Chapter 37

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Getting everyone into the shuttle was always stressful. Connor hated climbing aboard, too, but it was a necessary part of the job. Taking the Lucky Sevens down to the planet would be a high-risk operation—too high risk. The shuttle was newer, simpler, and more reliable.

But it was also cramped and it had just enough armor to handle small arms fire. With a full complement, the air recycler quickly became overwhelmed, groaning and grinding until everyone’s exhalation was someone else’s inhalation.

You quickly knew who’d showered and brushed their teeth and who hadn’t.

People were either seated against the inner walls or on a narrow bench that ran down the center of the passenger bay, so that everyone was staring at someone else.

With the engines rumbling to life, Rudy moved down the narrow space between the people seated against the left wall and the people opposite them on the bench.