Read Online Taking Liberty by Jodi Redford - Free Book Online Page A

exactly fly out of here anyway.”
    â€œSpeaking of here—where are we? I know we’re on Aquatica, but how close are we to General Quarrel’s base?”
    â€œSee that peak?” Lucus pointed to a mountain ridge on the far horizon. “That’s where we flew out of.”
    A shiver charted her spine as she stared across the valley. “Do you think there’s any chance he knows we crashed back on the planet?”
    â€œLet’s hope to God not. We’ve got enough shit to worry about without adding Squid Face to the list.” He scruffed a hand through his hair and scanned the wreckage for a minute before pivoting and heading towards the exposed hole in the Liberty.
    Rubbing her arms, Rini abandoned her station to investigate the enormous boulder responsible for the mangled wing. The rock towered over her by at least ten feet and spanned twice that in circumference. Strange symbols were carved near the center of the rock. She traced a fingertip over the grooves, wondering about the origins of the symbols and their meaning. During her four years at the ranger academy she’d studied the various alien languages, but there were so many it’d take a lifetime to learn them all.
    â€œWhat are you doing?”
    Jumping, she jerked her hand away from the rough-textured stone. Lucus tossed her the shirt draped over his shoulder. Apparently interpreting her blank stare, he shrugged. “Your skin’s so fair I worried you’d blister beneath this sun.”
    He was worried about me ? She immediately brushed away the tickle of happiness brought by the idea. It would be epically stupid getting warm fuzzies where Granger was concerned. The man was a smuggler, for crying out loud. If life had played out the way she’d originally planned she might have been faced with arresting him.
    But he does kiss like nobody’s business . A fierce hot flash swamped her at the reminder. Tugging the shirt on, she flapped the collar, trying to stir forth a poor excuse for a breeze. She followed Lucus’s interested scrutiny to the carved symbols in the rock. “I was trying to decipher them. I’m afraid my knowledge isn’t—”
    â€œ Khian tu jidah. ”
    She stared at Lucus, shocked beyond words that he was versed in archaic alienese. “ Okaay .”
    â€œTranslated from Illonican, it means Starflight Folly.”
    Buttoning the shirt, she tied the bottom tails into a knot. “Just a tad bit cryptic.”
    â€œNot really. It’s the name of another ship that crash-landed in this valley.” He tapped his forefinger against another of the symbols. “Khtar. He’s one of the crew members buried here.”
    â€œ Buried ?” Her gaze immediately darted to the ground. “Are you telling me this rock is a freakin’ headstone? Good God, how big were these aliens?”
    Lucus chuckled. “I suspect the boulder is more a monument than a headstone.”
    â€œThen I don’t need to worry about disturbing the grave of Khtar, the ginormous alien?”
    Lucus shook his head and she exhaled in relief.
    â€œThis might actually be good news. With a little scouting, maybe we’ll find something from the Starflight Folly’s wreckage to jerry rig the Liberty’s control panel long enough to transmit a distress beacon.”
    For the first time in what seemed like forever, hope seeded in Rini’s heart. “Good idea. I’ll start checking the area past those cacti over there.”
    A warm palm clamped around her elbow before she could dash. She glanced up into Lucus’s narrowed eyes. “What? We’re wasting precious daylight.”
    â€œYou’re not gallivanting off by yourself, damn it. We have no idea who or what could be prowling around.”
    â€œI wasn’t planning to stomp into the desert with a big flashing eat me sign.”
    â€œBabe, you aren’t stomping anywhere without me right