The Cold Between
Debut novel of adventure, romance and interplanetary intrigue from a new voice in science fiction.When her crewmate, Danny, is murdered on the colony of Volhynia, Central Corps engineer Commander Elena Shaw is shocked to learn the main suspect is her lover, Treiko Zajec. She knows Trey is innocent – he was with her when Danny was killed. So who is the real killer and why are the cops framing an innocent man?Retracing Danny’s last hours, she discovers that his death may be tied to a tragedy from the past. For twenty-five years, Central Gov has been lying about the mystery, even willing to go to war to protect their secrets. Secrets that hide a conspiracy so deep within Central Gov that it threatens all of human civilization throughout the inhabited reaches of the galaxy – and beyond.
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A Paperback Original 2016
Copyright © Elizabeth Bonesteel 2016
Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2016
Cover design by Richard Aquan
Cover illustration by Chris McGrath
Elizabeth Bonesteel asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the authorâs imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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Source ISBN: 9780008137809
Ebook Edition © March 2016 ISBN: 9780008137816
Version: 2016-02-17
For Debbie
Contents
T minus 25 yearsâCCSS Phoenix
Sixty seconds to detonation. Please evacuate the area.â
Kate ran toward the Phoenixâs infirmary, grumbling with frustration. When sheâd told Captain Kelso they could evacuate quickly she had expected more than five minutesâ notice, and now there was no way theyâd transfer everything in time. They had moved their patients and started shifting the most essential drugs, but she had fewer than half her everyday remedies, and almost no tools at all. At this rate, she would be practicing frontier medicine on the nine-week trip back to Earth. If anyone had a heart attack or a compound fracture in that time, Andy Kelso was going to be dealing with some injuries of his own.
She passed one of her clinicians running in the other direction, his arms full of vacuum-sealed pouches. âLast of the antigen packs,â he told her.
âIâll get the scope,â she called over her shoulder. âStay in the res wing.â
âAye aye, Chief!â She heard his pace pick up.
âFifty seconds to detonation. Please evacuate the area.â
She turned and entered the infirmary, frowning at the number of people still rummaging through the shelves. âDidnât I tell you people to get the hell out of here?â
Amy was shoveling topical healers into a bag. âBig bang,â she said tersely. âPeople will be bleeding.â
âNot if it goes as planned,â Kate reminded her, opening a cabinet and pulling out a portable medical scanner. Her scalpel kit followed, and she took a moment to strap it around her arm.
âWhat part of this mission has gone as planned?â
Kate was not the only one who laughed at that. Tension release, she knew; theyâd all be less manic once this was over, and they had the long ride home to reflect. She would have time to digest what had happened, and figure out how to tell Tom the story without scaring the hell out of him. She didnât want to end up using all her precious shore leave dealing with his feelings of protectiveness, but she supposed it served her right for marrying a man who hated the Corps.
âForty seconds to detonation. Please evacuate the area.â
âOkay, thatâs it,â she declared, clapping her hands. âEverybody out. Now. Thatâs an order. Move your ass or I write you up.â
The others tightened their arms around their loads of supplies, and turned to leave. Amy glanced back at Kate. âYou coming?â
âYou think Iâm planning on dying here while you assholes run off?â
Amy waited while Kate grabbed the microscope. The two women ran up the hallway together, heading for the bulkhead separating the residential wing from the shipâs main engine room and weapons locker.
âThirty seconds to detonation. Pleaseââ
âââevacuate the area,ââ Kate and Amy finished simultaneously. They exchanged a smile and passed through the open bulkhead, following the long hallway through the residential area and into the main cafeteria. There they found the medical staff seated around one long table, strapped into the sturdy chairs. Raban, Kateâs head nurse, had saved her a seat.
