All the Wrong Moves Read Online Free PDF

was.”
    That came from the coroner, who joined us just in time to catch the deputy’s comment. Dragging down his mask, the doc addressed our startled group.
    “Both men were shot. Can’t tell much until I get them to the lab, but it looks like one got it through the back of his skull. Hooker took a hit in each kneecap, though. My guess is he lay there, baking in the sun, until he bled out or the ants and scorpions made a meal of him.”

CHAPTER THREE
    THE various law enforcement types surrounding me displayed little reaction to the coroner’s grim pronouncement. I tasted hot and sour again.
    Gulping, I felt compelled to mention at that point that bits and pieces of the deceased might be clinging to EEEK’s frame. I stayed well away while the doc and his tech examined EEEK’s lower extremities. They snapped some digital images, wielded their forceps once more, and returned with plastic evidence bags containing gobs of something I chose not to look at.
    “It’s been a long night,” I said to Sheriff Alexander. “If you’re done with me, how about a ride back to my test site?”
    “Sure. Bartlett, help Lieutenant Spade load her . . . uh . . . equipment in the squad car.”
    “Hang on a sec.”
    Agent Mitchell’s intervention earned a questioning look from the sheriff and an irritated one from me. The sun had cranked up to full furnace by now. I was hot and tired and wanted to get out of my boots, baggy pants and sweat-drenched T-shirt.
    “Talk to me about this thing.” Mitchell eyed EEEK thoughtfully. “How does it work?”
    “It’s a robotic extension of the human frame. It uses computerized components and basic ergonomic principles to amplify the operator’s capabilities. The composite frame supports up to a thousand pounds. The arms and legs extend both reach and endurance. The visor displays a spectrum of electronic signals.”
    “What kind of signals?”
    I hooked a sweaty tendril behind my ear. “Speed, distance, terrain contouring, infrared heat signatures, to name just a few.”
    “So it sees in the dark?”
    “Like a cat.”
    “How come it didn’t see the bodies before you sashayed through them?”
    “It did, but it displayed them as a lumpy mound. When I picked up the stench, I thought I’d come across a dead deer or coyote. I was moving too fast to swerve so I tried to jump over it.”
    Mitchell nodded absently. The composite frame held his interest more than my gymnastic shortcomings. Consequently, he missed the glare I was sending him.
    “These electronic signals. Does the robot’s computer store them?”
    “Normally it would. For test purposes, however, we’ve bypassed the storage CPU. Now EEEK transmits directly to the computers back at our site so my guys could analyze the data real time.”
    “EEEK?”
    Sighing, I repeated the litany. “Ergonomic Exoskeletal Extension. My team added the K for ease of reference.”
    “I see.”
    “Sheriff, about that ride . . . ?”
    Once again, Mitchell intervened. “I’ll drive you. I want to take a look at that data. Your robot’s sensors may have picked something up.”
    “They did. A big lump of dead.”
    He scraped a palm across his bristly chin. The bristles were a dark gold that matched the flecks in his greenish eyes. Hazel, I guess you’d call them. I was wondering if the hair under his boonie hat was the same color as his whiskers when he terminated my contemplation of his person. Very effectively, I might add.
    “If Hooker took a while to die,” he commented, “odds are his killer hung around to watch.”
    I didn’t particularly care for the idea I might have come close to rubbing elbows with someone who got his jollies by shooting people in the kneecaps and watching them writhe around in pain.
    “I want to take a look at that data,” Mitchell said again before turning to the sheriff. “Sorry to bail on you, Roy. I’ll leave Garcia to run interference. Once word leaks that we may have found Hooker, every Fed in a