Data Runner by Sam A. Patel Read Free Book Online Page A

City.
    Now my nerves take over. Scanning the card was the easy part, but the closer we get to those massive buildings whose secrets I will shortly be tasked with carrying, the more it becomes real. As we pass over the river, I try to take my mind off it by staring out the window, but all I see is the famous Grumwell building towering more than a kilometer into the sky. The largest building in the world, it is a monolith of black marble and mirrored glass that gleams in the sun like a modern-day Great Pyramid. But what else would you expect from the biggest corporation in the world? So enormous is the Grumwell building that looking at it from the moving car seems to make the entire world go by in slow motion.
    But that slowness ends the moment we take the off-ramp. Bigsby tosses me around the back of the car as we make our way through the Free City traffic until he takes a sudden turn into an underground garage. That makes me wonder; why would a firm who goes to such great lengths to remain hidden just give up their location like that? I mean, I have no intention of revealing their location, but you’d think they would have taken some precaution. Put a blindfold on me at the very least.
    But everything makes more sense when Bigsby delivers me to the eighteenth floor suite that is little more than a gutted space. Scattered all around the room are silver cases lined with foam cutouts. Each shape corresponds to some piece of gear that has already been set up in the room. In the middle of the room sits a medical chair under a blast of sterile lights. Next to that is a rack of surgical equipment. But the most interesting thing of all is the link. These guys aren’t porting into the aggrenet through the building’s infrastructure; they have their own rifle antenna pointed out the window.
    The first person I see is the big bald guy who looks like a prison thug working the hardware. He has tattoos all up his neck and even on his scalp, but the tattoo I notice most is on his enormous forearm. That one depicts a large eagle with a snake dangling from its beak.
    I don’t even see Cyril approach from the side. “It’s good to have you on board, Jack.”
    â€œThanks.”
    He checks his watch. “We’ve got a lot to get through today, so what do you say we—”
    â€œâ€”get down to brass tacks?” I offer.
    Cyril smirks in that nearly imperceptible way of his. “Smart kid.”

6
    The bald guy’s name is Snake, which I soon learn refers not to the slithering reptile but to a type of eagle that feeds on it. The Snake Eagle , as it is known, is exactly what is tattooed on his arm. Snake was once the best runner Arcadian had, until his age finally caught up with him and he developed chronic tendonitis in his knees. Now he’s their head technician. Apparently it helps for new runners to be ushered in by someone who’s actually been in their shoes. I can see why. Snake isn’t what you would call personable, in fact he’s not very friendly at all—surly if anything—but he is not unsympathetic. As hard as I try not to let my nervousness show, Snake can smell it all over me. He doesn’t say anything at first, not until Cyril steps aside for a moment to make sure all the paperwork is in order. Then he leans in close.
    â€œYou’re a little scared,” he says.
    I nod.
    â€œYou should be.”
    I—what? If this is supposed to be a pep talk then his technique could use some work.
    â€œFear is a survival instinct. Maybe the best survival instinct we have. You will need it out there.” We lock eyes. Snake’s are dark and narrow, but I can see at once he’s trying to help. “I’ve seen over a hundred Aves come and go. Take my word for it, it’s always the cocky ones who are the first to get clipped. A little bit of fear is a good thing. Fear will make you hypervigilant, and hypervigilance will keep you alive. Just don’t