Reason For Vengeance (Dark Vengeance Book 1)

by Adrian D. Roberts

  “Open it,” Valerie barked at the woman. Though there was no gun jammed into her crotch, the woman put up no more resistance than the guard downstairs, immediately entering the code to the Helos hatch.

  The hatch lowered and Valerie heaved the woman bodily through the air to land easily five metres away. She jerked her head at the grav board and Hanna took her meaning. She pushed Aamir in, quickly strapped him to one side and was shocked to see his eyes were open. He must have woken up at some point. From the look of complete and utter terror there, had seen enough to know he was in serious trouble.

  Hanna could not help herself. She rolled her eyes at him with an impish shrug and nodded in Valerie’s direction. Hey? What can you do with people like that? Her body language said before running for the cockpit and jumping into the co-pilots seat.

  “You’re really earning your pay today.” Hanna muttered as she plugged the Quartz in.

  As her worms attacked the Helos security, she realised that someone else was already there. “Shit,” she said out loud. The Safelife programmers were now at work. The doors sealing themselves would have sent red flags flying and woken them up. They were now busy trying to regain control of the systems she Hacked and those she hadn’t, including the Helos.

  “Valerie!” Hanna shouted at the top of her voice. “Kill the coms.”

  The sound of a Pulse rifle’s whine, followed by a small explosion reverberating through the Helos hull, was answer enough. “Hah! Hard line always beats wireless,” Hanna exclaimed. The Safelife’s people were cut out of the Helo. All it took then were some minor adjustments and reinforcement of the worms and she was in. The Helos controls lit up in front of her. She turned and shouted back to Valerie. “Let’s go!”

  Running up the ramp to the cockpit Valerie, dumped her rifles out of the way and climbed into the pilots seat. The engines started cycling up as Valerie hit the right buttons. Hanna looked across the flight deck and saw doors opening. Men and women, now in full armour and armed to the teeth, spilled out.

  “We’ve got company and they look pissed,” Hanna shouted.

  “Not a problem,” Valerie replied calmly. The Helo rose gently into the air. The nose came round gracefully to point at the running guards. Some of them must have realised what was about to happen and started to dive out of the way. It didn’t save them, a stream of fire ripped out of the Helo. It lanced straight through the guards, their armour being no defence against the Helos Heavy Blasters.

  It was carnage, the guards stood no chance and bodies flew all over the place. Hanna steeled herself as she saw peoples bodies ripped apart by the intense fire. She had seen a lot of people die in her life but nothing like she witnessed in the last few minutes. Since they walked out of the lift, more died than in all her years put together. She glanced at the other woman. Her face was back to that cold statue, there was no emotion there and nothing of what she should be feeling. Who was Aamir and what had he done to cause her friend to revert to this?

  With the last of the guards dead the Helo swung round and Valerie targeted the other Dragonflies on the flight deck. They weren’t moving targets and Valerie was able to target precisely their weak spots. One by one they exploded. With the last a burning wreck, Hanna was pressed tightly back into her seat. The Helo shot smoothly out into the open sky.

  Metres from the exit, alarms sounded and lights flashed on the Dragonfly’s control board. Hanna was jerked sideways, Valerie sending the Helo into a tight downward turn. Something flashed past the cockpit and detonated on the side of the building.

  “The patrols. They’re targeting us!” Hanna shouted and cursed herself for saying such an obvious thing.

  Valerie’s only response was to haul on the controls. The Dragonfly responded and went vertical. Hanna was pressed back hard in her seat as Valerie brought the Helo up and back. It curved over so they were upside down, Hanna saw the top of Derwent Tower pass over her head. There coming into sight in front of them, was another Helo, it seemed to hang for a moment, before two missiles streaked out to slam into it. The blazing fireball went spiralling down to the ground.

  The hull shuddered and Hanna was hurled forward hard. The straps dug unto her shoulders painfully. She was glad she had taken the time to strap herself in properly. Another Dragonfly seemed to hurl itself past. Hanna realised Valerie had braked hard, causing the other Helo to overfly them. More missiles shot forward and another blazing wreck went down.

  Buildings spun past in front of Hanna. The Helo banked left and she was pushed hard against the right side of the seat. “Amateurs,” Hanna heard Valerie say. She looked over and saw the woman had one hand on the flight stick while the other danced over a complicated computer consol. “They don’t even know how to use their own counter measures.” The woman was talking to herself.

  Hanna realised, not only was Valerie flying the Helo against four others and controlling the weapons. She was also running the Helos anti-missile and targeting systems, to confuse those trying to kill them. Suddenly the noise of the engines died and the Helo spun one hundred and eighty degrees. For an instant Hanna thought they were hit and about to die, but there in front of them was one of the enemy Helos. They were flying backwards! Somehow Valerie used the ships anti-gravs to hold it in place, while its momentum kept it going in a straight line. She then spun the Helo and brought her weapons to directly bear on the Dragonfly following them.

  The two Helos were facing each other for just the slightest instant. That was all it took for Valerie’s missiles to destroy it. The Helo continued to spin until it was back facing its original heading and the engines kicked in.

  “Now for the last of you bastards,” Valerie snarled. The dragonfly’s nose went back to point directly at the sky and it shot upwards.

  Airsickness was never a problem for Hanna before. Maybe because she hadn’t spent a lot of time in aircars and when she did, it was while the compensators were on full, so you didn’t feel the movement. Also they were mostly flown in a calm and easy manner. It was not the case today. Valerie hadn’t engaged the compensator and the sight of the ground, sky and buildings spinning around in front of her, as she was being pulled in every direction, was really making Hanna’s stomach want to empty itself.

  Hanging on grimly, Hanna promised herself that she was not going to throw up and splatter the cockpit. That could be the one thing that distracted Valerie or obscure her view enough, to get them killed. Hanna lost her concentration on the fight, focusing purely on keeping her stomach contents down. The Helo lurched, up down, left, right, backwards and forwards. It went in every direction imaginable and then, there sitting in front of them was the last Dragonfly.

  This one darted about, trying valiantly to get away. Hanna could only imagine the pilots terror. Just barely two minutes ago that pilot must have been confident with four to one odds. She probably wanted to get her own back on the person who killed so many of her comrades. Now she was flying as though her very life depended on it and Hanna knew it very much did.

  The Helo steadied around her and Blaster fire came from the sides of the Dragonfly in front. They were anti-personnel weapons and not heavy enough to punch through the Helos front armour. It was a desperate last move and it was not enough. Valerie’s much heavier forward Blasters lanced out. They cut into the engine on the right hand side, ripping it apart in a fiery explosion. The Helo rolled gently to the right as the pilot struggled for control. Valerie walked her fire across its back into the left hand engine. That too disintegrated. The fourth and final Helo went crashing to the ground in a fiery inferno.

  The Dragonfly steadied as Valerie brought it round to a steady course. Hanna’s mouth filled with saliva and she clawed at her restraints. Once released and she could move, she leaned over the seat. No longer able to hold it back, Hanna’s stomach convulsed and the vomit sprayed out of her mouth. It splattered down onto the Helos floor. Again and again her stomach heaved and out came the horrible, yellow, liquid filled with half-digested food.


  Soon there was nothing left and she was dry heaving but her stomach hadn’t finished. Something else rose up, burning her throat on the way. Out came the bile, that viscous, stinking, bright yellow fluid. Hanna dumped it on the floor with the rest and sat back in her seat. Completely drained, she weakly pulled her restraints back on.

  “Here.” Valerie said not unkindly. There was still little emotion in her voice. Hanna looked up and took the proffered bottle of water. It must have come from the Helos own stock. They used their own up some time ago.

  “Thanks,” Hanna said gratefully. She swilled some around her mouth and spat it on the floor. It wouldn’t make any difference now. She gulped down several mouthfuls and fortunately, now that the Dragonfly was steady, her stomach accepted the water.

  Wiping her mouth Hanna thought it was time for some answers. “Where are we going?”

  “To the warehouse in Swaffham. Did you disable the beacon?” That made sense. It was one of Sneaker’s safe houses outside of his area. They only procured it a couple of weeks ago and it hadn’t been used yet. For all intents and purposes, it had no connection with his gang and should be a good place to hide the Helo. The people in the area, like most of those in the Ghetto, would not talk to the authorities.

  “Yeah. We can’t be traced.” Hanna paused, trying to find the right words. She couldn’t think of an easy way to approach it. She went with the direct route. “Why did we just do that?” she asked, trying to keep her voice as unaccusatory as possible.

  The silence from the other side of the cockpit stretched for a long time. Hanna was not tempted in the slightest to break it. She had a feeling she would not like the response if she pushed Valerie too far. Finally the other woman spoke.

  “It’s personal,” she said in her cold dead voice. There was another long pause. “He knows what happened.”

  Nothing more was forthcoming. Hanna was screwing up the courage to push further when they started to descend. The warehouse was just coming up in front of them and with a frustrated glance to Valerie, she sent a signal from her Quartz to open the roof doors. The massive doors swung ponderously up and the Helo swept through quickly, before they were even a quarter open. The doors were designed for craft much bigger than the Helo and it was an easy fit.

  In the empty warehouse, the Dragonfly looked, like its namesake inside Hanna’s old apartment, in the vast space. The Helo landed close to the block of offices at one end. Valerie obviously didn’t want to talk. She went back into the troop compartment without a word. Hanna reluctantly followed her friend. Valerie collected a bag from one of the lockers and towing the conscious Aamir behind her, went down the exit ramp.

  The three of them entered one of the offices and Valerie righted an old upturned chair, placing it in the centre of the room. From the bag she took a helmet that she fitted over Aamir’s head, his eyes were still wide in terror. Hanna recognised it as a sensory helmet the Safelife guards would use to interrogate a prisoner. It could do many unpleasant things, making you hear, smell and see whatever the operator wanted you to. Valerie merely set it to mute. Aamir would not be able to sense anything until it was deactivated.

  Pulling him out of the grav board, Valerie set him down into the chair before securing his arms and legs. Once done, she picked another chair up for herself and sat down. It was then as though all the life drained out of her. Hanna watched as Valerie seemed to deflate in the chair. Her eyes held such a look of utter loss that she could not bring herself to say anything. Not knowing what to do, Hanna pulled a chair out and sat down.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  For a long time Valerie sat there, staring at the man. He couldn’t talk. The makeshift gag Hanna put in was still there. Hanna checked her wristcomp for the time. Almost two hours had passed. She was tired and her eyes were heavy. It had been a very long day and now past midnight. Not an unusual time for her really, but it had been more than a little stressful. She was also getting quite hungry.

  “I’m going to see if I can scrounge something to eat from the Helo,” she said. “Do you want anything?” She might as well been speaking to Aamir rather than Valerie, for all the response she got. With a shake of her head Hanna went out.

  The Helo sat where they left it and she had a look at its hull in the dim light. All along the left side were scorch marks from the other Dragonflies Blasters. It was a wonder they survived. No, Hanna thought, not a wonder. It was a testament to Valerie’s skill.

  She went inside and found the emergency kit. Sure enough there were some ration bars and bottles of water. Grabbing what she could, Hanna stuffed the bars into her pockets and took three bottles of the water. A sound outside caused her to spin around. With her hands full she couldn’t draw her pistol from her waist band. Gently she placed the water to one side. With her hands free, she drew her Pulse pistol and crept down the ramp.

  “Where is she!?” Hanna almost screamed when Sneaker strode angrily into sight.

  “Bloody hades, Sneaker. I could have shot you,” she shouted at him.

  “I don’t fucking care. Where is she?” he was really angry. Hanna hadn’t seen him like this before and just pointed to the room. He stalked off towards it. Hanna grabbed the water and ran after him.

  He didn’t waste any time, flinging open the door. “What the fuck did you think you were doing?” He strode in and stood right over Valerie. “I asked you to do a simple data heist. There was nothing in your plan about killing most of Safelife’s guards and having a full blown dogfight, over the skies of Inferno!” Still Valerie didn’t respond. “Do you have any idea the shit storm you’ve just created? Every security agency on the planet is up in arms! Even the local Legion bases have been put on alert.”

  A movement beside Hanna caused her to glance back and Deni slipped in quietly.

  “You OK?” she asked Hanna in a whisper.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Did you get any heat?” She asked her friend in the same whisper. Neither wanted to draw Sneaker’s anger on them.

  “Nah. It all went on far above me. As soon as I got your message I left and picked Sneaker up on the way here.” Hanna sent her a note when it became clear Valerie had settled down and didn’t have any other mayhem in the pipeline.

  “Talk to me, Valerie.” Sneaker was saying in a more civil tone. “What happened? Who is he? I can’t help unless you talk to me.”

  “He killed my family.” Those four quiet words stopped them all. It was said without emotion, but that just gave it more impact than if she screamed at them at the top of her voice.

  Sneaker was the first to get his head around that. “Then why is he still alive?” Hanna could see what he meant. Valerie could have easily killed Aamir and hidden the body long enough for them to get clear.

  “Because he didn’t pull the trigger.” It was as though talking to Sneaker woke something in Valerie. She stood with renewed vigour. Stepping over to Aamir, she removed the sensory helmet and as he blinked up at her, eyes widening with fear, she leant in to him. “You do not say my name. Nod if you understand.” Her voice had all the heat of a black hole. Aamir nodded slightly, obviously too afraid to move too much, like a rabbit caught in a wheelies headlights.

  ***

  A hard look at Sneaker and the others, made it very clear to all of them Valerie didn’t want them to say anything when she carefully removed the gag.

  “I, I didn’t know. Y, you have to believe me,” the man stammered.

  “No excuses, Aamir. Not now,” Valerie said to him. “You are not leaving this room alive. All you have are two choices, either tell me who you told and I’ll shoot you through the head. It will be quick and relatively painless. Don’t talk to me and you will spend the next two days dying. Now tell me who you told.”

  “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know they were going to do that. I didn’t know they were going to kill To.” Valerie lunged at him, her hand clamping down on his mouth. The rage inside of her begging to squeeze and keep squeezing until his head exploded.
>
  Once, during project Prometheus, when she was fifteen, a technician had been testing her strength. “Interesting.” The woman said in her detached clinical voice. It was a tone Valerie got very used to from all of her keepers during her childhood. “Good, you have exerted two hundred and sixty kilos of pressure. Hmm, more than sufficient to crush a human skull. Quite impressive.” It hadn’t been to Valerie at the time. It only made her more careful with her abilities.

  Right now she fought down the rage and stared into Aamir’s eyes. “You do not say their names. Ever. You do not have the right.” She held him so tightly he could not move his head a millimetre, but she could see it in his eyes he clearly understood.

  With an effort she eased her grip and released him. Aamir’s body deflated and he looked up at her. “I understand,” he said dejectedly. “I deserve to die for what I did. I came to your house. I ate at your table, played with…” he took a deep breath. “After...” a pause as he considered his words carefully. “After your husband came to me I didn’t know what to do so I spoke to one of Orobello’s trouble shooters. I thought he would be able to handle it quietly, maybe get some of the money repaid off the books. I know it’s been done before, why not this time? A week later it was all over the news and they were blaming your husband for Furioso. I don’t know why they did that, I guess it was just a handy excuse. There’s no way he would be involved in that, not him.”

  A sliver of guilt for what she did rose up in Valerie. The thought of what Tom would have said if he were here twisted at her. He would not have approved of what she had done.

  “Give me a name. Who did you tell?”

  “Bjorn Pomykala.” Valerie drew her pistol from her waist band. “Wait,” Aamir said, though it wasn’t in desperation. “I don’t know how you survived or how you did that back in the Tower. I don’t care. You’re going after them aren’t you?”