. He had a vague memory of a path that led up to a
plateau, ran across a clearing, and ended with a perilous drop to the ocean. I
should pay more attention during mission briefings.
    He did know that the southern half of the island was covered
in forest so lush it bordered on jungle. The northern half was a stark
moonscape of volcanic rock. The estate, positioned at the cusp of these
geographic extremes, enjoyed striking vistas formed by the contrast of
landscapes.
    A well-tended shed stood halfway to the trailhead and, running
from bush to fence to tree, he reached it without incident. Lights came on as
he slipped inside, drawing his attention to an intricate copper contraption sitting
at the back of what proved to be a handsome single-room cabin.
    A wall of built-in shelves to his left held elegant bottles
filled with a clear, green-tinted liquid. Sid picked up a bottle and, holding
it up to the light, admired the luminous potion. He opened the bottle and sniffed,
and yanked his head away from the intoxicating vapors invading his nose. This
is an upscale hobby rig to make liquor, he thought as he reassessed the space.
    The room had a kitchenette along the wall opposite the
bottles, and a gas stove stood between the sink and refrigerator. Firing up a
burner on the stove, he let the flame dance as he bent over the sink and drank
straight from the tap.
    He walked to the door, peeked out to confirm he was still
alone, and then, grabbing bottles two at a time, he broke them on the floor.
With the liquid from two dozen bottles forming a shimmering puddle, he pulled down
a note from the front of the fridge, lit a corner in the stovetop burner, and tossed
the flaming scrap onto the bright green pool.
    Feeding off the alcohol, the flame whooshed across the
puddle. Sid propped open the cabin door to ensure there’d be plenty of oxygen
to feed the growing blaze, and then started his dash to the trailhead.
    It took about a minute for him to reach the edge of the
estate grounds. Stopping just before the spot where the path ducked behind a ridge,
he looked back and admired his handiwork.
    The conflagration served its purpose. Four soldiers appeared
from the front of the house, moving at a dead run to the cabin. Gathering a safe
distance from the fire, they began to argue. One stepped back from the group
and scanned the landscape. Sid waved. The soldier pointed and shouted.
    With his attention focused on the four soldiers, Sid didn’t
notice a fifth man off to his right. Zwip . The thug fired an energy bolt
that missed Sid but left an impressive impact crater near his shoulder.
    Diving to the ground, Sid crawled behind the ridge. Rising,
he dashed up the trail, leading the soldiers eastward as instructed. With the guards
chasing him, Jack was free to search for Jefe and escape to the lighthouse.
    The trail twisted and turned as it climbed through a maze of
natural and volcanic rock, providing him cover, but also making it difficult
for him to track his