by Rachel Aukes
More murcs than usual were up and about, and she noticed several busy loading equipment and supplies into transports. They would be clearing out soon. She continued along the fence line that led behind the mansion, following the path she’d watched Joe take several months earlier. She felt exposed, as though spotlights would shine on her any second. Joe had made it look easy, but then, he was an assassin while she was a soldier. Stealth had never been a part of her training.
She knew the guard schedules, the mansion’s floorplan, every part of the farm after studying it for years. Roderick Sloan was Val’s bogeyman. His was the face that haunted her dreams. When she thought of evil, she thought of him, because he was the man who’d stolen her family. He’d taken her brother from her, and though she’d helped take his brother from him, it wasn’t enough. He still had to pay for all the deaths he’d caused, and she would make sure his victims received their retribution.
She reached the place where she had to abandon the cover the fence provided and cross thirty yards of open space to the back door. She sprinted, noticing too late that there were two guards, not the usual one, posted near the back door. The nearest soldier turned, reacting to her movement, and she fired. He fell, but the light and zing of the blaster fire drew the attention of the second, and he shouted before she killed him.
More shouts followed, and she faced the choice of running into the house or making a run for it and trying again tomorrow. Guards pouring from the mansion made the decision for her, and she retreated, leaving the way she had come. But the guards beat her to her planned escape route, and lights came to life, one after another. She fired in bursts, but they penned her in, closing in on all sides.
She was searching for a way out when someone shot her in the back.
Chapter Fifty-Four
Val woke with a horrible burning sensation in her back. She was going to have to grovel to Kit for shooting him. She hadn’t realized how much getting stunned by a blaster hurt. Then she realized that she shouldn’t be awake at all, as the last thing she remembered was trying to escape the farm after her horribly botched attempt at killing Sloan. She hadn’t even made it to the mansion before she failed.
She blinked and tried to shade her eyes against the bright light, only to discover her hands were restrained behind her back, and a guard stood on each side of her, holding her arms. When her eyes adjusted, she saw Roderick Sloan standing in front of her. His face bore a sneer that made it ugly. He would’ve been a relatively attractive man if it wasn’t for his cruel aura.
“I should’ve known better than to hope you were dead,” Sloan said.
She hated that raspy voice most of all. “Sorry to disappoint you, but then, you’ve been disappointing the whole world by not being dead yet.”
He continued to sneer, and she wondered if that was his natural expression.
“At least my disappointment can be easily rectified,” he said. “I plan to have you executed in my courtyard at dawn for everyone here to see—especially my servants. They’ll see that all a sheriff is good for is dying.” He watched her, as though trying to figure something out. “You really thought you could sneak into my home and kill me? I give you credit, Sheriff. That took balls. But it was incredibly foolhardy, as you learned for yourself.”
She shrugged, at least, as much as she could while restrained. “You looked like you were getting ready to run, so I had to take a shot.”
“Well, it was foolish of you to come after me. Now your life is forfeit.”
She scrutinized him. “I’d say I’m in no worse a position than you are, since you’re about to have a ticket on your head.”
“Bah. I’m an administrator. I’m not some common criminal.”
“That’s not what I hear.”
“And what have you heard?”
“From what I hear, you don’t have a chance of making it to the Wilds in time.”
He blanched.
She rolled her eyes. “Oh come on. The Wilds is the only zone in the wastelands where the MRC can’t touch you. But there is one other place where you’re safe from the MRC.” She looked pointedly at the guard to her left and to her right.
“Leave us,” Sloan ordered, and the pair exited the office, closing the door behind them. He pulled out a blaster and aimed it at her. “In case you decide to make another foolhardy move tonight. Now tell me, what’s this other place you speak of?”
“The silo,” she replied.
He laughed. “The silo’s no secret, at least, not anymore. If Darville doesn’t know about it yet, she will soon.”
“She has to find it first. Without an entrance, that’s nearly impossible.”
His irritation was obvious. “Boris knows the location. He’ll tell her. He’s a rat.”
“Then you have yourself a rodent problem. That’s on you. What I can offer you is a silo and my word that it’s yours.”
“Sure, and have my throat sliced while I’m sleeping by one of my servants, those contract dodgers you’ve hidden out there?”
“There won’t be any refugees in the silo, because you’re going to shred every single one of those indenture contracts you hold over the heads of the poor people of Clearwater. Without those contracts, they’ll be free and won’t have to hide in the silo anymore, so you can have the place to yourself and those murcs you hired to protect you. It’s a win-win for everyone.”
He actually seemed to be considering her offer. “But all you’re giving me is your word that you won’t tell the MRC where to find the silo.”
“My word is good. Besides, if anyone’s going to take you down, it’ll be me. But I’m willing to forgo justice to see that the people are free. Pay a few of your murcs to drive your transport to the Wilds, so everyone thinks that’s where you ran, and no one will think to search for you in Clearwater’s backyard.”
“I’ll consider your offer.” His sneer returned. “I’ll give you an answer at dawn.”
Chapter Fifty-Five
Joe was in a deep sleep when someone pounded on his door.
“Wait a minute,” he called out and mumbled a string of curses. He grabbed a pair of pants, then tossed them to the side. Whoever decided to wake him in the middle of the night could see him in his underwear.
He opened the door to find Kit leaning against the frame, holding his chest, and wincing. Joe caught his friend when he started to fall.
Joe helped Kit to a chair. “What happened?”
“I can’t believe she shot me,” was his reply.
“Who shot you? What happened?”
Kit gave Joe an anguished look. “Val. She went after Sloan by herself.”
Joe’s feelings mirrored Kit’s troubled expression. He cursed and placed a call to Rex. “Gear up. Meet us on top in ten. Val went after Sloan.”
Rex’s string of curses was far more colorful than Joe’s. Joe disconnected the call, grabbed his clothes, and started dressing.
“I need a painkiller. I’ll see you on top,” Kit said.
Joe said, “You need to stay here. You should be in bed.”
Kit shot him a dark look. “Quit telling me I should be in bed.”
“Well, you did have a mountain fall on you recently.”
Kit ignored him. “I’m going with you. Val shot me, and I plan to rub it in her face after we rescue her.”
“Fine. It’s your life, but if you get yourself killed, I’m going to be very pissed off at you.”
Kit left without a single retort.
Joe pulled on his exoshield and weapons belt, and made it to the surface in eight minutes. Rex arrived thirty seconds behind him. Kit made it four minutes later.
“Slowpoke,” Rex jested.
“I’m sore. Val shot me,” Kit said, gingerly touching his chest.
Rex strode over and tugged open Kit’s shirt.
Kit slapped him away. “Stop that.”
“I saw every inch of your scrawny body when I nursed you back to health, so don’t you slap me away, partner.” Rex rol
led his eyes. “And she just used the stun setting, you big baby.”
“It still hurts,” Kit grumbled.
“When did she leave?” Joe asked.
Kit scratched his head. “Let me think. Around ten.”
Joe checked his watch. She had a ninety-minute head start. “She’s likely already at the farm, but maybe we can still stop her.”
“I hope she’s not dead. I felt like I was finally wearing her down enough to go out with me,” Rex said.
Kit shook his head. “Not cool, Rex.”
“Let’s load up and go. We’ll figure things out on the way,” Joe said.
Headlights appeared in the distance, and all three men whipped out their blasters. They took cover and watched the vehicle approach. Joe tensed when he saw it was a black MRC cutter.
“Murcs,” Joe said, loud enough for the two other hunters to hear.
The trio waited silently in the dark as the cutter pulled up near the entrance. He was glad it wasn’t a transport, which could hold multiple squads. A cutter meant four, maybe five murcs. It pulled to a stop near the entrance, and a single soldier climbed out. Joe wished he’d sprung for a heat signature upgrade to his visor so he’d know how many more were inside.
The murc held up a small white flag as he walked cautiously around the front of his vehicle.
“He’s surrendering?” Rex whispered.
“I think it’s more that he doesn’t want us to shoot him,” Kit whispered back.
The soldier stopped in front of the new entrance that was still being built. “Hello? I have a message for someone in charge. It’s about the sheriff.”
Rex stepped out from behind cover first, and the other two followed.
“Keep your hands where I can see them, pipsqueak,” Rex ordered.
The murc held up his hands, the flag in one, and a piece of paper in the other.
“Did anyone come with you?” Joe asked as he approached the cutter, keeping the murc in his line of sight.
“No, it’s just me. Mr. Sloan didn’t want to intimidate you,” the soldier said, sounding plenty intimidated himself.
Joe checked the cutter anyway. “All clear.”
Kit pulled the note out of the man’s hand and read it under the headlights. “It’s from Sloan. He has Val. She’s still alive, and it says they’ve made a deal. We’re supposed to clear out the silo for him. In return, he’ll release Val with all the indenture contracts. He wants an answer.” He looked up. “What do we tell him?”
“We tell him we’ll have the silo cleared out by sunset tomorrow,” Joe said, keeping an eye on the messenger.
“The refugees might not want to evacuate until they know they’re safe. It could be a ploy to draw everyone out for a massacre,” Kit said.
“True. So, we tell him Val and the contracts have to be released before we evacuate,” Joe said.
“Except that he may decide to kill Val if we don’t do exactly what he wants,” Kit replied.
“How about this,” Rex said, and shot the soldier.
The messenger crumpled, the white flag still in his hand.
“Well, that certainly sends a message,” Kit said.
Joe scowled. “Damn it, Rex. What’d you do that for?”
“Sorry guys. I was getting bored. We aren’t going to make the refugees leave the silo unless we can guarantee their safety, and we all know it. So let’s stop screwing around and go and get our Val back.”
“That’s easier said than done,” Joe said. “If we go in now, we’re guaranteed to have a confrontation with Sloan, and doing that breaks our deal with Cat.”
“And that’s going to piss Cat off,” Rex said. “For some reason, that makes me feel better.”
“I hate to say this, but we need to tell her. That’s the only way to keep the deal,” Kit said.
“Don’t look at me. I don’t have her number,” Joe said.
“Neither do I, but I wish I did. Then I’d call her a hundred times a day, just to mess with her,” Rex said.
Kit sighed and activated his armlet. He ran through several screens before placing the call.
“Just because I’m not going to try to kill you for a month doesn’t mean I can’t make your life hell. Why are you calling me, Turbo?”
“Circumstances have changed, and since we’d hate to break our deal with you, we thought it best to loop you in,” Kit said.
“You can’t go six hours without breaking your end of the deal.” She sighed. “What circumstances would those be?”
“Roderick Sloan has Sherriff Vane. As you know, she’s a friend of ours, and we don’t leave our friends to die. We’re going in to rescue her.”
There was a brief delay, and Joe wondered if she’d pinged her bodyguards. “And when do you plan to undertake this rescue?”
Kit shrugged. “Immediately. As soon as possible. Right now.”
“Not without me, you don’t. I will not have Sloan ‘accidentally’ killed during your rescue.”
“I’ll drop you a pin where you can meet us near the farm.”
“I’ll see you there. And Turbo, delete this number from your contact list.”
He disconnected the call and looked up. “You heard all that?”
Joe nodded.
“Yeah,” Rex said. “Hey Kit?”
Kit turned to him.
“Send her number to me.”
Kit grinned. “Gladly, Rex.”
Chapter Fifty-Six
Joe and Kit drove the MRC cutter and Rex drove Beatrice. They parked near Val’s cutter, and he heard the rumble of another cutter surprisingly soon after they parked. Joe was surprised. He’d expected Cat and her hunters to need more time to get ready. Did she have them sleep in their exoshields?
The cutter drove without headlights, and Joe was glad they were dealing with professionals.
Cat stepped out of the driver’s seat wearing the same outfit as earlier, while the two hunters with her were in their exoshields. The hunters stayed close to Cat, obviously doubling as her bodyguards in case things went south.
Cat joined them, carrying a large pair of night vision binoculars. “What are we dealing with?”
Kit answered. “Sloan will be in his mansion. We expect the sheriff to be in there as well. He’ll have at least a squad in the house with him at all times. Outside, we’re looking at at least four murc squads with two on duty, all posted around the mansion except for two at the entry point. Light armored vehicles, multiple transports, and one tank.”
“You were a decent hunter, Turbo. Too bad you turned out to be a loathsome human being.”
“Decent? I was the best hunter. I’m still the best,” Kit said cockily.
Joe grinned. It was nice to see Kit’s personality returning, especially when it was directed at people Joe didn’t like. His injuries had really subdued his flair.
“So, how are we going to get around that tank?” Rex asked.
“Like you said, we go around it,” Joe replied.
Rex turned. “What?”
“The tank won’t fire on the mansion with Sloan inside, so as long as we keep the house between us and the tank, it doesn’t have a viable target.” Joe added, “But that doesn’t stop the thirty-five or more murcs in our way. With the farm on active alert, I don’t think we’ll be able to sneak in.”
Cat chuckled. “Five hunters in exoshields against thirty-five murcs should be a piece of cake.” She looked pointedly at Kit. “Oops. I bet you wish you still had your exoshield.”
His expression shot daggers.
“We go through the front gate and drive into the house,” Lobo said, with an accent Joe didn’t recognize; it resembled Spanish but wasn’t.
“I like the way you think,” Rex said. “As long as Beatrice stays back here. She doesn’t deserve that kind of abuse.”
“We’ll go in first with the murc cutter,” Joe said. “The guards may open the gate. If not, well, it’s a murc cutter, so who cares what happens to it?”
“Now
the question is, who goes inside and who fends off the murcs outside? We can’t all go in and be stuck without flank support. We need our escape vehicles to be ready to roll,” Cat said. “I’m obviously going in—Sloan’s my bounty.”
“And I’m going with you,” Joe said. He didn’t trust Rex to stay focused on the rescue with so many shiny things to distract him, and Kit had no armor. “Kit drives and covers us from the cutter. Rex, Lobo, and Wilco can cover our exit route.”
Cat’s brows rose. “I’m not a fan of you taking charge, but in this case, it makes sense. Everyone, let’s roll out.” She paused. “Oh, and one more thing. I need a little extra for having to put up with your problems.”
“What are you thinking?” Kit asked.
She smiled. “I get first dibs on Sloan’s vault.”
“Sloan doesn’t have a vault,” Rex blurted.
Cat chuckled. “Oh, I’m quite sure he does, and it’s mine.”
Rex shrugged. “Fine. It’s all yours.”
She eyed him for a moment before climbing into her cutter.
Kit took the driver’s seat in the murc cutter. Joe climbed in the passenger seat, and Rex piled in back, carrying a super-sized blaster.
“I’m surprised at your generosity, Rex,” Kit said as he pulled out of the cove.
Rex laughed. “She can have the vault. My treasure’s waiting for me in the back of Sloan’s transport.”
Chapter Fifty-Seven
They say no plan survives first contact with the enemy. Joe’s plan didn’t even survive that long. Kit drove the MRC cutter with the headlights on, Cat following practically on his bumper, dark. The front gate opened when they were still a hundred yards away. Cat’s cutter swerved around the lead cutter and rocketed through the front gate. Murcs spread across the courtyard started running and shooting at the two vehicles.
