Arach by C.M. Simpson (books to read for 12 year olds TXT) 📕

him down, to shoot him with the Blazer and keep shooting until nothing was left. Every instinct—but I couldn’t. We needed to know what was going on in this world, and I wasn’t some reactive trigger-puller like Delight, who just shot everything in her path.

“So, not true, Cutter,” Delight said, and I remembered I’d pinged her implant.

“And you took your fucking time.”

“Shut up and deal,” and I couldn’t be sure if she was referring to her delay, or to the way Andreus Corovan was coming out from behind his desk.

At least he hadn’t gone for his weapons, yet.

“Why don’t you just surrender?” he asked. “I’m sure I could get them to let me keep you.”

And I grabbed my emotions and hid them deep, giving him the blankest face I could manage. While I was sure he knew he disgusted me, he didn’t need to know how much. Judging from the smirk on his face, I hadn’t quite managed to hide things fast enough—and realized I was going to need something less lethal than the Blazer.

He’d pulled both blades.

“I’ve got access to another regen tank,” he said, making it sound like an enticement.

“Fuck you.”

“Not yet,” he said, and the smile was gone as he closed the distance between us.

I let him… kind of.

Bare hands against blades were never a good idea, but I wanted him alive. I pulled the blades I’d taken back at the vespis armory, and let him come. He laughed, and I wanted to tell him this wasn’t going to be fun. It didn’t help that I was sure Delight was sitting quietly in my head, watching my every move.

Nothing like getting your ass handed to you when you had an audience.

“You’ll be fine, Cutter.”

I really hadn’t needed her to confirm it, but Andreus made his opening move, and I was too busy countering to respond. Man was fast—but he was nowhere near as powerful as Mack. He’d have to rely on speed to get through, and I was plenty fast, too. I’d trained with the best I could find, both on and off, the Odyssey base. I had this shit covered… maybe…

I let Andreus make his attacks, and I parried. He danced back, expecting a counter-strike, but I held it, making him come at me, again. He seemed impatient. Maybe he’d give me an opening. He danced in, again, slashing in an obvious feint. I turned the blade, and then parried the real attack that came from the other side.

That drew a look of surprise I didn’t take the time to enjoy it. I rolled the parry into a strike with one blade, and then brought the other in underneath it. He danced back, but both blades touched flesh, and fury distorted his features.

“Bitch!”

I used his surprise to press the attack, coming inside his defenses and landing a direct thrust to one shoulder, while slashing across the opposite wrist. Both blades hit the floor, and I kicked them away, pushing Andreus back, until he hit a wall. It was disappointing. I’d thought he’d be better than that, given he was a lord and all.

“He had a second,” Delight said. “He’d challenge, but then he’d put his second in.”

And I remembered the older man that had accompanied him when he’d had Mack and me in his complex on Costral.

“Yes,” Delight said, just as Andreus managed to grab the butt of his tangler.

Personally, I think he’d have been better off trying to stop the bleeding—or not moving at all. Still, we could agree to disagree. I shoved the blade deeper, feeling it grate against bone, and Andreus screamed, but his fingers let go of the tangler as I rammed the other blade through his side, and hoped I didn’t hit anything too vital on the way in. He screamed again, but I wasn’t listening. I reached in and took the tangler and the Glazer.

I contemplated giving him a full dose of the first, but I really didn’t have the time, and I wasn’t Delight.

“No, you’re not,” she agreed. “I’d have tangled him unconscious.”

Knowing that brought me no comfort, as I switched the settings on the Glazer and put Andreus under.

“We’ll pick him up, when you call the all clear,” Delight said. “He’s not going anywhere.”

“Just make sure you get to him while he’s still alive,” I told her, and she chuckled.

“Now, who’s the bossy one?”

Rather than answer that, I switched settings on the Glazer, once more, and checked the rest of Andreus’s office. The computer on his desk was still running, and I felt Delight’s interest sharpen.

“Lock that down, will you?” she asked. “We need it.”

Huh, so not so much of a request, then.

“No.”

I secured the computer, and checked through the curtains at the back. Andreus’s sleeping quarters were a scene of military precision, with not a single item out of place. Wherever he took his relaxation, it wasn’t here. I shrugged. Maybe he was just down here on business, then.

“I doubt it.”

“Don’t you have anything better to do?”

“Not right now, I don’t.”

Great. Looked like I’d have a passenger for the entire operation.

“I’ve got popcorn…”

Ignoring Delight, I took another quick look over the sleeping quarters and the office, as well as the small, but private san unit tucked in beside the wardrobe, but found nothing. The only thing that looked like it would give us more of a lead was the computer—and it was going to have to wait.

25—Decoys and Traps

I made it back to the door, and noticed Andreus was still out to it. Couldn’t be sure, though, so I tweaked the hilt of one of the swords, as I passed. He didn’t move. He didn’t even gasp.

“Good,” I said, even if I regretted not having an excuse to dose him with the tangler.

“Don’t sweat it,” Delight said. “He’ll get plenty during interrogation.”

“And I thought Odyssey didn’t believe in torture.”

“Who said Odyssey were going to be doing the questioning. He’s on K’Kavor, remember?”

I remembered.

Oh.

I wasn’t sure even Andreus deserved what he had coming to him,