I kept my eyes glued to the scope, watching, as Tasha cruised up the street toward the driveway. There was still no sign of activity from the house; if anyone was there, they were still inside.

She turned into the driveway—and I caught some movement in the corner of the scope. I only had a split second to yell, “Tasha, look out!” before all four of the motor scooters leaned so haphazardly against the house unfolded into robots and dashed toward her.

Tasha peeled into reverse and transformed herself, fetching one of the four mini-bots a kick that sent it crashing through the garage door. But then the other three were on her, stabbing and carving with the plasma blades that had appeared in their hands.

The hell with that! I lined up one of them in my crosshairs. I wasn’t too concerned about hitting Tasha; the setting I’d use for the scootermechs would punch right through their armor but hurt Tasha a lot less than those blades even if I missed them entirely and hit her.

I held my breath and took the shot.