Free TimeBomb: The TimeBomb Trilogy: Book 1 by Scott K. Andrews

His parents insisted that Kaz should pursue his studies, get qualifications, find a safe job somewhere, even as they travelled the world dragging him from one war zone to another. Their lives were full of danger and excitement, but they told him every day that he mustn’t be like them, they wanted better things for him than that. Do as we say, not as we do. The hypocrisy of it had infuriated him, so he had trained in secret, finding allies amongst the troops, willing to teach him to shoot, to fight, to plan and strategise.
    Then his mother died, and everything changed. His father had brought him back to Poland, tried to build a normal, stable life. But neither of them had taken to it. Undone by grief, they had fought almost constantly, until eventually his father had threatened to put Kaz into a Catholic boarding school that would fence him in with rules and regulations, curfews and timetables, the tedium of routine. He’d run away at the first opportunity. It hadn’t been difficult, not after the preparations he’d spent his life making. And now here he was, eight weeks later, being pursued through a building in a strange country, outnumbered and outgunned.
    He knew it was stupid, but he couldn’t help it – he was enjoying himself. He was surprised to find, though, that he wasn’t entirely sure he had it in him to actually shoot anybody.
    The girl ahead of him, Jana, seemed to harbour no such doubts. A couple of times they almost ran into the riot guards, and each time she let off a few shots in support of Steve’s more focused fire. She did not hit any of them, but it was not for want of trying. To Kaz, Jana did not seem to be enjoying herself. She just seemed really, really angry. He was glad she was on his side.
    The guns she and Steve were using did not fire bullets, but projected a single beam that shot out like an extending tape measure and then switched off. It seemed more like stabbing than shooting. It buzzed when it fired, like a crossed wire in a light fitting, sparking and live.
    They hit a long corridor, the longest yet. It stretched out ahead of them, its numerous side corridors offering a world of cover for potential attackers. It was silent and deserted but Steve slammed to a halt so unexpectedly that Jana and Kaz barrelled into each other. There was a momentary scrabble for balance.
    ‘What is it?’ asked Kaz.
    ‘Those doors at the end, that’s the lab,’ said Steve softly.
    ‘Come on then,’ said Jana, pushing forward. Kaz grabbed her shoulder to hold her back. She angrily shook herself free and turned to scowl at him.
    ‘I think he’s about to say something like “it’s too quiet”,’ said Kaz.
    Steve nodded as a clatter of footsteps echoed around them. There were definitely guards behind them, and almost certainly guards waiting for them in the side corridors up ahead, ready to cut them down in a crossfire if they attempted to run the gauntlet to the lab.
    ‘If we can get through those doors and secure our position, we’ll only need a few minutes,’ said Steve.
    ‘For what? Won’t we be stuck in there?’ asked Kaz.
    Steve smiled knowingly. ‘Oh no, we’ve got an escape route. We could leave right now, but we can’t abandon Dora, and we must retrieve Jana’s chip at all costs.’
    ‘Think fast, because those guards are getting closer. I say we run,’ said Jana, tensing as if to sprint. But before she could take off there was a massive unified stamp, as if a battalion had stood to attention. A phalanx of riot guards stepped out ahead of them, two from each cross-corridor entrance. Kaz found the unnatural synchronicity of their movement chilling.
    He turned as if to run back the way they had come, but a group of four guards rounded the corner of the corridor behind them.
    They were trapped.
    It would have surprised Kaz to learn that Jana felt afraid.
    Not the almost-fear she had felt on the rooftop as she had leaned out into the crosswinds, but proper, bone-deep terror of