‘That new drug,’ I realised. Forget jewellery. ‘The glowing blue one.’
‘Yes. He’s found a few uses for it, but that’s probably the most lucrative.’
That drug had only recently appeared in Harem. It was nasty, but it was already popular. It would have spread halfway across the galaxy now. The money would be pouring in.
‘So I’ll hire you to take me there and help me,’ the girl continued. Her confidence in that statement was laced with a desperate hope. ‘As much blue dust as you can carry in return for—’
‘The place will be crawling with Webster’s guys. The off-worlders aren’t here for a tea party. They’re here for war. The operation’s security will have been reinforced. The off-worlders themselves could attack at any minute. The UPSF may already be on their way—’
‘And what will happen to the girls? What happens in war? Collateral damage. Only these aren’t real soldiers. They’re hired guns. They won’t care if their bullets hit a few caged women. Two of us could sneak in—’
‘And then sneak out with a truckload of slaves?’
Her nostrils flared. Just like Lucy’s used to.
‘I told them I’d come back for them,’ she said. The edge was back in her voice. ‘Every minute they’re in there, they’re suffering. If these off-worlders are here to take over, then Webster will be trying to unload them on buyers as quickly as possible. By the time the UPSF gets there, they could be long gone.’
She could be right about that. I suspected he’d be more interested in getting as much of that blue dust as he could somewhere safe. But he was a businessman. He wouldn’t neglect his other source of income. He might even think that by finding buyers for all the remaining girls, he’d get back in the good books of his partners. I thought it had gone too far for that now, but it didn’t mean he wouldn’t try.
‘I don’t think you get what we go through there,’ the girl went on. ‘There’s no such word as no in the camp. They have to remind us now and then. A few weeks ago, one of the new girls said no. They made an example of her. They took us all out of our cages. Gathered us around. They beat her. Then raped her. Three times. Violently. Girls were crying and throwing up. No one could do anything.’
Rage kicked the pity and the low-grade anger out of the way and filled my body. I dropped my mug in the sink before I broke it in my hand. But she hadn’t finished.
‘When she thought it was over, she tried to crawl back to her cage. They picked her up by her hair. Then shot her in the back of the head. Her face exploded all over us. No one said no again. Until the next one who doesn’t understand.’
I tried to unclench my jaw, but couldn’t. I felt sick just hearing it.
She wasn’t shivering now. She was flushed. Anger, I guessed. Her vest and underwear were still soaked through though. Still see-through. I stepped over and took her hand. She tensed. I picked up the gun from the table and put it into her other hand. Wanted her to know she was safe. She relaxed a bit, but she was gripping the gun tightly. The rage subsided enough to let go of my jaw.
‘The shower’s this way,’ I said. ‘Get clean and warm.’
‘Where are you going?’ She was good at hearing the unspoken.
‘Back to club WET. Webster’s not going to hurt anyone again.’
FOURTEEN | THE TRUTH
Club WET was still and quiet when the cab pulled up. No police. They probably had orders from Webster – or by now, maybe the off-worlders – to stay away from all of his places. I climbed out. The driver would wait.
Inside, the bodies were still in the same places. I went straight through to one of the changing rooms. Most of the lockers at the back were unlocked. They were trusting girls. Inside one of them was a pair of jeans, a T-shirt and pullover. Boots lay in the bottom. A far cry from what this girl would have worn when in the club. There was underwear too, but I doubted my escapee would want to wear someone else’s.
I emptied out a nearby handbag and stuffed the clothes in. Somehow, I doubted I’d look too manly with that over my shoulder, but there were more important things to worry about. I didn’t even consider raiding the purse for money. If my guess was right, the owner would already be in a cage somewhere. And not one of Webster’s cages, either. The off-worlders would have these girls. The contents of the girl’s purse would be the last thing on her mind, but I wasn’t that much of an asshole.
With my pretty new accessory slung over my shoulder, I descended into the basement again. It was eerily silent. Like a crypt. I guessed it kind of was for now. At the central area, I found the gorilla. He was still sitting in the same place. Pointed a gun at me when he heard me coming, but put it down when he recognised me. Although there did seem to be a hesitation. The thought of just pulling the trigger had probably crossed his mind. Come back for a second pass.
‘What happened to the girls?’ It was like I’d never left. As before, he didn’t respond. ‘They took them, didn’t they? Put them in cages by now. Like animals.’
The gorilla’s jaw clenched. His knuckles became white around the pistol grip.
‘That nice girl who showed me up to the office earlier.’ Now the other hand clenched into a fist and turned white. ‘She’ll be caged up now. And you’re sat here staring at a corpse.’
He was on his feet in a second. Dropped the gun. He was going to tear me apart with his bare hands.
‘I’m going down to Webster’s place,’ I said, trying not to be too unnerved by the noseless face of imminent death.
He stood an inch away and glared down at me. He’d wait for me to finish before deciding whether to commence the ripping and tearing or not. The ragged breathing made me feel unwell.
‘I’m going to make sure he doesn’t get to carry on doing this shit. A girl’s coming with me to make sure the slaves in those cages are set free. She could use some help. The girl from earlier—’
‘Ella,’ the gorilla rumbled. The voiced matched the build.
‘Ella might not be there to save, but you can make sure the others—’
‘She’s there,’ he said. I hesitated. I thought about whether that could be possible. I didn’t know anything about the gorilla. He could be slow in the head and getting his thoughts mixed up.
‘Are you sure? How do you know?’
‘Van said the off-worlders want to offload all the girls they owe. Quick. Most of them are with Webster. They’ll take the dancers there. They think they can take over like that…’ He clicked his fingers. Sounded like a tree trunk snapping. ‘They’ll want all the girls in one place. Ready to go. Ella’s there.’
‘Or will be soon,’ I said.
Seemed he wasn’t slow. It made sense. These off-worlders were probably used to going in and taking over from rivals and slow-delivering allies alike. They would indeed think that they’d be back to business by sunrise. Maybe they would be. An odd part of me hoped Webster would show them otherwise. He was a glorified murdering, scumbag slaver. But he was our glorified scumbag slaver and I wanted the off-worlders to be taught a lesson. But that was just a small part of me. The rest didn’t give a shit.
‘Then get those wounds closed up,’ I nodded at the bullet holes. ‘And meet us at the train station down at Webster’s end. And we’ll save Ella.’
*
When the girl emerged from the bathroom, she looked almost new. She was still too thin and her eyes still held too many torments, but at least she was clean and warm and had clothes. Probably for the first time in a year. Under the bar, I’d found a sandwich and some chocolate that the barman had been saving for a midnight snack. Back in the dressing room, I’d found that a couple of lockers also contained a few bits of food. It didn’t add up to a grand banquet, but at least we wouldn’t be attacking a crime lord’s stronghold on empty stomachs.
‘Well?’ she said as she sat back down to check if she’d left anything uneaten.
‘Well what?’ I gave her a mint. Not exactly filling, but they tasted nice.
‘What did you do i
n the club?’
‘I got you clothes and food. And mints.’
‘Are we going to die?’
Her hazel eyes weren’t afraid. Just curious. I sat down on the other side of the table to tie my shoelaces. It felt nice to have dry shoes and socks again.
‘Maybe,’ I said. ‘There’s going to be a lot of guys with guns. But they’re going to be shooting at each other too. So that gives us some good cover. Especially you. I don’t know about the off-worlders, but I’ve never seen a girl with a gun in Webster’s outfit. They should know not to shoot at you.’
She crunched her mint.
‘We should go. The longer we wait, the more girls they’ll sell off.’
My stomach lurched. But she was right. We couldn’t hang around any longer. I passed her one of the guns I’d taken from the club. I should probably have grabbed a few, but I wanted as little shooting as possible. With potentially both Webster’s men and the off-worlders down there, the less attention we drew to ourselves, the better. We weren’t launching a full-scale assault on the place; we were sneaking in. Hopefully.
She checked that the new pistol was full. Then she checked that the six bullets in the revolver were still there. Refilling my own revolver emptied the ammo box in my makeshift safe, so I had no spares. But if we got to the point of needing spares, then the chances were we weren’t making it back out of Webster’s camp, as she’d called it.
‘What’s your name?’ I asked.
‘Sixteen.’
Her eyes told me that she wasn’t going to give me the name she’d used up until a year ago. I wondered if once the girls were sold off they were given their names back. Or were they given new ones? Maybe their new owners didn’t need them to have names.
I pulled my trench coat back on. It was still damp. On the way out of the club, I’d checked the little room by the front door. There were several coats to choose from, where the patrons would have been too busy running for their lives from the gunfire to think of asking for their coats back. I’d grabbed the most waterproof looking one for the girl. It was transparent, edged with white. She looked a little ridiculous if I was honest. But that hardly mattered.
We left the apartment. The old woman down the hall poked her head out. She saw me and pulled it back inside like a tortoise. I guessed even my neighbours believed what the police had said about me that morning.
Outside, the rain had finally stopped. The sky was black. No stars. Must have been full of rainclouds still, so I guessed the dry wouldn’t last. But in Harem, you had to take every dry moment as a gift. We climbed into the cab. It was still warm inside.
‘Where’s the driver?’ Sixteen asked.
‘In the trunk.’
I started the engine and pulled away from the kerb. Took it slow for a while, keeping an eye in the mirrors. I guessed Webster had more important things to worry about now than me, but I still wouldn’t have put it past him to have someone posted at my apartment. But what I was really looking for was a sign that DeMartino was still having me watched. The last thing we needed now was for him to turn up and put us in a cell for our own good.
After a couple of blocks I decided there was no one tailing us, so I sped up. Sixteen set the cab’s navigation to take us to the mining operation.
If she was number sixteen, I wondered how many girls there would be. There was no point asking, because I didn’t know how many girls would be there from the club. It hadn’t exactly occurred to me to count them. I didn’t know how we’d get them out. I hoped Webster would have a flyer or two there. Or at least a truck or something. The off-worlders would have to transport them there in the first place, so maybe we could use whatever they did.
Eventually, we reached the edge of the city and sped out onto the road that ran alongside the train line. It was a risk using this road, since it was the only one, but I didn’t think going off-road would do the cab much good. I didn’t want to end up hiking to the camp.
Sixteen broke the silence. ‘The train’s coming.’
In my mirror, I could see lights fast approaching on the left. Less than a minute later, the clunking length of metal rocketed past. I could feel the vibration through the steering wheel and seat. The air being sucked underneath the thing messed with the car and I had to swing off the road to get away from it.
‘Who do you think’s on it?’ she asked.
‘Not sure. Probably the off-worlders. Webster’s guys will be in their positions by now.’
‘But surely he’ll have them watching the line?’
‘Without a doubt. Maybe they sent a flyer ahead to clear the station.’
I hoped the gorilla had found somewhere safe and quiet to wait for us. Telling him to meet us at the station probably wasn’t the best of ideas, but I didn’t know of anywhere else. I didn’t want him in the car with me.
The train was gone now, so I pulled back onto the road and accelerated. I’d pull back off once we got closer and we’d use the commotion its arrival was sure to make to sneak in from the side.
The mountain took shape on the horizon. It was only a small one. A big hill, really.
Memory hit me too late. Like a premonition. A tinkling came from my pocket. And vibrating.
‘Shit.’
‘What is it?’
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the comm unit. He’d given it to me so he could track me and make sure I didn’t do anything stupid. I’d forgotten about it. Now I was doing something stupid. I stuck the blob onto my head, above my ear. The pressure activated some kind of sucky thing and it stayed tight against my head despite my hair. I hoped it would come off as easy.
‘Detective Mason’s office,’ I answered.
‘Hello, Mr. Mason.’ DeMartino’s voice seemed to be inside my head. ‘Could you possibly explain to me why the tracker for that comm unit shows you in the middle of the desert?’
‘The desert? Oh no, I’m sitting on my couch sipping an appletini. Must be a glitch.’
‘I see. Well, I’m sure you won’t be interested in the images I was going to send of Webster’s mining operation. After all, you don’t need to know how many men there are, where they are and where the girls are being kept if you’re sitting on your couch.’
‘Well, the cops broke my holo emitter, so I can’t watch anything. Why don’t you send those images over and I’ll entertain myself with them instead.’
‘I’ve gathered Lawrence and all the cops he thinks can be trusted and we’re on our way as I speak to take Webster down. The UPSF teams won’t be far behind. I’ve marked in red an area that seems safe enough for a meeting point. Purely for your entertainment of course.’
The connection went dead. The comm unit projected an image in front of me. I swore. The image was partially transparent, but I couldn’t make out the damn road. I took the unit off and handed it to Sixteen.
‘Who sent you these?’ she asked, flipping through the images.
‘The UPSF agent. They’re on their way now to take out Webster.’
‘Then we have to get there quick and get the girls out before they caught in the crossfire.’
I didn’t argue. Part of me hoped that she’d suggest we leave it to the cops. But the rest of me knew better. Besides, her story had really fucked me off. I wanted to kill the old man and his men. I’d spent all night evading Cole Webster. Now I was driving up to his front door. And he wasn’t going to be pleased to see me. I’d make sure of it.
DeMartino had sent us six images. I was sure that to a trained agent they’d have been useful. Only two of them helped me though.
One showed the layout of the entire operation. It was smaller than I expected. Small mountain, small operation. After the train station, there were two roads. One headed out southeast to Webster’s mansion. The other continued due south to the main camp. First came some buildings that I guessed housed those guards and miners who lived on-site. Then were some larger buildings that must be for processing whatever had been mined. Probably for processing the b
lue dust and making it into an addictive drug too. After that was just another wide road the rest of the way to the mountain. To the side of the larger buildings were what looked like old shipping containers. I was sure that’s where the girls would be. In the middle of that maze was a red circle. DeMartino’s meeting point.
The second was a thermal image. White dots speckled the same overhead view. It wasn’t quite as bad as I’d pictured in my head. There were perhaps a few dozen men. Ten or so were dotted around the mansion, though I guessed there’d be more inside. About fifteen were gathered around the train station. Their positions made me think they were staying out of sight, so anyone coming by train wouldn’t see them until it was too late. The remainder were spread throughout the rest of the camp.
A single white dot sat about half a mile west of the train station. I guessed that was the gorilla. He’d been smart enough to stay back. Probably had a scope trained on this road so he’d see us coming. I checked the navigation screen and saw that I’d have to pull off the road soon to get across to him.
‘That dot,’ I pointed to it. ‘That’s a man who’s going to help you get the girls out.’
Her head snapped up in horror. ‘You’re helping me.’
‘I’m going to Webster’s mansion.’ I flipped back to the first image. Pointed to the roof of the mansion. ‘That’s his flyer. We’ll need it to get the girls out. Unless you want them to walk across the desert.’
‘Who is he? The government agent?’
‘No, Van’s bodyguard. He’s quite unhappy with the whole situation. He also has someone he cares about in one of those cages.’
That wasn’t strictly true, but I needed her to trust him. She thought for a moment and then nodded. Reluctantly. She’d pair up with this unknown man and get the girls out.
‘What about the girls from the club?’ she asked. ‘They won’t be in the same place.’
‘I’ll keep an eye out for them on my way to the mansion. The girls you were locked up with are the priority though. We don’t know for sure the others will even be there. And if they are, the cops and UPSF will take care of them.’
Acts of Violence Page 18
