Cates 04 - The Terminal State by Jeff Somers Read Free Book Online

that moved elegantly over his clipboard, summoning information and entering data. He had the look of a man who’d never been hit, never held a gun, never had to experience any real pain or trauma—and a valuable man, too; they weren’t making too many new doctors these days. I saw the layout of the tent in my head—no guards inside, fucking trivial to put hands on the man and make him a hostage. I thought of Remy, thought of another smug, disinterested doctor visiting him. Had to be something in here I could improvise with, and then count on them not wanting to lose a sawbones. Was I worth more than the doctor?
    I eyed him for a second. It probably depended on how much Belling had paid for me.
    And I could do it. Maybe he had the same augments as I, but I’d been making do without them for a long time. I had skills you couldn’t implant. But I discarded the idea. I had no idea what the layout of the complex was, or what was outside the interlocked network of canvas. I was fucking naked . Stumbling around with an uncooperative hostage, unarmed, fresh out of surgery, with Spooks lounging around—the odds of one of them being a Pusher were pretty much one hundred percent, meaning I’d end my day sucking my thumb and rocking back and forth. I figured, if nothing else, I should wait until I got some fucking clothes. I didn’t want to die with no damn pants on.
    Besides, every step was a step toward being in the same room as Wa Belling.
    The first time I’d met Belling, he’d claimed to be Canny Orel, the best killer for hire in the System, rumored dead. Belling was a liar, but a fucking good liar. Then for a while we’d worked together in New York, but he’d just been keeping his hand in while he helped set me up for Kev Gatz and the Plague, so he’d been a liar then, but still a top-of-the-line liar. I hadn’t seen him since he’d left me for dead in New York. I hadn’t thought of him as much as his old boss, Orel, aka Michaleen Garda, because Garda had been the most recent asshole to fuck me over. But Belling still counted, and I felt good enough to maybe try and strangle him with my bare hands. I felt good enough to get in close and do it old-school.
    When Gupta looked back at me, he startled for a moment like he could read my mind. Then he smiled.
    “I know this isn’t an ideal situation for you, my friend. I am sorry—I am, believe me or not. But for the next few minutes, I am your best friend, and I advise you to treat me as such. Because I am all the orientation you are going to get.” His smile broadened. I realized that this skinny fuck had spent who knew how long processing people like me, and he had something going on if he was still grinning, untouched and unafraid.
    Just my luck. For years the cosmos had been feeding me patsies, and I’d wasted them by twisting their noses and bullying them. Now I needed a patsy and the cosmos sent me someone with half a ball.
    I nodded. “All right. You said in my brain —am I a fucking puppet now? ”
    He shook his head. “Doesn’t work like that.” He grinned, plucking a pile of white fabric from a peg on the wall behind me. “Haven’t you already heard the speech: The System of Federated Nations Army does not want robots or avatars or men afraid to speak their minds. The SFNA wants intelligence, compassion, and leadership.” He laughed a little. “That’s boilerplate around here. So, no, you’re not a puppet—no mind control. If they wanted that, they’d just build themselves avatars, like the cops are.” He grimaced. “Fucking mind rape, that’s what that is. There’s coercion, sure—we’ll get to that in a minute—but if you die, Private Cates, you die you . At least there’s that.”
    I grimaced in turn. “ That ain’t worth much, doc.”
    “This,” he said immediately, shaking me off and holding the pile of white fabric out to me, “is your uniform. It is the only clothing you will need, going forward.” He paused, tossing it