Page 3 of Enthraller

Ed gave a nod, loosened his shoulders and stepped through the small door in the side of the warehouse onto the concourse. The scanner was built into a helmet and the screen that covered his face gave him a touch of vertigo, made his movements a little jerky. He was used to free floating, attached to a cable, with nothing to do but read the information the scanner was sending him.

Walking and looking through the strangely tinted screen at the same time was close to impossible, and Ed flicked it up and away from his face to stop himself stumbling.

He walked toward the slim, dark-haired woman. She was dressed in dark green space traveller smart cloth pants and a clinging tunic and she was headed toward the domed square at the center of the hover port. She stopped to look up at the time and weather information on a glowing board, and that allowed him to get closer without attracting her notice.

When he thought he was close enough, but still able to get away if she changed shape, Ed braced himself for the tiny sting as he pressed the tip of his finger onto the sharp sensor in his hand, drawing a tiny drop of blood.

Bio scan accepted.The tinny voice that came through his comm was a familiar reminder of past missions.

The woman turned her attention away from the info board and began digging in the bag hanging from her shoulder. She was so intent on her task, Ed didn’t think she would have noticed if Hyt and all three SF teams had been out in the open, guns waving.

That alone sent the first prickly spider of uncertainty skittering down his spine. Not that he’d ever had any experience with one, but would a shape changer fuss over a shoulder bag like that?

Hey, maybe three ton monsters liked their handbags, too.

Time to find out.

He flicked the screen back down over his face and braced himself for the strangely-lit world of shadow and light. Hiding weapons, hiding extra people, was easy enough against normal scanners if you were clever and had the right materials, and most people who wanted to hide weapons or extra soldiers were and did. But the Guan scanner cut through all of the tricks.

Except, there were no tricks here.

Nothing.

Unless, as he’d thought from the start, the scanner wasn’t the right tech for this problem.

He flicked up the screen to find the woman looking at him—wide eyes staring.

“What are you doing?” she asked, her gaze going to the scanner equipment that covered his head like a helmet.

“I’d like to know the same thing.” He looked over his shoulder, trying to see any sign of Hyt and his team. They were nowhere in sight.

Suddenly, a flash of laz fire lit up the air around them. Part of his suit included anti-laz protection, and he closed the gap between them, grabbing her and shielding her with his body.

He felt a few stray hits bounce off him, and he grunted at the impact.

“What . . .?” Her voice sounded outraged, and then whoever was shooting fired again, and at last she realized what he was doing.

“Do you have any idea what is going on?” she asked him as he tucked her up close to his body.

“Someone is shooting at us.” He was being flippant, but he didn’t know the answer, and he wondered where the hell Hyt and Guttra were.

Where was the promise to have his back now?

“You were studying me with that scanner thing. Why?” The laz fire had stopped for the moment, and she turned her face up to his as she asked the question.

“I was trying to see if you can turn into a three ton monster.”

She gave him a blank look.

And he suddenly knew. She had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. She tried to jerk away from him, as if she thought he had lost his mind.

If nothing else, her reaction clued him in. This was a screw-up.

“Listen, lady, I’m working for Aponi Special Forces. They thought you were a shape changer.” He saw no benefit in keeping this under wraps. A little honesty on the table might go a long way right now.

“Special Forces?” She frowned, her confusion plain. “ButIwork for Special Forces.”

Oh. Shit.

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