Mayhem and Mutiny

by Charissa Dufour

  She waited, trying to think up a plan. Somewhere in her planning, she drifted off.

  Jack ran until his thighs burned and his side cramped. He had been one of the last to leave the bloody street, followed by Wic. Jack had lost track of Oden early in the battle, but Randal, Calen, and Reese had fought on until they could slip away. Finally, he too left, still unsure where his first pilot had disappeared to. He hoped—maybe even prayed—that the feisty man hadn’t gotten himself captured, or worse yet, killed.

  As Jack slowed to a walk, he considered his options. Of course, he was going to Hartbeespoort, where the rest of the crew would rendezvous, but what would they do after that? What if Bit wasn’t there? Or what if she was?

  Jack hadn’t considered what he was going to do when he finally found his runaway. Would he punish her? Would he kiss her? He thumped his palm against his face.

  What am I thinking? he wondered. I’d never kiss Bit, no matter how much I want to.

  Jack reminded himself of how improper it would be to intertwine himself with his own indentured servant. She would feel obligated to meet his interest with her own. She would fear retribution if she rebuked him.

  Jack shook his head. Thinking about her in that way wasn’t helpful. He needed to decide how he would handle her escape. Normally, a runaway indentured servant would be punished and would have more debt added to their account. Jack refused to do that to Bit. As it was, she would be long gray before she earned her formal freedom.

  He picked up his pace, settling into a steady jog, as he considered his options. Bit had to be punished, but she also had to learn to trust. She should have known she could come to him with this. They would have all dropped everything to come in search for the child, and with the resources of the entire crew, she might not have gotten so hurt.

  Jack shook his head again as he jogged to the nearest train station. He reached the steps and climbed, his legs still burning with all the recent exercise. On the platform, he found Randal.

  “Glad to see someone made it,” Randal said, clasping Jack’s outstretched arms.

  “I saw Calen and Reese escape. But I have no idea about Oden or Wic.”

  “I saw Oden go into a building, but lost him after that.”

  Jack nodded, still none the wiser for Oden’s safety. “We’ll see when we get to Hartbeespoort.”

  They rode the train in silence, both bruised and battered from the recent fight, though no worse. When they reached the single train station for Hartbeespoort, they emerged to find Reese, Calen, and Wic waiting for them.

  “Oden?” Jack asked as they approached the small group.

  The other three shook their heads, looking just as worried.

  “What’s going on down there?” Jack asked, nodding toward the flashing lights of a police car parked outside a delicatessen.

  “I went down to listen in,” began Calen. “It seems some grimy-looking girl was here, pretending to be someone’s indentured servant… more specifically, pretending to be Douglas Zandri’s I.S.”

  “Is that so?” Jack asked with a smile. “It seems we found our girl.”

  “But we still need Oden,” added Wic just as another train approached.

  They watched a new train as it pulled to a stop and a few people exited, most of them glancing back at something or someone. Once everyone else was off the train, another body emerged. Jack let out a sigh when he recognized Oden, despite the bloody rag tied to his head.

  “Glad to see you alive,” Jack said, taking hold of Oden’s elbow as the man approached, looking none-too-stable.

  “Rudy’s dead,” Oden announced without preamble. “And I told a man I injured who witnessed Rudy’s death that he and the others now work for Wic.”

  “You did what?” snapped Wic.

  “I was trying to help, to get you more men.”

  Wic glared at him. “Well, you didn’t. Rudy’s second will take over. Dimitri. And he will come after me.”

  “Sorry,” sighed Oden, looking exhausted. “Was just trying to help. So, is our girl here?”

  “Look for yourself,” Reese said, nodding toward the glowing lights of the police car.

  Oden grinned.

  “Well, let’s go find our girl,” Jack suggested just as the dark clouds descended on the city, drenching them in seconds.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “Excuse me,” came a soft voice.

  Bit jerked, hitting her head against the stone wall again. By the glint of the grayish light, she didn’t think she had been asleep long. Bit turned to see a man squatting beside her, holding the palms of the Molala to the side. The man wore work gloves, thick boots, and canvas shorts. A large hat shaded his eyes.

  He gave her a kind smile. “I’m guessing you’re the one the police were searching for.”

  Bit swallowed a sudden lump in her throat.

  “Don’t worry, girl. My employers are out of town. Your secret’s safe with me. Still, I can’t have you staying here.”

  “Yeah, that’s me,” Bit said.

  “Well, they’re gone now. So I need you moving on.”

  Bit nodded just as the skies opened up and water poured down on them.

  “You better go find some cover. And here, take this,” he added, rising to his feet and pulling a gleaming mango from a tree’s branches.

  Bit had never tasted mango before, but she had heard of their sweetness. She licked her lips as she struggled to her feet. Bit reached out for the fruit, grasping it delicately.

  “Do you know Douglas Zandri?”

  “Me? Know Mr. Zandri? ‘Course not.”

  “I mean, do you know where he lives?” Bit asked, wiping water from her eyes.

  “Five gates that way.” He pointed. “The walls are made of bamboo.”

  Bit nodded. “Thank you, sir.”

  He stepped aside, guiding her back to the gate. She squeezed back through, bringing a little smile to the gardener’s lips. She limped up the street in the rain, her teeth digging into the skin and flesh of the mango. The skin didn’t taste good, but the yellow flesh within was divine, even with the rain pouring down her face.

  By the time she finished the fruit and reached the bamboo fence, some two or three miles beyond her hiding place, the street was flooded. It was empty, except for her. No one dared brave the rain within the wealthy suburb. Nothing they had to do was that pressing.

  Bit stared at the estate through the decorative gate. Nothing about the wall or gate suggested Zandri feared an assault. Bit grinned as she considered how mistaken he was. She pulled the handgun from the back of her trousers—missing her underarm holster—and released the clip. A quick examination showed her four rounds left.

  Great.

  Bit went back to examining the enormous estate. Like the fence, the mansion appeared to be made primarily out of delicate bamboo and rose three stories above her—four where a smaller tower rose above the roof. Most of the exterior showed large windows instead of walls, revealing the glowing inside. Through the rain, Bit couldn’t see much of the interior, but she guessed it was more than she could imagine.

  Large palm trees grew beside the house, dipping over the roof to provide some shade. Bit spotted an enormous umbrella tree growing behind the house, its wide spans providing shade for the back of the house. Large ferns and fruit trees grew around the structure, engulfing it in green. Peeking through the back of the garden, Bit spotted what she guessed was the servants’ huts.

  Taking a deep breath, Bit dropped to the ground, the rising water nearly covering her body. She held her breath, ducked her head, and wiggled under the gate. On the other side, she gasped for air and wiped the water from her eyes.

  “Why have a gate if it’s not going to keep anyone out?” she asked herself.

  She trudged forward, ducking behind plants and bushes until she spotted what looked to be a side door. She snuck up to it as best she could, cringing at every splash she made. She reached the door—the first floor half a flight up to elevate it
above the rainwaters. Beyond the door, she found a little alcove, followed by the kitchen. It was bright and modern with stainless steel cabinets.

  Bit ducked down behind an island and half crawled half walked to the edge, leaving a trail of water behind. At the end of the island, she rounded the corner and peeked into the vast living room. Harsh gray furniture filled the living room, contrasting the soft tan of the bamboo. A staircase spiraled around the perimeter of the room leading up to the second floor, half of which was open over the living room, making the room feel even bigger.

  Despite the enormous size, Bit suspected it was more grand than large in the usable sense. Bit slipped around the edge of the oversized room, noting a dining room tucked under the staircase with a long stainless steel table. Bit headed for the stairs determined to search the entire house. If she could find Zandri’s office, she might find paperwork indicating who her family had been sold to.

  Bit slipped up the stairs, doing her best to keep her eyes peeled for any movement in the house. She couldn’t imagine someone keeping all the lights on when they weren’t home, but she had no idea what the habits of the rich were.

  She reached the second floor, which jutted off the spiral staircase before it continued up to the third floor. She continued upward, suspecting the middle floor was nothing but bedrooms. The stairwell opened up into the third floor, which spread across the entire width of the house. Four doors led off the small landing atop the stairs. Bit picked one at random and listened at it before pushing it open.

  The door revealed what Bit suspected was a guest room. She moved on to the next to find a room equipped with fitness equipment—to which she rolled her eyes. The third door revealed a room with a large screen and plush seating. Finally, through the last door, she found an office with an all-business desk and a wall lined with bookcases.

  She slipped in, turning on a tiny lamp on the desk. Thus far, only the third floor didn’t have its lights on. Bit tiptoed to the file cabinet, grimacing with each squish of her sodden boots. The cabinet was state of the art with retinal scans required for entry, leaving Bit no option to pick the lock. She shifted to the bookshelves and began to dig. All she found were novels and self-help books. Nothing she saw looked like an old-fashioned ledger or journal.

  Bit moved around to the business side of the desk and began digging through the drawers. The top drawer contained an array of sugary treats—she pilfered a few—and the second drawer held a few small black notebooks. Bit grabbed one and flipped through it. The book showed nothing but contact frequencies. The next book had two columns, one with names and the other with financial expenditures. Bit skimmed through a few names, looking for anything relating to her or Alesha, but all the names were foreign to her. Bit pocketed the little black book and grabbed the last one. Inside the last book, she found nothing but doodles.

  “Really, Zandri?” she muttered to herself, tossing the book back into the drawer.

  The third drawer held the usual array of office supplies, along with a large basket of information chips. Had Bit been free to dawdle, she would have searched the chips, but there were hundreds of them. She suspected they were nothing but music and video files.

  Bit shifted to the top of the desk and began searching through the various piles of chips, sheets of printed paper, and junk. Finally, she tapped the screen of his computer. It came aglow, showing a password screen. Bit thought about it, but couldn’t think of anything Zandri might use as a password. After all, she had barely been eleven when he sold her.

  After a few minutes consideration, she decided not to try. It was likely he had a security feature on his computer to notify him if someone else tried to access his account. Bit scanned the office, looking for anything else worth searching, but the rest of the room was filled with a plush leather couch, delicate end tables, and art.

  Bit was just about to step out of the office when she stopped. She crossed the room to one of the small paintings and pulled it away from the wall. As she had expected, a bundle of gold bills was tucked into the back of the frame. She flipped another picture and found a similar bundle of money. For a second, Bit considered snatching a bundle but decided against it.

  She was already wanted for running from Jack, and that alone would cost her a few more years of work. Taking that much wealth, however tempting, wasn’t worth adding a decade or two to her debt. She would hate to see her own debt passed on to her niece or nephew.

  Leaving the office, Bit slipped down to the second floor and peeked inside the two rooms. Both were expansive bedrooms with bathrooms attached. Though gorgeous and over the top, Bit suspected they didn’t hide anything other than what bedroom kinks Zandri might have. She shuddered at the thought and began to inch her way down the wide spiral staircase. As she neared the halfway point, a voice made her freeze.

  “Done searching my home, Little Bit?”

  Bit turned toward the kitchen, still standing on the gleaming wooden stairs, and spotted Zandri. He leaned against the island of his kitchen, his arms crossed over his chest, the perfect picture of relaxation.

  “What did you do with that baby?”

  “Right down to the point,” sighed Zandri. “You never were one for small talk.”

  Bit considered the handgun tucked in her trousers, pressed against the small of her back. It wasn’t time. The longer their conversation stayed peaceful, the better. Besides, she didn’t have much fighting power left in her.

  “You sold the baby’s debt. Who to?”

  “How do you know I sold her?”

  Bit felt her breath catch in her chest. Her. It was a girl. She had a niece. Tears pressed against her eyes, but she ignored them. She had to focus on the present danger.

  “I know you. You wouldn’t keep any part of Alesha to remind you of your guilt.”

  Zandri’s brows descended into a frown. “You think that’s why I sold your debt?”

  “My debt. The g-girl’s debt. You couldn’t look at us and be reminded of what you did!”

  “You were young when it all happened, so I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, but I didn’t do anything to warrant guilt, Little Bit.”

  Bit’s eyes widened in shock. “You seduced my sister, got her pregnant, and she died because of it.”

  He smiled, light wrinkles in his face showing his age. “Interesting how different two perspectives can be.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I loved you sister. I would have married her. We would have been happy together.”

  Bit rolled her eyes. “Right. You loved her. That’s why you sold your own daughter.”

  Zandri shrugged. “I admit, not my best moment, but I didn’t sell the child out of guilt. I sent her away because I couldn’t stand seeing her, being reminded of what I’d lost.”

  Bit felt her throat constrict. “And me-ee?”

  “I sold you because I couldn’t bear to have a little mini-Alesha running around. Look at you. You might as well be her twin.

  Tears pressed against her eyes again, making it hard to see. Bit shook her head, unable to believe a word he said.

  “Where is the child?” Bit repeated once she knew her voice would come out strong.

  “She’s safe enough, I’m told.”

  “You bastard. That’s your own flesh and blood!” Bit screamed, no longer able to contain her anger.

  She snatched her gun from her trousers and aimed at Zandri. He saw it coming a mile away and rolled over the kitchen island. Before Bit could stop herself, she fired two rounds, both leaving pock marks in the steel kitchen cabinets.

  She grimaced, remembering she only had four rounds to begin with. Make that two.

  “Tell me where the child is. You clearly know,” Bit called as she jumped off the staircase and ducked behind a couch.

  “The child is fine. She doesn’t need you in her life… you: a failed, runaway I.S. Leave her be.”

  “I’m better for her than you. You abandoned her,” accused Bit as she hurried from the couch
to a chair, a few feet closer to the kitchen

  “I gave her away,” called Zandri. “I didn’t take a dime for her. A loving family has her.”

  Bit hesitated, wondering if that could be true. Was her niece, at that moment, happily ensconced in a family, with a dog and a green yard?

  “I have a right to know her.”

  “Ha! Indentured Servants don’t have rights. Especially ones who’ve been caught running away.”

  Bit allowed him to talk as she inched closer, moving from one piece of furniture to the next.

  “You see me as a tyrant. You find it impossible to believe I could have ever loved your sister. Why should I tell you where she is? You don’t know the meaning of family,” continued Zandri.

  Bit slid up against the opposite side of the island, trying hard not hear Zandri’s words. She hadn’t known what it meant to be a family then, but she had been eleven and alone. Now, Jack and Oden and Randal and the others, they had all taught her how to be a part of a family. A smile came to her lips, which quickly faltered. Did she still have that family? Or had Jack decided she wasn’t worth the effort? She almost couldn’t blame him if he decided to turn her in. She had put them through hell, after all.

  “You’re a blonde waste of space,” growled Zandri. “It’s amazing any owner kept you for more than a year.”

  Bit closed her ears to the insults and half tip-toed, half crawled to the corner. She slipped around, ready to fire. As her arm came around the corner, a hand shot out, grabbing her wrist and slamming it against the metal corner of the cabinet. Despite her secure grip, Bit dropped the gun.

  Zandri released her wrist. She went scrambling for the weapon, and Zandri lunged forward, landing on her and taking her to the ground. Bit barked her chin against the floor while her knee flared with pain. Bit felt Zandri grab a handful of her ratted hair. She reached back and grabbed his wrist out of instinct, unsure how she was going to get out of his hold. Zandri stood, dragging her halfway across the living room and away from her gun.