And what the hell was he going to do if he actually found her? How in God's name was he going to get her off this rock? Hmm, one thing at a time.
He let the patrol cruiser coast to a stop, allowing cross traffic to clear an intersection, running his fingers through his hair. People standing on the corner looked curiously at the man in the battered Lawman's vehicle that was obviously not a Lawman. He ignored them and drove on, looking for signs of a red dress.
Out of the corner of his eye, the group of people walking down the street contained a splash of red and he slammed on the brakes, throwing open the scissor-wing door and jumping out. “Nina! Nina!” he shouted, rounding the nose of the vehicle and running toward the group.
“Back off, mister!” threatened one of the men, pulling a sizable blade.
“Easy, guys,” said Jack, skidding to a stop, raising his hands, “thought she was someone I knew.” The woman wearing a long red cape had fooled him. “No harm, no foul, just a mistake, guys.” He turned and sprinted for the vehicle, slamming the door and driving off. OK, OK, got a little over-excited there... running up screaming her name like a lovesick teenager probably wasn't the best tactic...
Picking his way towards the Island, Steele checked two gentleman’s clubs and a nightclub, hoping the Syndicate thugs protecting the girls would have stopped off at a local establishment to make up for the short night and money lost because of the raid on the CherriPit. Of course initially having to do a little fancy driving to lose the Lawmen, he managed to get himself temporarily lost. He might simply have overshot the area the girls were in. Reaching the end of the Peninsula, he decided it was at least worth driving through the Island to see if he could improve his luck.
Except there were no bridges to the detached Island. Only trains. Crap.
Abandoning the Lawman's vehicle in the darkest area he could find, he headed for the train station. Waking TESS, he checked the time. It had been two hours... with every minute that ticked by, his chances of finding her drifted further away. He shook it off, he had to try. Steele didn't want to delve too far into his own head why he needed to find her, but he felt responsible for her and decided to leave it at that.
Walking across the footbridge from the solid rock of the Peninsula to the station suspended between the main asteroid of Rikovik's Reef and the separate asteroid of the Island, was more than a little disconcerting. The trains that passed on either side of the main platform, rode through metal-bottomed glass tubes. Incorporated with an arched glass ceiling and glass panels in the platform floor, provided a view that was simply spectacular. It was a beautifully modern station... too bad it was so damn filthy and so poorly maintained.
Steele glanced up at the video monitor hanging on the support pillar above him, realizing his face was on something resembling the six-o'clock news. Terrific. At least the video clip was dark and blurry. He glanced around at the nearly empty platform, two people on the other side waiting for a train heading the opposite direction. He turned his back on them, waiting patiently for an Island-bound train.
■ ■ ■
Weaving in and out of tunnels through the rock of the Island, the train made stops all around the Island's perimeter. The Island was definitely the seedier side of the tracks and Jack had just walked a considerable amount of it, visiting more clubs and girlie bars than he could count. All to no avail. Wearily, four hours later, he dropped himself into a seat on a train heading back to the Peninsula. The serpentine train had no independent cars, winding its way smoothly, nearly silently through the tunnels like a metal snake.
He stretched himself out, closing his eyes in the nearly-empty train. He needed a shower, feeling dirty by exposure to the seamy underbelly of Rikovik's Reef. If he could make his way to Deep Black, he was sure he could arrange a shuttle pickup from the Revenge. He had run out of ideas and his luck was running on empty.
“Hey. Hey you...” Steele opened one eye, two men standing before him, unsteady on their feet from a combination of the train's movement and their alcohol content. “You're the guy on the news...”
“Nah, that ain't me,” replied Jack with a wave, feigning intoxication. His right hand slowly crept toward the grip of his sidearm, pausing when his fingertips touched the holster on his thigh.
“Yeah man,” chuckled the other drunk, “that's you alright...”
“Don't go back to the Main Rock,” started the first, sitting down on a nearby seat. “Buddy, they're gonna catch you. Stay on the Island, the Law don't come out here.”
“I gotta get off this rock,” countered Jack. “I was looking for someone and I've come up empty...”
“You a bounty hunter, mister?”
Steele straightened up in his seat. “Nothing like that. I'm looking for a woman...”
“Lots of women on the Island.”
Jack shook his head, “I'm looking for a specific woman. She was abducted...”
“Oh,” nodded the man, “the Syndicate has her then.”
“That's what I've been told. But I lost her when...”
“When you were running from the Law,” interrupted the first man. “Yeah we saw some video on the news. You drive like crazy!”
Steele ran his fingers through his hair, “Yeah well, I got lucky...”
“You need to go to the Blue Moon, that's where they house most of their girls. You might find her there.”
Steele frowned. “Is that a hotel?”
“Hotel, whorehouse, black market... It's four streets in, off the third station...”
“What about getting off this rock?”
“There are some transport pilots for hire on the far end, but they don't do long hauls.”
“That's fine, I don't need to go far.” Approaching the station, Steele could see flashing lights reflecting off the arched glass ceiling. Dammit, cops. They must have found the abandoned patrol cruiser.
“One more thing,” said the first man. “If you piss off the Syndicate in any way, you'll never get a ride, no one will go against them. You'll have to steal something. Can you fly?”
“Yeah that's not a problem.” Steele scanned the platform, it was empty.
“Good. Your best bet is to get off at the train stop past the docks. It's the yacht basin... Don't get caught though, the ships there belong to the Syndicate.”
“Oh swell...”
■ ■ ■
Floating in the rubble of Rikovik's mined-out asteroid field, Lisa had shut down many of her systems, including shields, careful to set her drift to match the field. With the ARC system running, she would be nearly invisible to anything the Lawmen had while they waited for the Raven. “How are we doing, Mac?”
“We've got an inbound, good size.”
“Not a Lawman?”
“No, way too big. She's really moving too. With our sensors on passive sweep I've got no details.”
Lisa checked her systems. “Hope it's our ride. But we're staying put till we know for sure...”
“Works for me, Skipper. I'm in no hurry to get shot at.”
As nervous as she was, that made Lisa crack a smile. She liked the way it sounded. Skipper...
“I've got another bogie,” added Draza Mac. “Coming in on a similar vector that we took. It's small.”
“Should be our parts shuttle. I hope.”
“I've got a ping, Skipper... verifying... big one's the Raven.”
“Sweet. Return the ping,” Lisa instructed.
“Copy, ping returned. I'm seeing a comm to the Raven... confirming... got it, shuttle is from Deep Black.”
“Good timing.” Lisa activated her shields, deactivating the ARC system before relighting her engine, rotating the Remora in a direction for a clean exit from the rubble. She eased the throttle forward. “Remora to Raven, set me up for approach for docking procedure...”
■ ■ ■
Sitting in the Raven's command chair, Brian Carter shot a glance over at Maria sitting in the second seat. “Was that who I think it was?”
&
nbsp; “That was Lisa,” replied Maria. “She must be handling comms from the back seat.”
“I thought Mac was in the back seat...”
“Then where the hell is Jack?” asked Maria, wide-eyed. “Lisa doesn't even have her wings yet.”
“I don't know, I was trying to keep our comm short.”
“There's only two seats in that thing...”
“I get it,” snapped Brian. “First things first. Go down there and guide her in for a hookup.” Maria slid out of her seat and hustled off the bridge without another word, giving Brian a little reprieve from Maria's concerns. “Helm, all stop. Instruct the shuttle to stand by until we've recovered the Remora.”
■ ■ ■
The train eased away from the platform leaving the Lawmen behind. Steele took a quick glance around before sitting down, a group of people sitting several rows behind him, a streak of red near the outer window. Did his luck just change? “TESS,” he whispered, “can you take a picture of someone behind us?”
His earpiece chirped, “Of course I can. Face my screen in that direction.” He stretched, interlacing his fingers casually behind his head, leaning back in his seat. “Perfect. OK, I have it...”
“There she is..!” he breathed, examining the digital photo on TESS' screen. Six girls, three goons. And one of the goons looked like a neckless human wall with legs. Well, sort of human. Nina was sitting next to the window, half asleep, the girl next to her slumped on her shoulder, both of them disheveled and worn looking. A direct confrontation looked to be out of the question, she'd be in no condition to run. He was going to have to come up with a plan that minimized the risk of gun play...
His earpiece chirped, “Jax, if you're thinking of a recovery action, you should know the girls are wearing some type of control collar...”
“What does it do, TESS?” he whispered.
“I've searched my database and I don't find a match. Most commonly they issue a debilitating shock if the subject moves beyond the set boundary of the control unit.
“What are the other possibilities?” he whispered.
“Death. By lethal injection, by explosion, by electrocution... Considering that the women are valuable commodity, I would estimate the units are meant to temporarily incapacitate, nothing more. If I was to speculate, I would say the rather large man has the control unit.”
Steele rubbed his eyes and exhaled heavily. “Yeah, that would have been my guess...”
CHAPTER TEN
RIKOVIK'S REEF : WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACKS
Steele had to be realistic; he wasn't going to get all three. One, maybe two, but not all three. And either the girls would take hits or he'd go down. He'd have to follow at a safe distance and see if an opportunity presented itself. He feigned inebriation, allowing the group a lead getting off the platform, following slowly behind. The Syndicate thugs were either tired, or lazy, or both. Not once had they looked behind them, plodding along, the girls shuffling between them. The girls were obviously worn out but he couldn't help but think they were either drunk or drugged. There was no animation or chatter from any one of them; girls or guards.
He sunk himself into the shadows as the group paused at a corner to let a vehicle pass through the intersection, the tail-end guard looking back for the very first time. Steele ran his thumb across the top of the holster release... the 1911 charged particle blaster would sound like a cannon on this narrow street. A suppressor would be really nice to have right about now... then he wondered if you could actually silence a charged particle blaster. He thought about the knife in his boot; he could fight with a knife but he had never managed to pass knife-throwing 101.
When the group turned the next corner, Steele hustled up to close the gap, peeking around the corner. They were gone. The street and sidewalk deserted except for a few parked vehicles. A spike of adrenalin hit him and he rushed, albeit cautiously, forward, drawing the 1911, keeping it close to his body. What the hell, where did they... His comm chirped, “Stop! Stop!” He stopped, flattening himself into an irregularity in the wall doing his best to be invisible as a set of doors less than ten feet ahead opened with force, banging against the rock wall. Two of the Syndicate goons strolled out into the darkness, their backs illuminated by the light inside the doorway until the doors automatically swung closed. It was the neckless walking wall and the tail guard, getting into the vehicle parked out front. Jack wasn't sure the wall was going to fit but he managed, the vehicle dipping on his side under his mass. The lights came on and they drove slowly away. Steele exhaled, looking up, listening to his heart pound. The neon blue, crescent moon hung above the doorway with no words. The Blue Moon... how did I not see that?
He stuck the 1911 into the back of his waistband and untied the holster from his thigh, folding it up against his body, covering it all with his jacket.
Steele walked through the door like he'd done it a hundred times, taking it all in as quickly as he could, angling for the front desk, surrounded with what appeared to be bulletproof glass, a teller's speaker above the payment tray.
The guy behind the glass looked like a permanent part of the chair he was sitting on. “What do you want?” he demanded gruffly, rubbing the scruff on his double chin.
“That beautiful girl in the red dress that just came in here...”
The desk man leaned toward the speaker, “Mister, do you have any fucking idea what time it is? We're closed. Those girls are going to bed; your dick can wait until later.”
“But I'd like...”
“Beat it! Literally. Go home and take care of it yourself...”
“I'll pay you double,” interrupted Steele.
That stopped the rant for a moment, his mind working. “Y'know,” said the desk clerk, his attitude changing. “You look like a decent guy, all clean cut and whatnot... I'm going to do you a huge favor. I'm going to charge you triple. But to be nice, I'm going to throw in her little girlfriend. You'll like that. A little two-on-one? Yeah you look like the type, I can tell...” He tapped on the payment tray, “How you gonna pay for that?”
Steele dropped his ITC card in the tray.
“Real nice, not worried about the old lady finding out, eh?”
“Not married,” lied Jack, accepting it back.
The desk clerk dropped a key card into the tray. “Room 410.” He waved at Jack's ITC card, “I took a little something extra for myself. After they're done with you, you'll think I deserve it anyway. It'll save you the trip of coming down to tip me.”
Jack smirked wryly, “I appreciate your thoughtfulness...”
The same type of threadbare carpet as in the lobby greeted Steele when he stepped off the elevator on the fourth floor, the musty, dimly lit corridor stretching out on either side, the directional placards missing from the wall. So I guess they're not putting their profits into the décor...
Finding room 410, he waved the key card in front of the reader, the door unlatching, sliding into the wall. The heady scent of incense rolled past him out into the corridor, stars twinkling outside the bay window on the other side of the room. OK, now that's pretty cool...
“I'm sorry mister,” said the naked girl wearily, her back to him, “I didn't expect any more visitors tonight. I'll be right with you...”
Jack stepped into the muted light, letting the door close behind him, scanning the room for anything that might resemble a video camera. “Nina Redwolf,” he said softly.
Standing in front of her wardrobe, pulling something sheer to put on, the woman froze. “How do you know my name...?” she whispered.
“Are there video cameras in this room?”
“Yes.”
“Then don't overreact...” he breathed, “It's me, Jack.”
She finished pulling what she was looking for, wrapping it around her and fluffing her hair before turning to him. She paused a moment, studying his shadowed features before moving to him with as much restraint she could muster, encircling him with her arms, burying her face in his chest, shaking. �
��Oh my God,” she sobbed, “Oh my God. Oh my God... How did you find me?”
“By accident,” he whispered in her ear. “We saw you in the CherriPit before the raid. I've been searching for you ever since.” He squeezed her tight. “Hold it together, sweetie. Now I need you to remember something rather important; in this world I am Jax Mercury... can you remember that?” She nodded without pulling her face away from his chest. “Are there cameras in the bathroom?” She shook her head no. “The shower is running, who's in there?”
“My girl, Ruby.”
“The second girl the clerk promised?”
“Yes.”
“Can you trust her?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” He turned her toward the bathroom, its rectangle of light spilling out across the bedroom floor. “We're all going to take a shower together where we can talk and not be heard or recorded.”
■ ■ ■
Jack leaned against the sink. “Any chance we'll get interrupted?” he asked, pulling off his boots.
“No,” replied Nina, slipping into the shower, “unless we don't come out of here in an hour. All it takes is one of us walking around once in a while so they can see us.”
“How long do we have?”
“I don't know what you paid him,” replied Nina, “but he gave you all day.”
When Steele slipped into the shower the girls were huddled under the dual shower heads, washing their hair, the steam filling the shower. Ruby was olive complected, all of five feet tall with waist length jet black hair, slanted oriental eyes and pointed ears that reminded him of every drawing of an elf he'd ever seen. Nina had shortened her auburn tresses to shoulder length and her skin had lost some of her natural golden color. But neither one could be ashamed in a bikini... or naked. Wow! panted the little voice in his head.
“Ruby, this is Jack, er, Jax. Jax this is Ruby,” announced Nina.
Jack stuck out his hand, “Hi...”
Ruby put out her hand, “Hello... Oh, look someone else wants to say hello... very nice,” she smiled, crouching, reaching out.
Wings of Steele: Revenge and Retribution Page 16
