Double Edged by Jessie Kwak

Author:Jessie Kwak [Kwak, Jessie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-05-27T16:00:00+00:00

11

Starla

Starla sees it first, the shadow slinking within shadows down at the far end of the block.

Your 9, she messages El, sees him turn his head from his position at the wheel of the second spinner. He flashes her a thumbs-up.

Tosh, what do you see?

Toshiyo’s reply takes a moment, and in that moment the shadows go dark and still once more. Starla isn’t sure she didn’t just imagine it.

Nothing in the immediate vicinity, responds Toshiyo.

Thought I saw something in the north alley.

Copy.

Starla drums her fingertips against the controls. She and El are idling at far ends of the block, giving them a three-quarter view of the surrounding area. Toshiyo’s drone is filling in the gaps, and apart from the three guards inside the building, there’s been no sign of life in this neighborhood.

Something is coming.

Something has to be coming.

Jaantzen and the others have been inside nine minutes when Starla sees the shadows shift again. This time it’s a clear figure, a child peering around the corner.

Starla sits up straighter.

Kid in the alley, she messages to Toshiyo and El.

I see her.

This is definitely the sort of neighborhood where unattended children could just be wandering by themselves — but the more likely explanation is the kid is a lookout for someone a bit more intimidating.

Movement on the north side of the building, Toshiyo says. It’s on the common channel, so Manu and the others are getting it, too. Three people maybe.

I see them, responds El. Confirm three, starting to climb.

Seconds later, a message from Jaantzen appears on her lens. Starla: meet us at the window.

El’s headlights glare to life at the same time Starla hits her own ignition switch; the spinner shivers to life around her.

And a spray of bullets slams against the glass of her rear window.

El’s headlights flash and Starla banks out of his way just as he fires a pair of plasma blasts at whoever was just firing at her. Her rearview screen flares with the explosion.

Heavy fighting at window, she types.

Another five heading towards the front gate, says Toshiyo.

Starla maneuvers her armored spinner to cover the window Jaantzen and Ximena went in through, then takes aim at a half-standing wall that seems to be providing cover for a pair of shooters. Direct hit — it explodes into rubble.

We’re taking fire at apartment ten, Jaantzen says. Meet us at the front gate.

Copy, Starla types.

She’s still taking fire from behind; flashes from El’s spinner farther down the block tell her he’s taking care of business there. She fires a missile rearward at her attackers, then guns it to the entrance.

The entrance is a miniature war zone. Jaantzen and his crew have taken cover at the gates, gunfire flying thick in both directions as they keep back an attack from across the street that’s using the burnt-out facade of the other apartment building for cover. Her people are holding on, but just barely. And not for long.

She picks off two of their attackers with a spray of bullets, and another falls from a shot from Manu.

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