Opus X Snippet #3 is here!
Are you ready for the Opus X Snippet #3? I know I was when I read it! Between the first snippet, the second one, then the audio snippet, and now this 3rd snippet, I’m totally psyched for the release of this book! November 1 can’t come soon enough.
“You’re not understanding what I’m betting.” Erik patted his left shoulder. “Let’s back up, so you’ll understand. You know how I lost this arm?”
“To an angry Zitark?” called Twizzle. The pain-in-the-ass rifleman snarled and raised his hands like they were claws, lowering his voice with a hiss. “I’ll eat your spleen, human, and then I’ll feed the rest of your body to my babies once they come out of their eggs.”
Most of the people in the unit knew how Erik had lost his arm, but he didn’t doubt they wanted to mess with the new arrival a little.
As long as they kept it to jokes, he didn’t mind.
Biyu laughed, her brown eyes lit up with merriment. “We’re only on this damned moon because someone’s worried about those little reptiles getting jumpy and poking at UTC territory again like last year.” She shook her head. “Who would have thought the first aliens humanity would run into would be tiny dinosaurs with spaceships?”
“Not worried about them.” Erik tapped the table and sighed. “Nah, plenty of humans around to shoot at other humans before we go wailing on the local neighborhood races, but this isn’t about featherless velociraptors in space.” He nodded at Adeyemi. “Or maybe it is. Maybe they’re really good at darts, and they might have a chance against me, but for now, this is about my arm and my coin. So, I’m asking you, do you know how I lost it?”
The other soldier frowned. “I assume you lost your arm during a mission.”
“Yeah. One of the first battles during Wolf’s Rebellion. Some of the bastards got the drop on me when I was away from the rest of the squad checking on a hunch. They thought they were lucky. It turns out I was the one who was lucky.” Erik’s grin turned feral and hungry.
Adeyemi grimaced. “But you lost your arm after getting ambushed. Why the hell do you think you’re lucky?”
“There were ten of them. I survived. They didn’t, and all it cost me was a replaceable arm. I’m good, but don’t ever count out Lady Luck on the battlefield, or she might just decide to stay home when you most need her.” Erik nodded at the coin. “I asked to get a cybernetic arm. I wanted to get back into action and not waste time with regrowth and the time to attach it.”
“Still sounds unlucky to me, and I’m trying, but I still don’t get it.” Adeyemi frowned. “Why didn’t you just get a new one grown once you got away from the frontlines? I mean, I don’t care, but there are a lot of Purists out there.”
Erik clenched and released a fist, his eyes watching the movement of his fingers. “Because in a battle right after that, some insurgent tried to stab me. I threw up this new toy, and his knife broke.”
He looked up, his eyes glinting. “After that, I started thinking it was my new lucky charm. I survived against ten guys, and then it saved me against another, so I decided to keep it.”
What do you think? Ready for Snippet #4? Check back next Friday for more!
Pre-order your copy of Obsidian Detective today! Book 1 in the Opus X series live November 1!
