A selection from Wardogs Inc. #2: Hunter Killer:
“Make sure you don’t kill them,” Betti said over the com. “We need to know what’s happened to those samples.”
“No promises,” Ward said. “If they try to eat me I’ll blow their damn heads off.”
“We’ll do our best,” I told Betti. “Keep an eye on them.”
We entered the main airlock and moved cautiously down the main hall.
“Where are they, Betti?” I asked.
“They’re heading for the galley,” she replied. “They’ll be there in just a moment.”
“Probably looking for forks,” Jones muttered darkly.
“We’ll take them by surprise,” I said. “Zelag, you and I will enter first, followed by Ward and Jones.
“Roger,” Zelag said.
“They’re in the galley now,” Betti said. “They’re removing their helmets and setting them on a cafeteria table.”
I glanced at the station diagram on my visor. Almost there… we had them now.
We reached the door.
“They’ve gone through the cafeteria and are in the kitchen area,” Betti said.
“Copy that,” I said, then addressed the men. “We have them cornered in the kitchen. We can access it from the cafeteria. Let’s go.”
We walked into the cafeteria and found the lights had been turned on. I saw a couple of flashlights and three helmets on a table, just as Betti had said. Zelag was at my shoulder with Jones and Ward behind. We reached the double doors of the kitchen and I held up a hand. Three. Two. One.
POW! I kicked the doors open and Zelag and I busted inside, rifles up. “Down on the ground!” I yelled, my battlesuit amplifying my voice. Two men and a woman were there—one of the men was in the middle of opening the fridge. All three spun around, jerkily, like there was something strangely wrong with them—and their faces looked off somehow. Then the guy at the fridge pulled out a laser cutter and fired a green beam that struck Zelag’s shoulder. He shrieked in pain, causing Jones and Ward to burst charging into the room, and then we opened up on the bastards.
“STOP STOP STOP!!!” I heard Betti yelling over the com but it was too late. We riddled their torsos with lasers and plasma bolts, and all three hit the ground hard, as dead as their victims in the freezer. They’d shot first and we were jumpy as hell. No quarter!
They’re one of the largest and most professional mercenary corporations operating in the Kantillon subsector. If you need a bodyguard, an assassination team, or an armored cavalry regiment complete with air support, Wardogs Inc. can provide it for you… for a very steep price. Set in the world of Quantum Mortis, WARDOGS INCORPORATED is a hardcover omnibus edition that includes the first three Wardogs Inc. novels:
- Battlesuit Bastards
- Hunter Killer
- Metal Monsters
458 pages. Hardcover+ edition includes all three ebooks. $29.95 at Arkhaven.