Cobra Gamble Read Online Free Page B

subtle and shimmering stains. There were layered paintings on the walls and sculptured plant holders with flowing greenery scattered around the room. Embedded gemstones in the ceiling gave the illusion of the night sky, and night breezes flowed in through wide, open windows.
    All of which made the stark metal medical bed resting in the center of the darkened room a disconcerting visual shock.
    "Merrick Moreau?"
    "Yes," Merrick confirmed, keying in his opticals as he started across the room. Fadil had turned his head to look toward his visitor, and even in Merrick's artificially enhanced view the young Qasamans eyes looked unpleasantly bright. "How may I serve you?"
    It took Merrick eight steps to get to the bed. Fadil watched him the whole way in silence, then turned away. "No news," he said quietly.
    "No," Merrick said. So much for lying to the other. The powerful mind-enhancing drugs that Fadil had taken back in Sollas still saturated his brain, giving him powers of observation and analysis well beyond those of normal human beings. The effect was usually temporary, Krites had told Merrick, but sometimes could be permanent.
    There was no such uncertainty about the drugs' side effects. The paralysis that had engulfed Fadil's body below his neck barely an hour after the mind-enhancement procedure was permanent.
    Fadil's contribution to the war effort had made him a quadriplegic. Forever.
    "What's happening in Sollas?" Fadil asked.
    Merrick wasn't even tempted to lie. "According to the last report, the Troft ships spent most of the day blowing up more of the western and northeastern parts of the city," he said. "They've probably stopped now—so far their pattern's been to break off the demolition work at nightfall."
    "They want to see what it is they're destroying," Fadil murmured. "They don't want to risk missing something when they have only infrared and light-amplification to see by."
    "Probably," Merrick said. "It still seems like they're taking an awfully long time to destroy a single city."
    "Because they're not really interested in Sollas itself," Fadil told him. "Their goal is to destroy the subcity—all of its levels, all of its chambers. The part that's aboveground is merely in the way."
    Merrick nodded. That last part was sadly obvious. What wasn't obvious was whether or not the Shahni and the Djinn would be able to mount any sort of defense or counterattack before Sollas, and all the rest of the cities had been turned to rubble and dead bodies.
    "And you've heard nothing about my father?" Fadil asked into Merrick's thoughts.
    "No," Merrick said. Fadil had already concluded that, of course, from his reading of Merrick's face and body language. But even so, he asked the question.
    As he always did, every time he saw Merrick. Always at least twice. Sometimes three or four times.
    For a moment Fadil was silent. "Perhaps tomorrow there'll be news," he said at last. "I'm told the invaders launched a missile attack on you tonight. Were there casualties?"
    "None," Merrick said. "And it wasn't exactly an attack. I blew up the guidance section of one of their antipersonnel launchers, and the thing went berserk. Probably programmed to shift to a random, rapid-fire spread within a defined arc to try to drive away whoever's attacking them."
    "Thus giving themselves time to regroup for counterattack or escape."
    "In this case the latter," Merrick said. "They were in the air before the rest of the team even caught up with us."
    "Did they leave with razorarms?"
    "I don't know," Merrick said. "But if they did get any, I'm guessing they didn't get the number they were hoping for. I think we can claim at least half a victory on this one."
    "Indeed," Fadil said. "Now tell me: why are you still alive?"
    Merrick felt an unpleasant tingle run up his back. Gama Yithtra, after the rest of the team had belatedly arrived, had been furious that Merrick and Kinstra had taken on the Trofts all by themselves. Was Fadil suggesting that Yithtra