Equinox Read Online Free Page A

level of insight would mean certain death if they decided to take you in. You wouldn’t hold out against their interrogation methods. Few can.”
    And Riley was one of the few. They had caught him not long after his parents were killed. They’d caged him, flayed him, put nanos in him that slowly shredded his organs, his muscles, just enough to almost kill him. The nanos were still there. He had to inject himself with a neutralising agent so they wouldn’t reactivate. And that was just some of what he’d told her. It made her sick thinking about it.
    “They won’t have a reason to take me in,” she said.
    A barren smile curved his mouth. “They don’t need a reason. Right now they’ve left you alone because they thought I was dead. That and because they are hoping you will lead them to Pip. If I had more people I could trust as well as I trust you and Essie, I wouldn’t have even contacted you after I got back from Mars. I’d rather you weren’t putting yourself in danger at all.”
    “I would have even if you hadn’t come back,” Rosie said. “I’d have found a way to get back at them.”
    “I know.” He exhaled a laugh.
    Rosie hesitated and leaned on the desk. “Riley, do you have any idea where Pip is?”
    He didn’t answer straightaway and that made her heart beat faster.
    “Do you?” she repeated.
    “I’m sorry, Rosie, but I wouldn’t tell you if I did.”
    “So is that a yes?”
    He sighed and said with finality, “Pip is alive. As far as I know.” Her heart gave a leap, but then he said, “Now I think you should go.”
    She knew that tone. It meant this conversation was over. She straightened. “I guess Aunt Essie will start getting worried if I’m not back before dark.”
    “Before you go, take off the Bridget ident lenses. I’ve made another one for you.”
    Rosie removed the lenses and slid the new ones over her irises.
    “And here.” he handed her a disposable money card. “Your pay.”
    Rosie took it. It still felt weird taking money from Riley, but he shut her down every time she said anything. And her pride wasn’t so big that she’d refuse it. She’d been poor and hungry most of her life. Besides, she hated having to rely on her aunt for everything. “You’ll tell me when you hear anything though, won’t you?”
    “I always do.”
    Rosie wasn’t so sure about that, but she let it go. “You need anything? Food, MalX screeners?”
    “Don’t worry about me.” He turned back to his screens. “Be careful on the way home. I’ll send word.”
    Rosie left, but playing over and over in her mind was the expression on his face when she’d asked him about Pip. Riley knew something, she was certain. But the question was, what?

CHAPTER 3
    Pip sat by the fire and stared into the flames. The night was warm and they didn’t really need a fire, but it gave them something to gather around.
    Cassie sat on the log beside him. Her blond hair glinted in the light as she gave him a lazy glance. “Thinking of tomorrow?”
    He lifted one shoulder. “Lots to do.”
    She leaned closer. “Don’t worry, Pippy, everything’s planned. It won’t be a problem.”
    His jaw tightened. “Don’t call me that.”
    She laughed softly. “Why not, Pippy? You know, you worry too much.”
    “And you don’t worry enough.” He kept staring at the fire, hoping she’d go to bed, but she just sighed and rested against his shoulder. “It’s a spying trip, Pippy, nothing more. I know what I’m doing.”
    He shrugged her off. “You only think you do. You should have stayed at Kev’s.”
    “Are you worried about what my brother might do?” She drew back, mocking him. “What he doesn’t know can’t bother him, and he needs to find out what Helios is up to.”
    “And that’s what I’m doing,” Pip said. “Riley asked me to find out, not you.”
    “Two sets of eyes are better than one.”
    “We did have two sets of eyes – mine and Kev’s.”
    She whispered in his ear, “But