Bad Rock Beat Down (The Milky Way Repo Series Book 2)

by Michael Prelee

  “Vincent, what’s going on?”

  “Someone is over on the warehouse shooting at us.”

  “What’s with the truck?”

  Vincent stole another look. “I don’t know.”

  “It’s blinking.”

  Vincent rose up a little, still crouching and saw a display on the truck blinking bright red squares.

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  They watched as the display changed, throwing up a message this time. Scotty, one of the guards from the back rushed into the lobby.

  “Is someone shooting?”

  Vincent nodded and pointed at the truck. A message started scrolling across the display. The three of them read it. Vincent did so out loud.

  “This is a bomb. Get out. You have two minutes.”

  Hyde said, “Is this for real? Is that a truck bomb?”

  The three of them stared at each other and then the truck. The counter kept dropping. Hyde spoke again. “What do we do?”

  “Get everyone out the back,” Vincent said.

  “And stop production?” Hyde said. “Are you serious?”

  Vincent bit his lip and nodded. “Yeah, do it.”

  “Dodger will kill us.”

  “Pretty sure the guys with the truck bomb who are shooting at us will do that too. Get everyone out the back. If we’re wrong, it’s just an unscheduled break, if we’re right we’ll be alive to get bitched at. Go, move now.”

  He glanced back over his shoulder as they went down the hallway. The time on the side of the truck read 1:29.

  — «» —

  Nathan held up his mobi and spoke to Cole and Richie. “Any movement?”

  “They cleared the lobby,” Cole said. “There’s no one in there.”

  “Richie?”

  “Hold on, something’s going on.”

  Nathan bit his lower lip and waited. They had to be relatively sure everyone was out of the building before proceeding to the next step. Cole said a lot of women worked in the lab and he didn’t want to kill any of them. Then Richie spoke over the mobi.

  “The back door is open. The guards are coming out and there are a lot of women with them. They’re all running across the street.”

  “Let me know when it looks like everyone is out.”

  Nathan pulled up the app running the display board on the truck. The timer crossed ten seconds.

  “Boss, it looks like everyone is out. The last guy to cross the street had a gun and no one seems to be behind him.”

  “Where are they?”

  “Across the street, heading down the block away from me.”

  Nathan smiled. “I’m doing it. Richie, come get us.”

  He moved cautiously around the dumpster and snuck a look up and down the street. Nothing moved. It seemed like the residents of Bad Rock really did avoid the area.

  Confident of their solitude, he pulled up another control on his mobi to activate the device in the truck. He tapped the screen and a lightning bolt appeared. The channel to Cole and Richie remained open.

  “We’re hot. It’s going off in ten seconds.”

  He ducked behind the dumpster again, not bothering to run away. If anything went wrong, being the length of the alley away wouldn’t help.

  — «» —

  Vincent and Hyde ran down the block, waiting for an explosion. “It should have gone off by now,” Vincent said. “It’s past the deadline.”

  “What if there’s no bomb? What if someone just wanted to get in and steal the product?”

  Vincent stopped and turned back to the building. Most of a full shipment sat in the storage rooms, easy pickings now that the place was empty.

  “They brought a truck,” he said.

  “Crap. Get Scotty. We have to go back.”

  He ran off, breathing hard, wondering how to explain this to Dodger.

  — «» —

  The device in the back of the truck rotated, sighting in on the apartment building. A stream of invisible particles reached out, locking onto the steel supports of the structure. It snagged a girder, dense and well anchored, that held up the second floor. The charge inside the capacitor reached maximum and a stream of gravitons raced from the Goose in the truck to the building, establishing a powerful attraction. For the briefest of moments the gravitic attraction of the building wildly overcame the gravitic attraction of the planet.

  — «» —

  Even though he expected it, Nathan jumped in amazement when the truck seemed to leap off the street and throw itself into the lobby of the apartment building. It happened so fast that it took him a moment to process what he’d actually seen. Noise from the devastation rolled over Nathan and he shook his head in amazement. If Captain Archie could see how he’d adapted his orbital cleaning process the mean old bastard just might give him a pat on the back.

  A cloud of debris billowed out of the new hole and dust and debris settled on the sidewalk. He couldn’t see much inside the building but he could hear plenty. Heavy metallic things dropped loudly, shattering the silence on the street. Cole’s voice came over the mobi.

  “Nathan, you okay?”

  “Yeah, you?”

  “Just fine. I don’t see anyone moving in there. Are you going to hit it again?”

  The truck had done what they wanted but Nathan wanted to be sure Dodger never earned another credit from the lab inside.

  “Give me a second.”

  Nathan checked the controls for the Goose on his mobi. Sensors built into the device showed him the device remained active. However, it was now oriented at a ninety degree angle relative to the ground. The cage protecting it and anchoring it to the truck frame had worked as well as could be expected. Richie deserved a pat on the back for that. Nathan assumed the body of the truck had completely disintegrated. However, the Goose attached to the floor of the cargo area of the truck and through that to the heavy steel frame. All ten meters of that frame plus the anti-gravity drivetrain should still be intact and attached.

  He adjusted the orientation and the Goose rotated so that the modulator pointed straight up toward the sky. The generator responded and started the charging process. As soon as the lightning bolt indicator popped up he spoke into the mobi.

  “Here comes the second shot.”

  A terrific blast roared from the building and another cloud of debris exploded from the gaping entry hole. Nathan watched the display on his mobi and saw the Goose rush upwards through the interior of the building. He jumped back as windows blew out on floor after floor, as the remnants of the truck rocketed upward, attracted to trusses on some upper floor. The display snapped off as the Goose died.

  “Nathan, we got flames in there.”

  It took him a moment but then he saw flames licking out of a second floor window accompanied by black smoke. He watched as it quickly spread, engulfing the entire front of the building. Nothing in the truck would cause a fire this intense but containers holding volatile chemicals in the Diamond K lab had probably ruptured. He held the mobi up.

  “Cole, meet us around the back. It’s time to get out of here.”

  Chapter 23

  Richie stood on the throttle, tearing ass out of Bad Rock as fast as the float car would fly. Nathan put his hand on the kid’s shoulder and said, “Slow it down. They’re not chasing us.”

  The young machinist nodded with a wild grin on his face. “Yeah, but they’ll be coming, right? That’s what you said.” The car swerved as Richie corrected their drifting course.

  Cole leaned forward from the backseat. “Maybe you should drive. He seems a little rattled.”

  “He’s fine. We’ve just kept him cooped up in the engines too long.”

  “That was the damnedest thing I’ve ever seen,” Cole said. “I mean, you said it would work but you couldn’t have done a better jo
b with an actual bomb. I wonder why people don’t use that more often.”

  Nathan turned to look at him with a puzzled look on his face. “How many people need to knock down a building?”

  “I meant terrorists, you know? Criminals, those sorts of people. Not normal folks like us.”

  “If you knew how much a Goose costs you wouldn’t ask that. Most people don’t have access to a trashed faster than light starship, and those that do usually don’t have the need to knock down a building.”

  “You think Dodger’s coming for us?”

  “Absolutely. Without that lab he’s got no way to pull in the tall stacks of credits he’s used to. That’s going to piss him off. He’ll be coming right at us, hard and fast.”

  “When do we call Bell to make the arrest?” Cole said.

  “That’s the tricky part,” Nathan said. “We have to wait for Dodger to show up at the wreck site and then call Bell. If we call him too early it will look like we’re expecting Dodger to come for us and I don’t want to get arrested for that stunt with the building. I just need Dodger mad enough to do something stupid.”

  Cole grunted. “Well, I think we accomplished that.”

  — «» —

  You look like hell, Morris thought as he looked at Dodger. They sat in his office in the rear of Dodge Em’s trying to get their last two guys but the boss seemed to have second thoughts.

  “We need to leave, boss, if we want to surprise them,” Morris said, checking the time on his mobi.

  Dodger nodded at him with those pathetic, red watery eyes. “I know, I just want to be sure we’re covered here.” He sniffled, wiping his nose on the back of his sleeve. “It’s me they want, you know. That repo man is pissed about his, his you know.”

  “His ship.”

  Dodger pointed at him. “Right, that’s it. You’ll see. He’ll hit us here, just wait.”

  Morris thought he could cap Dodger right now and no one would lift a finger. It might even be a mercy killing. There seemed to be nothing left of the fearsome thug who held sway over Bad Rock.

  “Boss, that’s why I’m going out to get them. We’ll just hit them and be done with it.”

  Dodger nodded slowly, seemingly comprehending but acting in slow motion. “Yeah, okay, take the guys, get it done.”

  Morris’s mobi chirped with a call from Vincent at the apartment building. Before answering he pointed at the two extra men they had come to pick up. “Get in the van outside. I’ll be right there.” He swiped the answer icon and held the mobi up to his ear. “What’s up?”

  He listened in horror as Vincent laid it down for him, babbling about a truck bomb and how the building had partially collapsed.

  Dodger stared at him with new concentration in his eyes. “What’s going on?”

  Morris held up a finger, turning his head. Dodger jumped out from behind the desk so fast Morris barely had time to take a step back before the boss grabbed the mobi from him.

  “I said, what’s going on?”

  He took a moment to gather his thoughts before answering. “Someone hit the apartment building after we left.” He paused, the words hanging in the air between them. “The lab is gone.” He pointed at the mobi in Dodger’s hand. “Vincent says the whole building is gone.”

  “No!” Dodger fired the mobi across the room and it hit the far wall, shattering into several pieces. “Who did it?”

  Morris shrugged. “Vincent said they used a truck bomb but he didn’t see anyone. You know who did it. Who else would it be?”

  “I told you!” Dodger said, suddenly animated. He stalked around behind his desk and started pulling drawers open. He rifled through them, dumping the contents on the floor as his hands searched. He smiled when they locked onto something and then he pulled out the biggest damn handgun Morris had ever seen. It was some absurd, chrome plated monstrosity that looked like it could shoot through a bus.

  “Easy, Dodger. They’re not getting away with anything. Just be careful.”

  Dodger slammed the gun down on his desk and Morris jumped. “How many guys did you leave over there?”

  “Three or four.”

  “Well that doesn’t appear to have been enough.”

  Morris got worried and his hand started moving behind his back. His fingers brushed the grip of the pistol tucked in his waistband. “This was not my fault. We are on our way to take care of those guys right now. More guys wouldn’t have stopped a truck bomb anyway.”

  “You’re on your way out there now?”

  “That’s right.”

  He picked up a bag of Diamond K and tipped the whole thing into his mouth. “Maybe you should have gone yesterday. If you had, we’d still be in business.”

  “It’s just a lab, Dodger. We can build a new one.”

  “All the guys are in the van, ready to go? They’re armed?”

  Morris nodded and barely saw the chrome beast come up in Dodger’s hand. He moved so fast that Morris only had time to take a single step back. The hand cannon pointing at his face didn’t shake a bit. He held up his hands. “Hey wait…”

  “No room on the crew for screw ups, Morris.”

  The last thing he saw was a muzzle flash.

  — «» —

  Richie pulled the float car past Eldridge and Ari’s camp and continued on toward the Athena Star before he parked. Nathan got out and whistled the all clear signal. The small door to the cargo bay opened and Duncan poked his head out. “How did it go?” he said.

  “Just like we planned,” Nathan answered. “The lab is gone.”

  “The whole damn building is gone,” Cole said. “You should have seen it.”

  “Yeah,” Nathan said. “You and Richie did a good job. It worked just like we thought it would.”

  “Then they’ll be coming?”

  Nathan nodded. “They sure will. I think we have a little time to get ready, though. How are we looking inside?”

  “I think we’re as ready as we can be. How much time do you think we have?”

  “It will take them a while to get their guys ready and then drive out here. Maybe an hour? Maybe a little more?”

  “We’ve got about two minutes,” Cole said.

  Nathan turned and saw twin dust trails from a pair of vans. “Damn it. How did they get ready that fast?”

  “Doesn’t really matter, does it?” Cole said and hefted his rifle. “Let’s get everyone inside.”

  Nathan caught Tricia’s eye as he moved into the cargo bay. “I really wish you’d gone up to the ship.”

  She gave him a smirk and shook her head. “No way would I miss this.”

  “Where are you going to be?”

  She pointed toward one of the rooms with the reactor coolant tanks. “We’ll go in there and then up a few decks. Duncan showed Marla a secure compartment.”

  “Can you get a signal out from up there? We had trouble calling from in here earlier and we need to get the call out to Chief Bell.”

  She nodded. “Ari rigged up a signal booster.”

  “Then you should get going and make that call. We’ve really made these guys angry and it’s time to get the law involved. I’m sorry, I thought we’d have more time.”

  She kissed him for the first time and he forgot about everything. Her lips were soft but firm and she took his breath away. His hands rose up and gripped her taut waist. She responded by leaning into him. Everything else sort of faded away.

  Cole grabbed his arm. “Hey, are you ready? They’re coming.”

  Nathan reluctantly let Tricia go and caught his breath. He told her, “Be safe, okay?”

  She nodded and gave his hand one last squeeze before running off to Marla.

  He watched her go and saw Daryl, tied to the chair in the corner where Fred watched him. “One second. I have to take care of something.”

/>   He jogged over to where the thug sat. He pulled out a folding knife and cut the ropes binding Daryl to the chair.

  “Look, your boss is on his way out here. I’m cutting you loose, just like I said I would for you giving us that information.”

  “I remember,” Daryl said as he rubbed his wrists.

  “So you can either join him or go rob his place. The choice is up to you but I think I’d get the hell out of here. I don’t see where you owe him anything and I can’t promise he won’t find out you told us about the guards and other details at the apartment building.”

  Daryl nodded in agreement. “Don’t worry about me, I’m done with this.”

  “Then you better haul ass because Dodger is close.”

  “Absolutely.” He stood up, stuck his hand out to Nathan and gave him a quick shake. “Good luck.” Then he ran toward the open cargo bay door.

  Nathan turned to his people. “Okay, let’s do this.”

  Tricia, Marla, Ari and Fred moved off toward the compartment she had shown him. He stood still until he saw the pressure door close and the wheel spin, locking it. Satisfied he turned back to Cole, Duncan, Richie and Eldridge.

  “Okay, they’re going to call Bell and get him out here. In the meantime, we have to keep Dodger busy.”

  “Bell was supposed to be here already.” Eldridge said.

  Duncan hefted a duffle bag from the deck. “Remember the talk we had earlier about plans not working out sometimes and improvising? This is one of those moments.”

  “This sucks.”

  Nathan grimaced. “It usually does but look, you’re with me and Cole and we’re not going to let anything happen to you.” He turned to his engineer. “Duncan and Richie, did you guys have a chance to get plan B in place?

  Duncan nodded. “We sure did but that’s kind of risky.”

  Nathan pointed at their pursuers. “Risky for them maybe.” He turned back to Eldridge. “You know this wreck like the back of your hand, right?”

  “Sure, but…”

  Nathan clapped him on the shoulder. “Then we’re in good shape. Now, what’s the best way to get where we want to go?”