He took another look at the guard and then sprinted across the open space to the opposite side of the garbage recycler. He pulled a small baton from his coat and gave it a flick, expanding it as he crept around the recycler to get closer to the guard. The man was watching a movie on his mobi.
Cole jabbed him in the leg with the baton and the guard stiffened from the resulting electrical shock. He slid down onto the stairs unconscious and Cole tossed his rifle into the bushes as he moved silently up the concrete steps to the back door. The collapsed baton went back into a pocket.
The door opened with a tug and he didn’t see anyone inside. Cole padded down the dark hallway past several abandoned rooms. As he approached a set of double doors at the end of the hall, the low hum of machinery filled the air. He paused and listened at the doors. The humming noise didn’t sound like it belonged in an apartment building. Something inside thudded to the floor and he heard movement on the other side of the doors. He moved back to the first empty apartment and ducked inside. There was no door to close so he hid in the shadows and watched the double doors.
They slammed open and a woman wearing a gas mask pulled a shrink-wrapped pallet out of the room with the help of an anti-grav lifter. For a brief moment, he saw inside the room. Women in gas masks worked at tables. Behind them, tanks with chemical labels and laboratory equipment lined the walls. Then the double doors closed behind her. He waited until she passed and risked a look into the hallway.
The woman pulled the pallet into another large room at the end of the hall near the exit door. He heard the pallet settle to the floor and then she reappeared and made her way back to the room with the double doors. Cole counted to ten and didn’t hear anything else. He slipped out of the dark room and moved quickly to the room where she had taken the pallet.
In the dim light, he could see the pallet she had left there and three others like it. He moved behind one and pulled out a pocket knife. After carefully slitting the plastic wrap he reached inside and pulled out a handful of Diamond K packets. He shoved a few of them in a jacket pocket and moved back toward the exit. He checked over his shoulder to make sure no one followed and opened the door to go outside. He started down the steps before he noticed the guard missing from where he had left him.
Someone grabbed him around the waist and they tumbled down the steps to the concrete below. Cole squirmed, determined not to let the guy get on top of him but his heavy assailant had other ideas. He saw the guard’s fist raise and he braced for a blow. Then he heard a smacking sound and the guard collapsed. Duncan stood above him, breathing heavily with a length of pipe in his hand. He held out a hand and pulled Cole to his feet.
“We may not run a lot in the engines but we do turn some wrenches,” Duncan said, smiling and flexing a huge bicep.
Cole patted him on the shoulder. “I’m thankful for that. He should have been out longer.”
“Maybe he’s on something.”
“Yeah, like this.” He held up a packet of the drugs he found inside.
“So this is a drug house?”
“They’re manufacturing it here. There’s a big room in there I could see with lots of people at tables and there’s pallets of the stuff in a separate storeroom all packed up for shipment.”
“What should we do now?” Duncan said.
“Let’s head back to the motel and get some rest. In the morning, we can talk to Nathan and see if we can do our job and leave.”
— «» —
Nathan woke up in the motel room as orange sunlight broke through the curtains. He sat up on the bed and thought about his situation with Dodger. The dealer’s offer enticed him because of the credits. Then he remembered last night and thought about Mars again; how it felt to do things because he was ordered to, how it felt to pull the trigger on some ranchers because of a fight he had no stake in.
He couldn’t live like that again. No way.
After showering and putting on the same clothes he’d worn yesterday, he decided they had to leave today just so he could change. He headed toward the motel office and saw Cole and Duncan in the parking lot. Cole filled him on what he and Duncan had done last night.
“That was stupid,” Nathan said. “You could have been hurt.”
Cole waved him off. “We’re big boys, Nathan, and we’re fine. Now we know where Dodger is making his stuff.”
“For all the good it does us. I’m not really sure I care.”
“So have you come to a decision about what you’re going to do?” Cole asked. “Are you going to run drugs?”
“I spent a lot of time thinking about it last night. I still think people have a right to do what they want. I’ve been on the side of authority and forcing people to live in ways they didn’t want. That’s why I started my own business, so I’ll never have to follow orders again.”
“The thing is, running for Dodger or some other asshole like him just puts you under his thumb. You have to go where he says, when he says and you’re dependent on him for everything. So, while I’m sure the credits would be good and I need them, I won’t be running for him. We have a company and we stand on our own. If he doesn’t like that I really don’t care. We’ll deal with it.”
Cole smiled. “Nathan Teller is nobody’s bitch. Is that it?”
Duncan laughed and Nathan smiled. “You’re damn straight.”
Chapter 14
Squinting his eyes in the back seat, Dodger held up a hand against the rising sun. “Tint the damn windows, would you?”
The car’s auto-driver complied and the windows grew dark. He took another swig of coffee from the large mug he held in his hand. The car bounced over some debris and the hover field didn’t compensate quickly enough. Hot coffee spilled into his crotch and he cursed while grabbing for something to wipe it up.
He normally did business in the wee hours of the morning so for him to be up at the crack of dawn meant something or someone had seriously screwed up. The call from Morris waking him up had been vague which meant nothing good.
The car pulled into the club’s parking lot and he got out and walked toward the entrance as soon as it came to a stop. He walked past the bouncer standing outside without acknowledging him and stormed into his office where he found Morris and Turtle waiting for him. He fell into his chair and it squealed under the assault.
“What’s going on?”
Turtle slouched down in one of the chairs facing his desk.
Morris stood up straight, impossibly awake for this hour of the day. “There have been a couple troubling developments overnight.”
Dodger waved a hand at him. “Here or on Earth with the shipment Turtle’s friends were supposed to recover?”
“Both.”
Turtle sat up. “I can explain.”
Dodger stared at him. “I’ll bet you can but I want to hear it from Morris.”
“The short version is that a couple guys from a Go City crew went out to Bone Daddy’s ship to retrieve the goods and got surprised by a couple of Customs officers. They ended up in a shootout; the Go City crew got the worst of it.”
“How bad?”
“One dead, and his uncle is in the hospital with his junk shot off.”
Dodger raised an eyebrow. “Ouch. What about the product?”
Morris paused a moment before answering. “Confiscated.”
“Will the guy in the hospital talk?”
“Uncle Donny will keep his mouth shut, Dodger. You can count on him.”
Dodger’s eyes flashed with anger. “Shut up. The only reason I’m not beating you with a pool cue again is that I honestly don’t know if I could stop.”
Morris glanced at Turtle. “I’m inclined to agree with him. The guy runs with Atomic Jack’s crew and they’ve always been solid.”
Dodger grunted. “Yeah, except for that time they lost twenty-three million credits.” He rub
bed his bloodshot eyes and pulled a plastic envelope from his desk drawer. He popped a large crystal in his mouth and chewed. “Any chance we can get the pallet back?”
Morris shook his head. “None. It’s evidence in the attempted murder of the two Customs agents so it’s locked up tight. At this point they’ve probably got trackers on it just in case we try.”
Dodger glared at Turtle. “I’ll bet you can’t take a piss without screwing it up.”
“However,” Morris said, “we may not be as lucky with Bone Daddy.”
“What do you mean?”
“Protective Services has him in custody on Mars and they’re shipping him to Earth.”
“Ah, damn it. Can our people on Mars do anything about him?”
Morris shook his head. “No, our people on Mars is one guy, unless you want to call in help from Syndicate management.”
Dodger shook his head. “No, don’t do that. Things are already getting out of control. I don’t want them thinking we can’t manage our problems.” He paused for a moment and considered how complicated things had gotten recently. “You mentioned something else happened?”
“Last night someone was creeping around the apartment building.”
“Yeah? What happened?”
“Someone assaulted a guard on the rear entrance. His relief went out at the beginning of his shift and found him unconscious. He had been stunned and beaten.”
“Damn it. Did they get inside?”
“We think so. The guard says they stunned him first and he jumped whoever it was when they came back out but someone hit him from behind.”
“Double the guard on the site.”
“It’s already done. I’ve instructed them to have two guards at each entrance. No one is allowed to work alone on the doors.”
“Good. I’m glad to see someone around here is using their head for something other than growing hair.” He turned to Turtle. “Are you working for someone else?”
“What? No, of course not!”
Dodger crunched down on another crystal. “It’s awfully strange, all these things happening at once. Don’t you think?”
“What do you mean? I haven’t done anything except try to fix this mess.”
“Really? Because from where I’m sitting you look like the cause of all my problems. Your friend got his ship repossessed and our shipment impounded on Earth. Then, your uncle couldn’t get our product back. Now, we’ve got those same repo agents out here nosing around the wreck of that ship while we’re shaking down the salvage crew.”
Dodger stood up and started pacing. “Did this guard get a look at the guy who assaulted him?”
“Yes. He said it was a white, tall guy with short hair wearing a leather jacket.”
Dodger spun around. “Sounds like one of the guys with Teller yesterday.”
“Could be. I’ll pull a picture from the security cameras here in the club and show it to him.”
Dodger nodded. “Do that but get Cheech in here. We may want the drone up in the air. Do that first.” He punched a wall and the room echoed with a loud, flat smack. He stood silently for a few moments and no one spoke. He turned around. “We still don’t have the coolant from the wreck do we?”
“No,” Turtle managed to stammer out.
“Get a truck ordered. Now. We’re getting it this morning.” He walked around the desk and advanced on Turtle who leaned back in his chair with wide eyes. “You screw this up, and I’ll make you wish you were as lucky as your uncle, do you understand me?”
Turtle nodded his head vigorously. “Yeah, okay. I’m on it.”
“Go.”
Turtle got up and ran from the room. Dodger turned back to Morris. “There are too many coincidences going on. It’s time to get a grip on things.”
Morris nodded and held his mobi up. “Cheech is on his way and I’m waiting to hear back from the guards at the building. We’ll know if Teller is our guy shortly.”
— «» —
“You’re serious about this?” Eldridge said. “I mean, you’re really going to take my ship?”
Nathan sighed and nodded. “Look kid, I’m sorry. I am, really, but we have a job to do and it’s time to get it done.” He stood in front of Eldridge at the main camp. The kid leaned against his workbench and Ari sat on the stool.
“You can say that again,” Cole said under his breath but loudly enough for Nathan to hear.
“I thought about it and you could have your crew keep working onsite while you come back with us and straighten things out with Bao at the bank. If you’re able to do it quickly enough you really won’t lose any time. You’ll just have to run the trucks up and down when you get back until you’re caught up.”
Ari huffed. “We don’t need you to tell us how to run our business.”
Eldridge put a hand on her shoulder. “Honey, don’t.”
She shook it off. “Don’t what? Don’t be upset that we’re going to be even further behind when this is all straightened out? Why don’t we just have the security ‘bots boot them out of here? There’s only three of them.”
“You don’t want to do something like that,” Nathan said, his tone growing more serious. “This job can go very easy or very hard. I would prefer to do it the easy way.”
Ari got off the stool and faced Eldridge. “We don’t have to let them take the ship.”
“You don’t have a choice, miss.” Nathan took a mobi from Duncan. “We’ve already logged into the Corkscrew and can take control anytime we want.”
“Dirty trick.”
Nathan gave them a little smile. “Just like pulling us down here, right? You learn a thing or two about what unhappy people will do in these situations. Please, let’s not make this any tougher than it has to be.”
Eldridge gripped the workbench and then grabbed a ‘bot head and fired it off in the direction of the Athena Star as hard as he could. “Damn it!” Ari went to him and put her hands on his shoulders. Nathan could hear them speaking softly, trying to calm each other down. Hopefully, the situation wouldn’t get ugly. He turned to Cole.
“If they do anything stupid, try not to hurt them too badly. They’re just upset.”
“I don’t think they’ll do anything.”
Eldridge walked back under the canopy. “Take the ship and I’ll go with you to get this all straightened out.” He pointed a finger at Nathan. “You’re not riding up in one of my trucks, though. Find your own way.”
“No problem. We called for our ship. They’ll be down in a little while.”
“Great.”
“Look, if it means anything, I think you’re making the right decision.”
Eldridge shook his head. “It really doesn’t.” He turned to Ari. “I’m going to grab some gear from the tent. Will you be all right if it takes me a week to travel and get this straightened out?”
She stared past him to Nathan. “Don’t worry. There’s nothing here I can’t handle.”
He wrapped her up in his arms. “I love you so much.”
She hugged him back. “Same here.” They broke apart a moment later. “Now go get your stuff.”
— «» —
The mobi on Morris’ desk chirped. He picked it up and said, “Yeah? Hold on, I’m putting you on visual.” He walked over to Dodger’s desk and set down the communication’s device. “It’s our guy up on the Corkscrew,” he said to Dodger.
Morris touched a button and Charlie’s head hovered above the communication device. “Say that again.”
“I said- that ship you have me watching took off. I think they’re heading down to the planet.”
“How long ago?” Morris said.
Charlie shrugged. “I’m not sure. Definitely within the last thirty minutes. I had to use the can so I don’t know exactly.”
“Did anyone board your ship before
they left?”
“No. That I’m sure of.”
“Ok,” Morris said and ended the call. “If Teller’s ship is coming to pick him up they’re probably leaving the planet.”
Dodger considered that for a moment and his attention went to the monitor on the wall showing the drone footage from the wreck site.
“Did you get an answer from the guard at the apartment building?” Dodger asked.
“Let me check.” Morris thumbed through his messages. “Yeah, here’s something.” He took a moment and read the message. Then he held his mobi up so Dodger could see it. The message said ‘That’s him.’
“Sonuvabitch!” Dodger said and pounded the desk. He picked up a crystal and chewed it. “So, they’re out at the apartment building sneaking around and figured out where we make the stuff and the next day they’re leaving?” He shook his head. “No, that’s too much of a coincidence. I wonder who they’re working for.”
Morris raised an eyebrow. Maybe it’s too much of the Diamond K making you paranoid, he thought but he kept it to himself. “What do you want to do?”
“Where’s Jonesy?”
Morris nodded toward the club. “I called him when I called Cheech. He’s sitting out at the bar eating breakfast.”
“I hope he hacked Tanner’s ‘bots as well as he said. Tell him to get ready to take control.”
“Will do.”
Dodger reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. “After that, get a couple guys and a couple cars. You and I are taking a ride out there.”
— «» —
Eldridge came out of the tent with a duffel bag and dropped it in on the table. “I’m going to head up to my ship in a truck and let Scooter know what’s going on.”
“I think it would be best if Scooter didn’t get any more smart ideas,” Nathan said.
Eldridge nodded and grinned. “Don’t worry about it. She won’t pull anything as long as I’m around.” He pointed up the road leading to the wreck site and frowned. “What’s that?”
They all turned and Nathan saw a tanker truck heading toward them. It passed the canopy and drove right up to the crashed vessel, stopping near the cargo bay.
Bad Rock Beat Down (The Milky Way Repo Series Book 2) Page 16
