The Golden Crystal Read Online Free PDF Page A

thought. 
    They’d caused the car wreck late last night. Beka himself had wired a simple explosive charge to the road, set to detonate on impact. The first vehicle that came down the winding road at the top of the cliff hit the strand of explosives and careened down here. The car was almost immediately engulfed in flames, but the driver — a man of about thirty years — was able to crawl out before the sedan caused him too much harm. 
    It was amazing he’d lived, actually, but it made it easier for the Vilocorp team to pluck him off the side of the road, wounded and in a daze, and bring him into the lab.
    There, Beka knew, the man would die. Not right away, but eventually. He would be subjected to many tests — painful tests — and he would eventually succumb to his injuries. So far, none of their subjects had survived, and that man — and this kid in front of him now — would be no exception. 
    Beka had been a part of Vilocek’s guard unit for more than a year and had mostly enjoyed the work. His commander, Agent Karn, was something of a slavedriver who expected more from his agents than most military combat units, but Karn did allow his men autonomy most of the time. Karn didn’t care what the men did off-duty, and on-duty he certainly didn’t care how the dirty work was done — as long as it was done quickly and completely.
    Recently, the team received orders from the head of Vilocorp — Tanning Vilocek — to use “immediate and lethal force” to acquire particular assets for the company. Karn, Beka, and the other three agents were all too happy to comply. An entire African village was then thoroughly laid to waste.
    On another mission, they had smoked out the entire corporate headquarters of a small mining company in Peru to find a particular object for Vilocek.  The employees were herded into a group outside while Agent Karn and the others went in to retrieve the package. Beka, tasked with keeping the people in line, tied the people together by the hands and fired a few rounds into the edges of the group. In the ensuing chaos and stampede, many were trampled as others struggled to escape. Beka had watched with mild interest for a few moments until the hysteria began to annoy him — then he calmly shot the survivors. 
    Beka had no doubt that this type of dirty work was his personal talent; a sadistic calling that made him perfect for Karn’s team and for Vilocorp. His childhood priest had often talked about the importance of “calling,” and Vladimir now understood that the priest had been right all along. Beka was a killer, and he was brutally good at it. 
    He heard the whump of Karn’s rifle butt as it struck the young man’s face, and Beka came back to the present. He licked his lips in anticipation of a fight, though he knew it would take very little to beat the American into submission. He stepped up to receive his orders. 
    “Cuff him and bring him back to the facility. Dr. Vilocek wants to run initial tests within the hour.”
    “Yes sir.” Beka responded without emotion. He reached for the shackles at the young man’s feet. As Beka squatted down, Cole suddenly lashed out and kicked some gravel into Beka’s face. 
    Then he bolted, leaving Beka and the others momentarily frozen in place. 
    The soldiers behind Agent Karn lifted their rifles in turn, preparing to fire at the fleeing man. 
    “Stand down,” Agent Karn rasped. He swung his assault rifle up and aimed steadily down the sight. Beka stood obediently by, watching as Karn tensed his upper body and relaxed his core, preparing for the recoil.
    The rifle let out a thump , not unlike the sound of a cork popping from a wine bottle. Instead of the quick and deafening bang of a normal assault rifle, the thump hung in the air — a pulsating, rhythmic zzzzz . The sound resembled an electric discharge, but deeper.

COLE COULDN’T HEAR ANY FOOTSTEPS, and he was just beginning to wonder what was going on behind him.
    Then the