Read Online Shepherd by KH LeMoyne - Free Book Online Page A

mechanics, power, ventilation, and guard shifts for each segment he highlighted. “Where did they keep you, Esme?”
    She figured he had forgotten she was there. Closing her eyes for a minute, she drifted back to the first day in chains, when she’d been marshaled unceremoniously from the sealed security van into tunnels, which had run deeper and darker with each step. “A detention cell beneath the New Delphi Justice Building. At least that’s where they took me originally.” She glanced at him to find him staring at her. Perhaps she had taken too long to respond. “I have no real idea where I was taken from there.”
    “I’m sorry we didn’t find you.”
    She swallowed uncomfortably. “I’m out now.” She nodded at the image of Lockdown. “Whoever it is you’re trying to get free isn’t leaving unnoticed unless there’s a well-thought-out plan.” She ignored his silence. Although he wouldn’t give her more details of his mission, she refused to pretend she didn’t know what he was doing. “It would help if the guards considered his survival impossible and didn’t come looking for him once he’s out.”
    “What’s your point?”
    “Bring up the latest overlay.”
    His brow rose at her command, but he brought up her screen.
    “Compare the size of the sewage intersection against the diameter of the kegs and the physical dimensions of the subject.”
    The metrics allowed a keg to slide within the connecting joint of the sewage lines with several centimeters of leeway. A man would fit as well. More importantly, a man could be extracted through a blown intersection without being fried by the lasers.
    The first smile she had seen on him broke at the corner of his mouth. “We can work with that, Sugar.”

 
     
     
    Chapter 5
     
    The delicate fiber optic strand slipped into place, and Esme released her breath.
    Unfortunately, Clay reached over her shoulder, extracted the optical filament roll, the box of crystal dust, and an energy coupler from her hand, and pushed them aside. “Stop poking through all the equipment.”
    “I haven’t damaged anything.” She gave a quick glance to the segregated mounds he’d salvaged. “You have equipment here that’s perfectly functional. I can even recycle some other pieces. Why are you being so stubborn?”
    “I don’t have time to babysit you while you play.”
    “Because I’m so darn dangerous?” She snatched a scrap of filament and moved to his work area before he could reach her. After snapping each end into two ports at the edge of his command console, she dragged her palm across the plasma top, initiating the connections, and tapped her middle finger on a manual switch. Three additional screens blinked to life in the air, their appearance enough to surprise Clay. His breath on her neck proved she hadn’t evaded him. More likely he’d given her enough rope to see what she’d do. “See?”
    He rubbed his eye with the heel of his hand. “First you wheedle your way into this room. Then you manage a chair and now more screens. I can see you’re brilliant, but you are skirting very close to being put back in the other room.”
    “I’m bored.”
    “Really?” His anger reverberated through the quiet room.
    She met his stare and held her ground. Granted, she had to look up and push her shoulders back with quiet determination. However, it wasn’t as if he physically threatened her, though battling him for each small measure of freedom was exhausting.
    With a frustrated exhale, he turned away and then whipped back, pointing at the far corner of the room. “I’ll project the screens back there. You can architect some way—design only—no piece parts, a quiet way to maneuver the kegs into place and detonate them safely without human casualties.”
    Not bothering to point out that she could set up her own screens, she waited. She could afford to be generous, since he’d given her a concession. The digital screen sockets she activated relaunched