Rogue Read Online Free Page A

the double doors leading into his office and took a long deep breath, trying in vain to slow the beat of his heart. It felt as if it was about to hammer its way out of his chest. The doors swung open and his head of security walked slowly into the room, his hands raised. Raven stood directly behind the terrified-looking man, one of her swords pressed against his neck.
    ‘Drop the gun or he dies,’ Raven said calmly.
    ‘I do not think so,’ Khan replied, and squeezed the trigger. Raven dived to one side as the bullet struck the guard in the chest, passing through him and buzzing through the air where she had been standing a split second before. The guard dropped to his knees, a look of startled betrayal on his face, before tipping forward and hitting the floor face first.
    Raven leapt up, raised one arm and fired the grappler unit mounted on her wrist as Khan swung the smoking muzzle of the gun towards her. The silver bolt shot from the grappler, trailing mono-filament cable, and struck Khan’s gun hand, making him howl in pain. Raven yanked on the line as Khan’s finger reflexively tightened on the trigger. The shot went wild, shattering the floor-to-ceiling windows on the other side of the room as the gun fell from Khan’s wounded hand. Raven closed the distance between them in a few quick strides and kicked the gun away across the floor as Khan threw a desperate, clumsy punch at her. She caught his fist in her own hand and twisted it viciously, kicking at his kneecap and dropping him to the floor in a whimpering heap.
    ‘Please,’ Khan moaned pitifully, ‘I’ll give you anything . . . anything!’
    ‘All I want is information,’ Raven said, looking down at him with an expression that would freeze the blood. ‘Where’s Trent?’
    ‘I do not know,’ Khan said quickly. ‘Please, you have to believe me.’
    ‘I really don’t,’ Raven said coldly, lowering the tip of her sword towards him. ‘So tell me, are you right- or left-handed?’
    ‘I . . . I just designed the facility,’ Khan stammered, his eyes wide with fear.
    ‘What facility?’ Raven yelled, stepping on his right wrist.
    ‘A camouflaged structure,’ Khan wailed desperately, ‘but I was never told exactly where it was to be constructed. I swear to you, that’s all I know.’
    ‘The plans – do you have copies?’ Raven asked.
    ‘Yes, I was supposed to destroy them after I had delivered the originals, but I kept one set of schematics and other documents relating to the project. They’re on my computer,’ Khan said, nodding towards the laptop on his desk.
    ‘Show me,’ Raven said, stepping away from him and allowing him to stand. Khan got slowly to his feet, limped around the desk and sat down in his chair. He began to tap quickly at the keyboard, but after only a second or two he gasped in surprise, his eyes widening as blood began to pour from his nose. He gave a final strangled grunt and then slumped forward on to the desk, his head hitting the polished wooden surface with a thud.
    ‘Damn it,’ Raven whispered, feeling his neck for a pulse but finding none. She had seen this once before when she had been interrogating one of Trent’s lackeys. Some sort of micro-explosive device implanted in the skull that could be triggered remotely. She would get nothing more from Khan. She glanced at the laptop display and was frustrated to see that he had not finished entering his password. She might be able to crack the system, given enough time, but judging by the wailing sirens she could hear, time was one thing she did not have. She closed the laptop and picked it up before walking over to the shattered office window. Leaning out over the dizzying drop to the street far below, she saw the flashing lights of several police cars gathered around the entrance to the building. Getting out was probably going to be considerably more difficult than getting in.
    ‘You seem to have attracted rather a lot of unwelcome attention,’ a familiar