Remote Control Read Free Page B

to build a superhuman army.
    Six had rescued Chelsea, and she was now working under the Deck’s protection. But the Lab’s supply of her drug had never been found. If there was an upside to the fact that children were being sourced for experimentation, it was that ChaoSonic probably didn’t have the missing supplies.
    “And you think Nai was taken by whoever has taken the Lab’s place?” King asked.
    Six said nothing. He hadn’t thought so at first, because the abduction had happened only two months after the Lab was liquidated. There hadn’t been much time for a new division to take its place. But now it seemed the most likely scenario. Nai was a flesh-and-blood weapon, the Lab’s most advanced, and final, super-soldier. So whatever new division had sprung up to take its place, they would have a keen interest in her. And they would have ChaoSonic’s cash, intel, and muscle.
    “Still no mention of her from our spies inside ChaoSonic,” King said. “So if they have her, they haven’t gotten what they want from her yet. Therefore she’s still alive.” He put Six’s mission report in a desk drawer. “There’s still hope.”
    King’s terminal buzzed. “It’s Queen,” he said as he slipped the headphones on and pushed ACCEPT .
    Six stared into space. He had escaped from the Lab as a baby, albeit because Methryn Crexe had let him. Crexe, the executive in charge of the Lab, had wanted Six, Kyntak, and Sevadonn, the three clones, to grow up with different personalities. That way he could see which one made the best soldier, and duplicate his upbringing with the next batch. Six had wanted Nai to have a normal childhood, but she’d only had two months of freedom before she’d been taken. Even if he found her, who knew what mental and physical damage might…
    King’s face had grown ashen. He looked Six in the eye. “I’ll send Six right away,” he said grimly into the mouthpiece. “Get all the agents you can for backup.”
    He replaced the headphones in the terminal. “There’s been an explosion in the cells. Methryn Crexe has escaped,” he said.
    The cell-block door marked 81-B slid open with a hydraulic hiss as Six approached. A cloud of dust avalanced out, blinding him for a moment as if he’d stepped outside into the fog. He could taste brick and mortar in the air, and smell the tangy scent of twisted steel.
    He walked into the dust cloud, and the door slid shut behind him.
    The noise inside was piercing. Some of the criminals howled abuse at Six as he walked past, kicking and shaking the bars of their cells. Others begged him for information, demanding to know what all the noise had been. A few cried out that they hadn’t committed the acts for which they had been shuffled.
    The latter were the easiest to ignore. Six didn’t make mistakes, and he had faith in his fellow agents.
    It was obvious which cell had been Methryn Crexe’s—it had no ceiling. It was as if a Dumpster-size fist had punched through the roof and snatched up Crexe, then vanished into thin air.
    Six walked through the open cell door. He could see the remnants of the cell above, missing its floor and ceiling, and, above that, the opaque grey sky.
    A woman’s body was lying in the dust, surrounded by a puddle of dried blood—the former occupant of the cell above, Six presumed. He knelt down beside her. Shot in the head. Probably killed instantly.
    Six looked up again, trying to picture the scene. It’s a miracle she survived the demolition of the ceiling, he thought. They must have expected her to die in the blast, but she was sheltered somehow, so they had to shoot her.
    But how could she have survived a massive explosion like this?
    How did Crexe survive it?
    A large disc of concrete in the corner caught Six’s eye. He squinted through the smoke and the fog seeping in from above. The disc was perfectly circular.
    There was another one just like it, lying on the floor to one side. Six hadn’t seen them immediately in the