by Justin Sloan
That made his mouth go dry, until he reminded himself that she was his wife, after all. Not only was it okay to be caught checking her out, she probably liked it. As much as he wanted his memories back, this whole falling in love and lust all over again thing was nice for the time being.
More footsteps, and this time he was certain—they were in the passage with them. A glance up showed Alicia’s feet disappearing out of view, so he continued after her. Clang, clang, clang, the footsteps grew close and he heaved himself up, lying there on the metal that must’ve been the roof to a hallway. He didn’t dare move, in case doing so would alert them, but was ready to pounce if it came to that.
He couldn’t see Alicia, but as he listened and his blood started burning again, he heard her foot gently touch down on the other side. There was a click, then several tapping sounds, so faint he was certain no one else would notice.
“Crapcakes!” Alicia hissed, and Marick felt his stomach clench, hoping the PD soldiers hadn’t heard that. Some more clicking, followed, then another small outburst, but this one quieter and a simple, “Yes!”
A few long seconds passed, and then one of the soldiers said, “Incoming comms. They found them on one of the other ships. Move out.”
Marick and Alicia waited there, listening to them depart, and then a bit longer. Finally, a sound came from behind them, and then Antwon appeared, crouched in the darkness.
“You did something, I’m guessing?” he said with a knowing grin. “Veles mentioned how resourceful you two are. Thanks.” “Shouldn’t we be thanking you?” Alicia replied with a nervous chuckle.
He shrugged. “Maybe, but if they’d caught you all on this ship, that wouldn’t have been the end of it. At a minimum, you saved me from a bunch of paperwork, more likely something worse. Come on, I’ll get you somewhere closer to a bathroom and slightly more comfortable for the remainder of the trip. They followed him out, but on the way Alicia kept glancing over at Marick, concern creasing her face.
“Were you okay back there?” she finally asked. “You looked like you were about to explode, and I mean, more so than a normal person should look in that situation. And your right eye… it’s all bloodshot.”
“It felt like something was taking over me,” he admitted.
“Keep it inside,” she said, shaking her head. “At least until we can have someone check us out.”
“Us?”
She glanced over. “Did I say us?”
“You did.”
“Well, with the upgrades… or maybe stress? I’m not sure I feel myself completely either.”
A shot of panic hit him with a pain his chest and he grabbed her hand, giving it a slight squeeze as they went. She smiled at the gesture, squeezed back, and dropped the hand.
Finally, they reached the transport ship’s navigation chamber, where Antwon told the one woman in there to scram. When she was gone, he pointed to the far side, where a door was slightly visible in the shadows.
“There you go. Bathroom over there, to the right, and we’ll continue with food as before. That said, we shouldn’t be too long now. I’ll see that you aren’t disturbed by telling them I’m plotting our next course.”
“You’re a…?”
“No, I don’t work in navigation,” he said with a laugh, “but the corporations have people like me, some on their side, some not. The ones that fall in the not category, you have to watch out for.”
“And you fall in the latter?” Marick asked.
Antwon shrugged, tugged at the charcoal vest he wore, and smiled. “If you need anything, I’ll be around.”
“Why are you doing this for us?” Alicia asked.
“Let’s just say Veles put in a good word for you two. With us, all we have is trust. He says you’re family, you’re family to me too.”
Marick thanked their new friend, then joined Alicia in the hidden chambers Antwon showed them to. It wasn’t what they’d had before, but was small enough to force the two to sit closer. As much as that made Marick uncomfortable, he preferred it this way.
His memories of his wife weren’t coming to him as fast as he’d hoped, and he still felt like a stranger with her. But together in close quarters like this, he loved that he didn’t have to try to be close to her, he just was. They were in what must have been a storage room of some sort, with only a dim light from the blue glowing lines around the edges of the walls.
She took his hand, kissed it, and then leaned into him.
“I know you don’t remember this,” she said, “but when we were young, just starting to fall in love, you had roommates, in this horribly ugly yellow military housing the Marines put you in.”
“Yeah?”
She smiled at him, as if she was back there at that moment, young and falling in love for the first time. “We hid in a closest just like this. It stank, it was embarrassing—your fellow jarheads just outside, us trying to keep quiet so they wouldn’t know we were in there….”
“Oh, God. That sounds horrible.”
“It wasn’t,” she replied, pulling his hand to her waist. “You were loving, caring… wild.”
“I didn’t,” he said in surprise. “Right there, in the closet while my friends were in the other room?”
“It was more me, but you went along with it,” she replied, then moved in and kissed his neck. “How could I resist. And you know what?”
He cocked his head, wondering what she would say next. Finally, he took the bait. “What?”
“Nothing’s changed,” she replied, leaning into him for a long kiss. He was eager to get off of this ship and figure out the plan, to be done with all of this chaos and the PD soldiers and New Origins. But, for now, he was quite all right with this trip taking as long as it wanted.
(Read More…)
What Next?
Thank you for reading PROJECT DESTINY! Please consider leaving a review on Amazon and Goodreads.
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And…
Don’t forget to pick up book 2!
Now I have become Death, and my shadow shall consume worlds.
Samantha continues her journey with the Shadow Corps, an elite group of the universe's most deadly warriors. They must stop the other two ancient guardians turned evil, the space dragons, in order to find out who is really behind this upsurge in the enemy's power.
Once again she must come out swinging, to bring destruction to evil that lurks in the darkest corners of the universe.
Have you checked out the Seppukarian Universe? If you would like to check out the spinoff series, as listed in the SHIFTING DIMENSIONS anthology.
Marines think outside the box, but what happens when they think outside the known universe and time itself?
Whisked away through time loops that distort reality, a group of Space Marines explore different worlds and shifting dimensions as they combat an alien invasion. The edge-of-your-seat adventures in these alternative realities form the backbone of this anthology, which is full of exciting stories from debut and best-selling authors in the science fiction genre. Come aboard and experience exhilarating battles against mechs, drones, alien warriors with biotech armor, and tales of future combat that will blow your mind.
Featuring a Foreword by Nick Cole
Featured Authors:
L.O. Addison
George S. Mahaffey Jr.
Kyle Noe
Gentry Race
Justin Sloan
Jonathan Yanez
And you can now get Jonathan Yanez’ spinoff series!
Because the universe can’t save itself.
When others run from danger, Riot runs toward it.
When others throw up, she throws down.
And when there’s a brawl in a bar, well … she’s probably the one who caused it.
But now, the person voted least likely not to blow stuff up by her unit has been given another mission: explore the universe and forge bonds
with new alien races in order to save earth from another invasion.
Backed by her ride or die crew - the only guys she’d trust on a mission such as this - and a scientist, because, well, science, Riot blasts off in a spaceship headed to distant galaxies, the fate of the planet resting on her shoulders.
Bring the thunder is a fantastical space marine adventure with rollercoaster-like action and the kind of snarky humor you’ve come to love in movies like guardians of the galaxy.
If you like the whiplash action of The Ember War and the ridiculousness of We Are Legion (We Are Bob), then you’ll be obsessed with the War Wolves series.
Get your copy today to blast off to non-stop fun and war-games.
Also, you can check out the Syndicate Wars books. The first three are coming out from Podium in an Audiobook boxset - November 28!
Grab it on Amazon