Xenofreak Nation, Book Three: XIA

by Conway, Melissa

  “After she-”

  “You will not speak of what happened earlier.”

  “But Mad Eye scum killed Lupus!” Dundee’s accusation was followed by angry muttering from several XBestia standing near him.

  “Leaving you as my new lieutenant,” Fournier snapped. “Congratulations on your promotion.”

  “It’s true Lupus is gone,” Maddy’s words were ice cold, but calm. “And you returned the favor by killing Dillo. No one’s denying there’s plenty of bad blood between us, but we’re telling you now is not the time.”

  She kept on speaking, something about dire circumstances and mutual trust winning out over vengeance, words that were probably wasted on most of her audience. Scott tuned her out and leaned closer to Alton.

  “See Shasta anywhere?” he asked quietly. “She couldn’t miss that broadcast.”

  “I was thinking the same thing,” Alton said, “but this place is a zoo. Maybe she’s holed up somewhere.”

  Scott’s attention was drawn back to Dundee when the xeno pointed at him and demanded, “What about them?”

  Fournier summoned the strength to stand taller. “There are factors involved that you are not aware of. For the time being, these men and women are protecting me, and in turn are under XBestia protection. Unless you’d like to continue questioning my orders?”

  It was a testament to Fournier’s control that Dundee said quickly, “No, sir.”

  “How about the rest of you?” Maddy asked, sweeping the crowd with her gaze. “I spy with my one mad eye…”

  Several people in the crowd, including Alton, shouted, “All the queen’s men!”

  Scott looked sidelong at Alton, who quirked the corner of his mouth. If Scott didn’t know better, he’d swear Alton secretly liked Maddy’s outlandish ways.

  As they began walking towards the tunnel, Scott stopped to take the ammo off the fallen man. The crowd stayed a respectful distance away from Maddy, Fournier and the rest of their group. The Mad Eye led the way, with Dundee and the other XBestia lurking at the rear.

  Maddy was still holding Fournier’s arm, giving him support as Padme shadowed her. She looked out beyond the edge of the ramp onto the field, eyes skimming over the sea of people and settling on the UAAV. Then she turned towards the water, where the top of her father’s yacht was just visible.

  “You know, Dragila,” she said. “There may be a way to accomplish both our goals. The XIA wants my father, and I’d like to deliver him to you before he gets another chance to kill me.”

  “I’m listening.”

  Maddy lowered her voice. “Take the invisible vehicle for a little ride.”

  “Out to his yacht? Remember that part where you said he had enough firepower to blow us out of the water, and then he did?”

  “I’m not talking about launching a big offensive, just force him to come to us here on the pier.”

  “How?”

  “Sink it.”

  Alton’s eyes narrowed as his interest intensified. Scott knew Alton had the same level of immunity he’d been given with Fournier. They were authorized to do almost anything necessary to complete their missions.

  Alton didn’t have a chance to respond to her proposal, though, because they’d entered the tunnel and the noise from all the xenos camped out in front of the army’s blockade was deafening. Their group went left into a smaller passageway that eventually led onto the field. Once they emerged, a wave of xenos surrounded them, shouting questions none of them had answers to.

  “There’s no water! No bathrooms! When are we getting out of here?”

  “Where’s the food? How long will it take for the supplies?”

  “We’re freezing out here!”

  The fear radiating off the detainees was almost palpable. Had they been here all day without food or water? Technically, there was shelter, if the broken-down structure surrounding the pier were taken into account, but there was no electricity and no heat except from the bonfires. From the thousands of people milling about on the field, it was clear what shelter could be found wasn’t nearly enough. And what would happen when the combustibles they’d scrounged for the bonfires ran out?

  The Mad Eye and XBestia were forced into forming a tight circle around their group as they inched their way to the UAAV. The commotion was overwhelming. Bryn stayed glued to Scott’s side and Alton hovered over Mia.

  They finally reached the vehicle, but by then the crowd had lost control. Pressure from the outer edges forced those closest to the center to surge inward. The Mad Eye and XBestia were no longer able to hold them back, and everyone was suddenly crushed up against the sides of the UAAV. Scott saw several people stiffen and go down before Lo must have switched off the protective electric barrier.

  Alton got his boot up against the UAAV’s door and shoved backwards, forming a small pocket of space for Mia. Scott’s arms were trapped; he struggled to lift the submachine gun with the idea in mind that if he sent a burst upward, the crowd might stop crushing them.

  Then Lo’s voice blasted out of the UAAV. “Back away from the vehicle. Back away from the vehicle.” Scott knew this was no ordinary PA system. Lo was deploying the vehicle’s short-range acoustic device, a sonic weapon that delivered a targeted, painful warning to anyone within twenty yards or so. She repeated the message several more times, rotating the device to get full coverage of the crowd, but avoiding the sector occupied by Scott and the others. Within a surprisingly short amount of time, the crush had eased.

  The door opened to Boardman’s grinning face. “Come on in.”

  The injured prisoners Lo had taken aboard earlier were gone, but the inside of the UAAV still wasn’t big enough to accommodate them all. Boardman grabbed his crutches and volunteered to stay outside with Bryn, Mia and Padme. Mia eyed the alligator graft on his knuckles and put a hand to the mask on her face.

  “They checked me out,” he said. “I haven’t been exposed.”

  “I’ll keep my distance all the same,” she replied.

  Scott ushered Maddy and Fournier inside. Once the door shut behind them, Fournier sank into the passenger seat, leaned his head back and closed his eyes. Maddy looked around the interior admiringly. “I have got to get one of these.”

  “Yeah, that’s gonna happen,” Lo said. She lifted an eyebrow at Scott. “What are you wearing?”

  Scott sighed. “Can we focus, please?”

  “Right. I heard something about sinking the old man’s yacht..?”

  “Might be my only chance of getting to him,” Alton said.

  “We can do it,” Lo said slowly, “but there’s lot that could go wrong.”

  She activated the holoprojector on the dash. The glowing green lines of a building schematic appeared. “This is the structure surrounding Poppy’s Pier. Survey was conducted three months ago, so it should be accurate enough. See this area above the sunken portion? Side of the building’s collapsed and there’s a big hole. If there’s not too much debris, we should be able to drive the UAAV right though and into the water.”

  “Stealth mode won’t hide us from their radar,” Alton said.

  Lo pointed to something on the dash. “Jamming system will.”

  “Once we sneak up on him, what’s the plan?” Scott asked.

  “First and foremost, we don’t want to kill him.” Lo waved a hand and brought up another schematic. “This is Singh’s yacht – the basic model anyway – we can assume he’s had modifications done, but the engine room’ll be in the same location. We blow the hull here, the explosion shouldn’t reach the living areas.”

  Scott pointed. “Landing pad. Once the hull is breached, what’s to stop him flying off in his helicopter?”

  Alton shrugged. “I can go aboard beforehand. Take the copter out.”

  “No,” Maddy said. “He’s even more security-conscious than I am. You wouldn’t get ten meters.”

  “She’s right. Stealth will only get us so far.” Lo flipped a switch on the dash and pointed to the floor of the UAA
V where a compartment had opened up. “We had to give up our guns for the army to agree to let us in.” It was an ironic statement given that stashed inside the compartment was an arsenal.

  Alton’s eyes gleamed. “We got a zook? Sweet.”

  “But not subtle,” Lo said. “And explosives make shrapnel.”

  “We’ll have to take that chance.” Alton was getting worked up, which made Scott wary. Too much enthusiasm for any plan, much less a hastily cobbled together one, could get them all killed.

  “That takes care of the copter and the hull, but he’s got at least one working outboard.” Scott turned to Maddy. “Does he have more than that?”

  “No idea. I’ve never been invited.”

  Lo shifted in her seat. “We’ll just have to lurk in stealth mode to make sure Singh is forced into the water.”

  Scott shivered a little. “He’ll definitely head for the pier if he gets wet, but he won’t be alone and his men are armed.”

  “Leave that to us.” Fournier spoke up without opening his eyes, so he didn’t see Maddy nod in agreement.

  Lo eyed the two of them and then turned to Scott and Alton. “Who’s staying behind to monitor that?”

  “Me.” Scott was the logical choice. Lo was the UAAV pilot. Singh was Alton’s op. Boardman was on crutches. Scott would stay behind to keep an eye on Maddy and make sure Singh was captured once he got ashore.

  Before the UAAV left, Lo gave him another earbug. “Keep an eye out for Shasta, would you?”

  “I’m not sure she’s even here.”

  Lo looked thoughtful for a moment. “Me neither. But what about Nicola? She’s here, right? Why hasn’t she come for her father?”

  Scott had thought the same thing. “Yeah, something’s wrong. Let’s hope whatever it is doesn’t bite us in the butt.”

  Chapter Forty-nine

  After the UAAV left the field, Scott had a discussion with Maddy and Fournier. Bryn was standing nearby and heard some of what he said; enough to realize the agents had concocted a plan to follow through with Maddy’s suggestion to sink her father’s yacht. When Scott was done speaking, he backed off a bit and settled into the role of bodyguard. Maddy called some of her men over and gave them quiet instructions, while at the same time, Fournier spoke with Dundee.

  Not long afterward, everyone on the pier turned their attention to the sky to track the approach of a massive helicopter. It flew over the pier, its rotors churning out a throbbing sound that seemed to vibrate deep in Bryn’s skull. It was one of those army cargo transport copters, and suspended below it was a net full of wooden crates. When the detainees realized Colonel Carter’s promised supplies had arrived, they cheered.

  Maddy held her arms up to get the attention of her people, shouting over the noise, her braid flying in the wind. “I fear there will be unequal distribution of the supplies if we don’t intervene. Those who are weak will only get weaker if forced to go without. Can I count on you to help?”

  A contingent of Mad Eyes volunteered for the job. Since the bulk of the detainees had rushed off to surround the supply drop, Maddy took advantage and moved their group to one of the bonfires, occupying a spot that had been abandoned.

  Bryn sat cross-legged on a patch of dead grass next to Mia, and not far from Padme. Before the heat from the dying bonfire had a chance to take the chill off, she spotted a familiar face. It was the old woman who’d passed her the earbug message for Jason at Edgemere. Bryn had learned later that ‘Esmie’ was Shasta’s informant.

  “Scott!” Bryn jumped to her feet.

  He came over. “You alright?”

  She didn’t need to say anything because Esmie made a beeline for them.

  “Found you!” The old woman cried, like a child playing hide-and-seek. Her dirty white hair was still in two mussed braids, quite possibly the same braids she’d been wearing when Bryn first met her.

  “You know where Shasta is, don’t you?” he asked.

  Esmie flashed her toothless grin. “Yes! She sent Esmie to find you.”

  “Why didn’t she come herself?”

  The old woman shrugged her narrow shoulders. “She’s a little tied up.”

  “Well, unfortunately, I’m tied up, too.” He glanced around at Maddy and Fournier and made a frustrated growling sound. “I can’t leave right now.”

  Bryn straightened her shoulders. “I can.”

  “No. Too dangerous.”

  “How is it any more dangerous than anything else that’s happened to me today?”

  He put a hand on her arm and said softly, “I just don’t want you out of my sight.”

  She bit her lip, gazing into his eyes. “I don’t want to leave you either, but can you promise me that if I sit here and do nothing I won’t get kidnapped or shot at or…chased by cheetahs?”

  He laughed a little. “I think I can guarantee the cheetah part won’t happen.”

  “Really?!” She treated him to a deliberate stare, then said, “Remember what Shasta told me yesterday? She asked if the XIA could count on my cooperation. I’m offering to help, and I think you need it.”

  He got that look that told her Lo was talking to him. She must have encouraged him to let Bryn go, because he exhaled in an exasperated sigh. “Fine, but take this.”

  He pulled an oddly-shaped flashlight from his belt. “See here?” He pointed to two small metal prongs sticking out at the end.

  “Is that a stun gun?” she asked.

  “Disguised as a flashlight.” He turned the light on and off again.

  “I’m not going to need that. I still have Jason’s gun.”

  “Take it anyway. It’s quieter. Pull the trigger here, and zap.” He patted the pockets of his slacks. “Damn. Malone didn’t give my holophone back.”

  Mia reached into her purse. “Take mine.”

  Bryn tucked the phone into her pocket next to the stun gun.

  “Give it to Shasta,” Scott said. “She can contact Lo, who can contact me.”

  Bryn smiled and put a hand to his face, rubbing the stubble on his jaw with her thumb. “It’ll be fine.”

  “It better.”

  “It will.”

  “It better.”

  She laughed and turned to Esmie. “Remember me?”

  “Porcupine and pretty face. How could Esmie forget?” Without another word, she walked away. Bryn tossed a quick wave to Mia before hurrying after the old woman.

  They cut across the field at an angle, headed for the far corner of the pier, the one that wasn’t submerged. The farther from the center of the field, the darker it got. The xenos they passed here on the outskirts seemed far less wholesome than those she’d seen thus far; they reminded her of the worst of the xenofreaks at the Warehouse: filthy, homeless, lawless. About a third of them were dressed in prison-orange jumpsuits. She kept her hood low over her forehead and avoided eye contact.

  Some of the exterior walls of the dilapidated structure surrounding the field had collapsed. Esmie led her through one such section to the interior. There were more people here, huddled together around fires. The scent of smoke, urine and body odor was overpowering. In places, the second floor had fallen in, opening up black, cavernous spaces above them. The xenos camping here watched with predatory eyes as she followed Esmie through a frame that looked as if its door had recently been torn from its hinges.

  Bryn curled her hand around the flashlight slash stun gun, glad Scott had insisted she take it. It was hard to believe Shasta was somewhere in this forsaken place. Esmie went farther in than Bryn would ever have ventured on her own. She was about to ask if she actually knew where they were going, but a chilling sound from up ahead echoed off the discolored walls; a ferocious clamor of voices, avid howling and shrieking that instantly reminded her of the Warehouse and its brutal grease fights.

  They approached a chamber lit by a large central fire. In one corner, from the looks of the people gathered there, a fight was occurring. Esmie seemed more cautious now. She scuttled inside and melted
into the shadows near the wall, hugging it as she crept to another doorway. Then she stopped and turned, a gnarled finger to her lips. Bryn heard heavy footsteps and followed Esmie’s lead, dropping into a crouch and ducking to hide her face. All she saw of the man coming from the room up ahead was a dirty pair of men’s work boots. He stomped off, headed for the fight, and Esmie waved for Bryn to follow her.

  Inside the room, it was black as night, so Bryn took a chance and switched on the flashlight.

  “Turn it off!” Esmie whispered, flapping her hands.

  Bryn instantly complied. She’d seen all she needed to see.

  Chapter Fifty

  Scott had watched Bryn until she disappeared into the building. Her absence left him with a sinking feeling in his stomach, but he was too distracted to dwell on it for long. Between the constant chatter from the earbug and keeping an eye on Maddy and Fournier, he was multitasking in a big way. If Maddy was disturbed about what was coming, she gave no indication. She was in her element, dealing with her people as they came to her with their issues; problem-solving like a feudal lord conducting an informal audience with her serfs. Fournier, who sat in a daze by the bonfire, wasn’t demanding much of Scott’s attention, but Dundee skulked nearby, always watching.

  Scott had made it very clear to the two of them that he was in charge, and so far, they’d seemed amenable. On his orders, they’d dispatched some of their people to scout a quick way through the building to the water, and the rest were waiting for word to move in.

  In his ear, he heard Lo. “What’s that? Over there, on shore.”

  Boardman said, “Looks like divers.”

  “Probably a search and rescue team for the drowned guardsmen.” Alton said.

  “Okay, let’s stay on task.” Lo’s voice was strained. “You ready?”

  “Target acquired,” Alton replied.

  “Scott?”

  “Moving in.” Scott nodded to Maddy, who immediately threw an arm up. Two dozen xenos dropped what they were doing and surrounded her.

  Scott reached a hand out to help Fournier to his feet, but the XBestia leader shook his head wearily. “I can’t.”