Read Grit and Grace: A Metal and Men Novella (Metal and Men Series Book 1) for Free Online Page B

loved that weapon.
    Yet I didn’t remember ever having fired it. I searched my memory for any time I had ever used the thing, but it just wasn't there. Every time I tried to recall a hunt, the memory flitted away, like a mirage disappearing when you look straight at it. My knees felt weak. I grabbed the edge of the car and hauled myself up and in.
    Collapsing onto the floor, I looked up at Lena. She smiled down at me, reached down to touch my forehead.
    Blackness swallowed everything.
     
     
     
    The law is nothing in the Republic of Texas. Less government means weak laws and even weaker enforcement. That's how the people like it. Government's got no place in the matters of its people. Sometimes it's up to the strong to protect the weak.
    Sometimes it's up to the weak to protect the strong.
    I woke.
    My breath fogged in the cold. The sky grew pink with the hazy light of morning. Moving hurt, but not moving hurt too. I thought about dulling the pain, but I didn't. It was time for me to face it—all of it. Lena stood a few meters away, facing the brightening sky. The car idled quietly at her side.
    "You were always nice to me," she said in a voice so quiet I barely picked it up.
    I sat up, despite the pain. Of everything that had happened, my toe hurt the worst. One lousy toenail—or lack thereof—rang out and drown the noise of dozens of other pains. Wincing, I pulled off my boot and poked at the ugly mess of my foot.
    "All the stuff you did didn't matter," she said. "All that tech you made, I always dreamed you were making it just for me. Just 'cause you loved me."
    "Lena," I said. "I don't know—"
    "No." She turned to face me, and her tears glistened in the morning light. "No, you don't know anything. Not anymore." Her slender arms hugged her body hard.
    I shook my head and started working on putting my boot back on. "What did I do anyway?"
    "You don't wanna know."
    "Sure I do."
    "No," she said. Her eyes got serious. "You don't. I tried to bring it back in that warehouse, but you fought. I thought I'd give you back the memories that Mr. Goodwin must have took—"
    "Instead you left me with big holes and an affinity for blacking out."
    She nodded.
    A long moment passed. Finally, I set my jaw. "Try it again."
    Our eyes met and she stepped forward.
    The voice in my head spoke up. "Winston," said Hetty. "Winston, you'd best put a stop to this."
    "Quiet."
    Lena took my hand in hers. A tingle of electricity pulsed where our skin touched. My mind sharpened.
    "Winston," Hetty continued. "Winston, she's up to no good."
    My head hurt.
    "Lena," I said. She looked up at me. "Can you silence Hetty?"
    Lena shook her head.
    "Turn her down a bit?"
    "So much neural work... Upgrades on top of upgrades..." She closed her eyes and continued in her softest voice. "I can turn it down a bit."
    The pink sky brightened, and the warm sun lit the eastern horizon.
    "Do it," I said.
    There was a jolt in my brain. The urge to resist washed over me, but I forced it back. I remembered it all. I had worked at Goodwin, invented neurotech that would change the world. I had made a fortune running experiments—terrible experiments. Music was the key. When the twang of a guitar inspired me to invent a neural nanomachine that could manipulate emotions, they started calling me Doc Twang. At an early age, I was a legend in the industry.
    I remembered the horrors I did to rats and monkeys—and to the little girl. The girl, who Goodwin himself had ordered enhanced. Mr. Goodwin himself had trusted me with his most deadly creation. The girl with all the latest tech. The girl raised from a baby as the greatest assassin to ever live. The girl who could disappear without bending light and was stronger than anyone had any right to be.
    The guilt fell heavy on my chest. Guilt and pain and injury mixed and crushed me. Fat tears rolled down my cheeks.
    Far away, I heard Lena's voice. "I'll stop," she said. "It's hurting you."
    It was all I could manage to shake my