"Linnea Sinclair - Macawley's List" - читать интересную книгу автора (Sinclair Linnea)

the station for good measure as he left.

She had the audacity to stick her tongue out at him just as the hatch was closing.
тАЬTheyтАЩre my crew, too, Mac!тАЭ

They were all hers now. In the death of the captain, the executive officer
automatically took command.

A Duvri suicide squad had greeted him at the fighter bays. They had an ion lance,
shrapnel guns. He was trapped. And wasnтАЩt about to recall the shuttle, risk the lives
of eight team members -- and one irreplaceable Commander Briony Winn-- to save
his own.

The station shuddered violently again. He heard the agonizing groan of metal
stressed to its limits; the harsh snap of plasticrete as it twisted and shattered. The
jagged ledge under his legs vibrated.

He had minutes. No, probably only seconds. The lights blinked out. A rush of wind
drove gritty particles of insulation into his skin. He knew what it was. The stationтАЩs
hull had ruptured. The air was being sucked out into the vacuum of deep space.

тАЬI love you, Winnie.тАЭ It was the first time he ever said those words out loud.

It was the last thing he remembered.

Until he coughed.

He was face down in a pile of insulation dust. It coated his lips, stuck in his throat.
He coughed again, planted his hands on the ground and pushed his shoulders up.

And heard piano music. Light, tinkling, jaunty piano music.

IтАЩm dead. And someone in hell plays the piano.

He rolled over on one hip, sat up.

Hell is a desert. Legends said the afterworld had seven hells. He didnтАЩt know which
one this was. But he did know deserts. He spent three months on Nas Ramo
teaching a dirtside survival course for the Alliance. It was just before the Alliance
gave him his captainтАЩs stars. Winnie was part of his team, but she was only a
lieutenant.

Only a lieutenant. As if Briony Winn could be тАШonlyтАЩ anything.

He looked around. This hellтАЩs desert was less mountainous than Nas RamoтАЩs. The
scrub cacti were taller, the sand almost pure white.

And someone was playing the damn piano!

He wrenched his head to the right. A two-story wooden building stood ten feet