Chapter 18: Jak
Jak heard the mobbies before he saw them. They were quarreling again. It sounded like Kishee hadn’t remained subdued for long, and now she was up to her old tricks. Jak ducked behind the rubble and slipped from shadow to shadow, keeping low, staying out of sight. Once, his foot caught on a bit of loose tile, and he froze as it clattered over the roof, but no one seemed to notice the noise. As Jak approached the voices, he saw about a dozen mobbies gathered around a flickering fire near the trapdoor that led to box. He spotted two sentries posted on the roof above, but both children were watching the action around the fire rather than looking for approaching enemies.
Jak looked back to the fire. It was difficult to make out faces in the uncertain light, but the camp appeared to be evenly divided on both sides of an argument. Directly across from him, the Alpha and his followers sat on one side of the fire, and Kishee and the other rebels sat on the opposite side with their backs to Jak. Little Mice, his eyes glittering, crouched next to his big brother.
"Time is up," Kishee insisted.
"I said two days," the Alpha snapped.
"No," cried other voices. "Eat!"
The Alpha’s control over the pack was slipping fast. They were hungry, and Kishee could take over at any time. But not tonight. Moving quickly, Jak stepped into the circle of mobbies.
"Big One! Run!"
About half the pack fled shrieking into the darkness. That suited Jak just fine. The fewer mobbies around, the better. But Kishee stood her ground.
"I told you I’d come back," he said to the Alpha.
He ignored Kishee, or at least pretended to do so. He stood feet apart, hands on his hips, trying to look as imposing as he could. Since he was twice the height and four times the weight of the average mobbie, that wasn’t difficult.
"Did you bring the goods?" Alpha asked, eyeing the canvas bag that Jak carried slung over his shoulder.
"What about passage up river?"
"All set. Now pay."
Jak scowled. He’d have to take the boy’s word for it. The kind of accommodations they were asking for didn’t issue tickets.
"My friend first."
"No," Kishee said, "food first."
Jak turned toward her. He couldn’t let the little female get the upper hand.
"Who’s Alpha here? You or him?"
"Me," the boy said. "Kishee shut up."
"I want Tessa."
Jak let the bag thump to the ground, and they all heard the crackle of food wrappings inside. He suspected that most of the mobbies could smell the food, too.
"Give that to me," the Alpha ordered.
"When I get Tessa."
The Alpha took a step toward him. Jak reached behind his back and brought out the blaster. There was a gasp from the remaining mobbies. They knew what blasters could do. The Regent’s men used them during the sweeps. Jak saw Kishee smile. Little Mice stepped in front of his brother, trying to cover the bigger boy’s body with his own. If Mice weren’t a mobbie, Jak thought he could have been fond of the kid. The Alpha stared at the blaster. Then the boy shrugged, as if it didn’t matter to him one way or the other.
"Open the door," he ordered.
One of the mobbies on his side of the fire obeyed him.
Jak was sweating again, and his heart raced.
"The rope," he said.
Mice dropped the rope into the box.
"Tessa, can you hear me?"
"I hear you, Jak."
Tessa’s elegant drawl was reduced to a hoarse croak, but Jak had never been so glad to hear her voice.
"Can you climb the rope?"
"If it will get me out of this hole, I can climb."
"Hurry then."
He heard Tessa gasping as she strained to climb out of the box. Dared he try to help? He saw Kishee’s hand reaching for her dart tube. It hadn’t taken her long to replace the one he’d smashed.
"Leave that alone!" he snapped.
Kishee glared at him, but her hand dropped away from the tube. Meanwhile, Mice eyed Jak. He seemed calmer now that the blaster wasn’t pointing at his brother, but Jak wasn’t sure what went on in his twisted brain. Mice was feral and quick, like a fierce young animal. Jak doubted that the boy remembered any life before the pack.
Tessa’s head appeared at the opening of the trap door. Jak couldn’t see her very well in the flickering light, but she seemed unhurt, as he judged by the curses accompanying her climb. She rolled over onto the rooftop, exhausted. Her dark curls hung in limp strands, and her face was dirty and covered with a fine sheen of sweat. Now was the time for a distraction.
"Here," Jak said. He handed a tranquilizer-free package of food to the Alpha, and kept a second for Tessa. The boy took it, but he was clearly aware that something was up. "Special for you," Jak told him. Then he spilled the rest of the food out on the rooftop and called out, "Help yourselves."
Mobbies scrambled for the food packets. Even those who’d run away earlier came hurrying back. Thinking such abundance was worth the risk of death, small, ragged bodies scampered into the circle of firelight. The mobbies snarled and fought among themselves for the food, and Jak saw two of them fall into the box. Others grabbed what they could and vanished into the darkness. He didn’t think they’d notice the taste of the tranquilizers. While the mobbies were busy with the food, Jak went to Tessa. He was just in time to knock a food packet out of her hand.
"Not that stuff," he said. "I brought this for you."
He reached into the bottom of the bag and then handed her the other clean packet and the bottle of water that he’d brought for her. She looked at him but said nothing as he crouched beside her. Tessa leaned against his shoulder, eating and drinking greedily. Jak felt a relief so great it made him dizzy. He wanted to hold her, to touch her, to make sure that she was unhurt. But he didn’t dare take his eyes off the mobbies. He waited until she’d emptied the packet and drunk her fill. Then asked, "Can you walk?"
"Try me."
The mobbies didn’t notice as Jak and Tessa started edging into the sheltering darkness. Several were yawning already. They weren’t used to full stomachs, and the food alone would have been enough to make them groggy; the tranquilizers would knock them out.
Jak kept his arm around Tessa to steady her, although she was recovering rapidly. She had far more strength in her lean, cat-like body than appeared on the surface. Stepping away from him, she stood by herself to show him that she was all right. Jak looked around for the Alpha and found him yawning, almost asleep. The boy had gobbled down the clean packet that Jak had handed him and was now wolfing down a packet of drugged sweets. He shook the boy’s arm.
"What ship and when?"
"Pay first. You owe more than this food."
Even drugged, the Alpha still had his priorities straight. Jak handed him ten twenty credit pieces and the dozen cheap knives. It wasn’t as if the mobbies were going to be able to use them anytime soon.
"Remember, you get the rest when we’re on the ship."
Carefully, the boy counted the money. Jak was surprised. A mobbie who could count? Where had he learned that? He must have joined the pack very late in his young life.
"What ship?" Jak demanded.
Like the others, the boy was slipping fast into sleep. Next to him, fierce little Mice already had his head pillowed on his brother’s leg.
"Serena," the mobbie chief mumbled. "Barge at the compost dock, yes? Tonight. Password is . . . ."
His voice trailed off into a snore. His head dropped forward. The bits of rag and trash that decorated his hair made it look like a wild animal’s nest.
Jak shook him again. "What's the password?"
Alpha raised his head and smiled at him drowsily.
"Revenge," he said.
Omniphage Invasion Page 18
