Fall of the Core: Netcast 01 (The Frontiers Saga) by Ryk Brown Read Free Book Online Page A

expression more serious than usual. “If he does contact you, and you feel the slightest bit threatened… If you feel any pain, or discomfort, and you think he might be the cause of it, you power down your implant immediately. Agreed?”
    “But, she said I didn’t have enough nanites left in me…”
    “I don’t care what she said,” Agent Oslo insisted. “Until five days ago, we all thought our implants, and our health nanites were perfectly safe. Whoever this ‘Unknown’ guy is, he is very good. So don’t take chances. If you feel something is wrong, you power down. Understood?”
    “Understood,” Hanna replied.
    * * *
    Hanna sat drinking her coffee in the break room, enjoying a moment of quiet. It had been a whirlwind week for her, an emotional roller coaster that had far more downs than ups. At least now, whenever she was forced to report another grim statistic or witness more human suffering, she could find solace in the knowledge that her parents and her best friend’s family and fiancé were all safely tucked away several floors above her. That alone was enough to get her through each day.
    Three days had passed since Hanna had reactivated her neuro-digital implant. At the time, she had half expected ‘Unknown’ to start messaging her immediately. She had relished the thought of being able to say whatever she wanted to the bastard without fear of retribution. She had even spent hours with Graham and Agent Oslo rehearsing how to goad Unknown into divulging some critical detail that might lead to his arrest. Martin was very skilled at interrogation and made for an excellent coach, and Graham… well, being a natural born egomaniac made him a very convincing stand-in for a genocidal psychopath.
    Of course, capturing the creator of the plague would not bring back the dead, nor was it likely to stop the spread of the disease. That moment had passed, and there was no turning back. All they could do was ‘march forward and make the best of things,’ as Brent liked to say… a lot.
    “Just get back?” Constance said casually as she entered the break room.
    “Huh?” Hanna was startled by the question, and the fact that it was directed towards her.
    “The jacket?” Constance replied, pointing as she poured herself a cup of coffee.
    Hanna looked down, realizing she hadn’t taken off her field jacket. It was built for functionality rather than style, with lots of pockets, the NCNW logo, and the word ‘Press’ across the back. It was a mandatory piece of equipment for everyone going out in the field these days, and Hanna found herself wearing it more than anything else in her wardrobe. “Oh. I guess I forgot to take it off,” Hanna said, sliding the jacket down off her shoulders.
    “Tough assignment?” Constance asked sympathetically.
    “Not really, just a long week, I suppose.”
    “No kidding,” Constance agreed, gesturing at the open seat across from Hanna. “May I?”
    Hanna looked up. Constance had dark circles under her eyes, and she looked as bad as Hanna felt. “Sure.”
    “We never really met,” Constance said as she pulled out a chair and sat down. “I mean, we’ve seen each other around, both here and out in the field before all of this. But we’ve never talked.”
    “Yeah. Well, those in the bigs never really had much time for us indies,” Hanna replied, immediately regretting her resentful response.
    “I never did like the way that whole system worked.”
    Constance took a sip of her coffee. “You know, when you’re the one being snubbed by those in the bigs, you tell yourself that you’ll never be like that, that you’ll never forget where you came from. But then you get that break, and you get swept up by it all. Everywhere you go, people recognize you. They want to talk to you, have their picture taken with you, help you get things, take special care of you. It goes to your head really fast, and before you know it, you’ve turned into the type of person you swore