Aegis Incursion Read Free Page A

expected a break, he wasn’t getting one. The second Charger was hot on his tail. The lone guard inside was evidently none too happy about his colleagues being bested by a delivery man but wary of falling for any more of the van driver’s tricks. He switched into the next lane, out of sight of the only mirror the driver had to work with.
    The driver wound down his side window halfway and risked a look. Craning his neck, he saw the guard use his baton to smash out the Charger’s windshield. Most of the glass broke away from the pursuing vehicle though some jagged pieces remained.
    What is that nut—
    The driver halted mid-thought when he saw the guard lift up his gun and point it toward him through the broken windshield. He recoiled as a bullet obliterated his window, shattering it into countless pieces. The driver bit back a cry of pain as dozens of glass pellets struck his face. Momentarily distracted, he swerved in the wrong direction. He was still trying to regain control when he heard a loud bang, and the van suddenly veered right toward the guard rail. Knowing one of his tires had been shot, the driver stomped on the brake but the vehicle continued to skid before crashing through the railing and plunging over the side.
    The van tumbled down the two-hundred foot cliff at terrifying speed. Doors and parts broke away from vehicle. The van went airborne for one last time before crashing to the ground right next to the lake and rolling onto its roof.
    The guard brought his car to a screeching halt and leapt out. He ran to the edge of the road and peered over. He drew his gun, took careful aim at the van’s exposed fuel tank, and fired. On the third shot, the tank exploded, engulfing the van in flames.
    The guard watched for a few moments, then unclipped a radio from his belt. “It’s done,” he reported, sounding satisfied. He stared at the blazing wreckage for a moment longer before heading back to his vehicle. With a powerful roar of the engine, he drove away from the scene.
    A dozen feet below the edge of the road, the battered and bruised driver of the van hung onto an exposed root that stuck out from the side of the ravine. He listened as the sound of the Charger’s engine grew distant. Then, mind racing, he looked down at his destroyed vehicle. Grateful as he was to be alive, his intuition told him that he’d stumbled upon something big in that facility; something clandestine and dark.
    As he dug his fingers into the slope and clawed his way back up toward the road, dirt-stained and bleeding, he allowed himself a small, furtive smile. It seemed like a good time to do something he hadn’t done in ages: Reach out to the Council.

PART ONE



1
    I t was a scene of complete mayhem. Remains of destroyed buildings and vehicles were strewn across the mountaintop landscape. Shots rang out and bullets flew in the early hours of the misty morning. The heat of the battle drew cold sweat from the teenager who stood amidst it all. He watched, horrified, as a large, black-furred beast leapt and dug its massive fangs into a woman who was firing arrows from her bow. Unable to tear his eyes away from the ghastly sight, he watched as the woman’s life was taken right before his eyes.
    He heard someone call out. At an agonizingly slow pace, the teenager turned to see a man running toward him. The stranger, perhaps in his mid-fifties, had flaming red hair with a matching beard, but what captured the teenager’s attention was the look of pure terror in the man’s gray eyes. Behind him, gouts of earth erupted as bullets struck the ground. The projectiles burst forth from the ramp of a strange, imposing aircraft that hovered above the site. The fire from the plane seemed to be specifically targeting the stranger.
    The teenager found himself running toward the man. He willed himself to move as fast as he could, yet time seemed to have slowed. Everything became crystal-clear—he could see every little detail, from a minuscule