Caught by Menace

by Lolita Lopez

  She stopped for lunch midafternoon. The food carts that lined the retail sector of the city drew her closer. Danny had given her some money to tide her over. It was more than enough to buy a hot meal and a drink. She found a discarded cable spool and joined the handful of day laborers gathered there to eat. She savored every bite of the sloppy, spicy sandwich, fully aware it might be her last meal.

  Her gaze moved around the bustling sector. A series of paper advertisements plastered on the crumbling walls caught her eye. The shock of recognizing an old acquaintance arced through her. Elladee, a fellow homeless child and orphan, had been part of Dankirk’s pack of street urchins.

  Even back then, Ella had been strikingly beautiful. Naya couldn’t believe where that gorgeous face had gotten her. Apparently she’d risen from humble beginnings to find a career as a designer’s muse. Naya was happy to see someone had escaped that hellish existence.

  She finished her meal and drank the last of her tea. Naya scanned the area while she dumped her trash. The sensation of being watched had grown stronger. She’d spotted one of Danny’s tails earlier but had lost track of her in the crowd. This felt different. No doubt the Sixers or maybe even the Splinter cell they worked with had gotten wind of her.

  Flipping up the hood on her coat, Naya hugged her arms across her chest and started walking again. Her heartbeat fluttered wildly. She made a split-second decision to take a less crowded side street, knowing full well she was probably going to be accosted. She said a silent prayer that they wouldn’t try to knock her out with a club of some kind. Nothing like a head injury to slow her down when the seconds counted…

  It seemed the universe heard her plea and decided to do her a solid. She heard the rushing footsteps but didn’t try to outrun them. Before she could turn around, two arms grabbed her around the waist. She threw back both elbows and hit her mark. Her attacker grunted but got the upper hand by smashing a wet cloth to her face. The sickly-sweet scent invaded her burning nostrils. Her body went slack but she fought the urge to black out.

  Her assailant turned her in his arms. Her sleepy eyes widened briefly at the sight of the familiar face before she slipped into an unconscious state. Nattie.

  When she woke, her head pounded so hard it made her nauseous. She rolled onto her side, wincing as cold, unyielding stone pressed into her flesh, and pushed up onto her hands and knees. The urge to vomit was too strong to deny. She retched pitifully onto the dirty stone floor. So much for her last meal…

  “Here, pet.” Nattie’s familiar voice filtered through her dry-heaving. “Drink this.”

  Still groggy and unsteady, Naya crawled away from the mess she’d made and tried to adjust her hazy vision. She was in a dank cell. Her brother crouched on the other side of the bars and wiggled a bottle of water at her. “Nattie?”

  “I think I hit you with too much of the sleepy juice,” he said with an apologetic smile. “You’ll be fine though.”

  Limbs trembling, she made her way across the cell to the bars and flopped down on her butt. Her nose burned so badly. She rubbed her forehead. “Why did you do that to me?”

  He pressed the water into her hands. “Why did you come back?”

  She fought with the lid and finally managed to twist it open. “You know why.”

  He sighed heavily. “It won’t change anything.”

  Naya swished a mouthful of water and spit it into the corner. She gulped a few swallows of the expensive purified water and eased the pain in her throat. Her vision started to clear and she got her first good look at her brother. He looked even worse than the photograph she ‘d seen. Something had happened to his right eye. The iris was milky-gray. Red streaks marred the sclera. The pockmarks on his face were even deeper and harsher. His teeth were brown nubs in spots.

  “Hell, Nattie.” She reached through the bars and gripped his hand. “When did you start using Impulse?”

  He glanced away from her. “After Sindee died.”

  “Sindee is dead? How?”

  “A new strain of the cough got her in Safe Harbor,” he said. “It came off one of the sky warrior ships. They took too long giving the treatment to the hospitals in the colonies.”

  She stroked his hand. “I’m so sorry, Nattie.”

  He shrugged, the movement twitchy and jerky. “It was a long time ago.”

  “That doesn’t mean it hurts any less,” she countered.

  “Is that how you feel about me taking your money?”

  Her belly lurched as the pain of his betrayal became fresh again. “Sometimes,” she admitted.

  “It was wrong of me to do that. I know what you risked and how hard you worked to get that money together. I should have taken you with me.”

  She sighed. “It was a long time ago, Nattie. We can’t change what happened.”

  He didn’t say anything. Instead he pointed to the ceiling. “They told me you got taken by one of the sky warriors.”

  She nodded. “His name is Menace.”

  “Menace?” he repeated with a laugh. “Not exactly warm and fuzzy.”

  “No,” she agreed with a smile.

  “Do you love him?”

  “It’s complicated,” she answered honestly. “And what I feel doesn’t matter. We’re not together anymore.”

  “But you’re doing his bidding,” Nattie said and scratched at a phantom bug on his neck.

  “I’m not doing his bidding. It’s another man who sent me here. A very, very dangerous man,” she insisted. “You don’t want to be here when he comes.”

  Regret and sadness flashed across his good eye. “I don’t have anywhere else to go, pet.”

  Even though Nattie had hurt her so much, she couldn’t shake the need to gather him close. He’d always been so weak and so easily manipulated. It was no wonder he’d ended up in this position. “You could come with me.”

  He seemed to be considering her offer. Eventually he shook his head. “Where you’re going, I’m not keen to follow. Come on.” He rose slowly, using the bars for support. “Mama wants to see you.”

  Not exactly thrilled by the thought of her impending family reunion, Naya took her sweet time climbing to her feet. She took another drink of water. Shivering with cold, she finally realized they’d taken her coat and pistol. A flex of her ankle told her the knife was gone too.

  Defenseless, she stood back as Nattie opened the door to her cell. He touched the gun holstered on his hip. “Don’t make me use this, Naya.”

  “I won’t.” With his twitchiness, she didn’t make any sudden movements. Being shot by Nattie wasn’t on her bucket list. Side by side with her brother, Naya walked through a maze of hallways. The pungent scent of fuel and chemicals filled her nose. “Is this an old manufacturing plant?”

  Nattie glanced at her. “They used to make batteries here before they got that newfangled solar power plant set up across town. The size and location makes it perfect for our needs. Besides, with all the toxic fumes and the dump site out back, no one wants to come here to nose around.”

  Naya tried not to dwell on the effect all those toxic fumes were having on her right now. She could almost feel her brain cells melting.

  They passed through a set of double doors and entered the main manufacturing space of the warehouse. Most of the equipment had been cleared. A living space had been set up in one section and small mess hall in another. Dozens of hard-looking men and women stopped what they were doing to watch her.

  One entire side of the room was taken up by stacks of crates. They bore the stamp of the central government and were labeled as perishables. Her brain pieced together the information. There weren’t any food shortages and the Harcos treaties weren’t demanding too high quotas. No, some corrupt bastard in the government was selling food supplies to the Sixers.

  “It’s a good deal,” Nattie said, his gaze moving over the floor-to-ceiling stacks of food. “We get a wholesale price. Mama sells it to the Splinter guys for three or four times as much as we paid. They need supplie
s so badly they’ll pay anything. They’ll even do food-for-gun deals. You should see the shit they hijacked last night and traded us this morning!”

  “So you get your hands on weapons and cash while the Splinter cell gets to agitate the people of Calyx,” Naya murmured.

  “You always were the smart one.”

  Naya’s gut clenched at the sound of her mother’s husky voice. The memories of her childhood, most of them painful and tear-ridden, flooded back. She turned slowly to face the woman who had abandoned her. Decked out like a low-rent general, her mother commanded the attention of every eye in the place.

  “Hello, Mama.”

  She didn’t reply. Instead she walked a slow circle around Naya. “You turned out prettier than I’d imagined. With your daddy’s genes, I was sure you’d look like someone beat you with the ugly stick by now.”

  Naya let the insult roll right off her back. Unable to help herself, she gestured to her own cheek. “The scar’s a nice look for you. Makes you look powerful.”

  “Keep it up,” her mother warned. “I haven’t forgotten how easy it was to make you cry. I’ve still got my strap.”

  Naya’s jaw tightened. “You don’t scare me anymore.”

  “I should. Who do you think controls this city? It sure as hell ain’t the government. It’s me.” She touched her chest. “Me and my crew and my guns.”

  “You and your crew and your guns are in big trouble. The Harcos forces know you’re working with the Splinter cell here on Calyx. They don’t care if they get their hands on you or the Splinters. They just want their weapons.”

  Her mother laughed. “Honey baby, they’ve been trying to pin me down for years. They haven’t succeeded yet.”

  “I found you in half a day,” Naya snapped. “You have no idea what kind of pain these people are willing to inflict to get their answers. All it takes is one set of loose lips and your operation is toast.”

  “Let them come.” Her mother looked gleeful. “It will accelerate our plans but we’re ready. People are already on edge because of the food shortages and the riots. All it will take is one spark and this populace will rise up.”

  “And what? You’ll be right there to supply them with weapons?”

  “And food,” her mother gestured to the crates. “The easiest way to win hearts and minds is to give them what they need.”

  “You are insane. This plan isn’t going to work. It’s just going to get a lot of people killed.” Naya pointed to a man decked out in stolen Harcos weapons. “Look, those weapons are fine for close-quarters combat but the sky warriors control the high ground. They have ships and bombs and weapons we can’t even imagine. If they think they’ve lost this city to enemy control, they will destroy this whole damn place.”

  “Let them.” Her mother shrugged cruelly. “I’ll be long gone. Can you imagine the kind of sales volume I’ll have then? Every backward country bumpkin on this planet will want one of my weapons.”

  Naya’s stomach lurched. The Splinter cell and her mother’s Sixer crew had it all mapped out. The cost in human lives was nothing compared to the profits they could expect. “You’re a monster.”

  “Oh, sugar baby, don’t look so sad.” Her mother drew the weapon from her thigh holster. “You won’t be around to see any of that.”

  Before Naya could react, her mother fired three rounds. The impact registered in her brain before the searing pain ripping through her abdomen hit. Hands clutching her stomach, Naya stumbled backward. Rich, dark blood spilled into her hands. She stared at the crimson fluid, her brain on the fritz from the shock and trauma of actually being shot. Even when meting out death, her mother had chosen the cruelty of a slow, painful demise over the mercy of a plasma weapon.

  “Naya!” Nattie rushed to her aid, cradling her body as she crumpled to the floor. He put a hand to her face. “Mama! Why? You said you were going to give her to one of the Splinter men.”

  “You think I’m going to hand them a girl who has intel on us and our enemies? Grow up, Nattie!” Their mother tossed a gun toward him. “Drag her into the middle of the floor and leave her there. The rest of you? Get ready. They’re coming.”

  * * * * *

  Menace nervously chewed his gum while Cipher got his mini-drones operational. Once they’d touched down outside The City, Hallie had come through like a champ. She’d made contact with a man who quickly put her in touch with Dankirk. Naya’s friend had been waiting for Hallie’s call. Menace had been sick with worry as the man relayed Naya’s plans.

  In that moment, he’d understood why Terror had been so tempted to use her. She was tenacious—and reckless. He’d never had such a strong urge to swat her backside. She had to learn that her life was precious and worth protecting. Once she was safely at his side, he intended to do everything in his power to convince her that she was very much loved and needed.

  From the staging point, Menace had a good view of the dilapidated factory. Their ship’s environmental sensors had gone haywire as Hazard brought them in for a stealth and fully cloaked landing. It seemed the place had been a factory at one point. Most of the toxic chemicals and byproducts were still onsite. The sooner they got Naya out of there the better.

  His earbud clicked twice, alerting him that Pierce, their strike team leader, was coming on the line. He stopped chewing and listened.

  “Cipher tells me we’ll have drone feeds within the next sixty seconds. The charges are set at the entry points. Once recon is complete, we make entry on my mark.”

  Menace glanced to his left where Raze and Venom had taken up their positions. Hazard crouched down just to his right. The pilot hadn’t been hard to convince to take the dangerous mission. Pierce, two members of the Shadow Force and the other three members of the SRU team were ready to breach the old factory from another angle. Terror had remained behind on the Valiant to supervise from his war room. It was no secret that no one wanted to go into battle with him right now.

  Menace pushed his tactical glasses into place. The polarized lenses displayed a real-time feed from Cipher’s drones. He glanced away from the picture, not at all interested in the swooping turns the devices were making.

  But when a drone entered through a broken window and provided a full view of the main factory floor, he grew very interested. Menace spotted the open barracks-style housing section. The stacks of crates stamped perishable interested him the most. Naya’s stories of food shortages and riots came to mind. Was this where all that food was going?

  The silent drone began to slowly shift its view. There, finally, Naya came into view. She wore strange men’s clothing. Her gait seemed off to him. Had she been drugged or hit on the head?

  As if reading his mind, Cipher came across the radio. “Target in sight. Will put medical on standby for possible head injury or sedative exposure. Acquiring audio feed in ten, nine, eight…”

  Menace’s earbud crackled. A moment later, Naya’s sweet voice filled his ear. “While the Splinter cell gets to agitate the people of Calyx.”

  A woman dressed in men’s tactical gear came into view. He recognized her from the photos Terror had shown him. Turn around. He silently urged Naya to see the woman coming up behind her.

  “You always were the smart one.”

  Naya stiffened. She faced her mother slowly. “Hello, Mama.”

  His gut clenched as the woman took her time studying Naya. He waited to see what she would say to her daughter.

  “You turned out prettier than I’d imagined. With your daddy’s genes, I was sure you’d look like someone beat you with the ugly stick by now.”

  He spotted the tic in Naya’s jaw. No, sweetheart, don’t poke the bear.

  Naya pointed to her flawless cheek. “The scar’s a nice look for you. Makes you look powerful.”

  “Shit,” Menace whispered. She simply couldn’t stop those smart-ass remarks from leaving her mouth.

  “Counting twenty-seven armed on the main floor,” Cipher informed. “I read a dozen heat signals in othe
r portions of the factory. Will engage and separate enemy with drone missiles on command’s mark.”

  “Affirmative,” Pierce answered.

  Down on the factory floor, Naya and her mother continued to face off. He’d missed some of their conversation. He was sure it had been a doozy.

  Her mother grinned. “Let them come. It will accelerate our plans but we’re ready. People are already on edge because of the food shortages and the riots. All it will take is one spark and this populace will rise up.”

  The whole evil plan came to light. Menace had to admit it was a tried-and-true method for fomenting revolution.

  “And what?” Naya shouted. “You’ll be right there to supply them with weapons?”

  “And food. The easiest way to win hearts and minds is to give them what they need.”

  Naya glared at her mother. “You are insane. This plan isn’t going to work. It’s just going to get a lot of people killed. Look, those weapons are fine for close-quarters combat, but the sky warriors control the high ground. They have ships and bombs and weapons—”

  “Prepare to breach.” Pierce interrupted the feed. “Cipher, give us a sixty-second countdown.”

  “Yes, sir. Breaching in sixty seconds.”

  “Can you imagine the kind of sales volume I’ll have then?” Naya’s mother asked. “Every backward country bumpkin on this planet will want one of my weapons.”

  Naya’s shoulders slumped. “You’re a monster.”

  “Breaching in forty-five.”

  “Oh, sugar baby, don’t look so sad.”

  Menace’s heart skipped two beats as the other woman raised her weapon and aimed right at Naya. Before he could even shout the word no, Naya took three to the stomach. The world went still around him. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t think. He choked on his gum as his instinctive swallow pulled it down his throat. Awash in horror, Menace watched Naya fall backward into her brother’s thin arms.