Read Online Third Transmission by Jack Heath - Free Book Online Page B

off one of the shoes and held it up. Six saw the sole was actually patterned rubber, and there was a fine seam where the heel met the body. ‘Pull this catch, and the heel folds back like this,’ Ace said, demonstrating. ‘And once you take this shield off the toe-end of the sole, it’s as flexible as any running shoe.’
    Six nodded, impressed. ‘Jack’s work?’
    â€˜My own design,’ Ace said. ‘But yeah, Jack made them for me a few months ago. I like your tux.’
    â€˜I hate it,’ Six said. ‘It took forever to put on. All my other outfits have a hidden zip up the side so I can change quickly.’
    â€˜Seriously?’
    Six nodded.
    Ace grimaced. ‘Every time I’ve had to do emergency surgery on you, I’ve cut your clothes off with scissors. If I’d known there was a zip …’
    â€˜Don’t worry about it,’ Six said. ‘I usually just sew another zip into the cut.’
    â€˜You don’t sew it back together? You sew a second zip?’ Ace shook her head, smiling. ‘You’re a really weird guy.’
    â€˜I’m practical. Everyone else is weird.’ Six pushed a button on his keys, and the Peak chirped from a nearby bay.
    â€˜Shall we?’ he asked.

    The motor purred as the car rolled up the ramp and out onto the street. The blurry skyscrapers of the City swept by, painted with the dusty haze.
    The drive to the South Coast was going to take at least two and a half hours. Six wished he’d brought an mp3 player to plug into the car stereo. He didn’t listen to music himself, but he’d often enjoyed its conversation-discouraging properties.
    Not that he’d mind talking with Ace. He just didn’t want a hundred and fifty minutes of awkward silence.
    â€˜You have family around here?’ he asked. It sounded exactly like what it was – a clumsy ice-breaker.
    Ace looked uncomfortable. ‘I’m not sure,’ she said.
    Six glanced at her. Had he chosen a really bad topic?
    â€˜I used to live in this area with my dad and my stepmother,’ Ace explained. ‘But he left two weeks ago, and she’s been acting pretty weird since. I think it really shook her up.’
    â€˜Why did he leave?’
    â€˜I don’t know,’ she said. ‘He didn’t even say goodbye to me. And she won’t talk about it.’
    The City, Six thought, is a dark and senseless place. And the people who live here are stained by their surroundings. A cruel City creates cruel people, and over time they gradually become a part of it, the way children become their parents.
    He searched for a way to change the subject tactfully. She did it for him.
    â€˜So I spoke to King, and he filled me in on the mission.’
    â€˜Good,’ Six said, relieved.
    â€˜He said it was strictly recon.’
    Six nodded.
    â€˜But he also reminded me that your “strictly recon” missions often wind up with me treating you for broken bones and bullet wounds.’
    â€˜This isn’t going to be like that,’ Six said.
    â€˜No?’
    â€˜No. For one thing, the guests will be unsuspicious, elderly and unarmed.’
    â€˜That’s great, but I was more concerned about the security guards,’ Ace said. ‘Won’t they be suspicious, muscly and armed to the teeth?’
    â€˜Yes,’ Six conceded.
    â€˜You don’t seem worried.’
    â€˜They won’t be looking for us. There will be plenty of high-profile ChaoSonic officials at the event. The security guards will be looking for assassins with piano wire or rebels with explosive vests, not gatecrashers with hidden Geiger counters.’
    â€˜In that case, why aren’t
you
worried about assassins with piano wire or rebels with explosive vests?’
    â€˜Because of the security guards.’
    Ace grinned. ‘You’re not fazed at all, are you? You’re really brave, or really dumb.’
    Six