“K-110?” asked Bunny, but Top shook his head. They both got their answer a moment later. There was a soft whine of hydraulics, and everyone turned to see one of the exosuits come walking out onto the floor. It had an oddly mincing and delicate gait, almost like the velociraptors from Jurassic Park. But it moved quickly, with only the slightest perceptible lag between the leg movements of the driver and the servo reactions that made the legs move.

The exoskeleton—clearly a K-110, and probably named for Kuga—stepped out onto the floor and turned in a slow, complete circle, allowing everyone to see how well protected the driver was and how fully loaded was the machine itself. Then the K-110 turned another 180 degrees so that it was facing away from the targets. The driver hit a button, and the internal motors immediately powered down, rendering the suit inert.

Immediately, six Fixers wearing a kind of body armor Top had only seen in DARPA reports trotted out onto the floor. They were heavily armed with rifles, handguns, and grenade launchers. The people seated nearest to the K-110 became restive and started to shift away, but HK held up her hand.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry,” she said, patting the air placatingly. “Have a little faith that we didn’t bring you all here to kill you.”

That got a laugh from everyone except those at the wrong end of the room. But then the soldiers trotted toward the K-110 and formed two tight lines behind the exosuit’s bulk, the way soldiers did when going into battle on foot behind a tank.

“Everyone take your seats, please,” HK called, and when the crowd was settled, she once more raised a hand. “Danny, give me twenty seconds on the clock.”

A large digital clock flared to life over where Eve sat. Twenty seconds.

“Wonder how many it’ll get,” mused Bunny. “I’ve got a five-spot that says he gets a full third of them.”

HK stepped off the floor and, in a voice filled with joy, yelled, “Let the games begin!”

What happened next was not a game at all.

It was a horror show.

CHAPTER 66

DAWN’S EARLY LIGHT

It took me a long time to get cleaned up. There was a shower adjacent to one of the hot rooms where dangerous biological items were kept. I stripped naked and washed my body until my skin was raw, and washed Ghost until he was a white dog again. The idiot dog liked it. Kept wagging his tail.

Then I had to find clothes.

The only choices were between a dead security guard and a scientist. The scientist’s pants fit; the guard’s shirt almost fit. I covered it with a white lab coat from a closet. My shoes were leather, and they rinsed clean enough.