Mind Burn by Rhett C. Bruno

Author:Rhett C. Bruno [Bruno, Rhett C. & Bakutis, T. E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-11-13T16:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-FIVE

COWAN

After Cowan told Bedi his plan, and the doctor reluctantly agreed to play along—after all, what other choice did he have?—Cowan and Sarisa returned to the VCD’s parked autotruck. Gunshots started going off from within the construction site as they did. Cowan waited as the doors rolled open and Sarisa hopped out, head down, on the side of the car away from the shots. She drew a stunner from her dark jacket and paced the car as it rolled.

Zhang shouted from where he and Bradley hunkered behind the autotruck. “Hey, welcome back! You forget your wallet?”

“Cover me!” Sarisa shouted. “I’m coming over!”

More gunshots sounded from the construction site, along with the snap-hiss of stunner rounds. Cowan supposed Captain Kyle had taken the fight to Officer 817, which meant Ramon Munn was escalating his capture operation.

“No one’s shooting at us!” Zhang shouted. “Yet!” Zhang raised his rifle and advanced on the construction site gate. “You’re clear!”

Sarisa gave Cowan a comforting smile. “Good luck.” She sprinted toward the other side of the construction site fence as Cowan remained with the autocar, bum knee and all.

Cowan watched Sarisa, not daring to breath, until she slammed up against the far side of the autotruck beside Melissa Bradley. Bradley crouched in the cover of its front end, rifle pointed at the construction site. She wasn’t firing either.

Sarisa would explain his plan to the VCD. Cowan dropped into the Sim and verified his wireless remained suppressed by the security blanket. It did, but that wouldn’t stop him from activating the autocar’s relay drone. All corporate autocars had those, in case they needed to send a wireless signal from an underground location.

The tiny quadcopter popped from its berth on the autocar’s roof. It zipped skyward on four displaced rotors, bound to the car by a thin data cord. Its high-resolution camera swept the fenced construction site below, showing Cowan the ongoing battle.

Officer 817 hunkered down amid three concrete barriers. Only its scrawny metal arms raised out of cover, giving its stunners a line of fire that covered the construction site. It fired blue energy at the soldiers impersonating CorpSec, all of whom sheltered behind similar barriers. As Cowan watched, a stunner bolt caught an armored soldier in the open. He wriggled into cover instead of going down.

Stunner blasts were designed to immobilize unarmored targets, not penetrate military body armor, and Cowan knew then that man was a distraction. He had let himself be hit. From the side of a big yellow backhoe, Captain Kyle aimed a menacing-looking rifle.

He fired. Whatever ammo he was using hit dead center in one of 817’s stunners. Blue juice and metal shards splattered the ground behind the barricades.

Kyle ducked behind the backhoe as 817 splattered stun bolts in his direction, but the synthcop was losing this battle, fast. The CorpSec soldiers could use any level of lethality they wanted and had real bullets. 817 couldn’t really hurt anyone. It had only fired its nail gun once to miss once, purposely, to ensure the VCD stayed on scene.

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