Nexus

37 HARSH INTRODUCTION

"My name is Ted Prat-Nung," the tall man said. "I hear I have a lot to learn from you."

Oh, fucking hell, Kade thought.

Suk picked up on it. He caught the thoughts in Kade's mind, the images of danger, of armed men lying in wait. He understood in a flash of realization.

"It's a trap!" Prat-Nung's nephew cried.

Alarm spread across Ted Prat-Nung's face. The three bodyguards reached for guns beneath their coats.

Narong was faster. He was up on his feet, just a meter from Prat-Nung, a pistol in his hand pointed at the older man's head. Kade knew that pistol. He'd seen it in Sam's dreams. Ceramic shell. Graphene-tipped rounds. X-ray and metal detector invisible. Standard issue for ERD and CIA field ops.

Oh no, oh fucking no, oh please no.

"Everyone freeze," Narong said, loudly, in unaccented English. "Thanom Prat-Nung, you are under arrest for violations of international law as specified in the Copenhagen Accords on Global Technological Threats."

Have you seen Narong? Kade had asked Sajja.

I think he's sick, Sajja had answered. Must be really bad for him to miss his poster session.

Narong hadn't been sick. He'd been in ERD custody.

One of the guards took a slow half step to the right, trying to get around behind Narong.

He said, "I see you moving. If you take another step, I'll blow his brains out."

Kade could see it, could imagine it, the way the graphenetipped round would go in and out of Ted Prat-Nung's skull, leaving a trail of devastation, splashing his blood and brains onto the wall.

"Everyone lay down your weapons. You're surrounded. Surrender and you won't be harmed." His voice was loud, clear, authoritative, completely unlike the real Narong.

They'll use your tools in ways you never intended, Shu had told him. They won't ask your permission.

The bodyguards looked at their boss, uncertain what to do. Ted Prat-Nung slowly turned his head to look at Narong, stared down the barrel of the gun.

"No," Ted Prat-Nung said. "If you shoot me, you die. You put down your gun."

The expressions on the faces of the bodyguards hardened, turned grim.

I won't let them, Kade had told her.

Narong… Kade looked closer at Narong's mind. There. That wasn't Nexus 3… That was Nexus 5, Kade's technology. Which meant that the ERD had done just what Shu had said they would.

They won't ask your permission, she'd scoffed.

But that also meant that the back doors he and Rangan had installed…

Narong took a step closer to Ted Prat-Nung, brought the gun even closer to his head. "You're all surrounded. Drop your weapons and this can end peacefully. You have three seconds to comply.

"Three…"

No one will use what I've built as a weapon, Kade told himself. Ever.

He sent one of the back door passwords. Narong's mind opened to him.

"Two…"

He reached inside Narong's mind, grasped for the control he needed.

"One."

Kade flexed his will as the word came out of Narong's mouth. A muscle twitched in Ted Prat-Nung's jaw. One of his bodyguards jerked his hand for his weapon.

"No," Kade said.

Narong's eyes rolled into the back of his head. The gun fell from his limp hand. His knees started to buckle.

A burst from a submachine gun tore through Narong's midsection. One of the bodyguards had his weapon out, the barrel practically buried in Narong's stomach. Narong crumpled to the ground. Kade stared in dismay.

Ted Prat-Nung turned to look at Kade. "Who are you?" he asked. All three of his men had their guns out, pointed at Kade now.

The door exploded inwards.

Garrett Nichols watched on the edge of his seat as Jane Kim operated November-1. "You have three seconds to comply." Kim caused the words to come out of November-1's mouth. "Three…"

"Two…"

"One."

Kim issued the command to fire one shot into the target's gut. Nothing happened. Onscreen, the feed from November-1 ceased. Nichols flicked his eyes to the displays from the in-room camera. Gunfire. November-1 was collapsing to the ground, hit. The bodyguards all had their guns out. Everyone was looking at Lane.

"Fuck," Nichols said. "Move in! Move in!"

Teams A and B hit the buttons to blow the doors and burst into the room.

ABORT! CIVILIANS IN DANGER! CIVILIANS IN DANGER!

Someone overrode Sam's command. Fuck. She jumped to her feet. She was unarmed. On her display another friendly asset appeared, just meters from Prat-Nung and from Kade. She hurried into the hallway. Oh no. Mai was there, at the edge of the living room, peering in. Sam had to get the girl away from the danger.

She crept quietly down the hall, reached out with her mind to Mai at the same time. Come here, Mai. Come play with me. She sent it as images, vignettes of them together in the room, safe, playing with the dolls.

Mai turned her head, delightedly, smiled at Sam. She had Monkey in her arms.

The back door at the end of the hall exploded inwards. It knocked Sam off her feet. ERD mercenaries were moving in. The sound of tranq rounds filled the air. Submachine gun fire answered it. Oh, fuck.

The front door exploded inwards. Kade threw himself to the ground, saw Ted Prat-Nung do the same. Someone was shooting from the door, two men in black. Something whizzed above Kade's head. Darts embedded themselves in the bodyguards.

The three bodyguards fired at the doorway, full auto. Muzzle flashes filled the room in gouts of foot-long flame from the tips of the guns. Kade heard a cry of pain. A figure in the doorway toppled, the second ducked back out of sight. Ted Prat-Nung crouched behind a chair. Kade flinched back into a doorway.

• • • •

"Man down!" Bruce Williams called out. "Casualty on Team A. Punched straight through the armor. Tranq rounds ineffective."

Oh shit, Nichols thought. Antibodies. Those fuckers have been inoculated against our tranq.

The tech was evolving too fast. It was getting out too fast. Now people were going to die.

"Switch to lethal rounds," he ordered. "Take those fuckers down."

The bodyguards crouched, spread out, kept their submachine guns trained at the ruined front door. Smoke and dust filled the air. Lalana was on the ground, a bullet in her leg, screaming. Niran picked her up, ran towards the hall with her.

Automatic gunfire burst out from the doorway, cut Niran in half. Bullets passed through him, took one of Prat-Nung's bodyguards in the thigh. The bodyguard fell to one knee, returning fire as he did. The others opened fire on the door. Lalana's head exploded in the crossfire. Kade gasped as her mind winked out.

Ted Prat-Nung pulled a machine pistol from his waist, glanced out from around his chair, a scowl on his face.

Sam shook off the explosion of the door, looked up. Submachine gun fire came from the living room. Mai's smile had turned to terror. She was facing Sam, looking past her, backing away towards the living room and the sounds of fighting.

No!!! Sam sent. No!!!!

Someone grabbed Sam's arm, lifted her up.

"Blackbird, you hit? Where's Canary?"

The voice came out muffled through his facemask. Sam was still staring at Mai, trying to will her back away from the shooting, towards safety.

A trench coated bodyguard came into view, crouched down low, backing into the hallway. He looked behind him, saw the agents coming in, whirled to fire. The merc next to Sam reacted faster, brought his rifle up, pulled the trigger. Muzzle fire erupted from his gun.

NO!!!! Mai was in the line of fire!

Sam threw herself against the soldier, slammed him into the wall. Bullets whizzed past them. Mai screamed, paralyzed, standing upright in the crossfire, horror emanating from her.

The man Sam had slammed was stunned. More fire came from the door behind her. A round grazed her shoulder. Sam acted on instinct, turned the one she'd slammed against the wall, steered him towards the team coming in, covered his hand with hers and pulled the trigger with his finger.

Bullets slammed into the man she held, sent her staggering back with him. She fired wildly at the back door, barely able to aim the assault rifle in the man's hand, held down his finger on the trigger until the clip was empty, saw one of the incoming figures fall.

"What the fuck?" Garrett Nichols yelled.

Bruce Williams shook his head. "Two down in B team, sir. Blackbird just took down two of our own!"

"Tell her to stand the fuck down!" Nichols ordered. "Take her down if you have to. Alive!"

He surveyed the displays. Three of the assault team dead. All the bodyguards down, at least one dead for certain. Ted PratNung unaccounted-for. What a clusterfuck.

"And send in Team C!"

Silence. Sobbing. Sam let go of the man in front of her and he slumped to the ground. She whirled.

Where was Mai?

She saw Prat-Nung's bodyguard first. Dead, a bloody crater where his face had once been. There, Mai. Sam ran, crouched down next to the girl. There was blood all over her. Her eyes were closed. There was pain, pain, pain emanating from her mind. She was hit. Once, twice, three times. Bullets from the incoming ERD mercenaries had lifted her up and thrown her down the hall. Her tiny body had been half ripped apart, her toy Monkey reduced to shreds. Her mind was fading.

NOOOOOO!

Mai opened her eyes, tried to smile up at Sam.

I love you, Sam, her mind seemed to say.

And then she was gone.

Madness descended on Samantha Cataranes.

Someone slammed into her from behind. An agent. Sam rolled with it, threw him off her. There was another burst of gunfire from the living room, a yell of pain. She could hear screaming, sobbing, cries for help. She felt them in her mind. Another agent came at her from the side. She blocked a kick, took him down with a single blow to the face.

Lalana was dead. Niran was dying. Chuan was hit and bleeding. The rage consumed her.

She blocked a rifle thrust from her left, tried to kick at the one ahead of her, felt his rifle smash painfully into her shin as he blocked her.

Chariya lay hit and dying, sobbing quietly for her husband, for the girl she'd adopted as daughter. Sarai was screaming in pain and horror, a bullet in her, crouched over Sajja's dead body, the man she'd loved.

They were all inside her. Their minds were one with hers. Sam could feel them all. The Nexus and the Empathek fused them with her.

Sam was them. She was their despair. She was their anger. She was their weapon.

Sam bellowed in rage as the agents came at her, lashed out with fists and feet, took one down, a second, a third.

A rifle smashed into the back of her head, brought her down to her hands and knees. A man behind her. She kicked backwards, sent a body hurtling through the air and into the wall. Another one slammed a rifle into her face. A man on the ground kicked her viciously in the midsection, knocked the wind out of her.

Sam rolled to the side to get out from the middle of them, took a hard kick to the head. A booted foot landed on her chest, a rifle pointed down at her.

"Cataranes!" It was Lee. "Stop!"

She kicked up, trying to disarm him. Another man kicked her in the face, hard. Two more rifle barrels stared down at her.

"Stand down, damn you!"

Wats panned the fiber-optic camera frantically. It was a goddamn warzone down there. Kade had appeared briefly before everything went tits up, then disappeared. He had to get Kade out of there. Where was he? Where the fuck was he?

Kade crouched in the doorway. He could feel the pain and death out there. He could feel it all through the Nexus connection they shared. Narong was crumpled on the ground, confused and terrified, not sure what he'd done, in incredible pain, terrified he was about to die.

I did that, Kade thought. My fault. My responsibility.

Chariya was hit, mourning the death of her family. Sajja was dead. Lalana was dead. He could feel Niran bleeding to death in the middle of the room.

It took his breath away. Pain and anguish like he'd never experienced. It was filling him up. He could feel them dying, feel their agony, feel their despair.

I've killed these people, he thought. I've fucking killed them. Tears streamed down his face.

He had to get a grip. He slammed the serenity package on hard, jammed it to its max setting. Clarity descended through the fog of pain and fear. He opened himself to those still alive, tried to parse what they were seeing through their own confusion and rage and terror.

He could feel Chuan slowly creeping towards one of PratNung's dead bodyguards, reaching for his gun, intending to kill these motherfuckers who'd invaded their home. Through Chuan's eyes he saw Ted Prat-Nung dash forward from behind a chair, heading for Chariya, firing at an agent with his machine pistol. His volley took the man in the chest, armor-piercing rounds ripping right through the mercenary. A stray hit Rajni, cowering on the floor, tore through her left thigh, shattered her femur, ripped a scream out of her body like no john or pimp ever had.

Prat-Nung scooped Chariya up in his arms, dashing for the window. Another agent brought his gun to bear. Panes of the stained glass window exploded beyond Prat-Nung. Automatic fire converged on him, pounded into his chest, lifted him off his feet and dropped him onto the floor, Chariya atop him.

Kade pulled his mind away from them. Sam. She was down, agents pointing rifles at her. He sent it to Chuan, pushed on the boy's mind. Sam! Help her!

Chuan came up on one knee, a submachine gun from one of Prat-Nung's bodyguards in his hand, firing on the agents above Sam. His bullets took one in the back, tore through the man's spine. Two rifles came up, muzzle flares burst into life, and Chuan's chest exploded. He fell, a look of shock on his face. Kade could feel his mind still working, surprised, not understanding, still catching up to what had just happened to him, still coming to grips with the fact that he was dead, as the remains of his body slumped to the floor.

Kade had to help Sam himself. He flipped on Bruce Lee. Targeting circles appeared in his vision. He clicked on one of the men standing above Sam, his weapon trained on her: Full attack.

Bruce Lee hurled his body into the fray.

Sam went still on the ground, stared up into the gun barrels, put her hands above her head. They had her. Damnit.

More gunfire came from the kitchen. Screams. She could feel Kade searching for her, felt him find her.

Chuan came up on one knee with a bodyguard's gun and fired. She felt him do it. The bullets tore through the chest of one of the men above her. Lee lifted his rifle, took his eyes off Sam, annihilated Chuan.

Someone slammed into Lee from the side. It was Kade, in a flying side-kick that knocked the mercenary into the wall. She felt Lee slam the butt of his gun into Kade's face, knock him to the ground. But for a moment there were only two of them above her, their eyes towards Chuan, guns drifting up. Sam reached up with both arms, grabbed their belts, yanked hard as she kicked herself to standing and brought them down to the ground.

She whirled in a vicious spinning hook kick that would have decapitated most men, struck one of the agents in the head, plowed him into his squadmate. An assault rifle went off, rounds firing wild into the ceiling and behind her.

Lee rushed her, using his rifle two-handed, trying to bash her in the face with it. She grabbed the rifle with both hands, rolled back and kicked, hurtling him into the air and the wall behind her.

She came up to her feet, his rifle in both her hands. Someone crashed into her from behind. She whirled, smashed the man in the head with the assault rifle. An agent on the ground threw himself at the back of her legs, brought her down to her knees.

Someone kicked at Sam's head. A rifle came down on her back like a hammer blow, sent her sprawling. She rolled to avoid another aimed at her head, took a foot painfully in the ribs, punched out at a man's groin, knocked him back despite the body armor.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Too many of them.

Kicks and rifles rained down on her. She blocked, blocked, kicked blindly, tried to grab at a gun. Blows kept landing. Pain exploded through her face as a steel-toe boot connected. Her left arm went numb as she blocked a rifle butt painfully with her elbow. Pain shot up from her kidneys. Her hip, her ribs, her chest, she was being pummeled into hell. She couldn't breathe, could barely see.

Too many. Too fucking many. She could not win this fight. She was going to fucking die here.

They killed Mai!

A foot landed on the side of her head and pushed. Two men wrestled her wrists together. Sam raged, almost pushed them off. A rifle butt slammed into her face. Her muscles went limp for an instant. Her wrists snapped together behind her back in plasticuffs. Three rifle barrels pointed down at her.

"Stand down, damn you!" Lee yelled.

She was beaten, she realized. There would be no rescue this time. Now she'd pay for what she'd done.

And then the ceiling above her exploded, something large and heavy fell from it onto the agents below, and someone tall and built like an ox dropped after it, full auto shotguns in both hands, firing as he landed.

Wats scanned frantically. There! That was Kade. He flew out of nowhere, collided with one of the ERD agents. He was trying to save Cataranes.

The agent smacked Kade down as Wats watched. At least six of them down there. No sign of Suk Prat-Nung's men yet either. Nearly hopeless odds.

All that matters is what we do with the instant we are given.

Wats slapped the plastic explosive down, hit the delayed detonator, crouched behind the heavy wooden desk.

The explosion was deafening. Dust fell on him instantly. He heaved the oak desk forward, sent it hurtling down through the hole in the floor, pulled his guns and jumped down after it.

Sam's eyes widened as the towering figure in black leapt down through the hole that the blast had opened in the ceiling above, landing on the wreckage of the massive desk that had preceded him, and the agents buried beneath it. Lee looked up, stunned, tried to bring his pistol to bear. Wats' gun roared at point-blank range, and Lee's head disintegrated in a cloud of red gore.

There was a mind there. Sam felt it. She'd felt it briefly once before. Watson Cole. The one that had gotten away.

The ex-Marine turned, firing in a tight arc in the close space of the combat. One of the agents rolled behind the fallen desk. Another brought his gun up to fire at Cole. The black man's auto shotguns pulverized him.

Another mercenary took aim at Cole. Sam threw herself at the mercenary, arms cuffed behind her back, knocked him to the ground, kicked him in the face until he went limp.

There was one more agent up, the one who'd rolled behind the wreckage of the massive desk. He came around it, tried to take Cole by surprise. Wats was there, waiting for him. The mercenary came up into the barrels of both guns. They erupted, their muzzle flashes burning him , graphene-coated pellets shredding through his armor, opening holes in his chest and groin.

One of the two agents under the wreckage of the desk was stirring, reaching for the assault rifle just out of his grasp. Wats kicked it away from him, bashed him in the face with the butt of his shotgun.

The guns fell silent. Only the screams of the dying and the sobs of the bereaved could be heard.