Thieves' Guild Series (7 eBook Box Set): Military Science Fiction - Alien Invasion - Galactic War Novels

by C. G. Hatton

  Hil caught the gun and let a faint smile creep across his face.

  “What about the other thing?” he said.

  “That’ll take a while to organise. In the meantime, stay here, stay shielded, whatever you do – don’t contact Genoa, I don’t want this place trashed as well, and we’ll try to track down these corporate bastards. Are you serious about this?”

  “It’s more of a plan than I’ve had so far,” Hil said and wandered across to the sofas. “And LC gets away. That’s the point, right?”

  It took five days for Pen to get everything he needed. Hil used the time to run and stretch some flexibility back into his muscles. The desert air was dry and Elenor chided him for pushing his lungs to their limit each time he returned coughing but it was working. He wasn’t back to the level he’d been before all this kicked off, but he was starting to get close again. Two of Pen’s guys fancied that they could race him but he outran them each time. They beat him in bare knuckle but not without a fight every time, and they all ended up with scuffed knees and elbows from the desert floor, and as Yan taught him a few pointers, they had to up their game to stop him winning. Elenor hated it and Pen laughed a lot. Until they remembered why he was there.

  Fighting released some of the tension that was building with being stuck in the desert and running was the only way he could clear his mind. Pen warned him not to go too far outside the safety of the compound but once out there he couldn’t help but push it and two days in, he pushed it too far.

  He set himself a target of a ridge across the floor of the desert and ran. It was hard not to dwell on Martha and wonder why she’d done it. Their break up had been painfully vindictive on both sides but he couldn’t believe that all this was a result of his insensitivity. She’d betrayed the guild, not just him. And as much as she could be irritatingly superficial at times, it didn’t fit with the woman he’d known that she’d do this for money. However high the price on their heads had gone, Martha just wasn’t driven by that. At least he thought she wasn’t driven by that, but as he’d found out, he hadn’t really known her at all.

  He picked up the pace, angry with himself for not seeing it, stumbled on a patch of loose stones and turned his ankle. He tumbled and ended up in a heap, breathing hard. He hugged his knees and looked around, exasperated, trying to breathe in air that was too hot and clear the fluff out of his mind. Elenor was going to be pissed.

  He tested the ankle and decided it would hold his weight. Standing up proved him wrong but it wasn’t so bad that he couldn’t limp his way back, ticked off and tired.

  Half way back to the compound, a trail of dust appeared on the horizon. He stopped and squinted at it. Vehicles. There was nowhere to hide so he limped on, wishing he’d brought a weapon out with him. He had the dampening patch on still and as tempting as it was to break cover and yell out, he didn’t want to expose Pen and his operation, whoever it was approaching him.

  Worst case was they could be Martha and her new buddies, slightly less worse would be bounty hunters.

  He kept a steady pace and one eye on the road veering in from his left. The compound was still a way off by the time the dust cloud turned into discernible vehicles, jeeps he thought, and three of them. They roared up and careered past without stopping. Hil flinched away from the debris they kicked up as they passed, blinking his eyes clear of dust and feeling both relieved and deflated that they hadn’t stopped for him. Maybe the universe didn’t revolve around him after all.

  He’d taken two more steps when one of the jeeps hit the brakes, spun round in a swirl of red sand and headed back towards him.

  Chapter 22

  NG took a sip from his goblet, keeping his emotions in check.

  “Don’t be too hard on yourself,” the Man warned again. “There are thousands of individuals in this guild of ours; you alone cannot touch each mind every minute of every day.”

  NG looked up and those dark glittering eyes were focused directly on him. “I should have known.”

  The Man shook his head. “You’re not perfect. And as far as I am aware, the minds and thoughts of the machines developed by man himself remain closed even to us.”

  The room seemed darker and it took a moment to realise some of the candles had gone out, extinguished by a breeze NG hadn’t felt. It had been a disconcerting time to lose control over his domain, to realise that rogue elements were shifting circumstances without his knowledge or influence. He’d always had such an indisputable insight to the workings of the guild that it felt like he’d closed his eyes and opened them to see that everything was different.

  He took a deep breath.

  “Evolution can take unexpected leaps at times,” the Man said softly. “No one, no matter how strong, can control or prevent that. We simply need to be aware enough and lithe enough to adapt and grasp the reins confidently again to move forward. There will always be danger while we deal with these irrational and self-centred beings.”

  •

  Hil stopped and waited, eyes narrowed, weight on one foot. If they had guns, he didn’t have a chance. If they went for hand to hand, he’d give them a fight. As it was, the jeep veered off and pulled up with another handbrake turn to stop next to him. Yani leaned out of the driver’s window and yelled him to jump in. There were two guys in the back, another in the passenger seat and all of them were cradling weapons.

  Hil paused with his hand on the door. “Yan,” he said, “what’s going on?”

  “Hilyer, get in. You shouldn’t be out here alone. It’s not safe.”

  “Yani, what’s going on?”

  The glare made it obvious he had no choice. He yanked open the door and squeezed into the back, slamming it shut as Yani pulled the jeep away in a squeal of spinning tyres and a cloud of dust.

  They accelerated fast to catch up with the jeep ahead of them. Hil held onto the window frame as the vehicle bounced and lurched. “Yani?”

  “Hil, don’t ask.”

  He didn’t push it any further. He appreciated the lift back and Pen could tell him or not when they got in.

  Back at the compound, Hil jumped out of the jeep and stood leaning on the open door. Pen was waiting and started directing the guys from all three vehicles, loading and unloading kit, everyone dressed for action.

  Yan went straight to his boss and the two men looked over towards Hil at the jeep, Pen looking unimpressed. Hil couldn’t hear what they were saying but it looked like he was the source of the problem. Yan laughed and turned to go, patting Pen on the arm. Pen shook his head and strode over to Hil.

  “Hil, get inside the house.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “You don’t need to know. This doesn’t have to involve you.”

  Pen’s guys were hustling. Hil had never totally understood everything Pen was into and most times, he knew better than to ask. Sometimes it conflicted with the guild, often it was Wintran business and always it was illegal but there was something about the look on Pen’s face that made it obvious that this did involve him. Pen hadn’t been expecting him back so soon and if he had stuck to his plan, he’d still be out there running until it got dark. And they’d be gone.

  “Is this…?”

  Pen cut him off, raising a hand. “Hil, just go inside.”

  Pen was not a man to argue with, especially not in front of his men, he’d learnt that the hard way. But after feeling so helpless and hurting for so long, being wired to breaking point and being just about fit enough at last to do something about it, it was impossible to back down. Something clicked inside.

  “Pen, I want in,” he said simply.

  Pen lowered his hand and stared, a crease appearing between his eyes and finally a shake of his head. “You’re not fit enough yet, Hil. I know you think you are but we’re going in fast. You won’t be able to keep up.”

  It wasn’t an insult, it was fact. But he couldn’t sit back and watch. Not now.

  “These people have trashed everything I care about,” Hil said, not
bothering to keep his voice down. “The whole galaxy is after me and I don’t even know why. I’m sick of running, Pen. It stops here. I want in and I want a piece of them.”

  “They’ve had their hands on you twice,” Pen said much more quietly. “And I get the impression they’re losing patience. You want to know who these people are? Let us handle it. I’ll tell you exactly who they are and where they are, and what you do from then is up to you.”

  “Pen, these people killed Mendhel. Don’t make me sit here waiting while you go after them. I want in.”

  Pen was a big man in many ways and when he made up his mind, he could be an immovable force but when he wanted to change his mind, it happened quickly. He nodded.

  “We go in five,” he said. “Be ready.”

  Hil walked inside calmly, ditched the running gear he’d borrowed and changed back into his ops kit, almost trembling. He took one minute of those five to just stand there, breathing slowly, getting his emotions back in line. He then stashed the knives, tucked the small handgun into the back of his waistband and shrugged on his coat. Elenor was standing watching as he walked out through the den. She caught his eye and he stared, not sure what to say. She didn’t say a word, just set her face like she was trying not to cry, then turned away.

  Outside, they were waiting and Pen gave him an armoured jacket and waved him into one of the jeeps. The jacket was uncomfortable under his coat and hampered his movement, which was frustrating. It was tempting to leave it off, but looking at the hardware they were all carrying, it was more tempting not to be stubborn for once. It was weird going into an operation with other people. He wasn’t a team player and it wasn’t easy to let go and let Pen’s guys run the show.

  Pen gave him a hint of a briefing on the way out, just the basic plan and an emphasis on the need for Hil to hang back and not interfere. Like that was going to happen. He nodded anyway and watched the desert pass by and darken as the sun lowered and eventually the orange haze on the horizon ahead turned into the lights of the city.

  The guy they were after, the guy with grey eyes, was staying at a private rented apartment on the shoreline, an exclusive beachfront establishment that Pen explained would be heavy on security. Fast in, fast out. Enough bribes had been paid to make sure local law enforcement would take a long time to respond, it was the guy’s own contingent they were more concerned about. This guy claimed he had killed Mendhel and that would have been no easy feat so Pen was going in heavy and hard.

  The jeeps split up once they were in the city, one taking a direct route to the rear of the apartment’s walled grounds, theirs and the other going the coastal road to slip in to the building’s courtyard from the front. The gates swung open for them as they approached, payoffs paying off and making their entrance nice and easy. Hil and LC had always known the level of control Pen enjoyed in Aston but it wasn’t often it was displayed outright this way. Pen owned people throughout the city and they tended to be fiercely loyal. Quiet words with key people and their path to this guy was clear and carefully maintained. Hil had no doubt that if the guy had run, he wouldn’t have got far before being brought down and brought before Pen. The guild had something similar but spread wider and therefore not always guaranteed. That tended to work in their favour. If you trusted no one in the outside, you weren’t often let down. Problem was now he couldn’t trust anyone on the inside.

  Tiny lights sparkled along the driveway leading up to the house, scattered among well-tended shrubs that looked much too green for Aston. The jeeps crunched up the gravel driveway and pulled up at an angle, both noses in, at a front entrance that was dark but flickering with light from within.

  Car doors were thrown open and they piled out, Pen’s guys falling into formation around him like they’d done this a hundred times. It wasn’t just practised, it was instinctive. Hil stood in the centre and felt the tingle of apprehension he always got before an op, nerves gearing up and reactions balanced on the edge. In the quiet before the storm, Pen stood, coat whipping in the sea breeze, and turned to him. “Stay close to me.”

  He nodded again vaguely and Pen must have seen something in his face because the big man leaned over and caught the back of his neck, pulling him in. “Stay close, understand?”

  “I will,” he muttered, eyes staring at the door, pulling out his gun with one hand and a knife with the other.

  “If we don’t know where you are, you’ll get yourself killed. You understand?”

  Hil nodded. He was back and it felt good. The universe narrowed to this moment in time and that doorway in front of them. No more running.

  They went in fast. Pen was the eye of the whirlwind and Hil was a step behind. To both sides, as they pushed open the door and strode into the house, gunshots exploded out in all directions. Their footsteps echoed on marble tiles, plants and statues crashing to the floor as the corporate security realised they were being invaded and ran to defend their stronghold. Pen didn’t stop and his guys spread out and dominated the entry. Up ahead more sounds of battle filtered back as Yan led the assault from the rear. The onslaught was relentless.

  They turned into a huge open atrium in the centre of the building and came face to face with one of the huge twins, both arms up, two barrels held unwavering right at them. Pen didn’t skip a beat. His arm swept up and the sound of the pistol firing was deafening. The ape dropped and more shots peppered the floor and walls around them. A massive glass sculpture shattered and Pen walked without breaking step, through the glass shards and towards a staircase that wound up from the centre of the hall.

  Hil caught movement from the corner of his eye and turned his head slightly, trying to keep step with Pen and ignoring the pain from his twisted ankle. They were surrounded now by fewer of Pen’s guys as the squads broke down into pairs and peeled off to search the ground floor. Yani and his guys were already upstairs. Pen took a step onto the first stair and a bullet ricocheted off the banister by his hand. He still didn’t pause.

  The staircase split half way up and Pen marched up to the right, reloading, as half his bodyguard peeled off to the left.

  “With me, Hilyer,” Pen reminded him without looking back. He hadn’t seriously been thinking of sneaking off but the warning was well timed. It was taking every ounce of self-restraint that he had to stay in the open like this. These guys were insane. He’d never seen Pen in action like this before. Insane didn’t quite cover it. No wonder no one crossed him.

  They came up onto a wide landing that stretched out to the left and right, doors lining the corridor. Pen nodded left and waved his hand low down by his leg, fingers flashing in a signal too fast for Hil to read. Two of the guys still with them went right, leaving them to take the left-hand passage. Pen had two guns out and the two guys with him both had assault rifles. Hil spun his knife around the fingers of his left hand, watching the corridor and glancing behind occasionally even though he knew they were covered. The doors were making him nervous and like a self-fulfilling prophecy, one crashed open as he passed, a body hurtling into him and slamming him against the door opposite. They crashed through into a room and the gun went tumbling from his hand as he hit the floor.

  Gunfire and yells erupted out in the corridor. Hil scrambled to his feet and saw it was the other twin, the massive guy lurching up and rushing at him, grabbing him in a tackle around the chest and throwing him against the wall. Wind knocked out of him, Hil fell back and the guy pounced on him, full weight pinning him to the wall, a huge paw squeezing him around the throat.

  He couldn’t breathe and instinctively Hil spun his knife into a backhand hold and swept it upwards, catching the guy with a vicious slash across his face, opening up a gash that cut through the eye and cheek. The guy roared and threw him to the side, turning and pulling out a gun, blood streaming from his ruined eye socket.

  Hil rolled backwards, head over heels, as shots splintered off the floor around him. He stood, trying to scramble out of the way and took a hit high in the chest that took his breath
and threw him back. His knees buckled and he fell.

  The gunfire stopped abruptly and the room fell silent, the quiet broken only by footsteps getting closer.

  Hil groaned and swallowed painfully, his chest feeling like it was on fire. He rolled onto his side and saw Pen and Yani standing over a body.

  “He’s still alive,” Pen said, nudging the body of the twin with his foot. “Keep him that way. I can use him.” He turned to Hil and grinned. “I thought I told you to stay close.”

  Chapter 23

  “I understand that we are still seeing the repercussions of this incident throughout Winter.”

  NG nodded. “It’s always been volatile. And rather than contracting as alliances strengthened, as most people believed would happen, the Between is growing as more and more colonies begin to disagree which side of the line they feel most affiliated to.”

  The Man topped up his own goblet, frowning to see that NG’s cup was still half full. “I also hear rumblings,” he said, “that the activity of independent operators is increasing.”

  NG picked up his glass. “We actually have a theory that Hilyer might have been shot down by pirates when he crashed. We haven’t been able to identify the ships that chased him and Legal is fairly certain that means they were independents.”

  “And Pen Halligan?”

  “Is growing in influence,” NG said, draining his goblet and placing it on the table.

  The Man nodded his approval and filled it. “He’s a good man and he is building an impressive empire. He handled Hilyer well by all accounts.”

  “Mendhel always said he’d make an incredible handler for the guild if we could ever persuade him to come in.”

  “Maybe so, but sometimes individuals can be of more value to us left to their own devices. We can take care to look after our own wherever they are, NG, whether they know it or not.”