Machine World (Undying Mercenaries Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page A

the emergency people got there.”
    “You’re probably right.”
    “Have you contacted Graves and Leeson yet?”
    “No, I was not able to do so. They got revives, but they were picked up by Hegemony goons.”
    “Hmm,” I said thoughtfully. “I’ll tell you who your weak point is: Leeson. He’s a good man, but he doesn’t have the kind of elastic mind that these situations require.”
    Turov shook her head and chuckled. “Elastic mind, huh? Is that what you call it? Yours must be like a giant rubber band in your skull.”
    “I’ll choose to take that as a complement, sir. Would you like a drink?”
    I could tell she was tempted. She’d smiled at me while talking about my rubber-filled skull. A smile and a drink after midnight—well, that’s the sort of thing that gets a lady into all sorts of trouble after a stressful day at work.
    “No James,” she said with a hint of regret. “I’ll pass.”
    From the appraising look in her eyes, I figured she knew what I was really asking. I sighed but didn’t press the matter.
    We talked after that, laying out the details of our plan to bamboozle anyone who asked exactly how the disaster had gone down. Maybe it would work, or maybe it wouldn’t. It was hard to say.
    By two a.m., Turov was gone. Unfortunately, I found it hard to go back to sleep after her visit, and I stayed up until just before dawn.
     
    * * *
     
    The next morning my tapper woke me up. I’d put it into silent mode, but a summons from Legion Varus broke through such settings.
    The tapper didn’t just chime, it vibrated. No one liked that feeling; the nerves in your arm jiggled and tingled irritatingly. It was like having someone buzz your funny-bone with a jolt of electricity.
    Gasping awake, I fought to make my eyes focus on my tapper.
    “Varus summons,” I read out loud. “All able-bodied personnel are ordered to transport themselves to the Mustering Hall immediately.”
    I headed for the showers with a groan, massaging my temples. I seriously doubted if I qualified as “able-bodied” right now. After washing up and eating, however, I found I felt a lot better. Checking out of the hotel without even daring to look at the total at the bottom of the bill, I took the cheapest public tram I could find to Newark, where the North America Sector’s Mustering Hall stood tall.
    The trip reminded me of my initial visit to this place years ago. Back then I’d been a kid, as green as long grass. A lot had changed since those days. Physically, I was no more than a year older—but my mind was a different thing entirely.
    I contacted a few of my friends with my tapper, but no one seemed to know what was going on any more than I did. Probably, they knew even less than I did.
    Walking up to the smart-door on the Mustering Hall, I applied my palm to the pad beside it. The door buzzed but didn’t open.
    There was a long line behind me. They groaned and shuffled as I tried the door repeatedly, each time achieving the same results. Everyone had to log in through that door, and they didn’t want to wait around for me to get through.
    “Come on, splat!” shouted a regular trooper a few spots behind me in line.
    I turned on him, glowering. It was then he must have noted the specialist’s stripes on my sleeve and the Wolfshead of Varus on my shoulder.
    He was a regular from Solstice. I could tell his legion by the rising sun patch on his shoulder. Solstice was a well-known outfit—but they didn’t have the same kind of rep that my legion did.
    “Uh, sorry Specialist,” he said. “Proceed, by all means.”
    I pushed my palm against that door at least ten more times. Each time it buzzed, turned red, and made me wait a few seconds before I could try again. Behind me, the crowd had begun to filter away in disgust. I didn’t care. They could go around to another entrance on the far side of the building if they wanted. It was a bit of a walk, but—
    The door opened suddenly. This baffled me, as I’d just