Dreams of Forever (Anarcho, #5)

By Lawrence Caldwell

Max, Staxx and May—three Anarchos—set out to find Lexa a body so that she too can fully become part of the team. But what begins as an innocent shopping trip, soon turns into a storm of bullets after the team realizes what Invera-Tech is really up to.

“No way can we let this stand, guys.”

“Not like we can’t end the overlord’s dreams of forever with a few bullets.”

“Then let’s drop some hot lead on these wannabe gods.”

“Hells yes!”

“But what about my body?”

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head about that, Lexa.”

“Oh—okay!”

“Now let’s tear shit up!”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lawrence Caldwell
• Release date: Sep 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9780463611555

Lawrence Caldwell

Lawrence Caldwell is believed by some to be a wandering samurai, or a vagrant, or possibly a ninja—though perhaps in his infinite mystery, he’s none of these things. Whichever the case, he wanders home as Odysseus did after the great Trojan War in some realm unbeknownst to our world. And—by direct theft of a quote from a certain dwarf named Varric Tethras—he "occasionally writes books."

Book preview

ANARCHO

DREAMS OF FOREVER

By

Lawrence Caldwell

Book Five in the Anarcho Series

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © Lawrence Caldwell, 2021

Look for These Other Titles by Lawrence Caldwell

AEVALIN AND THE AGE OF READVENTURE

Klause Schuar, the Grand Bastard

Trials on the Isle of Morr

Knight of Aevalin

Errant Adventurer

Kingdom of the Blue Dragon

THE JINNI AND THE ISEKAI

The Jinni and the Isekai

The Black Cobra of Mar’a Thul

Coil and Strike

The Sultan of Darshuun

Sultan’s Legacy

ANARCHO

Fracture Rating

Hussy

Landfill Lich

Rescue Operation

Dreams of Forever

THE PRINCESS AND THE MAGICIAN

The Wind Steppe Princess and the Amalfi Magician

PARADISE

Icon of Paradise

OTHER TITLES

Wakiagau

Haven

Teisatsusha

Blackwood Company

Littlehand Hakuria

Attack on the Spire Keep

The Reconnoiters

Skydrift

Acheron

Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power.—Benito Mussolini

PROLOGUE—Tear shit up!

No way can we let this stand, guys.

Not like we can’t end the overlord’s dreams of forever with a few bullets.

Then let’s drop some hot lead on these wannabe gods.

Hells yes!

But what about my body?

Don’t you worry your pretty little head about that, Lexa.

Oh—okay!

Now let’s tear shit up!

CHAPTER ONE—VR Assassination

Seven hours earlier…

John peeked out of his place of hiding, his rifle held firmly in his hands. He saw the figure in black move across the space toward his objective—the CEO of Livoc. If he captured that man, the virus would be in enemy hands.

Hold, John said. He just passed the second door. He’s in the office now.

I’m going, May said.

No, don’t! He’s turning. He knows it’s too quiet. Give it a second. Yep—he’s just placed a proximity charge. If you come around that corner, you’re dead.

Shit.

Hold.

Holding.

Kyle, obviously now feeling safe, closed the office door, his pistol held high at the CEO’s head. If he died, their team would lose.

The game consisted of three teams—the terrorists, the counter terrorists and the hostages. Even the hostages could break out of their situation, if they played their cards right, but that was often the rarer outcome to these matches.

Okay! John said. He’s cuffing the CEO. Make your move!"

Because the skyscraper windows were bullet proof, even against high ordinance like John’s sniper rifle, he couldn’t pick Kyle off from his position, which was across the way in another building entirely.

Kyle and his team had secured the building, but John was careful to avoid all combat, hiding in place, waiting for the other team to clear the building.

May did much the same in the adjacent building, waiting for Kyle and his team to make their move. What was good for the Counter Terrorists now—John and May’s team—was that most of the Terrorists were dead.

But May would have trouble pulling this through if they left the result up to her fighting it out with Kyle. He was a wily unpredictable risk taker, but a crack shot as well. On top of that, he was paranoid.

John chuckled.

What is it? May asked.

"Nothing.

As May opened the door, two of Kyle’s teammates revealed themselves from the halls on the other side.

Wait! John said.

He saw her stop in the doorway, her black leather outfit shimmering from the light. Two of Kyle’s guys just came into the office.

Shit. Give me eyes, Jackhammer.

They’re coming your way now—twenty meters.

Dammit! she hissed quietly.

She turned, revealing the rocket launcher sling on her back and went down the stairwell, disappearing from John’s view entirely as Kyle’s two guys found the door open. They went into the stairwell and looked around, but upon seeing nothing, they came back out and fanned out inside the office space.

Dammit, John thought.

All right, he said. This is what we’re going to do. I’m going to distract them."

Yeah? May asked, her handle coming up in John’s peripheral view as Babe_n_Leather.

Yeah, he said. I’m going to put some shots down on the windows.

All right.

May was highly capable on ops and a capable VR player too. He had no need to tell her what her play would be. Killing Kyle had already been planned out.

But his two guys in the office space were a complication to that—nothing more. They would get over it. John skirted around the support he was hiding behind as he went to the windows and opened them, the outside air breezing into the space. Then he leaned his rifle out and fired two shots at Kyle’s guys.

The rifle kicked, butting up against his shoulder hard enough to cause him some shoulder pain. Of course, in VR there was no shoulder pain at all.

As the rounds hit the glass on the other side, bullet cracks erupted visibly even to John. The two men jerked to attention and ran to the windows to see what noob was shooting at the bulletproof glass.

You distracting them?

They started dancing, flipping John off and performing all manner of other obscene gestures that gamers love doing.

Yeah… John said with a subtle smile. "They are distracted, all right."

May said nothing.

John fired two more shots, but of course the glass on the other end didn’t break. As he watched what was happening, he saw Kyle on the CEO’s computer systems. Once he got all the information he needed, he would need to make his exfiltration, but if that happened, he was going to win this.

May—or Babe_n_Leader rather—came up out of the stairwell and fired her silenced pistol, taking down both of Kyle’s guys.

Got ‘em, she said.

Nice.

How’s Kyle?

He’s got his hand on his hear. He knows they’re down.

Not to worry, May said over their intercoms. She flipped her launcher over that was slung onto her back, aimed, and fired.

There was a plume of fire and smoke that came out of the back end as the rocket hit the corner of the room where the glass and the wall met, blowing a hole through the wall and shattering the glass.

Kyle reacted, lifting his pistol instantly as he skirted to toward the wall so he could shoot May in the side of the head as she entered the room.

He tossed light box grenade, a shimmer of light surrounding his person which would prevent flash devices from affecting him if she used one.

All right, May said. My turn.

She started firing her pistol at the wall, causing Kyle the glance about. He moved, grabbing a charge out of his pack.

John