Rogues,
Who’s excited for Iron Legion Book 2? It’s not long now until Dan and I will have all the Ts crossed and Is dotted! Anyway here’s a little excerpt to get the blood pumping in the meantime!
Excerpt
We stepped into the afternoon gloom with the Mercs behind us. Alice was looking stoic and focused. I wasn’t feeling so sure. They’d made sure we went out first, which to me said that they were just as unsure whether we’d put a bullet in their backs as I was that they’d put a few in ours.
The wind was icy and had picked up since we went inside. It bit at my cheeks and stung my eyes. I pulled my collar up to shield my face and braced it with my shoulder. We got down onto the dirt track in front of the bar and turned. The Polgarian had his coat zipped up to his nose and the blue skinned woman’s cloak covered her chin, her pale eyes piercing in the halflight.
“So,” I said over the wind, “what’s the deal here?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Deal?”
“Yeah, you dragged us outside, now what?” Alice cut in, resuming control of the situation.
The blue-skinned woman smirked and laughed to herself. “Now we see how serious ya are about dees credits, huh?”
“Look, lady, we’re not playing games, alright. We want into whatever this shit is all about. If it pays, we’re in, no matter what.” Alice cut the air decisively with her hand.
The blue skinned woman stared at her for a while. “Alright, well we gotta see whether dat’s true, feel?”
Alice nodded. “Sure. Whatever. Just tell us what you want us to do,” she shrugged nonchalantly, but the look in the woman’s eyes told me this wasn’t going to be good. I was thinking they might have us attack some Telmareen Guards, rob a Federation Bank, or maybe even tackle a Iskcara shipment. But, it was none of those things.
“You say you got two more ya crew, aye?”
Alice nodded. “Get to the point.”
“T’ing is, we only need three bodies for dis job. So der one too many, see?”
Alice’s jaw flexed. “Then hire three of us,” she growled.
“Nah — I want you,” she said, pointing to both of us, “to kill each other. Whoever left standing we take, plus de other two.”
Alice’s eyes narrowed. I just breathed slowly, staring at the Polgarian, who’d fixed his eyes on me.
“We’re a crew. We’ll split the credits. Doesn’t matter if one of us doesn’t work,” she said flatly.
“No,” the blue skinned woman grinned and then shook her head. “We need to know you serious — that you got what we need. Dat being de cold blood and dat hunger for no more dan credits — das de Merc way.” She stuck her bottom lip out. “Or maybe he right,” she said, nodding her head sideways at the Polgarian. “And you are full of shit.”
Alice’s wheels churned as she looked for a solution. She didn’t find one. Her eyes slowly turned to me, looking for an answer. She wasn’t ready to forgive me, but she also didn’t want to put a bullet between my eyes. I clenched my jaw and looked at the ground. Guess now as as good a time as any.
Alice?
Her eyes widened for a second before she reigned herself in and looked up, and then at me having just heard my voice in her head.
Don’t freak out, I said. Just listen — I made a neural link so we can talk like this — sorry — but we need to do something — say something. Agree to it. We’ll figure it out.
She cleared her throat. “You’re a bitch, but I get it,” she said, voice thin and hard. “We knew what this was about when we signed up.” She reached behind her back and pulled her Arcram out of it’s holster, holding it up. She pulled the barrel back and the barrel lit up and glowed blue. “This pay-day better be worth it.”
The blue-skinned woman fixed her eyes on Alice’s. “You shoot ‘im, just like that?”
She shrugged. “We’ve only known eachother a few months. It’s the job, right? Don’t get attached — focus on staying alive.” She scoffed. “Only a matter of time ‘til we turned on eachother anyway.”
The woman laughed. “Das de spirit. No such thing as friends in dis game — only credits.”
I drew across my body and cocked my pistol too, watching it light up.
“And what you got to say, eh, white-hair?”
“That after I plug her, you’d better pay the fuck up,” I grunted.