Catwalk: Messiah Read Online Free Page A

He’d like to try again—soon. He replayed the disaster again, keeping the sound muted. He’d use this incident to learn and do it better next time. The sudden psychosis of the MetaHuman occurred far earlier than he postulated. This miscalculation meant another setback and once again re-routing his financial sources. Without the NII lab at his disposal, he’d have to secure alternate laboratory facilities, something he’d researched in case this type of unfortunate event occurred.
    There was no lack of investors for what he had planned. Many in the underground clamored to be the first to use his research, and he’d learned to be discreet. He had spent years on his pet project, all right under the nose of NII. The corporate snobs were so interested in profit margins that they never had a clue about his real work, the work that would change humanity itself. While his colleagues scattered from negative press like rats from a sinking ship, he had already secured a new stream of income to fund his research.
    He narrowed his eyes and paused the image on the screen. Tiny yellow triangles caught his attention in the corner of the frame. He lifted his hand into the air and pushed his thumb and forefinger apart to expand the screen. The small yellow lights came into focus.  
    “Catwalk,” he whispered and smiled. His eyes trailed over the man who would be contributing to his next project.
    Fortunately, for the scientist, Catwalk had no clue about his impending contribution.  
    He raised his hands, and the holograph scrolled upward until Catwalk’s cybernetic legs were at the scientist’s eye level.
    He ran his hands over the image of Catwalk’s armored cyberlegs. His lips felt dry, and he licked them instinctively.  
    “What a shame. You will help herald a new era but won’t live to see it.” He lifted his hands above his head. Catwalk’s body filled the screen once again. The scientist waved his arms back and forth, the image of the hitman wavering back and forth with his every movement.  
    ”Just be a good boy and let your conscience be your guide …” He nearly fell over laughing at his joke. “… straight to hell.”
    The scientist snapped his fingers, and Catwalk’s image disappeared in an instant.  
    He flicked his hand and pulled up several bank registrars listed under various aliases. The down payment for Catwalk’s services had gone through. Catwalk accepted the assignment the scientist had hired him to do. He’d take out the pederast known as Hitch.
    Not that the scientist particularly cared one way or the other if Hitch lived or died. He was a disgusting pervert, but he was a means to an end. An end that wouldn’t implicate the scientist, because once Midas—Hitch’s master and the most notorious and powerful pimp in the city—learned that Catwalk killed one of his own, he’d retaliate. And Catwalk didn’t have enough lives to stand against Midas’ very experienced team of assassins.
    Midas would kill Catwalk, and Catwalk’s body would be up for sale. Then the scientist could swoop in, lowball the butchers for Catwalk’s corpse, and finally have his hands on the only existing prototype of his mentor’s cybernetic research.
    By the time they all realized how he’d played them, it would be too late. His children would be leading the path to a new world, and he would be their Savior.

CHAPTER FOUR

    The voice on the recording belonged to Hitch. Catwalk was certain, even before he saw the man’s crooked frame crowd the lens. Hitch had a rap sheet longer than an only child’s Christmas list: five counts of possession, four counts of intent to distribute, one count of attempted rape, one assault with a deadly weapon, and half a dozen counts of disorderly conduct. California’s penal code didn’t include a charge for necrophilia, but if it did, Hitch would have qualified for the state’s frequent flier program.
    Physically deformed from a botched cyberleg implant, the creep couldn’t