Predator Eyes Of The Demon 49

Preoccupied with the ooman drone, R'Kyn missed her flitter returning. It took station, fixed a sound-conductive beam on the apartment window. R'Kyn's mandibles clacked in annoyance as the audio feed transmitted the Aberration's ritual musical choice.
R'Kyn edged over the rooftop. Seeing nothing at the apartment below, she paused scan-modes as rooftop movement caught her eye. Toggling to thermal, the heat-bloom of an armored ooman in concealment emerged; similar Snipers on balconies close by.

With a rush of understanding, R'Kyn went quantum, deep-scanned the surrounding domiciles. The buildings were empty. No families, no occupants. This is a trap. But not set for me.She opened her wrist bracer, primed the flitter. It was time. Quantum-fixing the Aberration, she observed human-shapes separating position either side of the hallway entry. Then R'Kyn heard the creak of hinges behind.

An ooman appeared on the rooftop behind R'Kyn. Her threat sensors locked his weapon, plasmacaster swiveling. She clicked her mandibles to cancel the shot, irritated. There were bigger Gorthunds to flay. R'Kyn launched from the rooftop, actuated her flitter-drone's electromagnetic chirp.

"There's something up here!" the ooman behind yelled. "Some... thing!?"

A powered battering-ram splintered the lock right off Tracey's door. She slowly turned, brought hands up as the Tac Team swarmed in, much shouting and the business ends of serious weaponry.

"Armed agents! Hands in the air, onto your knees! To the ground-now, now!" hollered their lead.

Luck was a finite resource after all, Tracey thought, wondering if she could break for the backpack without being cut down. She carefully knelt.

"Okay. Sir, see? I'm complying..."


As the Tacs edged closer, the table lamp unexpectedly extinguished and the music stopped.

The Predator flitter's disruptive pulse fried the American drones, sent them crashing unseen to road and rooftop.

"Ops? Respond please, come in?" The armed ooman straddling the apartment's side window fiddled with his earpiece. A shiftsuited R'Kyn pounced for him. The ooman jumped as a powerful impact vibration shivered his balcony, twisting frantically about, as R'Kyn moved in unseen. And then he screamed.


Hubbub broke out as the Ops Center went black. Trinh raised her voice, tried to calm its edge.

"Where's the power? What... happened?!"

A junior agent shook her head, her desk fan slowing.

"The batteries should've been backup? It's not the power?"

Another nodded urgent agreement. "She's right. Comms are out, everything's fried!"

Trinh's phone was a brick. "Shit, shit, shit!"

She rounded to the annex: the drone equipment was military-hardened against an electromagnetic pulse. Quinn fast-nodded, equipment lights indicating a reboot.-pgs.272-273-274 chpt.10