“Do you want a drink?”

  He blinked. “Yes.”

  She found a bottle without looking, poured liquor, and held the glass between them like a shield. “I’m sorry.”

  “What for?”

  “For calling you on your bullshit.” She sipped, ignoring the hard rasp of alcohol. “It’s not my place.”

  “We’ve done our time.” Mike turned to the door, but looked away after a moment as if the light out there could hurt his eyes. “You and me, I mean.”

  “I get it.”

  “It’s just—”

  “I said, I get it.” Delilah’s chest ached. She and Mike were long past and done. Samson was in a grave. All those who came close to her paid the price. Better remind Mike of that. “I’m sorry about Sam.”

  “Doing our time goes both ways.” Mike put his glass down. “Tell me about him.”

  “I’m not doing this.”

  He sighed. “Yeah, you are. We’ll swap a story for a story. Remember our honored dead.”

  Delilah thought about walking away. She wondered about punching him. But when Delilah saw the hope and pain mixed together in a dirty amalgam writ on his face, she sagged. She felt it too. “I didn’t know him for long.”

  “The stories aren’t about you,” said Mike. “Tell me about Samson.”

  “Okay.” Delilah hugged herself. “Let me tell you about a man who shook the world. It’s a story of impossible things, Mike. A link virus. Syndicate treachery. People used like ATMs.”

  “No.” Mike shook his head. “That’s not the right story.”

  “I learned all the right things too late, and all the wrong things too soon.”

  He shook his head again. “It’s not about you, Dee.” His voice was soft, like a moth’s wing, so low she almost didn’t hear him.

  “Okay.” Delilah sagged against the bar, giving in. “Let me tell you about a man I loved. They said he was a terrorist. People closer to him called him a cripple.”

  “What did you call him?”

  She thought about that for a long time, the liquor warming in her soul. “Wonderful.”

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Mason sat easy in the passenger seat, wind whipping his hair while Sadie drove the ragtop. The car was old, no link, a beat-up stereo taking older data slivers only. They’d found a handful in the glovebox, listening to a stranger’s music as the vehicle ate up the klicks. They’d swapped it at a gas station off the grid for their Metatech ride and a roll of cash.

  They drove north and west, heading toward the border, but hugging the sea. Mason watched Sadie, the line of her jaw, the curve of her throat, and felt hungry and thirsty at the same time. But first, unfinished business. He keyed his link. “Carter.”

  “I’m here.”

  “Do you remember when you said she wasn’t for me?”

  “I was wrong.” Carter sounded distracted, like she was working on a hundred different things.

  “No. You were right. Back then, I was a different man.” Mason nodded along to the beat from the radio. The sun shone, the world at peace. There was an honest-to-God bird in the sky. Mason didn’t remember seeing many birds. “Why did you do it?” He didn’t know what he meant. Mason wasn’t sure it mattered.

  She sighed. “I’m not the same Carter, you know.”

  Mason nodded again, even though she couldn’t see him. “Except you are. To me, anyway.”

  There was a long, long pause. Mason wondered if his link failed. This far north things could get sketchy. And the syndicate war left so many things broken. But after enough time for her new, crippled shell to work it through, Carter spoke again. “You are the most special person I’ve ever met.”

  “I’m just a street rat who worked the system.”

  “You’re also the dumbest son of a bitch ever to suck oh-two.”

  Mason smiled, eyes front. The road led them forward, a long straight line of unending opportunity. Neither he nor Sadie knew what was at the end of it. That was part of the fun. “We need to get you a remote.”

  “The tech—”

  “Come on. Reed’s toys are waiting to be used by someone who deserves it.”

  “Last time I used one, I died.”

  Mason chewed that over for a while. “You don’t need to be scared.”

  “What if I am?” Her voice was harsh on the link. “I’ve earned my fear.”

  “You’ve earned your peace, too. We’re here.” Mason tapped fingers to the music’s beat. “We’re always here.”

  Carter’s voice softened a degree. “I know. It’s just—”

  “It’s just, everything’s hard. The world is sharp, and dangerous. No one holds your leash. You’ve got your own course to chart. No one telling you where or why. All the consequences are on you. Death waits for every wrong action. People want the code inside you.” Mason sighed, earning a passing glance from Sadie. “But all the joy is yours, too. The things you do, no one else can do. You’re remarkable. I can’t wait to see what comes next.”

  “The kids are definitely weird. Their road trip’s going okay, by the way. Laia and Zacharies are—”

  “No. What comes next for you, Carter. This isn’t about us. It’s about all of us.” The car jounced as it hit a pothole. “If you need us, we’ll be there.”

  “Where do I go, Mason? What do I do?”

  “Live.” Mason closed the link, leaning toward Sadie. He stole a kiss.

  “What was that for?”

  “Pull over at the next town.” Mason leaned back. “We need to get you another guitar.”

  You’ve finished Chromed: Restore! I hope you loved it. Mason, Sadie, and Carter will return. I don’t want to tell you what happens on Laia and Zach’s road trip, but if you think Zach got out of HumanE without a link virus you’re a delightfully optimistic person.

  If you’re after more kick-ass sci-fi where heroes save the universe through action scenes and clever dialogue, why not check out Tyche’s Flight? An excerpt is included at the end of this book.

  [https://www.books2read.com/TychesFlight]

  WAIT. Don’t go!

  Thanks for reading my Chromed book. If you liked it, would you share your experience with your fellow organics? Reviews are helpful to readers by ducting like-minded people to books they’ll enjoy.

  Review Chromed: Restore on your retailer and Goodreads [http://hit.mondegreen.co/ReviewRestore]

  FYI, an angel gets its wings for every five-star review.

  About the Author

  Richard Parry worked as an international consultant in one of the world’s top tech companies, which sounds cool, but it wasn’t all cocaine parties. He lives in Wellington with the love of his life, Rae. They have a dog, Rory, who chases birds. The birds, who have the power of flight, don’t seem to mind. Richard’s online hood is:

  www.mondegreen.co

  Get Updates

  Want to be the first to know next time I have some Inner Sanctum™ data (like releases, cover reveals, specials, and free reads)? Get on my mailing list. Signing up nets you Escape and Sleepless as a welcome bundle.

  Also by Richard Parry

  The Ezeroc Wars

  The Ezeroc Wars universe is big (and growing!). Get the reading guide here: https://www.mondegreen.co/ezeroc-wars-reading-guide/

  A colony world goes dark.

  When Grace Gushiken and Nathan Chevell of the Tyche are hired to deliver a new transmitter for a downed Guild Bridge, they find the Absalom Delta colony deserted, its people enslaved by the insect-like Ezeroc. The aliens have descended like locusts on humanity, consuming all in their path. No one is safe. Even the Republic Navy is powerless against them. The ship and her crew need to test their skill and their luck to survive. Will Grace and Nate be able to work together to get away? Or will fears and rivalries from the past destroy humanity’s hopes, ceding victory to the Ezeroc?

  Tyche’s Journey

  Book 1: https://www.books2read.com/TychesFlight

  Book 2: https://www.books2read.com/TychesDeceit

  Book 3: https://www.books2read.com/TychesCrown

  Tyche’s Progeny

  Book 4: https://www.books2read.com/TychesDemons

  Book 5: https://www.books2read.com/TychesGhosts

  Book 6: https://www.books2read.com/TychesAngels

  Tyche Origins

  An empire falls.

  Before there was a Tyche, the crew were scattered. Nate wore the Emperor’s Black. El helmed mighty destroyers. Hope joined the new Republic’s reclamation projects. Kohl fell in with the Yakuza. And Grace was a prisoner. Grab their origin stories as they become the heroes the universe needed them to be.

  Collection (origins 1-6): https://www.books2read.com/TycheOrigins

  Or get them à la carte…

  Origin 1: https://www.books2read.com/TychesFirst

  Origin 2: https://www.books2read.com/TychesChosen

  Origin 3: https://www.books2read.com/TychesHope

  Origin 4: https://www.books2read.com/TychesFury

  Origin 5: https://www.books2read.com/TychesGrace

  Origin 6: https://www.books2read.com/Gravedigger

  Future Forfeit

  Not sure where to start? Get the reading guide here: https://www.mondegreen.co/future-forfeit-reading-guide/

  It’s 2150AD. There hasn’t been a corporate war… until now.

  Mason Floyd is an augmented syndicate enforcer at the top of his game. His job is asset protection and acquisition, no questions asked.

  Company tech is stolen on Mason’s watch. Rival megacorps want it, and they don’t mind killing him to get it. Framed for the theft, Mason runs. He tangles with off-grid rockstar Sadie Freeman on the grimy seam between the powerful and poor. Together they uncover a secret an entire city died to keep.

  Hunted and desperate, they must team up to survive. Together Mason and Sadie can save the world. Apart, both are lost. They must trust each other or die.

  Megacorps. Cyborgs. AI. Gene-spliced monsters. Syndicate enforcers. Off-grid illegals. Supersoldiers. Rock music. Violence. Einstein-Rosen bridges. Liquor. Enhanced reflexes. Power armor and energy weapons. Full body replacements. Swearing. Mind control. Telekenetics. G-Men. Drugs. Neural links. Orbital cannons. THIS IS CYBERPUNK.

  Book 1: https://www.books2read.com/ChromedUpgrade

  Book 2: https://www.books2read.com/ChromedRogue

  City Stories 1: https://www.books2read.com/Consensus

  City Stories 2: https://www.books2read.com/Delilah

  City Stories 3: https://www.books2read.com/Meltdown

  Book 3: https://www.books2read.com/ChromedRestore

  Night’s Champion

  Could just one night change your life forever?

  Valentine Everard and Danielle Kendrick have the Night’s Favor: they are werewolves. There are many who would steal the Night’s dark gift from them. The Night’s Champions must face down the corporate interests of Big Pharma, battle with masters of dark Vodou, and make their last stand against both vampires and the Riders of the Apocalypse. Armies fall. Zombies roam the street, and no one is safe. The world is close to its final Judgment. What can a handful of souls do against the powers of the heavens?

  Book 1: https://www.books2read.com/NightsFavor

  Book 2: https://www.books2read.com/NightsFall

  Book 3: https://www.books2read.com/NightsEnd

  Glossary

  Abinal A planet ruled by telepaths. Masters use “demons” to control weather and people. The largest city on Abinal shared the name before its fall.

  Active camouflage Light-refractive tech where crypsis is achieved through cameras to sense the visible background. Peltier panels and other coatings dynamically change camouflage appearance, rendering the wearer nearly invisible to visible and thermal detection.

  Agent A syndicate field agent. Synonymous with enforcer.

  AI Artificial Intelligence. So-called expert systems and machine learning are a long way from true sentient AI. Some success in military applications, particularly friend-or-foe recognition, has given researchers hope for true machine intelligence. So far, success remains elusive.

  APC Armored Personnel Carrier. Designed to minimize risk to agents while transporting equipment and people into combat zones.

  Apsel Federate One of the three major syndicates. Apsel control the energy market through their high-quality, safe fusion reactors. A connected, always-on world needs clean, renewable energy.

  Bionics Life-like augments for the human form. Bionics can be arms, legs, hearts, lungs, eyes, and more. Human modification can be purely cosmetic (see: clinic) through to extreme (mil-spec augments to make humans faster, stronger, and much harder to kill).

  Cam Slang: camera, often for video surveillance.

  Chassis Slang: the part of the bionic frame total conversions associate with their missing body. While dependent on the agent and Psych profile, this is most often the torso component of the biomechanical structure.

  Chromed Slang: those equipped with obvious offensive bionics.

  Clinic Facilities for enhancing human attractiveness. Clinics can reduce or reverse obvious signs of aging, alter bone structure, and change hair and eye color. Clinic services are expensive, their clientele usually higher-paid syndicate workers. Many health-care plans include clinic services to ensure salaried employees can work longer hours.

  Coilgun Also known as a Gauss rifle, these weapons use electromagnets as a linear motor to accelerate projectiles. The resulting high velocity payloads deliver tremendous kinetic energy on their target. They are different from railguns; railguns require sliding contacts (“rails”) to pass current through their projectiles. These rails suffer wear.

  Company [wo]man An employee whose allegiance to their employer comes before personal beliefs, loyalty to fellow workers, or even family.

  Console A computer. See: deck.

  Construct A non-organic humanoid.

  Cybernetics see: bionics.

  Cyborg A human augmented with bionics.

  Deck Slang: a (usually portable) console.

  Decker Slang: a skilled hacker or handler.

  Dispenser Automated calorie dispenser, most commonly used for beverages and instant foods.

  Dropship In-atmosphere or sub-orbital mission deployment aircraft.

  Fixer Slang: a dealer and contact-broker.

  Handler Support operative for field agents, usually operating from safe company headquarters. Handlers are typically gender-preference compatible, leading to better bonding with their assigned agents.

  Hard link (see: link) Link connectivity established through direct rather than wireless connection. Hard links are more robust, higher bandwidth, and difficult to hack.

  HUD Heads Up Display.

  Illegal Slang: someone without a link.

  Keffiyeh (also: shemagh) Headdress fashioned from a square scarf.

  Klicks Slang: kilometers.

  Lamesh weed A narcotic plant found on Abinal. It grows in marshy areas.

  Language pack Tech to deploy languages to the brain. Memories as someone learns a language (or other skill) are tagged by a virus, then deployed to other brains by water-soluble code packs.

  Lattice Tech hardwired to an agent’s nervous system. Outfitted with prediction and response routines, lattices allow faster-than-though threat responses. Interfaced via link to optics and overlays, they can yield precision combat maneuvers for ranged or close encounters.

  Link Slang: uplink. A tech interface allowing communications and data download to the brain. Links are used to order food, communicate on networks, install new skills, and have a range of military applications as well. Links serve as the information substrate for other modifications. Syndicates seek to make non-linked humans illegal (ref: Syndicate Registration Act) as links have certain direct-marketing advantages.

  Master A powerful telepath who can subvert human will with their mind.

  Medivac An emergency healthcare service, often military. Medivacs are usually armed and armored aircraft designed to take a near-death human to an optimal care facility.

  Megacorp Slang: syndicate.

  Memory sliver A portable data storage device, often very small. Slivers may be implanted into humans acting as data couriers. Data crystal, memplant, and data sliver are synonymous terms.

  Metatech One of the three major syndicates. Metatech specialize in mil-spec weapons and bionics. They often deploy agents as mercenaries, operating as a PMC (private military contractor). Their specialty is warfare.

  Mil-spec Slang: defense standard equipment, often called military standard. Mil-std, mil-spec, and MilSpecs are synonymous terms.

  Monoblade A bladed weapon with at least the edge forged from monomolecular structures (see: nano filament).

  Nano filament Slang: monomolecular wire (often a weapon) made from nanotubes of cylindrical nanostructure. These have properties useful to electronics, optics, and other materials science technologies.

  Nanotech Slang: nanotechnology. Describes tech manipulating matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale. Often used for fabrication of macroscale products, especially (often weaponized) robotics.

  Off-grid Slang: referring to an area or person not in the linked world, not surveilled, lost, or missing.

  Optics Slang: ocular implant to replace visual organs (eyes).

  Overlay HUD displayed on optics.

  Overtime A mil-spec upgrade increasing reaction time. Overtime modules manipulate the body’s endocrine system while decreasing nervous system response time. They effectively “overclock” humans. Short-term side effects include light perception and other sensory stimulus issues; many agents complain of phantom flavors or sounds. Long-term side effects include endocrine overload, burnout, and brain death.