Firewall (Magic Born) Read Online Free PDF Page B

nodded in appreciation. “Good thinking.” She locked eyes with Tuyet. “The big guy’s a keeper.”
    “I’ll be sure and tell his wife.”
    Doran laughed. “Get out of my sight, city witch.”
    Tuyet adjusted the boxes she carried to make them more comfortable and refused to think about the miles ahead. Instead, she would think about the single steps. One by one, they’d get there.
    Hours and miles later, she climbed the stairs to her tiny apartment. Slowly. Painfully. Grime covered every inch of her. Sweat matted her hair into snarls and tangles. Exhaustion had long since settled heavily into her bones. They’d made it back safe, if worse for wear, with at least some food to show for it. Now all she wanted to do was take a shower and fall into bed.
    Tuyet leaned against the door as she swiped the key card. The door beeped and unlatched before she realized something was missing.
    Her wards. She never left the apartment without activating the magical wards designed to discourage intruders. Glamours woven into the spell made the wrong number appear on the door, or sometimes they showed stacks of debris that made it seemingly impossible to reach. Should someone forge past the glamours, electric shock awaited them.
    But now the wards were gone, dissolved into stray energy that lingered as nothing stronger than static electricity. Tuyet shook off the weariness and tried to think. Who? How?
    The door opened, her past staring straight at her.
    “Hi, honey.” Her former Magic Ranger team leader wore a familiar, insouciant grin. “I’m home.”
    Tuyet did the first thing she could think of. She put her fist in his face.

Chapter Three
    2060
    Hayes reeled from the punch and blinked tears from his eyes. Blood leaked from his throbbing nose. Worse, she was getting away. He picked himself up and launched into an ungainly run, one hand applying pressure to his face. His left knee burned with pain from a kick and his right foot screamed in agony where she’d planted one of her high heels. He shouted into the receiver in his watch as he turned a corner. “Osman, get on the CCTV footage, now!”
    Hayes came to a halt as he reached a crowd of people leaving a theater. He searched for a sign of her, waiting for the agent he’d contacted to get back to him. It was rare to encounter enemy agents on U.S. soil. This was more likely a case of corporate espionage. He was dressed in a civilian suit, in an area frequented by defense contractors who worked at the various campuses. Rather than specifically targeting him, she’d probably been trolling for whatever she could find via trancehacking into any electronics on display.
    The fact that she’d been able to get deep enough into his watch to reach the really sensitive information and trigger an alert was cause for concern. No matter what her intent, he needed to bring her in.
    There. The wind lifted her hair as she crossed the street against the light, traffic stopping for her. Hayes ran, narrowly avoiding a collision with an SUV. She ducked into another alley.
    He hit the comm button on his watch again, slowing as he neared her location. The last thing he wanted was another blow to the face. “Hey, buddy, can I get some help here or what?”
    Static crackled in his ear. “A unit’s on the way. How many non-friendlies should they expect?”
    “So far just the one.” The alley was dark. No sign of the woman.
    Pain exploded across his jaw, then a hit to his chest tore the breath from him. He went down hard. A blur of movement above obscured his vision before he was finally able to focus. The woman stood over him, her high heel poised above his Adam’s apple and her hands held in a fighting stance.
    “Hi,” she said, smiling sweetly. “Hand over your watch or I’m going to make you cry uncle.”
    His gaze traveled up her slender leg. The voice in the comm unit said, “Uh, could you identify yourself again? I’ve got a message here saying a Lieutenant Hayseed is part of an