Read Online Final Empire by Blake Northcott - Free Book Online Page B

problem,” I said, probably trying to convince myself more than him. “You just have to work the equation, balance the variables...I have a plan. It’s going to work out.”
    “If you say so,” he replied with a shake of his head. “But that young lady out in my waiting room? She’s not something to be ‘solved’. She needs the truth . And she would be better off hearing it from you instead of someone like me.”

Chapter Five
    London’s rooftops were dusted with a fresh layer of snow, reflecting like polished silver under a full moon.
    As our transport made its descent, Gavin pressed his palms into the wraparound window, gazing at the busy street below. “No one is looking up...can’t they see us?”
    “It’s the cloaking,” Karin shouted from the cockpit. “I could put this baby down on Westminster Abbey’s front lawn and no one would know the difference.”
    “Please don’t do that,” I grumbled.
    A familiar hand ran back and forth across my shoulders. “Everything all right?” Peyton asked, not much louder than a whisper. “You’ve been on mute since we left Switzerland.”
    I didn’t even realize it, but I’d been staring out the window for the last hour without saying a single word. Of course I wasn’t all right, and of course I couldn’t tell her why. The entire trip my mind had been working out probabilities, poring over thousands of pages of medical journals I’d consumed since my surgery. I was re-reading the same statistics in my head, hoping I could make sense of them.
    “Just the migraines,” I said, blinking hard. “They’re a little worse than usual, but I’ll deal.”
    The check-up with Doctor Zbinden was a mistake. I didn’t need to fill my head with doubt and meaningless information I’d already learned on my own. Yes, I knew a small portion of the tumor remained, but who the hell was he to tell me what I should or shouldn’t do? Or what my limited options were based on his experience?
    Focus, I screamed inside my own head. I bounced to my feet, lightly smacking either side of my face. Get it together, Moxon – this is no big deal. The medication was working just as I knew it would, and my back-up plan was still firmly in place. I’d had recurring headaches on and off for more than a year, and this was no worse than the previous ones...not significantly worse, anyway.
    Karin put the transport on autopilot causing it to hover in place, bobbing gently in the gusting wind. She strolled from the cockpit, handing transparent jellybeans to everyone in the passenger bay. “These are your earpieces, boys and girls. You’ll notice they feel like chewing gum – that’s normal. Just poke it into your ear and it’ll be almost invisible.”
    Peyton rolled the tiny clear device between her thumb and index finger, inspecting it beneath the overhead light. “So we can hear you ...but how will you hear us?”
    “The speakers are multi-directional,” I explained. “They’ll function as microphones as well. Just speak clearly and she’ll know what’s going on.”
    My pilot walked to the edge of the transport’s passenger bay and pressed her palm into the overhead compartment, triggering a hatch to pop open. It revealed a small arsenal of matching grey pistols.
    “Whoa,” Peyton said, eyes widening, “ Guns? I thought we were just going to talk to McGarrity, not shoot him.”
    “This isn’t an assassination,” I replied, reaching up into the weapons cache. I grabbed one of the small angular handguns and tucked it into the back of my jeans, pulling my t-shirt overtop. “But I don’t know whose side he’s on. I’m not walking in there armed with nothing more than a veterinary student and a comic book dealer. No offense, guys.”
    “I’m with Peyton,” Gavin said. “We grew up in the Dark Zone and we’ve had a few brushes with the law over the years, but those days are over , man. Helping you get into Arena Mode was our last hurrah.”
    “Relax, these aren’t