Free Netcast: Zero by Ryk Brown Page B

entering the hotel. This entire hotel will be locked down in minutes, just as soon as those Mounties get to the front desk and check our room sensors. If we’re not on the roof before then, we’ll be trapped.”
    Graham was the first one out of the room, with Hanna and Arielle following close behind. He ran full speed down the corridor, nearly crashing through the stairwell door. “Come on! Move it!” he yelled.
    Hanna and Arielle ran past him and charged up the stairs as fast as they could, with Graham following immediately after them. They charged up all eight flights, then burst through the exit onto the roof of the hotel.
    The wind hit Hanna hard as she stepped through the door and onto the landing pad. They were more than thirty stories up, and it was quite cold.
    “Where are they?” Arielle wondered, her arms wrapping around her to shield herself from the biting wind.
    “They should be here any moment,” Graham assured them.
    “If they don’t show up, we’ll freeze to death up here,” Hanna exclaimed.
    “If they don’t show up, we’ll be in a nice, warm, jail cell down at Mountie-HQ long before we freeze,” Graham said.
    “There!” Hanna declared, pointing to the distant sky.
    Flashing lights appeared, growing closer with each passing second. They watched as the approaching shuttle closed what had to be at least five kilometers in mere seconds. For a moment, Hanna feared the shuttle was on a collision course with the hotel, but at the last second, its pilot brought the shuttle’s nose hard left, rolled the small ship onto its left side, and increased its gravity fields to slow down. The shuttle came to a stop in a hover only centimeters from the side of the rooftop landing pad, leveling off perfectly and in a smooth motion. On the side of the shuttle was the NCN:World logo.
    The shuttle’s side door slid open, and the pilot motioned frantically for them to get on board.
    “Go!” Graham yelled, pointing to another part of the skies over Montreal. “There’s more shuttles inbound! They’ve gotta be CMP ships!”
    Arielle was already running toward the hovering shuttle as Hanna headed out. She followed her friend across the platform and straight into the shuttle. Graham stepped through a second after her, and the shuttle rolled left as it slid away from the platform and began to accelerate, its side door closing as the shuttle picked up speed and started to climb.
    With the door closed and sealed, the ship suddenly became much quieter. Graham settled into the aft-facing seat just behind the partition that separated the cockpit from the passenger compartment. Hanna and Arielle sat in the rear seats facing forward.
    The shuttle’s copilot passed a data tablet back to Graham. “This is for you,” he said.
    Graham took the tablet and looked at the screen. A grin came across his face. “You’re going to want to see this,” he declared, passing the tablet back to Hanna.
    Hanna took the tablet and looked at the screen. Her eyes widened, and her mouth fell agape.
    “What is it?” Arielle asked.
    Hanna handed the tablet to Arielle. “It’s a contract to work exclusively for NCN World.”
    “Oh, my God,” Arielle exclaimed as she studied the documents in the tablet. “They want you to be the face of the virus, Hanna.”
    “Which one?” Graham wondered. “Twister, or Klaria.”
    “Neither,” Arielle answered. “They’re now calling it the ‘Bio-Digital Virus.’” Arielle looked at Hanna. “We did it, Hanna. We finally got our dream job, and all because of you.” Arielle looked at Hanna, noticing that she didn’t look happy. “What’s wrong, Hanna? You do want the job, don’t you?”
    “Of course I do,” Hanna replied, “but first, we have to get rid of these implants.”
     

 
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