Your Life Is Forfeit: A Space Opera Adventure Legal Thriller (Judge, Jury, & Executioner Book 4)

by Craig Martelle

  The Aborginian was torn—attack or run. Red had no qualms. He took a step to the side to avoid stepping on Billister and pushed off one wall, but didn’t get enough momentum to leverage off the second wall. He landed in a heap atop K’Twillis and thrust his knives into where a human’s ears would be, but both blades thudded against the woodgrain of the Aborginian’s body.

  The branches that the alien used as arms wrapped around Red, who started stabbing haphazardly, trying randomly for a weak spot.

  Without the microphone, there would be no banter from the Aborginian; this would be a silent fight to the death. Red could feel the alien’s rage as he tried to crush him. K’Twillis pinned him against the metal wall and scrabbled for purchase, pushing and condensing. With an overhead swing, Red brought the point of one knife into the very top of the trunk that passed for an Aborginian body.

  K’Twillis rumbled his displeasure, letting go of the human as he tottered backward. He rubbed one branch over the top of his head.

  Red breathed heavily. His ribs had not yet healed from the initial attack and stung him with each new breath. He didn’t dare take his eyes off his former employer. One moment was all he would need to get a grip and rip his head off. Red held his knives up, flexing his grip.

  “What are you waiting for?” he growled.

  The Aborginian launched himself at the panting human.

  Lindy didn’t dare check on the candidate and his campaign manager. The previous three times she looked in, the female Capstanian started sobbing. Bandersnatch was at his wit’s end, but Lindy wouldn’t let him leave. She wanted everyone where she could see them while they waited for word that Ankh had traced the message.

  She’d sent a few notes from her datapad but hadn’t received an answer. Not from Ankh, nor Erasmus, nor even Jay. Finally she called Chaz. “Tell me that you’re alive?”

  “Thank you for considering me as a living being. It warms my heart. Or would if I had one,” Chaz snarked.

  “No time, Chaz. Where are Ankh and Jay?”

  “They are in the rec room. Ankh and Erasmus are playing cat and mouse with a cunning AI. I believe they are winning, but it is occupying one hundred percent of their attention. I do not want to interrupt them.”

  “Let me talk to Jay, please.”

  “Patching you through.”

  “Jay, how are we doing against the bad guys?”

  “I think pretty well. Ankh seems to be having fun, which tells me that it is a good challenge and that he’s winning whatever battle he’s fighting.”

  “That’s good news. What about the Magistrate?”

  “I haven’t heard from her or Red. Are they in trouble?” Jay was instantly concerned.

  “Probably, but that’s just a guess. I can’t seem to get hold of them either.”

  “Chaz, is there any way you can extend the range on these chips so we can get right into their minds?”

  “Yes, of course. I can tap the local communications system to provide a backbone upon which a boosted signal can ride.”

  “Is there any reason why we haven’t been doing that all along?” Lindy wondered.

  “None that I can think of,” Chaz replied. “There you go. Try it now.”

  Magistrate? Checking in to see how things are going, Lindy ventured.

  Can’t talk. The crew isn’t pleased with my interference with their movement. Red?

  I could use some help. I found K’Twillis.

  On my way, Rivka replied.

  The signal dropped.

  At least they’re alive, Jay offered.

  I need to go wherever they are. Checking my datapad, Lindy said.

  No! Jay replied. You need to be ready to go wherever Tod Mackestray is so we can finish this and go home.

  Just tell me where.

  Soon, Jay told her friend calmly. Be patient, and good things will come.

  I have to admit that I can barely take these two.

  Two?

  That woman up front? She was working with Mackestray. I locked her in the office with Bandersnatch. They had a fling, and now they’re hating on each other. It makes me want to chew my arm off.

  Maybe you can get a vehicle and be ready to go, Jay suggested. I have high hopes that Ankh and Erasmus will own Mackestray at any moment.

  I like that idea. I’ll be standing by. Contact me when you have something. Anything, even if it’s only a single molecule. Lindy walked into the candidate’s office.

  I want to be out there with you guys, doing what we do best—working as a team.

  Thanks for that, Jay. It means a lot. We are better together, but right now, keep your eye on Ankh.

  “You,” Lindy said, pointing to the campaign manager. “Come with me.”

  The candidate sighed. He looked at his computer and back at Lindy.

  “Latest numbers say it’s a dead heat,” he said with a shrug. “Too bad it’s not real.”

  “Keep at it. Maybe next time it will be. And for future reference, no boffing the staff.”

  “Don’t I know that,” Bandersnatch replied, frowning.

  Lindy dragged the cuffed Capstanian female out front, where the workers hunched over their desks and tried to avoid making eye contact. Lindy tapped one on the shoulder. “Call us a taxi,” she ordered.

  The staffer dialed a number and dutifully ordered the vehicle before leaning away from Lindy and fiddling with a piece of paper on her desk. Lindy dragged the female out front.

  “Can’t you just let me go?”

  “Let me explain it to you in words that you’ll understand,” Lindy said slowly. “No.”

  The former campaign manager waited. “That’s it?”

  “That’s why I won’t let you go. You can’t understand the simplest of explanations. You’ll run off to your master and help him escape. We want to talk to the Blokite. In a big way, we want to talk to him.”

  “I promise I won’t contact him. I don’t know how!”

  “Why do I have a hard time believing you?”

  “You have to,” she pleaded.

  “No, I don’t.” Lindy had lost patience. “You need to shut up, or you’re going to find duct tape across your face.”

  “The taxi won’t let you travel with someone who’s been kidnapped!” Her voice grew more shrill with each word. Lindy pressed the Capstanian’s face against the wall as she worked the duct tape out of the pack with her free hand. Once she had it, she pulled off a strip, holding the end with her teeth before ripping it free.

  The taxi pulled up and beeped. Lindy spun the female around. She started to scream but was quickly silenced with the application of duct tape and a rabbit punch on the end of her nose.

  Lindy dragged her captive across the sidewalk beneath the blaring bullhorns and tossed her into the backseat of the taxi.

  “I’m sorry. I can’t be a part of a crime.”

  “There’s no crime here,” Lindy stated. “I’m with Magistrate Rivka Anoa, and this person is a suspect in a Federation corruption probe. We’ve already tapped out the police vehicles, so taxi it is, but I don’t know where we need to go yet, so we’re going to sit right here and wait.”

  “Meter is running,” the driver said as he tapped a button and the numbers started to ring up.

  The Capstanian female started to buck and flop. Lindy yanked her by the hair. “Do you want me to punch you in the face until you’re unconscious?”

  The former campaign manager didn’t hesitate. She started kicking the seat and slamming her shoulder into the door.

  “Fine, have it your way.” Lindy slammed the female’s head against the doorframe until she went limp. “Some suspects never learn.”

  “If she was guilty, would she fight that hard?” the driver asked.

  “I know she’s guilty. She already confessed. So to answer your question, yes. She doesn’t like the consequences related to her poor life choices and doesn’t think she should have to suffer them. So sad when someone demands to be treated like an adult, until t
hey are and find out that’s not what they wanted at all.”

  “Why all the weapons? You don’t seem to have any problem handling her without them.”

  “She’s an accomplice. Our primary suspect is extremely dangerous, alleged to be responsible for the deaths of thousands on Leed’s Planet.”

  “One person can kill thousands?”

  “One person, with the power of words alone, can facilitate the destruction of a civilized society. Capstan needs to be free of this guy. From what I’ve seen, you have the most decent politicians I’ve ever seen.”

  “Politics! What a scam,” the taxi driver offered. “They do their thing, and we do ours. Just make sure your license is up to date. That’s all they care about, getting their cut.”

  Lindy started to laugh. “Some things are universal, my friend.” She continued to chuckle until her datapad vibrated. She pulled it out and looked at it. “Take us to this address.”

  “That’s a ways away, it’ll cost you.”

  “No problem. Bonus if you get us there quickly.”

  “I’ll do my best.” He smoked the tires as he spun into traffic, hooting out his window as he flew past traffic.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Red braced himself against the wall and kicked out with both feet. He felt as if he’d kicked a block of granite, but it stopped the Aborginian in his tracks. Red roared and jumped, aiming to drive his knife farther into the top of the trunk. K’Twillis blocked the attack with a branch and swept the human away with the other. Red landed on the other side of Billister.

  K’Twillis stomped toward Red, crushing his security chief as he went. Red crab-walked down the corridor and rolled back to his feet, but the Aborginian pressed forward relentlessly. Red charged, ducking his head to catch his enemy in the midsection. He slowed to wrap his arms around the creature, lifting and pushing. He felt the trunk lift off the deck. Red’s powerful legs pushed.

  The branch arms started hammering on his back. Even protected by the ballistic armor, the beating was brutal. Red cried out in pain. With a surge of strength, he lifted and turned, tossing the Aborginian toward Billister. Red dashed forward and dove.

  He grabbed the railgun and rolled. Firing from his position on his back, the hypervelocity darts ripped great sections from the trunk. Wood chips flew as if from a chainsaw. The echo within the metal corridor was deafening. The creature shrieked and bolted through the hatch from which he had first attacked.

  Red back flipped to his feet and staggered after K’Twillis.

  “Wait!” Rivka called when she saw him disappear. She redoubled her speed and turned into the ship’s hydroponic space. She slowed to a stop and listened. The room was filled with vegetation. Nothing moved.

  “He’s in here,” Red growled. “And he’s hurt.”

  “Reaper,” she said softly. Red backed toward her until he was standing by her side. He kept the barrel of his railgun swinging back and forth. Rivka dialed the neutron pulse weapon to ten and touched off a few shots, not holding the button down for more than a tenth of a second. She didn’t want to destroy everything in the neighboring compartments, only the Aborginian.

  She kept firing at densely packed areas.

  “I guess we’re not taking him alive,” Red said eyes wide as he looked for any movement.

  “Guess not. K’Twillis. You have been judged,” Rivka stated. One of her last shots gave her what she was looking for. A section of greenery detached itself from the rest and started jerking. She hit it with more pulses. Red added a few dozen rounds from the railgun.

  He rolled his railgun to his back and from a vest pocket, he removed a portable welding torch no bigger than a pen. “You might not want to be in here,” Red said, lighting the torch and holding the blue flame against the Aborginian’s trunk.

  Rivka backed into the corridor. Red stood for a moment to make sure the flames caught hold. “Put a price on my head, you prick! How about you burn in hell.”

  Red strolled out and closed the hatch as the dense smoke started to billow. The whistling scream could have been water boiling and hissing through cracks in the wood, or it could have been the final cry of the Aborginian known as K’Twillis.

  It didn’t matter to Rivka.

  Fire alarms sounded throughout the ship. “Looks like our work here is done,” Red said, wincing from the crushing blows that the Aborginian had laid on him. “Next time we fight one of his race, we use a flamethrower and call it a day.”

  “This ship isn’t going anywhere. You did a number on the engines if the warning lights on the bridge were any indication,” Rivka told him, finally realizing that he needed help. She slung one of his arms over her shoulder and supported him as he lumbered along.

  “I better report to the others,” Rivka said before switching to her internal comm chip. K’Twillis has been judged and rendered harmless. We are on our way from the freighter port.

  Here is the address for Mackestray, Ankh said. Rivka felt her datapad vibrate.

  “Are you going to be ready for round two?”

  “I hope so,” Red said.

  “Do you think Grainger had this in mind when he hired you to be my bodyguard?”

  “Had what in mind?” Red asked.

  They reached the hatch, and Rivka punched the button to extend the steps to the ground. The van rolled out of the way and waited.

  “Me carrying you. Lots of running. Shooting. And now we can add fire and burning to our repertoire.”

  “I’m sure this is exactly what he had in mind.” Red snorted a laugh, and together they hurried down the stairs as fast as Red’s battered body allowed.

  Once in the van, Rivka removed her datapad. “Report that ship to authorities for being filled with contraband. Report the location of the illegal mine. And then take us to this address.” Rivka showed the map on her screen.

  “That’s a ways away, but I’ll turn on the siren,” the driver said, taking perverse pleasure in running with the lights and siren. He raced from the spaceport and into traffic.

  Lindy? Red called.

  On my way to Mackestray’s spaceship. It’s at a private field outside the city.

  We’re on our way to that location now. What’s your ETA?

  We are fifteen minutes out.

  “How much time to get there?” Red asked.

  “We’re probably thirty minutes away,” the driver answered.

  Wait for us. We’re fifteen behind you.

  What Red said. Wait for us, Rivka added.

  What about the campaign manager? She was the one who connected Mackestray to Bandersnatch. I have her in custody.

  Red and Rivka looked at each other.

  Is she a threat? Rivka wondered.

  I think she’ll blab to the Blokite. I have her hands cuffed and mouth taped.

  You’re only fifteen minutes out? Uncuff her, pull off the tape, and dump her on the side of the road. We can’t have a civilian in the way. This could get messy if the Aborginian was an example of what to expect, Rivka explained.

  “Pull over,” Lindy told the taxi driver.

  “You want me to make great time, and then you want me to stop. Stupid aliens!” he groused.

  “Just pull the fuck over!” Lindy’s patience was at an end. She ripped the tape from the groggy female’s face and cut the ties holding her wrists. When the driver reached the side of the road, Lindy reached past her former captive and opened the door. “Get out.”

  The Capstanian hesitated. With one foot, Lindy launched her onto the sidewalk. They were between residential areas, a couple of kilometers from anything.

  “My purse is back at the office,” she whined.

  Lindy gave her the finger and shut the door. “Onward!” she shouted triumphantly.

  “You’re going to leave her like that?”

  “Yes, we’re going to leave her like that. Let’s go.”

  “I can’t. Look at her!”

  Lindy rolled her eyes and groaned. The former campaign manager stood
with stooped shoulders looking forlornly at the taxi.

  “Did you forget the part where she was kicking and flailing?”

  “But she’s not doing that now.”

  “No shit, because she sees where it got her.”

  The taxi driver crossed his arms.

  Lindy thought her head was going to explode. Ground yourself, she thought, closing her eyes. Why do you want to get there so quickly? To save Red and show him that you love him. He’s coming. There’s time. You can win the day together.

  “Yes. We’ll win the day together,” she blurted before shaking her head and opening the door. “Get in and be quiet. He’ll take you back to the office once this is over.”

  The campaign manager climbed in and crossed her hands on her lap, subdued.

  “I should have kicked your ass out twenty minutes ago if that was all it took to keep you from being a psycho.” Lindy realized the taxi was still sitting on the side of the road. “What are you waiting for? Let’s get going.”

  “You’re a mean person,” he said over his shoulder before turning his attention to driving his taxi.

  Have I become mean? she wondered. I think this asswipe has brought out the dark side of me. She conspired with the one who put a price on Red’s head. I have every right to be mad.

  With a few deft maneuvers, the taxi was back at speed and the driver was hooting out the window.

  Fifteen minutes later, the taxi crawled to the gated entrance of the private airpark, which was occupied mostly by airplanes; vehicles that operated within the atmosphere. At the far edge, near taller trees, a sleek white space yacht was parked.

  I have Pandora Express in sight, Lindy reported.

  “Something is terribly wrong,” Margaret said, voice warbling over the ship’s speakers.

  “Explain,” Tod Mackestray requested.

  “I can’t feel my toes.”

  “You don’t have toes. I don’t understand what you mean.”

  “My fingers are numb, and the darkness is closing in.”

  “Explain in terms that I can understand, please.”

  “I’m being boxed in and can’t find a way out.”