Cypher (The Dragon's Bidding Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

hand spat, and tiny projectiles whined past Fitz’s
helmet and snicked into the wall.
    The slug thrower barked
twice.
    Sixty-three augies.
    The tech uncoiled and
lurched to his feet. His curly hair and dark eyes prodded a memory of their
hyperkinetic flight through the underground imperial base, dragging the
feckless doctor.
    “Von Drager?” she
asked. Or should she call him August Lazzinair—the man who introduced the
symbiont to humanity; their Doctor Frankenstein, as it were.
    He studied her for
several heartbeats. “Oh, I remember you…you’re Youngblood’s woman friend. The
last time I saw you…”
    Fitz interrupted.
“Where’s Tritico?”
    “Left a couple of hours
ago. In a big hurry.” Logan Von Drager wrung his hands as he looked at the
carnage around him. “He left his augies to, ah…clean up the loose ends.
Apparently that included me.”
    Fitz cursed under her
breath. Tritico was one step ahead of her, as if he knew her plans. She’d been
careful to limit the number of people aware of this raid, and had thought they
all could be trusted. Obviously not.
    She bent to roll the
augie’s body over, and the needler dropped from his fingers. Odd that he’d
tried to kill Von Drager with what normally wasn’t a lethal weapon. Needlers
were usually for delivering a knock-out drug. Unless he planned on taking the
doctor with him. She reached to pick it up.
    “Be careful with that,”
Von Drager said.
    “Thank you for the
warning, Doctor, but I know how to handle a weapon.”
    “Not one like this.”
    Puzzled by his
reaction, Fitz picked up the pistol. Von Drager reached out a hand to stop her,
but as she flipped open the cylinder, he snatched his fingers back and
retreated several steps. She examined the canister of close-packed black darts.
The doctor seemed ready to crawl out of his skin. What had him so spooked? Were
they poisoned? It might be worth hanging onto and checking it out when they returned
to Striefbourne City, so they’d know what they were up against.
    “Pike, a set of tangle
ties for our new guest.” She gestured toward Von Drager.
    “Wait! They held me
prisoner here and tried to kill me. You rescued me. Go ask Youngblood, he knows
I’ve been trying to get away from Tritico since Baldark. He can vouch for me.”
He looked around. “Where is Youngblood?”
    “He’s indisposed. Don’t
worry, you’ll get the opportunity to talk to him later. Now let’s go.”
    On the way out of the
med-bay, Fitz stopped to examine a dart embedded in the wall.
    “Don’t touch that.” Von
Drager’s panicked words stilled her hand. She narrowed her eyes as she followed
him out.
    The explosions and
weapons fire from the front of the lodge had quieted by the time they returned
to the dining room. Major Baltasar strode through the stained glass doors.
    “Colonel FitzWarren, my
people are mopping up now. Most of the combatants surrendered, but a few made a
run for it. We’re out chasing them down now.” His lips twisted as if he’d
bitten into a rotten fruit. “These guys were Special Forces. I even knew a
couple of them. Not that long ago, I’d have been proud to have any one of them
guarding my back.” He shook his head. “This is a nasty business.”
    And Fitz feared that as
long as Tritico was on the loose, it would only get worse. “I understand,
Major. Your people did an exemplary job, as usual.”
    “You’ll have my
after-action report on your computer in the morning.”
    “Chima, you better come
take a look at this,” Bartonelli called. She stood across the room by the pool
of blood—the empty pool of blood.
    Fitz contacted Costos
on her comm. “Did you move the dead augie’s body?”
    “No, ma’am. We stayed
out in the lobby, like you ordered.”
    Fitz knelt by the red
puddle, reading the signs. A bloody hand print on the wall, smears from a
person struggling to rise and the trail of red footprints leading across the
floor. Once she would have dismissed her conclusion as