: Mannah Pierce
: Foothold Book Two of Reaching Out of the Shadows
: Clink Street Publishing
: 9781910782378
: 1
: CHF 4.30
:
: Science Fiction
: English
: 588
: Wasserzeichen
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB
Foothold is the second part of a science fiction saga set in an interstellar world of the far future where spacer crews live and trade between the stars. It begins where Cast Adrift ended; the Willow has been destroyed and the survivors amongst the crew scattered. Jax is in the hands of his enemies. Will Tre's loyalty to Jax mean that he abandons the rest of his crew? Will Jax let him? How will Rae react to being separated from Jax? Just how dangerous is Kip when he is determined to save the people he loves? And where is Ean?

Jax was thrust into consciousness. He recognised the signs; he had been given a wake-up shot. His suit was gone. He was lying on what felt like an examination couch with the head end raised. There was something across his neck, which he refused to admit was frightening.

He made himself stay still, his eyes closed, like his trainers and Tre had taught him.

“Why isn’t he waking up?” a deep, rough voice demanded. It was no one he recognised.

“He’s awake,” a softer, more conciliatory, but equally unfamiliar, voice replied. “He’s just being cautious.”

He was in the hands of strangers.

He opened his eyes slowly. It was a small infirmary with two examination couches including the one on which Jax was lying. A tall, muscular man with a scar across his throat was sitting on a chair between the two couches. Lurking close to the door, as far away from the scarred man as possible and looking as if he wanted to run, was a smaller man with sandy hair and eyeglasses. On the second couch, the other side of the scarred man, lay Noe; still unconscious.

Jax wished it were Rae on the other couch, not Noe. Belatedly, he realised that he could not move his hands or his feet. He checked. There were wide, leather cuffs attaching his wrists and ankles to the couch. Thinking about it, the strap across his neck felt like leather as well.

The scarred man leaned forward. Jax had to stop himself cowering away. He refused to admit his fear, never mind show it.

“So you are Joaquin Oro Sebastiano Socorro of the Navaja’s son,” the scarred man stated.

Jax’s mind filled with everything he had learnt about the way his father operated. Did this man admire his father or loathe him? He decided to say nothing.

The scarred man’s hand came towards him. Jax tried not to tense. A finger traced the line of his chin.

“So pretty,” he commented.

Jax managed to stop himself freezing. He heard Tre’s voice in his head: stay relaxed; never allow your enemy to read you. Did this man want him? Was he going to poke him? Where was Tre?

“The commander says I cannot have you,” the scarred man continued. “You have to be delivered untouched to the client.”

It was a relief but Jax tried not to show it. Who was the commander? More importantly, who was the client?

“So he gave me a substitute,” the scarred man continued, gesturing towards Noe. He l