Nano Read Online Free Page B

attention to the nav controls. ‘Chloe? You got net integrity?’
    â€˜Forty-one per cent and falling . . . fast!’
    Pete cursed and scanned the three-dimensional map of the ground beneath them as it came up on a display above the control panel.
    A loud snap echoed around the headsets of the E-Force rescuers.
    â€˜Get her down!’ Pete screamed into his headset. ‘Reverse thrusters. On my mark.’
    Another jolt. The four aircraft shuddered. On their holoscreens, Pete, Mai and Chloe could all see the net rip open. The space plane was being tossed around like a skewered toreador.
    â€˜Down, at 180 metres per second. Ready? NOW!’
    The three Vertical Take Off and Landing jets shot towards the ground gripping the tattered remains of the nanonet, with Thor 1 tangled in the framework. One-point-nine seconds later, they were at 27 metres, hovering over a plaza.
    â€˜Please clear the area.’ Pete’s voice boomed over powerful speakers on the outside of the Silverback.
    â€˜Pete.’ It was Mai. ‘I’m scanning the plaza with infrared. We’re almost clear. A couple of people are running to the perimeter. No one directly under us.’
    â€˜Okay . . . gently.’
    A loud crack resonated around the buildings lining the four sides of the plaza as one of the primary struts of the nanonet snapped. Thor slipped through the rip and its port wing crumpled as the four planes dropped the final few metres to the ground. Sparks flew. The stench of ozone filled the air. A flame shot from under Thor ’s tail. In a second, it was quenched by a jet of retardant and coolant spurting from a nozzle under George ’s wings. The fuselage of the space plane hit the concrete with a deep thud and rolled onto its side as the three Silverbacks touched down, their engines shutting off.
    â€˜Bloody hell!’ Pete exclaimed. ‘That was something else!’
    From Base One came only a stunned silence followed by loud applause and the roomful of techs in Cyber Control whooping loudly.

6
    Dakota Building, New York City, two days later, 8 December, 9 pm
    It was a rare occasion. The four men seated around the mahogany dining table had met in the flesh only a handful of times during the years they had known each other and most of their communicating was done via encrypted video links that spanned the world.
    They referred to themselves as the Four Horsemen and they were each among the Forbes Top 10 billionaires. They had named themselves the Four Horsemen as a little private joke and had individually appropriated the names Death, War, Conquest and Pestilence from the Book of Revelation. Until a year ago, their identities had been completely secret, but then they had plotted the assassination of Senator Kyle Foreman in Los Angeles and, although they had escaped prosecution and public censure, they were known to at least one influential group: the members of E-Force. Because, thanks to the brilliance of Tom Erickson and the unmatchable power of Sybil, the organisation had succeeded in putting faces to names. However, such knowledge had proven to be of little practical value. A year earlier, E-Force had been forbidden by the highest authority from exposing these men.
    Times, though, had changed. The Four Horsemen knew that and so did E-Force. The new man in the White House was an intellectual, a pragmatist, a man of vision who wielded his power wisely. His name was Kyle Foreman.
    â€˜So everything is in place, I trust?’ Death asked Pestilence, the man who had been given the task of selecting the frontline operative who would be at the sharp end of their next project. Death peered around at the others. He was an American, mid-forties, buff, arrogant as hell.
    Pestilence gazed at the polished table for a moment and when he raised his head he wore a thin smile. ‘Naturally, Death. All is ready.’
    Then he turned to the other two: Conquest, a tall, well-built British