TimeRiders: City of Shadows (Book 6) Read Free Page A

twenty-four
     hours’ breathing space before those psychotic killer meatbots come back to finish
     us off.’
    Rashim’s dark eyebrows rose, looking
     from Maddy to the others, for someone to add a word or two more of explanation.
     ‘Psychotic …?’
    ‘There’re
more
of
     them?’ asked Liam.
    ‘Two more, we think,’ said Sal.
     ‘Six of them came through.’
    ‘What
killer
things are
     these?’ asked Rashim.
    ‘Six! Jay-zus!’ Liam’s jaw
     dropped. ‘And you two managed to kill four of ’em?’
    ‘Could someone please tell me what
psycho killer things
you’re talking about?’
    ‘Yes. We did pretty good,
     huh?’
    Liam laughed. ‘I’ll say
     –’
    Rashim closed his eyes. ‘PLEASE,
     EVERYONE, WILL YOU
STOP
IGNORING ME!’
    The others turned to look at him.
    ‘I … I’m …’
     Rashim opened his eyes and smiled half apologetically. ‘I … I’m
     very close to … uh, losing my mind. Please – the least one of you people can
     do is answer just one of my questions.’
    Sal pointed at Bob. ‘The psychotic
     meatbots we’re talking about are clones, support units like these two. Four men
     and two women. They came from the future to kill us.’
    Rashim nodded gratefully, then silently
     appraised Bob. ‘He’s a military-grade gene product, isn’t he? One of
     the earlier-gen versions?’
    ‘Correct,’ Bob rumbled.
    ‘Computer-Bob dealt with two of them
     for us,’ said Maddy. ‘And one got taken out by a time wave, I think. The
     other one … well, you guys saw what happened.’
    One of the units had managed to leap after
     Maddy and Sal as their hastily opened escape portal began to collapse in on itself. It
     had emerged on the other side missing both its feet and one hand and yet it had still
     managed to be quite lethal. As Bob held it down, Maddy had put several rounds into its
     bald human head. The first and last time she ever intended to fire a gun at anything
     point blank.
    ‘You said six of them?’ said
     Rashim.
    Maddy nodded. ‘Yup, there are two more
     of them and they may be out there in New York somewhere.’
    Sal sat down on the other chair beside
     Maddy. She scuffed the toes of her boots against the floor. ‘More of them could
     arrive,’ she said. ‘Right, Maddy? Another six?’
    Maddy nodded. ‘Tuesday morning,
     sometime during Tuesday morning, that’s when they arrived. So right now it’s
     twelve noon, Monday. Which means we’ve got eighteen, maybe nineteen hours before
     they come again. And if another batch – technically, I guess, the same batch –
     don’t come then we’ve
still
got those other two to worry about. And
     they’ll be back from wherever computer-Bob sent them on a wild-goose chase.
     That’s right, Bob, isn’t it?’
    > Affirmative.
    ‘Affirmative.’
    Both Bobs answered the question.
    Maddy turned to look at them all. ‘Two
     of them we might stand a chance against. But if another six turn up right here in this
     archway …?’ She pulled on her lip, made a face. Not the sort of face to
     instil confidence in her little team.
    ‘We could set some sort of a trap for
     them,’ said Liam. ‘As soon as they arrive, get Bob to open a portal and drop
     them right into that chaos space. Could we not do that?’
    Maddy shrugged. ‘We could do. But,
     Liam, you’re missing the point. And it’s actually quite a big
     point.’
    Liam splayed his hands. Irritated by her
     patronizing tone of voice. ‘What?’
    ‘Someone else knows about us, Liam.
     Someone knows exactly
when
and
where
we are. We’re not a secret
     any more.’
    ‘That means we’re still in
     danger?’ added Sal quietly.
    ‘If we stay here, yes.’
     Maddy’s words rang round the archway, a reverberation off damp brick walls that
     seemed to last indefinitely and not quite fade away.
    Liam muttered a curse under his breath.
     ‘That’s great. I was just about gettin’ used to this place, so I
     was.’
    ‘I’m thinking the sooner we