Nathan piloted an AHL-30a “Drangonfly” gunship. It had no wings but flew on four massive thrusters, two in the front and two in the rear, and its various armaments and antennae gave it an insect-like appearance.
He turned his ship around to watch the pumping station from a thousand meters up. His Dragonfly had been orbiting the facility for two hours now, and he grew bored of listening to the governor’s negotiator speaking in a calm voice with an increasingly angry Reggie Fulton. Nathan didn’t know much about psychology but the situation seemed to be deteriorating.
“Wish we’d just shoot the bastard already,” his crew chief Ronny Chuff said. “We got a million damn guns out here. We should just light him up and be done with it.”
Nathan shook his head. “As long as they don’t blow up the pumping station this can still end with no one getting hurt, Ronny.”
“If they didn’t want to be hurt, they wouldn’t be breaking the law and pointing guns at us. You ask me, once you pick up guns and aim them at the government you’re a criminal and if that leads to you getting shot, that’s too bad. You have to teach these people a lesson.”
No one asked you, dumbass, Nathan thought, but he conceded the man might have a point. The occupying ranchers had pointed rifles at them but Nathan didn’t think they could hit a moving target at this distance. Even if they did, he doubted their rifles would harm the Dragonfly.
“Stay frosty, Ronny, and keep your eyes open.”
Ronny Chuff and a younger man, Dabney, occupied the gunner positions behind the cockpit. Each had responsibility for one side of the aircraft. Nathan reviewed the situation to get his mind off Ronny. The pumping station was situated on the dam at the edge of the reservoir. A valley led away to the grazing lands the ranchers used. The governor had the army situated around the pumping station. Further out, Protective Services had roads blocked and kept the growing crowds of supporters and protestors away from the facility.
“Buckeye Two-Six, Buckeye Actual, urgent!”
Nathan straightened up a little in his seat. The voice belonged to his commanding officer, Colonel Tillson. “Buckeye Actual, Buckeye Two-Six, go ahead.”
“Buckeye Two-Six, perimeter breach five klicks east of your position. Initiate intercept protocol.”
Nathan adjusted course and started toward the breach. “Buckeye Two-Six, wilco. Moving to intercept. Description? Are they armed?”
“One truck, Two-Six. Armed unknown but assume so.”
“Roger.”
Nathan switched to the aircraft’s intercom. “Chuff, we’re moving to intercept a perimeter breach. Confirm weapons safe.”
“Weapons safe, affirmative.”
Nathan swung wide of their normal patrol route and spotted a cloud of red dust moving across the plain. The targeting system for the cockpit locked on and he zoomed in on the vehicle, a short flatbed float truck with rails on the bed. Two people sat in the cab and four people held onto the rails in the back, all of them armed with rifles.
“Buckeye Actual, Buckeye Two-Six. Target in sight. Looks like a truck with armed occupants.”
“Copy, Two-Six.”
“Weapons hot,” Chuff said over the intercom.
“Belay that, Chief! Weapons hold! Confirm!”
“They’re armed, Nathan, and sighting on us. I can see them in the targeting scope.”
Don’t have time for your nonsense, Nathan thought. When they got back to base he wanted Chuff bounced off his aircraft.
“Buckeye Two-Six, Buckeye Actual. Something is up at the pumping station. Stop the truck, deadly force is authorized if they won’t turn back.”
“Copy.”
“Weapons hot!” Chuff called from the rear.
Screw him, Nathan thought, and he closed on the truck. He put the nose of the gunship on the truck, preventing Chuff and Dabney from getting a bead on it from either side. He hovered in their path and switched to the outside loudspeaker.
“Stop the truck,” his voice boomed across the plain. “You will not be allowed to pass.”
The truck raced toward them and didn’t show any sign of slowing down. Nathan saw a pair of men on the truck’s bed aim their rifles at him. That worried him enough to pull back. The thrusters kicked up red dust and he knew he was flying too low, putting himself and the crew in danger just to see if he could intimidate the ranchers into turning back.
“They’re going to shoot at us, Nathan!” Chuff called out, excitement in his voice. A month of flying circles around the reservoir had made him antsy.
“Hold your fire,” Nathan said, in a calm voice. If the yahoos in the truck opened fire they would be obliterated. Until then, he kept his powder dry.
The truck kept approaching. Nathan shook his head and dropped the Dragonfly lower, flying backwards to match their speed, making sure he stayed right in their path. It closed in, the driver playing chicken and figuring Nathan would move his multi-million credit gunship out of the way of an old farm truck. He pulled back on the controls and raced for open sky. The aircraft looped around and approached the truck from behind. This time he pulled the Drangonfly alongside, the left side of his aircraft parallel with the right side of the truck.
“They’re aiming at us again, Nathan.”
He saw two of the men in the bed of the truck tracking him with rifles. This close he could see they held serious weaponry, large caliber rifles capable of damaging them. Now they were drawing closer to the pumping station and he couldn’t allow them to reach it. He activated the loudspeaker again.
“Last chance. Stop the truck now and lower those guns.”
The woman in the front seat shot him the finger with a smile on her face. He shook his head and juiced the throttle, getting ahead of them. The rifles followed.
“Chuff, take out the engine.”
Nathan held the Dragonfly stable and his crew chief fired a short burst into the front of the truck. He felt sick as he watched rounds from the port side gun strike the engine compartment of the truck.
The face of the woman in the cab changed from a mocking smile to horror as she realized the men in the gunship had ruined their plans for the day. The float truck dropped to the hard pack of the access road, dug in on the driver’s side and flipped. It rolled in a cloud of red dust and Nathan keyed his mic.
“Buckeye Actual, Buckeye Two-Six. Splash one truck. They’re going to need a medic and a tow. Buckeye Two-Six clear.”
“Copy that, Two-Six. Resume patrol and watch for incoming. Firefight underway at the pumping station.”
Nathan moved back to their patrol route and angled his targeting scope to the pumping station. The doors lay on either side of the entrance. Soldiers stormed in and he could see flashes from inside. If the ranchers were shooting it was going to be a one sided battle. They had to be outnumbered ten-to-one. Smoke started coming from the windows but the water never flowed into the valley.
— «» —
The next day found Nathan on the deck of a bar near the base, drinking a pitcher of Margaritas and talking with Sam, the owner.
Nathan sipped his drink. “You said you knew Reggie, right? I’m sorry about how things went down,” Nathan said.
Sam took a deep breath and let it out. “Ah, don’t worry about it. Reggie was an asshole.”
Nathan held up his glass. “So am I.”
“There’s going to be more fighting, you know.”
Nathan nodded. The root cause of the problem, a shortage of water, hadn’t been resolved. The governor of the territory had made a speech earlier in the day about settling the problem without violence and how awfully sorry he felt that so many people had died. Nathan had turned it off. He didn’t want to hear a bunch of self-serving nonsense.
“So they’re flying in water for the ranchers?”
Nathan nodded. “It’s a temporary solution. They’ve got a squadron of
heavy lifters coming. They’ll shuttle water tanks down from the polar region until the reservoir is filled. It’s all bullshit, though.”
“What makes you say that?”
“They could have done that without killing anyone. Why didn’t someone go to this effort before some ranchers occupied a pumping station? It’s like things have to escalate to the point where someone dies before anyone will pay attention and come up with a solution. Those men didn’t have to put themselves in harm’s way to keep their cattle alive.”
Sam nodded his agreement. “That’s all true. How are you feeling?”
“I’m better than the ranchers in that truck we shot up. Three dead, three badly injured.”
Sam shrugged at the answer. “In this situation, that may be the best outcome possible. I heard you gave them more chances than you were supposed to.”
“Yeah, and I got ripped for it from my Colonel, but I don’t care. They should have just stopped.” Nathan took a drink. “I’m out.”
Sam raised a gray eyebrow. “Yeah?”
“Uh-huh. My hitch is up in less than sixty days and I’m not signing up for another tour. I’m going to go do something where I’m not in a position to keep people under a boot heel.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“I’ve got my service benefits. Maybe I’ll get my space certification.” He waved his glass toward the sky. “Fly around up there and keep to myself. Do what I want and be my own boss.”
“Hell, I’m my own boss. Just look around at how well that’s turning out.” The bar was empty except for the two of them and a pair of ground crew members sitting at a table inside.
“Well, I’ll try to be successful,” Nathan said with a smile. “Who knows, maybe I’ll have my own ship someday.”
Chapter 13
After dinner at the motel, when Nathan left them to go to bed, Cole grabbed his jacket and said. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Where are you going?” Duncan said.
“Check out that strip club Dodger runs.”
Duncan raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
“That guy is going to be trouble. I’d like to know a little more about him.”
“So you’re doing a little recon?”
“That’s right.”
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
They walked outside the diner and stood on the sidewalk. Cole put a hand on Duncan’s shoulder. “Big man, this is what I do. Why don’t you go get some rest? Tomorrow is going to be a busy day.”
Duncan brushed his hand off. “Stick that ‘big man’ stuff where the sun doesn’t shine. Most of the time I’m stuck on the ship and you and Nathan get to do the fun stuff. I can do more than just fix things.”
“I get that, Duncan. It’s just that this part can be a little dangerous. I’d hate for anything to happen to you.”
“You think I’ve never been in a club before? I’m not a child.”
Cole considered him and then nodded. “Okay, come on then. The first thing we need is transportation.”
Duncan pointed at the motel office. “Let’s try in there.”
They walked across the lot and the door to the office chimed as they entered. A young guy glanced up from the counter. “Can I help you?”
“We checked in earlier,” Cole said.
“I remember. Is there something wrong with your rooms?”
“No they’re fine. Actually, we need some transportation.”
The clerk got a puzzled look on his face. “Well, I think all the rental places are closed. How about a ride share?”
“How about that little yellow number outside with the rust on the back door? Is that yours?”
“Uh… yeah but I’m not letting you borrow it.”
Cole reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of credit vouchers. “When’s the end of your shift?”
The clerk eyed the vouchers. “Six hours from now.”
He peeled four off. “Here’s two hundred. We’ll have it back before you need to go home.”
The clerk considered it for a moment. “Three hundred.”
Cole looked back at the float car in the parking lot. “We could buy it for three couldn’t we?”
“It’s three or you can walk.”
Cole peeled off two more vouchers and laid them on the desk. “Yeah, all right. Here you go.”
The clerk dug in his pocket and pulled out a fob. “Take it easy. I need that heap to get back and forth to work.”
“Don’t worry,” Cole said and pointed at Duncan. “If we break anything he can fix it.”
Cole slipped into the driver’s seat and started the car. It rose unsteadily at first and then leveled out about fifteen centimeters off the ground. He activated the auto-driver and told it to head to Dodge Ems’s.
“So what do we do when we get there?” Duncan asked.
“Scope the place out. See if there’s anything worth seeing.”
“Do you do this kind of thing on every job?”
Cole nodded in the darkness. “If I need to. It’s always better to know too much than too little. So, what do you think of Nathan’s problem?”
“Which one?”
Cole laughed. “His financial situation. It sounds like he’s not doing too well.”
Duncan sighed before answering. “It’s his own fault. He earns well enough for being a small business but he could spend it better. Marla and I have been looking for a new investment but I doubt he’d sell us a piece of the company. You know how he is about being in control.”
“Hold on,” Cole said. “Car, pull over here.”
The float car pulled to the curb and settled to the street. Duncan opened his door and started to get out but Cole put a hand on his arm.
“Not so fast, Duncan. We’re going to spend some time scoping the outside for a while and see what’s going on.”
Duncan’s eyebrows knitted together. “We’re going to watch the parking lot?”
“Yes we are.” Cole took his mobi from inside his coat, put it in camera mode and trained it on the club entrance. He synched it to the guidance system in the car and turned down the brightness of the screen. “This is what we do while you’re up in the ship. I don’t think it’s going to be as exciting as you think.”
“No, I guess not.”
They sat in silence for a while, watching people come and go. After half an hour Duncan spoke up. “What did you think of the salvage outfit?”
“I think we blew a whole day here because you and Nathan wanted to see a crashed ship.”
“You’re always complaining about the places we end up but this job has been fascinating. Eldridge has some good ideas.”
Cole shrugged. “Maybe, but he’ll get eaten alive by the Syndicate if he keeps paying them off. These guys never stop until all the meat is off the bone.” He pointed at the video display. “Isn’t that our friend Turtle?”
“Yeah, that’s him. I wonder where he’s going?”
They watched as Turtle exited the club and made his way to a rusted float car. He weaved as he walked.
He sat up straight and put the camera away. “Car, manual control, please.” Cole took the wheel and the float car rose into the air. He counted to five to give Turtle a head start and pulled out behind him.
“We’re following him?”
Cole nodded. “I just want to see where he’s going.”
“He’s probably going home to sleep it off.”
“Then we’ll see where he lives.”
Turtle’s car moved through the streets quickly and without swerving. “Good thing he’s got auto-drive in that heap,” Duncan said.
“Definitely.”
Turtle lead them across town to a block full of rundown apartment buildings. His car pull
ed up in front of one and parked. Cole stopped half a block back and pulled to the opposite side of the street. They watched as he stumbled up the concrete steps in front of the building. Someone opened the door and let him in.
“I wouldn’t have expected that building to have a doorman,” Cole said.
“No, neither would I. Why are there only lights on the ground floor?”
Cole examined the building and noticed dark windows on all the floors above the first one. He opened the driver’s side door and beckoned to Duncan. “Let’s go take a look around.”
Duncans’ eyebrows raised. “What? Over there?”
“Yup.”
Duncan hurried out of the car and followed Cole across the street to the sidewalk on the same side as the apartment building. They hunkered down beside some overgrown bushes in front of dark storefront.
Cole took Duncan by the arm. “Just follow me and stay quiet, okay? The streetlights are all out along this block so we should be good.”
Duncan nodded in the darkness.
Cole moved back to the sidewalk and hurried along it to the corner of the store. Cole peeked down the alley that ran alongside of it and motioned for Duncan to follow. The engineer breathed through his mouth, he noticed. They moved down the alley and Cole checked the area to his right. He could see the back of the apartment building Turtle had entered. Cole held a hand up and pointed to the back entrance. A man with a small rifle stood near the back door smoking a cigarette, partially hidden by a large garbage recycler.
Cole turned to Duncan. “You have guards like that on your apartment building?”
“Maybe they all live here together?”
“Maybe. Let’s get closer. You doing okay? You’re breathing hard.”
“Thanks for noticing. We don’t run a lot while we’re working on the engines.”
Cole smiled. “We’ll get you a treadmill down there. Come on.”
They bent down and stuck to the shadows. The guard sat down on the steps and took out a mobi. He stared at the screen and kept his head down. Cole raised a finger to his lips and motioned for Duncan to stay put.
Bad Rock Beat Down (The Milky Way Repo Series Book 2) Page 15
