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Back Duel in the Dark Save as PDF
Chapters (44)
  1. The Crimson Worlds Series
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  3. Chapter One
  4. Chapter Two
  5. Chapter Three
  6. Chapter Four
  7. Chapter Five
  8. Chapter Six
  9. Chapter Seven
  10. Chapter Eight
  11. Chapter Nine
  12. Chapter Ten
  13. Chapter Eleven
  14. Chapter Twelve
  15. Chapter Thirteen
  16. Chapter Fourteen
  17. Chapter Fifteen
  18. Chapter Sixteen
  19. Chapter Seventeen
  20. Chapter Eighteen
  21. Chapter Nineteen
  22. Chapter Twenty
  23. Chapter Twenty-One
  24. Chapter Twenty-Two
  25. Chapter Twenty-Three
  26. Chapter Twenty-Four
  27. Chapter Twenty-Five
  28. Chapter Twenty-Six
  29. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  30. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  31. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  32. Chapter Thirty
  33. Chapter Thirty-One
  34. Chapter Thirty-Two
  35. Chapter Thirty-Three
  36. Chapter Thirty-Four
  37. Chapter Thirty-Five
  38. Chapter Thirty-Six
  39. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  40. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  41. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  42. Chapter Forty
  43. Chapter Forty-One
  44. Epilogue

There…

His hand was on the grenade. It was no stunner, it was a frag. And if he put it in the right place…

He pulled the pin and hurled the thing over the console, not waiting for the explosion to dive to the far end and open fire.

There were at least a dozen soldiers in the room. His fire took down one, and the grenade hit three more. But the others returned fire. He felt the pain as a round hit his arm. It was a heavy slug, fired from a high-powered weapon, and it almost tore his arm off. The wound was grievous, a massive chunk of flesh torn away, exposing the gray-white bone below.

He rolled over on his back, howling in pain, his rifle falling to the floor, out of reach now. The agony was overwhelming, and it was all he could think about.

No…

He gritted his teeth, struggling to endure, to ignore the searing pain.

If I lie here, I’m dead. We’re all dead. And the mission…

He heard gunfire behind him. Then a cry. It was one of the techs.

He fought to climb back up to his knees, letting his savaged arm hang to the side. His other hand reached to his belt, and he pulled out the pistol Hargraves had given him when they set out. He snapped his arm up, firing twice, just as an enemy trooper swung around the edge of the console.

More shooting from behind. And another scream. A familiar voice.

Tomas…

He turned his head, looking back. There were troops everywhere. And Tomas Rivera was down, surrounded by a pool of blood.

Plinth felt a wave of rage, a need to lash out, to kill as many of these soldiers as he could. But the Marine inside him clamped down. There was a mission. The techs had gotten some of the explosives in place. There was no hope of escape, of survival. Only a last chance to see the mission completed. At least partially.

Tomas has the detonator.

He lunged from his cover, almost without thinking, diving for Rivera’s body.

Plinth felt pain, like a hammer slamming into his back. Then another, as a second bullet ripped into him. He felt his breath sucked from his body, and more pain. He knew he was done, but he kept pushing ahead, reaching for the small control unit clipped to Rivera’s belt.

He hit the ground hard, grunting as he did, pain flaring everywhere in his tortured body. He extended his arm as far forward as he could, but he was almost a meter short.