Read Out of the Black (Odyssey One, Book 4) for Free Online Page B

gratified when she instantly stopped fighting.
    The hundred-pound guided bomb units, or GBUs, tracked the lasers down all the way and slammed into the Drasin soldier drones with a rumble that could be felt right through the ground. As close as they were, Eric was more concerned with the effects of overpressure on the cop beneath him than he was of shrapnel, but there were quite a few obstructions between them and the worst of the blast to bleed off the power of the explosion.
    As the sense of destruction began to settle, Eric looked up and around and made a decision.
    “Time to go, lady,” he said, hooking one arm around her waist as he gave his chute its orders and was pulled up and away from the ground in a hurry. He kept the angle low, not wanting to draw fire, and skimmed the ground until they reached an alley to drop into. He let her go as he landed, nodding to a man in SWAT uniform who was covering them with his submachine gun.
    “That’s not going to cut it in this fight, son,” he told the younger man. “Get yourself something with a punch, or get yourself out of the battlefield.”
    “Who the fuck are you?” the man demanded.
    “Weston,” Eric said, leaning out slightly so he could survey the situation.
    “Eric Weston?” the woman asked from where she was crouched, leaning against the wall.
    Eric snorted. “Heard of me, I suppose?”
    “Yeah. You’re the crazy bastard who flew that ship into my city,” she scowled.
    “Guilty,” he admitted, “though I wasn’t exactly in full positive control of the
Odyssey
when she dug in.”
    “No shit,” the woman scoffed, shaking her head. “Name’s Lyssa. Thanks for the save.”
    “No problem,” Eric said, looking over what he could see of the park. “Just hold on a sec.”
    He swapped over to a private comm. “Nice hit, Strykers. Targets eliminated.”
    He lifted his Priminae GWIZ to his shoulder and stroked the trigger once. The crack of the weapon discharging shook the air with enough force to rattle teeth. The diamond round lashed out and slammed into the single Drasin that was stilltwitching, blowing its superheated blood across the park to cool.
    “What the hell is that?” Lyssa screamed at him, though he suspected it was more because she couldn’t hear herself properly than anything else.
    “Priminae GWIZ,” he said, raising the volume on his speaker. “Gravity gun. Was presented to me by an admiral I know back on Ranquil.”
    The GWIZ was a strange looking beast, lacking many of the features that a Terran would equate with a weapon. It didn’t have a barrel; instead there was a set of five free-floating “rail points” that flexed as needed to direct the gravity warp that propelled the projectile. These were mounted along a long rail that included a hand grip, power pack, and other bits and bobs of interior mechanics.
    All in all it was the most lethal nonthreatening-looking device he’d ever held, a fact that normally amused him to no end, but for the moment he honestly couldn’t remember why. He’d picked it rather than a standard-issue assault rifle because of the fact that the GWIZ could accommodate almost any ammunition he chose to load it with. Right now he was firing diamond rounds, but in a pinch he could toss in practically anything and the gun would launch it without issue.
    Lyssa was working her jaw and had a finger in her ear as she tried to get full hearing back. “What?”
    Eric chuckled, turning away. “You guys have to get clear. I’m going to spot for the Strykers until the Guard gets here.”
    “Oh, like hell I’m going anywhere,” Lyssa snarled. “This is
my
city, leatherneck. You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
    Eric glanced at her sharply, noting the nickname she’d pinned him with. He hadn’t heard that particular appellationfor a long time. It wasn’t something in common use outside the Corps any longer. He evaluated her for a moment while his computer connected to the military networks and ran