Chapter 1
She sat there, staring through the glass. The screen was tuned to a dead channel, the colour of the sky. She stared until the silence hanging in the air was corrupted by alarms.
“Hanin.” A voice filled the room. “We have a D650 on Almeida in progress.”
Her eyes refocussed from the ends of the earth back into the room. A quick swipe from her hand and a layer of skin disappeared from her left forearm. Her Cynet Interface Panel exposed, she used it to switch off the screen. Accessing the comms menu she calmly forwarded her orders to the others.
“Code D650. Daemon, fire up the APC. Mish, Canti, be ready to exit in two minutes.”
Three voices came back to her to acknowledge. Hanin threw a blue tank top on over her red undershirt and slipped her Kinesis Harvesters on underneath her red knee-length pleated skirt. An icon appeared on her Cynet, “Harvesting – Battery: 98%.”
“Han, quick question,” Canti said over the comm. “Was D650 a junkie on a frenzy, or dead whore in the sewers?”
“Neither Cant,” she replied. “Ambush on an unknown vehicle. Do try to remember that these codes only actually save us time if you’re not an idiot.”
“I told you it wasn’t the hooker,” Mishka said, her voice sounding in the background of Canti’s comm. “Besides, they can take care of themselves you f…”
Hanin cut the comm as she finished tying the laces on her shoes. Another icon appeared on her Cynet, “Ftwear engaged: N-absorb ready; N-disperse ready.” The elevator door opened in front of her and she left the rec-room heading up to the garage.
