The Omega Cage

The Omega Cage Read Free Page B

Book: The Omega Cage Read Free
Author: Steve Perry
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their crimes. A careless move could get him killed. Not a pleasant thought, to die in the Omega Cage. Death came to everyone, and Maro never considered himself a coward, but it would be stupid to meet his end in this forsaken hole—and worse to do it as the result of being framed for something he hadn't done.
    Across the way, Berque said, "Hey, hey, don't take me wrong! It was a terrible thing, terrible!" His tone of voice sounded sympathetic, but the shift was altogether too artful for Maro to believe in. Berque was a man to trust for less distance then he could be thrown one-handed, and one not to turn an unprotected back to under any circumstances, Maro figured.
    He unfolded the cot from the wall and snapped it into position. His new bed was of slunglas struts and rip-stop synthetic cloth, he saw, and not likely to come apart without sharp tools and muscle. If he had the tools, he likely wouldn't need the cot's materials; still, it was something to keep in mind.
    Maro stretched out on the cot. Not too bad. He was tired; might as well rest while he could. He triggered a mental relaxation drill and, in a few minutes, was deep in sleep. He dreamed of the albino woman—and other things.

Chapter Three
    A hand wand, a goddamned short-range hand wand, was all he had had when it went sour. Maro hadn't wanted to spook the buyer, so he'd left his heavy skjuta neatly tucked away on his ship. The stubby automatic pistol shotgun held six rounds in its magazine, each shell loaded with five 9mm steel balls. He could have cleared the room with it and been gone. If he had had it—
    Might as well wish for a tactical nuke , he thought as he scrambled for the fresher. There were enough people in the dimly lit port bar to impede the cools' progress as they chased the four men and two women who'd been at Maro's table. The hand wand was low-powered and small, a sleeve gun whose pulse would knock a man senseless across a table, but outside of three meters, he might as well throw the fucking thing. As he cleared the fresher's door, he pulled the weapon and thumbed the safety off.
    The window was cheap plastic, impervious to the occasional drunk who might pitch a glass at it, but not designed to withstand a major assault. Maro tore the fire extinguisher from the wall over the stagnant urinal and threw it. The clear plastic window popped out in a single piece and clattered outside on the alley's surface, followed by the heavy cannister. Maro didn't hesitate, but ran and jumped for the window. There would be cools at the entrance and exit, but maybe they wouldn't think to cover the fresher. It was his only chance.
    The opening was tight; he scraped one shoulder squeezing through. As he dragged his hips over the sill he heard somebody yelling behind him.
    "Police! Hold it!"
    He didn't try to turn, but continued through head first. Fortunately, the window was high enough so that his feet cleared the opening in time for him to tuck and roll as he hit the alley's floor. He would have sprinted away, but he knew the cool would get a shot through the fresher's window before he could get past the mouth of the alley. So instead of running, Maro finished the roll, banging his hip on the fire extinguisher, and shoved himself back against the wall in a crouch.
    He slammed into the fake brick under the window and dropped to a sitting position, then looked up.
    The cool was beefy, but fast. He jammed his right arm and shoulder through the opening, followed by his head. Too big to get through, Maro figured, but small enough to use the handgun he clutched. A 6mm needier, probably loading shocktox.
    Before he could look around, Maro raised his hand wand and thumbed the firing stud. The flash hit the cool and he screamed and fell back into the fresher, dropping the needier. He'd be numb everywhere the hand wand's electronic bath touched him, but he hadn't taken a full body jolt. If he had a backup piece, his left arm was still good—
    Maro snatched up the fallen

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