Read Evolution for Free Online Page B

use them to subdue me or any of my friends.
    But as I stare at Sam pacing up in the cockpit, an idea begins taking shape. If I could get him alone, if I had the opportunity, I could inject him with all three of the syringes. One dosage is powerful enough to trap a person—even one with a mind strong enough to resist control—inside his body for twenty-four hours. And I doubt Sam has the strongest mind of the lot. Three dosages at one time could be enough to kill him, or at least knock him unconscious for several days. And if I could do it quickly, when no one else was around, it would be a lot less messy than shooting him, and a lot harder for someone to find out I was responsible.
    I’d just have to make sure he didn’t wake up.
    The sliding door opens at the other end of the cabin, and I quickly drop my hand away from the zippered pouch. Dean walks into the room. He was downstairs closing the air-lock doors when we took off. He moves swiftly down the aisle between the passenger seats, his eyes meeting mine for a fraction of a second longer than seems normal.
    Shifting his gaze away from me, Dean joins Sam in the cockpit. “How are we looking?”
    â€œWe’re on course to reach the Pipeline in twenty minutes,” Beechy says off comm, tilting the nose of the hovercraft up to avoid the mountain pass slowly becoming visible ahead of us in the snowstorm. “Should be a relatively smooth ride.”
    â€œNo sign of raiders yet,” Skylar says. “All the birds are still with us.”
    I can’t see the X-wings out the cockpit window, but I know they’re flying in tight formation with the hovercraft.
    There’s no point in staring out the window the whole time. It won’t get us to the Pipeline any faster.
    To distract myself, I look around the cabin. About half the passenger seats are filled, since only seven of Sam’s soldiers remained on the hovercraft, while the rest split up among the X-wings. All the soldiers look as tense as I feel. I’d expect them to be more used to dealing with scenarios like this, since they’ve been training for war all their lives. Then again, an army of aliens hasn’t invaded Kiel in any of their lifetimes.
    â€œAny return transmissions from the Core yet?” Sam asks.
    â€œStill none,” Skylar says.
    Sam grinds his teeth together. “Try re-sending the emergency transmission.”
    â€œCopy that.”
    Across the table, Fiona shakes her head in disbelief. “The fleet must be generating a huge electromagnetic field for it to be causing this much interference. We’re lucky other flight equipment hasn’t started malfunctioning.”
    â€œDo you think the Mardenites are targeting our radio signal?” I ask.
    â€œIf they are, they’re doing a poor job of it, since I got our ear-comms working again. All I had to do was secure the grounding of the wires connected to the transmitter box.” Fiona’s eyes drift past me, staring off into space. “No, if the Mardenites are targeting anything, it’s some other electrical equipment. And our transmitters are just being affected as well.”
    â€œOr maybe our transmission actually went through,” I say. “And the Core is just not responding.”
    â€œYeah. That’s crossed my mind too.”
    â€œFifteen minutes to the Pipeline,” Beechy says up in the cockpit. “Flight path still looks clear ahead.”
    I look back out the window, at the snow swirling through the darkness. If we can make it just a bit farther, we’ll escape the storm as well as the raiders. The war won’t be over, but once we’re belowground we’ll be out of immediate danger.
    â€œClementine,” Fiona says.
    I turn back to her. “Yeah?”
    She hesitates. “Can you tell me something?”
    â€œAnything.”
    â€œHow many other Alliance rebels have been captured?”
    My stomach twists. I wish