Read Online Drifters' Alliance, Book 3 by Elle Casey - Free Book Online Page A

still don’t really know what that means in a practical sense.
    I stop at the door next to my bunk and hit the comm button outside it. “Macon. Open up.”
    “I’m sleeping.”
    I find myself smiling in spite of all the shit on my plate. “Yeah, you sound like it.” I pass my hand over the screen to open up the door. Macon is lying on the floor staring up at the ceiling.
    I walk down the stairs and point at his bunk. “There’s a perfectly good bed there, you know.”
    “It’s too soft. I prefer the ground.”
    This makes me sad. I know what he means; if you’ve spent enough nights sleeping on steeloid, it starts to feel normal. I hate that this is what Macon’s life became after we parted ways.
    “You need to re-acclimate,” I say, taking a seat on the edge of his bunk.
    “Why bother? I’ll be back to scows and stations soon enough.”
    “You’ve decided to leave, then?”
    He shrugs, his hands barely moving as they rest on his belly. “Not like I have a choice.”
    “You do have a choice.”
    He tilts his head to look at me. “You’d seriously let me stay on this ship?”
    I shrug. “Maybe.”
    “After I planned to throw you over?”
    I smile. “Was that your grand plan?”
    He scowls before going back to contemplating the ceiling. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”
    “I would, actually.” I lie back on the bed so I can lace my fingers behind my head and use his pillow. One leg rests on the floor, but the other comes up to stretch out. “Tell me all your secret plans. Tell me what you know about Tremblay and Captain Boob, too, while you’re at it.”
    “Why would I do that?”
    “A show of good faith. Show me you want to stay on here as a member of my crew.”
    “What guarantee do I have that you won’t just kill me instead?”
    I look over at him and roll my eyes. “I could have killed you a thousand times by now. Hell, I could throw my blade between your eyes right this second if I felt like it, but I won’t. And I haven’t.”
    He laughs. “Kind of hard to throw a knife between my eyes when you don’t even have one on you.”
    It takes a few seconds for his words to sink in. Then my hand and my gaze fly down to my leg. “What the hell?” I whisper. The sheath is there, but the knife isn’t. I put my finger into the spot where the knife should be, and come out with a piece of plant root. My blood runs cold. “Ohhh fuuuuuck …”

Chapter Twelve

    “SHHH!” I PUNCH MACON IN the arm. We’re supposed to be opening the door to the biogrid as quietly as possible, but he’s blowing it. I’ve put it in manual mode and together we’re pushing it open, but Macon’s grunting like a damn goat.
    “It’s heavy,” he whines at me.
    I pause, holding up my hand so he’ll stop too. “I think I heard something,” I whisper, cocking my ear toward our destination — the heart of the biogrid.
    “Yeah, it’s called watering systems.” He pushes the door open a couple more inches, finally making it possible for us to enter.
    I slide through the space and wait for him to follow. Together we close the door behind us. I put my finger on my lips to tell him to be quiet.
    “Where is it?” he says, apparently not understanding what be quiet means. Idiot.
    I point and start walking on tiptoe in that direction. When I realize my boots are going to make that method of walking louder than my normal gait, I take them off, motioning for him to join me. I nudge them between some tower bases to get them off the walking path.
    “My socks smell really bad,” he says quietly in my ear.
    I push him off, scolding him with a look, jerking my thumb at his boots so he’ll understand that I don’t give a shit how bad his feet smell. I need my knife back, and I need him to help me get it, just in case Lucinda or her papa are roaming around. I’ve never felt so naked and vulnerable as I do now. I’m not totally defenseless without my weapon, of course, but I have a much better chance of surviving an