Outriders Read Online Free

though; a fact Vector was here to exploit. As far as he could tell, no matter how far out into space humanity got, it would never be far enough to escape its own nature.
    “Vector, Cisko,” the voice finally spoke in his ear, as loud as if she’d been standing beside him instead of thirty thousand kilometers above. “You’re a go.”
    “Copy that, Vector is go.” He set his coffee on the table and leaned back in his chair, stretching. Casually, slowly, he swept his eyes around the courtyard, careful not to let them rest on the Target’s security detail. They were locals, but he could tell by the way they held themselves, and from their level of focus, that they weren’t amateurs. The two of them were standing at opposite corners of the courtyard, each stationed by an entry point. Not bad for controlling the courtyard, but, in Vector’s opinion, that put them too far from the man they were supposed to be protecting. If he’d been running the detail, he would have had a third guard tasked solely with close protection. They probably had overwatch positioned somewhere in the surrounding buildings, keeping an eye on the general flow of the area, but that wasn’t going to help them. Vector and his team had already successfully infiltrated the target zone. Of course, it was easy for Vector to spot all the flaws in the protection plan, seeing it as he was through the eyes of the attacker. It was always easier for the party who got to choose the time, place, and method.
    The Target was still busy reviewing his viz, looking over whatever information the cheap Thug had shared with him. Or maybe digesting the morning’s intelligence brief that his analysts had compiled for him while he slept. Vector couldn’t help but wonder how shocked those same analysts would be a few minutes from now.
    He cracked a knuckle and in the same motion switched channels on his comms. He picked his coffee back up and mimed drinking it while he spoke again.
    “Kev, we’re a go. You in place?”
    “Roger that,” Kev answered. “Say when.”
    “Hey, Kid,” Vector said. “You got me?”
    “Yeah, I gotcha,” his long-time partner replied.
    “What’s your angle?”
    “Clear line to the big guy by the door,” she answered. “Heat signature’s good on the other fella, but I’d have to shoot through to get him.”
    “Okay. Take the big guy. I’ll get the other.”
    “You sure?”
    “Yep.”
    “Roger. On you.”
    Vector replaced the coffee on the table in front of him, and rested his hands on his lap. This was the tricky part. As soon as he moved, he’d draw attention. Every space had its rhythm. It was his job to match it, to blend with it. Too fast, and security would perk up. Too slow, and they’d keep watching him until he’d left the zone. He allowed himself a few settling breaths.
    “Doc,” Kid said a few moments later, “you got a spotter.”
    “Yeah?” Vector answered.
    “Just above you. Fourth floor, about the middle of the building.”
    “Shooter?” Even with a couple of decades of practice, Vector had to restrain himself from glancing that direction.
    “Can’t tell for sure. Better assume so.”
    “Can you take him and the big guy?”
    “Depends on the order. Whatcha think?”
    “I think I’d like you to take whichever one’s most likely to kill me first.”
    A pause, while Kid thought it over. One of the reasons Vector liked her. She never hurried with answers.
    “Spotter then,” Kid said finally.
    “Be sure.”
    “I am.”
    “All right. Let’s do it,” Vector said. He scratched his belly in an absentminded sort of way, let his fingertips brush the grip of the pistol he had tucked close against his ribs. It wasn’t a complicated plan. Walk over, kill the bad guys, leave. But for all his years of experience, no matter how simple, Vector had never once seen things go exactly according to plan.
    Go time. He laid his napkin on the table, brushed the crumbs from his lap. Kept his eyes away from his