Ramez Naam - Nexus

Lalana was dead. Niran was dying. Chuan was hit and bleeding. The rage consumed her.

She blocked a rifle thrust from her left, tried to kick at the one ahead of her, felt his rifle smash painfully into her shin as he blocked her.

Chariya lay hit and dying, sobbing quietly for her husband, for the girl she'd adopted as daughter. Sarai was screaming in pain and horror, a bullet in her, crouched over Sajja's dead body, the man she'd loved.

They were all inside her. Their minds were one with hers. Sam could feel them all. The Nexus and the Empathek fused them with her.

Sam was them. She was their despair. She was their anger. She was their weapon.

Sam bellowed in rage as the agents came at her, lashed out with fists and feet, took one down, a second, a third.

A rifle smashed into the back of her head, brought her down to her hands and knees. A man behind her. She kicked backwards, sent a body hurtling through the air and into the wall. Another one slammed a rifle into her face. A man on the ground kicked her viciously in the midsection, knocked the wind out of her.

Sam rolled to the side to get out from the middle of them, took a hard kick to the head. A booted foot landed on her chest, a rifle pointed down at her.

"Cataranes!" It was Lee. "Stop!"

She kicked up, trying to disarm him. Another man kicked her in the face, hard. Two more rifle barrels stared down at her.

"Stand down, damn you!"

Wats panned the fiber-optic camera frantically. It was a goddamn warzone down there. Kade had appeared briefly before everything went tits up, then disappeared. He had to get Kade out of there. Where was he? Where the fuck was he?

Kade crouched in the doorway. He could feel the pain and death out there. He could feel it all through the Nexus connection they shared. Narong was crumpled on the ground, confused and terrified, not sure what he'd done, in incredible pain, terrified he was about to die.

I did that, Kade thought. My fault. My responsibility.

Chariya was hit, mourning the death of her family. Sajja was dead. Lalana was dead. He could feel Niran bleeding to death in the middle of the room.

It took his breath away. Pain and anguish like he'd never experienced. It was filling him up. He could feel them dying, feel their agony, feel their despair.

I've killed these people, he thought. I've fucking killed them. Tears streamed down his face.

He had to get a grip. He slammed the serenity package on hard, jammed it to its max setting. Clarity descended through the fog of pain and fear. He opened himself to those still alive, tried to parse what they were seeing through their own confusion and rage and terror.

He could feel Chuan slowly creeping towards one of PratNung's dead bodyguards, reaching for his gun, intending to kill these motherfuckers who'd invaded their home. Through Chuan's eyes he saw Ted Prat-Nung dash forward from behind a chair, heading for Chariya, firing at an agent with his machine pistol. His volley took the man in the chest, armor-piercing rounds ripping right through the mercenary. A stray hit Rajni, cowering on the floor, tore through her left thigh, shattered her femur, ripped a scream out of her body like no john or pimp ever had.

Prat-Nung scooped Chariya up in his arms, dashing for the window. Another agent brought his gun to bear. Panes of the stained glass window exploded beyond Prat-Nung. Automatic fire converged on him, pounded into his chest, lifted him off his feet and dropped him onto the floor, Chariya atop him.

Kade pulled his mind away from them. Sam. She was down, agents pointing rifles at her. He sent it to Chuan, pushed on the boy's mind. Sam! Help her!

Chuan came up on one knee, a submachine gun from one of Prat-Nung's bodyguards in his hand, firing on the agents above Sam. His bullets took one in the back, tore through the man's spine. Two rifles came up, muzzle flares burst into life, and Chuan's chest exploded. He fell, a look of shock on his face. Kade could feel his mind still working, surprised, not understanding, still catching up to what had just happened to him, still coming to grips with the fact that he was dead, as the remains of his body slumped to the floor.

Kade had to help Sam himself. He flipped on Bruce Lee. Targeting circles appeared in his vision. He clicked on one of the men standing above Sam, his weapon trained on her: Full attack.

Bruce Lee hurled his body into the fray.

Sam went still on the ground, stared up into the gun barrels, put her hands above her head. They had her. Damnit.

More gunfire came from the kitchen. Screams. She could feel Kade searching for her, felt him find her.

Chuan came up on one knee with a bodyguard's gun and fired. She felt him do it. The bullets tore through the chest of one of the men above her. Lee lifted his rifle, took his eyes off Sam, annihilated Chuan.

Someone slammed into Lee from the side. It was Kade, in a flying side-kick that knocked the mercenary into the wall. She felt Lee slam the butt of his gun into Kade's face, knock him to the ground. But for a moment there were only two of them above her, their eyes towards Chuan, guns drifting up. Sam reached up with both arms, grabbed their belts, yanked hard as she kicked herself to standing and brought them down to the ground.

She whirled in a vicious spinning hook kick that would have decapitated most men, struck one of the agents in the head, plowed him into his squadmate. An assault rifle went off, rounds firing wild into the ceiling and behind her.

Lee rushed her, using his rifle two-handed, trying to bash her in the face with it. She grabbed the rifle with both hands, rolled back and kicked, hurtling him into the air and the wall behind her.

She came up to her feet, his rifle in both her hands. Someone crashed into her from behind. She whirled, smashed the man in the head with the assault rifle. An agent on the ground threw himself at the back of her legs, brought her down to her knees.

Someone kicked at Sam's head. A rifle came down on her back like a hammer blow, sent her sprawling. She rolled to avoid another aimed at her head, took a foot painfully in the ribs, punched out at a man's groin, knocked him back despite the body armor.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Too many of them.

Kicks and rifles rained down on her. She blocked, blocked, kicked blindly, tried to grab at a gun. Blows kept landing. Pain exploded through her face as a steel-toe boot connected. Her left arm went numb as she blocked a rifle butt painfully with her elbow. Pain shot up from her kidneys. Her hip, her ribs, her chest, she was being pummeled into hell. She couldn't breathe, could barely see.

Too many. Too fucking many. She could not win this fight. She was going to fucking die here.

They killed Mai!

A foot landed on the side of her head and pushed. Two men wrestled her wrists together. Sam raged, almost pushed them off. A rifle butt slammed into her face. Her muscles went limp for an instant. Her wrists snapped together behind her back in plasticuffs. Three rifle barrels pointed down at her.

"Stand down, damn you!" Lee yelled.

She was beaten, she realized. There would be no rescue this time. Now she'd pay for what she'd done.

And then the ceiling above her exploded, something large and heavy fell from it onto the agents below, and someone tall and built like an ox dropped after it, full auto shotguns in both hands, firing as he landed.

Wats scanned frantically. There! That was Kade. He flew out of nowhere, collided with one of the ERD agents. He was trying to save Cataranes.

The agent smacked Kade down as Wats watched. At least six of them down there. No sign of Suk Prat-Nung's men yet either. Nearly hopeless odds.

All that matters is what we do with the instant we are given.