DIRE : BORN (The Dire Saga Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

them, a Hispanic kid with a ton of rings on his hands, shook his head. “This ain't your business, Roy.”
    “She's one of mine, Caso.”
    “She's on our turf, old man.”
    “Just out seeing the fireworks. We're only a street or two away. You know we got nothin' worth taking. Nothing worth the bullets that'd come your way.”
    They shifted. 
    “SHE DOESN'T REALLY NEED YOUR HELP, ROY. SHE CAN TAKE CARE OF HERSELF.” I lowered the gun, started walking toward the end of the street. The two punks in my way backed to either side, step by step.
    One of them sneered. “That mask looks kinda nice, Roy. Maybe we'll come take it tomorrow. In the night, when no one can see. When no one will come when you scream.”
    Roy shook his head and came out of the alley, keeping pace with me as I walked, covering the nearest ones that were packing heat. “You do that, you might wake Sparky up. He has flashbacks somethin' fierce, might think you're all Krauts. Horrible death, electrocution.”
    One of them glanced between me and Roy, reached into his jacket and took a step toward Roy... and flinched back, screaming as I suddenly ran at him and roared.
    “GET LOST!”
    I moved back, and we were out of the group, walking back under the highway. I noted absently that traffic up above had slowed, shaping up into a massive jam for as far as I could see. All that from a quick glance, as I moved my gaze back to the youths, watching them over my shoulder as we departed.
    Another of them grinned toward me, made a gesture that I doubted was a salute. “This ain't over. Times change, old man. City's dark, it's the end times, and the Black Bloods rule the night.”
    “You started this shit with one of mine,” Roy said, facing them fully and backing up a tad slower than I was moving. “Sangre tells me we got troubles, I'll buy it. But you forced this, Caso, you and the new eunuch over there. So I don't think he'll be too sympathetic about your fuckup.”
    They were silent then, as they watched us go. I didn't relax until we had descended the steps down to the beach, and were out of a direct line of sight. Somewhere along the way my screen-inside-a-screen view of the ball drone gave me the option to shut it down to conserve power, and I took it. I could always retrieve it tomorrow.
    Flicking the safety of the army pistol back on, I tucked it away as I glanced over to Roy. He shook his head, and put his pistol back into its own holster. 
    “Don't take this the wrong way, but you might have just brought some shit down on us.”
    I opened my mouth, shut it as I remembered that I hadn't found the volume control for the mask yet. I pulled it off my head, and glared at him. He glared back, then looked away.
    “Scavengers, yes? They saw what they thought was weakness and went after it. Their choice, not Dire's.” A beeping from my pocket reminded me that the forcefield was still on. That sound indicated a diminishing charge. I reached in and turned it off.
    “Yeah, you're right, but that don't matter much to them.” Roy sighed, ran his hand over the back of his head. “This'll cause us trouble, so we have to figure out what to do.”
    “You could have left her. Dire could have taken care of herself.”
    “No I couldn't. If I had you would've had to shoot someone. Then it'd be blood on the streets, and it'd be worse for everyone. The Black Bloods take that shit serious. This at least was pretty private, and no permanent harm was done. Little bit of a loss of face, and they might take it out on us, but we probably won't have to hand you over to make'em happy.”
    “You'd do that?” I asked.
    “Hell no. I know what they'd do to you.” He kicked an empty bottle across the beach, watched it shatter on a rock. “Fuck it all. Wasn't a good neighborhood before those gangers showed up, now it's worse. They're evil, plain and simple, and no one gives a shit.”
    I frowned. “Police?”
    “Underfunded, overworked. Call them and wait half an hour and