The Rosewater Redemption by Tade Thompson

Author:Tade Thompson
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 2019-10-14T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Five

Rosewater is having a sticky moment.

A spree killer has held up the financial district for two hours. Forty-two people are dead. Tactical teams are unable to end it because they have been split due to unrest in other parts of the city. Protests and riots erupted after the reanimate trials, with people demanding the bodies of their loved ones back.

Aminat and Dahun arrive at the district, and settle behind the barricade. The shooter is ensconced in the lobby of Integrity Bank, a place Aminat remembers both Kaaro and her cousin Bola once worked. The building is pocked with bullet holes from returned fire. The road is littered with corpses, scorch marks and the twisted metal of downed drones and assault bots.

“The shooter has two turrets and some strange assault rifle. No demands. Three officers down, and we haven’t been able to get close to him.”

“You know it’s a male?” asks Aminat.

“No.”

“Snipers?”

“Distortion field.”

Dahun reaches into his jacket and hurls some small baubles to the ground. They roll towards the blackened building, then crack like eggs before disgorging several arthrodrones. He activates his subdermal phone and a series of graphs appear.

“I shouldn’t be here,” says Aminat. “I should be coordinating, calling the plays from headquarters.”

“You can work from here as well as there,” says Dahun. “Permission to go and kill this sonofabitch?”

“Have at it,” says Aminat.

Dahun takes off his jacket and places it on the asphalt. His armour is up, leaving only eye slits. The light around him shimmers from his bespoke personal repulsion shield. As soon as he is within fifty yards, the turrets start shooting at him. The shield holds, but Aminat can see he does not wish to test it consistently. Tactical releases volleys of suppressing fire.

The bank is a good choice for a siege, as it’s already fortified against robbers, so once you’re in, it’ll take the kind of thing Dahun is doing to get you out. Idly, Aminat hopes Layi and Kaaro have the sense to stay home. But since when do those two ever have sense?

All the plate glass erupts outwards and Aminat falls flat. Dahun walks out dragging a man by the scruff of the neck, ignoring the pain he must be causing. His force field has fizzled out and strips of his armour are gone. When he gets to Aminat, he flings the man to the ground. Tactical start to draw near in ones and twos.

The man is burned, smoking and laughing.

“He’s a fucking synner,” says Dahun.

Yes, the green tinge to the eyes. Dahun may be new, but he’s learning fast. This is not going to help matters in Rosewater. If Homians are committing mass murder to up their numbers, the reanimate protests might just explode into revolution.

“I used up the power cell on my shield just at the last minute. Lucky to still be alive.”

Aminat prods the alien with her boot. “Do you have a name?”

“Laark.” It comes as a raspy whisper, along with the rest of his breathing. Maybe the fire burned his airways.

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