Harrins said, “He’s not going to make it. He’s just waiting by the entrance door anyway. It’s not like he really needs to know the plan.”
Boggle and Mimick carefully unrolled a huge map nearly as big as the table. The diagram of the warehouse area almost fell off the table top until Boggle slapped her hand down to stop it. Roxelle sat down at the table and everyone gathered behind her so they could see the map.
“I’ll be bringing the diamonds back from Dia 447 so everyone else is going to sneak onto the continent with Glint. You all will be waiting over here.” She pointed to a small off-house for equipment that was close to the entrance of the diamond warehouse.
“As soon as I call for the hoverHauler, you all will spring into action. There will be five other miners that we need to account for. Make sure we have enough neoprene ties to keep them bound and gagged for the heist. If necessary, kill them. I shouldn’t have to tell this crew twice.”
Everyone laughed except Trent and Whitney. She had to stand on her toes to see over Boggle’s head.
“Here’s how we are going to deploy. Whitney. You are going to stay right by my side the entire time. Harrins, Boggle, Mimick and Oswell will be coming in to clear out the diamonds. First, we need to eliminate the four warehouse workers.”
Roxelle pulled another map off the floor under her chair and laid it on top of the area map. She pointed at the diagram of the interior of the warehouse. “The two people that control the hoverHaulers are stationed right over here. Harrins and Boggle. You two are going to have to go around the two rectangular receptacles to get back there and take them out.”
Boggle said, “Got it.”
“Once you get them out of the way, it’s an easy remote control to start getting the diamonds outside and into the storage area of the craft. You will have seven beings at your disposal to load the diamonds onto the platforms. Oswell and Marlowe.”
“Yes ma’am,” Oswell replied.
“Don’t ever call me ma’am again. You two are going to need to get back here to another remote-control area for the hoverHaulers. You two will have seven loaders as well, so get as much to the spacecraft as you can. Mimick, you are going to the main office to take out Hilden. He’s a green skinned being and you need to get in there before he can alert the other sponsors.”
Roxelle stretched her arms out. “Glint, of course, will be right outside the front door for whatever reason, I don’t know. He insists that it is an essential spot, but I wholeheartedly disagree. That is, if I had a heart. Trent. You are going to be right over here.” She pointed toward a tiny speck in between the spacecraft and the warehouse.
“You are at a disadvantage because you will only have one more person with you. You need to stay alert and blast anyone you don’t recognize. There are the other beings involved that some of you haven’t met yet. If everything goes as planned, we will be in and out and off to a life of luxury. Our own planet to do whatever it is we wish.”
Roxelle went over a few more details, but the operation seemed simple to Whitney. Glint’s absence from the meeting struck her as odd. She wanted to tell him off too for letting her think she would face the lethal injection. On top of that, Whitney still didn’t know how she was going to derail the takeover of Soro Exxo.
She had less than one day to figure it out.
16
The sun-like star named Olgol shone high in the afternoon sky as the small air shuttle skittered to a stop in the open field on the continent of Panmay. They had landed safely near the diamond warehouse. The shuttle carried about twenty people, most of whom Whitney hadn’t met before. She stayed close to Trent and the crew members she already knew.
Harrins kept pawing at the gun on her hip. “We better hope Glint and Roxelle aren’t setting us up. They better be there.”
“I’m really not cool with Glint changing the plan at the last moment,” Oswell chimed in.
Marlowe added, “Missing the last meeting too. Something doesn’t smell right.”
Similar worries had been expressed during the flight from Marigold by the entire group save Mimick due to his love for Roxelle. The exit door popped open and, one by one, each being made the four-foot jump to the soft ground. Trent hopped out first and held a hand up for Whitney.
She approached the exit and grabbed Trent’s hand. She landed on the soft grass. They traversed the slight hill with the diamond warehouse just over the horizon and Whitney kept habitually touching both guns, one on either hip. Her tight black suit matched the two dark plasma blasters. The holsters scraped her hips when she walked.
She turned to Trent for inspiration and he had his serious game-face on. Whitney’s chest heaved in and out as they made it to the top of the grassy hillock. The warehouse came into full view.
“Down, down,” Mimick warned, motioning everyone to get back.
“What is it?” Whitney asked.
Mimick answered, “Let me take a look before we all start marching into plain view. I don’t trust Glint either.”
Everyone agreed and Mimick carefully worked his way to the peak of the hill. He came back a few moments later. “Alright, Glint’s down there. At least his hoverCycle is sitting outside the warehouse. I don’t see Roxelle yet. When she arrives, we’ll start moving down. Glint should have all the employees rounded up in a meeting in room 3B on the C Block, so we just have to rush one room now instead of four.” He tried to sound excited to energize the group, but Whitney saw right through his forceful positivity.
Whitney tried unsuccessfully to calm down as she felt like she was about to hyperventilate. She wondered if she had forgotten to take a different pill for breathing on this continent. Nobody else had taken a pill. Had they?
She started to get woozy as a plane lowered in the sky above. Her hair whipped back from the constant wind pressure and small particles were blown into her face. She closed her baby blues until the plane landed and the engine was turned off. Her corneas stung as she flickered her eyelids, trying to chase away the little bits. She regained her vision just in time. The group charged down the hill in silence and Whitney followed.
She almost snickered at Oswell’s lanky running style that made him look like a red Gumby with the way his body was twisting and bending. Mimick’s robotic silver legs gleamed in the bright daylight and Boggle resembled a bowling ball with her short, choppy, sideways steps.
Harrins ran downhill on all fours, her pretty manicured nails ripping up chunks of grass and dirt. She was well in front of everyone else. Whitney expected her to fall over as she was leaning over and most of her weight wasn’t being supported by her lower half. Harrins reached the bottom first and most of the group arrived soon after, with an out of breath Marlowe Reed bringing up the rear. The silver being dropped to a knee as the group waited for the signal.
The next minute seemed like five hours to Whitney. The group hid behind the big green sign marked with orange letters, ‘TJ9974 Interstellar Mining Corporation.’ And waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Three sharp mouth whistles sounded in succession, signaling that it was time to kick the plan into action. The group rushed the warehouse and Whitney heard Roxelle apologizing to her two co-workers whom she had just shackled around the wrists and ankles.
An evil smile came over Roxelle’s face as she turned to the crew. “Showtime, bitches. You.” She pointed at Whitney. “Stick to my hip and you’ll get out alive.”
“Got it,” Whitney agreed, although she had never seen Roxelle shoot a blaster so it didn’t instill any confidence in her.
Roxelle looked around at the group like a proud but firm mother. “Everyone know what they are doing? Room 3B in the C Block.” She pointed at Harrins. “That’s where Glint should have the staff. If not, we’re fucked.”
The leader grabbed Whitney’s upper arm with the strength of a bear and dragged her toward the entrance of the building. They neared the door, and Roxelle whispered, “Everything should already be programmed, bu
t I can get us to a computer where you can access the software coding if we need to. They shouldn’t really need us for loading, but it doesn’t hurt to grab more glitter.”
Roxelle used her pinky finger to punch a code into the security box, and the door sprang open. She waved her arm in circles like a windmill, silently motioning for everyone to rush the building. The group filed in and Roxelle shoved Whitney through the door and followed her in.
“Over here,” Roxelle told Whitney and they went down a hallway on the right side. The other factions splintered off in other directions and the two women were alone.
Shots rang out.
Roxelle shoved Whitney behind a silver metal barrier extending from the wall. The sound of plasma plastering against metal bellowed through the warehouse. Whitney watched the thick barrier bend toward them with each direct hit.
“Jazemore fucked it up. We need to get to that room so you can alter the software,” Roxelle said with disgust.
It was the first time Whitney had ever heard her talk bad about her deceased friend. Whitney still hadn’t figured out how to access the coding knowledge. “Sounds good. How do we get there?”
Roxelle shook her head and her braids swung from one side to the other. “That’s the problem. Those guns are going to keep going off when they detect motion and body heat.”
“How many automatic blasters are there?” Whitney tried to assemble a quick plan in her head. She had a long shot idea already.
Roxelle pointed against the barrier with her index and middle finger. “There are two at the end of this hall. In the corners near the ceiling. They are square black boxes. Another problem. They’re about as big as the back of my hand.”
She held out her hand, and even though it was larger than most women’s, the target was relatively small. Whitney drew both weapons and took a few deep breaths. She had tested the guns earlier in the day and noticed the sights were off to the left.
Whitney visualized the shots. She put one gun back in the holster and pulled a stick of Chap Stick out of her pocket. She held it in her hand and squeezed it with her sweaty palm.
“Any day now. You can worry about dry lips later, bitch.” Roxelle pointed to the invisible watch on her wrist.
Whitney extended the gun to Roxelle. “By all means. Be my guest. Show me how good a shot you are.”
Roxelle lowered her head. “Just do it already.”
Whitney took one more deep breath and chucked the Chap Stick down the hallway. The plasma blasters started firing as Whitney pulled the second weapon and turned the corner. She aimed both guns, just a bit to the left, and fired two shots with each gun.
She dove behind the banged-up barrier. The plasma bolts from the automatic guns stopped for a moment. She peeked around the barrier and saw smoke pouring out of each of the tiny automatic guns.
Roxelle and Whitney darted down the hallway and veered to the right. They ducked into a small room with a computer on a desk. Whitney pulled up her sleeve and opened the piece of skin over her armScreen. She looked for a button near the input device she had used to absorb the code.
Nothing.
Whitney sat down in a metal chair and started pounding away on the keyboard. She easily found the software set up and started staring at the code. Everything fell into place and she read the scattered mess of letters and numbers like it was a children’s book. She typed on the keyboard, readjusting the security settings for the warehouse.
“There it is. Almost there,” Whitney said, and typed frantically on the keyboard. Twenty seconds later, she announced, “Done.”
The two women raced out of the room and down the hallway. They encountered two bodies of beings who were supposed to be helping load the diamonds. They hopped over the shot-up bodies and headed for the main storage area.
Whitney had almost forgotten about Trent until she felt the text signal in her forearm. She pushed open the flap of skin.
Trent
Whitney knew Trent was under siege because of his text message. He had never been known to contract words or misspell easy ones. She held the speaker close to her mouth and said softly, “I’m alright. Stay safe. Love you.”
They entered the diamond reserve and Whitney’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets. She covered her eyes from the blinding glare coming through the open garage-sized doors.
Someone kicked open the entrance door and Whitney whirled around, ready to shoot.
It was Mimick. He announced, “Someone tipped off the other owners. There’s security outside and I’m sure there’s more on the way. We don’t have much time.”
Whitney worried about Trent. She knew he could handle himself with a gun, but what if he was outnumbered? Her worries put a tarnish on the mesmerizing view of a huge open storage room of various sized diamonds. It was every female’s dream all in one spot.
About twelve beings loaded the diamonds onto hoverHaulers and sent them outside through the garage-sized doors.
Glint suddenly emerged through the door with a blaster in each hand, and yelled, “Time to go. Now.”
Everyone heeded the call and wrapped up the loading session. The crew started to filter out the garage doors, when a hail of fire suddenly broke out. Marlowe Reed’s chest exploded as a red plasma bolt ripped through his chest. Whitney dove to the side to take cover and Roxelle jumped on top of her.
The women squirmed toward safety. They shifted around and both women made it to their knees.
Roxelle said, “Those are some high-powered weapons. They sent in the force. We need to get out of here. Drones will be here any moment.”
The shots finally stopped and the two women regained enough confidence to hightail it out of the warehouse. Whitney searched the area for Trent. She hadn’t seen him since she’d entered the warehouse. Panic sliced through her heart.
She climbed up the side of the main hoverHauler, which looked like an Olympic sized swimming pool filled with diamonds. She made it to the top of the wall and jumped over the side. She sat on a pile of diamonds that ranged in size from small pebbles to perfectly cut oval diamonds that weighed more than she did.
The rectangular flying object needed to go a few hundred meters to get to its destination, the getaway spaceship.
She still hadn’t seen Trent.
“There she is,” a familiar voice sounded from behind, causing her to smile.
She twisted her torso and looked over her left shoulder due to her awkward position on the sharp diamonds. Her heart finally downshifted from its frenetic pace as she nodded to Trent. She carefully twisted around, being careful not to get cut on the jagged rocks.
Suddenly, the hoverHauler shifted sharply and knocked most of the passengers down. The diamond hauler lifted higher above ground and slowly moved away from the warehouse. Several shots clanged off the metal wall of the mobile storage device.
Trent leaned over the side of the hoverHauler and fired off several shots. The barrage of bullets stopped and the hoverHauler picked up some speed until it came to an abrupt halt, tossing everyone around again. The short trip came to a merciful end.
The discombobulated crew sprang into action again, carefully maneuvering over the diamonds to get off the hoverHauler. Whitney made it to the wall and pulled herself up over the side. She used the dug-out grooves on the metal hovercraft to lower herself to the ground.
She stood in awe of the amazing getaway spacecraft named Cavum Nigrum that had to be at least one hundred meters long. The black vessel had a compact navigation pit in the front that flared out into a cylindrical cabin structure with the propulsion boosters in the back.
There were several cannons on the front and both sides of the craft that fired projections of particle beams and the others shot huge bolts of plasma.
Everyone had gotten off the hoverHauler and a door slid open near the back of the spacecraft. The entire storage unit of diamonds floated into the rear of the space machine. Another door opened to the spacecraft’s
cabin. The bloody crew started to board the craft. Whitney waited for Trent.
Roxelle and Trent ran around a sign for the diamond company and Whitney could finally exhale. The couple shared a hug, and Roxelle asked, “Whit, you know if we’re waiting on anyone?”
Whitney answered, “Not sure who all survived the shoot-out at the warehouse, but I’d say…”
Whitney stopped suddenly as Roxelle put the barrel of a plasma blaster in her face.
17
Trent said, “Whoa. What’s going on here?”
Roxelle didn’t take her eyes off Whitney’s forehead. “Don’t worry, pretty boy, you’re next. I don’t think we are going to need you two anymore.”
“You greedy bitch. I hope you don’t need anyone that knows coding. Hope you fucking die,” Whitney said with a strong side of vitriol.
Roxelle seemed stuck in a moment of contemplation as she stood completely still. The alien lowered the gun slowly and tucked it back into her holster. “You’re right. I might need you again, bitch.” She smirked at the human.
A voice bellowed from a short distance away and Whitney jerked her head to the right. She reached for her blasters and relaxed when she recognized the being. Glint was approaching rapidly on a glowing green hovercraft that resembled a motorcycle. He came to a harsh stop about five meters away and fell out of the single person vehicle.
He jumped up, out of breath. “That was messed up. How did the owners get word and send shooters to the scene? Better not let me find out who was responsible for that.”
Roxelle’s eyes widened and bulged as if she were witnessing a horrific act of violence. Whitney couldn’t figure out what Roxelle had seen as she looked in the same direction. The alien leader pointed over Glint’s shoulder and he turned around.
He never had a chance to look back. Roxelle ripped her blaster out of the holster and squeezed off a close-range shot sending a neon green plasma bolt screaming toward the back of his head.
Connection.
Cosmic Diamonds (Whitney Powers Paranormal Adventures Book 4) Page 11
