Code Breakers: Beta Read Free

inside faced him, the expression on its face completely neutral. He expected her eyes to open any minute, or perhaps that was just wishful thinking. He could really do with some help in here. This was beyond his comfort zone. He preferred the bustle of people, the low hum of computers, the challenge of battling AIs.
    To a certain degree they were predictable, but people like Natalya—psychopathic, schizophrenic, and above all, a woman in a permanent state of grief, were an entirely different challenge. He, of course, knew this better than most, being so very similar to Natalya.
    Perhaps because of that similarity, she had accepted him into the fold of the Widows and asked for him now. As though she were listening to his thoughts, she called out to him, her voice shattering the tense silence like an explosion, her strong Russian vowels and sharp consonants splitting the air.
    “I see you, Gabriel. Creeping around like a thief.”
    Across the room, some ten metres away, two red orbs seemed to hover: her OLED implants. He dropped into a defensive crouch, made to move his arms to the inside of his jacket, but then remembered he’d left his weapons outside.
    “Relax,” she ordered. “Come close so that we can—negotiate.”
    Five long strides and he made it halfway across the room.
    She brought up the lights.
    Four children huddled close together. They sat on the white-tiled floor of the lab, their backs against the grey cupboards. Natalya, a picture of calm, sat on a stool, resting her elbows on the flat chrome surface of Enna’s operating table.
    She had plaited her dark hair into a single braid. A section of white hair striped through the plait. She wore traditional Mongolian robes: dark black with a red sash, the colours of Bachia. As brutal as Bachian justice might be, they still had the courtesy to give her their clothes.
    “It’s difficult to negotiate when ya’ve got all the power on your side,” Gabe said.
    She smiled. “Not quite, but you’re right to a degree. I do have power. But more importantly, I have information. Unfortunately for me, I found it too late. Maybe you wouldn’t have betrayed me had I known sooner.”
    The children were whimpering. Their wrists and ankles were lashed with rope, and graphene tape wrapped around their mouths. Aged between five and ten, they struck a pitying sight.
    “I saw the files on ya computer system,” Gabe said. “Ya found them, didn’t ya? I bet ya Sisters slaughtered them—those you called nomads.”
    “Save your judgement. You think you’re so innocent with your stupid hat and name? You may believe you’re some kind of preacher, but you’re savage! You kill like the rest of us. You’re no better than anyone on this God-forsaken planet.”
    Gabe stepped forward and slammed his fist down on the other end of the table. “What is it ya want? Why bring me here? Why not just kill the damned kids, blow up this building? Why the fuck should I care about any of this if ya think I’m a savage, huh?”
    “Now, there’s my Gabriel. I like you when you have fire in belly. It’s the real you, not this simpering, pseudo-religious lie.” She laughed, reached a hand beneath the table, and brought out a palm-sized rectangle of metal with a small, square holoscreen.
    “Shall we just end this now?” she asked, hovering a thumb over the display. “One press and it’s all over. No more struggle, lies, or guilt.”
    Gabe’s heart thudded against his chest. Her words stung with the truth. His insides were blackened, ugly with guilt and self-hatred. There was a certain appeal about ending it, but the carrot she dangled in front of him was too much.
    “No,” he said. “Ya wanted to negotiate. Let’s get to it. What do ya want from me?”
    “Ah, now we get to the meat of the meal. It is simple. I exchange my life and freedom for your father’s.”
    “How do I know ya’re not lying? I want proof first.”
    Natalya reached into her robes, pulled out a slate, and