The Space Needle (League of Cosmic Justice Book 2)

by Sam Sea

  I guess you like Syrian stuff. He said half loud as he started to examine the sword. Only a few times in his life did he ever see such a sword. As he tilted it to one side, the light washed over its cool blade revealing markings in the middle, a signature of an artist and a seal of a house, two horses facing each other. It hit him all at once. He instantly recognized the seal and the signature and knew who it had once belonged to.

  Still unable to take his eyes of the blade, his knees started to wobble, and he set down grasping for more air.

  ***

  Few hours before his lift-off window would start, Val decided there was one more thing he needed to do. He called Li’a.

  “Hey, I thought you would be gone by now…Thanks for not shooting that guy and making a mess in my office…”

  “You know, Li’a, maybe there are people who always hold to their un-withering dedication to the duty; maybe there are people who never stray, who always do what the code says; maybe there are people like that...But I know I am not one of them. I know I make mistakes…” Li’a didn’t interrupt, but let him say the words he had to say.

  “Do you still have Madam Vilksy three or was she already sent away?”

  “No, we still have her here. She is waiting for the transportation…”

  Val remembered her crying face, remembered the pain he saw in her eyes, knowing that the man she loved she would never see again. Now when he thought about her, he didn’t see a woman who broke the law, but a child who played some stupid games.

  “She is guilty, but mostly of being too spoiled and ignorant,” Val talked in a soft, regretful, hard-to-hear voice “you know, she infuriated me with that I-can-do-whatever-I-want attitude… Just because she has more money than 99 percent of people, does that make her above the law? But in a way, it really isn’t her fault…It’s not like she could have known any better, all of that money, it was all given to her by her family, conditioning her behavior…She is as much a victim as she is guilty of her crimes. So, with this recording, I, ECI Valticus Dan, commute her prior sentence and issue a new one ordering her to serve twenty-five hours per week of a community service for the next twenty years at the place chosen by the police officer Li’a…”

  A long moment has passed until Li’a said “Yeah, that sounds better, much better. Besides, I know where to put her to suite her just fine.”

  “I bet you already do. And, investigator, there is something else…”

  “Yes?"

  "I found something that you may like to have..."

  "What is it?"

  "I do not have that much time to come to the station and give it to you…So, can you meet me halfway. I want to give it to you personally. There is a tea shop called Cee Delights on the outskirt of the town, close to my place. It is famous.”

  “Yes, I know the place. I can be there in twenty minutes. But what is it?”

  “Make it in ten…You can fly there in ten…and-

  “Okay but what is it?”

  “Well, it is certainly not a box of sweets.”

  “Shoot…And I had my hopes up…”

  “No, this is something much better.”

  “Yeah, well, I guess you can keep your mystery for a few more minutes. I’ll get there as soon as I can…”

  “Fine.” Val agreed still holding the sword in his hand.

  As Val came first, for a second he thought about having a sandwich. But the hunger and appetite was long gone, so he ended nursing a cup of pink tea when Li’a dropped in.

  The giggle Li’a had in her eyes when she came in was all gone as she looked at how quiet and sober Val suddenly appeared, wearing a brown hat which seemed to cover almost all of his face. She slowly and silently set opposite of him, not understanding, yet not questioning.

  Still without looking at her, he took out an object, wrapped in a red, silky cloth and put it on the table in front of her.

  “This is your father’s sword… I found it… about an hour ago.” He said unable to meet her eyes. “I thought you should have it before I leave.”

  “Where? Where did you find it?” Words ran out of her mouth as she frantically unclothe the sword and held it in her hand.

  “Among the impounded things of an assassin I sent to Pluk some time ago…I, I really didn’t know at the time...”

  “Who…Who was this assassin?”

  But instead of an answer, a silent bullet flew in through the air and dug into Val’s right shoulder. The impact knocked him backward, and he fell on his back.

  The bullet was small, needle like, but the pain it instantly created shocked his whole body to almost complete paralysis. Whatever it was glazed with, he wished it was not poisonous.

  Ignoring the pain, he jumped up to his knees and draw a gun with his left hand, firing free shots at the front door which was still swinging to a close. But then, he thought better, and squeezed Li’a’s sleeve, jerking her off to the floor just in a time for a second bullet to take his hat off.

  He could not see the shooter, but the direction his gun flew off meant the shooter was moving leftward, so he fired the gun in that direction as he and Li’a were crawling toward the protection of a heavy-looking wooden counter which stood but yards away.

  But now, fully alerted, he could trace the bullets and parts of the milliseconds they spend in the air was almost enough for him to get out of their way. He felt one of them brazing his leg as push Li’a behind the counter. For a second, he exhaled his first breath, and the silence hanged in the air.

  But the assassin seemed to have changed the artillery, and soon with ear-piercing bangs of a shotgun, parts of the counter started to be blown away as was the ceiling lights above them with glasses showering their heads.

  Val was sure that in those seconds spent struggling to get behind the counter, he took in the entire restaurant, and did not see the shooter. Must be wearing stealth suite.

  “Mikka!! “ His scream overpowered gunshot explosions. “Mikka!!”

  “Yeah?” He heard her answer somewhere to the left.

  “Can we talk?”

  Silence returned. “A friend of yours?” Li’a asked with a smirk on her face.

  “Sure… Sure we can talk.” Mikka yelled back across the room “You can start by telling me where my stuff is…. I want my staff back! And I want it now!” She fired another bullet that chipped a feast-size part of the counter’s corner that a second ago hid part of Val’s head.

  “Double-crosser! You stinking ECI!” Mikka’s wrath

  “What did you do to her? What does she think that-?” Li’a asked Val for explanation.

  “Look, she is really a very bad person.” Val tried to explain.

  “We are not dating!” Li’a screamed at Mikka, not fully understanding what exactly is going on here.

  “I don’t think that will help.” Val told her.

  “Well, good for you…Who would want to date that old goat anyway? ”

  “You better run, police will be here any second.” Li’a screamed back

  “Yeah, okay, I’m running…See, I am gone, so you can come out now.” Mikka was ridiculing them while changing every few seconds her location, expecting a shot from Val.

  Val understood that, understood his situation, understood that if Mikka wanted to kill him, he would have been dead already. “Look, I never meant you any harm. Now that I know it is you, here is my gun…” He threw the gun out behind the counter just to be met by a gunshot blaster which took it to pieces.

  “I want my stuff back, everything, the tube, the money.”

  “Look, Mikka, I took your stuff… But, you know…You can’t have it back. I mean, it was all just a garbage anyway, so I threw it all away.” The blast took the remaining lights and mirrors around them, covering them further.

  “You certainly know how to talk to a woman.” Li’a whispered

  “She is a beast, not a woman.”

  Mikka suddenly appeared on a coffee table right next to the counter with a clear shot of the Val’
s whole body. Her shut-gun was pointed directly to his crutch.

  “Now, what did you say you did with my stuff?”

  “I took your stuff, but I didn’t touch your money. Maybe I should had. Maybe you would have still be on Pluk then.” Val said it, and regretted it the very same second.

  He looked at Li’a, but she finally connected it all. “You killed my father! You killed him!” Blinded by rage, she yelled at Mikka.

  “I killed a lot of fathers.” Mikka’s voice was cool, calm, almost uninterested almost as if she was talking about the breakfast she had that morning. “I killed a lot of mothers, brothers, sisters, and whatever ever else have you…” She turned to Li’a with her eyes “And to tell you the truth, I am glad, yours was among them.”

  “Nooo!” Val screamed and jumped on top of Li’a and knocked out a gun she pulled out of her jacket. But it was almost too late, almost…

  As Li’a pulled her gun, Mikka shifted hers toward Li’a’s chest, and only after Val seemed to have jump on top of her, she moved it just a bit down and blew part of Li’a’s thigh off.

  “You are lucky…If I wanted you dead, if I didn’t want some answers first from this asshole here…”

  “You murderer!” Li’a yelled more frantically, oblivious to the pain, as if getting shut upset her even more.

  But Mikka seemed ice-calm, almost having fun observing how Val was trying to protect Li’a with his own body.

  “I tell you whatever you want, but you spare her. You can kill me afterwards.” Her pleaded.

  “Yeah? Like you honored our last deal? I know better than to make deals with likes of you.”

  “Then don’t…Let her bleed out here, and kill me…I don’t care. I don’t care anymore. I lived long enough-“

  “Shut up!” Mikka stopped him. “You don’t get to decide when you live and die.”

  “Say whatever you want, but she won’t make it. And if she doesn’t, I don’t care…”

  “Oh, look, someone you care about…how interesting!”

  “Listen, I need to put her in the tube. I have the tube. It’s the only way she can survive.” Li’a’s blood was already drenching Val’s pants.

  “You have the tube here?”

  “Yes, my estate… just a few minutes out.” Mikka nodded her head, but then saw the sword laying next to Li’a “I guess you haven’t thrown all my stuff away. That sword - it belongs to me.” She said calmly.

  “No, it doesn’t!” Li’a gathered all her strength in that yell. “It doesn’t belong to you. It belonged to…” Mikka jumped on top of them, and brought the handle of her gun to Li’a’s forehead “…my father-” were Li’s last words uttered after the heavy handle knocked her out.

  Looking at Mikka standing on top of him, Val was sure he was faster than her. He could knock her out. He was sure. He spent decades perfecting, achieving reflexes that no humans could possibly have. But the pain from his shoulder never went away, and he wondered...

  But Mikka took a small gun out and pinned a small bullet to his right palm before he could make a decision.

  “Yeah, now, you better pick her up, yes, with that bad hand of yours. Ignore the pain, you know the drill.” She taunted him as she moved away and he started to get up. “And take her to the sedan outside. You still have some questions to answer.”

  Irkoniss was behind the wheel, waiting. Mikka told Val to place Li’a and himself in the back seat next to Silent, and she turned the front seat around and set to face them.

  “Don’t worry, I didn’t kill anyone…” Mikka words met Silent’s accusing stare. “…not yet anyway.”

  “We need to get there fast… We could have used my vehicle….” Val tried to reason.

  “Shut up!” Mikka said as her gun was place directly to. “You are the one that got that ship…the transporter? I should have known. It smelled on a rotten ECI agent miles away.”

  Val tried to put a pressure on Li’a’s bleeding thigh, but his hands seemed not to be fully under his control. His fingers were twitching, hand shaking, and he just could not press hard enough. The pain he felt coming from somewhere inside of him was avalanching, incapacitating his ability to move and think. Only a few thoughts, a few ideas lighted up. And none of them were any good.

  “I…I will probably pass out. Whatever you glazed those bullets with, it seems to be working really good…” He whispered, half conscious, while he struggled for his breath.

  “Yeah, it is still nothing like a neurotoxin that you shut me with.” Mikka showed no mercy. “Asshole!”

  “How…How did you find m?” Val asked.

  Mikka stared at him. “Your mind tricks again, huh? Questions that will make me think of other stuff. Well, they won’t help you now.” Then after a second she added. “It was actually a good luck. I spotted you going to the Café. We were actually on a way to your estate.”

  But Val was not really listening to her. “Can you…” he turned his eyes toward the girl sitting next to Li’a. “Can you put a pressure on her wound with…with your…hand.” Val felt his consciousness drifting, the ability to keep eyes open disappearing. “You…you will need a key…to enter the estate…it’s in my…communicator…” his eyes opened up just for a second, looked at his pocket. “And the tube, it’s already loaded in the ship cargo-”

  “Fine.” Mikka said as Val’s head jerked down, eyes shut again, his hand starting to slowly drift away from Li’a’s bleeding wound.

  Irkoniss blasted the engines to the max, zipping out of the town to a dirt road five feet underneath them and a pine forest which it snaked through. Silent put both of her small hand on Li’a’s wound, but the bleeding would not stop.

  It was a very silent and a few long minutes before they suddenly came to the complete stop.

  “I don’t know what’s wrong…” Irkoniss said confused as the vehicle could not go forward anymore, only backward.

  “Relax. We are here. This must be his estate.” There were no gates, just a narrow path covered by deep grass waving underneath their vehicle. “He probably has an invisible, security fence around his entire estate. That’s what stalls the engine.” She said as she reached for Val’s pocket and his communicator that should have been inside. That is when he stroke her.

  He elbowed her noise to a bloody mash, then twisted her gun-holding hand until fingers cracked broken. Before Mikka could regain the balance, his boot was already under her chin, hitting her so hard and knocking her over her seat to splash against the vehicle’s windshield.

  Irkoniss tried to move, but Derran had already picked up the fallen gun and placed it behind his neck.

  “Drive.” Val said and pressed the key on his communicator disabling the fence.

  After hundred yards of going through the forest, they came to the clearance of his estate, parking the vehicle next to the spaceship.

  “You, get out and pick her up!” Val ordered Irkoniss to carry Li’a. “Pick her up now” He screamed at Irkoniss’s speed. “Fast! Or I’ll blow you all away. And take her to the ship…to the tube. Save her, and I’ll pardon all your sins. But do it fast, because if she dies, so do you.”

  As Irkoniss pulled Li’a out and held her in his hands, Val turned the gun toward Mikka.

  But little girl, with the blood all over her hands jumped in front of Mikka’s unconscious body, very much like Val did just a few minutes ago in the Café.

  “Please, don’t kill her!” The little girl said as she tried to cover Mikka with herself. “I am telling you, leave her alone!” She yelled again, but with anger, as Val’s eyes would not leave her, staring her cold.

  “I know you…” Val said in a dream-like voice. “You cannot lie to me.” Then, like being suddenly awaken, he jerked himself up and got out of the vehicle.

  “Fine, but she is your responsibility now, little girl.” He said as he stamped away from the sedan. He could see Irkoniss already carrying Li’a inside the cargo bay.

  He cannot leave…he needs my access codes. Val t
hought but he still raced as fast as his bullet-filled leg would permit it.

  Mikka came around not a minute later, with pain of broken bones and the shame of being outmaneuvered again.

  She saw Val lurching his leg to enter the cargo bay, and went for her rifle. Almost unable to keep her head up and focus, she fired remaining bullets at him. One of them, she was sure at least one of them, found its target as Val's body suddenly jerked forward before collapsing down inside the vessel.

  She picked up her shotgun, but the bullets seem to only bounce off the cargo door which was already closing. She needed more power, so she dragged her body to the vehicles trunk and took out her neuron blaster.

  “Don’t shoot.” Silent finally interrupted her. “Irkoniss is in there!” She screamed at her.

  Mikka hesitated, thought twice, and put the gun down.

  The next second, the ship was already airborne, disappearing inside the wall of dust and grass before its engines roared and it shoot above them.

  "You can run, but I will find you...wherever you run." Mikka promised herself, leaning for a support on the sedan.

  Val dragged his leg deeper inside the ship, leaving a bloody trail behind.

  “Access A132GL-56 –command, destination Sector 251-541, autopilot on, take off now.” Val screamed as he finally got inside the ship. The engine roared canceling the song of dancing bullets against the ships door.

  Irkoniss was next to the tube with Li’a’s body already laying inside.

  “I do not know how you operate this.”

  “Just close the top. It’s already powered up.”

  “Are you sure you want to do that…have her inside? It seems you could use it too.” The blood trail seemed to be turning itself into a little stream.

  “Yes, just close it. She goes first…just do it. Close it now!” Val yelled through the sounds of engines lifting the craft up.

  “That is the least I can do for him.” Val said quietly to himself as he let go his of body next to the tube. The gun in his hand dropped to his waste.