In My Skin (The Obsidian Files Book 3) by Shannon McKenna

Author:Shannon McKenna [McKenna, Shannon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Shannon McKenna
Published: 2018-06-18T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Jada? Jada? Where are you? Jada!

The voices faded in and out. Flashing lights sliced through a fog, disorienting her. Jada, here! Over here! She stumbled toward the voice…and ran head-on into a rock solid barrier—

“…goddamn you! R-48! Wake up! That’s an order! How long has she been like this?” Hale’s voice, blaring in her ear, impossibly loud.

“Only a minute, sir.” It was E-677’s voice, a Level Fifteen from another combat team. “She might have accidentally detached in the deep-dive. I’ll try to drag her back—”

“She cannot fucking detach! She’s my last Level Twenty! Give me that pain wand. Goddamn fucking insubordinate bitch.”

“Sir, the wand isn’t recommended during data-dives. It creates conflict in the—”

Buzzzzzz. A grunting gasp, and E-677 hit the floor, engulfed in a seizure.

Then R-48 felt the prods of the pain wand against her chest.

Agony. It filled her whole self. One long, blinding, endless shriek of it.

It ended, at some point. The pipes on the ceiling came into focus…hanging above something ugly. Hale’s face hung over her. He stuck the wand back into his belt. His lips were purplish, wet with anger spit. Jowls quivering with rage.

“There you are,” he snarled. “Finally. Had a nice nap, bitch? Were you thinking of checking out permanently? Was that the fucking plan all along?”

“No, sir.” The whispered croak of words had no air behind them.

She struggled up into a sitting position. So cold. She hadn’t felt pain like this since the gene therapy flu back at the beginning. She was hot and cold all at once. Her lungs were on fire. Her bowels churned.

Hale ripped the adhesive sensors off and yanked the probes out of her cranial ports. She sat naked and dripping, staring straight ahead. He was too angry to notice.

“You understand how badly you fucked up out there?” he demanded.

“I reviewed the drone recording, yes,” she said. “And the data we downloaded from Metzer’s implant.”

“You did, huh? Up to the point where you drove the drone through Metzer’s head?”

“That was not me,” she said mechanically. “That guy hijacked the drone. Just like he hijacked the van from G-97.”

“Who is also dead. Because of you! All of them are dead because of you!”

There was no point trying to defend herself. He was going to pin this on her and her alone, and there was nothing she could do. She’d be slapped and zapped and reconditioned. Up the ass and back down again.

“Can you do what he did?” Hale demanded.

R-48 blinked the haze out of her eyes, taken aback by the question. “Theoretically yes, but it would take time to develop that kind of technique. He hijacked the van, piloted the drone and sniped us, all simultaneously.”

“We need defense strategies against this new threat,” Hale said. “All operatives must learn to match his speed. Evolve or die. Show me what you found on your dive.”

“Downloading now.”

Hale turned away to watch the video. She took advantage of his distraction to dry off, and looked longingly at her clothes, which hung across the room.

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