"13 Sentinels 01 - The Devils Hand" - читать интересную книгу автора (McKinney Jack)

"Heads up, you two!" a female voice shouted from the Hovercycle's control pad speaker.
Jack thought he was hearing things and wondered if his brush with the force field hadn't damaged more than just his hand. Karen was discharging bursts from the cargo seat, but for every drone she killed another two would appear; it was as if some controlling intelligence was directing the chase.
Jack had been forced to take some bad turns back toward the Royal Hall, and was trying to puzzle out a way through the wreckage in front of them when that disembodied voice repeated itself.
"Heads up!"
Even Karen heard it this time, so Jack knew he wasn't imagining it. "An Alpha," she said, waving her free hand in his face. He looked up and saw the VT dropping in to match the Hovercycle's pace and course.
"Looks like you two are a long way from home," the pilot said. "I'm coming in for a pickup. Acknowledge."
"Fine with us," Jack said. "Hope she's not changing her mind?" he added when the VT didn't respond.
Karen interrupted her fire to peer over Jack's shoulder. She smacked him on the shoulder. "You idiot, use the net!"
Jack winced and opened the net, acknowledging the VT. The Alpha dropped and let loose with two missiles that took out half the Hellcat pack; then the mecha split, its Beta hindquarters lowering a stiff ladder.
"Grab it," Jack told Karen.
They were near the central plaza again in an area of the city that had seen a lot of action, skirting the rim of a huge blast crater.
Karen holstered her weapon, got into a kneeling position on the seat using Jack's shoulders for balance, and took hold of the ladder, heat from the VT blasting her face all the while.
"Come on, Jack!" she was shouting into the wind a moment later.
Jack stretched out his bad hand, thought better of it, and took his good hand from the front grip. Karen curled herself on the ladder and leaned down to help him. But all at once, two Hellcats came tearing out of an alleyway making straight for the cycle. Jack caught sight of them in time, but forgot about his injured hand as he reflexively reached for the handlebars.
Pain like liquid fire shot up his arm. Out of control, the Hovercycle veered to the right and ramped up the rim.
Jack felt himself leave the cyc's contoured seat and go airborne. In an instant's passing, he was once again questioning his sanity, because floating out in front of him he saw some kind unanchored column-two of them, actually, separated by an equally free-floating featureless sphere. Jack impacted the uppermost column at the same moment he heard the Hovercraft crash in the smoky crater below him. His hands, knees, and feet tried to find purchase, but he soon found himself sliding...
He hit the sphere and clung there a moment, wishing he had suction cups instead of hands, then recommenced his slow slide, flesh squealing along the thing's smooth surface.
"Whaaaaa..." he sent into Tirol's evening chill.
Jack's fingertips somehow managed to catch the edge of the lower column. Breathless, he hung there, nose buried in one of the flutes as the Beta circled him. And all at once his hand began to remember something...
He screamed and let go, recalling the hotfoot he had given a cadet back in academy days, and hit the ground with enough force to instantly numb both his legs.
On his butt now, dazed and hurting, Jack directed some choice words against himself.
Muttering, he tried to stand up.
Six pairs of glowing eyes were approaching him out of the crater's groundsmoke.

"Can you see him?" Karen asked the Beta's pilot, as she threw herself from the ladder into the mecha's passenger space.
"Not yet," the pilot answered her with a hint of anger. "I've got a biosensor reading, but there's just too much smoke down there."
Karen tried to peer out the canopy. "We've got to go back."
"Suddenly you're not suicidal."
"Hey, look," Karen said, "we just went-"
"Tell it to the judge," the pilot cut her off. "I've got one of them, Skull Leader," she said over the net. "Number two's on his own. The cyc's a memory."
Karen heard Commander Max Sterling reply, "Reconfigure and go in. But keep it simple. First sign of big stuff and I want you out of there."
"Understood, Commander. Reconfiguring..."

Jack slapped his hip holster and gulped. He was weaponless, and the cat drones had effectively cut him off from whatever remained of the Hovercycle.. Not that Jack was even sure he could find it in all the smoke. He turned through a three-sixty looking for some way out, and spotted the partially-ruined archway of an ancient-looking building. He ran for it without hesitation, ignoring the shock waves each ankle sent up his quivering legs.
Presently, he could discern broad steps in front of him, a short flight that led to a pillared platform, and beyond that the arch. Galloping, clanking sounds told him that the Inorganics weren't far behind.
But there was another sound in the midst of all that eye-smarting smoke: the sound of a Beta's VTOL flares. Jack realized that the mecha had changed modes and was descending. Trouble was, it was putting down on the wrong side of things. Six drones were standing between him and rescue.
Jack decided to try and wait it out; let the VT handle the drones, then show himself when the coast was clear. He limped his way up the stairs and hastened toward the building.
All at once a Hellcat landed in front of him. Jack dug his heels in and threw himself behind one of the columns as the creature leaped. He felt the closeness of its passage, and began to scramble around the column base, while the Hellcat turned and leaped again. It hit the opposite side of the pillar with a resounding crash, its clawed paws embracing the base and almost tearing into Jack where he stud. Jack jumped for the next column and the next, slaloming his way down the platform one step ahead of the infuriated drone.
He reached the end of the row and tumbled down a flight of steps. The Hellcat was above him snarling and preparing to pounce when he rolled over. Suddenly Jack heard a weapon discharge behind him; at almost the same moment the drone came apart in a shower of fiery particles. He tucked and rolled as heat and a concussive wave battered him.
Then someone's hand touched his shoulder.
It was an old man with a bald, knob-topped head and two-foot-long snow-white beard. Jack was certain he was dreaming now.
"Good work, my boy, good work!" the man was congratulating him in Zentraedi.
Jack shook his head to clear it. Behind the man was a youth his own age, a handsome lad with tinted hair and a long cloak. He was cradling an assault rifle.
"Are you the, rebels?" Jack stammered, unsure if he had chosen the correct words.
Cabell stepped back, surprised that the Human knew the old empire's lingua franca. "Rebels? No. But we are the ones who sent the message. I am Cabell, and this is Rem."
Rem nodded and said something in a language Jack had never heard.
Cabell nodded and pulled Jack to his feet. "Your ship," he said quickly. "We must get to your ship."
"But-"
"Hurry! There's no time!"
Cabell and Rem put Jack between them and ran in the direction of the Beta's landing zone. Jack wanted to warn them about the drones, but pain was intercepting his