Although Seb felt his team close around him, he stepped forward too. If the things in front of him wanted to pick a fight, he wouldn’t shirk away from it. But he needed to make sure they focused on him and not the others. A second later, Reyes moved to stand beside him.
“What are you doing?” Seb said to her.
“We still don’t know who they want. I don’t want to put the others in danger.”
He couldn’t argue with it. Seb turned his attention back to the line in front of them. “Look, this isn’t the day for you to be picking a fight with us. We have far more important things to do than scrap with a bunch of jumped-up thugs trying to make a point.”
“If you don’t want a row,” Reyes said from the side of her mouth, “then you should think about referring to them in a different way.”
The squat creatures were all garbed in brown robes and wore them like uniforms. It placed them somewhere between peasants and monks. Because of their baggy clothes, Seb didn’t see their weapons until they’d drawn them. They moved in unison, training their blasters on him.
A look from Reyes and then back to the creatures, Seb let out a nervous laugh. He could fight, but with that many blasters on him … “I can’t help thinking this is personal. What’s your problem? I’m too pretty for you or something? You’re jealous of the way we look? It’s your round little heads, isn’t it? I’d have a chip on my shoulder if I looked like you lot.”
While he had their attention, Seb stepped forward another pace, leaving Reyes behind. He was the one winding them up. He could draw their fire.
“Dead or alive,” the leader of the thickset creatures said.
Confused, Seb frowned, the swelling on his face reminding him not to. Although he winced because of his pain, he still said, “Huh?”
“That was Moses’ request, right?”
Not taking his eyes from the beings in front of him, Seb heard Sparks say, “Oh damn, they still think there’s a bounty on your head.”
“From what I’ve heard about you, Seb Zodo,” the leader said again, “you’re as slippery as they come. Give you an opening and you’ll exploit it. I’ve heard about what you’ve done to my brethren in the prison cell and what—”
“If you want to take me in, take me in,” Seb said. “But I’m not going to stand here listening to a bullshit monologue. You sound like a villain from a bad movie.”
The leader of the thick-headed creatures looked around. The other beings that had cleared them a space had backed even farther away. Parents pulled on their children, and the guards in nearby cargo bays withdrew into their ships. The hiss of hydraulics pierced what would have been near silence as blast doors closed.
A world in slow motion did little to help Seb at that moment, so he pushed his gift down as he moved closer again. Thankfully Reyes didn’t follow him.
Seb smiled despite his nerves locking his face tense. “You know Moses has called off the bounty on me, right? I’m back working with him.”
“You would say that.”
“You’re right, I probably would. That doesn’t mean it’s not true. Go and ask him.”
It seemed to unsettle the lead bounty hunter, who looked at his crew on either side of him. “I think we’ll take the risk of carrying on with our plan, right, boys?” Nods ran away from him in both directions. “Best case scenario, we get paid. Worst case, we make sure there’s one less human in the galaxy. The sooner we eradicate you lot, the better. You’re a bunch of egotistical arseholes who put psychopaths and narcissists at the heads of your twisted societies. The sad thing is you still see yourselves as progressive.”
While the creature talked, Seb looked both left and right. Despite the vast space they’d already cleared, the beings in the port continued to back away. He stepped forward again. “If you’re going to shoot me, why don’t you just do it? You talk about egos, yet all you’ve done is babble on as if the bile coming out of your small mouth is worth sharing. Get over yourself and—”
Before Seb could finish, he heard Bruke, Sparks, and Reyes call out behind him. Then an oomph as if someone had taken a blow to the stomach. When he turned around, he saw more of the small-headed creatures. They each had a member of the Shadow Order gripped around the throat with blasters pressed against their temples. One of the creatures lay unconscious at SA’s feet, but even she’d been overpowered, and two now held her in place.
Seb let go of an exhausted sigh and looked beyond his friends towards the black freighter. At least another thirty small-headed creatures had emerged, blasters in hands like the ones in front.
The leader laughed. “You wanted to know what the monologue was about?” He shook his head. “And you were dumb enough to fall for it, watching me while we snuck up on you from behind. Now, you might walk away from this, but I promise you, one wrong move and we’ll blow your friends’ brains out. We’ve done our research, Seb Zodo. We know who you are and exactly what you’re capable of. No chances taken when it comes to you. When told we could bring you in dead or alive, we agreed dead would be better. There’s a slight chance we could change our minds, but I doubt it. A dead human is always better than a live one. Unless they plan to torture you for a time first. Now on your knees with your hands behind your head.”
Seb’s legs damn near gave out beneath him as he dropped to the hard concrete. His hands behind his head, he watched the leader move forward with his blaster trained on him. “Any last words?”
Because he had nothing else, Seb laughed. “This has to be a record for a Shadow Order mission. Dead before getting off Aloo.” Then to SA he said, I love you.
Chapter 10
Seb stared up along the barrel of the blaster aimed at him into the creature’s eyes. “So what now?”
“Now I shoot you. Isn’t that obvious?” When some of the squat, thick-skulled thugs laughed, their leader laughed too. He shook his head. “And you keep saying we’re the stupid ones.”
Slow motion did nothing to improve the situation, so again Seb resisted his gift’s will to kick in. The beast stood far enough away that he wouldn’t be able to get to him before he ripped a shot off, so there seemed little point in dragging out the agony. “You know, Moses is going to flip out when you turn up with my dead body.”
He’d already said it, but for some reason, when Seb reiterated that Moses didn’t want him anymore, it seemed to unsettle the dumb brute. Narrowing his bright blue eyes, he frowned. “How do I know you’re telling the truth?”
Although Seb opened his mouth to reply, a voice behind him stopped him dead.
“I’ve got an idea.”
Bruke, SA, Reyes, and Sparks were still held at gunpoint, and the creature who’d spoken walked up and down in front of them. Wider than its leader, it too had a blaster in its grip. “Because we don’t know if he’s telling the truth or not, why don’t we kill one of his friends to see if he still wants to stick to his story?”
The most composed of the lot, Reyes appraised Seb with her dark-eyed stare. Her chin held high, not a hint of fear in her tone, she said, “You stick to the truth, Seb, no matter how much they try to manipulate you.”
The taste of salt on his tongue from the Aloo winds, Seb’s throat turned so dry it felt like it could crack. Although he stared back at Reyes, he didn’t reply. What could he say? Tell them the truth and he’d be okay, but they’d kill one of his friends to validate it. At least if he lied, they’d only kill him.
The creature who’d suggested shooting the others moved close to Reyes, who stood slightly ahead of the others from where she’d moved forwards with Seb when they were first confronted by the gang. The beast shoved his gun up under her chin. It pushed her head up, forcing her out of her strong pose.
All the while, Reyes stared straight at the creature but didn’t speak. She wouldn’t be intimidated by him.
The other beings in the spaceport might have moved far away, but they still watched on. Despite the dense crowd and an army of the thick-skulled fools, Seb heard nothing b
ut the wind as he stared at his friend at gunpoint. As he opened his mouth to say something that might protect her, the creature with the blaster to Reyes’ face pulled it away.
Seb let go of a relieved sigh.
Still locked tense, his stomach churning and forcing bile up into his throat, Seb watched the creature with the blaster make its way along his line of his friends. SA, Sparks, Bruke, and then back to Reyes. He waved his gun at each one, hovering for a second before moving on.
Then—quick as a flash—the creature shoved his gun in SA’s face, cracking her cheek with the end of the barrel.
Seb hadn’t realised how he’d reacted until the leader behind him called to his friend. “That’s the one. That’s his weak spot right there.”
Barely able to hear anything around him for his pulse booming through his ears, Seb and SA stared at one another. Tears covered SA’s eyes, and a red patch from where the gun had hit her sat as a blemish on her cheek. You have to stick to the truth, she said.
I can’t lose you.
You have to stick to the truth.
The leader of the group shouted over Seb’s head at SA, “You’re a pretty one. I must say, I can see why he likes you. I’m guessing the feelings aren’t mutual though. I mean, why would they be?”
Although Seb heard the creature’s words, they barely registered as he watched his love.
“Now,” the leader said, “answer me this; does Moses still want him?”
A sharp shake of her head, SA now levelled her stare on the brute who had the gun pointed at her. She looked like she wanted to tear him apart.
“And, if I kill him, will I be in trouble with the big man?”
Like Reyes before her, SA straightened her pose and continued to glare at the creature with the gun. She nodded.
“No, she’s lying,” Seb said.
The other Shadow Order members and the brute with the gun looked at him.
“What?” the leader of the wide creatures said.
“She’s lying. Moses does still want me. I was just trying to save myself.”
What are you doing, Seb?
With a shake of his head, the leader said, “So you were lying?”
“Of course I was, you moron. I want to try to save my life, don’t I?”
“And she’ll give hers to back up your lie?”
At that moment, Seb looked back at SA. Where she’d stared rage at the creature holding her at gunpoint, she now turned her fury on him. What are you doing?
I can’t let them kill you.
But you need to survive, Seb. And I’m not going to lie.
I can’t let you do it, SA. Your life is more important to me than my own.
The hostility SA had stared at Seb eased a little. She then shook her head. I’m going to get the others to back me up.
“No!” Seb called out, all of the guards staring at him, several of them raising their blasters.
The leader of the group shoved Seb with his foot and said, “What was that for?”
Knees sore from where he knelt on the ground, Seb didn’t reply. Instead, he watched the faces of his friends. He watched Bruke’s, Reyes’, and Sparks’ eyes all glaze slightly as they clearly listened to a voice in their heads. Before they could say anything, he jumped to his feet, yelled, and charged straight for the leader of the group.
His world now in slow motion again, Seb saw the leader panic as he raised his blaster. In his peripheral vision, he saw many of the others do the same.
Surprise on his side, Seb had to get one blow on the creature before they filled him with holes. As he wound back his fist, something grabbed it with a strength he didn’t expect. It yanked him away from his target as if he weighed nothing.
Chapter 11
Because he now saw the world in slow motion, Seb watched the mouth of the creature he’d tried to attack spread wide. It remained in the same spot as it watched him get dragged away to the left. In the dumb brute’s slack jaw and raised brow, he saw his own shock staring straight back at him. Then his other fist got dragged around next to the first, and he flew with both hands in front of him like a corny superhero.
Seb hurtled along about a metre above the spaceport’s ground. Now he’d been yanked around by the pull on his fists, he saw he was heading for a large ship. It had landed in the space cleared by the spectators. It had five huge discs on its side. The centre disc had the widest diameter of about two metres and looked to be covered in a layer of padding as thick as a mattress. The four surrounding it on each compass point were about one and a half metres across. Their exposed brushed metal glinted in the sun. He looked like he’d score a bullseye.
The docked ships on either side of him a blur—even in slow motion—Seb winced at the inevitable impact.
A shock wave ran through his skeleton when he crashed—fists first—into the centre target. Although jarring, the layer of cushioning helped a little. It didn’t feel like he’d broken anything. He didn’t hear a snap.
Not quite relief, but Seb relaxed slightly … until he turned and looked back at where he’d come from.
A wall of debris rushed towards him. All of it had been dragged in by the magnetic pull. Blasters, belt buckles, and even loose nuts and bolts. It came forward in a swarm.
Still pinned to the magnet, Seb winced, waiting for the metal onslaught to tear him to shreds.
Chapter 12
Powerless as he remained stuck to the magnet like a gnat on flypaper, Seb yelled in fear. However, a fraction of a second before impact, the debris split away, scattering in four equal parts. Above and below him, to the left and right. Not a single object hit him as the metallic storm of shrapnel found the magnets around him.
When the magnets had pulled in all the metal they could, the hum of them only became obvious because of their sudden absence. Seb and the metal fell, his stomach lurching at the unexpected drop.
Another loud crash as Seb hit the ground at the same time as the metal. In the mounds of debris, he saw Sparks’ computer. After picking it up and examining it, he looked over at his small—and now anxious—friend. He gave her a thumbs-up. Somehow, the device had survived. It had a thick rubber skin surrounding it that must have protected it. In the slight easing of her frame, he saw her relief.
An ache in his bones, out of breath, and his head spinning from what had just happened, Seb looked at his other Shadow Order friends. They’d taken advantage of the momentary distraction and disarming of the beasts. They’d battered the creatures that held them at gunpoint and had forced them all back together.
A loud whoosh sounded out to Seb’s right. When he looked across, he saw steps fold out of the vessel, and Moses appeared.
Instead of looking at Seb, Moses looked up at the magnets that had pulled him out of there. All five of them had been welded to the side of the vessel. His attention still on them, Moses said, “You can’t say I don’t think of you. I had this ship ready in case we needed it at any point. I knew it would be the quickest way to extract you from danger.” He pressed against the padded central disc. “But I wanted to make sure it wouldn’t hurt you if you clattered into it.”
Still no words, Seb shook his head at the Shadow Order’s leader and tried to roll some of the aches from his bones.
“I have eyes all over Aloo,” Moses said, clearly recognising the need to elaborate. “I came as soon as I heard what was happening. Sorry if I cut it fine.”
The stress of the past few minutes caught up with Seb, and a shake ran through him. “You wouldn’t have had to come if you hadn’t put a bounty out on me in the first place. And how long ago did you build this ship?”
“We’ve already discussed this, Seb. I know what you’re capable of. I have ways to defend against all of the Shadow Order members in case any of them try to kill me. When you’re in my line of work, you can’t be too careful.”
“If you have spies all the way through Aloo,” Seb said, his thoughts pulling him away from the moment, “you must have known when I was here and
when I wasn’t after the prison break?”
With a slight nod, Moses conceded Seb’s point.
“Then why didn’t you bring me in then?”
“It wasn’t time for you to come in. You needed to follow your line of inquiry.”
“Then why put a bounty on me?”
“For show.”
“You made me fight for my life just for show?”
“Look at it from my perspective. What kind of example would it set if I hadn’t? I’m supposed to be the leader of the Shadow Order and the one responsible for keeping this place in check. If the beings on Aloo heard about you escaping and me not doing anything about it, what would it tell them? There’d be chaos.”
As much as Seb wanted to argue, Moses had a point.
As if suddenly remembering more than he and Moses were there, Seb looked over his shoulder at the thick-skulled beasts that had held them at gunpoint. Although they’d been herded into a pack, some of them remained on the ground from where the magnet had dragged them over while robbing them of their metallic possessions. Many simply stood and stared at Seb and Moses.
The lead creature broke the silence by calling across at them, “So there’s no bounty?”
His pulse still pounding, his breaths fast, Seb threw an exasperated shrug at the creature. “That’s what I told you in the first place, you fool.”
“Then why did you change your mind and tell me different halfway through?”
A mixture of rage and shame, Seb’s skin burned. “Because you were going to kill SA.”
The creature raised an eyebrow when it looked at SA and then back to Seb. “You were prepared to die so she didn’t?”
The anger left Seb, but the heat remained in his cheeks. His shoulders slumped as he let go of a sigh.
After nodding several times, the beast laughed. “Fair play.” Then to SA, he said, “You’ve got a keeper there, love.”
The Shadow Order - Books 1 - 8 + 120 Seconds (The complete series): A Space Opera Page 102
