Chapter Twelve
Smoke plumed from Marina’s lips and dissipated into the night.
‘How long you been here?’ Jay asked.
‘On this planet? Twenty-four years,’ she said. ‘Here in this place? Only two.’
Jay wrapped his coat tightly around himself and followed Marina along the edge of the base, staying under the evenly spaced perimeter lights. She wasn’t much for conversation, but these cigarette breaks were keeping his cabin fever at bay. Nasira would’ve joined them, but she’d inhaled enough smoke when the mansion burned down.
Silently, Marina offered Jay her packet. It had some Russian words and a mountain goat on the front.
Jay wrinkled his nose. ‘They run out of Camels?’
Marina raised a dark eyebrow and made a convincing goat sound. ‘Contraband tobacco always tastes better.’
Jay took a c
