Bit glanced at Jack, her heart going out to him. Pain lined his face. She knew their relationship had been on the rocks all weekend, but he had never expected all-out duplicity. Bit wasn’t sure what she had expected. She’d never really trusted Debby. There had been too many times when Debby had been making unusual calls on her comm. device to leave Bit feeling settled.
Debby smiled at Calen, saying nothing and yet everything.
“And the festival. You were rather insistent that Bit came along,” Calen added.
“I couldn’t have Bit home when my men searched the place,” Debby said.
“And the phone call at the Olympus Mons Landing Platform?” Bit asked.
Debby smiled again. “Making sure my guys were out of the ship before we got there. Really, you couldn’t put those two together yourself?”
Bit glared at her, a newfound hatred boiling within her.
“Debby?” Jack asked again.
For the first time, she turned her attention away from Bit.
“Put me down, Oden,” Bit whispered in his ear.
His arms tightened around her.
“You’re going to need to be able to fight,” she said in the same barely-audible whisper.
Oden complied. They moved slowly enough that Jack was able to keep the enemies attention. Once Bit was on her feet again, Oden pushed her back behind him. Bit refrained from reminding him that Blaine and Mr. Windbreaker were still duking it out behind them.
She glanced back at them. They were both bloodied and staggering, their punches looking pathetic. The fight continued more because neither would turn and run. Bit began to wonder if Windbreaker was programed to keep fighting, just like Blaine. A normal person would have found a way to flee at this point, especially with a new threat crowding the alleyway. But neither of them seemed aware of the new players.
“Do you have any idea what you’re doing?” Jack was asking Debby.
“Of course I do. I’m making sure I’m set for life. I actually will be able to retire now.”
“Not when you’re in jail,” replied Jack.
She smirked at him. “That’s assuming I get caught. It’s not like you’re going to stop me. I know you and your ways. You wouldn’t put a toe over the line. And it’s going to take breaking a few rules to stop us.”
With that, her men pulled their guns on them. Like everyone else, Bit froze, raising her hands to reveal her borrowed knife. Debby’s smile grew as she watched them raise their hands, only armed with knives.
“See what I mean?” said Debby with a smirk. “You won’t carry guns because they’re illegal in the city.”
Before Bit knew what was happening, someone from behind them shot at one of Debby’s thugs. Without thinking, Bit ducked behind a garbage can. Oden joined her, protecting her with his own body. Out of the corner of her eye, Bit saw Randal flick his knife at one of the men before ducking behind one of the many metal trash cans at the side of the alley.
Debby’s men began shooting, a shot hitting Calen. Bit screamed as she watching him collapse in the middle of the alleyway. Jack sprung to his brother’s side, covering his prone body with his own.
Bit looked back at the space where Blaine and Windbreaker had been fighting. Blaine was on the ground but moving. Windbreaker was crouched behind the steps leading up to an elevated door, firing at the men crowding the entryway of the alley.
Debby ran to the corner of the building, using it as cover, along with the leader of the men. One of her men was already down, dead by the look of it. The other two attackers raced to the corner of the other building, one with Randal’s blade protruding from his shoulder.
Bit watched in amazement as Randal pushed his garbage can an inch toward their enemy. They aimed their weapons on him and he ducked behind the can. Windbreaker shot at them and they ducked behind their buildings, giving Randal a chance to move a good foot toward them.
They continued this cycle until the guns clicked empty. Randal jumped forward, nearly at the corner. The leader jabbed a punch at Randal’s face, but the strong man grabbed the wrist as it sailed by his face and elevated it, revealing the man’s tender side. Randal slammed his free fist into the leader’s kidneys three times in quick succession before twisting the captured limb until the other man was doubled over.
“Go, Oden. I’m fine,” Bit said as she raised her borrowed knife.
The pilot ran out from behind their cover and joined the fray as Bit slid to Calen’s side. He was alive, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She took over pressing Jack’s shirt to the wound.
“Go kill those jackasses,” Bit ordered. “I got this.”
Jack stared at her for a second before snatching up his own blade and joining the battle raging on the sidewalk. Bit looked down at the other end of the alleyway. Blaine was trying to get back on his feet, but each attempt sent him down again. Either he was too hurt or the drugs were too strong. Had Mr. Windbreaker doped him again?
Bit jerked her eyes to the man in question. He was coming out from behind the cement staircase, now riddled with bullet holes, his eyes on her. Bit felt her stomach twist into knots.
She didn’t just fear for herself, but Calen as well. He needed her here, putting pressure on his wound.
Mr. Windbreaker limped up to her, looking none too good. One arm hung awkwardly from his shoulder. Through his clothing she could see various cuts all over his body. She suspected even if he didn’t bleed to death, he would get an infection if not properly tended to. He glared down at her as he wavered on his unsteady feet.
“Come with me,” he growled.
“Only if you kill me first.”
“Mr. Asseltine wants you alive.”
Bit’s glare darkened. “Well, that just ain’t happening. I’m not going with you.”
“There’s no one to stop me. Your boy toy back there can barely stand. This one’s about to bleed out and the other three are busy. Who’s going to protect you?”
“Who says I can’t protect myself?” she asked, stalling for time.
“Enough stalling,” he said, seeing right through her. “C’mon.”
He leaned down to grab her shoulder and, in a swift move, she released the pressure on Calen’s wound and grabbed her knife, driving up into Windbreaker’s gut. He grunted with the impact, his blood pooling in the wound and weeping down her arm as she twisted the knife, just to be sure the wound was deadly. With a little pressure, Mr. Windbreaker toppled to the side, missing Calen’s body by an inch.
Bit ignored the way her stomach convulsed, wiping her hands on her already stained crew jacket before returning them to the soaked shirt that was acting as a pressure bandage. She turned her head to see how the others were doing.
Oden and his opponent were down to bare fists. The other man swung quickly at Oden’s neck with the side of his open hand, but Oden was just as quick, blocking with his forearm and ducking to the side. A few more fast blows followed, which Bit couldn’t follow. Suddenly, the other man went for a good old-fashioned punch to the face. Oden ducked low, spinning his back to the man and his elbow up into his nose, effectively breaking it.
Blood splattered everywhere as the man shook his head, trying to dispel the sudden fog from his mind. Oden didn’t give him the chance, but grabbed a length of rope from his back pocket and quickly subdued him on the ground, cuffing his hands behind him.
Bit turned her attention to the others. Jack’s fighting style was a little more “grab and spin the man into the solid structure” than Oden’s surprise attack or Randal’s years of finesse, but it got the job done. It wasn’t long before the men were dead or subdued and Debby was crying for mercy. Bit wasn’t much inclined to give Debby any mercy as she looked down at Calen’s pale face, but it wasn’t her call.
“Now what do we do?” Oden asked as they dragged the last man back into the shadows of the alleyway.
They had three dead bodies, two men and one woman with their hands tied behind their backs, and two men in need of a hospit
al.
Actually, amended Bit, we all could use a hospital.
Jack raced to Calen’s side and took over Bit’s job. Bit didn’t hesitate but staggered to her feet and limped over to where Blaine was still struggling to get to his feet. He was on his knees, gripping the railing of the stairs Mr. Windbreaker had hidden behind. He wrapped his arms around her as she slid to a stop next to him. It hurt, but she allowed it as it distracted him.
“Bit,” Oden called.
“It’s okay,” she said through clenched teeth as she fumbled with the back of Blaine’s belt.
She felt a wash of relief nearly send her to her knees as her groping fingers found the syringe intact. She pulled it free of his belt loops, unwound the cloth and flicked off the cap. As she expected, half the liquid was gone. She hoped what remained would be sufficient. Bit jabbed the needle into Blaine’s backside, right through his ruined trousers, and sunk the plunger. Within seconds, he dropped to the ground.
Bit cried out in pain as his weight landed on her, taking her to the ground too. Randal and Oden ran to her side, pulling him off of her.
“The ketamine?” Randal asked.
Bit nodded, still lying across the pavement. “It’s what he used to kidnap me. It won’t keep him out for long, but it will give us some time without his crazy to contend with.”
“Good thinking,” said the commander with a smile.
He reached down to help her up and she shook her head.
“I’ll just stay right here. Oden, go into the strip club, see if what’s-her-butt will help us out. Maybe she even has the contact information for the CFO of MGC.”
“Why didn’t I think of that?” asked Oden.
“Because you’re not as smart as me,” Bit said from her place on the dirty pavement.
He gave her a mock glare before running off. Bit closed her eyes for only a second, and before she knew what had happened, Oden returned, half the club’s employees in tow. A group of the club’s bouncers quickly grabbed the captives and hauled them off with Randal’s supervision. Jack, with the help of what appeared to be the club’s “doctor,” carefully lifted Calen onto a long board and carried him out of the alleyway. Two more sturdy men carried Blaine away by his hands and feet, while some lower-level workers were left to deal with the bodies.
Bit turned her eyes on Oden. Suddenly it was just the two of them in the blood-soaked alleyway. Tears pressed against her eyes and she tilted her head away from his prying eyes.
“I want to be alone,” she said as he lowered himself to the ground.
“I can’t just leave you alone, Bit. Not after everything that’s happened.”
“I don’t mean just right now. I mean all the time.” She paused, still not looking at him. “I know life with the crew, despite all this, is better than it was with any of my past employers, but I don’t want it. I don’t want any of it. I want to just be alone.”
“But we can’t have that. None of us can. None of us can mature as human beings by ourselves. Maturity demands a community, a family.”
She turned to look at him. “What do you mean?”
“You can’t grow up alone. You can’t develop alone. That only happens with others around you, challenging you.”
Bit frowned up at him. “When did you get to be so wise?”
“Great thing about growing up in adversity, we have lots of chances to get wise,” he said with a sad, lopsided smile. “Once you give yourself a chance, you’ll learn to find the wisdom in your own adversities.”
Bit looked away again. “What were your adversities? You never told me.”
Oden let out a long sigh, drawing her attention back to him. “Compared to what you have suffered, they’re not worth mentioning.”
Bit pushed herself up into a sitting position, wincing as her broken ribs pinched her and blazed anew.
“Please don’t do that. Please don’t compare your crappy childhood to mine. I’m asking to know my friend better, not to compare.”
Oden nodded slowly, letting her words sink in. “I got into flight school on a scholarship. You see, flight school is very, very expensive; only the elite can afford it. I was never allowed to forget that I was the charity case. The tattoos, the piercings. I got them all during school trying to look tougher. Trying to scare off the guys who would come into the dorms at night and attack me.”
“Attack you?”
Oden nodded again. “It was stupid. No amount of ink was going to scare those punks off. When I finally realized that, I decided to turn my focus on my studies. That didn’t make them like me any better, especially when I started out-testing them.”
“So that guy we met in the strip club.”
“Was one of the ring leaders. He made it his life’s mission to torment me.”
Bit tightened her cut and bruised hands into fist. “Good thing I hadn’t known all this beforehand.”
Oden gave her his usual grin. “Why? What more would you have done?”
“I don’t know. Either beaten the crap out of him or jumped your bones right there in front of him!”
“Dammit!”
Bit gave his arm a playful punch before climbing to her feet, her breath catching in her chest as her ribs and arm protested the movement. Oden scrambled to his feet, ready to support her if she needed it. She waved him off.
They walked back to the strip club, walking in as if they owned the place.
Daisy, Oden’s old friend, was walking up and down the long runway stage, half dressed for her show that night, comm. device in hand.
“Well, look here, Gregory, you know those embryos coming from Earth you’ve been making such a fuss about? You want to get them in one piece, you get your ass down to the club, and you bring your full security detail. You understand? … Good!” she snapped before she ended the call.
The stripper turned to them, a smile spreading across her overly-painted face.
“He’ll be here in thirty minutes.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Jack eyed the strip club’s “doctor” as he worked on Calen. A strong sedative had put his brother under, leaving him relaxed on the table as the other man dug in the open wound, searching for the bullet. Jack couldn’t imagine how his brother could continue to live with half his blood supply staining the alleyway and now the exam table. All the same, Calen’s chest continued to rise and fall ever so slightly.
Finally, the doctor pulled his tools out, the tips of his forceps gripping the smashed bullet. He inserted a tube, sucking away the pool of blood before he began to stitch up the wound in a primitive manner. Even the ship’s outdated infirmary could do better than silk stitches. Jack chose not to argue. It was better than leaving the wound open. They could use flesh-seal once they reached the ship. If there was any luck left with them, they would drop the embryos off with MGC in less than twenty-four hours.
Jack ran his hands through his hair, unaware that he was streaking his brother’s blood through his hair at the same time. He slumped back, falling into a chair.
What do I do with Calen while I wait for the office to open? he wondered, staring at his battered brother. Maybe I should send him up to the ship now. I could send him and Bit and Oden… and Blaine up now. Randal and I could finish the run.
Jack felt his shoulders slump. He was so tired—a tiredness that went beyond a long day. His very spirit ached. He was out of fight, as his mother would put it.
“Hey, Cap,” Oden said from the doorway, “you’re needed out here.”
Jack looked up at the pilot’s face, peeking through the doorway, and nodded. He dragged himself up, only leaving because he felt certain his brother was out of immediate danger. Jack followed Oden out into the main room of the club, the back of his mind wondering at the generosity of the Carnal Cave. Some day he would have to ask Oden what sort of connection he had with the stripper.
A man dressed in a suit costing more than Jack’s ship stood a few feet past the door, flanked by a host of armed guards. A pretty little
stripper came up to his side and gave him a charming smile.
“Gregory,” the stripper said, “this is Captain Jack Macleef, owner of Macleef Shipping.”
“Macleef Shipping… you’re transporting the embryos from Earth. You’re already here?”
“Our cargo manifest got leaked. We were attacked by pirates and had to push our speed. We arrived on Thursday.”
“Why didn’t you contact us?” demanded Gregory.
“We tried. The main office was closed already for the holiday.”
Recognition dawned on the man’s face. Slowly, he examined their appearances. Jack looked around, viewing his crew through a stranger’s lens.
Bit stood a little to the side, her injured arm still wrapped in the sleeve of Calen’s shirt. Blood had soaked through the fabric and was beginning to leak down to her finger tips. If she wasn’t careful, it was going to begin dripping down to the plush carpet.
Though Oden wasn’t about to bleed all over the carpet, blood from Bit’s wound stained his shirt and bruises were beginning to form on his prominent cheek bones. Both his hands were cut and bruised as well. And just like Bit, dark circles lined his eyes from lack of sleep.
Jack could only imagine what he looked like.
While the executive examined his crew, Randal appeared.
“The captives are secure,” he said before he realized they weren’t alone.
“Captives?” Gregory asked, abandoning his examination.
“When we arrived we were attacked by people we believe to be associated with the pirates. Just a few minutes ago we managed to capture a few. It was then we found we had a way to contact you through private channels,” Jack said, nodding toward the stripper.
Gregory glanced around, examining Randal and his own injuries too. “Anyone else injured beyond you lot?”
“My brother is with the club’s doctor now being seen for a gunshot wound, and one of my security officers is badly injured on my ship having been tortured.”
“Tortured?” asked Gregory.
“Yes, sir.”
“I think it’s time I hear the whole story. Daisy, can you show us to a private room and get us some food. Put it on my tab along with any cost they’ve accumulated. Donald,” he said turning to one of his men, “call in for a caravan to transport the crew to our headquarters and call in our medical team. After you, Captain.”
Broken & Hunted Page 28
