Then Abernathy gave a wave of his malformed hand and said, “Take him to the sickbay.”
Freuchen’s guards put a hand under each of Freuchen’s armpits and dragged him out of the room, leaving a trail of blood behind him.
“Now, tell me what I want to know,” Abernathy said.
I shook my head. “Not until I know you’re looking after him. If you kill him, you won’t get another word out of me, and I’ll make it my priority to kill myself at the first opportunity. I’ve done it once already, and I’ll have no problem doing it again.” At this point, I was only partly bluffing.
Abernathy stepped quickly to me and leaned in until his nose was almost touching mine. “Do not test me, girl,” he hissed.
I stared back, resisting the urge to clamp my teeth onto his nose and rip it off his face. “When I know you’re keeping your end of the bargain,” I hissed, “then, I’ll tell you the rest of what I know.”
He sucked air in through his teeth and stepped back. “Take her to her cell,” he said, turning away from me.
I was yanked to my feet and dragged back down the corridor toward my cell. They threw me inside and locked the door behind them. I leaped to my feet and rushed to the door, hammering it with my fists.
“What have you done with Freuchen,” I demanded. “You’re not going to get another word out of me until I know he’s safe.”
I heard movement beyond the door and took a couple of steps back at the sound of the key turning in the lock. The door opened, and I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Freuchen held between the same two men who’d dragged him away. They stepped inside my cell and dropped him to the floor.
I skated on my knees to his side. Freuchen groaned when I placed a hand against his cheek. “Peter,” I said. “Peter, it’s me, Meredith. You’re okay. I’m here.” His now thumb-less hand had been bandaged, and his cuts and bruises had been cleaned up, but he was still only semi-conscious. I took the blanket from my shoulders and threw it over him.
Freuchen’s eyes fluttered open, took a second to focus on me. He groaned, grimaced, then said, “Ver are ve?” His voice creaked like uneven floorboards.
“We were captured by the people who attacked New Manhattan. We’re on their airship, the Brimstone, heading for God-knows-where.” I paused to let that sink in. “They beat you up and tortured you, which is why you’re in such a state.”
He raised his injured hand and stared at the bandage. “They took my thumb?” he said, incredulous.
I nodded.
“Vat time is it?”
I guessed it was somewhere around three-ish in the afternoon. “Not too long to wait.” I knew he was gauging how long it was until the aurora would sweep across the sky and repair him.
Freuchen nodded. He sat up, flinching.
“You’re not in any shape to be moving around,” I told him.
Freuchen worked his jaw like he had something caught in his teeth. He spat blood and a piece of tooth into his good hand then wiped it in his already bloody trousers. He was beginning to regain some of his faculties, and I couldn’t help but wonder at how tough this man actually was. If I’d taken the kind of beating he had, I’d be laid-up in hospital for months, or dead.
He turned to look at me. “Who did this to me?”
My eyes dropped to the floor. “A man, Abernathy, but everyone calls him Tommy Two-Thumbs because he has an extra thumb.”
“Two extra, if he kept mine,” Freuchen croaked, and laughed, his dark humor apparently undamaged by the beating the rest of him had taken. He motioned for the bucket, which I brought to him. He spat a gobbet of blood into it. “Sorry. Go on.”
“Like I was saying, this Abernathy guy, he brought you in after his thugs beat you up, and he cut your thumb off. He had the tools to do it, too.”
“Vy? Vy vould they vant to do that to me?”
I held my breath for a second. “They’re agents of the Adversary. They were looking for me, but Abernathy says the Adversary has told them not to hurt me, so they tortured you instead.”
Freuchen’s brow furrowed. “Vy?”
“They wanted to know what we knew about Candidate 1,” I said.
“And? Vat did you tell them?” I heard the resignation in his voice.
“I don’t know if they’re listening.” I leaned in and whispered, “Just that Silas had given me a message.”
Freuchen nodded slowly that he understood.
“I saw Chou and Silas when they grabbed me. Did you see them?” I asked, trying to change the subject.
“No,” Freuchen said. “After I lost you in the smoke, I headed up to try and find you again, but I vas ambushed. I think someone hit me from behind and knocked me out, because the next thing I remember I vas vaking up tied to a chair. That’s ven the two goons vent to vurk on me. Damn cowards. I vould have broken both of them in two if it had been a fair fight. I vill have their guts for garters by the time ve are through.”
I had absolutely no doubt that he could have made good on his boast. In our time together, I’d learned that Freuchen was, at heart, a gentleman. But he also came from a time when violence—whether it came from nature or his fellow man—was everywhere, and his life as an adventurer had more than prepared him to take on almost anything that was thrown at him.
“I think ve need—“ Freuchen was interrupted by the sound of the cell-door unlocking. It swung open, and the two men who had beaten Freuchen stepped into the room. My heart lurched, expecting them to go to work on Freuchen again... or maybe me this time. Instead, they stepped aside just enough to allow a woman into the room. She held a plate of bread and some kind of meat, and a large plastic cup of water.
“Any funny business and I’ll ‘ave my two pals here deal with you. Understood?” she said, pausing between the two men and eyeing us with the feral suspicion of a junk-yard dog.
Freuchen and I both nodded that we understood, but I could see in Freuchen’s eyes that he was already planning his revenge. I surreptitiously reached out my right hand and squeezed his elbow. Now was most definitely not the time for him to try and break us out of here. We needed a plan.
The woman stepped closer and laid the plate and cup on the floor, nudged it closer to us with the tip of her shoe, then stepped out of the room, followed by the two men. The door slammed shut.
We split the bread and mystery meat between us. Freuchen winced as he slowly chewed his food. The water we decided to ration as well as we could. After we’d fed ourselves, I suggested that Freuchen try to get some rest. It seemed pointless putting him through the pain of any more explanation until after the aurora had worked its magic. He concurred, and within a few minutes, I found myself alone with my thoughts again while my friend slept fitfully, his head resting in my lap while I gently stroked his blood-tangled hair.
I woke with a start. Freuchen was already awake, his back against the cell wall watching me. The room was completely dark save for a sliver of light beneath the door... and the hundreds of tiny white dots that now coated my friend’s body.
It was weird experiencing the aurora without actually seeing it. Even in the Everwood, light filled the tree-tops, but in here, there was just the pixie dust. The nanobots swept silently over Freuchen, seeking out his wounds while he sat calmly as they worked their miracles on him, restoring his broken body bit by bit. Then the room grew warmer as a wave of heat emanated from him, as though he were suddenly racked by a fever, but Freuchen seemed perfectly comfortable. He reached across and unwound the bandage from his mutilated hand. I watched in absolute wonder as the digit slowly grew back again: first the bone, then the muscle and arteries, building upon each other like I’d seen things being made in 3-D printers. Finally, a layer of skin, pink and new and fresh.
“Just like your arm,” Freuchen said, flexing his new thumb as though it had always been attached. “Vunderful.”
I felt my own stress, aches, and pain fade. When the pixie dust finally faded away too, the room fell back into darkness. I scooted a
cross the floor to where Freuchen sat and squeezed his arm.
“Ve need to discuss how ve are going to get ourselves off of this airship,” Freuchen said, his voice just loud enough to hear. “How many people did you see ven they brought you on board?”
“At least fifteen,” I said, thinking back. “That includes the raiding party that captured us.”
“Too many for us to fight unarmed. Did you see ver they kept their veapons?”
I shook my head, realized he couldn’t see me, and said, “No, sorry.”
“Blast! Vell, ve shall just have to find another vay off of this thing. The vun thing ve cannot allow to happen is for them to get any more information out of us.” I heard the rustle of his clothes as he shifted position. “Now, I think it’s time ve both get some rest. Ve are going to need all the strength ve can muster tomorrow.”
We were startled awake by the cell door being flung open.
Wordlessly, the two goons swooped into the room, grabbed Freuchen, another two men right behind them for me. They dragged us both out into the corridor. I expected Freuchen to put up a fight. Instead, his head hung low as though he had completely given up.
Through the portholes lining the corridor, I could see the Brimstone was moving along at a leisurely pace. Not more than a hundred feet or so above the forest canopy, the view was beautiful—which was an odd thing to think under such duress.
“Watch ‘im,” the man on my right said, nodding at Freuchen. “He’s not one to give in so easily.”
The two goons apparently thought otherwise, and that was a mistake. As we approached the door I had seen the day before, Freuchen suddenly tensed, he took a fast step backward and used that momentum to bring the guards on either side of him careening into the other. There was an unpleasant crack as the two men collided face-to-face, blood spurting from one of their noses. The other staggered away, clutching a hand to his right eye.
I tensed, readying myself to fight out of the grip of the two who held me, then stopped as I felt something sharp pressed into my ribs. “Don’t think about it, love,” said the man on my left, a long-bladed knife held firmly in his hand.
Freuchen dove for the exit door, which was just a few feet away, grabbed the lever and pulled it upward, then slid the door along its tracks. Instantly, wind and rain whipped into the corridor. He grabbed the man with the broken nose by the scruff of his neck and with one mighty heave, tossed him through the opening. I don’t think Broken-Nose even knew what had happened because he didn’t even scream as he plummeted toward the ground.
The second man, seeing his comrade thrown to his death, ducked low and rushed Freuchen, hitting him square in the belly. He threw his arms around my friend and lifted him off his feet, carrying him backward, slamming him into the bulkhead. Freuchen gasped, then raised his right arm and brought his elbow down hard on the back of the man’s skull. The man fell face-first to the deck, and Freuchen delivered a swift kick with the heel of his boot to the side of the man’s head to make sure he stayed down. He turned to face me and the two men who held me.
“Uh-uh, where’s your manners, mate? You take another step, and I’ll slit your girlfriend open.”
“No, you von’t,” said Freuchen. “She’s vorth too much to you and whoever it is you vurk for. But you, on the other hand, are disposable.”
Freuchen walked toward us, almost casually raised his fist, and delivered a short jab to the face of the man holding the knife. He collapsed like a sack of potatoes. My remaining captor pulled his own knife and brandished it, swiping the air in an X-shape. Freuchen deftly grabbed him by the arm, dragged him to the lip of the doorway, and as I stood there open-mouthed, pushed him out too.
His scream echoed through the corridor.
Freuchen quickly checked the two remaining men’s pulse, then moved to me. “I don’t like to hurt people, but I vill make an exception for anyone who tries to kill us.” He began to drag one of the unconscious men toward the door by his feet.
“Peter, no!” I hissed.
Freuchen stopped and looked first at me then down at the unconscious man. He paused, then shrugged and dropped him. Now Freuchen’s attention switched to the taupe-colored backpacks that lined the opposite wall. He moved to them, quickly undid the straps securing them, and brought them to me.
“Are those parachutes?” I asked, suddenly realizing what he had in mind. “I can’t jump. I’ve never parachuted in my life.”
“Neither have I,” Freuchen said with a grin, “but I don’t see any other vay of getting off this damnable sky boat.”
I looked out through one of the portholes, shading my eyes against the rain. The canopy of the Everforest stretched out all around us. It couldn’t have been more than two hundred feet below us.
“I don’t think we’re high enough for the chutes to work,” I said.
Freuchen stood at my side and looked down and shrugged. “Eh, ve don’t have a choice.”
“But there’s nowhere for us to land. Even if the parachutes open, we’re going to just hit the tops of the trees. Then what do we do?”
Freuchen turned me to face him. “Ve don’t have any choice, Meredith. You must understand that. Now turn around.”
Reluctantly, I did as he said and turned to face the wall. Freuchen slipped the parachute over my shoulders, clipped the safety harness together, then tapped me on my shoulder. “All done.”
I turned to face him just in time to see a sudden flurry of motion behind Freuchen. “Look out!” I screamed.
Freuchen started to turn, but he wasn’t quite fast enough. Perhaps he was wondering why his two prisoners had not been brought immediately to him, but while Freuchen had been helping me into the parachute, Abernathy had snuck up behind us. Holding a metal cylinder in his right hand that glinted in the overhead lights, he thrust it into Freuchen’s side. There was an electric buzz, and Freuchen jerked, stiffened, then collapsed to the floor.
I started to move toward Freuchen.
“Stay there,” Two-Thumbs ordered, taunting me with the tube. “If you move, I’ll throw your friend out that door. Now, take off that parachute.”
I did as I was told and dropped the parachute at my feet.
His eyes on me the whole time, Two-Thumbs checked the still-unconscious men. Two-Thumbs slapped them hard across their faces until they groaned, and their eyes fluttered open.
“Get up, you idiots,” Two-Thumbs said, kicking one man in the ribs with the tip of his boot. The men dragged themselves to their feet, teetering uneasily. Anger shone in both men’s eyes. One took aim at Freuchen’s head with his foot as though he was going to kick a soccer ball.
“Stop!” Two-Thumbs ordered.
He paused, looking as though he might just ignore the order then thought better of it when Two-Thumbs began smacking the metal rod he had used to zap Freuchen into the palm of his hand.
“Now,” Two-thumbs continued, visibly relaxing. “You two fools, if you would be so kind as to remove Mr. Peter Freuchen from the Brimstone.”
“No! Please don’t,” I pleaded as the men grabbed Freuchen by both hands and began to slowly drag him toward the opening. “I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”
The men stopped and looked at their boss,
Two-Thumbs didn’t even look in my direction when he replied, “Oh, I know you will, but I can see it is going to take some... subtler measures to ensure that I get everything I want from you. And as such, I no longer have any need for Mr. Peter Freuchen, here.” He nodded at the men to continue.
The men dropped Freuchen and began to roll his huge body toward the lip of the door. They were close to the edge when a violent shudder vibrated through the Brimstone. My ears popped, and I reached for the wall to steady myself as the airship began a rapid descent. A second later, a klaxon, shrill and loud, sounded throughout the ship, and a red bulb in the ceiling blinked on and off.
All three of our captors froze. Two-thumbs seemed to be considering his options, then said, “Get them
both back into their cell. Then meet me in the pilothouse.” He moved toward the exit door and slid it shut.
The two thugs grabbed Freuchen under both arms and dragged his limp body down the corridor while Two-Thumbs took me by the arm and wordlessly pushed me along after them.
Crew ran past us, concern on every face. Even with the chaos playing out around us, I couldn’t help but notice that some of the cockiness had gone out of Two-Thumbs.
Nine
Freuchen lay quietly groaning on the floor of the cell, his eyes tightly closed. A few minutes later, they flickered open at the same time the emergency klaxon stopped. I could still see the red light blinking through the gap at the bottom of the door, so whatever the emergency situation was that had saved Freuchen’s ass from being kicked out of the airship was still ongoing.
“Vat in God’s name did they do to me this time?” Freuchen asked, slowly sitting up.
“They Tazered you,” I said, then, realizing he possibly couldn’t know what a Tazer was, added, “They hit you with an electrical shock that knocked you out. They were going to throw you out of the airship, but something must have happened because an alarm went off and we started to descend.”
In the time since we’d been taken back to our cell, I’d heard numerous people rush back and forth past the door. Now someone stopped and began talking with the guard stationed outside. I put a finger to my lips and slid quietly across the floor, placing my ear as close to the gap as I could.
“—thought there was supposed to be a fail-safe on the inner balloon,” a gruff male voice said.
He was answered by a much younger-sounding man. “There’re four compartments, each cut off from each other. If one leaks, the others are safe, but somehow all four of them were sliced open. Engineering’s trying to patch ‘em up right now, but the boss is taking us to land just to be safe.”
“How the hell did all four of ‘em burst?” the gruff-voiced man said.
“Has to be sabotage. No other explanation.”
A Memory of Mankind: (This Alien Earth Book 2) Page 10
