Tech World (Undying Mercenaries Series) Read Free Page A

floated on warm humid air between mossy trees.

-2-
     
    The Georgia dawn pinked the skies several hours later. I was startled awake when a fist hammered on my shack’s door, rattling the windows.
    Natasha and I were entangled. We separated and stood up. Natasha grabbed a shirt and pressed it over her bare breasts. It wasn’t smart cloth, so it didn’t cover her very well.
    “Who’s there?” I said gruffly, stepping to the door. Automatically, I stood to one side. Natasha hadn’t moved or said anything, she was just watching me.
    “Open up, McGill. Military Police.”
    Frowning, I threw open the door.  Natasha pulled more clothes on quickly, but I stood there in boxers, uncaring.
    Outside, there were three men. The two in front were beefy—one well-built and the other one with a gut that overflowed his belt buckle. In the rear was a thin man with only a few wisps of curly hair around his balding head. He had eyes like a possum.
    It was the thin man in the back who spoke up first.
    “What kind of a shithole is this, McGill?” he asked me. His eyes cruised around my humble home. “We were led to believe you were a specialist, but I’m seeing an inbred knuckle-dragger in a stinking shack. I’ll have to report back that we visited the wrong damned man.”
    I nodded to him. “That’s right,” I said. “You came to the wrong house.” I began to swing the door closed into their faces.
    A hand shot out and stopped it.
    “You’re under arrest, funny man,” the fat one said.
    I took a second to take in their uniforms and ranks. They were Hegemony. The patches on their shoulders depicting blue-green globes told me that. Judging by their other insignia the front two were regulars—probably reservists called up for active duty. Since Earth had been announced as an Enforcement branch for the Empire, Hegemony had panicked and mobilized every reservist they had.
    The thin guy in back was older and wore a specialist’s markings. They were all security detail—MPs.
    “Arrest?” I asked. “What’s the charge?”
    “You’ll be briefed at the station in Atlanta,” the thin specialist snapped. “Come with us—wait, who’s that with you?”
    “A friend,” I said, glancing back at Natasha. She still hadn’t spoken.
    All three men leered for a moment at Natasha. This annoyed me. Her legs were bare and my tee-shirt didn’t cover everything else.
    It was the first thing in the morning, and I hadn’t been arrested for months—especially without good cause and paperwork. The situation struck me as wrong, somehow.
    “This is about the message I sent last night, isn’t it?” I asked. “Who signed the arrest order?”
    “Are you coming willingly, or are you coming in manacles?”
    “I’m not Hegemony,” I told them. “I’m Varus. We’re independent. Send some MPs from my Legion, and I’ll go wherever they take me.”
    “I think you fail to grasp the situation,” the leader said, shaking his head with mock sadness. “This is a priority arrest, and I have my orders.”
    “Screw your orders,” I said, becoming angry. “They’re illegal. You don’t have any jurisdiction here. Get District cops or my own MPs. You can’t come here and demand I submit to arrest without any authority to back you up.”
    The skinny guy finally stopped ogling Natasha and glared at me.
    “You off-world types always think you’re hot shit, don’t you?” he asked. “Well, all that’s over with now. It’s time you became accustomed to new masters. Gentlemen, arrest this—”
    I slammed my door in their faces and threw my shoulder into it. I’m a large man, easily larger and stronger than any of these dirt-siders—but there were three of them. The door bucked against my shoulder and daylight flashed through the crack a moment later. I heard cursing, and one of them shoved a truncheon through the opening.
    “What the hell are you doing?” Natasha hissed at me.
    “Climb out one of the back windows. I don’t like