Eko (NINE Series, #1)

by Loren Walker

  * * *

  Renzo awoke with a jerk. A pinprick of light flashed on the radar. Active! One of them was outside! Renzo smacked himself in the face to wake up. Just one tracker, though. It had only been, what, two hours since they went offline? Was it Phaira, or Emir? What about Cohen? Was Sydel in there? What if only one of them had survived? Should he wait for more signals?

  The rumble of the Arazura’s engines startled Anandi awake. Her legs draped over the armrest in sleep, she would have crashed onto the floor had she not grabbed her seat mid-fall.

  “What’s going on?” she cried, yanking herself back up.

  “Someone is outside,” Renzo announced as he rerouted fuel to the engines for added speed. At the edge of his vision, he saw Anandi cross her legs on the seat, activate the Lissome on her knee, expand screens and begin to furiously type. She was preparing for any attempts to jam their system, Renzo guessed, as he checked for wind speed, mapped out their course, anything to keep his mind occupied. Even still, his throat was parched from anxiety.

  Come on, he chastised the ship. Come on. Warm up, fire up. Every second that passed heightened his panic.

  Trust in your design, Renzo told himself. He ran his hand over the Arazura’s controls. You know her inside and out. You know what she can do.

  Excitement surged through him, a feeling he’d never experienced in all his mathematical discoveries. Gripping the throttle with both hands, he already craved the weightlessness of flight. He was ready.