Read Girl From Above #3: Trapped for Free Online Page B

was no way in the nine systems I could beat him. Knowing the odds were stacked against me had never stopped me before. If there was one thing I knew how to do right, it was take a beating.
    I rolled onto my side and staggered to my feet. Scanning the room for any sign of a weapon only reminded me how hopeless this was. There has to be something!
    “Caleb, go!”
    The male synth stilled and brought his gaze around to me. He’d heard the concern skitter through #1001’s tone and had found her weakness: me.
    For the second time in less than twenty-four hours, I ran. I darted out the room, down the hall, and caught the open elevator car. I punched at the lobby button in time to see the male synth stride out of my room and bear down on me. My bruised lungs and broken chest burned. The air-con hummed and the lights beat their heat over me, but the doors didn’t fucking move. I jabbed the close button repeatedly and considered darting for the stairs when the doors finally rumbled closed with a rickety jolt.
    I fell back against the panel, panting hard. Where was #1001? I couldn’t outrun this machine. The only weakness I knew he had was the cold. #1001 had nearly met her end when her temperature had dropped on Mimir. Lyra’s temperature plummeted outside the domes. I could survive maybe a minute. The cold would surely kill him, but I didn’t know if it was possible to get through the domes anywhere besides the atmosphere domelocks.
    The sounds of grinding gears were promptly followed by a hefty jolt. The elevator ceiling caved in, raining glass and metal from above. Darts of pain dashed through my shoulders. I covered my face and felt sharp stabs slice across my forearms. His hand shot through my meager defenses, curled around my neck, and lifted me clean off my feet. This was how Jesse had died. He’d break my neck—
    He has the same eyes as #1001, electric blue and dead cold.
    #1001 dropped through the gap in the ceiling and swung a kick into his back. He released me and turned on her. Wedged into the corner, all I could do was watch as they landed blow after blow. She tore into him the way I’d seen her move in the alley on Ganymede, only this was almost too quick for me to track and a thousand times more brutal. She’d slam his head into the side of the car, only for him to kick her legs out, but even when she fell she lashed out. Pure, unfiltered fury twisted her perfect face, twisting her artificial beauty into something else, something deadly. Something real. And he barely blinked. Through it all, she blocked his route to me, every time, until he swung her around and slammed her into the panel hard enough to buckle it. She fell, motionless.
    Fuck. “What’s your number?” I asked as he straightened and stepped over #1001. Maybe I could stall him and find something, anything, to stop him.
    “My number is irrelevant,” he said in precise Janus Station English. “My name is Tarik, and you will ensure One Thousand And One comes with me.”
    A fragment of rebar burst through his chest, peppering my face with synthetic blood. He looked down, face blank, before dropping to his knees.
    The elevator car dinged and the doors rumbled open to reveal an empty lobby.
    I snatched #1001’s cool hand and dragged her out of the mangled wreckage. We stumbled down the steps and ran. #1001 loped beside me, splatters of blood bright on her pale face and hair. She veered right, gaze intent. I followed, trusting her to get us somewhere safe. Around the next partially constructed high-rise, she hailed an empty pod and we ducked inside. I twisted in the seat, glaring out the back, waiting for that son of a bitch to come running after us.
    “He can’t follow,” she said, voice obscenely calm. “I punctured his power core. He is running on reserve power and will need to return to the nearest Chitec service station for repairs.”
    I continued watching the strip and only turned once the crowds started to build as we encroached on