Chapter Nine

Arrin had decided it was time to test Sterling’s loyalty. He would ask him to provide him with PMZ. If Sterling passed the test, he planned to ask Sterling to help him escape by destroying the base unit to his implanted tracker, leaving him free to escape at last.

Carrying Sterling’s green down coat and wearing his new black wool, double-breasted pea coat bought by the colony and which Peter had teased him not to lose, Arrin approached Sterling, who was reading in a corner with one ankle resting on the other leg’s knee and the book resting on the makeshift table the leg made. Arrin knocked Sterling’s foot down, making the book tumble to the floor.

Sterling patiently picked up the book, closed it, and set it on the side table beside the chair before...

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