Helix Nexus, Chris Lofts [best android ereader .txt] 📗

she pushed against the restraints. The one on her right leg gave way first. Archer was already on his feet. He hesitated, unsure if he should intervene. He took a step towards the door as the left leg strap succumbed, Sofi’s knee driving into Lytkin’s stomach. Winded, Lytkin lunged at the instruments on the tray. Sofi’s kick knocked her back, scattering the trolley and its contents across the floor. Sofi twisted; the right arm broke free. Reaching across to the left she snapped the last restraint and sprung from the chair to her feet.

Archer charged from the door towards the mêlée. Sofi darted towards him. Pivoting on her left foot she delivered a side kick to his stomach. Following up with a spinning roundhouse kick to the side of his head, she stepped back as he crumpled to the floor.

Helix punched the air. ‘Yes, Sofi.’

Turning her attention to Lytkin, Sofi parried away the metal tray her assailant had thrown. Lytkin hopped, one shoe on, the other lost. She lashed out with her foot, launching the remaining shoe at Sofi.

Helix wrung his hands. Sofi wasn’t close enough. She needed to close the gap. ‘Watch your back,’ he called as Archer lumbered to his feet.

Shaking his head, the giant stumbled forward towards the two women. Lytkin slashed with an orthopaedic bone saw, driving Sofi back towards the looming Archer. Sofi spun. The first kick failed to connect. Archer gripped Sofi’s ankle, nostrils flaring, a question on his face as he struggled with the weight of the small woman’s leg. Sofi exploited the hesitation, spinning over the top and catching the side of his bearded jaw with her other foot. Stunned again, he staggered and crashed against the chair.

Lytkin screamed, launching an attack with the bone saw. Sofi darted aside putting her attacker between her and Archer. With the saw above her head, Lytkin lunged again. Sofi froze in the path of the serrated blade. It shredded her blouse and the synthetic skin of her shoulder, coming to rest against her carbon fibre clavicle. Lytkin stuttered to a halt, studying the instrument, stunned by the lack of response from Sofi. Archer froze too.

Helix caught Sofi’s eye as she looked past Lytkin. ‘Carpe diem,’ he mouthed. Seize the day.

Lytkin swung again. It was too slow. Clamping her hands over her wrists, the AI guided Lytkin and the saw towards her stomach, penetrating just below her sternum. Sofi’s eyes widened as she tugged it deeper.

Helix counted down. ‘Fifteen seconds and fourteen…’

Sofi’s mouthed gaped as she drew breath. Flashing her right hand around the back of Lytkin’s head, she clenched a handful of hair. Deaf to Lytkin’s scream, she clamped her left around her back, grasping the belt on her trousers. Lytkin’s pearls snapped, the white spheres cascaded and danced across the floor amongst the scattered surgical instruments. Sofi channelled her strength and pulled the embedded the blade deeper, narrowing the gap between them.

Helix bit his lip. ‘Eleven and ten…’

Gasping for air, Lytkin’s attempts to pull away were futile. Sofi tightened her death grip and closed her eyes as Archer crushed her hands in an attempted to lever them away from Lytkin’s hair and waist. He heaved back and pivoted on his right foot. Sofi’s eyes sprang open as he threw them both to the floor. Lytkin broke free. She rolled to the side coughing, her hands grabbing to gain traction on the floor.

‘Six and five and four…’ Helix pressed his hands to his head. ‘No, no, no. Sofi!’

Archer threw himself at Sofi, his huge body crushing the breath from her. Lytkin clutched a hand to her own throat. Slipping and sliding on the fallen pearls, she distanced herself, seeking refuge beside the chair.

Helix grimaced. ‘Three and two and one… Shit!’ He braced himself as close to the fizzing front wall of his cell as he dared get.

Sofi’s silent EMP detonation destroyed or disabled every piece of electrical and electronic equipment, evidenced by the extinguishing of the lights, the release of the locks, and evaporation of the fences at the front of the cells. The second grenade secreted in Sofi’s abdomen exploded. The detonation ripped both her and Archer apart. A macabre confusion of flailing limbs, bone, endoskeleton and gore smeared the walls, ceiling and floor.

An emergency lamp pulsed and flickered into life, casting a weak intermittent pool of pale light. Lytkin stumbled to her feet, wiping blood shakily from her face, staring at her hands and what remained of her assistant and Sofi.

Helix bolted from his cell as fast as his stubborn right leg would allow. There was still time. He could get to her. Driving himself forward, he tripped over the fallen instrument trolley. Exploiting Lytkin’s confusion, he bent, scooped up a pair of scissors from the floor and hurled himself at her. She evaded the thrust, stumbling into the double doors as he dropped to his knees. The feeble light caught the frame of the shelves as they fell. Helix thrust his left arm over his head, equipment cascading down on him. His arm was no defence, the shelves heavier than they appeared. Rolling to the side, he pushed up and over to his left, elbow and knee pivoting under the rack, propelling it away. On his knees, he scanned around in the flickering light. With the main electricity supply out, the walls had returned to their opaque state. ‘Shit!’

Lytkin was gone.

35

The stench of death filled Helix’s nose. He was more familiar with it than anyone should be. You never got used to it. Angling his head away, he told himself that it wasn’t Gabrielle’s lifeless eyes staring up at him from the floor. He kicked away one of Archer’s boots, part of a bloodied tibia protruding from it. Bone. Ethan.

Adrenalin propelled him towards the control room. Apart from a discarded office chair, a glass bench and wire rack, there was nothing. The absence of power had killed off the