Cutthroat by T Y Carew & Cameron Lowe

Author:T Y Carew & Cameron Lowe [Carew, T Y & Lowe, Cameron]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Red Feather Writing
Published: 2018-12-15T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

“Where is this thing?” Dr. Cardew muttered. She was glued to her personal device even as the latest battle wore down around her. They’d been forced on a zig-zag pattern away from the edge of the honeycomb structure, passing somewhere near its middle if Simon had to guess. Two more of the guards and three of the civilians were gone now. At least their deaths were sudden. One of their wounded—Royce Payton, the same man who’d given Simon his personal device to send out the SOS—kept moaning over and over again anytime he was moved. Gut shot. They’d sealed the wound, but given the ugly coloration of his skin, he’d already gone septic. Maybe if they could have gotten him on board the Exemplar, the doc in the holding area could have done something, but he might as well have been on Netera. They had no chance of getting to him in time to stop the inevitable.

As if he’d read Simon’s mind, Kingston finished off a protein bar, tossed the wrapper aside, unslung his rifle, and stepped over to the wounded man. Without preamble, he put the barrel to Payton’s head and fired. Only a couple muffled screams greeted this. Most everyone was screamed out by that point, the horror settled deep into their bones.

Cardew shook her head, still studying her screen. “Shame. He was a bright one.”

Beside Simon, Lieutenant Lawrence murmured, “Five of them left.”

She was right. There were still plenty of civilians and crew members left who hadn’t turned traitor, but only a handful of Cardew’s people remained. Her, Kingston, two guards, the nav officer. That was it. That couldn’t be right, though. In the last room, there had been more, hadn’t there? He glanced backwards. No, the math was right. No one else was there.

“Next firefight,” he whispered. “Take Cardew out first, then him.” There was no need to qualify who “him” was. It was clear who was the number two here.

Kingston turned, an eyebrow cocked. “You know what’s funny, Doc?”

“What’s that?” Cardew asked, not seeming to care much.

“A few years back, I took a bullet for a politician. It scraped along the side of my head, really messed up my ear. It’s the sort of reason why Simon hired me in the first place. Bulletproof, I think he said in our interview session.”

“Hurry this up, Kingston,” she said.

“I only mention it because it’s the sort of thing you’d think he’d remember, seeing as how he was so certain he knew the names and faces of everyone on board. Attention to detail, that’s my boss’s specialty. So you’d think…” The rifle fired, and Lawrence crumbled, screaming as she clutched at her kneecap. “…he’d remember I had a bionic implant in there. Better hearing than most.”

Simon charged him, eyes wild. “You son of a—” The punch connected before he realized he’d thrown it, but it didn’t faze Kingston. The burly ex-bodyguard dropped his rifle and grabbed Simon around the throat. First Kingston dragged him back towards the lieutenant and kicked the trembling gun in her hand away from her.

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