Read War Machine (The Combat-K Series) for Free Online

to assume you are safe here because of your digital Security Device. It was disabled four minutes ago and can be reclaimed in several pieces at a later date.”
    At this, Akeez went pale, his eyes dropping to focus on the dark Techrim 11mm. The gun was battered, chipped, dented, scratched. If the gun could speak, it would have told a thousand tales.
    “Now,” Keenan stood fluidly, and stubbed the dead remains of his home-rolled cigarette into a pink seashell ashtray. “Leave, and not just my office. I suggest you exit Dekkan Tell. I would suggest this is no longer a safe haven for a man with your, shall we say, inside information.”
    Prince Akeez stood. He sat his small black hat on his head, then reached down and placed a metal card on Keenan’s desk. Then he met Keenan’s steel gaze.
    “May I say one last thing?”
    “Better be good. My patience wears thin.”
    “The Fractured Emerald; it is not just an object of lust, of wealth, of power.”
    “You have five seconds to leave.” Keenan looked at his watch, and reached for the Techrim.
    “It has psychic abilities. It can look into the future, and it can see into the past. With the right guidance, the right encoding, with a return to full power, it could discover the identity of the person who murdered your family.”
    Keenan froze. The room seemed to spin into slow-motion. Keenan glanced to the right, where Cam floated just outside the window, a tiny red light blinking on its black casing. Then his head snapped back to Akeez and his lips formed a snarl as the world sprang back to reality and shock slammed Keenan like a hammer-blow.
    “Get out. Get the fuck out, now!”
    Akeez half-smiled, but his gaze was black. “You have a Dark Flame burning inside you, Mr. Keenan. It will lead you on the Right Path.” Then he was gone. Keenan slumped back in his chair and closed his eyes, rubbing his temples, listening to the distant surge and crash of the sea. Beyond, the city breathed: sounds of traffic, voices in chatter, the clatter of plates in a nearby Dek Restaurant.
    Cam glided into the room, spinning.
    It hung, waiting patiently, above Keenan’s desk.
    Finally, the man’s eyes opened and he stared at the security device. “I can’t believe that man; to invent suchathing in order to gain my services? What a bastard . In my younger days I would have shot him in the face and dumped his body in the sea, just out of principle.”
    “Keenan, I’ve just had an exchange with Fortune. Fortune checked the data. The Fractured Emerald does exist, and is indeed rumoured to have psychic abilities. According to local Ket-i legend it can see into the future... and into the past .”
    “So he was telling the...”
    There came a long, uneasy silence. Cam spun on the spot; a sure sign of agitation in the tiny machine.
    Keenan reached forward and picked up the metal card. It had an ident-chip contact. Keenan walked towards the window and looked out over the glittering waves.
    “It would, of course, be a highly dangerous mission.”
    “But then, you are a highly dangerous man,” said Cam.
    “I could not do it alone.”
    “You could always assemble a small team; you know some nasty cases, I am sure.”
    “I would need the best.”
    There came a long pause. Several tiny lights glittered across Cam’s black shell. “I think what you’re implying would be a terrible idea; nigh on impossible...”
    “Why?”
    “Since you last had communication, Franco has been locked in a mental institution and is pumped full of narcotics; whilst Pippa has been charged with eight counts of murder and segregated to a terminal security facility on Five Grey Moons. If she tries to escape she is instantly exterminated by implanted logic-cubes in her skull.”
    “Still, I would need their help. If Pippa doesn’t kill me on sight...”
    “She did threaten that, yes. I believe she said she would cut out your heart with her bare fingers. Then burn your corpse. Now, my large and violent friend,