Annihilation - Finding Keepers (Annihilation Series (Book Seven}) Read Free

food and new clothes. The merchant pressed a button as Robby was collecting his purchases. A security agent came in and stunned him with a stunner. Ten minutes later the agent that had taken Robby’s hand arrived and confiscated the gold coin. He dragged Robby out the door and threw him on the ground outside the market in a flow of sewage. There in the middle of the street, he pulled his blaster and shot off both of Robby’s arms at the shoulder. He then loaded him on a floater and rolled him into the mud in front of his house and yelled, “This is what a thief gets! Learn from it!” The agent looked slowly around at the trembling crowd, kicked Robby in the ribs, breaking three of them, and left.
     
    Jake ran out, carried Robby inside, and put pieces of his tunic over the open blaster burns. Eighteen days later, Robby walked out on the bridge over the Seachim River, deliberately fell over the rail, and died.
     
    Jake touched the large round object that was hanging under his shirt. He had pulled Robby’s lifeless body from the water and carried it up the bank to the street. He stayed beside him through the night, rocking back and forth on his knees until the next morning, when the body burners came by and forcibly took Robby’s body to be burned. Jake stayed in the street next to the river for two days, in shock for what he had caused to happen to the only brother he ever knew. At nine years old, he didn’t think about what would happen if he, or Robby, tried to use those gold coins. Now Robby was gone.
     
    Jake raised his head and looked at the teleport field just thirty feet in front of him. He looked at the frame above the field and saw Robby sitting on top of it swinging his legs; he still looked ten years old. He could tell Robby wanted to see what he was going to do about the current situation. Jake had prayed countless times to relive those events that lead to Robby’s death, and had sworn that he would come to take Robby’s place if given the chance again. He prayed for years to be taken back to that time to save his brother. Now, a young woman was being blamed for his actions.
     
    Jake sighed heavily and looked up at Robby, who nodded and smiled at him. He wondered why Robby never spoke to him when he appeared, but he sensed that Robby knew what he was thinking. Jake stood, took a deep breath, then turned and walked back into the casino.
     
    Two big men that were standing off to the side of the teleport screen looked at each other, and one began talking furiously on his com. They followed Jake back into the casino.
     
    Jake didn’t see them and wasn’t thinking about any danger. He knew what he had to do and what the consequences would probably be. He walked to the office where he had seen Cynthia taken and knocked on the door. One of the agents that had forcibly removed Cynthia from the casino opened the door.
     
    “You’ve arrested the wrong person. I’m the one you’re trying to find.”
     
    The agent looked him in the eyes and said, “Come in.”
     
    Jake entered the room as the agent stepped aside and closed the door behind him. That’s when he saw Cynthia sitting with her feet up on a desk leaning back in a chair with her hands behind her head. She smiled and said, “Well, Bravo! You’ve actually surprised us all. We never dreamed you would do the right thing.”
     
    Jake’s eyes narrowed. He looked quickly around at the three agents, who were all shaking their heads. One of them said, “I wish I had taken the bet.”
     
    Cynthia smirked and said, “Who would have thunk it?”
     
    Jake took a deep breath and asked, “What’s going on?”
     
    Cynthia put her feet down and stood up, “I am a Stars Realm Searcher and these men are part of a team put together to catch psychics that are taking advantage of the Realm’s casinos. Right now we have teams in more than eight hundred casinos in this quadrant alone, trying to catch you and others like you. The casino management helped