Read Morgan's Return for Free Online Page B

top secret.
    She scrolled through the list of cameras, looking for the identifiers from the newscast shots. Ah. Brigalow Street, not far from the university. The busy street appeared before her, almost as if it was real, but thankfully without the smell. Like most streets in this city, it was crowded, wending its way between the horrible apartment blocks where the poor people lived. A rare autocab passed overhead.
    For a few minutes, nothing happened except the usual ebb and flow of people and pushcarts. Here was something different. A woman ran out of a doorway, a man in hot pursuit. The man caught up with her, swung her around, and hit her hard enough to throw her to the ground. Oh, that was awful. The fellow was twice her size. Ellen hated bullies. She stopped the action and zoomed in to check if this fellow was Lesak. No match. Another woman stepped in. The man with her tried to pull her away. Someone else carrying a metal bar intervened, attacking the second man.
    This was it. The man with the metal bar was Lesak. Ellen ran the action again in slow motion. That second man was incredibly fast. And strong. He flattened two attackers without even trying.
    Ellen stopped the movement and focused on him. Wow. What speed. He'd snatched the bar out of the air so fast, the motion was nearly invisible. What a hunk. Ellen squirmed in her seat, a familiar tingle in her groin. Now there was a man she could fancy. A strong face, almost arrogant, with compelling dark eyes, finely chiseled lips. His face had too many hard planes for him to be considered handsome, but what a body. She recorded every angle so she could add him to her private file of gorgeous men. Oh man. What would he look like with his shirt off? Her mouth positively watered. Not young, but lean and hard. He wore his hair short at the top and sides, but long at the back, tied neatly in place with an ornate silver clasp. She zoomed in on the clasp and admired the intricate workmanship, something like a dragon. As she zoomed out again, she glanced at his female companion.
    Ellen froze. No. Oh, no. It couldn't be .
    Her heart thundered. Selwood. Morgan bloody-damn-her-eyes Selwood. Ellen focused on the figure. Right hair, right build. Eyes. Blue eyes. Selwood never covered her eyes. They looked like mercury, silver and unreadable. People said it was a fault when Selwood was created, she could have used contacts, but she never did. Silver eyes. The man lifted the woman as if she was a doll, flung her over his shoulder, and ran off. The adrenalin drained, leaving Ellen trembling. Selwood wouldn't have put up with that, not for a moment.
    Ellen disconnected from the data port, leaning back against a musty sofa in a borrowed apartment, her eyes closed, while her mind returned to its human state. Her heart rate slowed. Maybe she was mistaken. Selwood had disappeared somewhere near the Calisto's Veil Nebula nearly two years ago. They said everybody had a double. Perhaps Selwood had a double on Iniciara. That must be it; it had to be.
    She blew out a breath. Settle, Ellen . Selwood was gone. Hopefully dead. But she might just take away some of those images and check them a bit further. The last thing she wanted was Selwood coming back to complicate her life.
     
    ***
     
    M organ stepped out of the washroom. Ravindra was waiting for her, stern, his arms folded over his chest. Without the contacts, his eyes would have glittered. She turned her back on him, opened a drawer, and took out clean clothes.
    "I've seen you pull some stupid stunts, but that was… unbelievable. What would have happened if we'd lost Prasad? Been arrested ourselves? Been injured? All because of a fight between a prostitute, and a disgruntled punter." His deep voice rumbled like a distant thunderstorm. Boy, he sure was angry.
    "I said I was sorry," she said, pulling on underwear.
    He crossed the distance between them in a stride. Gripping her chin, he forced her to look at him. "We are aliens, Morgan. Remember