Free The Covert Academy by Peter Laurent

about the projects he was working on. What was the last one... the, um... the bio-ID, right?’
    ‘You did what?!’ Sarah and Casey said in unison, and everyone’s weapons switched over to point at the doctor.
    ‘That blade saved my lif e more times than I can-’
    Casey cut in . ‘Forget your goddam knife,’ he growled. ‘The Confederacy will be unstoppable with the bio-ID, and the doc here made it for them. Didn’t you?’ he asked this last of the doctor.
    Ryan prompted Dr. Prewett with a shove; clearly peeved he hadn’t known how valuable his passenger was until now.
    ‘Yes,’ s aid the doc, ‘I made the bio-ID for General Withers. He said he was going to use it to end the Confederacy. Start having elections again. When I found out he’d called a meeting with the Confederacy leaders instead of putting them in a jail cell like he should have, well, that’s when I contacted you.’
    Casey looked about to explode, ‘And jus’ what do ya think you’re goin’ to do to fix yer fine mess now?’
    Prewett shook his head, ‘Even if I had the General’s bio-ID here now, I...’
    ‘You mean this?’ Joshua said. He held up General Withers’ eye, s till moist and dripping from its recent departure from the General’s skull.
    ‘My God, is that...’ The doctor bent over and dry retched. Case y and Sarah exchanged a glance.
    ‘Doc,’ Sarah said, ‘Can anyone else follow your work, without this?’
    She tapped the eye, sending it swinging in Joshua’s grip. It caught Casey directly in his iPC. For a second it looked as though someone was trying to communicate with him. Then he grunted, and the distraction passed.
    Dr. Prewett composed himself and looked up at Sarah. ‘Of course, yes, eventually my work could be emulated. But it will take time.’
    He took the metal eye from Joshua’s hand, suppressing another gag. ‘With my help, we can unlock the data in this bio-ID, and bring down the Confederacy. I promise.’
     
    With a hand signal from Casey, the three other Academy members tucked their weapons away. Richard put an arm around the doctor’s shoulder and led him back into the silver buggy. They drove off in the direction of the student housing without another word.
    ‘It’s time we explained some things,’ said Casey. He walked off toward the faculty buildings, leaving the others to catch up.
    As they walked through the main courtyard, students around them paused to watch, their eyes following Joshua. In return, he gave a few of them a wave, warming to his sudden popularity. Several girls rushed up to him and he broke into a grin, but most ran past him to the man who had come with Richard and the doctor.
    They chased after him calling out, ‘ Ryan! You’re back, how did your mission go?’ and ‘Chalk another one up eh?’, and the occasional, ‘Take me with you next time!’
    Ryan tried not to notice; instead he stared off into the distance, in the direction Richard had driven off with Prewett.
    T hey caught up to Casey at the entrance to the largest building in the underground base, and Ryan finally faced his fans to ask for some privacy. Joshua strode past into the building, suddenly incensed at his being upstaged by this show-off.
    To his credit, Ryan caught up with Joshua. ‘Hey mate, sorry about all that. I tried to get them to leave us alone.’
    ‘Forget it, it’s fin e,’ Joshua left him there and entered the auditorium at the top of the stairs. It led down to a stage where Casey and Sarah waited. He took a seat at the bottom.
     
    Casey stood next to a table, and as he spoke, lifelike 3D holograms appeared projected above the surface, illustrating his speech in detail. He began by addressing Joshua.
    ‘The iPC device you gave to the doctor will do as an entry fee for yer admission to the Academy, should you choose to stay with us. Frankly, if the device is all the doc says it is, it puts us in yer debt.
    ‘What we can offer you here is a place to live, work, and study for up to