Nexus by Ramez Naam Read Free Book Online

She was faster than he was. Her fourth-generation enhancements outclassed the Marine Corps' third-generation techniques. The ERD saved the best for its own.
      Sam's next two blows were already in the air in the close space between them. Hard jab to his solar plexus, low kick to his knee. Wats parried the first, still falling back, lifted his leg and let his raised calf absorb the damage of her kick.
      Cole was good. Experienced. Deadly. The Marine Corps' thirdgeneration viral upgrades had made him stronger, faster, less sensitive to pain than any normal man.
      Sam was smaller, shorter of reach, lighter of muscle, but she'd been taught by the best, and she had the better technology. Fourth-generation post human genetics gave her nerves like quicksilver, muscles like corded titanium, and bones of organic carbon fiber.
      She'd become something like the thing she hated. She'd stared into the abyss, and it had transformed her. To destroy evil, she'd become it.
      Wats countered her superior speed by giving ground, step by step. Sam stayed in close as he did, neutralizing his advantage in reach. They moved in a blur of strikes, dodges, and blows, almost too fast for any onlooker to follow.
      She could see him coming up now, see the adrenaline hitting him, making him a more dangerous foe. Behind her she felt flashes of courage and anger. Partygoers thinking of joining the fray. Before long, they would mob her.
      End this now, then. A gambit. A sacrifice. She let him create a foot of space to get his comfort, parried three more blows, threw feints at groin and eyes and plexus, then came in wide and sloppy, hole in her guard at mid-section.
      Wats saw the opening and threw a brutal fist at it, low and under her nearly unbreakable ribs. She accepted the fist, twisting to mute it, felt pain blossom inside her as he connected. As she twisted, she brought one hand down like a vice on his wrist, yanked him off balance as she planted a leg behind his knees and slammed her other hand into his shoulder to bring him down.
      Wats saw it coming, but it was too late. The gambit had worked. He went down fast and hard.
      Sam's booted foot flashed out, connected with his head, twice, three times.
      She stopped herself. Don't kill. Incapacitate.
      Her breath was fast, pulse elevated. She'd taken serious but not immediately life-threatening damage. Time to leave. She stepped over Wats' unmoving form towards the door.
      And then she felt it. Felt him . Kade. He was behind her. He was inside her mind. She could feel his anger and hurt, his confusion, his sense of betrayal, his self-loathing at having been so easily fooled… having risked so much on behalf of so many people, and let them down. Despite herself, she felt a pang of guilt at how she'd deceived him, at the hell he was going to pay.
      "No," he said.
      He was about to do something to her mind, Sam knew. She saw it in his thoughts. He was a threat.
      She turned. Crossed the space between them in three long steps. Don't kill. Incapacitate. She lunged forward, hard backfist snapping out at his temple.
       No.
      She heard him in her mind. Felt his will slam against something inside her.
      Hard fist connected with civilian body. All went black.

4
    THE NOOSE
     
     
    Sam swam slowly back to consciousness. Darkness. Her eyes were closed, head slumped. She stayed that way. Better to feign unconsciousness as long as she could, and learn the situation. There were voices around her. People talking.
      "So she's, what, a DEA agent?" That was Rangan Shankari, the DJ.
      "Not DEA," a voice responded slowly. "Homeland Security. Emerging Risks Directorate." That deep bass. Watson Cole.
      "ERD?" Ilya Alexander spat it out. "Fuck."
      Rangan spoke again, "So, this Samara from the ERD, you think she's alone?"
      "Her name's not Samara." That was Kade. "It's Samantha. Samantha Cataranes. She had some way of hiding it. Her memories were a mask