Dead Man's Resolution Read Online Free PDF Page A

vent housing.
    The bald man took his time.
    Tibor gave himself room to run. The man’s lack of urgency in chasing them down bothered him. With his back to the man, he flipped his goggles up again to make he hadn’t been geohacked.
    “Sure as pajamas, I wouldn’t do that, boy,” the voice commanded.
    Tibor steeled his resolve and began his sprint. The vent pipes and housings passed him at a rapid pace. The gap loomed as he concentrated on his footsteps.
    Then he realized that William hadn't heard the man speak, because his friend didn't have his ARNet anymore. The man on the roof was a simulacrum.
    Tibor hit the brakes, but he didn’t have much room to slow down. He lost his footing and rolled toward the edge of the building. Before he slipped over, he caught hold of the pipe he’d kicked before. The rusted pipe snapped at the base and Tibor felt momentum suck him over the edge. As he grasped for purchase, a hand grabbed his arm.
    Hanging over the edge, William grunted and yanked Tibor back onto the roof. They both heard gravelly laughter from the far side of the gap.
    “That’s tip-top thinking, boy.” Cutter appeared from behind a wall on the other warehouse roof.
    Tibor stood and pulled William up. He didn’t want to be in range of Cutter’s gun.
    “You’ve been a few stones quicker than the bloody arse who had that box before, eh?” The man laughed again while a ray of sunlight danced a glare across his shiny head.
    William tried to pull Tibor toward the exit, but he held firm. He pulled the dead man’s ARNet from his pocket and held it up.
    “If I throw this across are we square?”
    The man rubbed his head thoughtfully. “Unless you’d like to jump a few more buildings?” Cutter showed them a mouth full of teeth.
    Tibor hoped it was a grin.
    “You won’t be a vag and come after us?” Tibor yelled across the gap.
    “You took what wasn’t yours. I think you’d better decide what’s right and what’s true.”
    Tibor considered his words, then unhooked the computer from the auxiliary cable. His HUI resumed its previous, lesser status.
    Then he hefted the little black box in his hand and gave it a firm toss that took it well across the gap. The bald man sidestepped and snatched it out of the air, tucking it into a pocket in one smooth motion. He nodded to Tibor then turned to leave.
    “Wait!” Tibor called out, halting Cutter in a half-step.
    William pulled on his arm, but he wouldn’t budge. The bald man checked over his shoulder.
    “Where’d you guys get those mods?”
    “Are you crazy?” William whispered as he pulled harder.
    Cutter paused and then left without answering.
    The two waited in silence until the feeling came back to William’s leg.
    While they walked back to Tibor’s electrobike, he explained what had happened while William was in the car. During the story, his friend studied him as if he’d never seen him before. Especially as he explained how he’d jumped the gap and had disabled the samurai using the illusionary black cat and an old sign.
    The two of them barely fit on the bike and they were both glad that no one from school could see them. Tibor dropped William off at his house amid a heavy silence. After William got off the bike, he stared intently at his friend.
    “You’re not going to be a vet are you?”
    Tibor could hear the hurt in his friend’s voice.
    “What do you mean?”
    William shook his head as he walked to his house.
    Tibor called out, “Nerds rule the world…”
    William paused in the open door.
    “But not until after high school,” William said as he closed it. His smile was mix of sad and sweet.
    Tibor arrived to an empty home as his father was away on a business trip. Sitting on a kitchen stool, his friend’s words cycled through his head when he noticed that a small blinking red message had arrived. William would have mind-texted him, and his father would have sent a video link, so Tibor immediately knew where the message had come