Chapter 8

There was a bright laugh, like a crack of thunder resounding through his brain—and Eddie felt the man relish the fall of another body.

He heard a high-pitched whine, and only when it got loud enough to draw the attention of a woman on the walkway did Eddie understand it was coming from him. He barely registered the pain when his legs gave out from under him and he went sprawling. He heard another high buzz, like a fuel cell getting ready to explode, felt a moment of striking terror that didn’t belong to him, and the connection in his head rose to a peak, shimmered into painful brilliance that whited-out his vision and filled his ears with a roar of noise.

And then it was gone.

“Dead,” Eddie gasped. “They killed him.”