Crossroads by Stephen Kenson Read Free Book Online Page A

rising off a summer highway, and the ork took a step forward, raising his gun. Then his eyes glazed and blood began to run out of his nose and ears as he toppled forward like a poleaxed cow.
    I began turning toward the woman, but she was too fast. As she brought her gun to bear I started casting a protection spell, knowing I wouldn’t be nearly quick enough. My attacker knew it, too, and she gave me a nasty, feral grin that showed her sharpened canine implants before tightening her finger on the trigger.
    The smile vanished in a red mist as half her head exploded, sending bits of bone and brain splattering all over the hallway. I turned to see my recent guest standing back near the doorway holding the smoking Ares Predator that had been pointed at me only a minute ago. Her eyes were red and puffy and tears steamed down her cheeks as the gas slowly drifted out of the broken doorway. I picked my hat up from the ruins of the door and started dusting it off.
    “Thanks.” I coughed.
    “You’re welcome.” she said. “For the time being, it seems like we need each other.” I wasn’t about the argue with her assessment right then. Especially since she seemed to be right.
    “Looks like you were right about someone out to get one or both of us, and the fact that they hit us with a grenade says they probably have friends outside. Do you have any connections here in DeeCee?”
    She shook her head numbly.
    Frag. That figured. The security for my building was pretty decent, Assets saw to that, so the cops would be here any minute now. Right at the moment, I didn’t feel like giving a long explanation to the authorities and testing out the strength of the legal identity Jane-in-the-Box had set up for me here in DeeCee.
    “My car’s around back.” I told her. “We can try getting out that way. I know a place where we can go and finish our little chat.”
    I reached inside the apartment and grabbed the kit bag I always left sitting near the door. I made a habit of keeping all my “necessities” handy in case I had to book in a hurry. With Assets, there were always runs coming up at a moment’s notice, and I wanted to be able to roll out just as fast. When you ran the shadows, disappearing was a habit you got into.
    My guest ran back to the chair and retrieved a narrow case on a shoulder strap. I had hung with Jane-in-the-Box and other deckers long enough to know it was a cyberdeck carrying case, which only made me more curious about what this lady knew.
    I led the way downstairs to the back door. We didn't encounter any more muscle, and I was grateful for living in Rockville right then. The rest of the tenants knew enough to keep their doors closed and locked and pretend they didn’t hear anything when the shots rang out earlier. They would wait for the cops to show before they poked their heads out, which was just fine by me If I’d lived in a real high-class neighborhood like Ryan thought I should, the cops would already be all over the place. Of course, if I lived in a high-class neighborhood, people probably wouldn’t be tossing grenades in my window, either.
    The back parking lot was pretty dark. Fate had chosen last night for the local go-gang to shoot out most of the working lights, and the building superintendent hadn’t bothered to fix them yet. As we moved over to my trusty steed I hit the remote control in my coat pocket to disarm the security system. I felt my companion come up short behind me.
    “How’s your driving?” I said.
    “Why me?” she asked.
    “Because I want to have my attention free in case somebody else wants in on this little party, okay? Doing magic can make it hard to concentrate on mundane things like staying on the road.”
    "So ka. ” She popped open the driver’s door and climbed in while I moved around to the passenger side. I paused for a moment to close my eyes and whisper a phrase under my breath, then got in.
    “What was that, a prayer?”
    “Something like that.” I gave