Under the Eye of God Read Online Free Page A

Murdock’s sizzling beams carved holes in the air.
    Finn fired back, laying down his own sprays of lightning, to cover his brother’s advance; then, painfully, he followed. Finn still entertained the cheerless thought that Murdock might end up costing them much more than the various bounties on her head would cover; but he already knew Sawyer’s answer to that, he’d heard it too many times before: “Then we have to catch her quickly. The bounty will offset our losses—well, some of them anyway.” Finn knew without asking. Sawyer had already reached the point of no return. He had become obsessed with this one. Murdock had long since graduated from nuisance to nemesis in Sawyer’s mind. Finn sighed and followed, moving from block to rock to column, never giving Murdock a clear shot back.
    In the distance, the skyballs moved down a distant slope, following their target remorselessly, circling and firing. The beams flashed and ricocheted off Murdock’s armor, scorching and blistering the rocks and ruins. Murdock left a trail of small molten pools and burning fires behind her.
    Now, she disappeared into the cover of deep gully; it sharpened as it carved its way toward the greater notch along Misdemeanor Ridge. Down beyond, where the ravine widened and then narrowed again toward a dark descent, a wide road led downward toward and through the last broken ruins of the centuries-old mining station. Here, the shadows of Misdemeanor Ridge took on an ominous and haunting look. They writhed beneath the beams of the skyballs and turned jagged and tortured. Murdock’s heavy booming steps echoed back up the slope.
    Sawyer and Finn came tumbling heedless after, making wide arcs around the still-burning rocks. They headed down the gully, skidding across the broken rocks and following Murdock toward the ruins. The rising light of the Eye of God gave the broken buildings a pale ghostly glow. They hovered in the gloom like sepulchres, a city of the dead. That thought did not make Finn happy.
    Somewhere ahead, a laser-beam spat upward and something exploded in the sky.
    â€œDamn! She got one of the skyballs!” Sawyer started swearing.
    â€œBill the client,” Finn called after him. Despite the partial battle-skeleton he wore, he knew he would ache tomorrow. And probably for several days afterward. Reluctantly, he keyed himself to a faster pace and began gaining on Sawyer again.
    Sawyer released two more grenades. They lifted in tandem, then swooped loudly toward the ever-receding beams of the skyballs.
    â€œThat won’t stop her—”
    â€œMight slow ‘er down, though.”
    Another distant shot—and a second skyball disintegrated in a bright scorch of light.
    â€œShe’s getting expensive,” Finn cautioned.
    Sawyer didn’t answer. “Better shield yourself—”
    The two grenades went off almost simultaneously. They turned the horizon momentarily white. The ground shook with the impact, but even as the detonation faded, a screeching red needle-beam blistered the air over their heads.
    â€œI don’t think she likes us,” said Sawyer.
    â€œI can’t imagine why not.”
    â€œCome on, let’s go.” Sawyer studied his terminal for a moment. “That way—” He pointed downward. “Down the old road.”
    Finn charged after him. The hard ground of the desert thudded underfoot. The dry air smelled of smoke and ozone. Murdock’s blasts came less frequently now.
    And then, abruptly, everything went silent.
    Sawyer and Finn stopped in the middle of the ghostly ruins and looked at each other.
    â€œLost her?”
    â€œNo.” Sawyer didn’t sound convincing. He frowned at his terminal. He punched in a program.
    The two remaining skyballs probed at the tumbled walls and rocks. They hovered and shifted and sprayed their lights across the ground.
    Nothing moved.
    Finn scratched at his neck abstractedly.