Another One Bites the Dust Read Online Free PDF

the kitchen, leaned his elbows on the counter that backed the banquette. He didn’t even clear his throat and suddenly we all snapped to attention. He said, “Before we leave for the festival site, I want to complete your briefing on Bergman’s armor. I will ask him to explain the details of its workings in a moment. As he said, it is an incredibly advanced piece of biotechnology that physically binds with its carrier. Once they are united, the only ways you can separate the suit from its wearer are to kill him, or administer a chemical bath that fools the suit into thinking he is dead.”

    “I take it Mr. Bubble isn’t manufacturing that particular brand of bath additive just yet?” asked Cole.

    Bergman sat up, then laid his head against the back of Mary-Kate despondently. “That’s what the experiments at White Sands were about. They were trying to target which chemicals administered in which way would throw the suit into death response.”

    “But they haven’t had any luck yet?” I asked.

    Bergman shook his head.

    “Is it that big of a deal?” Cole inquired. “We’re going to kill the guy anyway.”

    “You can try,” moaned Bergman.

    Vayl nodded. “Go on,” he urged as he took a sip from his mug.

    Bergman looked at each of us in turn, shook his head, and ran a hand across the reddish brown grizzle that had appeared on his jaw sometime in the past twenty-two hours. As he spoke, he gazed out the window at the glaring lights of Moe’s gas station and the city beyond. “The armor will repel every kind of projectile in existence. It’s impervious to fire, can’t be shredded, and can withstand pressures equal to those found in the deepest parts of the ocean.”

    “What about cold?” I asked, feeling a rush of pleasure as Vayl looked at me proudly. Maybe his greatest power was the ability to leech heat from an area so fast people had frozen to death inside his circle of influence.

    But Bergman shook his head again. “Cold will slow it down, but not destroy it.”

    “Water?” Cole ventured.

    “When the hood is closed, the armor becomes self-contained. It has its own internal breathing system that functions just fine when it’s immersed.”

    “Tell us more about this hood,” I said.

    “It activates automatically when it perceives the wearer’s in danger. It’s the only part of the armor that can be deactivated at will. The rest is permanent.”

    Cassandra stirred. “You’ve begun at the end when the most important details may be at the beginning. What does this armor look like?”

    Bergman shrugged. “We’ve had it on all kinds of animals, including fish, cats, and monkeys. It’s looked different on each one, probably because it binds differently to each depending on body chemistry, physical size, species type—”

    Cassandra waved her hand impatiently, making Bergman crook his eyebrows with frustration. “A general overview, if you please,” she said.

    “Scales,” said Bergman. “The material is made up of thousands of individual units that are physically and chemically bonded together. The colors vary as widely as the texture. On the fish it was rough, almost like steel wool. On the chimp it was softer, more elastic.”

    “Is it just a defensive thing?” asked Cole. Another excellent question. My, weren’t we just operating on all cylinders this evening?

    “No.” Bergman’s eyes filled with passion as he described offensive capabilities that only made me shudder because I had to find a way around them. “When the hood is activated, the wearer can ignite volatile chemicals that are contained in the nostril cavities.”

    “What does that mean?” I asked. “Are you telling us the guy can breathe fire?”

    “Exactly.”

    “What else?” Vayl demanded.

    “Contact poison in the claws that paralyzes the victim. Detachable spikes carried along the back that are so well balanced they can be launched to hit targets accurately at forty feet.”

    “And when