Cardinal, (Citizen Saga, Book 2) Page 27

  I turned my attention back to the vacant bridge. Larger than I would have guessed. So open and empty. Aside from the banks of controls, stretching in a semi circle from one side of the bridge to the other. There were radar screens, and keyboards, levers and switches and dials. Several different old style handheld telephone receivers, and what had to be the ship's wheel and main accelerator.

  And a series of vid-screens I hadn't even glimpsed from the other side of the window.

  "Lena," Si said, interrupting my stunned and disbelieving gaze. "You have to get off there now. They're unhooking the mooring lines."

  A breath of air left me. I walked slowly closer to the vid-screens and scanned each one carefully just to be sure I hadn't made a mistake.

  I felt chilled to the bone. Utterly frozen solid. And that was saying something, humidity, even in here, had to be in the high eighties. My fingers twitched as I watched movement on the closest screen. They felt numb. My body quaked with shivers, a trembling I couldn't seem to contain.

  I'd always known we traded with other nations beyond our invisible but impenetrable walls. My father had taken one of the last aeroplane flights to and from Tehteh Airport in order to renegotiate one of those trade agreements just over ten years ago. But the average Citizen never got to see what lay beyond our shores. We just accepted what we were given, never questioning what we had to sell in order to receive.

  Wánměi the provider of all good.

  Recent rumour had it that we traded drones. And from several vid-screens I could see the inside of containers that did indeed have drones stacked one after the other in an orderly line.

  Their eyes glowed red. Shiloh red.

  I shook my head and forced myself to turn away from what I had expected, but hadn't dared to allow myself to believe.

  And took in the most distressing vid-screen images of all. There were two screens, each divided into four different container views.

  I made a sound, a half cough half wretched gag, as the reality of our trading demands set in.

  Drones I could understand. Shiloh controlled drones had me feeling a fear and dread that stole all reason.

  But this?

  "Lena?" Tan asked over the airwaves. "What have you found?"

  The ship jolted. The engines roared to life. The lights on-board the deck dimmed to safety only levels.

  And the people, the families - men, women and children - inside the eight containers screamed, huddled together, and sobbed in angst and near darkness, as I watched them on the vid-screens.

  Purchase Citizen (Citizen Saga, #3) at Amazon

  About The Author

  Nicola Claire lives in beautiful Taupo, New Zealand with her husband and two young boys.

  She's tried her hand at being a paramedic, bank teller and medical sales representative, (not all necessarily in that order), but her love of writing keeps calling her back.

  She has a passion for all things supernatural, spiced up with a good dollop of romance - as long as they include strong characters, alpha males and capable females, and worlds which although make-believe are really quite believable in the end.

  There's nothing better than getting caught up in a compelling, intriguing and romantic book.

  When she's not writing or reading, she's out on her family boat at Lake Taupo, teaching her young boys to fish, showing them the beauty that surrounds them in nature and catching some delicious trout for dinner.

  Kindred has been a joy to write, creating a rich world with dynamic characters and paranormal twists that shock and awe has been pure bliss for this author. And just as well, because there's a lot more story yet to tell...

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