Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 144277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 721(@200wpm)___ 577(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144277 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 721(@200wpm)___ 577(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
I look down at her and smile. “You went from princess, to vagabond girl, to augment accessory. It’s a new side to you as well.”
Her grin grows big even though some women might take what I just said as derogatory. “I could take that one of two ways,” And here it comes. I smirk. One-hundred percent convinced that she will not see it as derogatory. “I’m a bracelet.”
My chuckle is immediate. “Or?”
She bumps her hip into mine, making my Versi shake. “A weapon.”
“I love you.”
“Noted. And for the record,” she bumps my hip again. “It’s this one.”
“I never had any doubt.” I take her hand as we get to the bottom of the stairs and we walk through the lobby as a team, then we’re through the doors and outside. The sky is a dull gray, clouds having rolled in off the ocean as is typical around here. There’s a little mist in the air as well. For me, this mist is cyan blue, but for everyone else, it’s just a semi-opaque haze of fog.
I come to a stop in front of a pile of supplies being watched over by the doorman, hand him a gold coin, and he bows, accepting it and moving off to get back to work.
“What’s all this?” Clara asks, panning her hand to the four bags at our feet.
“My ruck.”
“Ruck?” She raises an eyebrow at me. “There are four of them, Tyse.”
I laugh. “This is nothing compared to what I had to carry in the sweep. It’s just lucky that I’ve got a Versi, because all the cartridges are very compact and easy to store.” I make my finger do a little circle in the air. “Turn around and I’ll load you up with yours.”
She does, looking over her shoulder at me in wonder as I slip the straps of her ruck up her arms and make sure they lie on her shoulders just right.
“How’s it feel?”
“Good. Not very heavy. So I can carry one of those, too.” She nods her head at mine.
“Nah, I got this. Watch.” And then I proceed to hook the secondary ruck onto the primary, pull it onto my back, and then attach the other two—which are all ammo—to my legs using the Versi belt as support. When I’m done, I find her studying me. “What?”
She presses her lips together, hiding a smile.
“What’s that look for?”
“Just…” I get one of those all-teeth smiles. “It’s…”
“Sexy?”
She laughs, but nods. “It’s a really good look on you.”
“Does it make me look dangerous? Cunnin’? A straight up fuck-around-and-find-out kinda guy?”
“All that and more.”
“What’s the ‘more’ part?” I tease. But also genuinely interested. Since we’ve already covered that I’m sexy.
“Tyse Saarinen, this makes you look…” There’s a pause here, where she thinks. “Super human.”
“Super human? Like an alien?”
She shakes her head. “No. Like a god.”
“Hmm. I don’t think I look anything like Delta.”
“No, not that kind of god.”
Now I’m confused. “What other kind is there?”
But she just shrugs. “I don’t know. I can’t explain it. It’s just… well, I like it.”
“Then I guess that’s all that counts.” Then I pan a hand to the tunnel that leads to the train station across the street. “Shall we?” She turns, but then abruptly turns back, leans up on her tiptoes, and kisses me. It’s just a small kiss, but it’s unexpected. “What was that for?”
“Partners.” Then, as if that explains everything, she takes my hand and we cross the street.
People stare at us as we enter the underground. Of course, everyone knows me. When we arrived, people wouldn’t shut up about the baby god and the augment, speculating what it meant for the city—and beyond. I didn’t pay much attention to the buzz because it was mostly talk of war and not the kind of war that involves augments, so I knew they were just blustering to entertain.
But the people of Delta City don’t look entertained when Clara and I stand on the platform, waiting for the next train to come.
They look scared.
Of course, they should be. If they ever met me in the wrong situation—well, they would not want to meet me in the wrong situation. That’s all there is to it.
In Sweep, in the Omega Outlands, we did fight a lot. But it wasn’t the kind of fighting that people think of when they imagine what a war is. They picture battles with other people.
And it’s not about people. It’s not about people at all.
It’s about code.
But that’s all Sweep classified and even though I did tell Clara about the infection my team got, she’s different. She’s part of it in a big way so she deserves to know some of it. But the ordinary person standing on the platform of the underground waiting for a train does not have, and should not have, any fucking idea of what’s really happening in the Omega Outlands.