Read Deus Ex - Icarus Effect for Free Online

young mercenary's legs were blackened and twisted at

    unnatural angles; he'd likely been thrown clear of the veetol when it plowed through the trees, but the luck that saved him from being
    immolated had left him broken.

    "Jefe ..."he gasped. "You're bleeding."

    "Later," Saxon said, and bent down to gather Duarte up, hauling him to his feet. The other man grunted with a deep hurt as he put weight on
    his right leg, and Saxon frowned. "Can you walk?"

    "Not on my own," came the reply. "Madre de dios, where the hell did that drone come from?" Duarte looked around, blinking. "Where ...
    Where's Kano and the others?"

    Saxon could smell the burned meat stench on himself and he couldn't say the words; his silence was enough, though, and Duarte shook his head
    and crossed himself. "We have to move," said Saxon. "You got a weapon?"

    The other man shook his head again, so Saxon drew the black-anodized shape of a heavy Diamondback .357 revolver from a holster on his belt,
    and pressed it into Duarte's hands. "That vulture, he'll be coming back," he said, checking the loads.

    Saxon nodded, casting around, scanning the drift of wreckage. He'd lost his FR-27 in the crash, but the veetol had been carrying cases loaded
    with extra weapons for Operation Rainbird. He spotted one off to the side and made for it.

    Rainbird. The mission had been blown before they even reached the target zone. Saxon's mind raced as he ran through the possibilities. Had
    they been compromised from the start? It was unlikely. Belltower's mercenary forces were the best paid in the world, and there was an
    unwritten rule that once you wore the bull badge, you were part of a brotherhood. The company did not tolerate traitors in the ranks. Belltower
    policed itself, often with lethal intensity.

    He reached the case and tried the locks, but they were stuck fast. The knife came out again, and he worked the tip into the broken mechanism.

    "The intel..." Duarte said out loud, his thoughts mirroring those of his squad leader. "The mission intel had to be bogus ..."

    "No," Saxon insisted.

    "No?" Duarte echoed him, his tone changing, becoming more strident. "We had a clear highway, jefe! You saw the data. No drones for twenty
    miles."

    The lock snapped and Saxon cracked the case. "Must've been a mistake ..."

    "Belltower intel never makes mistakes!" Duarte snapped, coughing. "That's what they always tell us!" He tried to lurch forward on his one good
    leg. "Whatever happened, we're screwed now ..."

    Saxon shot him an angry glare. "You secure that crap right now, Corporal," he said, putting hard emphasis on the young man's rank. "Just shut
    your mouth and do what I bloody well tell you to, and I promise I'll get you back to whatever barrio rattrap you call home."

    Duarte sobered, and then gave a pained chuckle. "Hell, no. I joined up to get out of my barrio rattrap. I'll settle for just getting away from here."

    "Yeah, I hear you." Saxon dragged a bandolier of shells from the case and pulled a heavy, large-gauge shoulder arm from the foam pads inside.
    The G-87 was a grenade launcher capable of throwing out a half-dozen 40 mm high-explosive shells in a matter of seconds; the Americans
    called it "the Linebacker." He cracked open the magazine and began thumbing the soda-can-size rounds into the feed. He was almost done
    when he heard the low whine of ducted rotors overhead.

    "Incoming!" shouted Duarte, and the soldier stumbled toward a twist of wreckage.

    Saxon looked up and shifted the optics to low-light, instantly painting the whole sky in shades of dark green and glittering white. He caught
    movement as something ungainly and fast wheeled and turned above them. The wings of the drone changed aspect and folded close to the
    spindly fuselage as it dove at them. Saxon glimpsed a ball festooned with glassy lenses tucked underneath the nose of the robot aircraft as it
    turned to single him out.

    He broke into a run and vaulted away over fallen tree trunks just