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

by C. G. Hatton

  I worked my way through, climbed up and slid into position to watch, right at the heart of the garrison.

  It didn’t take long to hook the terminal into the system and listen in as the techs processed intel and ran their stuff. They didn’t know what it was out there in the desert and it was freaking them all out. It was hard to stay impassive, listening in to them panic, seeing the flaws in everything they were considering and in amongst it all, there was a dreadful unease that nothing would ever be the same again.

  I got what I needed for Dayton, left the terminal and the pass in a random office and made my way out of the complex. I didn’t hang around. They’d got the power back up so I just split and made for the roof.

  Just in time.

  The sun was rising by the time I made it out to the wall. I jumped down, sprinted across the killing ground and clambered over the rubble. I ran across Main, and that’s when I made a mistake I still think about now. There was something that made the back of my neck bristle. I stopped and looked back.

  Charlie was at the gate and he was staring right at me.

  Chapter 10

  I should have run but I couldn’t. He didn’t say a word, just raised his hand and beckoned.

  I walked back across Main as if I was hypnotised. I was expecting him to chew me out but he didn’t say a word. He took me by the shoulder and steered me in through the gate, past the guards. That side of the outer courtyard was empty except for a lone gunship that had crew buzzing round it. They didn’t even look up as we walked past and into the base.

  I’d never been in through the front door before. Charlie kept his hand on my shoulder as we walked, gathering stares, a couple of people muttering as we passed. He took me into the mess hall and sat me at a table.

  He said, “Stay there,” and went off to the servery. There was no queue. There was hardly anyone in there, two soldiers with plastifoam cups, an officer eating on her own, and the serving staff. I felt exposed, sitting there in the centre of the room, my back to the door, but Charlie didn’t take long before he returned with a tray. He took a cup off it and slid the rest across to me.

  “When was the last time you had a hot meal?” he said, sitting down opposite.

  I shrugged.

  I didn’t touch the stuff on the tray.

  He nudged it. “Eat.”

  I thought he was going to ask where I’d been, what I’d been doing, but he didn’t. He sat there, sipping at his drink while I pushed mashed potato around the plate with a plastic fork, making channels for the gravy to run into. I took a couple of mouthfuls but it didn’t feel right, not when I knew Latia didn’t have much in and I had no idea where the other kids were or if they had anything.

  “I need to go,” I said quietly without looking up. I couldn’t look him in the eye.

  “You need to eat some decent food. I’ll get you some to take back to grandma and the others.”

  He was being too good to me and I didn’t deserve it. I half-heartedly stabbed some kind of vegetable that looked too green to be real.

  The door opened. I kept my head down but I could see Charlie glance round and curse under his breath.

  Footsteps marched right up to our table.

  Charlie’s chair clattered back and I could feel the tension in his stance as he stood to attention.

  The voice was sharp. “Why are there civilians in the base? Current status is Red, Sergeant, if you hadn’t noticed. Why is there a child in the base?”

  I put the fork down and snuck the candy bar off the tray and into my pocket. I was tempted to slip beneath the table but I reckoned that might not go down too well under the circumstances.

  Charlie didn’t reply.

  I looked up without moving. It was a guy in black fatigues, IDC insignia, two officers a step behind him, all pin sharp and hyper tense. The officers were the usual up-themselves jerks that I avoided. I would have thought they had more important things to do than worry about a grunt sergeant offering scraps of food to a feral kid, even if their all important status was Red.

  “Captain,” the guy in black said, dripping disdain, “remove this child. The sergeant goes on charges. Good gods, gentlemen, we are virtually on a war footing. Let’s remember we are representatives of His Imperial Majesty, even this far out in the godforsaken wilderness.”

  Someone made a move to grab the back of my shirt. I felt it coming and slipped sideways off the chair, ducking out of the way. Boy, was that a mistake. There was a sound of weapons being drawn and readied across the whole room. Charlie was shouting, someone else was shouting. Another hand grabbed for me and I scrambled away, dodging past uniforms as they tried to tackle me. I pushed past, tripped over someone’s foot and went flying into the IDC guy. He struck me, backhanded, across the head. I staggered back, caught my balance and just stopped, letting them get me then, firm hands gripping my shoulders. I stuck my hands in my pockets and slouched, throwing a half grin at Charlie as they spun me round and marched me out.

  It was hot outside even though it was early, the bright sun already baking the streets. I scarpered as soon as they let me go and didn’t stop until I was out of sight. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the stuff I’d lifted from the mysterious asshole in black – a credit stick, a packet of gum and some kind of data access key. Not much use to us. But to have lost them would piss him off enough to make up for whatever they did to Charlie. I grinned, stashed it all back in my pocket and ran.

  As I made my way back down the tunnels, Dayton’s crowd were quieter, more subdued, as if they’d enjoyed the euphoria of their second-hand victory but now they didn’t have a clue what to do next to make the most of it.

  I was escorted into a tiny room that felt more like a cell and sat at a table. It wasn’t the usual routine. They gave me a board and a pen, then left, leaving an armed guard on the door.

  I scribbled, half-heartedly, using my left hand because no one was watching and not bothering to keep it neat. I finished and sat, nothing else in there to play with.

  It was an age before some guy I’d not seen before came in with more boards. He had a black band around his wrist. I registered it as he placed them on the table because Charlie wore one the same. I didn’t know at the time what they were.

  “Crack these,” he said, “and there’ll be food.”

  “I want to see Maisie.”

  “Crack these,” he said again, slow like I was stupid, “and there’ll be food.”

  He pushed them towards me and walked out.

  I ignored them.

  Then I got bored and couldn’t resist taking a look. They were cool. Puzzles. Codes, but not military codes like I’d always had before. These were complicated. I got the first few easy then it got harder.

  I sat up.

  I can see patterns and I can remember stuff. I didn’t know it then but that was the first time I encountered AI logic strings. It was the first time I’d ever played with anything that really tested me. I forgot eating and drinking. I forgot the nagging headache. I pushed the boards aside as I completed each one, some leading onto more and more complex tasks, some simply lighting up green as I cracked them.

  They got harder and harder.

  I did the last one and looked up, feeling like someone was watching. The guard was still at the door but he wasn’t looking in and there was no one else.

  I glanced round. There was nothing obvious that was surveillance but that didn’t mean there wasn’t any. I pushed the boards away from me and sat there, waiting.

  I felt hungry then.

  No one appeared.

  I got out the pack of cards and started to play, dealing hands as if there were people there, counting the cards and playing games, shuffling the way Charlie had shown me, and messing about.

  I ended up dealing every card in the pack as fast as I could, face up into five neat piles, until I had one left in my hand. I knew what it was. I shuffled and did it again. I knew what it was each time. I must have been saying it out loud becaus
e someone did come in then. The guy with the wristband. He sat down, grabbed the deck and shuffled then stared at me and said, “Do that again,” planting the deck in front of me.

  I looked at him. “Do what?”

  “Don’t be a smartass, kid, just do it again.”

  I dealt until I had one card left. He beckoned me to give it to him. It was tempting to peek, make him think I’d been cheating the whole time, but he took it before I could.

  “What is it?” he said.

  “Queen of hearts.”

  He narrowed his eyes and said again, “What is it?”

  I should have given him another wrong answer, then they might have left me alone, but I was an idiot and I couldn’t help saying, “Four of diamonds.”

  “Son of a bitch.” He threw the card down face up. “You’re counting the cards.”

  I had no idea what he was talking about and I know now that he was the idiot. I wasn’t counting the cards, that was way more complicated, I learned that much later. What I was doing in that little cell was just keeping track of them. I knew exactly which ones had been dealt so I knew what was left. I could see the deck and how it was playing out.

  I didn’t say anything. I shrugged. “I finished all your puzzles. Do I get to eat now?”

  I was close to nodding off when the door opened and Maisie came in, pulled up a chair and sat close. She pushed a packet of biscuits into my hand.

  “Have you moved?” she asked, hesitant. She knew what the answer would be but she still asked.

  She looked different. Even in just one day, she looked different. She was wearing body armour, hair pulled back into a rough pile on top of her head and a scrim scarf loose around her neck.

  I nodded. “Are you okay?”

  She gave a half smile. “Don’t worry about me.”

  “What does Dayton want now?”

  She shrugged. She hugged me and whispered into my ear. “They’re trying to figure out what to do next. They want to make a move but they don’t want to screw it up like last time. They think if the Earth forces are spread thin enough, they could take back the mines. They’re going to hit the outposts.”

  She said ‘they’.

  I grinned. “They let you in on all that?”

  She smiled, chin up indignantly. “No, of course not. What did you get?”

  “They still don’t know who it is out there.” My ‘they’ were the Earth forces. We were stuck between the two and didn’t belong to either. “But they’ve taken it as an act of aggression and they’re assuming it’s Wintran. They’ve sent for reinforcements so if Dayton wants to make a move, he’s on a deadline.”

  It was more complicated than that but I didn’t elaborate. I didn’t want to give them too much. And as much as this was Maisie, she was with them now.

  She squeezed my hand and whispered, “Be careful.”

  I whispered back, “Always am,” and she slipped away and disappeared as Dayton and his cronies walked in.

  He sat down opposite and pushed a board across the table. It had a weird pattern on it, swirling characters that shifted as you looked at them. I wasn’t sure for a second if it was my eyes. But Dayton looked at me and said, “Solve it.”

  I almost said, solve what? But as I looked, they started to settle out into lines. I swiped a finger across the surface and nudged a couple. It was too easy. One more nudge and it clicked into place.

  I looked up. I half expected him to laugh, say that was just for starters and then get out the next one. I had no idea why he was testing me.

  He almost nodded at me but then he just picked up the board, held it out to one of his people and said, dry and cold, “Get this to Yardman. Tell him, he’s just been beaten by a ten year old.”

  He knew fine well I was thirteen.

  He gave me another board. “Draw me a map of the garrison.”

  They had a map. I knew they did. I’d seen it.

  “Include all the security positions and AI black spots,” he added, and stood, patting me on the back.

  I sat there with the pen poised over the board, biting my lip, stomach cold. It felt like I was betraying Charlie but to refuse would be betraying Maisie, and Latia, and everyone else.

  “We don’t have all day,” someone said.

  I couldn’t figure out which was worse so I did it. I sketched it all out in immaculate detail, in plan and cross section. I made it the official map, not the classified version I’d seen one time when I’d been snooping deeper than usual. That had secret tunnels, emergency breakouts, a hidden vault most of the personnel in there didn’t even know existed. I wasn’t about to give Dayton all that. I finished it, drew some tiny little skull and cross bones around the edges, added some arcane-looking symbols, and looked up. The little cell was empty except for one bored-looking woman leaning against the far wall with her arms folded.

  “About time,” she said. “Now scram. We’ll let you know when Dayton wants you again.”

  It was late afternoon by the time I made it back to the block. They’d all gone. No trace we’d ever been there. I sat on the front steps and was tempted to lie down right there and sleep but I needed to find something to drink. I could feel that I was starting to get flaky.

  I rubbed my eyes and looked around. We had a system. You needed to know it to look in the right place and we always changed it whenever one of the olders left. I spotted the chalk mark, adjusted for the current regime and followed the marks, half expecting Calum to have pulled a fast one and left me high and dry, but if he’d tried, someone must have ignored him because they led to a door and Freddie was waiting there, on watch.

  There was a rifle propped against the doorframe.

  “We thought you’d gone as well,” she said, almost breathless.

  I gave her a hug, and whispered in her ear, “Never.”

  She laughed. “Go on through. We’re in the basement. You need to take the left tunnel.”

  We never used the basements. It was too easy to get caught and trapped underground. Calum was a fool.

  She rolled her eyes like she knew what I was thinking. “I know,” she said. “I know. He wouldn’t listen. Go on. Get inside. Get some sleep. You look terrible.” She took a packet out of her coat and pushed it into my hand. “I saved this for you. I knew you’d come back.”

  I muttered a thanks and hesitated. I didn’t want to go inside. “What’s with the rifle?”

  She looked serious then. “Calum’s insisting. We’ve all got them. He said everything’s changed. He said the Earth forces are freaking out with that thing in the desert and he wouldn’t put it past them to try to clear us out again. He said we need to be able to defend ourselves.”

  I almost said it was Dayton we needed to defend ourselves against because he was about to launch an offensive and we were going to be stuck in the middle again, but I bit my tongue and said instead, “Where did the guns come from?”

  “Calum got them from Dayton.”

  It made me feel cold. “Where’s Latia?”

  “Gone home.”

  I stood there, rooted to the spot, biting my lip.

  “Go inside,” she said again. “Come on, Luka. Don’t make things worse. We need you.”

  Going to crash out at Latia’s seemed more tempting but I let her nudge me inside. It was a mistake. Everything had changed. And it would never be the same again.

  Chapter 11

  The basement was musty. I stopped halfway down the steps, nose wrinkling, the damp air catching in my throat. You know I said I’m not claustrophobic? I’m also not stupid. I trust my instincts and I know when a place is bad news.

  I started to move back up but someone appeared behind me. One of Calum’s cronies.

  He laughed and prodded me in the back. “We were wondering when you would show up, squirt.”

  I turned and squinted up the stairs. It was Bram, not just a crony, it was Calum’s brother, younger but bigger. He had a rifle slung on his back and a gun in his hand. He waved it at me as h
e saw me looking at it.

  “Go down the stairs, Luka, before I push you down.”

  I didn’t give him the satisfaction.

  “Where’s Peanut?” I said. “Is he here?”

  “He’s busy.”

  He pushed me again as we reached the bottom. They’d strung lamps up, faltering, flickering points of orange glow. He pushed me ahead of him into the tunnels and grabbed me as we passed a door. “You’re in here.”

  There were a couple of middlings in there.

  I almost laughed. “I’m not…”

  He pushed the door open. “You are now. Rules have changed. You’re a middling.”

  I stood my ground. “That’s bullshit. Where’s Calum?”

  “Busy.”

  “I’m not staying down here.”

  “Get in there, you little Imperial bastard, or you’ll be going in with the babies.”

  I could feel them all looking at me, the middlings, the olders that were coming out to see what was going on.

  “Where’s Calum?” I said again.

  Bram reached to grab my shirt. I ducked aside, fists clenched. He was on me before I could get clear, one arm around my neck, slamming the grip of the gun into my face. I got in a few punches of my own, stamped on his foot and wriggled free. Even when you’re smaller than them, there’s always a way to win. Benjie had taught me that. He’d taught me how to fight dirty, one of the first in a long line of tricks he’d shown me. Always assume they’re trying to kill you, he’d said, never give them an inch and if you can run, run. The main thing is to stay alive. Problem was, down there, there was nowhere to run.

  I backed off and got a punch in the back as someone else joined in, shoving me forward. I’d had fights with Calum and his cronies before but there was something different that night. Bram grabbed me and pushed my head down, battering me with the gun.

  Everyone was yelling. I could feel blood streaming down my face. I twisted and jabbed my elbow backwards, hard as I could, making him roar.

  I tried to get free but another blow to the head from behind made my knees go. Someone kicked me in the back and I went down, spitting blood. I raked up a handful of dust as I hit the floor. I wasn’t about to roll over and let them win.