by Jamie Grey
She might actually like this kid.
Renna tapped her finger on the chrome body. When she was a kid, Big George had owned one of the first Radiowing models in the city. He’d paid her to look after it one afternoon when he’d come to collect his earnings from the prostitutes in the tenements. She’d played lovingly with all the gears and switches while he was gone and threatened the other children who’d come around with her stolen blaster. Most of them knew better than to mess with her anyway.
“Right. Got it!” She placed her feet carefully on each wing and pressed her toes down. The machine rumbled deep in its belly. She pressed harder, throwing her weight into it and turning the grip on the handle. It roared to life, the vibrations tingling the insides of Renna’s thighs. “Get on, Myka; we’re getting out of here.”
“Good. They’re almost through.” He swung a skinny leg over the seat behind her and grabbed her waist with a surprisingly strong grip.
Renna glanced behind them. The boy was right. She pulled her pistol from the holster and aimed at the keypad on the bay door. The explosion thundered through the space, the sound an almost-visible thing. Slowly, the mech bay door began to rise. Renna gunned the Wing’s engine, ready to kick off as soon as there was room.
“Miss!”
She turned just as one of the guards kicked at the metal insert. But the bay door was still only wide enough for a child to sneak through.
“Screw this,” she said, pointing her gun at the men. She fired off two shots, one hitting the first man in the arm, the other striking the man behind him. They both went down, immediately replaced by two more. And behind them, another dozen men waited in the wings. Her arm trembled. She’d never be able to stop them.
Instead, she directed her fire at the bay door. Her laser gun screamed as the beam passed through the door and weakened the metal. It would have to be enough.
Gunning the Radiowing, Renna leaned forward. “Hang on!”
The machine jerked and started forward, tipping and sliding drunkenly. She fought with the controls to right it. Then with a kick of her foot, the machine shot forward, directly into the bay door.
It crumpled with a screech. Renna ducked behind the windshield, letting the Wing bear the brunt of the damage. Flakes of shiny black paint sprayed over her as the fresh tint job disintegrated on impact. The bug screen shattered, glass flying in every direction. But the Wing was out of the bay and off the ground, soaring above the dozen men who ran screaming into the warehouse yard below.
It tried to roll beneath her as it climbed, and Renna tensed her muscles. They were still climbing too slowly for her to control it. Arms burning with the effort, Renna wrenched the Wing back in line. Below them, blasters shot at them from every direction. Her feet jammed into the accelerator, her hands twisting the handles to weave back and forth. Just needed to make it out of the compound. Once they were free, she could be back at her safe house in minutes.
The machine let out a low whine beneath her, and Renna glanced down at the controls. Her heart sank, suddenly as heavy as the Wing. “You have to be shitting me.”
The fuel cell indicator was nearly at zero, and they still hadn’t cleared the compound. That damn electric fence was getting closer by the second. And someone had turned it back on.
“Status update. Area map.”
The implant showed her the surrounding area. Beyond the Cordozas’ warehouse were three more empty buildings. If she could land this thing between two of them, she might be able to get them to safety. There was also a parking structure to the north. She chewed her lip and glanced back down at the fuel cell gauge, a plan working itself out in her mind. Could she risk it?
Bullets sang past them, the shouts of her pursuers echoing below. And then her blood turned to ice.
The hum of a hover car starting up. They’d overtake the Wing in no time.
At least it made her decision easy. She turned the machine north and kicked it into high gear, hoping to get some momentum before the engine stalled.
The ground below was a blur of men and machines and guns, but moments later, Renna and the boy cleared the fence and were free of the compound. Shouts of fury came from the men as they were halted by deadly electricity.
She risked another glance behind as the hover car shot from the garage bay. Dammit. She wasn’t skilled enough to make this thing do what she needed, and the fuel cell was dropping by the second. Her hair whipped around her face, and Renna leaned forward, as if that would make the machine go faster.
The arms around her waist tightened. Right. The kid. She’d almost forgotten about him in their escape.
“You okay?” she called over her shoulder.
He nodded against her back, though he didn’t loosen his grip. “Wish they’d stop shooting at us, though.”
“We’re almost there, but we’re running out of fuel. It might be a bumpy landing.”
“I can handle it.” Her eyebrows rose at Myka’s calm voice. Most kids would be a whimpering mess after all this. Of course, growing up on Banos Prime would make any kid tough.
Beneath her, the Wing jerked in midair, and she let out a hiss. They weren’t going to make it.
The hover car hummed closer, the sound of its engine swallowing their own. Their only chance at escape now was getting to the ground. First stop: the parking structure. She could hotwire a car in twenty seconds flat, and she and Myka would be gone before the hover car even landed.
Renna pressed down harder on the accelerator. The scream of the Radiowing’s engines cut through the air as it shot forward. Her belly fluttered. The structure was just yards away. And then the engine stopped.
The silence was deafening.
Renna slammed a hand against the fuel cell gauge, but nothing happened. The Wing started to plummet, making her stomach drop before the airwings on each side caught the wind and they glided forward.
“Come on, baby, just a little farther.”
If she could keep the airwings steady, she might be able to glide the thing close enough to the structure to land it. Holding her breath, she tilted the Wing to bring it in at an angle. It continued to drop, the wind whistling past her.
There! The top deck of the parking structure was close enough to see.
She braced herself against the footpads and threw her weight into turning the machine. They were dropping fast now, but their forward momentum was dying as they got closer to the ground. Two more heartbeats before her pulse kicked into overdrive. They weren’t going to make it.
The bottom of the Radiowing hit the edge of the structure with a bone-jarring thud. Renna clenched her muscles and threw herself from the bike, grabbing Myka’s arms to make sure he followed.
The Wing balanced for an instant on the edge of the building, giving her just enough time to push off before it slid backward, scraping against the side of the parking structure as it dropped the thirty meters to the ground. It hit with a thunderous boom, shattering against the cement.
Renna and Myka landed almost as hard on the pavement of the parking structure. She tumbled over him, wrenching herself out of the way at the last second to avoid landing on top of him. Her body hit the ground with a thud, and the breath whooshed from her lungs. Her head slammed against the ground. A surge of electricity burst through her skull in a white-hot flash as her implant sputtered and switched off. Stars danced on the insides of her eyelids.
Beside her, she heard Myka moan and sit up. Curling into a whimpering ball sounded like a pretty good plan right now, but if the kid could get up, so could she. With a will she didn’t know she had, Renna dragged air into her burning lungs and forced her eyes open.
“Are you hurt?” Myka asked, jumping to his feet.
Damn, was the kid made of springs or something? She slowly moved her head from side to side, and an odd metallic taste flooded her mouth. Her implant was definitely fried.
“I don’t know,” she said between gritted teeth. “Ask me in another hour.”
“I still hear the
hover car.” The boy glanced back into the sky.
“Shit.” She spat the word out, along with some blood, and forced herself to sit up, biting back a gasp as the world tilted crazily. Everything settled a moment later as she exhaled through the pain. She didn’t have time for this shit.
“Help me up, kid.” Renna leaned heavily on Myka’s shoulder and slowly got to her feet. Each breath felt like someone stabbing her with a knife. “Grab my bag. We need to get out of here.”
Myka slung her pack over his shoulder and let Renna lean on him as she limped across the cement. His shoulders barely sagged under her weight, though dark smudges shadowed his eyes. He’d already been through a lot, but you’d never be able to tell by the determined expression on his face.
“Just a little further.” Her whisper was more for herself than for Myka. She’d spotted a sporty little Diskcar she could rewire in seconds. They’d be safe in no time.
“What’s that noise?” Myka asked, pausing on the pavement. Renna had to pause, too. One wrong step and she’d be down for the count.
“I don’t hear anything.” Of course, the ringing in her ears from her destroyed implant meant she couldn’t hear much.
“That.”
She tilted her head, and then she heard it. The scream of an engine approaching, but not from the sky. A second later, a white magnacraft van barreled from the shadows of the ramp, straight for them.
THREE
“Get behind me, Myka,” she said, careful to keep her voice steady. She let the boy’s arm fall away and forced herself to stand straight. She’d dealt with mob thugs like the Cordozas before. Show a glimmer of weakness and it was all over.
The magnacraft screamed straight toward them.
Renna held her breath.
It swerved at the last possible second, tipping on two wheels. She turned to follow it, keeping the boy behind her and reaching for her gun. Her fingers came away from her holster empty. Godsdammit. That, too?
The magnacraft’s side door slid open, and she blinked. Instead of dirty Cordoza thugs, six people, dressed in black from head to toe leaped out, ninja-style masks hiding their faces. Two of the men charged at Renna and Myka, while the others raced across the parking lot.
“Stay back,” Renna warned in her roughest, most mercenary voice. It usually worked well in bar fights, but these men seemed to be of a different caliber.
Their only identifying feature behind the masks was the cold glitter of their eyes. They moved with precision, each stride calculated and deliberate. One of the men stepped forward to take the lead, and her eyes widened at the handle of a long sword jutting over his shoulder.
What kind of thug carried a sword? That had gone out of fashion two thousand years ago.
“Who are you?” She reached behind her and squeezed Myka’s arm, making sure he was close. Keep them talking long enough and maybe the Cordoza thugs would show up. The two groups could fight each other, letting her and the kid escape.
But the silent men didn’t answer. The leader moved closer, the ice in his blue eyes and the smell of raw silk from his dark uniform making her take a step back. These weren’t ordinary thugs. Her gut clenched and she tried to take a deep breath, but the still-searing pain from the crash made her gasp instead.
Maybe she should have left the boy back in his cage. This was getting to be entirely too much work.
Silence stretched between them until her whole body trembled with the urge to run. Renna’s pulse sped up, and her gaze darted around the space, searching for escape. Before she could even take a step, the second man tugged his sword free of its sheath, the metal singing as he backflipped over them to land feet away from Myka.
The leader pulled his sword, too, the shining tip pointed directly at her. “Don’t move.”
“Like we had much choice,” she muttered. She eyed the man’s muscled frame and the strong arms that held his sword. She was impressed, despite the cold curl of ice in the pit of her stomach. Maybe she’d invest in some martial arts training before retirement. Being able to move like that could come in handy. In more ways than one.
Renna shook her head, trying to clear it. The humming in her ears was getting louder, but it wasn’t coming from inside her head any more. The Cordozas’ hover car had finally arrived. The nose of the machine cleared the top of the parking structure. Two men hung from the open doors, guns pointed directly at them.
Her heart kicked, and she readied herself to roll out of the way. But she waited, watching the edge of the deck where the four remaining black-clad figures crouched, hidden against the ledge like shadows.
Moving as one, they pulled their swords free, the blades glinting in the morning sun. As the car glided overhead, they attacked, slicing into it from all four sides.
Renna’s jaw dropped as the blades tore through the car like butter, the metal screaming and sparking at the impact. The men inside the car screamed, too, as soon as they realized what was happening, before bailing from the dying vehicle like lemmings.
The car shuddered and teetered on the edge of the parking deck before falling backward, landing with a boom that made the structure tremble. The Cordoza guards had barely found their feet before the other men had turned their blades to them.
Blood splattered like fireworks, turning the cement crimson and filling the air with iron and death. A head rolled past Renna’s feet, bouncing down the gentle incline. She clenched her hands, forcing herself not to react. She’d seen some horrific things in her life, but the cold ruthlessness of these men made her stomach turn. The thugs were starting to look like the better option here.
Behind her, Myka gasped, and she spun to face him. He stared at the head as it left a trail of glistening blood behind it on the pavement. He still wore her pack slung over his shoulders, and she moved to hug him.
“Play along,” she whispered as she slowly reached beneath the bag to the opening, pulling out the shiny metal blaster she’d stolen from the safe. The weight felt reassuring in her hand, and she gripped it tightly.
She pitched her voice so it was no more than a whisper of air in the kid’s ear. “When I let go, run for the ramp. I’ll distract them. Find Boyd in the merchant district. Sunshine building. Tell him Renna sent you.” She felt Myka nod. “Good boy. Now run!”
Spinning on one heel, Renna kicked out, taking the first ninja guard by surprise. Her boot connected with his stomach, and he grunted, doubling over and clutching his abdomen. Before she could line up a shot, the second guard sprang at her with his sword. She tried to knock it away with the barrel of the gun, but the metal of the sword sliced right through it. She stared blankly at the blaster for a split second before ducking beneath his backswing.
She lashed out with her foot, catching him on the ankle. He twisted as he tumbled, grabbing her arm with his free hand and pinning it behind her.
The first man let out an angry hiss and grabbed her other arm, raising his sword. Renna stared down the length of the shining metal. She’d seen what it had done to those other men. She knew exactly how she was going to die.
“You boys sure like to play with your swords,” she drawled breathlessly. It was hard to stay nonchalant pinned against the hard chest of a murderer.
The sword tip quivered inches from her chest, and she puffed it out even farther so that the tip touched the buttons on her shirt. “Sure would be a shame to ruin these perfect breasts. I can assure you they’re all natural. No work done here, boys.”
Dark blue eyes watched her from behind the mask, and she shivered at the man’s cold glare. But the sword didn’t move.
Her limbs tingled. Was this actually working? “If you let me go, I’m sure we can work something out to our mutual agreement.” She smiled slowly, raking her gaze up and down the man’s lean form.
“Get her to the van,” he ordered, lowering the weapon. He had a voice like aged honey, rich and deep and almost familiar.
The man behind her grabbed Renna’s arm. “Try to escape and I’ll kill you.�
��
She stood perfectly still, the five men garbed in black closing ranks around her. There was one missing. Myka!
On cue, the soldier strode up the parking ramp, carrying the struggling boy under his arm.
Myka pounded at him with his fists, screaming. “Get the hell off me, you fucker!” The man moved like he didn’t feel a thing, dropping the kid in a heap of too-thin arms and legs in front of Renna.
“Tie them up and load them into the van,” her captor ordered. The smooth metal of an exovise clamped around her wrists. At least he’d tied them in front of her. A flash of light in her peripherals told her Myka’s soldier had done the same to him.
Once she was seated on the long bench inside the van, one of the soldiers leaned close to tie a blindfold over her eyes. She heard the boy struggling against him beside her. “Get off me!”
“Take them back to base. We’ll stay and clean up this mess. And watch out for that one. She’s dangerous.” The door slammed with a thud, rocking the van, and Renna fought the acid burning her throat. In all of her years as a mercenary, she’d never been caught, never been in a situation she couldn’t get out of. And here she was, trapped like a common criminal. She was better than that, dammit!
The van circled the parking lot, and she felt them descend the ramp into the parking structure. They circled round and round in silence for several long minutes before she felt the magnacraft straighten out. The sounds of other hover cars and wingcraft around them told her they were on a busy street, but after the circling, she had no idea which direction they were headed. Usually, she’d rely on her implant to track their movements, but it had been destroyed in the crash. She was working blind.
Beside her, Myka pressed his shoulder to hers, as if needing the human contact. “I’m not going back in that cage,” he said fiercely.
