Artificial Absolutes (Jane Colt Book 1) (16 page)

Devin pulled a black laser gun out of his bag.

Jane glanced at it uncomfortably. “Where’d you get that?”

“Had it in the Blue Tang.” He pressed the edges of his bag shut. “Don’t worry. I won’t shoot anyone.”

Jane reached for the stunner in her pocket, only to find it missing.

Dammit! Must’ve left it in the Blue Tang.

Devin raised the gun. “Go under the table.”

What’s he up to?
Jane crawled under the table beneath the window.

Devin hesitated, suddenly looking nervous. His expression firmed, and he fired repeatedly at the window. Shattered glass pounded the table above Jane’s head and tumbled to the floor.

She looked up questioningly. “What was that for?”

Devin watched the window. “Hopefully, they’ll come up here while we go down another way.”

Jane crawled out and ran toward the door. Devin pulled her down. A burst of white light wiped out her vision. Apparatuses shattered. She screamed.

“It’s only a stun blast.” Devin sounded calm.

Broken glass and spilled liquids surrounded her. “What do they have, a freaking stun
cannon
?” She started to get up.

Devin grabbed her shoulders. “Wait.”

A second blast flew through the window. A nearby apparatus exploded. Jane held up her arm to protect her face, and her skin burned as a liquid splashed onto it. Pieces of glass scraped her wrist. “
Ow
!”

“Jane!” Devin reached into his bag, grabbed a bottle, and poured the water onto her scratches.

“Knock it off!” Jane pulled away. “I got
scratched
, for crying out loud!”

“The Seer said those liquids could be toxic.” Devin ripped off his office shirt, revealing the black T-shirt underneath, and used it to hurriedly wipe her arm.

Jane yanked the shirt from him. “This is no time to be paranoid!” She sprang up. “Soldiers with guns coming at us, remember? Now let’s
go
!”

She dropped the shirt and sprinted out of the room. Devin passed her in the corridor. He leaned against the wall by the stairwell, looked down, and then gestured for her to follow.

As Jane rushed down the stairs, she held her arms out for balance and fixed her eyes on the steps to keep from tripping.

One flight down… Two…

She crashed into Devin, smashing her nose against his T-shirted back. A blast hit the wall in front of them.
Shit, that was close!

Jane ran up the stairs and turned into the nearest corridor. She couldn’t hear her brother behind her, so she looked back.

Devin backed up against the wall beside the doorframe on the level below. He held his gun by his shoulder. White blasts flew past him. He looked out into the corridor, undaunted by the chaos. The moment the blasting stopped, he stepped into the doorframe.

Bang.

Jane jumped.

Devin rushed toward her. “I took out his weapon.”

She didn’t move. “When’d you learn to shoot like that?”

Instead of replying, Devin pushed her out of the stairwell. He stood against the doorframe, firing down the stairs as blasts from below hit the walls, aiming high, as if aiming to miss.

Jolted by an abrupt sense of unease, Jane turned. A soldier entered the corridor from the staircase at the other end. “
Look out
!”

Devin ducked. A blast hit the wall above him. He quickly straightened and fired several times. The soldier darted back into the stairwell.

Boots pounded up the stairs. Jane ran. Two soldiers emerged from a stairwell in front of her. Devin shoved her into one of the rooms.

Except it wasn’t a room. It was a freaking elevator.

“
Shit
.” Devin pushed her behind him.

Several blasts whizzed past. Jane nervously backed up against the wall as he exchanged fire with the soldiers. She looked around.
This isn’t my first time trapped in an elevator…

The vent in the high ceiling was clearly unreachable.
A lotta good that’ll do us.

Devin followed her gaze. He fired up at the vent.

Jane gasped.
What the—

Snap
!

The ground dropped as the elevator fell.

She bit her lip.
No more screaming.

“Commander Vega!”

She turned to the officer, concerned by the alarm in his voice. “Yes?”

“Three unidentified Barracudas are approaching the target site from the South-West. They are unmarked and heavily armed. I believe they are hostile. They are not responding to attempts to communicate.”

Who would attack us in such a remote area?
“Deploy Betta Unit E. Attack mode.”

The elevator tipped. Through the open door, Jane saw the wall, then the crooked corridor, and then the wall again. Something clanged.

Devin grabbed her from behind and twisted her around as the elevator hit the ground, slamming her body into his.

It took a moment for Jane to regain her sense of up and down.

Devin looked dazed. He’d apparently taken the full impact against the corner of the elevator, cushioning her. “Sorry, should’ve warned you. You okay?”

Jane got off him. “Are
you
okay?”

“Yeah.”

As soon as she found her balance on the tilted floor, she held out her hand and helped her brother up.

She peeked into the dim corridor. All the doorways were dark except those of the stairwells on either end.
Must be a basement level.
She didn’t see anyone, so she climbed out of the elevator. Devin picked up his gun and stepped out behind her.

A soldier emerged from a stairwell. He held up a gun. Devin hit the weapon before he could fire. It flew out of the soldier’s hand and smashed against a wall.

Jane darted into the nearest room. Metal and machinery scattered across its floor. She ran to the door that would lead away from the soldier. It was locked. “Dammit!”

A series of knocks, as if something fell to the ground.
What’s that?

Devin grabbed a table and threw it sideways. He pushed Jane behind it and pulled her down as he crouched. A high-pitched mechanical shriek and an explosion of light filled the room.

Jane felt as though someone had stuffed her ears with cotton. She gave Devin a questioning glance.

“Flash grenade.” Devin looked around. He must have dropped his gun.

A weapon’s black form lay just beyond the shelter of the table. Jane scrambled to snatch it. Devin pulled her back, and it fell from her hand.

A slow
scrape
and a soft
thud
—boots impacting the ground.

“Did you get it?” Devin mouthed.

Jane nodded and grabbed the gun. She froze as she realized what she held in her hand. “
Shit
!”

“What?”

“It’s… I have a…”

The footsteps were practically next to them.

“
What is it
?”

“A
blow dryer
!” Jane looked at Devin helplessly as she held up the cosmetic device that had looked so weapon-like in the dark. He pressed his lips together as though suppressing a laugh.

The soldier peered over the table. Devin sprang up and threw a quick jab at the man’s throat. The man choked and stumbled. “Go!”

Jane dashed out. A cry—the soldier’s. Devin shoved him back while kicking his leg out from under him. The man fell backward.

The blow dryer was still in her hand. She acquiesced to the urge to hurl it. The device landed near the soldier’s head and turned on, blasting his face with a stream of air.

Jane couldn’t help laughing as she and Devin, who stopped briefly to pick up his real gun, ran out of the room. She rushed toward the front stairwell, heard soldiers’ voices, and spun toward the back.

Commander Vega looked over the weapons officer’s shoulder. According to his chart, one Betta remained. It flashed on the screen and disappeared.

The weapons officer spun toward her. “Hostiles have destroyed the Bettas, Commander! They avoided all attempted strikes and hit each drone with no misses. It was as if they knew the algorithms. Contact Shark Team?”

Commander Vega watched the three triangles representing the hostiles. “No. Activate the cannons.”

Please let there be no one outside
.

Jane tore up the back stairwell after her brother. Her muscles ached, and she breathed so hard she felt lightheaded.

She reached ground level and saw light from the open doorway—

Boom.

She couldn’t stop the scream that time. A cacophony of rumbles and cracks followed the explosion, accompanied by distant cries of shock and pain. Shadows of debris splotched the light.

Before she could register what happened, another
boom
.

“Hostiles are bombarding the—”

“Flame Team! Pull back
immediately
!
I repeat, pull back
now
!” Commander Vega clenched her jaw to contain her rage and horror. Her troops didn’t stand a chance.

The
Granite Flame
’s
cannons fired at the deep blue Barracudas. As with the Bettas, the hostiles avoided the targeting system.

“Switch to manual targeting!” The officer had probably been correct about the hostiles knowing the
Granite Flame’s
algorithms. They could predict the system’s moves.

The back of the building collapsed. The comm overflowed with the alarmed voices of the Flame Team as the hostiles continued their assault.