Read Online The Jack's Story (BRIGAND Book 2) by Natalie French, Scot Bayless - Free Book Online
Authors: Natalie French, Scot Bayless
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but then continued to push my weight forward, going for his right arm, grabbing it with both hands as I levered my shoulder into his clavicle. I stepped inside with my right leg, hooking it behind his ankle. Just about as old-school as it gets, but maybe that’s why he didn’t anticipate the move. In a blink, he was toppling backward with the weight of my body carrying him to the floor.
Trand landed hard on his back, with my knee under his elbow and my elbow in his throat. I threw my not inconsiderable mass into both – which should have crushed his larynx and broken his arm. Instead, Trand laughed, "Nice try, my friend."
Oh shit. He’d gone artificial.
Trand sat up, carrying my weight as if I were a child. Human abs, no matter how developed, simply didn’t have the leverage to push a hundred kilos like that.
"We don’t need to do this, Jack." I said, deliberately using the epithet that, for Marines, was a badge of defiance, of a comradeship that nobody outside the Corps could begin to understand. "I have a hold full of stuff that’s worth a fortune out here. We walk, that cargo’s yours."
Trand didn’t respond verbally. Instead, he lit up a private channel and fed me part of a file, direct to my cuts. I saw a little girl in a gray skinsuit with the mark of St. Nicolo on the left breast. I saw the order to retrieve a renegade Wraith. I saw a bounty, worth ten times what my ship carried – including the ship itself.
I saw my death. I saw far worse for Trig.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Trand lunged to his feet and pushed past me like a G-Ball bounder making a goal rush. He slammed his huge shoulder into my face as he went by, knocking me into a pile of denuded bot frames. My head exploded in white light and I could feel something trail down my upper lip. Something warm and wet. I tried to stand, but my arms and legs weren’t getting the message and I lay helpless, watching Trand close on Trig through a darkening blur.
She was turned away from him, focused on finishing off the last of the little spider bots. Trig heard him coming and, without augments, he’d never have gotten to her. But by the time she started her turn, he was already scooping her into a brutal hug that huffed the air out of her lungs. He pivoted, swinging her like a toy, crushing her to him, planting his back against the wall.
"Give it up, Marine." His grin was a monstrosity of unfiltered savagery. "They’ll find you eventually, but you’re not my concern. Go and enjoy whatever time you have left. I have more important things to do than fight you."
Stunned by the ferocity of his assault and pinned in the vice of his arms, Trig still managed to get one hand free long enough to stab one of her knives up and behind her. It was a blind shot, but she struck true, catching him low in the right side of his throat where the carotid should have been close to the surface. The scalpel jutted from his neck and blood flowed from the lips of the wound, but the bright crimson jet that should have drained his life away in seconds simply never materialized. Not just skeletal augments then. Trand had gone full-body. He wasn’t even human any more.
Trand chuckled harshly, "I can see why you like this one. So much better when they put up a fight." He grabbed her free arm by the wrist and twisted hard. I couldn’t hear the snap, but Trig’s forearm gave way at a sickening angle and she screamed. He lifted her by her broken limb and I saw her eyes open wide in shock as she sucked uncontrollably at the air. Then her head fell forward, dark hair obscuring all but her chin. Unconscious.
I gritted my teeth and strained at my body. My hands twitched, but I still couldn’t muster enough control to wipe my bloody nose, much less stand. My voice was a thick mumble. Still, I tried to sound stronger than I felt. "Trand, just let her go. You know as well as anyone how fucked up the Confed is these days."
Trand barked a short, choppy laugh. "Fucked up for sure. But they’re
Trand landed hard on his back, with my knee under his elbow and my elbow in his throat. I threw my not inconsiderable mass into both – which should have crushed his larynx and broken his arm. Instead, Trand laughed, "Nice try, my friend."
Oh shit. He’d gone artificial.
Trand sat up, carrying my weight as if I were a child. Human abs, no matter how developed, simply didn’t have the leverage to push a hundred kilos like that.
"We don’t need to do this, Jack." I said, deliberately using the epithet that, for Marines, was a badge of defiance, of a comradeship that nobody outside the Corps could begin to understand. "I have a hold full of stuff that’s worth a fortune out here. We walk, that cargo’s yours."
Trand didn’t respond verbally. Instead, he lit up a private channel and fed me part of a file, direct to my cuts. I saw a little girl in a gray skinsuit with the mark of St. Nicolo on the left breast. I saw the order to retrieve a renegade Wraith. I saw a bounty, worth ten times what my ship carried – including the ship itself.
I saw my death. I saw far worse for Trig.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Trand lunged to his feet and pushed past me like a G-Ball bounder making a goal rush. He slammed his huge shoulder into my face as he went by, knocking me into a pile of denuded bot frames. My head exploded in white light and I could feel something trail down my upper lip. Something warm and wet. I tried to stand, but my arms and legs weren’t getting the message and I lay helpless, watching Trand close on Trig through a darkening blur.
She was turned away from him, focused on finishing off the last of the little spider bots. Trig heard him coming and, without augments, he’d never have gotten to her. But by the time she started her turn, he was already scooping her into a brutal hug that huffed the air out of her lungs. He pivoted, swinging her like a toy, crushing her to him, planting his back against the wall.
"Give it up, Marine." His grin was a monstrosity of unfiltered savagery. "They’ll find you eventually, but you’re not my concern. Go and enjoy whatever time you have left. I have more important things to do than fight you."
Stunned by the ferocity of his assault and pinned in the vice of his arms, Trig still managed to get one hand free long enough to stab one of her knives up and behind her. It was a blind shot, but she struck true, catching him low in the right side of his throat where the carotid should have been close to the surface. The scalpel jutted from his neck and blood flowed from the lips of the wound, but the bright crimson jet that should have drained his life away in seconds simply never materialized. Not just skeletal augments then. Trand had gone full-body. He wasn’t even human any more.
Trand chuckled harshly, "I can see why you like this one. So much better when they put up a fight." He grabbed her free arm by the wrist and twisted hard. I couldn’t hear the snap, but Trig’s forearm gave way at a sickening angle and she screamed. He lifted her by her broken limb and I saw her eyes open wide in shock as she sucked uncontrollably at the air. Then her head fell forward, dark hair obscuring all but her chin. Unconscious.
I gritted my teeth and strained at my body. My hands twitched, but I still couldn’t muster enough control to wipe my bloody nose, much less stand. My voice was a thick mumble. Still, I tried to sound stronger than I felt. "Trand, just let her go. You know as well as anyone how fucked up the Confed is these days."
Trand barked a short, choppy laugh. "Fucked up for sure. But they’re
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