The Dark Edge Chronicles - Hardwire

Rebels

As far as the man in black could see, the movers had been taken out by psionics of like ability, the crowds of Normals thronging about the ambush scene seemingly oblivious to what was taking place in their midst. Oddly enough it reminded Mordecai of a wolf hunt in the far north, where the wolves cut deep into a caribou herd to single out the one they wanted to bring down, without seeming to disturb any of the others.

Still, he wouldn't mind knowing where these new heavy hitters were coming from. He would have thought that the Brotherhood would've culled all the talent out of the local nations, just to keep them subservient.

"Nice," he conceded tightly, turning to face the balding man once more. "An ambush, neat and tidy. And on what looks to be Brotherhood heavies." Mordecai's eyes narrowed. "But that just generates questions, friend. Questions I suggest you answer before I rumble you to dust." The shockwave inched closer.

Quickly the man threw up a forestalling hand, his smile abruptly somewhat thinner as he nearly took a step back.

"No need for threats, Mordecai," he replied smoothly, the use of his name making the man in black's frown only deepen even further. "You'll have your answers soon enough. As long as you're willing to come with me."

"Come with you?" Mordecai snorted. "Forgive me for not immediately trusting you, pal, you seeming to know me and all." The man in black's mouth quirked. "But I just got jumped by a bunch of Brotherhood hardwires with murder in their eyes and, . . ."

"Ah, yes," the man interjected, his smile broadening slightly. "That would be Mindfire, the ESET the Brotherhood has sent into Calgary to take you out, after what you did to Preacher and his network."

Mordecai's eyebrow slowly climbed towards his hairline as his irritation warred with his curiosity.

"You're quite well informed, friend," he finally admitted after a long pause, staring hard at the man's face. "An interesting feat, considering the Brotherhood controlled this place a mere 24 hours ago, with a rather absolute grip. And information doesn't seem to be something that they would be all that willing to part with."

Abruptly the shockwave vanished, Mordecai dispersing it with a thought.

"Very well. I'll go with you; but with the expectation that I'll be getting some serious answers from you, and yours. If I'm even remotely disappointed, my anger can be quite substantial."

"That we are well aware of, I can assure you," the man replied, still speaking smoothly and without concern, though he physically relaxed slightly at the shockwave's disappearance. "You won't be disappointed. First, however we need to withdraw to some where more protected. As you've witnessed, the Brotherhood is moving in force all throughout the city. We aren't completely safe here." He turned to speak over his shoulder into the shadows that clung closely to an elevator that provided the primary access to the offices and the balcony.

"Tabitha?"

A young woman, not much older than the quintet of teens that had been acting as bait for the Brotherhood thugs in the ambush down below, stepped from the shadows, a smile on her fresh-looking face. She too was dressed more like a Normal than a psionic. But when he formed a telepathic probe to give her the once over, Mordecai could sense telepathic fields automatically being formed in her cortex to shield her mind. Nope, not a Normal, a teep.

Frowning, Mordecai let his scan slide onto the man. And felt his frown deepen as, once again, he found a complete lack of a psionic field of any kind. In fact, if the man hadn't been standing directly in front of him, the man in black would almost swear that he didn't exist at all! The man didn't even have the thought leakage a Normal normally generated, nor did he possess the psi shadow that one would get from somebody being tightly shielded. The man was simply psionically invisible!