A shake of his head, Seb forced a smile. “We’re alive. That’s all that matters. Have you heard from Bruke?”
The widening of Sparks’ eyes told Seb everything it needed to. “Shit!” she said. “I was so busy sorting this mess out …” She looked at the tunnel Bruke had been trapped in. The door leading to it had been opened too. It glistened with damp like the room they stood in. “I hope he’s okay.”
An anxious clench took control of Seb’s gut as he looked from the tunnel to the others and back to the tunnel again. “Yeah, me too.”
CHAPTER 55
Any thoughts Seb had about himself and his own exhaustion vanished as he stared down the tunnel Bruke had been trapped in. Pessimism threatened to overwhelm him. The tunnel sat so dark, he couldn’t see very far into it. Although, better than seeing Bruke’s drowned body. None of the others spoke as they ran towards it; the scuff of their feet over the wet floor was the only sound between them.
They headed down the corridor, Sparks lighting the way with her torch. Their collective sounds echoed in the tight space.
When they got to the right-angle bend, they still hadn’t come across Bruke. The first around it, Seb let go of a relieved sigh to see the shutter door at the other end. It had been forced open. His voice ran away from him. “He got out.”
No need for Sparks’ torch, Seb picked up the pace and the others followed.
Even before entering it, Seb smelled the charred foyer. Not as strong as before, but it still stank. When they ran into it, he looked at the cleaner floor from where the water had passed over it.
At the other side of the foyer first, Seb burst out through the gap in the large front doors. The sight before him ground him to a halt.
When SA, Reyes, and Sparks came out after him, Reyes voiced Seb’s thoughts. “Oh my.”
At least forty of the two-headed lion creatures lay dead on the ground. Obliterated. Some of them had one head torn clean off. Some of them had both. A complete massacre. Seb looked down at one by his feet. It looked like its front legs had been forced apart, a deep tear down its chest that exposed its huge, and very still, heart.
Then Seb saw him. “Bruke! You’re okay!”
Like he’d done inside the gene farm, Seb led the charge over to Bruke. He slalomed through the dead bodies of the beasts and the broken and ruined masonry of the city.
When Seb got to Bruke, the scaled creature didn’t look up. His attention on his bloody hands, he sat with his entire frame slumped.
Still a few metres away from him, Seb slowed down. “You know, Bruke, when you go berserk, it’s because you need to. You won’t hurt any of us when you’re doing it. You know that, right?”
But Bruke didn’t lift his head. While remaining sat on a mossy rock, he watched the ground and spoke in a deep growl. “I’m glad you trust it.”
“And you should too.” Hand outstretched to help his friend up, Seb said, “Imagine if you hadn’t cleared these creatures away for us. You’ve kept all of us from harm yet again. Come on, let’s go.”
Instead of taking Seb’s hand, Bruke got to his feet by himself. His attention still on the ground, he followed Seb’s lead back into the ship Reyes had taken from the Shadow Order. The footsteps of the others followed them in too. Bruke might be scared of his gift and what it turned him in to, but at least he’d survived. He could deal with his fear much better than he could deal with his death.
CHAPTER 56
The taste of the coffee he’d just drunk lay along Seb’s tongue, drying his mouth and throat, but he didn’t have it in him to get up at that moment for water. His body leaden from the effort of the past few days, he simply sat there, fantasising about quenching his thirst.
In the back of the ship with Sparks, SA, and Bruke, Seb watched Reyes guide the vessel before he looked back at Bruke. Although not quite recovered from his ordeal, he had spoken a few words since they’d been on the ship.
Seb turned to Sparks and said, “Those beings …”
“Which beings?”
“The ones on the tannoy in the gene farm.”
“Yeah.”
“What did you do to them?”
The question seemed to pique SA and Bruke’s interest too.
“Nothing,” she said, and before Seb could question that, she added, “Well, not nothing, but I didn’t hurt them, I swear.”
When the rest of the information didn’t come, Seb shrugged. “Then what did you do?”
“I cuffed them to a pipe in their control room.”
No wonder she seemed sheepish. “And left them there?”
“Why do you care about them? They tried to kill us.”
“We’re better than that.”
“We kill.”
“Only when we have no other choice.”
“Anyway,” Sparks said. “The cuffs were on a timer. We have a day and a half before they’re free. I put food and water nearby so they won’t get thirsty or hungry, but they won’t be able to move far until sometime tomorrow. And when they do, I crashed their comms, so they’ll have to go off planet to contact the Countess. Hopefully we’ll be done before that happens.”
The caffeine in Seb’s blood drove his quickened pulse when he thought about what they were heading into.
“And another thing,” Sparks said. “I found out that the Countess is behind a lot of the slavery in the galaxy. She’s the main trafficker. So if we take her down, we’ll make a big dent in that problem.”
Seb nodded at his small friend. “Thank you. And sorry, I should have trusted you wouldn’t leave them to starve or die of thirst.”
A slight twist of indignation on her small face, Sparks dipped a nod at Seb but didn’t reply. No one else spoke either.
Seb watched SA lean back in her seat and stare up at the ceiling. She looked close to drifting off, but he said it anyway. If we’re going against the Countess, don’t you think you should tell the others about your gift?
SA sat up and stared at Seb. NO. I’m not ready to show them.
But think what you could have done back there in the gene farm. You could have spoken to Sparks to let her know we were drowning. She could have spoken back to tell you where she was.
She knew the urgency of the situation. Me in her head wouldn’t have helped in any way. In fact, it probably would have stressed her out more.
What about Bruke? We needed to know he was okay.
A normally calm demeanour, SA frowned at Seb. Just leave it, yeah? Don’t make me regret showing you what I can do.
Although Seb wanted to understand more, he didn’t push it. He couldn’t lose contact with her now he had it. Reyes then cut their conversation off by calling back to them, “We’re here.”
All four of them stood up at the same time and made their way to the open cockpit. When Seb saw the Countess’ vessel, the edges of his vision blurred, his gift about to kick in because of the threat. At least twenty to thirty times the size of the their own, his mouth fell wide to look at it. “I wonder how many soldiers she has inside that thing?”
“Too many,” Bruke said.
Upon nearing the Countess’ ship, Reyes turned their engines off. She then flicked another switch.
“What’s that?” Sparks said. Any resentment she’d felt for Reyes and her ability to fly had apparently gone. Hard to be bitter when Reyes’ skills were so much better than her own.
Reyes looked pleased to be asked and bristled a little when she explained. “It’s a magnet. This will pull us close and then attach us to their ship.” After she’d pressed another button, she looked at Sparks. “This button frees a mech on the top of this ship. Almost half this vessel is made up from it.”
The low ceiling in comparison to the tall ship suddenly made sense, and when Seb looked up, he saw the others do the same.
“I might not need it,” Reyes said, “but I’d rather be prepared than not. Right, you lot, hold on.”
Their vessel shuddered as they drew closer to the Countess’. The vibration
grew in ferocity until it blurred Seb’s vision. A loud clunk then shook through the floor as the two metal hulls connected. The shuddering stopped and left an eerie stillness in its wake.
After a deep breath that did little to relax him, Seb broke the tense silence. “Looks like this is it, then.”
CHAPTER 57
The way Reyes attached their ship to the Countess’ reminded Seb of a leech. A metal tube poked from the bottom of their vessel. It had a ring of saw-like teeth around it, which bit into the hull of the Countess’ ship.
A circular window afforded Seb a view down the tube. He saw when they cut through, the dark circle of grey steel giving way to light. “What happens when we disconnect?”
“We can leave the tunnel behind so it seals the hole. If the Countess’ army prove to be troublesome, we can take it with us. They’ll be too busy fixing it to follow us.”
As Seb thought it over, chewing the inside of his mouth, he said, “Hopefully it’s the former.”
Reyes pressed a button that pulled the window away, and Seb went through the chute first. He landed with a slap against the hard metal floor of what looked to be a hall. They’d bored in through a side wall, so he didn’t have far to fall. Although he scanned the area—his eyes stinging from fatigue and trying to penetrate the dark corners—he couldn’t see anything.
A glance back up the tube at the others, Seb raised his thumb. “We look good for now.”
Sparks came through next, computer in hand as she landed. She already had a map of the Countess’ ship on it. As the others came through, she showed it to Seb. “We’re not far from her quarters.” With one of her long fingers, she traced the route they would need to follow. Just one corridor between them.
Once the other three had slid through the tunnel, Seb let Sparks lead the way and he followed behind her. SA, can you take the rear? You’re the best fighter here. We need to make sure we don’t get ambushed.
She didn’t reply to him.
The double doors at the end of the hall were about eight feet tall and six feet wide. When they got there, Seb watched Sparks open them, poke her head out into the corridor, and peer both ways along it. “Looks clear,” she said.
Best to double-check, Seb looked out too. They were halfway along the corridor. Single doors ran down either side of it. They looked like they led to smaller rooms. At either end, there were double doors like the ones they were about to step through. He couldn’t see any guards or soldiers anywhere. He held his breath as he listened, but couldn’t hear anything other than the hum of the ship. “I wonder where everyone is?”
Seb stepped aside to let Sparks pass him. “They’re probably in their daily devotional,” she said. “I’d imagine somewhere on this ship there’s a large room dedicated to worshipping the Countess. Also, we landed on the top level. From the map, I’d say most of the activity is happening below us. Other than through the ship’s hull, the only way to get up here is to pass quite a few security checks. We lucked out with where we chose to latch on.”
A look at Reyes and Seb saw her raise an eyebrow, but she kept her response to herself. Luck had played very little part in it.
“I’ll only consider us lucky if we kill her and all get off this ship alive,” Seb said. Nothing ever went well for them, so why would it start happening now of all places.
“I thought we only killed when we had to,” Sparks said.
“You think we should let the Countess live?”
Instead of answering him, Sparks moved off down the corridor, leading the way with her computer as their guide.
They’d only walked for about ten seconds before Seb shivered. The cold grey metal space didn’t have much insulation, and in just a thin top and trousers, he hadn’t dressed for it.
When Sparks reached one of the single doors on the corridor, she stopped, turned back to the others, and pressed a long finger across her lips.
After she’d opened the door and peered into what looked to be a small room, Sparks pulled back out and motioned for Seb to do the same.
Just one guard in the room. It sat in a chair in the middle of the space surrounded by monitors. At least eight feet of pure muscle, the white-skinned beast looked like it could punch through walls … were it not asleep.
A deep breath to slow his world down, Seb saw the weak spot on the creature’s throat. It helped that it slept with its head lolling back, facing the ceiling, its large mouth opened wide. Before he entered the room, Seb tore a strip free from the bottom of his shirt, exposing his midriff.
Her eyes fixed on Seb’s navel, Sparks smirked, looked up at him, and winked. “Are you trying to arouse it or kill it?”
“Neither! If I can tie its head to the chair while gagging it, then we can pin it down and tie the rest of it up. The main thing is to silence it before it can make a fuss.”
“Wouldn’t it be easier just to kill it?”
“I’d rather not kill anything else.”
“Unless you have to …”
“Unless I have to.”
Two steps into the room—the piece of fabric stretched between his hands—Seb held his breath and leaned towards the creature. If he punched the thing in the throat, his metal fists would shatter its larynx.
Before he could gag it, the beast opened its red eyes and stared fire at Seb. It inhaled to call out, but Seb cut it short with a chop to its throat.
The creature grabbed its throat, its eyes looking like they could pop from its face as it fought for breath. It made too much noise, so Seb continued with his plan, wrapping the cloth through its mouth as he ran around the back of its seat and pulled.
Seb’s arms bulged as he fought to hold the creature in place by its head. He watched its pale face turn red. Sweat beaded its brow and a large vein swelled on its forehead.
Although the beast bucked and thrashed, Seb held on against it.
Three or four long minutes later, Seb sweating almost as much as the brute, he watched the beast finally fall limp in the large chair.
Sparks sidled up next to him and stared down at the dead monster. “I thought we didn’t kill.”
When Seb looked at her, he suddenly understood why she’d said it. “You killed the beings in the gene farm, didn’t you?”
“No.”
Seb raised an eyebrow at her.
“They tried to shoot me. It was self-defence. Honestly.”
“I trust you.”
“Sometimes there’s no other option, right?”
A deep sigh, Seb looked at the dead guard. “Right.”
Images from all over the ship popped up on the multiple monitors. Every one looked as quiet as the one before it. They watched them for a minute or two before Seb said, “Maybe they’re running a skeleton staff. The Countess is minus an army, after all.”
“Do you think she’s even on here?” Reyes said.
While raising her computer to show the others, Sparks said, “Only one way to find out.” She pointed at a room at the end of the corridor just a few metres away from them. “This is where her quarters are. We’re going to have to go and see because I can’t imagine we’ll get a glimpse of the place from in here. If anywhere is free from surveillance, it’ll be that room.”
CHAPTER 58
They reached the double doors at the end of the corridor without further incident—not that they’d had to travel far.
A look at the card reader next to the doors, Seb watched Sparks walk towards it with her mini-computer. “This is going too well,” he said.
A gentle nudge from Reyes. “We can only deal with what’s put in front of us. We have the skills to react to whatever we need to. No need to create problems that aren’t there.”
After several quick taps against the screen of her computer, Sparks turned the red light on the door’s lock to green.
Seb winced in anticipation of an alarm, but none came. Maybe they weren’t expecting them. And why would they be? The beings who ran the gene farm couldn’t have told the Countess they we
re coming.
The double doors slid open, revealing the large room beyond. A throne sat in the centre of it, much like it did in the Crimson Palace. It faced the other way. Before Seb stepped in, Reyes grabbed the back of his shirt.
When he turned to her, she said, “I think I should go and get the ship ready. We might need a quick getaway after we’ve put the Countess down.”
Although Seb frowned at Reyes, SA’s voice came through to him. She’s right. She wants to stay and fight, but she’ll be much more use to us if she’s ready to get us out of here.
After Seb nodded at her, Reyes ran away from them in the direction of the ship. Her steps, although light, certainly weren’t soundless in the long and abandoned corridor.
Seb stepped into the large room first. Before he had time to take the place in, the throne spun around to face them. The red robed figure of the Countess sat in it, her dark hood staring straight at them.
Sparks locked the doors behind them and Seb watched SA draw her blades. Bruke then raised a semi-automatic blaster, and now Sparks had secured the doors, she did the same.
In this situation, with only one enemy, Seb chose to leave his gun sheathed in his belt. The cold metal of it pressed against his back. He clenched his fists while stepping forwards. “Normally we don’t kill,” he said, “but sometimes the justice system isn’t equipped for dealing with the kind of crimes you’ve committed.”
The Countess’ hood twitched as if she was about to speak. But she didn’t.
“Slavery, murder, terrorist activities, extortion … you don’t deserve to live.”
The sound of the group’s steps closed down on the Countess, and Seb heard something coming back from her: heavy and laboured breaths.
Just a few metres separating them, the Countess shook her head but still didn’t speak.
A sting burned Seb’s tired eyes as he continued to watch her without blinking. He moved closer, tense and ready to fight. “It had to happen sooner or later. You can’t live a life like yours and not have it come back to bite you on the arse at some point.”
Fugitive: A Space Opera: Book Five of The Shadow Order Page 19
