The Trade Read Online Free PDF Page A

happened. If he released his grip on the Evo now, though, it would either kill him, escape, or both.
    â€˜Stop that car!’ he bellowed, to anyone within earshot. Fifteen Providence Agents crept out from hiding places and stood in front of the approaching car, blocking its path.
    The car did not slow.
    â€˜Open fire!’ one of the Agents cried. In unison, they all hoisted their machine-guns to their shoulders and sprayed bullets at the oncoming vehicle.
    The car did not slow. Fourteen Agents dived sideways out of harm’s way. One wasn’t so lucky. The car hit him and he was tossed up onto the bonnet. He clung on tightly for a few moments, before the car screeched around the corner and the Agent rolled sideways and hit the ground with an ‘
Oof!
’
    Up on the Evo’s back, Agent Six cursed. Dr Holiday would
never
let him hear the end of this. Twisting at the waist, he fired a kick against the back of the scorpion-monster’s head. It hissed softly through its mouth, like the sound of a balloon slowly deflating, and then it collapsed, unconscious, onto the pavement.
    â€˜Evo down,’ Six said into the communicator.
    â€˜About time,’ Dr Holiday replied. ‘How’s Rex? We lost the video feed.’
    Six took a deep breath. ‘It’s funny you should ask.’

    â€˜You lost him?’
    Six shook his head and wiped a smear of squished scorpion slime from the front of his suit. ‘No, I didn’t lose him. He was taken. Big difference.’
    Dr Holiday stepped closer, until her nose was almost touching Six’s. Her face was red with rage. ‘He was
taken
because you weren’t watching him!’ she said.
    â€˜I wasn’t watching him because I was wrestling an arachnid the size of a bus,’ Six replied. ‘You’d be amazed how that sort of thing can hold your attention.’
    â€˜This isn’t funny, Six,’ Holiday said. She chewed on her lip and wrung her hands together. ‘Anyone could’ve taken him, and anything could’ve happened. He’s all alone out there. Defenceless.’
    For a few moments, Six didn’t speak. Eventually, he gave a brief nod of his head. ‘What can I do to help?’
    Holiday turned her back on him and made for the door. ‘You can stay out of my way,’ she said. ‘And if you see White Knight, tell him the same thing.’
    She left the room, closing the door with a
slam
that shook the walls. Agent Six raised one neat eyebrow. ‘Well,’ he said to himself, ‘that went about as well as could be expected.’

    Half an hour later, Dr Holiday was in her lab. Spread out on the table in front of her were all the printouts of Rex’s biometric readings taken when his transformations were going haywire. She had scribbled notes on over half of the pages, as she’d tried to figure out what the readings meant.
    On a video screen beside her, the CCTV footageof Rex’s battle with the scorpion Evo was playing on a loop. It showed everything, right up until the point half a dozen of the mini-scorpions crawled over the camera lens. The feed had gone dead almost right away after that.
    There was a soft knock at the lab door. Holiday didn’t look up from the printouts. ‘Come in,’ she instructed, and the door was opened.
    â€˜Hi, Dr Holiday. You wanted to see me?’
    â€˜Noah, good, you’re here,’ said Holiday. She smiled at the blond-haired teen as he entered the room. ‘I need your help. Rex is in trouble.’
    â€˜Why am I not surprised?’ Noah asked. ‘What’s up this time?’
    â€˜I’m not sure,’ Holiday admitted. ‘I think he was losing control of his nanites, but I can’t say for certain.’
    â€˜Can’t you just run some tests or whatever? Isn’t that how it normally works?’
    â€˜I could. If I knew where he was,’ Dr Holiday said. ‘He’s been