"What now, Mr. Thomas?" asked the young pilot as he powered down all shuttle systems. The craft was now completely dark and the Florida humidity fell over them like a wave with the outer hatch opened. Heck pushed the prisoner forward and out into the night with his hands bound behind him and his legs tied together with a strap just long enough for him to shuffle-walk. "I have done as you asked and followed your plan, for what that was worth."
"Now, you forget about me. At least for a little while," said Heck, wiping a bead of sweat from his brow. It was very quiet here. There was one dim, old-fashioned streetlight that flickered at the entrance to the ground vehicle parking lot. The road, Highway 40, was empty. In its heyday Highway 40 was a busy highway that connected the west and east sides of the state, running through some very rural areas. But Astor was always a small town, and when people began to populate space stations, drifts and planetary colonies, Earth development slowed to a halt. Rural communities like this one just stayed rural.
"Not likely, Mr. Thomas," returned the pilot, an edge in his voice as he followed Heck down the stairs. "I am coming with you."
Heck ignored the man as he prodded his prisoner toward the empty road at the far end of the parking lot. Lainne trailed along behind Heck and the prisoner, holding each gun as though it were a live snake. "I think you know that I'm not a man to cross, Soldier."
"And I think you will find your notions about me are ill-conceived." Heck stopped suddenly and glared at the man. The pilot continued. "I am neither a Soldier of the Crescent Moon, nor a Muslim. And I am not a pilot for the Florida government."
"I don't care," replied the ex-lawman, exasperated.
"You may call me Gelad Benin. I am an Israeli government operative and he is my prisoner," said the pilot, pointing at the silent but mean-looking captive.
"Like hell he is," growled Heck, turning to leave.
"You do not want to fight me, Mr. Thomas. You will find that I can be much more valuable to your cause when I am on your side."
"Why should I give a damn about you or whatever government you claim to work for?"
"Because I will hunt you down, dog your every move, and interfere with your plans until I have my prisoner. Or until you are dead."
"Don't threaten me, boy," growled Heck, whirling around with an angry glare.
"You do not want me in your shadow, Mr. Thomas," returned the man, a deadly glare in his eyes.
"Uh, Heck? He seems capable enough. Why can't he just come with us?" asked Lainne, hoping the two would not start fighting right there.
"Because-" Heck began, but he was interrupted by an unexpected commotion. The seemingly innocent Mr. Forester suddenly shot and killed the injured, and unarmed, woman. As Forester spun around to fire at Heck, the ex-lawman shoved Lainne down and spun his prisoner around in front of him in one smooth move. Gelad Benin flattened himself to the ground next to the shuttle stairs and produced a sleek weapon that the ex-lawman recognized instantly.
Before Heck could return fire a pair of dull thuds, not unlike the sound of a knuckle quietly rapping on a wooden door, sounded from the area of Gelad Benin. Forrester simply collapsed to the ground, his knees suddenly giving way beneath him and a stream of blood flowed from an opening in his head.
Only one pistol in the System sounded like the one that Gelad was using right now, the Raptor Star. And the only people he knew of that used that specific weapon were members of the Israeli Special Police. The Raptor was a highly sophisticated weapon that used a tiny computer capable of analyzing the DNA of whoever was holding it to an onboard sample of authorized users. Only the proper owner of a Raptor could use one, and Raptor only made them for the Israeli Special Police.
"Hell," he whispered. He knew now that the man was probably telling the truth about his background. It was unlikely that someone could kill an ISP officer then take the weapon and reprogram its highly protected and encrypted onboard computer. It was a technology that was developed by the Israelis and used by no one else in the System.
"That was unwise, Mr. Thomas," said Gelad as he rose to his feet. "That man probably wanted our prisoner dead more than he wanted you dead."
"Fine," said Heck, angrily acknowledging the Israeli's logic. It was a stupid move and Heck knew it. It seemed that if the man was in fact an Israeli operative he would prove useful, to a point. "You can come along and you can have this," he said with an angry shove to the stoic prisoner. "When I'm done with him."
Heck tied the strangely silent prisoner to the hatch of the shuttlecraft and ordered Lainne to guard him. Heck and Gelad agreed that they should each exchange clothes with one of the dead men. Then they dragged the bodies of the dead agents down to the dock behind Swampwater Grill and disappeared from Lainne's sight, leaving her alone with the intimidating prisoner.
The prisoner was securely bound to the steel door of the shuttlecraft, but Lainne did not like the way the man stared at her. His eyes were dark and cold, seeming more black than brown. His hair was closely cropped to his head, leaving just a layer of fuzz, and tiny tattoos of adorned the back of his neck. His facial features were chiseled and square looking and his dark countenance contrasted starkly with his expensive suit and his meticulous appearance.
Lainne tried her best to be strong and grim faced, but she found herself looking away from the prisoner every time he looked into her eyes; his triumphant smirk lingered in her mind, painfully reminding her of her inability to handle conflict. She contented herself with brief, stern glances at the prisoner and a meaningful display of her twin pistols.
As Lainne gave the man her best intimidating glare, his grim demeanor softened for a moment, then he burst out in mocking laughter at her. Something snapped in Lainne then and she slapped the man on the side of the head with a pistol barrel in pure anger. Her own reaction shocked her and for a moment she was proud of herself, it was something Lainne Connor would never do. But the man didn't stop laughing however, and that only made the woman madder.
"You bastard!" she snarled, raising the weapon as though she were planning to strike him again. "What did you do with my brother? I know you were involved, I saw you snooping around!"
"Lainne," barked Heck, interrupting her interrogation. The sound of his voice as he crossed the parking lot toward her snapped her from her anger and she nearly jumped, earning another snicker from the prisoner. “What are you doing?”
“I was asking him about-”
“Don't,” he said as he reached her side. He gently escorted the woman further away from the prisoner. "Keep your distance from him. You can shoot him just as easily from ten feet away as you can from two feet away."
"Wait a minute!" she exclaimed. "Why are you wearing those clothes? Where are the bodies?"
"We fed the gators," replied the ex-lawman simply. "Now it's your turn."
Lainne gasped and looked horrified. "You - you can't be serious!"
Gelad laughed at the woman's discomfort and, pointing to the remaining corpse, he said, "Miss, I believe he wants you to feed her to the alligators."
Lainne was at first relieved that she had just misinterpreted the ex-lawman's humor, then she was reviled by what he had just told her to do. She didn't like it, but she knew that Heck was too much of a pro not to have a reason.
"Lainne, take off your clothes," ordered Heck.
"I beg your pardon!" she demanded angrily, suddenly unsure of her judgment in hiring Heck Thomas. The prisoner snickered again. "I will not!"
"Take your clothes off, switch them with hers."
"I will not-" she began to protest.
"You will," he said harshly, grabbing her arm. "We don't have much time, Lainne. The authorities will figure out very soon where this craft dropped off the map. They will figure out where we are and they will come with a company of Commonwealth Marines. I don't intend to be here when that happens. If you'd like to, then stick around and keep her company."
Lainne watched fearfully as Heck stalked away from her, leaving her with the corps
e and the prisoner. He joined Gelad at the rear of the shuttle where the two were out of earshot of the prisoner and they began to converse softly.
Lainne glanced at the prisoner and scowled; his dark eyes seemed to mock her, telling her she wasn't strong enough to do what was asked of her. She looked away, ashamed. All her life her brother had been there to help her through the tough spots, but now she was alone. Alone and facing a daunting task. She knew inside that changing clothes with a corpse wasn't really the thing that was bothering her most, it was running away. She was now running away from the security of her old life and running toward the unknown.
She was on the verge of running into the shuttle and finding a corner to cry in when a glance from Heck changed everything. For some reason his hard eyes and solid countenance seemed unshakable despite the chaos. And it was then that she realized that there was, in fact, some warmth in there lying beneath the surface. He was struggling to come to terms with his loss, like her, only this man seemed to find a way to shut the chaos out and keep his feet steady. She let out a deep breath, believing that he would not allow her to come to any harm. And believing that he was, perhaps, looking for some stability to hang onto also.
She would try her best to give it to him.
With a strength born of desperation, Lainne dragged the corpse of the dead woman down to the inn, gagging at the gurgling sounds the corpse's abdomen made when she moved it. It was no easy feat, the dead weight of the woman was exceedingly difficult to move and Lainne was sweating profusely in the humidity, the cool dead skin felt repulsive to her own soft hands. With a small measure of privacy offered by the old buildings she changed clothes with the corpse. Afterward, she pulled the corpse to the edge and rolled it into the oily waters of the river. The body made a slurping splash and half-floated in the slow moving water. She watched the body and wondered for a moment why the others had done this and why the other bodies were nowhere in sight. Was it some kind of joke?
But just as that thought entered her mind the water erupted in a splashing, writhing fury. She shrieked and leaped back from the edge of the dock, her back against the rough wooden planks of the inn's back wall. The maelstrom continued in the dark water and Lainne realized that the furious assault could only be from alligators sensing the blood in the water. The suddenness of the attack made her more nervous because it meant that the dark monsters had to have been close by.
As the moon came out from behind the clouds and the fury of the giant reptiles had dwindled, she could see pieces of the other corpses floating in the water. Doubtless the alligators and fish would consume them before long, but Lainne sensed that it would not be long before the Commonwealth's pursuers would arrive and find the grisly scene. Perhaps it would be enough to slow them down, for a little while.
But then a soft touch fell upon her shoulder and she nearly jumped. The moon slipped behind the clouds once more and Heck was there, taking her by the hand and leading her away from the dock.
"We have to go, Lainne," he said. He spoke softly this time, the harshness gone from his eyes. He had been testing her resolve, and it seemed as though he was pleased with her effort. She was glad that this man, this strong and legendary warrior, was pleased with her. She tried her best not to melt before him and gently pulled her hand from his grip. The pair walked quickly back to where Gelad was holding the bound prisoner at gunpoint.
"We need to free the prisoner from his bonds and secure his hands behind him that we may travel safely, Mr. Thomas," suggested the Israeli lawman.
Heck looked for a moment as though he didn't think he should respond to orders from the younger man, but nodded his head instead. As Heck began to free the prisoner's hands, the dark-eyed man made his move to escape.
But Heck Thomas was no rookie. He'd brought hundreds of prisoners to justice in his time and was too wily not to be ready for just such an obvious escape attempt. As the prisoner wrenched his left hand free, he tried to pull away but Heck hung onto the man's right hand. In a flash the man was on his feet and trying to pull Heck off balance. Then he took a swing at the ex-lawman with his free hand. But Heck back-stepped out of reach of the swing and twisted the man's still-handcuffed right wrist against the metal of the cuff with both hands. With great strength Heck pulled the man in closer and slammed his knee into the man's thigh, striking a powerful blow to the common peroneal nerve nexus and stunning him with pain. The prisoner fell to his knees with a gasp, his face contorted in a mask of agony but not a word of complaint escaped his lips. Nothing.
Gelad stepped up and kicked the prisoner in the gut, forcing another gasp of pain. As the man went limp, Heck finished handcuffing him behind the back. The two men each grabbed an elbow and forced the man to his feet. Lainne cringed instinctively at the rough treatment the man was receiving, but held her tongue when the dark man cast her a sidelong smile.
Heck took control of the prisoner and began walking through the parking lot toward Highway 40. Gelad followed, his sleek Raptor pistol in a two-handed grip and ready to fire a fatal shot at the prisoner's head. Lainne glanced back at the shuttlecraft longing for the normality that she left, irrevocably, behind. Then she blew out a sigh and trudged along behind the men.
Heck scowled as he slipped from the shadows created by the bright moon, once again free from its cloudy prison, and led the group onto the highway turning east across the bridge that spanned the river. Heck cast a glance down toward the water and noted that the St. John's was now calm, though the threat of alligators was constant.
They reached the far side of the highway without incident but the sound of approaching aircraft could be heard in the still night. The prisoner heard the sound too and began chuckling. Heck tuned him out and kicked his mind into high gear.
Why had he brought them here? He wasn't entirely sure how he was going to get out of this situation, but he trusted his instincts. He had chosen this bizarre and remote place simply because it was the first place that came to mind that no one would possibly expect him to go.
But now what? he wondered. Suddenly he knew why his mind had subconsciously chosen this place and he began to run.
"Come on!" he urged.
"I know that sound, Mr. Thomas," said Gelad, ominously. "It is the sound of a Viper assault craft."
"Vipers? What are vipers?" asked Lainne nervously.
"The Commonwealth Guard Police," answered Heck grimly. "And they will have night vision.”
Heck herded his prisoner to the edge of the road and down the gravelly embankment toward the river, dislodged rocks splashed into the water below their feet. When Lainne sucked in a breath to complain, she held her tongue at the sight of Heck's dangerous gaze. She wasn't sure which was more dangerous, Heck Thomas or the alligators inhabiting the shores of this river.
They pushed through some thick palmetto bushes, suffering scratches and cuts and torn clothes, to reach the water's edge. Then, without warning, Heck shoved his prisoner into the water. Lainne could hear the approaching aircraft getting louder and wanted to protest but looked to Heck for instructions. Without a word he leaped into the dark water and grabbed the prisoner who was now expertly swimming away, with an injured foot and his hands cuffed behind his back. Then Gelad tucked his Raptor into some hidden holster and dove in too. Lainne stood there, hopelessly remembering the thrashing alligators feasting on their dead victims. She looked up, the sound of the approaching aircraft was still far off but getting closer by the second. Heck watched her quietly as he tread water, one hand on the prisoner's shirt, expecting Lainne to make the right decision.
Though she could not see his features, even in the moonlight, she knew what expression his hardened features now wore: expectation. She recalled the warm feeling she felt when that tender gaze slipped through the cracks of his hard facade when he had earlier taken her hand in a soft grasp. Then she jumped in.
Lainne swam up to the surface and shook out her long hair. She blew the murky water out of her mouth and followed after Heck who was swimming to
ward the bridge, urging his prisoner along. She had the constant sense that she was going to be eaten by an alligator any second and had to quell her fear to survive. When all four were under the bridge, Heck climbed up onto the concrete ledge and dragged his prisoner roughly up beside him. The others did the same and watched as Heck felt along the smooth wall for something unseen and unknown as the thrumming of aircraft engines reverberated loudly under the tunnel. They were close.
"They're here," she whispered, the sense of relief of escaping the jaws of the river's alligators now replaced by a sense of dread in the pit of her stomach at the impending arrival of the Commonwealth forces.
They were all nervous. The stakes in this were high and capture would certainly mean imprisonment or death for them all. Search lamps illuminated the river waters on the south side of the bridge near the pub and it seemed as though the enemy were closing in. A loud crack reverberated in the tunnel. Gelad ducked instinctively and Lainne feared they had been discovered and were being fired upon. Then she realized the source of the sound was no gunshot, it was the lever of a secret door in the wall above the water's edge! Heck shoved his prisoner through the dark opening, barely illuminated by the dim reflection of the searchlights on the water's surface, and silently urged the others to follow. A small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle hovered into the tunnel beneath the Highway 40 bridge just as Heck Thomas slid the secret door shut and the group was enveloped in total darkness.
"Why do we deal with these fools, D'mal? We could take what we wish and destroy any who opposed us." The two Orion officers were seated side by side by side in a small space fighter of their own design. The second officer, seated in the left seat flipped some switches on a panel and an audible whine signaled the activation of the fighter's engine coils; archaic needle gauges flickered on a dashboard style command panel.
"We deal with them precisely because they are fools, T'mok. Fools that are in possession of the technology we need to exact our revenge."
The Orion Deception Page 6
