Robert came out again. “Angelina?”
He looked around until he saw her almost directly under him.
“’ow did you get down there?”
“Remember, Robert? You’re dreaming. Things don’t make sense in dreams.”
He nodded drowsily and yawned.
“Go back to bed now.” Anna waved him toward the front of the ship.
With another nod, he passed through the door again. Anna dashed back to her room and hastily put her boots and socks back on. She retrieved her wristcomp from under the bed, strapped it on, and grabbed the igniter she’d hidden earlier. Feeling complete, she left the room again and rushed to the two skycycles parked in the far corner of the cargo hold. Mounting the first one, she looked over the controls and determined they would be easy enough to use. Without wasting another moment, she started it up.
The roar of the engine filled the cargo hold, immediately telling Anna she had little time to make her escape. She prayed she could take off before anyone could reach her. As she feared, both the upper and lower doors leading to the cabins opened within seconds. James and Robert stood next to each other up above, while the rest of the crew stared at her on the lower level. The captain yelled something she could barely make out, but the group of men below did not move. Robert, on the other hand, sprang into action and sprinted for the access ladder.
At that second, the ready light blinked on in front of her, and Anna hit the accelerator, speeding out of the ship and into the sunlight. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Robert skid to a halt and scream something while shaking his fist at her. Not caring what he said, she steered the skycycle in the direction of her ship and began her flight home. As she left the clearing, she pulled the fuel igniters out of her pockets and tossed them into the woods below, one at a time.
* * * * *
“How the fuck did she get out?” James paced the upper catwalk while interrogating his crew. “How?”
Nobody responded.
“God damned idiots! Robert, take the other skycycle and bring her back here. Michel, go check her room and find out how she got out. Paco, get your ass up here now!”
As Robert sprinted to the remaining skycycle, Paco rushed to the ladder as the rest of the crew retreated into the forward section of the ship. Paco skidded to a halt about a meter in front of James and saluted.
“How did she get out, Paco?” demanded James at a normal volume.
Paco replied with a shrug. “I don’t know.”
The captain stepped forward and gnashed his teeth. “You were the one responsible for tying her up. So, I’m going to ask you again. How did she get out?”
“I don’t know, sir.”
“You’re lying.” James moved toward him again. “You were in there with her for over an hour. You must have helped her. There is no other explanation.”
Trembling with fear, Paco backed away. “No, captain. I didn’t.”
Placing a hand on Paco’s shoulder, James lowered his head and stared right into the crewman’s eyes. “I warned you. There is a price for failure aboard my ship.”
“Sir, wait. Please!”
Paco lurched forward, his eyes bulging. He looked down in time to see James pull a knife out of his chest, its blade coated with fresh blood. Paco grabbed his commander’s jacket as his legs buckled. He fell to his knees, released his grasp on the jacket, and stayed upright for a second before collapsing in a heap on the catwalk.
James wiped his blade clean on Paco’s pants and returned it to its sheath inside his jacket. He scowled in disgust at the dying crewman, and calmly walked through the doors leading to the ship’s bridge.
* * * * *
Michel burst through the lower doors as the upper doors closed. “Captain! Captain!”
Michel fell silent upon seeing the blood dripping onto the deck from the catwalk above. Slowly, he lifted his gaze and spotted Paco. He recoiled, gasping, and dashed to the ladder. Within seconds, he was kneeling at Paco’s side.
“Paco!” Michel rolled him over and assessed the damage. “What happened?”
Paco whispered, his words raspy, “Captain…thought I…helped her escape.”
Pausing for a second, the medic winced upon seeing the entry wound just below his sternum. With blood pouring out of his chest, Michel knew he didn’t have much time or blood left. He frowned, knowing there was nothing he could do.
“Did you?”
Paco gently shook his head and coughed a few times. Tears fell from his eyes.
“I don’t want to die!” He labored to utter each word, his breathing spilling more blood out of his chest.
Michel leaned over him. “You’re going to be fine, Paco.”
“Really?”
Michel nodded with a gentle smile on his face. “Yeah. Angelina came back. She’s waiting for you in her quarters. She said she couldn’t leave without you.”
“I’m glad, Michel. I love her.” Paco managed a slight grin.
Paco’s body convulsed, each breath shallow and rapid. His gaze shot upward, fixed on some unseen object. Michel grabbed his hand and squeezed it, offering Paco assurance he wouldn’t die alone. Seconds later, Paco’s eyes rolled back into his head, and his body slumped and relaxed in Michel’s arms. His final breath rattled from his mouth in a slow exhale.
As Michel bowed his head, he spied Hiraku standing just inside the doorway, watching. Hiraku turned and slowly walked away from the hatch. Michel closed Paco’s eyes with his fingers, and laid the young man’s hand to his chest. After setting him down on the deck, he followed after his crewmate.
* * * * *
Speeding across the treetops, Anna relaxed and prepared to call Kate, when a burst of energy zipped past the bike. Glancing behind her, she spotted another vehicle in the distance just as another bolt of lethal energy lanced the air near her head and flew past her. Turning forward again, she lowered herself as close to the cycle as she could manage and increased her speed as fast as it would go. Since she had been in flight for only a few minutes, she knew she had a long way to go before she reached her ship.
Another shot flew past, dangerously close. Anna glanced back again, and could swear her pursuer had narrowed the gap. Cursing under her breath and wishing she had a firearm on her, she resorted to swerving the vehicle back and forth, hoping to make herself a more difficult target.
Several more blasts raced past her over the next few minutes, each one making Anna more and more nervous. She randomized the intervals at which she would shift the other direction, and believed she was succeeding when the next few shots passed several meters shy of her location.
A single shot slammed into the back of her vehicle near the landing base. The impact shook the cycle and nearly threw her off, but her white-knuckled grip on the flight controls kept her in place. The vehicle shuddered again. She diverted her gaze to the panel, confirming her speed was decreasing. Anxiety and fear washed over her, and her mind raced to find a way to avoid being taken back to the hell that was the pirates’ starship.
A fair distance ahead, Anna spotted a clearing in the forest canopy. As she avoided another shot that narrowly missed her, she steered her skycycle toward the break in the treetops and dived into the forest seconds later.
She had only seconds to drop the speeding vehicle to skim the ground and penetrate the tree line, letting the trees provide her with extra cover. With all her strength, she directed the cycle between two large trees, and left the clearing as quickly as she had entered it.
Anna sped between the trees, terrified she would turn the wrong way and smash against a solid trunk. After letting-up on the accelerator and taking several seconds to adjust to her new speed, her fears subsided, and she directed the bike through the woods with ease.
A moment later, she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. Turning her head for a second, she saw Robert on the other skycycle, his sneer directed at her.
Some moments later she glanced over again and, seeing the weapon being br
ought to bear, nudged the accelerator a little. His shot missed her by centimeters.
Several seconds later Robert appeared in the corner of her eye again. This time there were several rows of trees between them. He brought his gun to bear again, but had to pull his arm back to avoid a tree. Anna took advantage of the distraction to put a few more rows of trees between them.
Before she had a chance to breathe, Robert’s bike was alongside hers. He flashed a wicked grin at her as he gripped and raised his weapon. As the sidearm leveled, Anna reared back and kicked his vehicle, sending him off course and scrambling to regain control. However, the force of her action took her off course too. She steered the cycle back on track, but not before it skimmed a thick tree and bent the forward leg guard in.
Robert regained his position, raised his pistol and prepared to fire. The next thing she knew, he cried out in pain. He’d not seen an oncoming branch.
Anna regarded him over her shoulder. “Serves you right.”
“Fuck you!”
“Leave me alone!”
“Cap’n’s orders. If I don’t bring you back, ‘e’ll skin me alive.”
Anna wondered why James wanted her back so badly. “What does your captain want with me?”
“Don’t know. Don’t care.”
Anna scowled and maneuvered her cycle further away, narrowly missing a fallen tree in the process. Her vision shifted as she piloted through the forest, trying to find a way to lose her pursuer. Dodging another tree, Anna viewed an upcoming opportunity and steered her vehicle toward it.
To her surprise, Robert flew his bike through an opening in the trees and matched her position. As soon as he matched her course and speed, he reached across and grabbed her shirt, growling as he did. Though she tried to avoid the attempt, his hand was too quick. She slapped at his hand while trying to maintain control of her own bike, but her strikes did nothing to deter his grip. After a couple of seconds, he pulled on her, trying to rip her away from her seat. She tightened her hold on the control bar and slapped at his face and arm, but he held fast and yanked harder.
Anna heard her T-shirt tear, and struck him harder. A few seconds later the garment split and pulled off of her torso, leaving her arm caught in the damaged clothing. She slipped her arm out, tossing him backward in his seat with only the ragged cloth in his hand. He screamed in rage behind her. She felt his fingers brush against the skin of her shoulder several seconds later, but he couldn’t get a purchase. She glanced over her shoulder at him for a split second and turned her cycle away, putting some trees between them again. He swore and urged his bike forward through the next opening, tapping the two skycycles against each other. At the second of impact, he stretched his hand over and grabbed her upper arm.
“Gotcha!”
Anna yelped, surprised he had caught up with her so quickly. She maneuvered her vehicle away from his, but his firm grip on her arm pulled her away from the controls, forcing her to keep the ride in place.
“C’mon! Get over ‘ere!” He tugged on her arm while she pulled herself back the other way. Anna felt her fingers sliding off the handles. Anna caught sight of another divergence ahead and gathered her strength. At the last possible second, she lurched to the side and dragged him into the gap. Without a chance to react, Robert’s head and upper chest slammed into a thick trunk, plucking him off his bike. The unmanned vehicle sped onward into another tree several meters away, and exploded on impact.
Anna felt the surge of heat against her exposed back, and a glance over her shoulder revealed the fireball that engulfed several trees. Not wanting to risk getting caught in a fire or worse, she faced forward again and continued on her way.
Chapter 30
Anna spotted a headset resting in a specialized niche on the control bar. A tiny, amber light flashed, indicating an incoming message. She directed the vehicle into a nearby clearing, lifted the earpiece to her ear, and opened the channel.
“Did you get her?” The growl accompanying James’s voice told her volumes about his attitude. She took satisfaction in knowing she helped put him there.
Anna smirked. “Not so much.”
A second of silence separated her statement from his. “You bitch! Where is he?”
“Robert found a spot in the woods to rest. I don’t think you’ll be seeing him for a while.”
“You’ll pay for this, Anna.”
She curled her upper lip and narrowed her eyes. “I already have. If you insist on continuing after me, you’re going to have to catch me first.” She closed the channel.
* * * * *
James slammed his fist against the communicator switch.
“Fuck!”
He hopped into the pilot’s seat and started the ship’s pre-flight routine. A few seconds into the systems activations, red lights lit up on one section of the board. He skimmed the readout, which told him the engines were offline.
“Damn it.”
He stormed out of the bridge, stood in the corridor, and shrieked at the top of his lungs. After a few seconds, he turned on his heel and returned to the bridge, where he activated the internal broadcast system.
“Ahmad, why won’t the engines start?”
Several seconds went by, then Ahmad’s voice came through the channel. “I don’t know. On my way to Engineering.”
James slapped the switch to close the channel. He clenched his trembling fists as he burst through the bridge doors and stomped to Engineering. He found Ahmad inspecting the drive systems.
James refused to let a full breath pass. “What’s the problem?”
Ahmad threw open a panel and dug through the circuitry. “I’m moving as fast as I can, sir.”
“You are as slow as you are incompetent. Find it and fix it.”
A couple of minutes later, with James staring over his shoulder, Ahmad found the source of the problem.
“Sir, the igniters, they’re gone. The engines can’t start, because there isn’t any way to create fire.”
The captain nodded, then said, a peculiar calm in his voice, “So, we’re stranded.”
He turned away and strode toward the door. He cast his gaze toward the ceiling as he took the last few steps before leaving the room. “That bitch!”
Stepping onto the catwalk, James spotted Michel and Hiraku standing at the port cargo door discussing something and pointed at them. “You two, scour the ship and find the missing fuel igniters. We can’t take off without them.”
Michel and Hiraku rushed to the doors leading forward without responding, while James searched the upper deck. He strode with purpose toward the upper doors, not noticing Paco’s body missing from the catwalk.
* * * * *
The chase through the forest had taken Anna off course. She located the river and followed it upstream until she came to her crashed ship. She couldn’t help but smile at the familiar sight of her ship.
Her thoughts quickly turned from elation to horror as she saw the wreckage of the drones littering the clearing. She circled the area, studying the carnage, until she found Seventeen sitting motionless near the northern tree line.
She landed the skycycle next to the ship and sprinted toward her favored drone, tears flowing down her cheeks. Reaching the machine, she collapsed onto its back and wailed in anguish over her loss. A couple of minutes later, her wristcomp signaled an incoming message. Wiping the tears away, she answered the call.
“Anna?” Kate’s voice sounded like that of an angel.
Anna sniffed back her tears. “Yes, Kate. It’s me.”
“I am glad you made it back safely. Are you being pursued?”
She gave a sobbing laugh. “I don’t believe so. I lost the one that was chasing me, and the others shouldn’t be able to follow any time soon.”
“No offense, Anna, but that does not give me much comfort. I would feel better if the sensors were back online.”
“I’ll be right there.”
Shoving her emotions to the back of her mind, she dashed to the s
hip, but came to a sudden stop when she caught sight of the crater in the hull where the keypad had been. “Um, Kate? How am I going to get in?”
“Touch the blue and green wires together.”
Following Kate’s instructions, the hatch opened as expected, letting her climb in. She stepped through the inner airlock door and saw Kate, who turned toward her with a warm smile on her face. “Welcome home, Anna.”
Anna smiled back, then covered her mouth and burst into tears. She staggered onto the bridge. “I wish I could hug you.”
“I know, Anna. I know.”
Anna dropped to her knees and buried her face in her hands, letting the tears flow unchecked.
A few seconds passed in silence, before she heard Kate’s voice next to her. “Anna, I understand that you have been through a highly traumatic experience, and I want to help you through it. But first, we need to get the sensors back online. We must know if anyone is approaching. We cannot take any chances.”
Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Anna nodded and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
“Where’s my tool belt?”
“It is inside Seventeen’s storage tank. Since your abductors left it behind when they took you, I saw no reason for it to continue to be exposed to the elements.”
Nodding again, Anna rose to her feet and dashed out of the airlock. Within a minute, she stood behind the fallen drone and reached for the storage tanks.
“Even in death you are helping to save me, Seventeen.” She released the safety catch and tugged on the container. She pulled the tank to the ground and opened the metal cylinder, locating her tool belt and all her equipment. Withdrawing the belt and fastening it around her waist, she reached in and pulled out the sidearm, which had slipped out of its makeshift holster. Remembering her original fear of it, she now felt empowered, and she gripped it with growing confidence before returning it to its pocket and rushing back to the ship.
Alone in Paradise (The Chronicles of Anna Foster Book 2) Page 22
