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

by C. G. Hatton

  I looked at him. “You heard all that?”

  Calum nodded without taking his eyes off Dayton.

  “I didn’t betray anyone,” I said.

  “I know.” He looked at me then, lowering the rifle. “Was that true about the money?”

  “All of it.”

  Calum was fidgeting with the mechanism on the rifle and looked up again. “So Rainfall, that was him?”

  He’d heard everything. Calum had lost family that night too. I wasn’t the only one.

  I nodded.

  His expression didn’t change. “Go. Luka, if you have a chance to go, go. Get the hell out of here.” He glanced beyond me, finger stroking over the trigger. “The rebellion isn’t over. And you don’t want to be here when we take our chances next time.”

  He suddenly seemed really old.

  Way older than I ever felt I could be.

  “I’m not going without Maisie and Latia,” I said.

  He looked back at me and sucked in a deep breath. “I can take you to Latia.” He hesitated, never a big one with words, but it was like he couldn’t say what he was about to.

  It felt like I’d been hit by a truck. I had ice in my stomach as I said, “Where’s Maisie?”

  He shook his head, overly solemn as ever. I knew he was going to say she was dead. I almost heard the words before he opened his mouth but instead he said, “She got captured.”

  “Captured?”

  “She kicked Dayton in the nuts. Can you believe it? He was trying to bring her back, they ran into a patrol and she kicked him in the nuts.” He forced a laugh. “She made a break for it and ran right to them. They took her into the garrison. We heard they’re shipping out prisoners to be processed as war criminals.”

  I almost said, “We’re kids, they can’t do that to us.” But we were carrying guns and wearing body armour, and we weren’t throwing stones at them any more, we were throwing grenades. They could do what they wanted.

  “Show me where Latia is,” I said, “then I’ll go get Maisie.”

  He took me to the tunnels. They were deserted, everyone out on the streets, fighting, pushing for the garrison. Wherever they were controlling it from, it wasn’t Dayton’s command bunker. We walked past that. The door was open. No guards. I couldn’t help looking in. The guy with the black wristband, the one who’d given me the puzzles, was lying on the floor, a hole in his forehead. Two other guys were sprawled next to him, blood pooling.

  Calum stopped. “He shot them.”

  I stood next to him, staring. “Who did?”

  “Dayton. Just before we took off. He said they were traitors.” He shook his head. “I guess they knew what was on the key. If it hadn’t been for you, that’s how I’d have ended up.” He shivered.

  I didn’t have time for all this. “Calum, where’s Latia?”

  He turned away and led me down a side tunnel I’d never seen before, living quarters, cold and damp as hell.

  “They’ve been looking after her,” he said. “We’ve all been looking after her.”

  She was a Cole. Of course the resistance would look after her, whatever they thought I’d done. My great-grandfather had been one of its founding members so Latia was regarded almost as royalty.

  It didn’t make me feel any better.

  He gestured towards a door, pulled back the bolt and stood aside to let me in.

  Latia rose to her feet, cautiously as if she wasn’t sure it was me. She looked tired but determined, a smile creasing her face as she stepped forward, arms outstretched.

  She held me tight, then at arm’s length, checking me over. “They’ve hurt you,” she said, frowning.

  Calum backed away, awkward. Damn right he should feel awkward.

  “I’m fine,” I muttered. “Come on, we have to leave. I have a way out. We’re all going.”

  “I’m going home,” she said in that tone you didn’t ever argue with.

  I shook my head. “You need to come with me. I’m going to get Maisie then we’re going to get away from here.”

  She sat back down, still holding onto my hand, patting the seat next to her. I sat, struggling to hide the discomfort as pain shot up and down my leg.

  She frowned again, looking at me intently, wiping a smudge off my face like I was tiny again. I was filthy, it was going to take more than that. She smiled. “Luka, this is my home. My family are here. All of my family are here. And they always will be. I’m a Kheris girl. This planet is in my blood. And I’m staying. You may have been born here, Luka, but you don’t belong here.”

  I opened my mouth to object but she hushed me like she always used to, so soft it made everything okay.

  “I’m old. I’m content here,” she said. “This is not your future. You’re special, Luka. You’ve always been special. And it’s time for you to go.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out the knotted bracelet, tying it back around my wrist. “Go and find Maisie, and go find your place in this galaxy that is so much more than this little corner we were born into.”

  I managed to whisper, “No.”

  She held her hand over my wrist. I could feel the heat from her skin, the heat from the stones knotted into the band. “I have other little ones to look after.” She smiled again, warmth in her eyes. “And you have places to go.”

  My eyes were watering. It must have been the fumes down there.

  “Go,” she said softly. “Go… this is not where you belong now.”

  I’d said the exact same thing to Spacey.

  Latia squeezed my hand. “Now,” she said, sprightly, “let’s go and see what state the house is in, shall we?”

  Calum helped me get her there. I didn’t stick around. I hugged her, told Calum he’d better take care of her then I left.

  I don’t know how I made it back up to the garrison but I made it to the corner and stood, looking left and right, breathing in the cool smoke-tinged air of that insane night, then walked across Main, out in the open, head up, the entire universe revolving around me as if it couldn’t touch me. As if nothing could ever touch me again. All the clamour and noise seemed distant, muted. It was like I was daring someone to see me, challenging a bullet to even try to come close. One step after the next. The dark shadow of the rubble barrier loomed in front of me, higher than it had ever seemed before, more ominous, more threatening. It became the barrier that had stood in my way my whole life. I didn’t belong in there and I didn’t belong out here.

  I started to run. Sound crashed back in, explosions deafeningly close, the sharp ping and retort of gunfire echoing past my ears. The pain in my knee became an all-encompassing focus of every hurt and loss I’d ever felt. It’s amazing what you can do when you channel that intense need into energy.

  A rocket hit the street behind me as I hit the barrier. I shielded my head from the cloud of dust and debris, coughing as I clambered up and over, sliding down the other side and hunkering down in its shadow.

  The open killing ground between the barrier and the wall was hectic, more alive than I’d ever seen it.

  There was a flurry of movement, shouting and yells to reinforce the west wall, a roar of engines as they geared up to move round. I braced myself to move. I could only think of one way in. It was too obvious. I pushed back my hood and scrubbed my sleeve across my face, trying to rub off the black paint. I wasn’t part of the resistance any more and I didn’t want it to look like I was.

  I struggled to my feet and staggered around the edge of the killing ground, keeping close to the rubble until I reached the main approach then cut out into the open and straight in towards the gatehouse. I must have looked pathetic. With every step, I was expecting someone to spot me and open fire. It didn’t take long. They didn’t shoot me but they came out, rifles up, screaming at me to stop. I put my hands up in surrender, stumbled on something and went down to one knee, the other giving out completely.

  I was surrounded fast. They could see I was a kid and I had no weapons but they still grabbed my hands and sla
pped cuffs tight around my wrists. Someone was shouting that they should check me for goddamned bombs. Someone else pulled me up, fingers digging hard into my shoulder, and shoved me forward with a punch to the back of my head. I almost went down again but someone else stepped in, the sergeant who had given me Charlie’s stuff, and he grabbed me and propelled me forward, yelling to the others, “Stand down, it’s Anderton’s kid. Get him inside.”

  And just like that, I was escorted into the garrison.

  The sergeant was arguing with the others as they took me in. I didn’t even know his name. He fended them off and walked me past a holding room where there were a couple of KRM hard men, in cuffs, looking sullen, staring at me as I was walked past like they knew exactly who I was.

  The whole place was buzzing with military police, wounded, soldiers running everywhere, officers shouting commands, but there was no sense of panic. They knew the garrison would hold. Battered though it was, it was built to withstand anything the resistance could throw at it. Except they didn’t know the KRM had a great huge siege engine of a mining robot.

  I kept my head down. One of the MPs stopped us, protesting, trying to take hold of my shoulder. The sergeant stepped between us and squared up to the guy. I didn’t catch everything he said, but he finished up clear enough with, “He’s just a kid, and he’s one of us.” The MP muttered something, backed down and waved us through.

  The sergeant was swearing to himself as he took me through to the medical centre and sat me in a seat in the corridor, staff hurrying past and no one taking any notice of us. He unfastened the cuffs, still looking like he didn’t know how to speak to me.

  I mumbled a thank you.

  He stood and looked down at me. “Stay put, you understand?” he said and he left.

  A medic came by after a while. I recognised her voice from when I was there before. She was the one that had argued with Charlie that they had to let me go.

  She looked at me with dismay as she recognised me and was fraught as she checked me over, gentle as if she felt guilty about the state I was in, as if she wanted to say something about Charlie but didn’t know how. I didn’t know what to say either.

  I looked up at her and said quietly, “There’s a girl called Maisie…”

  She shook her head without a word, checking my stats, not looking happy with whatever she was measuring, and giving me shots. I palmed an extra injector of painkillers from her tray while she was looking away and stashed it for later. I took the pass out of her pocket too. She told me they had shuttles in the courtyard, evacuating civilian staff and the worst of the wounded, and she told me to wait until she could get me a place on one. Then she left.

  I had my way out but I wasn’t going to take it alone.

  It was way too busy for me to leave so I sat there, feeling the drugs kick in. I wanted to go find Maisie but every time I thought there might be a chance, more people would rush by. All the bays were full so they started to leave wounded in the corridor. Not all of them were soldiers. I stared, not wanting to look but wanting to know that none of them were people I knew.

  The bombardment was so heavy now, some of the rockets were getting through the defence grid, the building shaking with each blast. The lights flickered. I hunkered there, on the verge of running out, when there was a direct hit overhead.

  The corridor plunged into darkness. Debris rained down. I covered my head and ran.

  Chapter 24

  There was another hit. The floor trembled. I ran, limping, holding onto anything that steadied my balance, through dark corridors, heading towards the lockup. Half the corridors were blocked by rubble.

  I found a way through, ducked into a mostly intact office and used the medic’s pass to access the base records through a terminal. The prisoner details were limited to stats, no names. It was going to take too long to scan through them and figure out which one was Maisie and which cell she was being held in so I opened all of them. I ditched the terminal and moved out, more cautiously as I approached the secure area, but there was another explosion, right on top of us.

  I was thrown off my feet. I curled up and covered my head, coughing dust.

  There was shouting, sounds of gunfire. The prisoners were running loose, fighting with the guards. I staggered to my feet and started to yell for Maisie, pushing past people who were running in the opposite direction. I heard her shout back, “Luka,” then someone ran past me and shoved me aside. I fell.

  There was a blast, a shockwave of pressure and darkness.

  It was probably only for a second but I flashed right back to Rainfall. I was held there frozen in time, trapped, cold, and hurting so bad I couldn’t even feel it any more. It was like I’d imagined the last eight years, dreamed up a life that hadn’t happened, and I was still there, trapped under that building, and I couldn’t breathe. But that time, the hand that reached for mine was warm and soft and it was Maisie who was calling my name. She brought me back. She pulled me clear and held onto me and I clung to her as she stroked the back of my neck.

  “Are you hurt?”

  I shook my head, coughed and gave her a grin. “I came to rescue you.”

  She laughed. “Nice rescue. How do we get away?”

  Walking out of the front door wasn’t an option.

  “There are shuttles in the courtyard,” I said. “They’re evacuating the civilian staff. We just need to sneak on board.”

  We stood up. I wobbled, daggers stabbing into my knee. Maisie put her arm around my waist and I didn’t complain. We just needed to avoid the fighting, hope another rocket didn’t land on us and get the hell out.

  We took a few steps towards what we thought was an empty corridor but there were shouts, beams of flashlights bouncing. We shrank back.

  Maisie was clutching my hand, my arm draped around her neck. “You can hardly walk,” she whispered. “Is there no other way?”

  I shook my head. “We can’t stay here. Come on, we just need to time it right.”

  We timed it really badly. We slipped out of a door and hugged the outside wall. The Imperial troops were regrouping. The courtyard was flooded with light from the towers, from hovering gunships, APCs moving into position with gun turrets and searchlights spinning. We could hear the hum of the powered armour of the heavy infantry as they set up portable auto sentries and mini-guns. They were getting ready to move out and push back against the onslaught.

  We shrank into what shadow there was against the wall of the building. The air was heavy with dust and oil fumes. It was hard not to cough and I was starting to struggle just to stand. We could see the shuttles, one taking off as we watched, another with its ramp open and medics hustling. We just needed to get to it.

  I squeezed Maisie’s hand in readiness and opened my mouth to say, “Now,” when there was a roar above. The defence grid was pounding at the incoming ordnance but the attack was relentless. A rocket made it through the grid and screamed in, exploding against an airborne gunship, chunks of burning metal flying out and cascading down in a billowing glow of orange. We flinched back from the heat, trying to shield each other, ears ringing.

  There were shouts, screams.

  It was our best chance.

  I grabbed Maisie, whispered, “Go,” and we stepped out, staying low.

  I couldn’t move fast enough. We took two steps and there was a yell.

  Time froze.

  I turned and looked right at the IDC guy. He was wearing full powered armour, standing there in the open, helmet in one hand, like he was invincible, a gun in his other hand. I had his access key in my pocket. We stared at each other for a heartbeat, rockets raining down on his base, the resistance forces pushing up in force, and the entire city rising against them. I could almost read his mind. I knew all his dirty little secrets and I would have bet my right arm that half the deals listed on that ledger were unsanctioned. If he wanted me dead, we were dead.

  I grabbed Maisie’s hand, ducked and ran.

  We made it back inside, and ro
und a corner, shots ricocheting off the walls next to us. We scrambled through another door. There was shouting behind us. I knew there was a maintenance access somewhere along that corridor but in the dark and with adrenaline pounding, I almost missed it. Maisie was all that was keeping me on my feet. I found the hatch, bust it open and pushed her in.

  She wriggled through, twisting to look at me as I climbed in behind her, slamming the hatch shut and urging her forward. We made it up and into the twisted knotwork of cables before we heard the hatch open, cursing and shouting. He was screaming at us, yelling at his men to get us. There was no way they could follow us, not in powered armour, but they’d be able to track us.

  I tugged on Maisie’s ankle and crawled past her. We needed to move and we needed to move fast.

  I led the way through the crawl spaces, feeling the walls tremble every time there was another hit. We could hear the distant echo of gunfire.

  “How do we get out?” she whispered at me.

  I turned back to her and shook my head. There was no way we’d be able to get out in one piece.

  Not now.

  “We don’t,” I said. “We go down.”

  I twisted and started to unstrap the brace from my knee. I could hardly move in there with it restricting the joint.

  She didn’t look impressed. “Down?”

  “The tunnels go right under the base. There’s one that goes to the space port from right under here.”

  You know I said she never questioned how I knew stuff. She did then. She blurted out, “How do you even know that?”

  I screwed up my face. “You have to get under the AI core to get to it.”

  She pulled a face of her own. “What? You sure there’s no other way?”

  I couldn’t think of one. We were cornered, the only way out was down.

  Maisie struggled in a few places and I had to take it slower than I would usually but we made it round to the main manifold. Up was the comms centre, down was the command level and the AI core.