Taz and Angel were in deep conversation as they walked towards me. I started to walk in the opposite direction but Taz yelled at me to stop.
“Benjamin,” she said, “it seems our host is requiring payment in advance for next month’s rent. I explained to her that we wouldn’t be here next month, but she is insistent on payment.”
I studied them both and something didn’t seem right to me. In other words, I smelled a rat.
“Angel,” I said calmly, “We are leaving so you owe us a refund of the balance of the rent through the end of the month. We won’t be back unless you don’t return our money. In that case you’ll be my next stop, and it won’t end well, believe me. Your people are just okay, and out of their league.”
“I’m afraid I can’t let you leave,” Angel said. She looked angry, perhaps that I had judged her people so harshly.
“Does General Brown know what you’re up to?” I said. “What has Taz talked you into, that you two are so chummy?” I think I struck a chord with Angel. Taz was far more skilled at this kind of deception, though, and I couldn’t read her.
“I can have my people here in two minutes,” Angel threatened.
“Yes, and two minutes after that they will all be dead. Then what will you do? How will you explain it?”
“I’ll just keep blaming you,” she replied coldly. “With your reputation it’s not going to be too far-fetched.”
I looked at Taz and began to think she didn’t have anything to do with this, other than being nosy, judging by the look on her face. “You!” I hissed. “Go get your things and get them on the shuttle if you’re staying, and be quick about it!”
Taz smiled. My command must have had some impact on her. She moved off quickly to do as I asked, weird.
I stared holes in Angel’s head. She didn’t back down. She crossed her arms. I was thinking she wanted me to stare at her ample chest to distract me. It didn’t work, mostly. She snorted but didn’t smile. Her fingers started moving and it took me a second to realize it was a form of sign language. I tried my best to read it.
I. . .need. . .help. . .
“You need to get out of my hangar right now,” I pointed at her with one hand and with the other I signed “OK” with my hand down against my thigh. She got up in my face and mouthed the word “bug” and pointed. I wasn’t sure where she was pointing, but in my mind I liked the location I picked.
“I think I’ll talk to Matt and your captain," she said. “I’m sure they are more sensible and reasonable people. By the way, my people will be here in thirty seconds now.”
“You take one step in the direction of my ship and I’ll put you down right here and now,” I said maintaining my irritated voice and posture. She moved and I grabbed her. She made an effort to resist as I worked my way around behind her. I had one arm around her neck, giving the impression I was squeezing, and the other lay across her flat stomach.
My hand inched towards where I thought it was supposed to be going until an elbow began ramming my rib cage. I stopped and she grabbed my arm, placing it on her neck. I felt the bug stuck on the underside of her collar. She elbowed me in the stomach and I swung her, letting my momentum pull her down with me. The bug came off and was in my closed fist. I heard the hovers pull in outside and someone barking orders. I put my lips to her ear, whispering, “struggle, but follow my lead.”
zzz
“What’s going on out there?” Natalia asked. She tried to get past Taz, but to no avail.
“Everyone just stay here, all will be revealed shortly,” Taz barked. “Does everyone have what they are taking with them? We are leaving shortly.”
“It looks like they are fighting at times, and then it looks like foreplay. I swear he was trying to feel her up,” Matt said, calmly watching.
“I am sure Benjamin got his signals crossed,” Taz answered. “It seems to be a thing with him. He is not going to hurt Angel, unless I have seriously misjudged the situation.”
“Is he kissing her?” Lorelei asked.
“No, I believe he is whispering in her ear,” Taz said.
“Why are they putting on a show? I don’t understand.” Lorelei was confused.
“Captain, is the Claymore ready for departure?” Taz asked.
“Yes it is,” was the answer.
“Very well. The soldiers are here, so let those traveling on the shuttle come now. We need to load up.”
Natalia un-holstered her weapon. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but she wouldn’t get caught blindsided. It was Andrea’s rail pistol. No one said a word to her. She positioned herself between the soldiers and her father and Angel.
“Ma’am, you need to put your weapon down and move away from our captain,” the soldier in the front of group told her.
“Sorry fellas, no can do at the moment,” she said. “I would suggest you lower your weapons and stand down so the company doesn’t lose such a large group of employees in one day.”
Taz, having deposited her belongings on the shuttle, walked out to stand with her. “She is correct, gentlemen, this is a personal matter between the two of them and may end badly for one or the other. Either way, we are staying out of it. Do not underestimate young Natalia here, either. One word from her and all of you will be dead, so be kind.”
zzz
I had a strong hold on Angel, and my handling of her looked legitimate, or so I hoped. I jerked her around and up on her feet. It was then I noticed Natalia with a pistol drawn and Taz standing beside her.
“You two! Get on the shuttle now!” I yelled. Angel’s men had never thought about looking up. Imelda was thirty feet up and spread out. I was sure she planned on dropping right on top of them if given the word.
I walked backwards, pulling a thrashing Angel along with me. My forearm was tight under her chin. “You should all leave,” I told them. “We will contact you later with the coordinates to retrieve the body. If you don’t leave, you get nothing.”
I put more pressure on Angel’s neck and held on. She struggled for real now, not knowing what I was doing. It was too late for me to let go; I could feel her go limp in my arms. Imelda landed on top of half of the men and spun, knocking anyone standing sailing across the floor. What I didn’t expect was her grabbing one of the men, taking him into her mouth up to his waist and running up the ramp into the Claymore. Their ramp began to rise as any soldier who could stood up, looking around with wild eyes.
I waited until I had the attention of about three of them, and had Natalia start shutting our ramp. I quickly moved my arms in the motion of breaking Angel’s neck and hip-checked her at the same time, so she fell out away from me as if by the force of my actions. Being unconscious made her fall like the perfect corpse. The ramp closed with three sets of eyes staring at me.
I knelt down quickly and scooped Angel up in my arms and laid her on the bench seat. Her pulse was strong and her breathing was even. She would have a knot on her head from the floor, but it was a small price to pay.
The soldiers began firing at the Claymore and the shuttle. Binda informed us the Claymore’s powered weapons were pointed at the soldiers, who were finally running. We cloaked and flew out a couple minutes after the Claymore departed. Binda had the coordinates for an industrial area where it was rumored T-Rex had his headquarters.
Thanks to the med kit, we had brought onboard, Angel was up and moaning soon, holding her head five minutes in the air. I gave her something for the goose egg and put some synth skin on the cut. Blue Eyes stood behind me, watching every move I made. She didn’t speak, but I felt her hand on my shoulder as I worked. It wasn’t long before everyone but Binda was standing around us.
“Move along, folks, go about your business. Nothing here to see.” I wasn’t sure they got the message, but they did sit down and relax. Angel was eyeballing me, and the faces she made because of the pain made it hard to tell if she was planning on killing me or not.
“What did you hit me with?” she asked.
“Noth
ing,” I replied. “Your head hit the floor.”
“Oh,” she said, looking puzzled. “I guess I just don’t remember.”
“I choked you out, and once you were unconscious I pretended to break your neck. I let you go and you fell very convincingly to the floor. I’m sure they think you are dead.”
“It will buy me some time to figure out what my next move is,” she said, looking down and rubbing her head.
“You are welcome to use my ship as a safe haven until you have a plan in place,” Taz said.
I gave Taz one of my raised-eyebrow looks and was about to open my mouth and argue.
“I think that is a great idea,” Natalia added, beating me to it.
Both eyebrows were riding high, looking at her. I was trying to make a conscious effort at not adopting everyone who needed our help, but clearly Natalia was on a different page.
“What’s the matter? You don’t want me around?” Angel asked with a small smile, seeing my facial expression.
“No, it’s not that exactly,” I said, hoping she wasn’t too hurt. “Unless you have a bank account full of credits, I have to look at it as just another mouth to feed. I’m kind of in the red, and Momma Warbucks here doesn’t want to part with some coin.” I looked at Taz and frowned.
“I’m not a charity,” she said, looking affronted, “and Angel seems to be capable. I am only offering her sanctuary. It is no more than you did when you faked her death.”
“Fine, but let’s get to the bad news,” I told Angel. “It may change your mind. You lost at least a couple of men in our departure. I can’t honestly tell you any more than that. But I do know they were asked to leave a number of times. It all happened fast, and we are trained and used to responding quickly to threats. I’m sorry.” I did mean it.
“Angel,” Taz added, “whatever the reason for your actions today, I suspect it was a good one and you absolutely felt you had to do this. Avenge your friends by directing your anger at the cause.”
“It was a long time ago I made a terrible mistake,” Angel said slowly, looking up at us. “Actually, two terrible mistakes. We were in a fire fight. I was hugging the side of a building and had an enemy in my sights. The building helped to steady me. I was green, you know, and scared. I pulled the trigger and our commander stepped out from in front of the building. He wasn’t supposed to be there. At fifteen feet there was a hole I could put my arm through. I ran to him, but he was dead. A man was standing next to me. I hadn’t heard him approach. He told me to continue on, that we had the enemy on the run. He said not to say a word and he would contact me later for my statement. It was two weeks later and I was almost crazy by then. I wanted to turn myself into the authorities. He showed up in our camp late in the evening. He said they had conducted an official investigation and found it an accident. He said if I promised them a favor they could call for in the future, they would leave it completely out of my jacket. I agreed. Don’t ask me why. Even then it didn’t sound right, but I liked what I was doing and didn’t want to go to jail.”
“So they called in the favor and want you to kill me?” I said.
“What? No, you’re secondary. I was contacted a few years ago right after I started working for General Brown,” she said. “They wanted to know things about him. Some of them were pretty stupid, in my opinion, but who knows with spooks. They had asked me three times for different seemingly harmless information, and on the fourth time I told them no. The deal was for one favor, not an endless supply. I received a chip in the mail a week later, a vid of me shooting my commander. I was there but the man had been edited out. The note said they would send it to civilian and military authorities if I didn’t continue to cooperate.”
“Has the general ever been overly secretive at any time since you started working for him? Do you have any idea what they’re looking for?” I asked.
“No, not really, but he is interested in you and suspects what you are up too. I think he’s hoping you will kick the hornets’ nest. He may look like the total opposite of you, but the two of you are a lot alike in other ways.”
“Does he try to cop a feel from you as well?” Natalia asked, then burst out laughing. I frowned at her, but it did break the tension in the air.
I had to try not to laugh, and I didn’t blush. “That was a miscommunication,” I said. “She pointed and I assumed something was hidden under her shirt somewhere in there.”
“You’ll have to tell Taz your secret, Angel. You got more action out of him in a few minutes than Taz has got in weeks and weeks of trying.” Natalia slapped her leg and giggled.
“Enough!” I yelled at her, but my heart wasn’t in it. “Let her finish her story, and then you can talk about me. You know the drill — at least let me leave the room.”
“I really like General Brown,” Angel said. “He’s a great leader and a great boss. I can’t do this anymore. I couldn’t figure a way out other than a bullet to the head until you and your crew landed. Look at you people. You’re like a traveling circus, no insult intended.”
I had forgotten about circuses. There hadn’t been a circus that I knew of in hundreds of years. They came up in stories and books, though, and I wasn’t surprised we looked like one to anyone from the Alliance.
“Angel, lie down and rest,” I told her. “The word on the wire will be to apprehend me for your murder. They won’t be looking for you, at least not alive.”
“Maybe if we are lucky, they won’t have notified anyone yet. That will be a big help, if they are thinking they can just handle it all internally,” Blue Eyes said.
“That would be great. What do you think the odds are, Angel?” I asked.
“I can see the general holding off and trying to handle it himself,” she answered.
“I may have to resurrect you if the general comes around,” I said, “but we don’t have to tell him anything, just give him proof of life. It will still be in your best interest to be officially dead. I’m going to change and get ready for my meeting. There are quarters where you can lie down on a bunk. Natalia, would you take her and get her situated?”
Chapter 26
The sun had gone down. I waited at the ramp of the shuttle. We were at one of the first space ports ever built on Athena. It wasn’t in great shape, but still better than some I’d seen. The area was mostly a shipping zone of mostly commercial traffic. Athena was happy with the arrangement. It kept the riff-raff out of the cities while they waited.
T-Rex had an office in an old warehouse here, where he ran a legitimate freighting business. His illegitimate business as an information broker fit easily into the scheme of things.
I had them put the shuttle about a half mile away and cloak it while I walked to my destination. T-Rex would have sentries posted, and I would rather see them before they saw me. The thought crossed my mind to have stealth armor made from a smaller version of the generator that cloaked the shuttle. I was sure it would work, and hoped that the radiation would be controllable. I could use some armor like that right about now, I thought to myself.
For now, I would have to settle for some deep shadows to use to move from one place to another. I looked up at the sky. There was just too much light for it to be ideal, but it would have to do. I turned and looked at the faces watching me. They were the cavalry in case things got out of control. In the meantime, I wasn’t going to risk them coming along and walking into a trap with me.
“Is he as good as he thinks he is?” Angel asked the crowd.
“Better,” Nedra replied. “He could have killed all your men and you earlier, if that had been the plan or his only option. He hasn’t fought at his true potential in a long time. Even aboard the queen’s stolen ship, where he was a captive, the conditions were killing him, not the opponents.”
“I sense the fire building inside him. He has suffered much, and like me, there will be a wind to stoke the fire until it burns out of control.” Harry spoke cryptically. It was unusual to hear him join in on a conversation. Everyo
ne looked at him for more, but he seemed lost in thought.
I slipped off into the dark while they were talking. They were distracted and it seemed like a good time to go.
Hugging the buildings, I moved as stealthily as possible, searching rooftops as I kept my eyes out for the lookouts. The zoom on my face shield was up about twenty-five percent as I looked for oddities. I wasn’t sure how well-trained T-Rex’s people were. Thugs would do stupid things like leave their weapon visible from below, or possibly something else, like clothing. Whatever it was, it would be out of place, and I planned on finding it.
I had my katana, knife, and pistol, along with some flash bangs for distractions. I tagged the locations where I had located lookouts and would transmit my complete route to the shuttle. I found the building. It was well guarded, and judging by their posture the guards were more along the lines of thugs in military surplus. There were two guarding what I assumed was the front door and another guard at the side door. There were three on the roof, moving around at ease, so it was clear they were not expecting any trouble. I liked the three on the roof. They would make this a lot easier.
I backtracked and proceeded down the backside of the building directly across from them, then did the same at the next building. Watching them, I knew there was a ten-second window where they would stop and talk. I watched two rotations and then ran to the building behind and them. The lock on the building was a good one, but the hasp was a piece of shit. I didn’t think the owners cared; there was nothing inside to steal.
The pitch black was welcome as I moved slowly up the metal stairs towards the second level. The door to the roof was unlocked, but when I tried to open it the hinges squealed and I stopped, cursing under my breath. I listened for thirty seconds and began to ease it half an inch at a time. It was tedious, but as long as T-Rex sat tight, I would be joining him shortly.
I could see the three guards at the front of the building shooting the shit with the two guarding the front door. I eased the door open enough to get through and pushed it closed behind me. I guessed there was eight feet between the buildings. It was now or never. I ran and leapt. So far so good, until one of the guards turned, laughing at some joke, and saw me in mid-air. I threw the flash bang in my hand and darkened my visor. The landing went smoothly, but the wild shooting at nothing by the guards was dangerous. My feet hit, and I had great momentum. I dropped and slid feet first. The metal of my armor slid on the metal roof. I pulled my knife out and stabbed the wild shooter in the thigh, grabbed the wrist with the gun, and kicked his legs out from under him. Pulling his weapon free, a fist to the face was all the incentive he needed to stay down. Lying on my back, I shot the remaining two guards.
The Chronicles of Benjamin Jamison: No More Lies (Book 3) Page 20
