Read Online Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey - Free Book Online Page B

to know,” Holden said. “I’m rebooting the sensor package.”
    He methodically shut down the sensors and their software, waited two minutes, then slowly brought them back online. His hands were shaking. He was nauseated. His body felt like he was operating his flesh from a distance, and he didn’t know how much was the juice and how much was shock.
    The sensors came back up. Like any other ship that flew the space lanes, the
Knight
was hardened against radiation. You couldn’t get anywhere near Jupiter’s massive radiation belt unless you were. But Holden doubted the ship’s designers had half a dozen nuclear weapons going off nearby in mind when they’d created the specs. They’d gotten lucky. Vacuum might protect them from an electromagnetic pulse, but the blast radiation could still have fried every sensor the ship had.
    Once the array came back up, he scanned the space where the
Canterbury
had been. There was nothing larger than a softball. He switched over to the ship that killed it, which was flying off sunward at a leisurely one g. Heat bloomed in Holden’s chest.
    He wasn’t scared. Aneurysm-inducing rage made his temples pound and his fists squeeze until his tendons hurt. He flipped on the comms and aimed a tightbeam at the retreating ship.
    “This message is to whoever ordered the destruction of the
Canterbury,
the civilian ice freighter that you just blew into gas. You don’t get to just fly away, you murderous son of a bitch. I don’t care what your reasons are, but you just killed fifty friends of mine. You need to know who they were. I am sending to you the name and photograph of everyone who just died in that ship. Take a good look at what you did. Think about that while I work on finding out who you are.”
    He closed the voice channel, pulled up the
Canterbury
’spersonnel files, and began transmitting the crew dossiers to the other ship.
    “What are you doing?” asked Naomi from behind him, not from his helmet speakers.
    She was standing there with her helmet off. Sweat plastered her thick black hair to her head and neck. Her face was unreadable. Holden took off his helmet.
    “I’m showing them the
Canterbury
was a real place where real people lived. People with names and families,” he said, the juice making his voice less steady than he would have liked. “If there’s something resembling a human being giving the orders on that ship, I hope it haunts him right up to the day they put him in the recycler for murder.”
    “I don’t think they appreciate it,” Naomi said, pointing at the panel behind him.
    The enemy ship was now painting them with its targeting laser. Holden held his breath. No torpedoes launched, and after a few seconds, the stealth ship turned off its laser and the engine flared as it scooted off at high g. He heard Naomi let out a shuddering breath.
    “So the
Canterbury
’s gone?” Naomi asked.
    Holden nodded.
    “Fuck me sideways,” said Amos.
    Amos and Shed stood together at the crew ladder. Amos’ face was mottled red and white, and his big hands clenched and unclenched. Shed collapsed to his knees, slamming against the deck in the heavy two-g thrust. He didn’t cry. He just looked at Holden and said, “Cameron’s never going to get that arm, I guess,” then buried his head in his hands and shook.
    “Slow down, Alex. No need to run now,” Holden said into the comm. The ship slowly dropped to one g.
    “What now, Captain?” Naomi said, looking at him hard.
You’re in charge now. Act like it.
    “Blowing them out of the sky would be my first choice, but since we don’t have the weapons… follow them. Keep our eyes onthem until we know where they’re going. Expose them to everyone,” Holden replied.
    “Fuckin’ A,” said Amos loudly.
    “Amos,” Naomi said over her shoulder, “take Shed below and get him into a couch. If you need to, give him something to put him to sleep.”
    “You got it, Boss.” Amos put a thick arm around Shed’s waist