Only their superior firepower beat off the attack, routed the Roamers, drove them into the gully and the deadly fusillade laid down by the rest of the hard-contact squad.
A few of the ragbag bastards escaped and disabled the Sandcat. The Mags had been forced to hike a day and a night through the Colorado hellzone, Kane lugging Grant almost the entire distance.
Toward the end of the rugged trek, Kane was so punch-drunk from exhaustion and consumed with pain from his cracked ribs that he had shot a cactus to pulpy pieces, hallucinating that it was an ambushing Roamer. It had taken him nearly a week to remove all the needles from his face.
He looked over his shoulder at Sindri. “What is it you want me to remember, exactly?”
The little man shrugged. “I’ll know it when I see it. Now move on.”
Kane let his mind go with it. He didn’t feel as if he had much of a choice.
Thunder rumbled and the dark clouds flashed with lightning. Grant watched it, listening to the soft patter-ing of raindrops against the window. He looked at Co-baltville’s Administrative Monolith, its white facade shimmering in the downpour, light still shining from the slit-shaped windows on every level.
He glanced down, at the feeble, guttering torchlight in the Tartarus Pits, spread out below the Enclave towers. Tomorrow he would be down there with Kane, searching every cellar and every squat for pregnant out-landers.
Intel section had received information that a group of them were hidden somewhere in those narrow, twisting lanes, hoping against hope to give birth before they were discovered and ejected from the ville.
Ejection was not an option. Salvo had issued ter-mination-on-sight warrants, and so the Magistrates had to serve them. It was their portion of duty and service to the baron.
“Can’t you sleep, sweetheart?”
Grant whirled, stomach muscles jumping in adrenaline-fueled spasms. He hadn’t heard Olivia come up from behind him. He made himself grin, feeling ashamed that he had almost forgotten she was there. It was her flat, after all, on the top level of the residential Enclaves. Olivia had earned her place there. Grant lived two levels below, and it was something of a bend in rules for him to be in her place at all.
But as a Magistrate who had just been awarded his third meritorious-service citation that very morning, he wasn’t too worried about a reprimand. He had other concerns preying on his mind.
Olivia slid her arms around his waist, snuggling her naked body close, the hard nipples of her breasts pressing into his lower chest. Grant enfolded her in an em-brace and held her, his cheek muscles aching with the strain of maintaining his grin.
Olivia was a beautiful woman, with her light brown complexion, black hair plaited and beaded and big eyeswise eyes, yet innocent, deep and brown. The wisdom that had helped her earn a senior engineer’s rank of E Level at the age of twenty-four also helped her sense his discomfiture. However, her innocence didn’t allow her to understand it.
Tilting her head back, troubled eyes searching his face, she asked, “What is it?”
Gently, hands on her smooth shoulders, he pushed her away, holding her at arm’s length. He started to speak, then cleared his throat. She stared at him un-blinkingly, waiting.
He inhaled a deep breath, then slowly expelled it. “After the ceremony today, Salvo told me.”
“Told you what?” Her question came out as a whisper, full of dread.
“Our contract application was refused. You and me don’t meet the profiles, at least not yet. Maybe in a couple of years, once my administrative transfer is scheduled”
Olivia twisted out of his grasp, turning her back. She stared into the shadows of her apartment. Softly she asked, “Who had the most incompatible scores, me or you?”
Grant squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. “It doesn’t matter.”
Olivia hugged herself. Flatly she said, “So I guess that’s it. We’re through.”
Grant felt so weak and weary and defeated, he couldn’t dredge up a reply. She had spoken the truth. He and Olivia were finished. Submitting a formal mat-ing contract application had been a calculated risk, naming names and listing all pertinent statistics. Now that it had been reviewed and refused, he and Olivia had drawn attention to themselves. Their relationship was now officially unsanctioned and couldn’t continue lawfully.
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