Chapter 28 #3
Three enforcers emerged from the AV that had smashed into our escape plan.
I recognized two immediately—they were from the alley.
They walked on either side of an enforcer in higher-tech, more form-fitting armor than I’d ever seen before, and I had a feeling I was looking at their boss, which meant he was Viktor Garris, the head of this planet’s security forces.
“Well, well, well, now this is an interesting trio,” Garris said as he sauntered toward us. “If it isn’t Kynan Kade, head of the TerraSoft-11 terrorist faction. You’ve been a very hard man to find. It’s nice to finally meet you.” Then he pulled out a blaster and shot Kynan through the forehead.
I jerked back, my mind taking a second to catch up with the reality.
“Kynan!” Andra gasped through the team channel, still watching through whatever exterior cameras were still functioning at the data center.
Talon whimpered before leaping at Garris.
But Viktor Garris seemed to be expecting the move.
He spun and sidestepped, and then in a blurring motion managed to send Talon into a spinning topple.
Talon was an amazing fighter, and Garris had just made him look like an amateur.
Talon managed to roll to his feet, but Garris struck him before he could get in a hit.
I couldn’t intervene because the two other enforcers—Donista and Mallon—sneered just before launching their own attack on me.
Using the best fighting skills Byte had “programmed” into me, I evaded the freight train of Mallon and managed to get in a hit on Donista while narrowly keeping his stun stick from coming into contact with my stomach.
Mallon came up behind me and wrapped his forearm around my neck.
He was too tall to headbutt his face, so I shoved backward.
He lost his footing and fell. As he hit the ground—and he cushioned my fall—he slackened his grip, and I rolled off him, slamming my elbow into his nose as I did.
Donista ran at me, his stun stick in hand.
He raised it to swing, and at the last second, I ducked into him, grabbing his wrist holding the stick with one hand while tucking against him and then using my strength and leverage to throw him over me.
He hit his head on the concrete, and his body fell lax.
Mallon was climbing to his feet, holding his nose with one hand. Blood poured from his nose, and tears ran down his cheeks. “You’ll pay for that,” he said in a muffled voice just before I leapt and kicked him in the nose as I ran by him to get to Garris.
Garris had Talon on the ground, and I caught a bit of his bragging. He pointed at his captive. “ You , I’m keeping alive. I look forward to torturing Kade’s infamous Shadow for the trouble you’ve caused in the past.”
The enforcers surrounding us kept their blasters leveled on me, but no one fired.
Maybe they were afraid of hitting their boss.
I was just about to tackle Garris from behind when he spun around, actually laughing , and he threw what resembled a black blob at me.
It hit me squarely in the face, and I felt EMPs hitting me.
The goo kept the device stuck to my face, and I couldn’t see and could barely breathe.
The agony was intense. Byte screamed in my head, but this EMP must’ve been dialed back because I stayed conscious.
I must’ve fallen because my head hit the concrete hard—or someone hit me with a bat.
But I didn’t recognize any pain other than the constant barrage of EMPs. I could feel my consciousness ebbing.
The onslaught stopped, but I’d lost my strength. I felt someone’s boot on my chest. “You’ve been a hassle. I look forward to seeing you on Roman’s operating table.” His next words were for someone else nearby, “Secure the prisoners and load the body. I want them all brought to my station.”
“Get ready to move,” Andra said through my earbud.
I don’t know what she had planned, but even the idea of moving seemed lightyears beyond my capability right then.
Someone shouted, then there were a lot of people yelling. The boot on my chest disappeared. Garris cursed, but his voice sounded farther away.
Someone grabbed me by the shirt collar and yanked. “Get moving, Cal,” said Talon’s slurred voice.
I heard blaster shots firing all around us. The shouting continued, but there were also screams now.
I pulled myself up, but not having the strength, sight, or even enough breath, made it nearly impossible to do more than only kind of, sort of help while Talon did most of the work.
We trudged, almost falling down more than once, until I was shoved forward and fell onto a seat, then managed to drag my legs inside.
I used what strength I had to rake at the black tar-like goo holding the EMP on my face, peeling off the smaller device that Garris had flung on me.
I tossed it outside before managing to close the door just as Talon entered the AV from the other side and collapsed on the seat next to me.
Both his eyes were nearly swollen shut, his nose, mouth, and even his ears were bleeding, and he had a gash in his head.
He cradled his right arm, which looked broken.
“Hang on, guys. I’ve got control of the car, thanks to Byte’s code it sent me just before Garris showed up. I’m getting you out of here,” Andra said.
The vehicle jolted forward, scraping against other AVs as we pulled away.
I looked out the window to see drones—hundreds of them—shooting at the enforcers below.
When Garris noticed us, he stood and began firing his blaster nonstop at the AV, but his blaster wasn’t powerful enough to take out the armored vehicle we were in.
Talon chuckled. “This is Garris’s personal car. He’s going to be pissed .” He sobered. “I’m going to kill that bastard.”