Spotlght: Failsafe by Jeff Sylvester
/
Genre: Science Fiction Action Thriller
The world runs on code, and not all code is safe. This is why Anna Flynn has a job.
Matter Manipulation Devices alter the physical world, turning dreams into reality. But some dreams are treacherous, and the streets are filled with mods that manipulate matter in illegal and dangerous ways.
As a seasoned MMD agent, Anna fights back against the criminals who misuse these devices and traffic in illegal mods. When she intervenes in a plot to assassinate one of the world's most respected political leaders, her methods draw the ire of her superiors, and she finds herself under investigation from her own agency.
Increasingly isolated and unsure whom she can trust, Anna works to unravel a conspiracy that would unleash the worst potential of matter manipulation technology on the world.
Excerpt
She had to move. Popping her eyes open, she pushed forward into the room as quickly as she dared. As she entered, she found the security guards taking cover behind various pieces of furniture. Klein—the only man in a security uniform—carried a staff like Anna’s. The two women with him had smaller handheld devices. None of the three had engaged with Ben, wisely taking her advice, and that had probably kept them alive. She hastened her pace, trying not to reveal her presence while still making it to Ben before he reached the bedroom door. She assumed the door was sealed, but also that this wouldn’t pose a problem for Ben.
Indeed, Ben gestured, and the door disassembled. He did have access to manipulate Shah’s home. Anna wasn’t surprised.
He turned to shuffle backwards, focusing on the security guards while retaining the same awkward firing stance. With the direction he was facing, Anna knew when she got close enough, he’d see her regardless of whether her concealment mod was still active or not—light and sound bending only worked at a distance. Intending to startle him, she clicked off the mod and lunged forward, aiming her staff at his gun.
The effect was exactly what she’d hoped for. Ben’s eyes went wide as she materialized out of thin air. He was still registering her sudden appearance when her staff connected with his hand and the gun went flying. At the same time, Klein and the two other security guards bounded out from behind their cover. Ben grunted as he recovered, then crouched down to face Anna, his body tense and ready to strike. She prepared for it, pivoting her weight back into a defensive stance. One attack by him and she’d have him incapacitated. It would all be over.
Except he didn’t attack. As the three guards closed in, his eyes shifted to them in alarm, and he turned and bolted into the master suite.
“Who are you? Stop!” Shah’s panicked voice spilled through the open doorway.
“I’m coming!” Anna dashed in after him, Klein and the other two guards on her heels. She found the councilwoman and her husband backed up against the far wall, Ben advancing on them. She leapt at him and landed a strong blow across his back, crumpling him to the ground. Moving past him, she placed her body in front of the Shahs.
The three security guards lined up across the doorway, blocking any escape. Klein gave Anna a curt nod. Their communications had saved his life, and he knew it—she thought she could count on him not to mention her use of the concealment mod.
Anna looked down at the defeated man with an icy stare. She wanted to pity him, knowing that whatever this had been, he hadn’t been sure of his actions. But people had died, and he’d shot her partner. Empathy has its limits.
“It’s over, Ben.”
“It’s not.” He stared up at her, a sudden calm taking over his features. His voice contained no trace of its former waver. Right now, at this moment, his determination was absolute. “I can do this. And I will.”
He rose to his feet and extended his arm. His hand held something small and dark green. It appeared to be military. A weapon. A bomb.
“No.” The protest escaped Anna’s lips as a whisper. Her staff shook in her hand as she arced it forward toward the explosive, but before it could connect, the world around her vaporized in a brilliant flash. And then there was nothing.
Buy on Amazon Kindle | Hardcover | Paperback | Bookshop.org
