Zero's Heart - Mina Carter Page 0,14
tickled again. This time his onboard didn’t give him a choice. It broke through his suppression, flaring a warning across his vision.
Incoming hostiles detected. Take evasive action.
The smile fled from his face, and he straightened up.
“Eris, you need to let me out of this cell. Right now,” he ordered, focusing on the door. His onboard had been idly monitoring the security feeds on the station, and it had picked up coordinated movement coming their way.
She chuckled, starting to turn away. “Yeah, right. Like I’m going to do that. Pro tip… if you want to impress a woman, don’t get arrested. But… thank you for the food, I’m sure the lads will appreciate it in the morning.”
“Seriously, Eris, you’re in danger!” he exclaimed, using his uplink to the station to monitor the corridor outside security. Armed men in black masks flooded into the area, any civilians fleeing quickly. No heroism or warning in a place like this.
Hostiles approaching active zone. Prepare to engage.
“Yeah, yeah…” She walked away from him toward the front of the booking desk. Where she was, she’d be directly in the firing line when those assholes came through the door.
“Bollocks.”
He hadn’t wanted to do this. Closing his eyes, Zero diverted all his processing power for a second to break into the security department system. Monitoring the primary station feeds was one thing, but the security department was a separate, more sophisticated system. It took him over a second to crack, an unforgivable delay before the forcefield snapped off.
“What th—?”
Eris didn’t finish her sentence before he had her, forcing her down behind the booking desk as the front doors shattered. He curled his larger body around hers as the air around them was peppered with gunfire. The delivery trolley was the first to buy it. Bullets ripped through the thin metal and sent the chicken chasseur dancing in the air like a prima ballerina.
She didn’t scream but instantly went for her gun, the weapon in her hand as she edged toward the corner of the desk, ready to return fire. He helped by plunging the department into darkness while reaching up to grab his gun belt. But it skittered from his fingers, dropping out of reach on the other side.
“Bollocks.” Okay, he was going into this unarmed. It wasn’t anything he hadn’t done before and he was hardier than most.
“Shit,” she hissed, ducking around the edge of the desk and firing off a couple of bursts. Two dull thuds followed… bodies hitting the floor. “Two down… six to go.”
Her voice was low but he still heard her over the clatter of gunfire. Catching her gaze, he pointed to himself and indicated to the left. For a split second her eyes filled with confusion but then she nodded. Holding three fingers up, he counted down. On zero, they both broke from cover, Eris firing with a precision that warmed his combat-bitten heart. His girl was awesome, dropping her targets like a machine.
He roared as he broke cover, drawing the attention of the black-clad soldiers in the room. It was easy to see from the way they moved they were experienced in combat. Deadly.
He was deadlier.
The first guy swung around, bringing his rifle to bear. Zero grabbed the muzzle, shoving it upward even as the soldier fired. The bullets disturbed the air by his ear before ripping through the ceiling tiles above them. A lighting unit was hit and showered them with sparks.
Zero snarled as he slammed a hand into the guy’s throat, crushing his windpipe. A second later, he’d flipped the gun out of his opponent’s hands and fired. Using all his senses, both organic and cybernetic, he stepped over his fallen opponent and turned the rifle on the others. Bullets spat. One managed to tag him, his onboard registering the hits but instantly suppressing his pain reaction. Two shots later and only he and Eris were left standing.
He looked at her. She stood over the bodies she’d just gunned down of the men who’d tried to kill her, hair wild and her chest heaving. Their gazes clashed and held.
“We need to get out of here,” he told her, his onboard warning him of more movement heading their way. Bending down, he scooped up his gun belt and buckled it on. “Or we’re sitting ducks.”
❖
She had no choice but to trust him.
Eris checked her ammunition and nodded, gesturing toward the door. She’d have time to figure out what was going on when they were free and clear. For a second,