Sucker Punch by Pauline Baird Jones Read Free Book Online Page B

happened.
    â€œJim…bo?”
    â€œDirt sider,” Vi said, trying for light and adding a shrug, just in case she missed the mark.
    â€œIndeed.” He shifted, uncrossing, then crossing his legs the other direction. “I thought the surface had been evacuated prior to the storm?”
    Deflect a question with a question. It was his SOP. But it would know that, if it was lurking in there. If it was in there, it would know that she knew Jimbo hadn’t been evacuated.
    â€œWe did try. The storm got worse faster than expected, and we got separated from him. I was surprised he made it off the surface, actually.”
    â€œDirt siders are resilient.”
    â€œThey are,” Vi agreed, “until they aren’t and die.”
    He shrugged. “Everyone dies. Eventually.”
    Was this a veiled threat? The fact that it was true didn’t make it not a threat. Something dark passed in the sky underneath them. Vi blinked, but Afoniki stiffened. His attention shifting from her long enough she risked a glance at Joe. Was that…?
    He nodded to her silent question. Did that mean the MITSC had talked to the uniforms or were they following her and Joe? Had they had time to tag them? Had they needed time? Lurch had taken them off grid, but they were the MITSC. According to legend, they’d always had better tech than anyone else. She loosed an internal curse. She’d hoped to avoid having the MITSC and Joe’s evil something or other in the same space they were.
    Afoniki’s gaze found her again, something more than speculation in his somehow empty gaze.
    â€œWell, if you weren’t at the MEC, then we’d better get moving.” It was already too late. The boys in drab were probably parking next to them right now. But that didn’t lessen her flight or—no, it was pretty much a flight instinct. No fight in there at all. And what would ‘it’ do if the MITSC shouldered their way in? In a tech versus tech battle, Vi felt like she had “collateral damage” tattooed on her forehead. Unfortunately “serve and protect” was imprinted on her DNA, and the mandate included clueless men in drab, even if they had stolen her body and body of evidence.
    So that ruled out asking for another exit, even though Vi was pretty sure Afoniki had several.
    â€œWe still need to track down the other person….”
    â€œOther person?”
    Vi couldn’t put her finger on just why the question felt menacing. She really wished she weren’t standing on the transparent floor. She turned enough to see him, while still moving toward the escalator. Not that it represented safety. There could be crazy, bad guy traps on it, too. Electrocution. Metal teeth. She blinked. Or maybe she was just really tired.
    â€œYeah, your double was with someone. Just someone not someone’s…double.” Yeah, she was really tired. “I guess it could have been someone’s double, but not someone that someone recognized as someone’s…double.” She wished she could make herself stop talking.
    Joe had his usual lack of expression on his face, but she sensed he wished it, too. Vi clamped her lips shut. Felt more words try to punch their way out. She had one foot on the escalator when the two men in drab appeared at the top. On the upside, the sight of them killed the babbling impulse.
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    V i’s sudden lack of coherency was troubling. And confusing. Most unlike her.
    She is scared.
    What does she fear? Joe had not seen her show fear, even when he believed he would have to shoot her. She was the bravest human he had ever met. And the most—he cut off that thought as unprofitable.
    It.
    Oh. He paused, studying her. This does not look like fear. Or what he thought fear would look like on her face. She appeared exhausted. And she did not seem to care for the transparent floor. If he were honest, he did not care for it either.
    She had to move aside as the