Read Online Jade Sky by Patrick Freivald - Free Book Online Page A

But you got them. It's over."
    Conor didn't move.
    "You want to get going?"
    "No," he said. "I'm busy." He turned to smile at Matt, his face dripping with blood and offal. "There are three left." He let go of the woman, and Matt lunged.
    The whispers clawed through his mind, pushing him to rejoice in murder but warning him of every strike before it came. He stepped over Conor's sweep, blocked the heart strike with his left hand, and slashed his right across the naked man's throat. Conor's blood drenched Matt in sticky, salty heat. The impact of Conor's fist carried him through the wall, his ribs on fire. He hit the ground and rolled to his feet, then dove sideways without looking, striking out with his left hand.
    Conor sailed past, into a table. The knife ripped out of Matt's grip, the hilt buried between Conor's ribs.
    Matt winced as he caught the blade an inch from his face, all four fingers cut to the bone. His left foot crunched into Conor's throat, and the man stumbled back, no longer bleeding. The blade slid out of Matt's hand and clattered to the floor. He flexed his fingers. Stiff and unresponsive — the nerves would need another moment.
    "You can't win," Matt said, buying time. Conor's augmented reflexes were no match for precognition, but he out-muscled Matt by a good ten percent and healed just a shred faster.
    "No," Conor said, his naked, tattooed, blood-drenched body whole and unblemished. Matt wasn't sure if Conor was agreeing with him or not.
    The window shattered as he carried Conor through it, jamming a shard of glass past his eye and into his brain. Conor's fist broke his jaw even as Matt brought the second knife down. The steel split Conor's skull. He twisted it sideways, pulled it halfway out, and jammed it in again.
    Conor bit through his sleeve and tore a chunk of his bicep off with his teeth. Matt grunted as Conor grabbed his left thigh, crushed his femur with a punch, and tore his leg off above the knee. Everything went numb.
    Conor laughed and spit a chuck of meat into Matt's face.
    Matt dug his fingers into either side of the knife, then pulled. Conor's skull came apart, revealing pink-gray jelly glistening with blood and cerebral fluid. Conor jammed his fingers into Matt's stomach and tore out a chunk of viscera. Matt brought his palms together, pulping Conor's brain between them.
    The world faded to red, then black.
     

Chapter 6
     
     
     
     
    The world reverberated, impossibly loud. Matt's leg spasmed with searing pain, and his stomach burned. He tried to sit up, to move his arms, to lift his head. Strapped down, he couldn't. He opened his eyes. A Hispanic man in a blood-streaked white coat and earmuffs with a microphone smiled down at him. The man's lips moved, but Matt heard nothing over the thundering rotors of the helicopter.
    Akash's voice rang in his ears. "Look, I'm not saying it doesn't suck, but there's no way they could let you back. They banned Ethridge for life, and all he had was what, a little adrenal boost and level one musculoskeletal? And he wrecked people. Even if the league allowed it, you'd kill someone. Everyone."
    Matt shook off his confusion and realized he had headphones on.
    "I'd kill a normal, sure," Garrett's voice responded. "But how cool would a gridiron full of augs be? Can you imagine the playbooks? The hits ?"
    "Guys?" Matt asked.
    Akash appeared over him, a smile on his face. "Hey, look who's awake!"
    "Is the woman—"
    "Housekeeper. She'll live, we think." His smile disappeared as he transitioned from down-time to go-time. "Your guts are good. Jaw feeling better?"
    Matt relaxed with a deep sigh, opened his mouth, and flexed it side to side. The muscles pinched, too tight, but everything seemed to be in working order. "Yeah. How's my leg?"
    "Still knitting. We had to keep cutting off the muscle until the bone healed."
    "But—"
    "You're fine. Give it an hour or two, eh?"
    Garrett broke in. "Glad to have you back, Sergeant."
    "Thanks, Garrett." He locked eyes