The Astral Hacker (Cryptopunk Revolution Book 1) by Brian Terenna (best ebook reader .txt) 📗

Nav, who taps her foot nervously as she works on cracking the prison doors. I push aside my worries as best I can and increase my programming speed.

A group of guards bursts around the corner.

Before anyone can react, Asher leaps at them, holding his nunchucks. The guards move to shoot him, but he whirls around, smacking guns from their hands or clobbering their faces. Seconds later, all six guards are on the ground.

Asher jogs back to Americus. “They’ll be out for hours, sir. My nunchucks have micro-needles that inject a tranquilizer on command.”

He really is a ninja. Suddenly his choice of weapons doesn’t seem so ridiculous.

The swarm of triangular drones zooms toward us, and I race back to my hacking.

“Fae,” shouts Americus. “The drones are almost here. Can you do this?”

I ignore him, hacking as quickly as I can.

“Everyone, get ready to shoot,” orders Americus.

The first few drones close in and fire their cannons, hitting the street in front of us. I flinch back, even as I execute my control program.

My turrets wheel on the drones and fire. Six of the attack craft explode in the first salvo. The others maneuver to evade the lasers and return fire.

That will buy us time.

Americus stares at the destruction and nods to me with grim satisfaction. He then eyes Sunny, a cold expression on his face.

Why didn’t you just stay home, Sunny?

“The prison door and cells are open,” shouts Nav.

“Rescue team, get Gerald, now,” yells Americus into his q-link. “Extraction team, pick us up at location A.”

One of my turrets explodes in flames and black smoke.

A guard in the distance shouts into his q-link, “We need special forces here now. It’s them.”

Nav pulls my arm. “We have to go.”

Goodbye Yumi, Astrid. I’m so sorry. I run after Nav, Sunny following me.

Our three open-air SUVs speed up to us, then stop in a cloud of dust. Asher, Nav, Americus, Alexander, and I jump inside the one Tom is driving. Sunny stands at my feet.

“We can’t abandon Yumi and Astrid’s bodies,” says Tom, who must have seen what happened from the SUV.

“It kills me, Thomas, but we have no choice. Now, drive!” orders Americus.

The full-bearded man grimaces but slams on the accelerator.

“We have Gerald, and we’re on our way to the pick-up location,” says the rescue team through Americus’ q-link. “Gerald is unhurt, and they didn’t install the Evo or other tech.”

Our SUVs tear over to the side of the prison, and the rescue team sprints toward us. One of them is limping, and someone else holds his arm, blood dripping through his fingers. The group reaches the SUVs and climbs inside.

Lasers flash in the sky, frying the last few drones, but a huge swarm of new drones appears in the distance, like a black storm cloud, looking to drench us in blood.

“Go,” shouts Americus.

Our tires squeal as we peel out. The acrid smell of burning rubber makes me wrinkle my nose. Our SUVs cloak, and we whip around the street to our left.

“I’m masking our electronic signals,” says Americus. “We should be good now.”

That was close. I twist to watch the drones turn away after losing their targets.

Instead, they veer sharply toward us.

“Damn! They must have been updated with infrared,” says Americus.

We speed down mostly empty streets and whip around a rusty car. I look back, feeling sick. The black cloud of drones is larger now. There are so many of them that they dim the sun.

“Activate your hearing protection,” says Alexander. “Let’s take them.”

He raises his sniper rifle and Americus, Nav, and Asher all unload their guns at the swarm. I rip out my Torg and shoot until it clicks. About forty drones plummet to the ground, but there are still hundreds.

“I’m empty,” says Alexander.

“Me too,” say the others.

“Fae, Naveha,” says Americus, “Can you hack them?”

Nav shrugs, wide-eyed. “I could probably hack one or two before they kill us.” She looks at me, hope in her eyes.

“If you can’t do something, Fae. We’re all dead,” growls Americus.

“In Navin’s name, please help us,” says Tom.

Adrenaline pumps through my body, and the world seems to close in around me.

Sunny waves at me. “Give me the ability to network, and I can help.”

Tom’s eyes widen at Sunny.

The wind whips around my curls. “I can do it,” I say, “I just need time.”

“I can temporarily block their infrared,” says Americus. “It’s the best I can do. Zill,” he says to his q-link. “Release the hot gas.”

Two vents open in the back of the SUV and pump out some type of gas. We tear around a corner, and the swarm slows as it tries to find us.

The last time I hacked drones blinks into my mind. I came up with the idea of networking them and hacking them all at once. Nav and I made a test program afterward. Will it work?

“Chim, engage my network program. Target the lead drone.” I squeeze my wrist as the seconds pass.

“Failure,” says my q-link.

I instantly begin updating my program, but the drones are on our trail again and picking up speed.

An image of blood spurting from Astrid’s neck distracts me.

I try to focus, but as I glance up at the closing drones, I lose it. Their cybersecurity is just too good for how much time I have. This is it. We’ll be murdered just like Astrid and Yumi were. I sure wish I had the Evo’s hacking speed.

“What’s happening?” asks Americus. “Can you do it?”

I’m about to say no when something catches my eye. It’s a charging tower. My hacking idea, from what seems like long ago, pops into my mind. I’ll only have a minute before the drones are out of the tower’s range, but