Salvage Merc One: The Daedalus System (26 page)

I looked over the pristine map and blessed my relative good fortune. Sure, the situation absolutely sucked, but at least I had shed my tail at long last. Granted, it took me killing every single one of them. I quickly pulled out my GPS locator and used it to determine my position in relation to the map. While the GPS was handy, the area in question wasn't covered in as fine detail within the computer as it was on my new map. Used jointly, I could figure my way out of this Godforsaken jungle in no time.

After a close inspection and comparison, I let out a heavy sigh, folded the map, and stuck it in my back pocket. I looked at the overhead sun and cursed in every language I knew, as well as a few I undoubtedly invented.

I was still eighty miles from the secondary extraction point and the heat and humidity promised to be another day in hellish paradise. The hills made me long for the days of my relatively flat hometown and single-story homes. I made a mental promise to myself that if I ever owned a home, it would be a single story in the middle of the flattest part of North America. Screw climbing. I needed easy walking conditions, not what I had found so far on Soma.

I also needed a secure radio because I was also fairly certain that there would not be anybody on the side of the angels waiting for me at the extraction point. Not after this long.

I sighed and looked back at the pulped and mashed bodies. I shuddered. The jungle air was already growing thick from the heat and humidity, and the planet's version of mosquitoes were beginning to come out in full force. I tried to talk myself out of it, but I really didn't have a choice in the matter. What if one of them had a personal comm link of some sort? It could potentially save me a lot of hassle. I took a deep breath and headed back into my kill zone. Would a personal comm even work this far out?

There was only one way to find out and it was probably going to give me nightmares for months
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