Her Brother's Keeper - eARC Read Online Free PDF

but even traveling via VTOL aircraft, it would take them almost an hour to arrive. Marcus instructed the special response team commander to secure the launch pad. He didn’t want to leave three security guards, one of whom was injured, and a few old security robots with the remainder of the cyborg’s gang and the crew of the Luxor. With the marshals gone, they might try something.
    Marcus next contacted the local sheriff’s office and explained what was happening. The spaceport was in a very remote location, and the local sheriff only had a handful of deputies. It would be a while before they could set up a roadblock. On the other hand, there weren’t that many roads in the outback. There really wasn’t anyplace for the truck to hide.
    “Where the hell does he think he’s gonna go?” Wade asked, as if reading Marcus’ mind.
    “Damned if I know,” Marcus said. “Unless…”
    “Unless what, Boss?”
    “Unless he’s just trying to lure us out so he can kill us both. Have you figured out who this guy is?”
    Without taking his eyes off the road, Wade turned the dash screen toward Marcus. “No match, Marshal. No criminal record, no record at all. Not even a name or address. Probably from off-world.”
    “Probably,” Marcus agreed. “There are a few salty types out in the desert that like to stay off the grid, but this guy doesn’t match that profile. He’s got serious tech on him. You don’t see that kind of augmentation out here that much.”
    Technological wonders like heavy bionic augmentation were hard to come by so far out from the Inner Colonies, the long-established technology and economic base of the Concordiat. Not only was it rare, but it wasn’t cheap, either. The odds of a local criminal coming up with the funds to pay for that kind of augmentation weren’t good. Just to be sure, though, Marcus told HQ to crosscheck the suspect with the augmentation clinics on New Austin.
    “So what’s the plan, Boss? We can’t just chase him ’til we run out of fuel.”
    “The sheriff is trying to get a roadblock together, but that’ll take too long. I want to stop this asshole before he hurts anybody else.”
    “I tried disabling his truck,” Wade said. “It didn’t work.”
    Marcus wasn’t surprised. Any two-bit criminal worth a damn knew to disable the safety cutoffs and lockouts on their vehicles. A lot of regular people did it too, just on principle. Most vehicles were sold with them, but they weren’t mandatory. “Let me see if I can get the surveillance bot in close enough to do something,” the marshal said. He tapped his handheld and directed the small aerial drone to fly close, alongside the truck. “I want to try something before we just start shooting.”
    “Agreed,” Wade said. “The Freeholder ship, the train heist, bribing mining company people, and now a dangerous cyborg. This could be something big.”
    Marcus watched the feed as the little drone barely managed to catch up with the speeding truck. The little bot had a less-lethal launcher mounted to it. It maneuvered into position, trying to get a shot through the driver’s side window. It fired, but the round failed to penetrate the truck’s industrial-grade safety-transparency window on the first shot. The driver didn’t intend to give them another chance. He smashed a bionic elbow into the window, punching it out with the second blow. Before the drone could line up another shot, the fleeing criminal stuck a machine pistol out the window and fired.
    “Shots fired!” Wade said, pointing out the obvious for the record. On the second burst, the cyborg managed to wing the little drone, damaging its control surfaces. The criminal pulled his weapon back inside to reload.
    “Shit,” Marcus snarled. “It’s not stable enough to get a shot now.”
    “Ram him!” Wade said.
    “What?”
    “Ram him!”
    Marcus grinned and told the drone to do just that. Using every bit of power it could muster, the little robot flew into the