Page 4 of A Mate For Matrix
The coordinates of K-Nine’s location during his last check-in had turned out to be a wooded area close to a road.
“K-Nine, location,” Matrix demanded again.
His frown deepened when there was no response.
“Cyborg Unit K, Production Nine, report.”
Again, no response. Matrix couldn’t put it off any longer. There was no alternative. He entered the command to activate the emergency locator embedded in K-Nine.
It took several long minutes for the tracking device to lock onto K-Nine’s location. It was as he had feared when Matrix had seen the dark marks on the road’s hard surface. K-Nine had been captured, possibly moments after his last transmission.
The Crawlers didn’t take prisoners. They didn’t hide evidence. They shredded, consumed, and dissolved their targets with a precision born of malice and programming. If K-Nine had encountered the creature and lost, there would have been bloody body parts lying on the ground, not just a tuft of fur.
No, his friend and partner must have been captured by a local inhabitant.
While their directive was to remain invisible to the natives of this world, Matrix’s primary concern was that K-Nine was in trouble. He would do everything he could to free him, regardless of what it took.
“Initiate transport pickup. Lock on location,” Matrix growled into the comm device clipped to his ear.
A few minutes later, a sleek vessel appeared over the tall trees bordering the west side of the road. It landed a short distance away, and Matrix strode over to it and climbed in.
The hatch hissed shut behind him. The sleek interior pulsed with soft blue lights, wrapping around him like a second skin.
No co-pilot.
No backup.
Just him, the dark, and whatever waited at the end of the trail.
“This mission just got a hell of a lot more complicated,” Matrix muttered as the automatic straps engaged around his body.
“Stealth mode. Analyze the track residue and extrapolate the most likely scenario involving Cyborg Unit K, Production Nine.”
The computer informed him that the width and the number of marks made it probable they’d been created by a large transport skidding against the ground. The traces of K-Nine’s fur within the tracks led to the likely conclusion that K-Nine and the transport had collided.
The computer had provided nothing he didn’t already know. Matrix grunted, took the controls, and the vessel surged forward. A second signal appeared on the screen in front of him. It was heading toward K-Nine too. A soft curse escaped him, and he shook his head. It hadn’t taken the creature long to intercept the signal from the emergency beacon in K-Nine.
“Damn Crawler,” he muttered. “This could get very messy.”
Jana Dixon stumbled back from the door of the vet’s office when a large truck driver barged past her.
“What—?” she squeaked in surprise.
In his arms, he held an animal wrapped in a blanket. From the sweat glistening on the man’s brow and red coloring his cheeks, the dog—at least that was what she assumed from the paw sticking out from under the blanket, must have been pretty heavy. For the second time in as many minutes, she regretted answering the impatient banging on the door.
“I hit a wolf with my rig. I don’t want no trouble from the animal rights people or local government,” the man told her in a gruff voice. “With the release of those wolves back into the area, I can just see it splattered all over the news. My bosses would fire me if it got out that I just left it lying in the road. Where can I put it down?”
“I… In the back, but—” Jana replied in frustration, impatiently pushing back a lock of dark brown hair that fell along her cheek as the man headed toward the back, “—you can’t leave it here. The doc isn’t in. The office is closed for the next two months!”
“Not my problem anymore,” the man replied, practically dropping the blanket-covered creature on the exam table. “That damn thing weighs a ton. Good luck.”
“But… You can’t just leave! What am I supposed to do with it? The only animals here are mine. You need to take it to a different vet. Doc Wilson left this morning for his vacation, and we’re closed!” Jana growled in exasperation, following the man as he quickly headed back the way he’d come. “You’ll have to take it to Fairview.”
“Like I said, not my problem anymore,” the man replied with a wave of his hand. “I’m behind schedule as it is, and Fairview is in the opposite direction.”
“Argh!” Jana snarled as the man hurried out the door without a backward glance. “Jerk! If it dies, how am I supposed to take care of it? If you can barely carry the poor thing, how am I supposed to lift it?”
With a deep sigh, Jana returned to the exam room. She paused in the doorway and stared at the still figure. It always broke her heart when an animal got hit. With a sigh, Jana walked over to the table and pulled back the blanket. She tenderly stroked the thick fur of the dog. A confused frown creased her brow as she studied it.
