Steelheart (The Reckoners #1)

“Yeah,” Cody said. “Like I said, man’s a machine.”

I scanned the eld to my right and picked out Cody behind some rubble. He was leaning forward on his ri e and tracking a group of Enforcement soldiers in the rst-level seats. They had set up a large machine gun behind some blast shields, and Cody looked pinned down, which explained why he hadn’t been able to come nd me. I stu ed my handgun into its holster and unwrapped the ashlight from the stock of my rifle.

“I’m almost there, gentlemen,”

Tia said. “No more attempts to kill Steelheart. All phases aborted. We need to take this chance and leave while we can.”

“I don’t think Prof is going to go,” Abraham said.

“I’ll deal with Prof,” Tia said.

“Fine,” Abraham answered.

“Where are you going to—”

“Guys,” I cut in. “Be careful what you say in the general link. I think our lines may be hacked.”

“Impossible,” Tia said. “Mobile networks are secure.”

“Not if you have access to an authorized mobile,” I answered.

“And Steelheart might have

recovered Megan’s.”

There was silence on the line.

“Sparks,” Tia said. “I’m an idiot.”

“Ah, nally something makes

sense,” Cody said, ring a shot at the soldiers. “That mobile—”

Something moved in the opening

to the building behind Cody. I cursed, raising my ri e—but

without the stock it was very hard to aim properly. I pulled the trigger as an armed Enforcement soldier leaped out. I missed. He fired a staccato burst.

There was no sound from Cody, but I could see the blood spray. No, no, NO! I thought, taking o at a run. I red again, this time clipping the soldier on the

shoulder. It didn’t get past his armor, but he turned from Cody, sighting on me.

He red. I raised my left hand, the one with the tensor. I did it almost by instinct. It was tougher to make the song this time, and I didn’t know why.

But I made it work. I let the song out.

I felt something thump against my palm, and a pu of steel dust sprayed o my hand. It smarted something incredible, and the tensor started sparking. A moment later a series of gunshots sounded, and the soldier dropped. Abraham came around the corner behind the man.

Gun re from above. I dashed

and skidded against the ground, sliding behind Cody’s cover. He was there, gasping, eyes wide. He’d been hit several times, three in the leg, one in the gut.

“Cover us,” Abraham said in his calm voice, whipping out a bandage. He tied it around Cody’s leg. “Tia, Cody is hit badly.”

“I’m here,” Tia said. In the chaos I hadn’t noticed the sounds of the copter. “I’ve created new mobile channels using a direct feed to each of you; that’s what we should have done the moment Megan lost her mobile. Abraham, we need to extract. Now.”

I peeked up over the rubble.

Soldiers were climbing down from the stands to move on us. Abraham casually pulled a grenade o his belt and tossed it into the hallway behind us in case someone was trying to sneak up again. It exploded, and I heard shouts.

I swapped my ri e for Cody’s, then opened

re on those

advancing soldiers. Some went for cover, but others continued

moving, bold. They knew we were

at the end of our resources. I kept ring but was rewarded with a series of clicks. Cody had been almost out of ammo.

“Here,” Abraham said, dropping his large assault ri e beside me.

“Tia, where are you?”

“Near your position,” she said.

“Just outside the stadium. Head straight back and out.”

“I’m bringing Cody,” Abraham said.

Cody was still conscious, though he was mostly just cursing at the moment, with his eyes squeezed shut. I nodded to Abraham. I’d cover their retreat. I took up Abraham’s assault ri e. To be honest, I’d always wanted to re the thing.

It was a very satisfying weapon to use. The recoil was soft, and the weapon felt lighter than it should have. I set it on the small front tripod and let loose on fully automatic, dozens of rounds

ripping through the soldiers trying to get to us. Abraham carried Cody out the back way.

Prof and Steelheart were still ghting. I downed another soldier, Abraham’s high-caliber rounds

ignoring most of the soldier’s armor. As I red I could feel the handgun under my arm pressing against my side.

We’d never tried ring that, the last of our guesses at how to beat Steelheart. There was no way I could hit Steelheart at this range, though. And Tia had decided to pull us out before we tried it, calling the operation.

I gunned down another soldier.

The stadium trembled as Steelheart red a series of blasts at Prof. I can’t extract now, I thought, despite what Tia said—I’ve got to try the gun.

“We’re in the copter,” Abraham said in my ear. “David, time to move.”

“I still haven’t tried phase four,”

I said, climbing up to a kneeling position and ring on the soldiers again. One tossed a grenade my direction, but I was already pulling back into the corridor. “And Prof is still out there.”

“We’re aborting,” Tia said.

“Retreat. Prof will escape using the tensors.”

“He’ll never stay ahead of Steelheart,” I said. “Besides, do you really want to run without trying this?” I ran my nger along the gun in its holster.

Tia was silent.

“I’m going for it,” I said. “If you take heat, pull out.” I ran o the eld and back into the hallways beneath the stands, holding

Abraham’s assault ri e and

listening to soldiers shout behind me. Steelheart and Prof were moving this direction, I thought. I just need to wrap around and get close enough to re on him. I can do it from behind.

It would work. It had to work.

Those soldiers were following me. Abraham’s gun had a grenade launcher

underneath.

Any

ammunition? Those were meant to

be red before exploding, but I could use my remote detonator pen and an eraser tab to make one go off.No luck. The gun was out of grenades. I cursed, but then saw the remote re switch on the gun. I grinned, then stopped, spun, and put the gun on the ground, wedged back against a chunk of steel. I flipped the switch and ran.

It started

ring like crazy,

spraying the corridor behind me with bullets. It probably wouldn’t do much damage, but all I needed was a short breather. I heard soldiers yelling at one another to take cover.

That would do. I reached another opening and left the hallway, dashing out onto the playing field.

Smoke curled in patches from the ground. Steelheart’s blasts seemed to smolder after they hit, starting res on things that shouldn’t burn.

I raised the pistol, and in a eeting moment I wondered what Abraham

would say when he learned that I’d lost his gun. Again.

I spotted Steelheart, who was turned away from me, distracted by Prof. I ran for all I was worth, passing through clouds of smoke, leaping over rubble.

Steelheart started to turn as I approached. I could see his eyes, imperious and arrogant. His hands seemed to burn with energy. I pulled to a halt in the whipping smoke, arms shaking as I raised the gun. The gun that had killed my father. The only weapon that had ever wounded this monster in front of me.

I fired three shots.





40

EACH one hit … and each one bounced free of Steelheart, like pebbles thrown at a tank.

I lowered the gun. Steelheart raised a hand toward me, energy glowing around his palm, but I didn’t care.

That’s it, I thought. We’ve tried everything. I didn’t know his secret.

I never had.

I had failed.

He released a blast of energy, and some primal part of me

wouldn’t just stand there. I threw myself to the side, and the blast hit the ground beside me, spraying up a shower of molten metal. The ground shook and the blast threw my roll out of control. I tumbled hard on the unyielding ground.

I came to a stop and lay there, dazed. Steelheart stepped forward.

His cape had been torn in places from Prof’s attacks, but he didn’t seem to be anything more than inconvenienced. He loomed above me, hand forward.

He was majestic. I could