Back to Contents
Previous Submission
Shadbolt stood motionless. The Medico operatives would be closingnow. Heat sensitive equipment would be useless amongst these boilers, andif they carried particle disturbance sensors they would walk right past him as long as he stayed still. He regulated his breathing. He fed alittle more adrenaline into his system. He was ready.
Behind him was Dove. The girl's expression was unreadable behind theprosthetic mask she wore; a necessity after her narrow escape from thefire. Shadbolt knew he had her as long as she remained dependent on his chemical bliss. The concoction was simply a combination of some of the more common street drugs, but her addiction was reinforced by subtle influences he had hard-coded into her CICI. He ruled her. She could berelied upon.
"I'm in," she said. Hacking the main Medico mainframe would have beenbeyond even her abilities, but the local subnet the team of operativeswere running was a different matter. Once she had access to that, she could read their positions, equipment, even their conversation. "Four advancing down the corridor, one co-ordinating."
Shadbolt activated his own CICI, and linked with Dove.
* RECORDING ON
* Receiving - local map - transfer complete
* Target acquisition applet running
* Phorm sub-system OK
* TA Target Lock
He waited until the first operative rounded the corner, then spun out ofhiding and raised his Virgin .50 twin magazine automatic. The Medico operative was fast, accelerated by his own implants, but Shadbolt's heavily customised Co-processor overmatched it. The hollowpoint slugs slammed into the man's head, one after the other, and he fell. Through his CICI Shadbolt could tell where the men scattered to, where they regrouped. He flicked the pin from a grenade and threw it over a bank of pipes. Theremaining four Medico employees scattered, but the explosion tore open the pipes and the corridor became choked with scalding steam. Through it all Shadbolt strode, using his link to find them. One by one he dealt with them.
* Phorm sub-system active
* TA applet finished
* Phorm reports: Minimal external damage
* RECORDING OFF
"Finished?" Dove called from her hiding place.
"All gone. They were stupid. Dead stupid." Shadbolt liked cliché.
But there was little time to chat; Shadbolt had to meet his Indian contact in half an hour, or he would have to find a new buyer for the plutonium. Interruptions like this from Medico were just distractions. Oneday he'd even get around to selling the schematics he'd taken from them inunofficial additional to his redundancy package.
Ben Wright, 03/10/00
Next Submission
Back to Contents
It's not too late to join in! Check out the author page for instructions!
The page is is copyright © 2000, Despot_in_Exile
E-mail: despot_in_exile@yahoo.co.uk
| What's new? | Setting | THE STORY | Characters | Author info | Editors | Front page |