by Laurie Bell
Toni froze at the loud clang. What the khegh? Signaling Mate not to move, she held the weapon on her back steady and inched closer, squishing up beside the C-bot excruciatingly slowly to ensure not even a whisper of noise. Inhaling deeply, her eyes popped wide. Is that gravy? Reaching the grate, she peered into the room above. Several tables were arranged along one wall. Four of the chairs were occupied by workmen. She could see their filthy boots. Toni’s stomach growled, reminding her it was close to lunchtime. Her gaze flew to the man pacing the floor, his trousers oil-stained and wrinkled. He spun around to face the uniform pants and shiny shoes standing in the doorway.
Someone’s having a bad day. Toni’s fingers twitched where they rested on the chilly grate covering. She’d have to wait until the guy made more noise to cover the sound of her crawling past or wait until he left the room. She let out a silent sigh. The guy’s voice squeaked.
“All of the crates? Who?”
Her interest was piqued. What was he talking about … The guns she destroyed? Maybe listening in would be to her advantage. She leaned her face closer to the grate.
The security guard stepped back. “We have a blurred visual on one of the corridor feeds. Looks like a ghost.”
Toni smirked. A ghost?
The Shouter’s feet turned toward the table. “Jimb, Cherly, get out there and find who did this!”
The men didn’t budge.
“Hey! I said move.”
Chair legs scraped the floor as the two men pushed to their feet.
The guard stomped away.
Toni’s leg was starting to cramp. She twitched and the weapon balanced along her spine shifted. She snapped her hand around its casing and froze. Had she been heard?
The two men still seated at the table, seemed to believe they were alone with the Shouter. Silently, they slid their chairs back and vacated the room. Now alone, the Shouter slumped into a chair. “How did they get into the main hold?” he muttered.
Come on, tell me more. Give me something I can use. She could spring out and encourage him to speak. Her fingers searched for the securing catches holding the grate in place.
A reedy voice stilled her hand. “Stiev, we must get the last of those rifles moving. If the squads don’t receive them in time, the entire project will be jeopardized.” Khegh it. Someone else was there. Toni twisted but couldn’t get eyes on the far corner of the lunchroom.
The clack of claws preceded the Geerp into her line of sight. Toni pulled back. Urgh, she hated Geerps. Creepy little scavengers. The tiny creature rose only as high as the Shouter’s knees and dragged its long limbs along the floor with each step of its clawed feet.
The Shouter, Stiev, bent at the waist. His face was pale and sick looking. “What do you know about the meeting? Why is it so important to the project?”
The Geerp shuffled forward. Its neck frill flared. “Midock.”
Stiev’s eyes bulged.
Midock? Come on, keep talking. A trill startled Stiev into motion. He scrubbed at his face and pushed greasy looking hair from his eyes. With a sigh he yanked a communication disk from his pocket. “Mr. Dalmith?” Stiev waved at the Geerp, waiting until it hobbled from the room before blurting, “I wasn’t aware you knew, Sir—”
Dalmith! Toni could make out a buzz coming from the device but not the words.
Stiev wiped the hand not holding the disk against his trousers, leaving damp marks. “I was thinking about—”
The buzz grew louder. Stiev jumped to his feet, “Here, Sir?” The nervous man bounced on his toes. “What do you recommend?” A short pause preceded his, “Yes, Sir.” Jamming the disk back into his pocket, he pulled a pistol from his belt and bolted through the door.
Toni waited a beat then lifted the weapon’s strap over her head and lowered it to the conduit next to her. She grabbed her mini decoupler wrench from her bag. The bolts holding the grate secure to the duct fell, and the grate slipped. Her hand shot out to catch it. She hauled herself out and placed the panel against the wall. Mate landed with a soft thump behind her.
“Project?” she asked.
“Meeting?”
“Midock?”
“Dalmith,” they said together. Mate went on. “I do not see any hidden passages or trap doors, and there are no bugs. The room is clean.”
“Would’ve been a little late to tell me it wasn’t.” Toni discovered a small office at the back of the room and searched it quickly, rifling through desk drawers one by one until she came across a drawer that was locked. It didn’t take long to break open. Inside she found a green notebook tablet. “Bingo!” Switching it on, she discovered columns of dates, addresses, and names—probably fake—and delivery details, most of which dated from the past few weeks. A second tablet, this one yellow, contained detailed distribution lists under the guise of urgent orders for ranic fruit. Toni matched the descriptions of several items to both tablets. Satisfaction swelled in her chest. Now they were getting somewhere.
She slid the tablets into her backpack. “I think it’s time we got out of here.”
The office door crashed open. Stiev pointed his pistol straight at Toni’s chest, his eyes widening. His mouth twitched revealing crooked teeth. Now that she could see all of him, she noted the damp pale face, thinning hair that looked like he’d pulled at the ends a few times, and his sweat-soaked stained shirt hanging overly large on slim shoulders.
Toni immediately slouched and raised her hands. “Hey man, watch where ya point that thing. My name’s Myres. I believe ya expectin’ me.”
“Nice try.” The gun-runner gestured for her to back up. “Myres is dead.”
Oh shenghi. Her breathing quickened as she backtracked. “Dalmith sent me. He wanted to check up on your—”
“Dalmith didn’t send you,” Stiev said. He waved his gun at her. “I know who you are, Agent.” His hand trembled.
“Oh, yeah?” Great comeback. “I know who you are too, Stiev.” He blanched at the sound of his name. Not as confident as you want me to believe, huh? She lowered her hands. “I also know all about the project, and …” Stiev jerked, his pistol bobbed uncertainly. “… Midock.” Toni caught a whiff of his body odor. Her eyes prickled.
Stiev stepped back, straightening his arm once more. “Don’t move.”
Mate was beneath the desk. Presumably the gunrunner didn’t know he was there—one advantage. Provided Stiev didn’t come to his senses and call for his goons, Toni could still get the upper hand.
With the barest flick of her fingers, she motioned for Mate to stay back. The C-bot shook his head. You and me too, pal. The pulse point in her neck thumped with the rapid beat of her heart. She sucked a breath in between her teeth.
“I don’t care what you think you know, you won’t live long enough to save the peace summit!”
Peace summit? The longer she stalled, the more information she got, but she couldn’t wait any longer. Stiev’s gun hand drooped. She twisted, dipped her knee, and drew her gun in one fluid move, pulling the trigger the instant her weapon cleared her holster. The pistol shot out of Stiev’s hand. Toni was twisting before he could react and followed up with an elbow to the side of his head.
He collapsed.
“What did you do? Did you kill him?” Mate appeared at her side.
Toni went to a knee and examined the prone body carefully. “Elbowed him in the head.”
Mate huffed a laugh.
She searched Stiev’s pockets and found a yellow card. Holding it up, she asked, “Key to a casino locker?”
“Indeed.”
Toni slipped the card into her own pocket and stood. “Time to go.”
Returning to the eating area, she pulled the stolen mag-rifle from the duct. Cracking open the door, she examined the corridor outside. Empty. Doing her best to look as though she belonged there, she stepped through the doorway, and strode up the hall. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a flash of movement.
Freezing, she stared over her shoulder. Nothing. Her ha
nd tightened on the pistol in her holster as the back of her neck tingled.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
It wasn’t long before the two agents exited the lower levels of the complex and found themselves in a shuttle parking bay. The sign above the gate indicated it was a rear door out of the theme park. Gaunt figures shoved at each other as they rifled through overflowing bins. A man glanced her way and immediately turned his head. He tugged the arm of the huddled shape next to him. Eyes flashed up and away just as quickly.
Beyond the gate, Toni spied a large wheel rotating with spinning cars. Screeches of metal, the rumble of machinery, and a chorus of excited screams filled the air. The hair on the back of Toni’s neck rose with the sounds. The scent of popcorn and sugar—lots of sugar—filled her nostrils. Her mouth watered.
“Were we followed?”
“I am unsure.”
Toni strolled past a number of parked cruisers. When she caught sight of two workers prowling through the shuttle bay, she ducked back behind the closest cruiser. She recognized those filthy boots. Stiev’s men stared intently down each row of vehicles. Toni hadn’t been discovered yet, but it was only a matter of time. Glancing at the stolen rifle, she realized she’d never get it through park security.
“Mate, go back to the Blackflame.”
“What?”
“Go back to the Blackflame. I’ll lose our friends in the park.” She pointed to the door. “I’ll get them to follow me. Get those tablets to Zach. Scan the contents and get it to Zaambuka if I’m not back in an hour. Go.” She strapped the rifle to his back using his harness and tied it tightly in place.
Mate took her backpack in his mouth. He dropped it on the ground long enough to say, “Be careful, Boss.” His tone made it clear he did not like her plan. Heck, she didn’t like being separated from him either. Without him at her side, she was missing a limb. The C-bot picked up the bag and blended into the shadows by the wall to wait for his break.
Four of the staggering, disorientated homeless people were attempting to stack a container onto a larger pyramid of similar containers. Regretfully, Toni kicked a can in their direction. It ricocheted off the wall and crashed into the pyramid’s base.
The resultant noise drew the attention of everyone exiting the park and alerted security—including the two workers—to her location. One spoke into a hand communicator while the other drew his weapon. Toni jumped over the exit barriers and raced into the park.
It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the flashing lights of the fast-moving adventure rides. Colorfully uniformed employees darted back and forth before her gaze. Stiev’s goons would look for movement, so she stopped at the nearest bench beside a young family. All three did a double-take as she sat down.
A little girl bounced on the knee of the woman beside Toni. The child tugged on Toni’s sleeve. “Hello.” Toni smiled. “I like your hair.” The little girl smiled back, her front teeth missing. She whipped her head around, sending the four blond ponytails dancing wildly.
Beside the girl, an older boy with his hair tied back in two tails that exposed a bony protrusion at the back of his neck glared at her. “What’s wrong with you? Why can I see through you, are you sick?”
“Mitas!” His mother shrugged, offering Toni a wan smile. “Children.”
Toni shook her head. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t heard it all before. At least the boy was direct about it. Most just stared at her as if she couldn’t see them. The mother towed the little boy around to stand on her other side and avoided Toni’s eye.
The family was a good cover. When the goons headed off in the opposite direction, Toni waved goodbye to the little girl and jogged toward the stalls at the far end of the ground. Hearing a shout, she glanced back. Damn it.
Ducking low, she ran behind a large group of teenagers. They turned as one to watch her. How was she going to hide when her appearance drew attention like a Crellik in a bar? Pausing at a trinket stall, she glanced at the coral-colored stones and poly-gold coral shaped figurines. Who would buy this crap? Behind the table, a path of pressed dirt led between several tents.
A heavy cloud of incense hung over the area. Colors immediately swirled and gyrated around the periphery of her vision. Whoa. Strong stuff. No wonder the hawkers in the tents were in slow motion—the slower you moved, the steadier the colors held. Turning too fast, she stumbled into a muscular wall.
“Sorry,” she muttered. The wall reached out a meaty fist.
“You should not move so fast.”
Toni pulled at her arm, but it was like trying to wrench from the grip of a hover-salesman, which was to say impossible.
“Sorry.” She peeked up and up and up into the eyes of a park security guard. His thick arms extended to a solid torso that melded into his head. “Ah, look, I’m in a bit of a hurry,” she appealed, offering up her most innocent smile.
“No need to hurry, Miss,” he replied. “Your friends will wait for you.”
The guard’s equally pumped partner stared blankly at her. He sniffed through a flat nose.
“I. . . I think I’m being followed. I won rather a large prize at the Jumbo wheel, you see.” Toni nodded in the general direction of the main ground. “And now these guys are following me. It’s really creepy.”
The guard’s expression didn’t change. “Please point them out to us?”
She didn’t have to. The two goons had been joined by another humanoid, a Roxal whose lavender skin seemed to strobe under the fluorescent lights and a … a Crellik? Toni’s mouth fell open. She snapped it shut. A Crellik, here? She’d only seen one in her life, as a small child when her father cast a Crellik in his latest holonet blockbuster. The species was rarely seen in Sector One. Standing over seven feet tall, their skeleton was on the outside of their bodies. Bony spine protrusions stabbed out through his clothing. Sharp teeth and claws completed the picture. Toni’s heart leapt into her throat. A Crellik was after her.
The men separated to search the busy hall.
“Is that them?” the guard asked. He still held Toni’s arm tightly; his fingers encircled her wrist and overlapped.
This time her voice wobble wasn’t forced. “Yes sir, that’s them.”
“We will remove them from the area and inform them that harassment of our patrons is not acceptable,” he said.
The guard beside him nodded and said, “Then we will eject them.” His grin exposed a mouthful of extremely sharp teeth. The guard released her and advanced on the searching goons.
Toni fingered the key she’d taken from Stiev’s body. Too many of Stiev’s men knew her face. The locker still had to be checked, but if she was going to do it, she would need another identity, or at least another face. The Reef! She’d heard the previously PST-favored bar had changed and now teemed with all sorts of lowlife. It should be easy to hire someone there to fetch the locker’s contents. She spun in a circle. Where the khegh are those stairs?
Hearing a commotion behind her, Toni didn’t look back to see who won the fight, instead headed deeper into the park following the flashing signs toward the casino. Her heart thundered as she raced down the stairs. That Crellik wouldn’t be stopped easily, not by simple park security.
The stairs ended at the entrance to a hall filled with slot machines. As soon as Toni stepped foot into the room, her shades vibrated, tickling her nose. It made sense that anti-scanning software was in operation down here. Heavily curtained windows blocked out the luminescent coral lighting the rest of the complex, plunging the room into an eerie dusk. The lack of light would work to her advantage. Breathing hard, she whipped off her glasses and clipped them to her shirt. Her tails stampeded down the stairs. She risked a quick look back. Their torn and dirty clothing blended into the long shadows created by low light and occasionally blinking fluorescent bulbs.
When she faced forward, a groan escaped her lips. The Crellik and a fat human stood at the hall’s far end. By a Mythen battletank, how many of these guys are there? Move! Toni ran into th
e labyrinth of slot machines, passing unseen by the zombie-like gamblers feeding coins into hungry metal mouths.
There seemed to be no end to the maze. The hall was stuffy, and the body odor wafting from the living corpses brought tears to her eyes. The only source of light came from the screens around her, blinking in irregular bursts.
Door, door, I need a door … She skidded to a stop. “This is ridiculous.” Her chest was tight as she considered her lack of options. In front of her was a vacant seat bolted to the base of an out-of-order machine. She sprang onto the seat and pulled her body up onto the top of the machine. Since she couldn’t see a way out of the maze from the ground, she’d go over it.
An exit sign beckoned her left. Chained to the ceiling were large hanging lights. Flashing signs proclaimed “JACKPOT” and “Win this hovercar!” Her feet thudded against metal as she sprinted under and jumped over the garish obstacles.
Free and clear!
Searching fingers appeared over the lip of the machine several squares ahead of her. A head bobbed into view followed by another. Within seconds, the goons climbed up to confront her. The fat human and the Crellik were way down the back of the hall, so she dismissed them from her immediate awareness, leaving only four to deal with now.
The closest goon charged. Toni kicked out, connecting with his ribcage and knocked him off balance. He fell to his hands and knees. She kicked again, this time connecting with his face. Grabbing a flailing arm, she hefted the man over the side and out of sight. Turning, she arched her body to avoid a fist thrown at her. As it flew past her nose, she pushed at the Roxal’s shoulder. His foot connected with her side. She gasped as the wind was knocked out of her. Launching herself forward she took him out at the knees. He sailed over the side with a startled cry. Another goon jumped from the next row to slash at her with the knife held in his third arm.
She hit the top of the machine, hard. Thrusting up, she caught the skinny man in what she hoped was an anatomically painful place. He cried out. She launched back on to her feet and with a round house kick, took him out across the throat. Her attacker fell heavily. She grabbed his tail and tugged. He screamed as he fell over the side.
