Six Read Online Free PDF

dead bolt. The liquid is so cold it evaporates as soon as it hits the steel. A small cloud of nitrogen and water vapor billows around Dad’s head, and a sheen of frost appears on the edge of the door. The steel groans as its temperature drops. Dad keeps spraying until he empties the canister. Then he takes a step backward, braces himself, and slams his shoulder into the door.
    I hear a high-pitched snap. The dead bolt, made fragile by the extreme cold, breaks into pieces. Pulling his shirt cuffs over his hands, Dad grasps the frigid knob and wrenches the door open. The frost-covered shards of the lock fall to the floor.
    â€œGo!” Dad yells. “Head for the lobby!”
    Peterson is already running down the corridor. While I flick my joystick forward and steer the wheelchair through the doorway, Dad goes back to get Steve. He grabs both of the guy’s arms and drags his limp body out of the office.
    The corridor is littered with debris from the gas explosions. I have to maneuver my wheelchair around fallen pipes and ceiling panels. I’m lucky, though, that Dad’s office is on the ground floor and fairly close to the lobby. I see the lobby’s glass doors, just fifty feet ahead, and my heart starts thumping. We’re going to make it!
    But then I look up and glimpse something moving. A surveillance camera on the ceiling is turning its lens toward me, tracking my progress as I cruise down the corridor. I think of my VR program and how the virtual Brittany observed me through the camera in Dad’s office. She called herself Sigma. And she said she would kill me.
    Then there’s a third explosion, in an office on the left side of the corridor. The blast knocks down my wheelchair, and everything goes black.
    â€¢ • •
    My face is cold. Without opening my eyes, I bend my right arm, trying to raise my good hand. I touch my chin, then slide my trembling fingers across my cheek. The left side of my face is wet. I stretch my hand a little farther and feel a gash under my eye. Then the pain hits me and I let out a moan.
    â€œAdam? Are you awake?”
    It’s my father’s voice. All at once I realize he’s carrying me. My shoulders are cradled in the crook of his right arm and my legs are draped over his left. Ordinarily it would be pretty difficult to carry a seventeen-year-old this way, but my wasted body weighs less than ninety pounds. I’m like an oversized baby resting in his arms, and I feel so comfortable there I just want to go back to sleep.
    â€œAdam! Wake up!”
    Reluctantly, I open my eyes. We’re on the sloping lawn in front of the Unicorp lab, which I can see over Dad’s shoulder. The building’s glass doors have shattered, and thick plumes of smoke are pouring out of the windows. Dozens of people stand beside us on the lawn, all staring at the ruined lab in disbelief.
    I know I haven’t been unconscious for very long because Dad’s still breathing fast. His face is blackened with soot, but otherwise he looks unhurt. “Can you hear me?” he shouts. “Say something!”
    My chest feels crushed, empty of air. My ribs ache as I inhale. “What about…Steve?”
    Dad shakes his head. I look past him and see a body sprawled on the lawn. Steve’s red-and-yellow Superman shirt stands out against the grass, which is vividly green in the March sunshine.
    â€œAdam, listen to me. You’re going to be all right. As soon as the ambulance gets here, we’ll take you to the hospital. But before we go, I need to ask you something.” Dad bends his head closer to mine. “You remember what we were talking about before all this happened? About the hacker?”
    I nod.
    â€œYou said he threatened to kill you, right? But did he say he was going to attack the lab?”
    I draw another breath. “No. But he…could see me. He had access…to the lab’s cameras.”
    Dad frowns. “Did he say he