No Going Back by Mark L. Van Name

Author:Mark L. Van Name
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-04-10T16:49:43+00:00

CHAPTER 24

Jon Moore

I pulled my hands from my pockets and extended the metal fingers of the exoskeleton.

As they were coming out, Randar swung the door open and approached me. He held a gun against his leg; I hoped he wouldn’t want to point it anywhere near Omani. He watched my face.

I curled my right fingers into a fist; the metal ones followed.

“Let’s wait outside for my men,” he said. He backed toward the door.

I stepped forward with my left leg, pushed off my right, and at the same time swung my right fist toward his stomach. I might have been fast enough on my own to hit him before he could raise the gun and shoot me, but with the exoskeleton speeding my movements, it was no contest. I hit him before he’d lifted the gun halfway toward me. The exoskeleton also amplified the force so much that my punch knocked him backward many meters. Whatever I’d hit had felt hard, so I hoped he was wearing the body armor someone in his job would typically wear, but I didn’t have time right then to worry about him.

I backed into the room and slammed the door shut a second before a shot hit the back of my left leg. The armor stopped the bullet, and the exoskeleton kept me upright, but it hurt. I teetered for a second or two.

“I’m sorry, Jon,” Omani said, “but you’ll be fine. They can fix whatever I hit in your leg.”

I withdrew the exoskeleton’s fingers, jumped forward, and swatted the gun from her hand.

“Ow,” she said. “How are you still moving?”

I ignored the question and checked around her for more weapons.

She took the opportunity to slap my face.

I found nothing.

Her comm showed Randar on his knees and retching. He was also screaming, presumably at his staff. Others would be here soon.

I went behind Omani’s bed and pushed it toward the door. Wires and cables stretched taut.

“You’ll kill me!” she screamed. “Stop!”

I stepped behind the machines next to her bed. The cables from them to the wall were long enough that they could be anywhere in the room. I pushed on them at waist height, but they were heavy and wouldn’t budge. They had to be built to be able to move themselves, but I didn’t have time to locate and learn their controls.

“What are you doing?” Omani screamed. “Balin!”

“He can’t hear you,” I said. “Remember?”

I extended the exoskeleton’s fingers again and formed them into two wide, flat surfaces. I crouched, left leg behind me, and engaged the exoskeleton as I pushed on the two stacks of machines, one metal hand on each stack. They slid forward, and the bed moved in front of them. I cranked up the force of the exoskeleton, pushed, and the metal of the machines began to bend. I dialed back the force and pushed again. The two machines and the bed scraped across the floor. In a few more seconds, I had the bed and the machines jammed against the door.

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