The Trade Read Online Free PDF

abducted.’
    â€˜
Abducted?
’ gasped Noah, his eyes widening. ‘By who?’
    â€˜That’s what we’re going to try to find out,’ shereplied. ‘But first, we need to figure out what’s causing him to lose control.’
    Noah frowned. ‘Right. And you wanted me here because …?’
    â€˜Because I could use another pair of eyes,’ Holiday said. She gestured down at the printouts. ‘Take a look. Tell me what you see.’
    Noah bent over the table and looked at each page in turn. After several minutes he straightened up. ‘Numbers,’ he said. ‘Lots of them.’
    â€˜I was hoping for a little more than that.’
    â€˜You’re the brains of the outfit, Dr Holiday,’ Noah told her. ‘Me? I’m just kind of … moral support. If there’s something out of place, you’ll find it, not me.’
    Dr Holiday’s body went stiff. ‘Wait,’ she said, ‘what did you say?’
    Noah thought back. ‘If there’s something out of place –’
    â€˜Out of place,’ she repeated, quietly. ‘Out of place.’
    Her fingers danced across the nearest computer keyboard. The screen changed to display a detailed map of California. ‘The malfunctions only happened when Rex was out on a mission. Here, here and here.’Three red dots appeared close together on the map, showing the locations of Rex’s recent battles.
    â€˜They’re all within fifty miles of one another,’ Noah commented.
    â€˜Exactly! So what if something in that area was causing Rex’s nanites to malfunction?’
    Noah stared hard at the screen. ‘Something like that?’ he said, pointing to an area on the map.
    Dr Holiday followed his finger. With a yelp of delight she jumped back from the monitor. ‘Noah,’ she cried, ‘you are a
genius
!’

CHAPTER 9
    D ARKNESS SWAM BEHIND Rex’s eyelids, and white noise poured into his ears like rushing sand. Beneath him, the floor seemed determined to shake him awake.
    Gradually, the sound of sand faded and he was able to pick out other noises. The roaring of a car engine. The low muttering of a male voice. The unsteady crashing of his own heart.
    But he was only vaguely aware of them all at best. They were background noise, nothing more. What he was much more aware of was the pain.
    It spread out from the centre of his chest and coiled around his arms until it found the very tips of his fingers. It lay like a weight in his stomach and it burned at both of his legs. It throbbed behind his eyes, up over his head and down to the base of his skull. Every single part of him hurt, and the more awake he became, the worse the pain got.
    A burst of pure agony exploded in his right handand it suddenly became very heavy. A voice somewhere above him grunted. ‘Watch out for his sword,’ it said.
    â€˜It ripped through the seat,’ another voice said.
    â€˜It’ll rip through
you
if you’re not careful,’ said the first speaker. Rex thought he recognised the voice, but there was too much happening for him to worry about that now.
    The Big Freakin’ Sword retracted back into Rex’s arm, but the pain didn’t ease off. The darkness behind his eyes seemed to shimmer, and Rex realised, too late, that he was falling unconscious once again.

    Some time passed. Rex couldn’t even begin to guess how much. When he woke again, the floor still felt as if it were moving, and his body still hurt. He was able to open his eyes but he didn’t, not yet. He had a feeling he was in danger, and opening his eyes meant he’d have to face that danger head-on. He wasn’t ready for that.
    He could feel straps across his arms and legs. He was lying flat, arms out to the side and slightly above his head, feet bound tightly together. In his half-awakebrain, he imagined himself looking like a big letter Y.
    The surface beneath him was