Manhunt on Tau Ceti 4 (Nick Walker, U.F. Marshal Book 6)

by John Bowers

  Thomas thought it over for a moment. From the moment Billy Stanfield’s body had been discovered, he had felt almost paralyzed. Now he realized that Blankenship was right. Walker needed their help.

  He pressed a button on his desk comm.

  “Yes, Sheriff?”

  “Send Hugo Barnes in here.”

  The Road to Lago – Tau Ceti 4

  Nick shielded his eyes against the headlights facing him. He couldn’t clearly see the car behind the lights, but it looked like an older model, something that had seen better days. The pilot honked the horn, blasting him with sound that hurt his ears in the tight space beneath the bridge. He took a step to the right and waved the pilot forward.

  The pilot’s door opened and a figure stepped out, but in the glare Nick couldn’t make out more than that.

  “Can I help you?” he called.

  The figure stepped into his view. It was a woman about his own age, maybe a couple of years older.

  “You’re blocking the damn road!” she said. “I need to get home.”

  “You live down this road?”

  “A couple of miles around the lake. Will you please move your fucking car?”

  Nick didn’t answer right away. This close to Saracen’s hideout, his mental radar was sweeping for danger, and the appearance of an irate citizen at this particular moment seemed a bit too much coincidence. He took a moment to look her over. Saracen’s girls were often dressed in wild or outrageous clothing, their personal grooming left everything to be desired, and most of them rarely bathed. This woman didn’t seem to meet any of those criteria—her clothing was conservative and her long hair looked clean—yet her hostility seemed unwarranted for the situation.

  “Okay,” he said. “Sure.”

  “Thank you!” She turned back toward her own vehicle. “Asshole.”

  “Mijo, do you know this lady?”

  The woman spun in surprise. Her eyes widened as she spotted Mijo standing to one side of the taxi. She had been concentrating on Nick and apparently didn’t see the boy.

  “Yeah. That’s Danube. Hi, Danube.”

  The woman blinked. She didn’t reply.

  “Who does she work for, Mijo?”

  “Mr. Tinker-Smith.”

  Danube’s mouth fell open and her eyes sprang wide, the classic angel-in-a-solar-flare expression. Panic filled her eyes and she tugged at the pistol in her waistband, but before she could take aim, Nick’s .44 was pointed straight at her face.

  “Drop it! You have two seconds, or I will kill you where you stand. And don’t think I’ll hesitate.”

  She managed to find her voice. She was shaking, but managed a savage grin.

  “I know you’ll do it. It’s what you do best. You love killing women, don’t you?”

  “Only women who kill other women. How many women have you killed?”

  “Are you talking about your fiancée? I wasn’t even there.”

  “I’m talking about Ginny Stapleton. You’re the one who took her out, aren’t you?”

  Danube lowered her gun hand until her pistol pointed at the ground.

  “Ginny failed her mission, and she would have talked. I had no choice.”

  “Was the deputy going to talk, too? You didn’t have to kill him.”

  “Of course I did. He was a witness, and he had a gun.”

  “So that makes it all right?”

  “It made it necessary.”

  “You haven’t dropped that gun yet.”

  “You said I had two seconds, but it’s been ten, and you haven’t fired yet. I don’t think you’ll kill me in front of the boy. Imagine the nightmares he would have.”

  “Mijo, turn and look the other way.”

  Mijo didn’t move. His eyes were like full moons, staring from one antagonist to the other.

  “Why don’t you give it up, Walker? Nobody wants you here, and the Chairman is no longer a threat to you.”

  “I’m not here because he’s a threat to me. I’m here to arrest him for his past activities.”

  “You don’t need to do that. He’s changed his ways.”

  “Of course he has. Can I interest you in an asteroid? Cheap?”

  “I’m serious, Walker. Ken has seen the error of his ways. He’s sorry for what he did in the past, and he won’t repeat those mistakes.”

  “Fine. I’m going to prevent him from making new mistakes. Drop your gun.”

  She stared at him, looking genuinely disappointed.

  “Isn’t there anything I can say to convince you?”

  “No.”

  “Well, that’s too bad. I’m really sorry to hear that. But I can’t let you have him.”

  “You’re welcome to try and stop me.”

  “I don’t want to hurt you, Walker.”

  “Glad to hear it. Drop your gun.”

  Danube lowered her chin almost to her chest. With her left hand, she covered her eyes for a moment, as if saying a prayer. Then, unexpectedly, she knelt and reached for the ground with her right hand.

  She laid the gun down…

  Nick relaxed just a fraction.

  Danube’s right hand snapped upward and she fired on the fly, the shot deafening in the enclosed space. Nick felt the bullet rip through his shirt collar.

  He fired, the .44 jerking upward in recoil. The shot sounded like an explosion. Danube pulled the trigger a second time, but Nick’s slug took her in the chest before her bullet could leave the barrel. She slammed backward into the front of her car as her second bullet ricocheted off the bottom of the bridge above and whined away into the rainstorm.

  Nick turned to see if Mijo was all right and found him face-down on the ground with both hands over his ears, scared but intact. He hurried toward Danube and knelt over her to pull the pistol out of her hand. It wasn’t necessary. One eye was half closed, the other was open but blank, staring at nothing. He pressed a finger against her neck, hoping for a pulse, but there was none. His bullet had ripped through her heart and out her back, most of the blood spraying the ground behind her. He stood slowly, regret in his eyes.

  “You okay, Mijo?”

  The boy had walked around the end of the taxi and stood staring. Now he looked at Nick, shock still mirrored in his eyes.

  “She tried to kill you!”

  “Yeah. I told you this is dangerous.” Nick put a hand on his shoulder. “You okay?”

  Mijo nodded. He was still staring at Danube, who looked like a sack of laundry slumped against the front of her car.

  “I never seen anybody dead before.”

  “I hope you never have to again.” Nick glanced at his watch. “I need to get going. You ready to get wet?”

  “You’re gonna let me go with you?”

  “I don’t have much choice anymore. I can’t leave you here, and I can’t find the tunnel without you.”

  “Okay.”

  “Just promise me you’ll do everything I tell you. No screwing around. Can you do that?”

  “Yeah. I can do that.”

  Chapter 31

  Saracen’s Castle – Tau Ceti 4

  Victoria Cross tensed as she heard approaching footsteps outside her closet. She frowned in concentration as she tried to determine if more than one person was out there. She was pretty sure it was only one, most likely Brandy. She lowered her head and pretended to sleep. In truth, she was far too keyed up for sleep, even though the mental stress was exhausting.

  She was also starving.

  A key turned in the lock and a moment later the heavy closet door swung outward. Victoria held her breath, hoping Brandy didn’t notice the hole in the top of the door where she had unscrewed the coat hook.

  “Hey, bitch. You hungry?”

  Victoria opened her eyes and looked up, blinking. Brandy stood there with a small plate in her hand. On the plate was a sandwich.

  “Yeah, thanks. I need to use the head, too.”

  “Ken told me to feed you. He didn’t say anything about the head.”

&nbs
p; “Then I’ll pee all over the floor.”

  “Not my problem.”

  Victoria struggled to her feet, staggered slightly, and stood in front of Brandy.

  “If your boss smells stale urine he’s not going to be happy about it. Who do you think he’ll get to clean it up?”

  Brandy scowled and took a step back. She set the plate down by the door and drew her pistol.

  “Okay, fine, but no funny stuff.”

  Victoria shook her head wearily.

  “I just have to pee, that’s all.”

  She stepped out of the closet, still facing Brandy. She stopped and gazed over the other woman’s shoulder. She lifted her chin.

  “What’s he doing here?”

  “Who?”

  Brandy turned to look, her pistol momentarily drifting off target. Holding the coat hook in both hands, Victoria swung with all her strength, embedding the threaded end in Brandy’s exposed neck. Arterial blood spurted like a geyser; Brandy screamed and staggered back. Victoria jerked the hook free, the metal threads ripping the artery wider, and swung again. This one went into her throat, opening up a new fountain. As hot blood sprayed her face and chest, Victoria dropped the hook and grabbed Brandy’s gun, ripping it from her fingers. As the other woman fell, she checked the gun quickly and found the safety still on.

  She flicked it off.

  Brandy was thrashing about on the floor, both hands gripping her throat, panic in her eyes. She stared at Victoria with a mixture of hatred and supplication. Her mouth worked, but only gurgling sounds came out. The red geyser had almost run its course, leaving a spreading crimson pool that poured into the cracks in the stone floor. As Victoria watched, Brandy ceased to struggle, her eyes glazed, and her pupils expanded. She didn’t even need to check for a pulse to know that Brandy had carried out her last order.

  Watching her die jerked her back two years, to the day she watched Suzanne Norgaard’s last moments. Victoria had never killed anyone. The reality was far more horrible than she had expected. As she stared down at the still-twitching body, blood thundered in her ears and her body shook all over. She felt a hollow expansion in her stomach, and thought she might puke. She took a step back to keep out of the still-spreading blood pool, then looked at her hands and arms, which were dripping. She shook her hands to remove the drops, but was still soaked.

  For just a moment she forgot her fear of discovery. If anyone came along now, she was caught…literally red-handed. Nausea welled up inside her. Heaving for air, she dropped to her knees, to all fours, and closed her eyes. She sucked air, fighting the gut-twisting surge, and tried to remember the Star Marine mantra:

  Semper fi, do or die, hang ‘em high, gouge their eyes! Kill! Kill! Kill!

  “Semper fi!’ she whispered in a hoarse voice. “Semper fi! Kill! Kill! Kill! Semper fi, goddammit!”

  Now she understood Nick a little better, if only dimly. His nightmares, his mood swings, his reluctance to commit.

  The nausea backed off a little and she swallowed a couple of times until it subsided. Only now did she look around, making sure she was alone. The stone corridor outside the closet was dim, with barely enough light to see more than ten feet. The walls and ceiling were not insulated, so sound carried a long way. She could hear, distantly, rain pounding the outer wall of the castle; if anyone approached, their footsteps would reach her well before they arrived.

  She had time. With a grimace and a clenched jaw, she dug in Brandy’s pockets until she found the handcuff key, uncuffed herself, then pulled Brandy’s body into the closet and closed the door. She could do nothing about the blood, but in the poor light it might not be noticed right away until someone was right on top of it.

  Finally, with Brandy hidden away, she considered her next move. She had a gun, so she could at least defend herself; she needed to get out of the castle, but didn’t know if that was possible. If all else failed, she might be able to get to Saracen and kill him, which would save Nick the trouble. She had no idea if Nick was coming, or if he even knew about the castle. It might take weeks for him to discover Saracen’s location, but with a little luck, she could do the job herself.

  She might also get herself killed in the attempt, but…

  She could figure all that out later. Right now she needed to get out of sight.

  And she needed a bathroom.

  She remembered where the bathroom was from the last time Brandy had escorted her to the can. She started to move in that direction, then stopped. She wiped her hands on her pants legs and bent over the plate Brandy had left on the floor. She grabbed the sandwich.

  She was starving.

  ***

  Nick took the rifle with him.

  The rain had intensified in the moments since he parked the taxi under the bridge and now swept across the landscape like the leading edge of a hurricane. He hadn’t paid a lot of attention to the global geography of Tau Ceti 4, but there had to be an ocean within a few hundred miles to explain a deluge of this magnitude. Nick and Mijo were soaked to the skin within thirty seconds.

  In spite of the driving wind and stinging rain, the storm was a blessing. The castle sat perched on high ground some three hundred yards above the lake; as they followed the road along the water’s edge, the rain all but blotted it out…which meant they were also barely visible from the castle.

  Nick hoped no one was looking.

  Keeping their heads down, they moved forward at a steady pace. If anyone did spot them, it wouldn’t help if they were running or obviously trying to avoid detection. Nick had shoved his hat inside his shirt, not only to keep it dry, but because Saracen knew he wore one. A man and boy, both bare-headed, would be less likely to raise suspicion.

  Even so, half expecting to draw fire, he kept himself between Mijo and the castle. If anyone did take a shot, he likely wouldn’t hear it in the maelstrom, but kept alert for bullet strikes in the dirt around them.

  It seemed to take forever, but was probably only three or four minutes until they reached the tree line north of the castle. Once they slipped in among the pines and firs, Nick drew a deep breath and let it out in a rush. They were still hammered by rain, but at least were no one longer exposed to view.

  Nick dropped to one knee and pulled Mijo close to him.

  “How far is it to the tunnel?”

  Mijo pointed. “Just up there.”

  “How far?”

  “I dunno. We’ll just have to find it.”

  “I thought you knew where it was.”

  “I do. I’ll show you.”

  Nick grimaced. His goal was to find the tunnel entrance and then send the boy to safety. He didn’t want to expose the kid to further danger, but apparently there was no help for it.

  “All right, lead the way. But keep your head down.”

  Mijo nodded and, without another word, started forward. Nick hurried to keep up with him. As they got closer to the castle, the forest became thicker, denser. Soon they were pushing through tree branches to clear the way. The evergreens were covered with sharp needles, and twice Mijo released tree branches that slammed Nick in the face, which did nothing for his disposition.

  “Dammit, kid!”

  Mijo looked back with a grin.

  “Lo siento.”

  “Yeah, I’ll bet you are.”

  The rain didn’t abate. The day had darkened until it almost seemed like night, but by Nick’s watch, it was barely three in the afternoon. They pushed forward. The ground was soggy but not muddy, covered by thick, spongy needles. Slowly, a few yards at a time, they drew closer to the castle, dimly visible through gaps in the foliage.

  Finally, after ten or fifteen minutes of slow progress, Mijo stopped. Nick knelt beside him.

  “Where is it?”

  Mijo pointed.

  “Alla.”

  “Where?”

  “There. See that little mound?”

  “That’s it?”

  “Yeah. Come on.”

  Nick squinted, but barely saw wh
at the boy was pointing at. Mijo crawled forward on all-fours. The spot in question looked like a pile of needles barely a foot high. Nick followed, keeping an eye toward the castle, but they were still screened. Mijo began to brush aside the needles until Nick could see what looked like a trapdoor about thirty inches across. A metal ring was embedded in the door and Mijo gripped it.

  “Hold on.” Nick took his arm. “How did you know this was here?”

  “I just found it about a year ago.”

  “You found it? By accident?”

  “Yeah. I was exploring.”

  Nick shook his head in wonder, reflecting that nothing was safe with children around.

  “Where does it lead?”

  “Inside el castillo.”

  “I figured that, but where does it come up?”

  “Two places. One is inside the wall.”

  “And the other?”

  “Outside the wall. There.”

  He pointed again, but all Nick could see through the downpour was the outer wall surrounding the castle.

  “Where?”

  “By the train.”

  “The train?”

  Nick squinted again, then crawled forward a few feet for a better look. He had been concentrating on keeping out of sight and hadn’t noticed the rail spurs that ran along the outer wall, nor the locomotive sitting on one of the spurs.

  “What’s a train doing there?”

  “I told you Mr. Tinker-Smith had a train, remember? I told you about Trevor?”

  “Oh. Yeah, you did.”

  “Well…that’s it. That’s the train.”

  Nick took a closer look. The locomotive looked exactly like those he had seen in Hardwood and Orosi; attached to it was a small tank-like vehicle, ostensibly for fuel oil. Attached to that was a single passenger coach. To his astonishment, smoke was curling from the overhead stack, and he saw puffs of steam around the body of the locomotive.

  “Is Tinker-Smith planning a trip?”

  “I dunno, but Trevor keeps it running all the time. It takes a long time to fire it up, and if they need to take a trip, it has to be ready.”

  Nick scanned the castle again, as much as he could see. A few yards east of the locomotive, he spotted a couple of rail cars partially loaded with stone, but no one was in evidence.