The Jack's Story (BRIGAND Book 2) by Natalie French, Scot Bayless Page B
Authors: Natalie French, Scot Bayless
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dead, they're happy. They just want her biologicals."
Trig’s eyes narrowed. Just the slightest change, but I could read it. So could Trand. She was coming. Coming with those wicked little blades.
Two things happened at once. The Belter suddenly shimmered, faintly, like some weird variation of the somashells the Irezi use on the surface of Mars. And Trig disappeared. Well, not disappeared exactly. I was looking right at her and there was this tiny moment, like a single frame from a vid, where it looked like she was stepping around a corner. A corner that wasn’t there. And then she was gone, leaving a faint ‘thwwp’ sound behind her. Without knowing why, I knew something terrible had just happened. That I needed to act. So I did the only thing I could think of... I threw my gun at the Belter.
Pretty good shot too. I caught him high on the forehead, above his left eye. Loaded, that particular model weighs exactly 1.9KG. Moving at 38 meters per second, it delivered enough energy to snap his head back and drop him. The shimmer disappeared.
And Trig came back.
There was a sizzling pop and suddenly there she was, crashing into me as if she’d fallen from a couple of stories up. If there’d been time, the expression on her face would have made me laugh. Her eyes were wide with confusion, her lips parted slightly as if she’d started to speak and then realized she had no idea what to say. She hit me in the chest and we went down spinning in a tangle of arms and legs.
But we both had training. Without any conscious thought, we sorted ourselves as we fell. We rolled and came up balanced on the balls of our feet. I couldn’t help but crack a ferocious grin, thinking, Not bad little girl. Not bad at all. In a low voice I said, "Don’t jump. The Belter’s doing something to the pockets."
And then all hell broke loose.
CHAPTER TEN
The little spider bots flooded toward us from every direction. Individually, they weren’t much – a four centimeter wide carbon mesh body with six locomotors and two extensibles. But there were dozens of them.
I saw two of the little machines launch themselves at Trig from one of the workbenches. She caught the first one with a perfectly executed snap kick that crushed it in mid arc, but the other one clamped onto her extended leg before she could recover and jammed its extensibles into her thigh, just above her knee. I could hear the staccato snapping of an electric arc and Trig yelped involuntarily as her quadriceps clenched into a tetanic spasm.
If I’d been impressed before, now I was amazed. She dropped onto her other knee and rolled, grabbing the bot, yanking it off of her leg and then throwing it backhand – directly at me. Except it wasn’t me she was aiming for. It was the bot I hadn’t even seen yet, the one about to hit me from the right. Trig found her target and the two machines exploded in a shower of broken carbon fiber a few centimeters from my head. Fear me before anyfuckingthing, bitches. I got a Wraith on my side. You got...
Trand.
Marines know how to fight. Trand might have been out of the Corps for a while and he might never have been a Technician, but the motherfucker was big and he was fast. Way faster than I’d have guessed.
He charged into me, going for a grapple. With five centimeters and twenty kilos on me, we both knew he’d have the advantage in a contact fight. I rolled, twisting just ahead of his grip so that he never quite got purchase and then bounced to my feet in a low, forward-weighted stance. I wanted the hitting power.
Trand tried for another grapple. His long arms, bare to the shoulder and covered in tats, outreached me by a couple of centimeters. I threw a couple of jabs, but it was obvious I wouldn’t be able to do much damage from outside his reach. I’d have to close.
I popped another jab and shifted my weight as if I was going for a big right. I knew he’d see it coming. I didn’t know if he’d spot the ruse. I started the punch,
Trig’s eyes narrowed. Just the slightest change, but I could read it. So could Trand. She was coming. Coming with those wicked little blades.
Two things happened at once. The Belter suddenly shimmered, faintly, like some weird variation of the somashells the Irezi use on the surface of Mars. And Trig disappeared. Well, not disappeared exactly. I was looking right at her and there was this tiny moment, like a single frame from a vid, where it looked like she was stepping around a corner. A corner that wasn’t there. And then she was gone, leaving a faint ‘thwwp’ sound behind her. Without knowing why, I knew something terrible had just happened. That I needed to act. So I did the only thing I could think of... I threw my gun at the Belter.
Pretty good shot too. I caught him high on the forehead, above his left eye. Loaded, that particular model weighs exactly 1.9KG. Moving at 38 meters per second, it delivered enough energy to snap his head back and drop him. The shimmer disappeared.
And Trig came back.
There was a sizzling pop and suddenly there she was, crashing into me as if she’d fallen from a couple of stories up. If there’d been time, the expression on her face would have made me laugh. Her eyes were wide with confusion, her lips parted slightly as if she’d started to speak and then realized she had no idea what to say. She hit me in the chest and we went down spinning in a tangle of arms and legs.
But we both had training. Without any conscious thought, we sorted ourselves as we fell. We rolled and came up balanced on the balls of our feet. I couldn’t help but crack a ferocious grin, thinking, Not bad little girl. Not bad at all. In a low voice I said, "Don’t jump. The Belter’s doing something to the pockets."
And then all hell broke loose.
CHAPTER TEN
The little spider bots flooded toward us from every direction. Individually, they weren’t much – a four centimeter wide carbon mesh body with six locomotors and two extensibles. But there were dozens of them.
I saw two of the little machines launch themselves at Trig from one of the workbenches. She caught the first one with a perfectly executed snap kick that crushed it in mid arc, but the other one clamped onto her extended leg before she could recover and jammed its extensibles into her thigh, just above her knee. I could hear the staccato snapping of an electric arc and Trig yelped involuntarily as her quadriceps clenched into a tetanic spasm.
If I’d been impressed before, now I was amazed. She dropped onto her other knee and rolled, grabbing the bot, yanking it off of her leg and then throwing it backhand – directly at me. Except it wasn’t me she was aiming for. It was the bot I hadn’t even seen yet, the one about to hit me from the right. Trig found her target and the two machines exploded in a shower of broken carbon fiber a few centimeters from my head. Fear me before anyfuckingthing, bitches. I got a Wraith on my side. You got...
Trand.
Marines know how to fight. Trand might have been out of the Corps for a while and he might never have been a Technician, but the motherfucker was big and he was fast. Way faster than I’d have guessed.
He charged into me, going for a grapple. With five centimeters and twenty kilos on me, we both knew he’d have the advantage in a contact fight. I rolled, twisting just ahead of his grip so that he never quite got purchase and then bounced to my feet in a low, forward-weighted stance. I wanted the hitting power.
Trand tried for another grapple. His long arms, bare to the shoulder and covered in tats, outreached me by a couple of centimeters. I threw a couple of jabs, but it was obvious I wouldn’t be able to do much damage from outside his reach. I’d have to close.
I popped another jab and shifted my weight as if I was going for a big right. I knew he’d see it coming. I didn’t know if he’d spot the ruse. I started the punch,
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