The Coward's Option by Adam-Troy Castro

Author:Adam-Troy Castro [Castro, Adam-Troy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-625672-88-9
Publisher: Jabberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.
Published: 2017-01-15T05:00:00+00:00

* * *

The next morning, she rose on schedule, showered, then dressed and went to the dining room for breakfast. Nobody sat with her, though Marys Kearn walked in once, met her gaze, then shuddered and walked away, foregoing the meal. Cort took her time over breakfast and bussed her table in time for her early-morning meeting with the ambassador, actually arriving a few minutes early, which obliged her to stand at the door, patiently waiting.

As it turned out, Pendrake was a few minutes late getting to her own office that morning, and arrived carrying a coffee cup and a malignant smile of approval. “Glad to see you’re so prompt. I approve of that quality.”

Cort’s answer was polite and respectful. “Thank you, ambassador.”

They went inside, where Cort stood with folded hands while Kearn made herself comfortable at her desk and called up the text of the letter Cort had edited on her instructions the previous evening.

It took Pendrake all of thirty seconds to make her way through it. “Well, this is much better. I see a couple of points that might benefit from tinkering, but nothing really worth complaining about. Together with my letter, this should take care of any further questions your Mr. Bringen might have.”

“I’m afraid we’re not finished, though.”

Pendrake frowned. “What’s the problem?”

“I was not satisfied with this draft and produced another one early this morning.”

The ambassador rolled her eyes. “You should have shown me that one first, then. I don’t have time to waste reviewing every piddling little step you take between the initiation of a project and its successful completion.”

“I’m sorry, ambassador.”

“That doesn’t give me back my wasted time. Where is it?”

Cort tapped her hytex link. “Here it comes.”

The holographic text above Pendrake’s desktop flickered as the old version was replaced with the new one. Even before it hung there long enough for a single word to be read, it was visible as a different draft, because it consisted of four paragraphs longer and denser than the ones Cort had completed before going to sleep.

Pendrake had time to sight-read several words in the first sentence before she looked up, a terrible comprehension dawning in her eyes. She leaped up with enough force to send her chair toppling backward to the floor. The fight-or-flight impulse settled on fight and she circled her desk in a frenzy, launching herself at Cort in an attack that she must have thought her superior bulk guaranteed victory.

What followed was downright embarrassing.

In her life, Cort had defended herself against murderers of flesh and blood. She had absorbed blows and retaliated with more punishing ones. She’d entered this room expecting no challenge, and now experienced no challenge, taking down a woman whose familiarity with combat was limited to a holographic simulator at a beginner’s setting. She sidestepped the wild lunge with ease, robbed Pendrake of breath with a blow to the throat, robbed her of balance with a heel to the ankle, and robbed her of fight by seizing the hair in the back of her head and driving her forehead into the desktop.

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