Pale Horse (A Project Eden Thriller) Read Online Free Page A

ceiling crashed down between Ash and Chloe.
    Ash grabbed the other man and pulled him back to his feet, then half carried him over the fallen rock. Once they cleared it, Chloe braced the man on the other side. They headed off again just as part of the ceiling behind them collapsed, and bits of rock pelted them in the back.
    Nearing the opening, Ash could hear the wail of the wind, and realized the movement he’d seen moments earlier was snow, but not just normal snow. Blizzard snow.
    The storm that had been threatening earlier had arrived.
    They stopped at the entrance just long enough to pull on the hoods of their jackets, then made their way on the narrow pathway that led across the cliff face back to the relative safety of the island.
    “Where are the others?” Chloe asked.
    The rest of Olivia’s team had left Bluebird not long before them, but the path was empty.
    “Back to base,” Olivia’s man said. “Supposed to meet there.”
    “Do you know the way?” Ash asked.
    “Yeah. I think so.”
    Think so? Ash thought. He and Chloe had only come this way the one time, and while both were excellent with directions, navigating through a full-on blizzard would magnify even the slightest of mistakes.
    They were three-quarters of the way toward the top when the ground shook again. Chloe grabbed on to the cliffside. Ash started to do the same, but Olivia’s man began waving his arms around, attempting to regain his balance as he tipped backward toward the edge. Below were rocks, the icy sea, and certain death.
    Ash whipped out a hand, snatched the man’s sleeve, and tried to pull him back. For a second, he thought they would both go over the side, but then Chloe grabbed the man’s other arm and stabilized them.
    Ash took two deep breaths, and glanced toward the cave.
    The entrance was gone.
    Once the shaking subsided, they continued along the path. When they reached the top, they huddled together, the snow whipping across their faces. Even with the flashlight, their visibility was only a dozen feet at most.
    “Which way?” Ash asked.
    The guy looked around for longer than Ash would have liked, then pointed. “That way. Until we reach the ridge.”
    Chloe looked at Ash, the silent question in her eyes, “What if he’s wrong?”
    He grimaced and stared at her for a moment. “Okay, we keep our pace steady, and hold on to each other at all times. Chloe, you lead.”
    “Goody,” she said.
    They headed through the storm.

5
     
    FOURTEENTH ARRONDISSEMENT, PARIS, FRANCE
    6:13 PM CENTRAL EUROPEAN TIME
     
    C HRISTOPHE DE COSTER paid the cab driver and climbed out onto the sidewalk. It had taken him a bit longer to get to Gare Montparnasse than he’d hoped, but, as was his nature, he’d built a buffer into his schedule, and still arrived at the station in plenty of time to greet Marcus Lunt when his train pulled in.
    Lunt was one of the primary owners of the advertising company Christophe worked for, but he had long ago moved into semi-retirement in Bordeaux. Every month, he would make the trip to the capital, spend the next day at the office being briefed on current projects, and head back home. And every month, Christophe would be at the station waiting for him when he arrived, and accompany Lunt to the man’s Paris apartment, where Christophe would give his boss a pre-briefing. This ensured that when Lunt showed up the next morning, he would look more involved than he really was in the everyday workings of the company.
    Christophe’s efforts had helped him steadily move up the chain of command, and, if everything went as hoped, by this time next year, he fully expected to be named the new president.
    As he walked toward the station entrance, he noted that construction on one of the buildings across the street was still ongoing. Now, in addition to the scaffolding and piles of building materials that seemed to have been there for months, there was a large metal box on the street right out front—a shipping