Glitch in the God Complex (AmpCore #1)

03 - Nobody's That Natural

That didn't stop her also noticing that he was startlingly attractive. His shoulders were solid and broad beneath the jacket, and his clean-shaven face revealed the strong lines of his jaw. His nose was wide; features round and welcoming. She saw him physically try and soften his stare and his gaze became a shade more bearable.

"Maybe I should rephrase," he began carefully. "Are you hurt?"

She didn't recognise his accent - he certainly wasn't Hadrian-born. Maybe somewhere in southern Carthage from the way he sharpened the ends of words and heavily accented his vowels. She couldn't pinpoint anything closer than that. Geography wasn't something Hadrian's corp-sponsored academy schools impressed upon the lower dregs of society.

"I..." Piper examined herself, and discovered that miraculously, barring a few cuts and bruises, she was in one piece. "I don't think so," she managed.

"Good." The glow from the weapon faded away, leaving something behind that just looked like an unremarkable rod of metal maybe twelve inches long. In a slow, deliberate motion, he pulled his jacket open with one hand and slid the rod into a holder in his belt.

As his jacket shifted, she noticed something else: a logo branded on the left shoulder. It was a cobalt circle with a line cutting diagonally through it, surrounded by a pattern that looked like links in a chain. She couldn't remember the name, but she'd seen that symbol branded some of Hadrian's corporate offices and warehouses on the dock.

Suddenly he didn't look so attractive.

"Who the hell are you?" she asked, on guard in an instant.

"My name is Odiye," he replied, straightening his jacket out. "Odiye Tambo."

"And you're a corporate spiv."

He stiffened a little at the jibe. "I saved you from that wraith."

Piper snorted. "Yeah, and if I know corps, I'll be paying that debt off until I'm rusting in the fucking ground."

"Please," Odiye snapped, holding up both hands. "Yes, I am sponsored by Code and Vector Incorporated." He tapped the logo on his shoulder with two fingers. "I am from AmpCore. Do you know of this?"

AmpCore.

She swallowed hard. "Some kinda corp secret police."

"Something like that." A smile flickered enticingly across Odiye's face, but it was gone as quickly as it came. "What is your name?"

"Like you don't already know."

"I am not a spy," he said, sounding slightly hurt. "I help people. Now can you please tell me your name?"

She regarded him for a moment, then relented. "I'm Piper. Now, are you going tell me what is going on? How the hell did two codewraiths get loose on this side of the river?"

"That, I do not know." He sank into a crouch, examining the dead wraith in her kitchen. "They did not cross the bridge, and they could not swim the waters. Maybe someone smuggled them across?"

"Why?"

For a moment he didn't answer, his face thoughtful. "That wraith," he said eventually, inclining his head to the wreckage. "How did you do that?"

Piper looked down at the dead codewraith and felt her heart start to slam in her chest again. The memories rushed back, and she remembered the feeling of connection, the brief glimpse into the machine's demented brain.

"I'm not sure what happened," she said haltingly. "I felt some kind of ... I don't know - connection - with the thing and I just wanted it to die. Next thing I know it just sort of... blew up."