“Nobody move or he dies!” I screamed.
The host of officers in front of him whipped around, pulse-rifles raised. I ducked so that the director obstructed my tall frame.
“Don’t shoot,” he said, more calmly than I’d have expected. “Listen to him.” He turned his head to catch a glimpse of me.
“Eyes ahead,” I snapped, taking a page out of Rin’s book.
He chuckled as if I wasn’t the least threat, like he probably had after he sentenced Cora and so many Ringers to death. “You think you’re the first Ringer to hold a gun on me?” he asked.
“No, but if you try anything, I’ll be the last.”
“Kale Drayton, isn’t it? If only Graves could’ve been here to see how wrong he was about you.”
“Quiet!”
I heard the clank of Rin and the others scrambling down the ladder. The officers trained their sights on them.
“Tell them to put down their weapons and back away,” I ordered. “Now!”
“You heard him.” Sodervall extended his hands and made a downward motion. His officers slowly placed their rifles on the floor. I honestly was shocked by their willingness.
My impulsive gamble had paid off, at least for the moment. Pervenio wouldn’t tolerate the murder of a director at the hands of a Ringer. It showed weakness. The act might earn the indignation of Earthers everywhere, but it’d also reveal what they were trying to hide in every address he issued. From their attempt at covering up the riot in the Uppers to ignoring the widespread protest to their invasion of the Darien Q-Zone—they were losing control.
“What are you doing?” Rin questioned, dropping down behind me.
“Exactly what you asked me to do,” I said.
“Do it,” the director growled. “Kill me and prove to everyone exactly the kind of animals you people are. You’re all the same. We should have wiped you all out when we had the chance.”
“Shut up!” I peered around his head and made eye contact with his officers. “Contact the rest of the station and tell them that if anyone fires at us, I’ll blow a hole in his head. And the only thing it’ll prove is that we can reach you anywhere: Titan, Earth—anywhere.”
The officers immediately started chattering into their com-links.
“Kale, what’s the plan?” Rin asked. She stepped in front of us, with the others forming a line beside her consisting of exhausted but healthy Ringers helping wounded Ringers stand.
I was improvising, like I was a kid again amid a theft gone wrong. I spun the director around and shoved the barrel of the pistol into his mouth. “The Voice of Titan is going to take us to the Piccolo and ride with us down to Titan,” I said. “Is it still operational?”
Sodervall’s eyelids opened wide, finally displaying the hint of panic I yearned for.
“Is it?” I said.
He nodded.
“Where is it?” I asked.
He coughed a few times, and then glowered at me. “Back to the scene of your first crime, eh?” he said. “It’s in a private hangar just through the security headquarters. You Ringers will never—”
I fired a round right past his ear into the ceiling. The sound of the blast caused him to recoil, but I didn’t allow him to move far. “Quiet, or the next one won’t miss!”
“Fall around Kale,” Rin ordered the others, finally grasping what I was up to. “Half of us in front, half behind. Gareth, can you walk?” He snorted in response and armed his pulse-rifle.
“You guys are really trying your best to get me killed,” Hayes groaned as he stepped in front of me, together with Gareth.
“Throw us cuffs, or he loses a hand!” I hollered at the officers. A few seconds later, a pair slid across the floor, and Rin slapped it on the director’s wrists.
“Walk!” I ordered. I shoved him, and though my weak arms couldn’t send him far, it was enough to get him moving.
We reached the lobby quickly, where we were greeted by a group of more security officers. The four of my companions huddled around the director and me like a protective shell. The officers formed a circle around us, matching our every movement but making sure to keep their distance. There were dozens of them, all armed with pulse-rifles. Anytime they got too close, I pressed my pistol against the director’s neck and got my finger comfortable on the trigger.
“You’ll never escape us, Kale Drayton,” the director spat as we crossed the dead bodies by the reception desk. “Collectors will find you and your mother for what you’ve done, and then I’ll show you what real pain is.”
“Like you showed him?” I gestured to Desmond, who limped along using Rin as a crutch. “Or Cora?”
“You sent them here.”
“They didn’t know anything!” I smashed him in the back of the head with the pistol. I wasn’t strong enough to knock him out, but his head drooped forward. I grabbed him by the jaw and wrenched it back. “I said quiet.”
He cackled, still unwilling to display weakness. “They’ll find you as soon as you land.”
“No, they won’t,” Rin responded before I could, probably fearful that more talk from the director would provoke me into pulling the trigger and getting us all killed.
“Kale, stop,” Rin said. “Hayes, where are our suits?”
Hayes’s face lit up like he understood where she was going. I still wasn’t sure. “Latched on to the vent we entered the Ring Skipper through,” he said.
Rin turned to face the ring of officers surrounding us. “Send a squad to the Ring Skipper,” she demanded. “Our armor is hidden in the cargo hold in an exhaust vent, third from the back. Have the suits brought to the Piccolo.”
“They’ll find the staff we stole the identity of in there as well, if you haven’t already,” I said. “Let them go free, no questions asked. They didn’t do anything.” There was no way I could trust Pervenio wouldn’t interrogate them thoroughly after what had happened with Cora, but it was the least I could offer them.
Rin nodded. “That too. If the armor isn’t there by the time we arrive, Sodervall flies. If anybody tampers with it, I’ll know, and again, he flies.”
She established eye contact with me, and when I noticed one side of her sanitary mask lift from a grin, I realized that her use of the word flies wasn’t accidental. I hadn’t thought of anything beyond using Sodervall to steal the Piccolo to get Desmond home, but with the wings on our suits, we wouldn’t have to land at all.
An officer relayed her orders. I nudged Sodervall to keep moving. He muttered something, but the cold barrel of my pistol against his bare neck rendered him silent.
The security headquarters wasn’t far from the detention center, but we had to move slowly and constantly remain vigilant. Desmond could barely move at all any longer. All his weight was slung onto Rin, who needed two arms to support him and struggled to keep a hold on her rifle. Gareth leaned on Hayes, and to combat the pain had to relinquish his weapon so he could grasp his wounded leg.
We were lucky at least not to be in the Darien Uppers or anywhere where lofty ceilings would provide vantages for sharpshooters. The only officers were directly around us, and any shot would have to go through my protectors before it could hit me. If it came to a firefight, we would lose handily. That was evident. All I could do was keep my attention on Sodervall and make sure that if he did attempt to break free, I took him with us.
The security headquarters was a marvel of technology. View-screens, some of which were entirely holographic, shined amongst a bullpen of desks and surveillance stations. Officers inside gawked as we went by. I caught glimpses of shops on fire playing on the screens at their desks, and hordes of screaming Ringers waving scraps as weapons. Any words were too small to read, but those screens were displaying what was really happening in Darien—what Director Sodervall’s address and the public newsfeeds didn’t want anybody to see.
“The hangar is just up ahead,” Sodervall said. “I hope you’ve thought about this. You murder me, and it’ll give Mr. Pervenio a reason
to unleash his army on Titan. All of your people will die, and it will be your fault.”
I ignored him. The tall gate of the hangar was set along the side of a corridor branching off the security headquarters. I could see the fluted hull of the Piccolo through a wide viewport. Officers surrounded it. A perfect circular hole in the side of the harvesting bay had been patched up by a plate and sealant. The broken command deck translucency we’d busted through to reach the Sunfire was in the process of being repaired, a shimmering tarp fastened over the breach.
“You might as well just do it now,” Sodervall continued. “Kill me and let my death be the reason Luxarn finally gets rid of you ungrateful Ringers like his father should have. Forty-five years I’ve been stationed here watching over you, listening to you gripe about the lost, ‘perfect’ world that Trass gave you. He was a coward, helping more cowards run from the Meteorite and never look back. Without Pervenio, you’d be nothing.”
“We’d be free!” I growled. It took all my rage-fueled strength, but I thrust him against the gate, where a retinal scan was required. His face crashed into the unyielding metal surface. “Open it!”
He spit out a gob of blood. “Free,” he sneered. “Until you get sick and need our medicine again. I wish I’d been there at the Great Reunion. Maybe then we wouldn’t have made the mistake of not wiping all of you out. We own you, Ringer.”
“Titanborn!” I fired my pistol into the gate, so close to him that the bullet skimmed his biceps.
I heard the clamor of the officers circling us edging closer as he groaned in pain.
“Back!” Rin warned, firing her rifle into the ceiling.
“Open it,” I whispered into the director’s ear. For all his smug talk, he didn’t hesitate. He could try to hide it as much as he wanted, but I could tell he didn’t want to die. Why would he? His hair was gray and his face weathered by time, but as a top executive beneath one of the wealthiest men in Sol, he had access to luxuries that could give him twenty or thirty more years easy. There was a time I’d have longed to swap lives with him.
The retinal scanner chirped, and the gate rose. My companions crowded around me, even tighter now as we stepped into the hangar. Everyone who hadn’t been dispatched to Titan seemed to be present—at least fifty armed officers, at a complete loss over what to do. All their more experienced counterparts were far away in Darien. From behind Director Sodervall, my gaze swept from vent to vent near the high ceiling to the top of the Piccolo, searching for sharpshooters. There were none.
The most decorated officer stood outside of the lowered exit ramp of the Piccolo. He carried a large hand-terminal instead of a rifle. Once we were close enough, he began to speak.
“Your suits have been delivered as demanded, and your captives on the Ring Skipper let free. They will not be detained.” He gestured up the ramp, where a few workers unloaded our suits of powered armor from a large container. “However, before you proceed, Mr. Pervenio requests an opportunity to discuss terms. He promises that none of you will come to harm if you abandon this foolish course of action, and begs that you sit with him to try and resolve the dispute with the Children of Titan. To start with, the one-hundred-credit reward offered for your arrest will be paid in full to you, and to any of your companions who comply.”
We stopped a few meters away from him. A chorus of clanking footsteps, shaking rifles, and heavy breaths besieged my ears. The officer raised the screen for me to see, and on it, I noticed a face that was impossible to mistake. I’d seen him live over Solnet during M-day addresses and on a select few ads over the years. Sharp jaw, firm cheekbones, a stern glare: He was as handsome as any Earther model I’d ever seen. A perfect specimen. Luxarn Pervenio.
“Belay that order, sir,” Director Sodervall said to the only man in his corporation who outranked him. “I assure you everything is under control.”
“Silence!” Luxarn bellowed, and even through the device, his baritone voice commanded respect. I felt as if I could hear the hairs rising on the necks of every officer in the hangar. Mine would’ve too, but they already stood on end and had been since I’d first grabbed Sodervall.
“I will not tolerate the murder of one of my directors,” Luxarn said. “Even one who has so spectacularly failed me. I’ve already lost too much today.” He steepled his fingers on his desk. “Now, Mr. Drayton, name your price to end this madness.”
I caught a glimpse of Desmond. He leaned on Hayes’s shoulder, eyes almost entirely closed, but I think he was watching me through his eyelashes. I was reminded of something he once told me. That if credits didn’t exist, he would be king.
“There is none,” I said. “We’ll be taking the director down to Titan. Follow us too closely, and he dies. Smuggle anyone onto the ship to kill us, and he dies. Once we’re there, you can have him back. Those are my terms.”
Mr. Pervenio’s face contorted in a way I imagine it never had before. Before he could respond, I shot the hand-terminal out of the officer’s hand. It exploded into a thousand silvery shards. Rin immediately pushed past the baffled officer onto the Piccolo. I nudged the terrified director onward and followed closely behind her.
TWENTY-FOUR
The group of maintenance workers inside the Piccolo’s cargo hold fled as soon as we entered. Our familiar suits lay on the floor in a row, orange circles on the chest arranged front and center. Our rifles were arranged to the side of them.
“Check all of it,” Rin said to Hayes.
He surveyed the suits, tapping the switches and lifting each side to check underneath them. “Clean,” he reported.
“Close the ramp,” I said.
Gareth limped over to the controls. The cargo bay ramp lifted, and I glared at the wall of officers gathered at the base. It sealed with a prolonged hiss, which was immediately followed by an exhale from every single one of my companions.
“I told you he’d find us a way out eventually, Rini,” Hayes said, chuckling in relief.
“You have no idea who you just insulted,” Director Sodervall grated, gaze fixed on our suits as he probably realized where he’d seen them before. “You might as well—”
I finally unleashed the wave of fury I’d been holding back. “She was innocent!” I cracked him across the face with the handle of my pistol three times in succession. By the time Rin and Hayes grabbed my arms and pulled me back, he was sprawled across the floor coughing up blood and teeth.
“We need him!” Rin shouted.
“Sorry,” I grunted. “I’m tired of hearing him speak.”
“We all are, but we didn’t come this far to die now,” Hayes said.
Gareth didn’t sign anything, but he approached, tore half of the bloody bandage off his leg, and stuffed it into the director’s mouth. He offered me a thumbs-up. I nodded.
“Rin, can your sister broadcast a live feed to the station’s security headquarters?” I asked.
“I’m sure that’d be simple for her,” she answered. “We’ve just never had any desire to send them anything.”
“Good. Set it up. They’ll need to see he’s alive if we don’t want to be shot down. Hold him.” I kneeled in front of the reeling director and yanked the gag out of his mouth. He dry-heaved.
“You fucking skellies!” he barked. “I’ll space all of you just like the others. Every single one!”
“I hate that word.” I raised the pistol to his temple. “Now, use the tiny com-link in your left ear to tell your men to open the hangar.” His brow furrowed like he didn’t know what I was talking about, but there was a time I’d made a living being good at observing. I’d noticed the com-link at some point while I was next to him. I reached into his ear and removed the minuscule device, no larger than my thumbnail. Pervenio officers had only the best tech.
“Don’t make me ask again,” I said.
He snatched the device and held it to his mouth. “Open the hangar immediately,” he said. “Happy?”
“Are there any officers hidden on board?”
&n
bsp; “No.”
I hit him with my gun. “Don’t lie to me!”
“There aren’t! To think that Luxarn actually thought he could talk some sense into you. He still doesn’t know how you people really are. I spent too long shielding him from the truth. How you’re all animals.”
I snatched the com-link from him and crushed it beneath my foot. Then I stuffed the gag back into his mouth. He lunged at me, but a blow from Rin to the back of his head with the butt of her rifle knocked him flat on his face.
“Everyone in their armor in case he’s lying,” I said. “Keep your weapons on you. Hayes, once you’re ready, get to the command deck and power the engines.”
“Maybe you forgot, kid, but we kind of blew up the command deck’s ceiling,” he said. “They have it covered for repairs, but I’m not sure how well that’ll hold.”
“Do you need to be out there to pilot?”
“Only to lower us out of the airlock, I guess,” he replied, scratching his chin. “Then, I think I might be able to plot a course and get us the hell out of there.”
“Good. Do it.”
He looked to Rin, who nodded, and then he picked up a suit of armor.
“Rin and Gareth, take the others and set the director up in the airlock,” I ordered next. “I want Gareth’s gun on Sodervall every second. Rin, find something in the medical bay for his leg and to help Desmond. Strap him in outside of the airlock and get him in an exo-suit.”
Gareth nodded and wasted no time starting to put on his armor. Rin took me by the arm and pulled me aside. “What about you?” she asked.
“Just get it done,” I said.
I brushed her off and stepped before my suit of powered armor. I could feel Rin eyeing me as she put hers on. The first time I wore it, I’d been forced in. Now I longed to hide my face behind the tinted visor.
The others left the cargo bay to prepare for departure, one by one, but I didn’t move. Once they were gone, I screamed at the top of my lungs. So loud that I had little doubt the officers in the hangar outside could hear me through the Piccolo’s rickety old hull. When I had no more air left in me to release, I bent over my armor and started to cry. I cried until the Piccolo’s engine flaring on made the floor vibrate. The ship descended through the airlock, and my tears were caught on the unseen currents of zero-g.
Titan's Son: (Children of Titan Book 2) Page 26
