The Gates of Hell

by Chris Kennedy

  “And it’s safe in storage there? I’d have thought you’d be worried about someone stealing it.”

  “I paid extra to have it kept in high-security storage. If somebody steals it before we sign for it, the starport is on the hook to pay the entire value of the cargo, which is almost as good as getting it delivered to the Lions in the first place.

  “We weren’t able to get that kind of insurance on the liner. It cost a pretty penny here, but the peace of mind is definitely worth it.”

  The area they were entering now was made up of open pads for shuttles and small buildings where said shuttles could be stored. This obviously catered to those who owned their own vessels. The smell of fuel became a lot more pungent.

  The shuttle Hawke led them toward looked to be in surprisingly good shape. With the way things had been going, Rick halfway expected Chappa’s shuttle to be a flying wreck. Instead, it was sleek and clean. Stylish, even.

  “You’ve got a nice ride, Chappa,” he said over his shoulder at the other man.

  “With the amount of money I have to keep dumping into it, it oughta be,” the man grumbled. “Owning a shuttle is a lot like owning a boat or recreation vehicle. The damned things are money pits.”

  The hatch to the shuttle was open, and the ramp was down. Two burley men in unpowered armor stood there, rifles in hand. Rick didn’t know them, but Hawke walked right up to them.

  “Everything still good, Ray?” she asked.

  The man on the right nodded, his short black hair glistening in the light. He had to be using some kind of hair product. As short as the man’s hair was, Rick couldn’t imagine why.

  “All clear, Major,” the man said in a surprisingly deep voice. “We had a couple of people approach, but nothing suspicious. Just lookie loos curious about what we were doing. I told them that wasn’t any of their business, and they moved on.”

  The Marine officer nodded. “Good enough. Get your squad in order, Corporal. We’ll be leaving two people sealed up inside the shuttle to wait for us while we pick up the cargo. Everyone else is providing overwatch to make sure we get back here without any problems.”

  “Copy that,” the man responded.

  Hawke turned to face Rick. “If you’ll come with me, I’ll get you outfitted in a manner befitting a real merc.”

  “Not much outfitting needed to just hand me a gun belt,” he offered as they went into the shuttle.

  The inside of the vehicle was open, and there were a half dozen men and women in unpowered armor waiting inside. Considering shuttles were meant to move cargo, they didn’t take up much of the available space.

  Hawke stopped him next to a small stack of boxes and offered Rick a smile. “I have something a little bit more…thorough in mind. Take off your shirt.”

  He raised both his eyebrows meaningfully. “We’ve circled back around to whether or not I should get dinner first.”

  “Armor, hot stuff. I’ve got something you can wear underneath your shirt. Your pants are safe. For the moment.”

  Honestly, he wasn’t certain whether her teasing really meant she was interested or not. That was one of the problems in the dance between men and women. It was hard to tell what the other’s intentions really were sometimes. The line between flirting and come on wasn’t always a bright one.

  If he assumed she wasn’t really interested, and she was, that would be one thing. If he assumed she was interested and he was wrong, that could be very awkward.

  He undid his shirt and pulled it off as she opened one of the boxes. It held a mixture of equipment, including torso armor that looked like it was made to be concealed. It also held a pistol belt with a weapon and magazines.

  Hawke hefted the armor, but paused before she put it in place. “You’ve been holding out on me, Betancourt. Those abs are definitely something to be proud of.”

  “Is that all I am to you?” he asked, his tone cool. “Just a piece of meat to be assessed for how pretty it is?”

  Hawke laughed and grinned. “I like you, Rick. You really do know how to play the game. Arms up.”

  She slid the armor into place and quickly tightened its straps. Once she was done, she stepped back and appraised him.

  “That should do. Once we get you strapped, you won’t look so…naked. Not that I think I’d mind seeing you naked.”

  It was his turn to laugh. “You are such a tease.”

  She stepped up until their noses were almost touching. Her green eyes studied his and he could smell her hair again. Or was that her skin? Whatever it was, it had the effect on him she’d no doubt intended.

  “While I have been known to tease,” she said softly, “I only do so with people I actually have an interest in. Play your cards right, and maybe you’ll get a chance to find out what’s underneath my armor.”

  That shot his internal temperature straight up. It took everything he had to avoid swallowing visibly. Instead, he just widened his smile and said nothing.

  After a few moments she stepped back with a knowing smile, grabbed the weapons belt, and handed it to him. “Standard sidearm and ammunition, locked and loaded, safety on. Let’s hope you don’t need it. Once you’re all set, we’ll head to the portmaster’s office and pick up the cargo. Simple and straightforward.”

  He wasn’t certain about how problem free this was really going to be. That depended on whether someone tried to take the cargo away from them. If they did, things would get very ugly, very fast.

  Since planning for everything to go smoothly wasn’t the way to achieve success, he pulled the pistol from its holster and verified that it was locked and loaded, and the safety was on. He then reholstered it and nodded at her.

  They headed back out into the starport, eyes watching their surroundings closely. They’d be safe on their way to pick up the diamonds, he suspected. It was the trip back that would have all the complications, if there were going to be any.

  * * *

  As Rick had expected, the trip to the portmaster’s office went off without a hitch, although everyone was on high alert just in case.

  If the sight of armed and armored Marines—even in civilian clothes—moving through the port caused a stir, it wasn’t readily apparent. With the two Marines guarding the shuttle, Hawke, Malave, Chappa, and he were surrounded by half a dozen men and women as they entered.

  The beings around them seemed to dismiss them without a second glance. Perhaps seeing something like this wasn’t all that uncommon after all.

  The office itself was just as utilitarian as the rest of the cargo port. There was a long counter set at one end of the room, and a number of beings were working behind it. One of them was Human.

  The woman looked up and smiled at the group as they came in, but her expression darkened when she saw Chappa.

  “Oh, crap,” the man said, freezing in his tracks.

  “Is this Julie, or is this Ellen?” Rick asked into the ringing silence.

  “Lydia.”

  Hawke turned and gave Chappa a hard shove. “What’s with you? Are you broken? How in the world can you sleep with every single woman you come across?”

  “Well, I didn’t sleep with you.”

  The Marine officer’s eyes narrowed dangerously, and she poked a finger into Chappa’s chest. “If you’d tried, I’d have cut it off. You’re a damned train wreck.”

  Without waiting for him to respond, she turned away, shaking her head in obvious disbelief. With an audible sigh, she walked up to the counter with Rick at her heels.

  Once there, she smiled at the other woman. “Let’s get this out of the way right up front. I hired Chappa for his shuttle. Whatever problems you have with him, don’t take them out on me. I had no idea what the hell he was up to here.”

  The woman behind the counter looked like she still wanted to make an issue of it but closed her mouth and took a deep breath before nodding. “Because I can’t be sure, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. What can I do for you?” Her tone was notably cool.

&n
bsp; “I’m just here to pick up my cargo. It’s in the high-security vault. Here’s my paperwork.”

  Hawke pulled out actual papers and slid them across the counter to the woman.

  Lydia picked the paperwork up and read it closely, her eyes narrowing and then going wide. “Oh. I see.”

  The lingering antagonism in the woman’s face melted away, and she became all professional. “I’ve got a few more things for you to sign, and I’m going to need your biometric data to confirm your identity. Once that’s done, we’ll release your cargo.”

  “Bring it on.”

  The woman produced some additional paperwork and handed it to Hawke with a pen. The Marine officer started filling it out.

  While she worked, Rick looked around, trying to gauge how the place normally operated. There were perhaps a dozen other beings in the room, all seemingly intent on their work, though Rick had to admit more than a few were sending looks toward the Marines guarding the door. He didn’t see anything alarming in their gaze, but that wasn’t his specialty, either.

  The process of getting the cargo released to Hawke wasn’t a quick one. He supposed that made sense, considering how much it was worth.

  Once the paperwork was complete, Lydia disappeared back into the building, and returned twenty minutes later with a small cart holding a small container. It was armored and locked.

  Four Oogar, tall and purple, towered behind the woman, heavily armed and armored. They were obviously there to protect the cargo until it was released into Hawke’s custody.

  Lydia presented a slate for Hawke to sign for the cargo, but the Marine officer waved her hand. “Before I do that, I need to see that the contents are intact. I have the codes, and you’re more than welcome to watch, but I’m going to look inside that container.”

  “That’s acceptable,” the woman said. “Be advised, the cargo is not officially in your possession until you sign for it. If you attempt to take it without doing so, you’ll be treated as a thief. Nothing personal, but that’s the way it is.”

  “Good enough.”

  Hawke knelt beside the container and tapped in a long code. The lock beeped, and she opened the lid in such a way that the others in the room couldn’t get a good look inside.

  Rick looked down over her shoulder. The container was filled with red diamonds of various sizes. He didn’t know what to think. He’d never seen so much money in one place before. It felt unreal.

  A glance at the counter revealed that Lydia shared his opinion, because her eyes were huge. She said nothing, however.

  Hawke closed the lid and relocked the container. That done, she dusted her hands off on her pants, stepped over to the counter, and entered her biometric data into the slate the woman offered to her.

  “That’s it,” Lydia said. “The port hereby relinquishes control of this cargo to your care and is no longer responsible for it. I suggest you take it wherever you’re going quickly.”

  “That’s my intention,” Hawke said with a cool smile. “Let me give you some advice in return. Chappa’s trouble. He’s never going to change his ways. To show my solidarity with the rest of the women in the galaxy, I urge you to pass along word of just how unfaithful he is to each and every one of them you meet, just in case he might ever come across them.

  “He’s going to try to convince you this was all some kind of big misunderstanding. Don’t believe it. Leopards don’t change their spots. He’s going to try to get into the pants of anything that’s remotely biologically compatible. Never doubt it for a second.”

  Lydia’s eyes shifted over to where Chappa was standing by the door. The man couldn’t hear what was being said, but it was obvious he recognized he was the subject of their conversation, as he turned so he wasn’t looking toward the counter.

  “I just can’t believe how good he was at juggling all of us,” Lydia muttered. “He had at least five of us on the string at the same time. I even know some of the other women. We had no idea.”

  “He’s sly. He might be a lot of fun to hang out with, but if you’ve got an interest in anything resembling fidelity, he’s not your guy.”

  With that, Hawke stepped away from the counter and gestured for the Marines to come over. “Here’s the plan. We get back to the shuttle as quickly as possible and take off directly for Hermes. I’ll push the container while you keep watch.”

  She turned her attention to Chappa. “As soon as we get back to your shuttle, I want you to get clearance and get us off this planet before another one of your damned girlfriends catches up with you.”

  “Ex-girlfriends,” he grumbled. “I might as well relocate. It’s going to be too hot here now.”

  “What you do on your own time is your business,” Hawke said briskly. “I will say I thought you had better sense than this. You shouldn’t pee where you sleep.”

  When she made to grab the handle on the cart, Rick waved her off. “While I’m armed, I might not be the best one to keep an eye out for trouble. Why don’t I push the cart while you make sure nobody jumps us?”

  “That works,” Hawke readily agreed. “Now all we have to do is get to the shuttle and get to your ship. Easy peasy.”

  Rick certainly hoped she was right, but the hair on the back of his neck was standing up now. He wasn’t going to feel comfortable until they were safely in hyperspace.

  * * *

  From the moment they stepped out of the portmaster’s office, Rick felt as if he had a target painted on his back. Part of him thought everyone around knew he was pushing a cart containing riches beyond the wildest imaginings of any single individual.

  Thankfully, no one paid them the slightest mind.

  The shuttle wasn’t parked all that far away from the portmaster’s office, but they were now moving more deliberately. The armed men and women around him had upped their game and were watching for threats with far more intensity than they had been just half an hour before.

  Things went smoothly enough that Rick was beginning to think they’d make it all the way back to the shuttle without any trouble.

  The Human woman who stepped out from behind a stack of cargo containers directly ahead of them disabused him of that notion. She wore unpowered body armor and hefted a wicked looking rifle of a design he wasn’t familiar with.

  In the middle of the rising tension, before the woman in front of them could say a word or they could respond to her presence, Chappa threw his hands up into the air. “I’ve never slept with her! I don’t even know her!”

  The woman briefly closed her mouth and stared at Chappa in shocked confusion. “What?”

  Then she shook her head and forcibly refocused her attention on the rest of the party.

  “This is the end of the ride,” she said in a low, sultry voice that was at odds with her obvious intent to rob them. “I’ll be taking that cargo now.”

  With that, four Blevins stepped out to back her up, also armed with the same kind of rifles. A sound off to his left drew Rick’s attention in that direction, revealing at least one person was up on top of a nearby stack of cargo containers, lying flat with his weapon covering Rick and his friends.

  Where there was one, he had absolutely no doubt there were more.

  “We have you surrounded, and this time we intend to get what we came for,” the woman said with a grin on her face. “Circumstances may have conspired to keep us from getting it last time, but you have no choice if you want your people to live. Give us the diamonds, and we’ll let you walk away. Resist, and we’ll kill every single one of you before we take what we want.”

  Rick’s fight or flight responses were warring inside him. He wasn’t sure what the best course of action was, but it sure looked like they were screwed.

  Hawke seemed unconcerned. “I don’t think you have a firm grasp on the situation. You think you have the upper hand, but in fact you don’t really understand the game. Has anyone ever told you that fighting a battle is a lot like a game of chess in the preparatory stages?

  �
�We always wargame everything we can think of to come up with appropriate responses and countermeasures. Another thing we do is leave an opportunity for an enemy to make a mistake because they’ve misread the battlefield.”

  She smiled coldly and put her hands on her hips. “In fact, that’s a big part of fighting. Using misdirection to lure the enemy into committing their forces to an area they think gives them an advantage, but in fact leaves them vulnerable. Basic stuff, really.

  “So, let’s flip this on its head, shall we? I’m going to give you one chance to lay down your weapons and surrender before things get really, really ugly. Do yourself a favor and think long and hard before you reject my offer, because I won’t be making it again.”

  In his head, Rick thought that was just about the craziest thing he’d ever heard. They were screwed.

  He knew exactly how many Marines they had on hand and, except for the two back at the shuttle, this was it. Hawke was bluffing, and if he could figure that out, he was pretty sure the woman could, too.

  Judging by her smile, the woman’s opinion matched his. “My people have been watching your shuttle. We know exactly how many people you’ve got and where they are. Unless you’d like my people to cut you down, put your weapons on the ground and step away from my money.”

  Hawke shrugged, seemingly unconcerned. “I think we’ll give that a hard no. Execute Houdini.”

  Rick wasn’t certain what he’d expected to happen, but the immediate effect of the Marine officer’s words shocked him.

  All around them, the cargo handlers who had been busy ignoring them minutes earlier suddenly pulled weapons and trained them on the woman and her four companions.

  Elsewhere in the stacks of cargo, he could hear voices shouting for people to put their weapons down. Not everybody complied, because there were a few shots, but there was much less violence than he’d been expecting.

  That didn’t mean they were in no danger, because one of the people looking down on them from the cargo containers opened fire, sending hot slugs slamming into the Marines who’d drawn into a protective circle. They of course responded in kind.