Animus Boxed Set 2 (Books 5-8): Revenant, Glitch, Master, Infiltration Read online

  Animus™ Boxed Set 2

  (Books 5-8)

  Joshua Anderle

  Michael Anderle

  This book is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.

  Copyright © 2019 Joshua Anderle and Michael Anderle

  Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing

  A Michael Anderle Production

  LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  LMBPN Publishing

  PMB 196, 2540 South Maryland Pkwy

  Las Vegas, NV 89109

  First US edition, October 2019

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-64202-543-9

  Contents

  Revenant

  Revenant: Late Epilogue

  Glitch

  Glitch: RAZA: The Brotherhood of Two Warriors

  Master

  Master Origin Story: Alexander Laurie

  Infiltration

  Infiltration: Origin Stories

  Revenant

  Animus Book 5

  Chapter One

  The atmosphere at the market wasn’t exactly what one would call bustling. Admittedly, though, an underground market that specialized in stolen tech, illegal weapons, and men who offered rather shady and often violent services was probably a place that wouldn’t attract a very social crowd.

  Despite the somewhat subdued undertone, a man hummed merrily to himself as he hurried along the fourth row of vendors, striding toward his destination with a firm but light step.

  He stopped outside a shoddy structure comprised of what appeared to be crudely-cut ship parts and various pieces of metal hastily welded together to create a storefront. The man retrieved a tablet, looked down at it and back at the store, and smiled to himself. He put the device away and opened the door.

  The sound of a pistol priming—a Dredd model by the sound of the charging core—immediately caught his attention. He focused his gaze on four men who stared at him with threatening scowls and flared nostrils. His smile widened when he saw the Dredd in the hands of one of the men, pleased to see he still had the knack of being able to identify a weapon simply by its sound.

  He stepped toward the counter of the store, but one of the men stopped him.

  “Can I help you?” he asked, but it didn’t sound like he wanted to be particularly helpful.

  “I’m sorry if I’m a little late,” the newcomer stated and tapped the rim of his glasses. “The traffic was more of a catastrophe than I had expected it would be. You really have the riff-raff here in Florida.”

  Another man kicked a box over and spat on the ground, and the customer made a note to make sure to step around it. “Are you making a joke, punk?” he snapped.

  The man tilted his head as he considered the question in silence for a moment or two. “I don’t think so, but maybe humor is simpler down here. That’s understandable, I suppose.”

  Before the aggressor’s veins could throb any harder with his indignation, a door at the rear of the shop opened. The older gentleman who entered had long, curling hair, the black interspersed with strands of gray. He was dressed in a gray and blue bodysuit with a wraparound ocular device on his head. “Are you the five o’clock?” he asked nonchalantly, seemingly oblivious of the four goons.

  “That I am,” the newcomer confirmed. “It’s good to finally meet you, Mr. Vinci.”

  “Likewise.” He lowered his hands to signal the others to calm down. “Sorry about the greeting my friends gave you. We’ve had some issues with new customers from the Red Suns. They are a little antsy.”

  “No worries at all.” The man moved toward the counter once the guard in front of him had dropped his arm. “I can understand a degree of grandstanding. It takes guts to set up shop in a place like this, and it takes smarts to keep those guts inside you.”

  “Speaking of which…” A large hand settled heavily on his shoulder. “Don’t think you are going in the back without getting frisked.”

  The man peered back, and the movement revealed glowing artificial eyes over the top of his shades, which thoroughly startled the guard. “How kind of you to offer, and on our first meeting, no less.” He turned to the proprietor. “This is fantastic customer service.”

  Vinci chuckled as he took his visitor’s tablet and placed it on the counter. The guard frowned but said nothing as the man turned and held his hands up. “Besides the tablet, I have two blades on my person,” he explained as the guard began his search. “On the left is your basic Omni-blade, holstered inside its switcher.”

  The guard unclipped the device from the visitor’s belt and examined it with surprise. “Look at this thing,” he all but shouted and turned to show it to the other three. “This is unreal. It can produce up to a dozen different blade types, and it has a hard-light generator.”

  “It allows me to create hard-light versions of any personal blade I need, as well as adapt a few different qualities such as temperature and sharpness,” the man bragged and folded his arms smugly. “Among other things. Nifty, right?”

  “Put your hands back up,” the guard snapped as he tossed the Omni-blade and switcher to one of the other goons in the front. “What else you do you have?”

  “You’ll find my pride and joy on my right,” he responded and cocked his hip while he raised his hands once more. “I call her ‘Macha.’ She’s been with me for almost a decade now. A piece of advice to you boys—get yourself a girl or guy that’s as useful as she is, and you’ll live a much happier life.”

  The guard took the knife from the other side of his belt and unsheathed it to reveal a curved blade with a line of jagged notches in it. “It doesn’t look like much, especially compared to that Omni-blade.”

  “The Omni has its tricks, and is fun in its own way,” he admitted. “But it’s a fairly recent acquisition. I’ve only had it for about a year. Macha has been with me since I discovered my current passion. It’s extremely difficult to find the right blade type, but it’s damn sturdy and sharper than Likan fangs. Cleans easily, too.” The guard replaced the blade in its sheath and tossed it behind him, then continued his search. “I’ve only had to change the blade out twice. Once was a few years back—wear and tear and all, quite literally in my case.” The guard tried to block him out as he patted down his legs. “The other time was recently, though. I got it stuck in a hard place on a trip in the Amazon.”

  The guard stood to check his arms. “What’s with the boots?” he asked. “They feel like they are made for heavy armor.” He tugged at the man’s arms. “And these gloves are super-tight.”

  “That would be because they are wraps, not gloves,” he stated. “I could unwind them for you.”

  “Does you no good to hide a blade if you can’t get to them if a fight broke out,” he muttered. “This can’t be all you have. You come down to a crypto bazaar with nothing but a couple of blades? Are you insane?”

  “You don’t deal with places like this often, do you?” another man spat. “There might be a general understanding between those of us who make our living down here, but yo
u outsiders don’t get the same treatment. You’d make an easy mark for a thief or merc looking for some liquor cash.”

  The man smoothed his jacket, adjusted his belt, and slid one hand into it as he leaned back on the counter. “I usually don’t. I’m accustomed to finding what I need in other places or simply making it myself, but I needed something a little special.” He pointed at Vinci. “And I heard that Mr. Vinci here could get me exactly what I needed.”

  “And I can’t wait for you to see it, Mr. Sonny,” the hacker said with barely restrained glee. “I’ll get to the specifics shortly. Follow me into the back.”

  “Certainly. Assuming we are done here?” He looked at the guard, who studied him once more.

  “Do you have anything else on you? If you try to pull a fast one, you can be sure we’ll deal with you with our own personal touch.”

  “And I’m sure you’ll really get those knots out.” He chuckled. “As for weapons, nothing else but my arms and legs. I’ve heard I have an impressive punch, but unless you wanna take those wraps off, I can’t say I have anything else.”

  The guard grabbed him by his jacket. “If you’re playing us, that’s exactly the first thing we’ll do.” He released him abruptly. “Get in there, and don’t waste his time. He’s not only a tech cracker but our division leader. His time is important.”

  The customer tugged on his jacket and nodded without losing his smile. “I won’t take up any more time than is necessary.” He clapped his hands in front of the guard. The sound was evidently much louder than the man had expected because he jerked his head back quickly. “I promise.” He followed Vinci into his personal quarters.

  As the door shut, the guard huffed and walked over to the others. “What a damn creep.”

  “He wouldn’t stop smiling. I’d like to beat those teeth down his throat, myself,” another one muttered and glanced at a third man, who looked away, his expression thoughtful. “Is something wrong, Mick?”

  “Huh? It’s noth— Well, I guess it’s not nothing. Mr. Vinci called him Sonny. Is that name familiar to any of you?”

  “I’m terribly sorry about those boys, Mr. Sonny,” Vinci said in hasty apology and offered him a chair. “Like I mentioned, times have been somewhat tense, and they are still getting used to their duties. I had hoped they would be less green by now. I’m not sure if they had the slightest clue who they were addressing, or even if they are smart enough not to back talk if they did.”

  “No worries, good sir. And you can simply call me Gin,” he stated affably as he sat and crossed one leg over the other before he leaned back. “Manners are nice and all, but I prefer friendly to formal.”

  “It’s good to work with someone who’s more relaxed,” Vinci admitted. He took hold of a screen on a crane, pulled it down to the table, and activated a holoboard underneath it. “That’s not the kind of clients who usually request my services.”

  “A pity. I don’t have luck much either,” Gin commiserated, leaned forward, and propped his chin on one hand as he looked at the screen. “Granted, I haven’t worked for more than one person in the last several years, but back in my merc days, my superiors were drags.”

  “I don’t have to interact with mine that much.” The hacker typed on the keyboard. “Only a monthly status report and earnings and all that, and other than that, I might have to hack into the odd device or two. Otherwise, I run a stable operation down here.”

  “Meeting guys like you shows that life can be so beautiful sometimes,” Gin mused. “You’d probably be a white-hat running ops for a corp or something if you didn’t have that pesky record. It would’ve been a hell of a lot harder to find someone to handle my little project.”

  “To be honest, I’m not sure I would have taken the opportunity anyway. I prefer my freedom. Chains can be metaphorical or preferable if your choice is prison or working with some of those world council divisions.”

  “I take it you were given the offer?”

  “And I laughed for weeks.” Vinci nodded, a small smile on his lips. “I was able to get into the good graces of a Doxvod leader during my stint, which got me here. Much better, in my opinion.”

  “Except for the stooges, I would think.” Gin glanced meaningfully at the door.

  “If they give you any trouble, feel free to do what you must.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Not too attached, huh?”

  “Customer service. I can’t have them making one of my new customers think this is a place that would allow such idiocy,” Vinci reasoned and moved the screen to show it to his client. “Here are the schematics and the functions of the cracked EI you requested.”

  Gin leaned in closer, studied the screen intently, and whistled. “That’s a lot of coding. You did this all in two weeks?”

  “Would you believe this is one of the longest projects I’ve had in almost five years?” The hacker chuckled. “Most of the time, it takes hours, or a couple of days at most. You really gave me something to get my fingers tapping.”

  “I’m glad you enjoyed it. What do I owe you?”

  “One million even.”

  Gin tapped a finger thoughtfully on his chin. “From our initial conversation, I expected more than triple that amount.”

  Vinci offered the other man his tablet. “It’s a discount for giving me such an interesting project and being such a pleasant man to work with.”

  “I guess a little kindness goes a long way, huh?” Gin took the tablet and transferred the money, his expression eminently satisfied. “This will work wonderfully.”

  “Don’t do anything too naughty with it,” the other man said in a knowing, playful tone as he unlocked a domed device. The two sides separated and revealed a chip, which he placed into a box and handed to Gin.

  “You should know someone like me can’t promise that.” He pocketed the chip and stood quickly. “I mean, why would I order it otherwise?”

  Vinci laughed as he made his way to the exit. “Good point!” He opened the door and nodded at Gin as he left.

  Gin retrieved his tablet and placed it in his jacket as he made his way to the guards. “It’s finished, boys. I’ll take my things now.”

  “We don’t think so,” their leader growled, earning a curious look from the customer and a sigh from Vinci.

  “What the hell are you doing?” the hacker protested. “He’s paid in full and done nothing suspicious. Do you lot want me to report you?”

  “This guy isn’t on the up and up, Vinci!” another man declared, holding the Omni-blade up. “Look at this thing. There’s no way he could have something like this. You can’t even get one on the black market. It’s way more advanced than anything I’ve ever seen.”

  “And I’m sure that your knowledge is vast,” Gin muttered. “If you must know, I stole it from a tactical and security division tech development facility. Ironically, it’s not that well secured.”

  “Tac-Sec? You broke into a Tac-Sec facility by yourself? Bullshit.” The man scoffed. “We were thinking—”

  “Congratulations.”

  “Shut up!” the guard snapped and grabbed Gin’s neck. “You’re a spook, aren’t you?!”

  “I can assure you he isn’t. He’s—” Vinci tried to warn them but stopped as Gin held up a hand.

  “I suppose I never did properly introduce myself to you. My bad.” He removed his glasses and the guards recoiled, unnerved by his eyes. “Perhaps I could give it another go so that we can be properly acquainted?”

  “This guy is a damn idiot,” one man gasped. “Boss, we can’t have a guy like him with our tech? What if it gets traced back to us?”

  “Do you think I’m that sloppy?!” Vinci barked. “Don’t besmirch me because you are a bunch of paranoid idiots.”

  “Still, it’s best to be rid of him. We have the money, right?” the guard said with a smirk and held Gin’s own knife to his face

  “You are really committed to this, aren’t you?” Gin groused as he looked at both him and the blade in bore
dom.

  “If you hadn’t pissed me off—like you’re doing now—I might have let you walk out of here,” he stated. “Like I said, outsiders don’t get the same treatment in the bazaar. You gotta be a killer to even set foot in a place like this and expect to leave.”

  “Oh, the irony.” Gin snickered. He leaned back and tilted his head to look at Vinci with a broad smile. “You can go ahead and tell them if you want. See if it makes any difference. If not, I think I’ll take you up on your offer.”

  The guards looked at Vinci, who returned their gazes with an expression of supreme indifference on his face. “I hope the next batch they send me isn’t so stubborn.”

  “What are you—herk!” He grunted as Gin’s hand lashed out, grabbed his throat, and crushed it with inhuman strength. The man took Macha back as he pulled the guard to him and whispered, “You really should have taken my arms.”

  “S-s-shoot him!” the guard croaked in a strangled, rasping tone. His colleagues drew their pistols and aimed at the man, whose gleeful smile turned into a wicked grin.

  Gun and laser fire erupted in the hacking shop down the narrow lane. A few other merchants and buyers glanced that way, but most decided to leave well enough alone or were too jaded to respond. They expected to hear the thump of a body as it was thrown from the shop, but instead, they heard several guttural screams and shocked yelps, followed by a sudden silence. A little startled, a few more people looked toward the storefront as the door opened and a tall man dressed in a smart white suit sauntered through.