LyonsPrice by Mina Carter Read Free Book Online

didn’t understand it, they had to destroy it.
    “Now, now…” Lyon paused and checked his rank. Corporal.
Christ, he even outranked the guy. Not that he’d retained his rank after
escaping from the facility they’d been holding him in. That probably had more
to do with the fact he’d nuked the place flat than the actual escape though.
“There’s no need for such language with ladies present, now is there,
Corporal?”
    “Fuck you. Get your hands in the air!”
    “Are you always this eloquent? Or do you work at it?”
    He didn’t bother to move, just watched the small group of
marines with an implacable gaze. He’d been told once he had a gaze on him that
would give a rattlesnake a headache. He wouldn’t know. He’d never understood
why someone would want to give a snake a headache.
    Despite the corporal’s bravado, the rest of the group didn’t
seem quite so confident. Sure, on paper the odds were stacked in their favor.
Eight against two. When those two were combat-experienced military-grade
cyborgs, though, the odds weren’t just twisted; they were screwed six ways to
Sunday. A fact that appeared to have bypassed the corporal without so much as a
wave and was no doubt the reason the seven marines around him looked like they’d
like to disappear up their own asses.
    “Corp…” one of his buddies spoke up, his face plainly saying
that he’d clocked the lack of reaction from the two cyborgs. Hidden behind
Lyon, none of them would be able to get a bead on Samara’s reaction. At least they’d
better not anyway. If they could see her, then they had line of sight, which
meant she was in danger.
    As he faced down the armed squad, he wondered why he wasn’t
using her as a human shield. With one of their own in the fray, particularly a
female, there was no way the testosterone-driven group in front of him would
open fire.
    “What?” the corporal snapped, his voice high with tension.
Lyon watched a bead of sweat detach itself from his skin to roll down it.
Great, a twitchy one. Just what they needed.
    Cael, get eyes on the action in this corridor and bring
the internal defenses to bear. Initiate the ship’s self-destruct sequence, but
keep it on silent countdown until my mark.
    “You know what the boss man said. We gotta wait until he
gets here unless they start something.” Both cyborgs looked from the tense
squad commander to his slightly more intelligent subordinate and back again,
like some sort of bizarre tennis match.
    Aye, Colonel. Just try to avoid getting shot, would ya?
We’ve only got what’s aboard until we get back to Redemption Bay and patching
up bullet holes with a portable kit is a bitch.
    He allowed amusement to fill his mind, smothering the grin
that wanted to spread. His lips quirked slightly, which the twitchy marine’s
gaze immediately latched on to. He lifted his rifle half into the air, the
muzzle wavering in the air for a moment as he glared at Lyon and Archon.
    Adrenaline flooded Lyon’s body, filling his muscles and
getting his body ready for the fight he knew was coming. Beside him, Archon
tensed, the slight movement almost imperceptible, but he’d been part of Lyon’s
section for years. Like the rest of his team, Lyon knew the Gemini’s reactions
inside out.
    “Who’s to say they didn’t start something?” the corporal
said silkily, the threat implicit. “They’re cyborgs, remember? Bloodthirsty
killers.”
    Shit. Fear joined the adrenaline in his veins as he saw that
thought working its way around the group at light speed. Not for himself or
Archon. Cyborgs were the ultimate disposable warrior. Built in a lab and
matured in a tank, every part of their hardware was designed to be replaceable.
A useful feature they’d stuck with even after their freedom. Short of a
starship weapons battery, there wasn’t much that would take them down
permanently.
    But the woman sheltering behind Lyon wasn’t built the same. Pathetic,
lack of redundancy, dependent on her