Sergei was dirty, scratched up and a little bloody, but appeared to Nasrin to be otherwise unharmed. Still armed and armoured, he dropped down into one of the chairs they rarely used, in this conference room where the Okhrana rarely conferred. Nasrin had noticed early
“Go to sleep.” “I am asleep.” “You are not,” Edward murmured, opening his eyes to look at his companion. Even in the dark, he could feel Vikram’s wakefulness, something that had intensified once they’d taken custody of the ship. He understood — there was something
“Lonely, are you? I’m sure you could devil up some charming bloke from that mental vault of yours, make him a real boy for a night.”
Book II – Prologue: “Love in the Time of Drone Strikes” “God help thee, old man, thy thoughts have created a creature in thee; and he whose intense thinking makes him a Prometheus; a vulture feeds upon that heart forever; the vulture the very creature
Sergei held out his arms to either side and smiled at the security guard. “You don’t have to be gentle. It’s not my first time.” The bouncer, doughy but hardly formidable, bit down hard on his lip as he bent to his task. Sergei remained
Keep his head turned. Monitor his actions and his plans. Influence them to our advantage, and weaken his army’s effectiveness. He doesn’t care about his own casualties, so suggest engagements likely to thin his numbers. You’ll know when to strike the final blow. It was
Rachel fought against the cramping in her ankles by alternately removing the pressure from them and letting it pull at her elevated wrists instead. She was furious with herself for not trying harder to keep Sergei’s attention on her, furious with him for leaving her
More“Your little brother believed in honour too, until I gutted him like Christmas dinner.”
The call had gone out midday, broadcast directly from the Alpine Guard radio desk. Anyone who helps the invaders will pay with their lives, the lives of their family. Himalaya will hear the screams of traitors for the rest of human time. Informers and patriots
Vikram was running out of space. The bridge was one of the airier, open spaces on the Walsh, but his reading list was infinite, and he had programmed a preset to allow even the visual material manifested at the edge of the room to refocus
Vikram took his time with the meal they brought him, puzzling over the source of the fresh arugula salad and the grated carrot that adorned it. The raw pecans were even more baffling, and he could tell by their texture they hadn’t been frozen or