A Treason of Truths
Page 30
“I am aware of your abilities. My expectations are low.” Wallis’s insulting reassurances really were a gift.
“You place so much faith in me,” Olivia muttered. Her shuttle docked, so after confirming her timeline she disconnected. She made sure to be one of the first to board and claim a corner seat with maximum defensive spread.
It was more dangerous, moving through the Empire without being discovered. If there was a place more dangerous to hide her identity than the Syndicate, the Empire of Quillia was it. More altusii seemed out and about, not registered and enlisted like in the Syn, and personal space was an issue. But Olivia had spent all her adult life being ignorable. By the time she hitched a ride off a truck full of strange aetheric rock, she had a day’s trek through farmland and forest that guaranteed she wasn’t followed.
Her bounty was for an Imperial military grunt, an altus. Wallis’s brief had declined to state what his crime was, but intelligence sent her to a remote valley in the deep forests of the border where a small military force camped. Olivia wasn’t a spy, had no military training, but it seemed an odd place to stage a training exercise. It took another day of skulking in the woods to identify her target—a corporal—and understand the routines of the soldiers. It was a tightly organized camp. The command that ran the forces must have been a hard-ass, because even the night guard seemed on alert during their shifts.
So infiltrating the camp was probably out. Olivia couldn’t decide whether she was disappointed or not. She preferred to work from a distance, but gods, these kinds of outdoorsy jobs were not in her comfort zone. She was a Syn native. She’d rather track someone through a strip club in the Cauldron than deal with bugs and thrashing predators that prowled the undergrowth beneath her tree at night.
At least her target was easy enough to stalk from afar: straw-yellow hair, typical altus build, a sour, shrill voice that carried. She found a secure place to nest, identified a few likely clearings soldiers favored for smoke breaks and trysts. During the heat of the day, she found shade, cleaned her weapons, and she waited. It wouldn’t take long. An altus always grew restless.
Don’t miss A Conspiracy of Whispers by Ada Harper.
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Copyright © 2018 by Ada Harper
About the Author
Ada Harper is a magpie of slow burns, bad ideas, and spite. She’s a queer writer of romantic fantasy and science fiction in Seattle. Her first book, A Conspiracy of Whispers, is available now from Carina Press. Her short stories have been featured in Uncanny Magazine and select anthologies as A. J. Hackwith. She’s a graduate of the Viable Paradise writer’s workshop and certified Slytherin girl.
Check out Ada’s other books and sign up for free previews and book news at adaharper.com!
You can find her as @adahwrites or as her alter-ego, @ajhackwith, on Twitter and other dark corners of the internet.
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ISBN-13: 9781488030659
A Treason of Truths
Copyright © 2018 by Ada Harper
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All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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