Blood Soaked and Invaded - 02 Read Online Free Page A

even get you a cup of coffee. Gettin’ your boxers in a twist ain’t gonna do much right now.” Shawn tried to be gentle, or what passes for his version of gentle with an adult. Baj wasn’t having any of it.
    My dear scientist friend started ranting in Hindi and pacing around the kitchen like a Bassett hound on Adderall. I watched him as he walked around Charlie and me like we weren’t even there.
    “Dude.” I turned back to look at Shawn when I heard the tone of his voice. He smelled like frustration on the edge of violence. “Dude, sit the fuck down right now. We don’t have time for anyone to wallow in self-hatred–least of all you. Now sit the fuck back down, and we’ll figure out something like we always have.”
    Bajali closed the distance, and Shawn pushed his chair back and stood up.
    Charlie held her breath. I stared.
    To his immense credit, Shawn held up his empty hands and attempted to defuse the situation.
    “Baj, I know some awful stuff happened while you were gone. I can’t tell you how sorry I am for that. I want to help any way I can. Please, my friend, just take a big, deep breath, and sit back down.”
    Compassion couldn’t touch the pain Bajali was feeling.
    Charlie and Jayashri were struck speechless. I couldn’t speak, even if I wanted to. We knew there was going to be a car wreck any second and none of us could stop it. Seconds later, it was upon us.
    Baj got up in Shawn’s face and shook his finger, recriminating our local giant in a foreign language. Jayashri squeaked in dismay, and tried to say something that might stop the inexorable flow of events. Words failed her.
    “Dude, I’m glad that I don’t know what the fuck you’re sayin’ ‘cause I don’t think I’d like it much. Sit the hell down. Now.” Shawn’s temper got the best of his compassion, and I felt it across the room.
    I broke Charlie’s embrace, got out of the chair and started to move toward the two of them, but I was too slow. Baj drew his hand back into a fist and took a swing at Shawn. There wasn’t a single thing I could do. It was too late.
    His punch didn’t land. Using nanotechnology-fueled timing, Shawn caught Baj’s fist in his hand. The noise was something like a butcher throwing freshly ground hamburger on a cold tile floor. Sharp, crispy noises and a short howl from Baj came on the tail end of the meaty slap.
    “I want you to listen really close to what I’m gonna tell you. I’m gonna let your hand go, and you’re gonna aim your ass at a chair. You’re gonna sit real quiet and concentrate on how it feels to have your nanotech repair the bones in your hand.” Shawn’s menace reverberated around the room, completely unrestrained, despite the controlled tone he used. “You do that, and I’m not gonna mention it again.”
    The kitchen and dining room were utterly silent in the wake of violence, but the tension in the atmosphere was another thing entirely. It was nearly alive, twisting and thrumming, arcing like electrical discharges between every person in the room.
    Bajali sat down, cradling his hand, and some of the charge earthed itself, giving all of us a little more room to breathe.
    “Charlie. Could you take Jaya downstairs and find a steel can in their recycling bin?”
    “What?” She sounded dumbstruck. I bet I would have been.
    “A steel can,” Shawn explained, slowly and gently, “Baj’s critters are starting to kick in. I think they’d be happier if he didn’t eat the silverware.”
    “Is that what happens?” Baj asked him in a small, tight voice.
    “Well, most of the time. Mine kicked in and I got this fucked-up urge to lick a shovel. Frank,” he turned and pointed at me, “barfed on his desk chair foot. It dissolved a load of metal, and then he swallowed it all.”
    Charlie and Jayashri left the room.
    “That sounds dreadful.”
    “Surprised him some, I bet.” Shawn sat down opposite Baj at the table. “Is Frank going to get better, or will he stay like