Crack in the Kill Code (AmpCore #2)

19 - Empty Air

They all stared.

Piper didn't know what to do. Her whole body blazed, ready to lash out at Vinder and his cohorts, but now all she could do was try and replay Lanson's disappearance over and over in her head. The glimpse of metal. No matter how many times she replayed it, she couldn't get a clear picture of it. Even her implants; even Cassie hadn't been able to catch it.

Whatever it was, it was freakishly fast.

In the end, Vinder shook off the shock first.

"Lanson? Lanson?" He jolted into motion, as though his feet had been glued to the floor, darting over to where Lanson had been standing just seconds before. "Grennick?!"

No answer.

The others in the group scattered away from where Lanson had been, spinning around, amplifiers levelled into the dark. In front of them yawned a shadowed chasm between two of the silos. Exhaling a sharp breath, Piper lowered her amplifier and started walking. She kept a wary eye on the guards in the gantries, but everyone's attention had been snared by Lanson's disappearance.

Vinder sent a pulse of light into the darkness. The steep sides of the silos bracketed it, but the narrow defile within was empty, with no sign of Lanson, or anything else. His face contorted with bafflement and he tried again, but still the light revealed nothing.

"What the fuck?" Lenor gasped, her voice shaking as she looked around. "Where... where...?"

"Sir?!"

A barked voice cut through the stunned silence, followed by clumping footsteps. Piper looked up sharply.

It was the woman in charge of the Gammaton security guards, skidding down a gantry stairwell, with all of her languid bravado gone now. Her companions trailed behind, moving with a lot less enthusiasm.

"Sir," the woman blurted as she raced towards them. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Vinder hissed, his eyes never leaving the alley. He made a dismissive gesture towards Piper. "Secure these three for transport."

The guard hesitated for a moment, her eyes flashing to to the shadows. Then she nodded, turning to Piper.

"Ms. Russel, surrender your amplifier, if you please."

She actually couldn't believe it. Even now, some part of Vinder's brain was more focused on the civil war he'd concocted among the corporations than what had just happened to one of his allies.

"You're serious?" she hissed.

"Ms. Russell, I would suggest you follow the directions of Mr. Tovas and hand over your amplifiers."

A sudden, boiling rage stirred in Piper's chest. Mattellus might have been an abrasive, cold-hearted thug, but his murder because of this damned feuding was more than she could stomach. Him and his guards, all sacrificed at the alter of a bloody corporate power game. And now, even with everything that had just happened, Vinder was still playing. The stupidity of it all just tipped her over the edge and she lashed out.

Her amplifier erupted. The fist of gravity lifted the guard off her feet, and pulverised her body against the wall of the silo with enough force to kill her instantly. Armour cracked, organs ruptured and bones shattered; she didn't even manage to scream before her lifeless body crashed to the ground.

"Piper?!" Odiye jerked to a halt, his mouth dropping open.

Vinder twisted around, saw what she'd done, and pointed his amplifier at her. "You crazy-,"