TOPGUN: Darkness (Brutal Response Book 5) by Michael Anderle

Author:Michael Anderle [Anderle, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: LMBPN Publishing
Published: 2023-06-13T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Mia groaned as she awakened. Every muscle in her body ached, including some she didn’t even know she had. She tried to move her arms. They didn’t want to, but something cool pressed against her skin and rattled.

She needed to evaluate the situation and come up with a tactical plan. The first step was trying to recall what had happened.

Memories flooded back in. She’d been ambushed in the cantina by well-prepared mercs. They hadn’t killed her. That suggested bounty hunters more than conspiracy pawns. She couldn’t be sure. Maybe they wanted to experiment on her using someone saner than Icaryus.

Mia tried to concentrate and force the clouds out of her mind. Her blurry vision denied her an accurate situational update, but after a moment, her vision cleared, and she looked up. She’d been shackled and hung from a manacle mount that kept her arms over her head.

She was opposite a similarly restrained though unconscious Izzy. His head hung forward.

“Damn it.” Mia growled. “That’s what I get for not listening to Charlie.”

She should have told him to charge in immediately. She’d gotten cocky, and it had cost her. Next time, she’d bring her own grenades and a rifle.

It was one thing to get overwhelmed by a clone army. Mercs shouldn’t have been able to get the drop on her.

The presence of Izzy in her cell answered one question. He wouldn’t have sold her out only to get manhandled and locked up. She couldn’t even be sure if he’d been sloppy, or if they both just had bad luck that day.

Or was this all a ruse? She couldn’t be sure but doubted it. Izzy wouldn’t have let his precious new suit get damaged just to put her off guard. Despite her earlier suspicion, the bounty hunters had no reason to double-cross him. She’d trust his innocence, though not his situational awareness. She was beginning to think she shouldn’t meet anyone away from the Erinyes.

Mia looked down, trying to sort out her options. Her captors had relieved her of her pistol and knife, though after shaking her leg and sensing weight in her pocket, she confirmed she still had a datapad.

She liked her chances. Her captors must not have cared about something so inconsequential if all they sought was her bounty. What they didn’t realize was that she had a powerful weapon still on her side, a portable instance of her AI. That gave her a major advantage.

“Debbie II, are you still there?” she whispered. “Can you hear me?”

“I am, love, and I can,” the AI replied quietly. “Wherever they’re holding us is shielded, so I can’t contact anyone now, but I sent along a message to the crew before you were taken to inform them of what was happening. With the jamming currently in place, unfortunately, I have little ability to directly interface with their system without you connecting the datapad directly into a port, which might prove difficult given your current predicament.”

“What about Charlie?” Mia asked. “I heard him right before I passed out.

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