“No,” she answered, and Burke knew instantly that he agreed.
“Two hundred million,” Havard offered. “Burke, see reason here.”
“It’s not my decision,” Burke said and shook his head. “She’s her own person, Havard. The sooner you realize that the sooner she might warm up to helping you.”
“No deal,” Cass repeated.
“Fine,” Havard said through his teeth. “Fine. I’ll have to think of something else. Until next time, Burke. And,” he hesitated, as if he loathed what he was about to say, “Cass.”
The connection abruptly ended and Burke laughed.
“That’s the first time I’ve ever seen him flustered,” he said.
“I don’t understand why he has trouble using my name now,” Cass said quietly. “He used it before. Why the change?”
“The name means something different now. Before, it was just a label. Now, for him, it’s admitting that you’re a person instead of a computer program. I don’t think he understands that.”
‘Then I pity him.”
The connection to ACU was still open even after Havard cut off the conversation. Burke stopped himself from immediately severing it, wondering if he should use it to talk to Natalie. She had been the technician that had taught him how to use the power armor he purchased, and they had kept in contact for a time afterward. He had cut off that contact since he decided to work alone with Cass, only dealing with others when it was necessary. Cass had been pressuring him to talk to Natalie for weeks.
He stretched out his hand and killed the connection. The screen went blank and then went dark. The lights around him followed suit and a loud noise shuddered from the ship below. The monitors in the command room abruptly shut off as all power was lost. A dim light came through the ship’s windows from inside the station, causing the metallic surfaces to gleam in the dark. The ever-present sound of the ship’s engine whirling power throughout the ship slowed and then stopped.
“Cass?”
Silence.
He grabbed the gun he kept hidden under the command console and sprang to his feet. He turned to face the consuming darkness of the ship and stepped toward it, leading with the barrel of the gun. He felt naked and exposed without the protective layers of the armor he wore outside of the ship. It had been years since he had been in a fight without it and he was shocked by how vulnerable he felt. He pushed it aside, concentrating on what he could hear as he stepped blindly forward.
The creaks of the ship were magnified when there were no other sounds to mask them. The low humming of the lights were gone. The ventilation systems, with their gentle roaring of air, were dead. He felt hot without the air moving around him, as if his skin was irritated. He heard someone’s footsteps in the darkness and whipped around, firing two shots in their direction. He saw a person in the muzzle flashes of the gun, with sprawling shadows behind them. He fired again in the direction they had been running and saw nothing, only an empty corner of the ship.
He took another step and then heard something again. He shot in its direction only to see one of his guns clattering over the floor. It had been thrown across the room and he knew immediately that he had been tricked. He spun around on his heels a moment too late, turning to meet the fist that slammed across his face. He fired instinctively, but he was too close to properly aim. He saw a flash of his attacker’s face, their features lost in the shadows, before another punch struck him.
He dropped the gun and lunged forward, swinging his fists wildly into the dark. His attacks met only air and he stumbled forward with the force he had committed into the swings. His assailant seemed to suffer no loss of sight in the dark, dancing out of his reach and grappling him from behind. He felt two more hits jolt into his back, rattling against his kidneys and dropping him to his knees. He felt something puncture his back then, two sharp prongs between his shoulder blades before a stab of hot lightning surged through his body. His muscles spasmed uncontrollably as the shock ran through him three more times. He felt paralyzed but was conscious as he felt the hands around his legs, dragging him down toward the jail cell of his own ship.
Also by Joseph Anderson:
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Science Fiction
Interstellar Soldiers
Marines Against the Swarm
The Robot Impersonator
Bounty Hunter Series
The Bounty Hunter Series One, Complete
Revenge
Redemption
Vampire
Into The Swarm
Reckoning
Fantasy
The Wizard and the Dragon
Monster Slayer Series
Origins
Vampire Season
The Immortal Demon
Werewolf
Zombies
The Bounty Hunter: Into The Swarm Page 8