Kheris Burning (Thieves' Guild Origins: LC Book One): A Fast Paced Scifi Action Adventure Novel

by C. G. Hatton

  I looked up at him. “Can you get that courier ready to fly?”

  He knew exactly what I was talking about. “You’re not seriously thinking you can fly it?”

  “I can fly it. I know I can.”

  “Luka, reading a manual and playing kid’s games in a burned out wreck isn’t the same as being able to fly one. Knowing what to do isn’t the same as knowing how to do it.”

  “Do you have a better idea?”

  He cursed. “How long have I got?”

  “Two hours. I’ll get them back here. You get it ready to fly.”

  “Two hours?”

  I downed the last of the drugs. “Peanut, the resistance are going to realise they can’t take the garrison so they’ll try to take the port. We have to get out of here.”

  He looked at me and nodded slowly. “You’re going to take on Dayton?”

  “I’m going to get Maisie and Latia. Be ready when we get back.”

  He didn’t look convinced.

  Getting out of the space port was easier than getting in. Peanut loaded up a truck and drove me out. The soldiers on the gate were pissed off and hassled, the pressing throng getting desperate as the number of rockets hitting the north increased and the gunfire got closer. Peanut showed his papers and drove right through, revving the engine to clear the way. He stopped in a side street next to a load of abandoned vehicles, and leaned through the window as I started trying car door handles. “How are you going to get back in?”

  I tried the ignition on a bike. It fired up. “I’ll find a way,” I said and gave him a grin as I climbed onto it. “Just get that ship ready.”

  I went through the maze of narrow streets, gunning it back across Main as fast as I could. I didn’t turn on the lights and I didn’t slow as I took the corners, skidding and almost losing it a couple of times, riding around burning barricades and blockades. I was heading away from the trouble, not towards it, so no one was too concerned with me, at least no one shot at me and I made it to the outskirts with less than half an hour to make it out to the tower.

  It was a powerful bike, heavier than the dirt bikes I was used to, and it was fast. There’s no way I would have made it otherwise. I rode across the desert, the city in flames behind me, UM vessels filling the sky around the crashed ship ahead of me. They were withdrawing, abandoning it. Gunships were buzzing round it in circles like vultures. They were wrapping up and clearing the vicinity. If they turned on the city, we were done. I opened the throttle and floored it, wheels spinning in the dust as I threw it into turns to avoid boulders and craters on the desert floor. I couldn’t feel my knee. I couldn’t feel anything. I could see the tower up ahead, didn’t waste time checking how long I had left and skidded up in a cloud next to the ramshackle building.

  It was dark, only glances of moonlight and occasional searchlight beams shimmering off the broken windows.

  I cut the engine and sat there, blinking dust out of my eyes, adrenaline pounding through my chest, almost thinking I’d imagined the whole thing, got the instructions wrong or something, but then Dayton stepped out and stood there looking at me.

  I got off the bike and limped forward.

  Another figure emerged behind Dayton. Calum, I could recognise him anywhere. He was holding the damn rifle.

  They stared at me.

  I couldn’t see Maisie or Latia anywhere.

  “You made it,” Dayton called out. He held out his hands. “Well done, kid. Now where are my keys?”

  “Where’s Maisie?” I yelled back.

  “The keys,” he shouted. He turned to Calum and said something.

  Calum sloped off. Even in the low light, I could see the smirk on his face.

  Dayton stepped forward, beckoning with his hand. “The keys.”

  I shook my head slowly. “I know what you’ve been doing.”

  “Kid, you have no idea what I’m doing. Now hand over the keys and scram.”

  I took a step forward. “I do know.”

  He did a double take, screwed up his face and glared at me. “What?” He walked at me, towering over me, close up, grabbing my shirt and shoving me in the chest. “You know nothing, boy. Where are my keys?”

  I twisted away and backed off, keeping my left hand behind my back.

  “I’ve seen all the records,” I said. “I know what you’ve been doing.”

  I blurted it all out, faster and faster, backing away from him and spilling everything I knew about the betrayals, the attacks, the set ups.

  The look on his face got even darker, that muscle ticking in the side of his jaw. He was keeping pace with me, one step at a time.

  “I know about Rainfall,” I said, keeping my chin up and my weight mostly on my right leg. “I know you sold us out.” I felt so cold, even saying it out loud didn’t spark any of the emotion I’d always been hit with even thinking of that night. “You told them where we’d be, exactly where we were, Dayton. You told them where to drop those bombs.”

  I took another step back, glancing aside as a moving cloud of dust caught my eye. There was a vehicle approaching from the foothills, not the city. No lights but it was moving fast. And it was coming straight for us.

  “Who the hell are they?” I said, incredulous, full flow. “You selling us out to UM now as well?”

  Dayton laughed. “You don’t know anything, kid. Now hand over the keys.”

  For all I knew, Calum could have had me in the sights of his rifle. They didn’t need me alive. I backed off again, shaking my head, as the Wintran vehicle pulled up, engine purring. It was a jeep, flash corporate militia, fully armoured, glistening in the moonlight. I’d never seen a car that new and shiny, never been so close to that much money before.

  The suit that stepped out was just as flash. The two bodyguards with him were wearing night vision goggles, stubby automatic rifles cradled in their arms. The main man walked forward.

  Dayton suddenly looked really small.

  “I trust you have the intel,” the UM suit said, clipped words, but loud and clear.

  I felt even smaller.

  “Yes, I have,” Dayton growled, “or at least I will as soon as I get it off this little shit.”

  “Are you telling me the child has it? Perhaps I should be dealing with him.”

  I might have laughed. That didn’t go down well.

  The suit looked at me. “Do you have it?”

  The keys were weighing heavy in my pocket but I shook my head.

  “Then we don’t have a deal.” He turned to walk away.

  “Wait,” Dayton said. His voice was shaking. “You have to take me with you. I can pay. Whatever you want.” He didn’t exactly drop to his knees to beg but he might as well have done. “I have money. You have to take me. They’ll kill me if you leave me here.”

  The suit didn’t even look back. “We have no need of money, Mr Dayton. Good luck with your rebellion.”

  He got into the jeep, the heavies with the guns got in behind him and they drove off.

  Dayton was left standing staring after them, mouth open. He turned on me. “You little shit. You little Imperial bastard.”

  I grinned at him. “I transferred your millions,” I said.

  Dayton frowned. “I know. You think I’m stupid? That’s what you were supposed to do. Who needs the damned Wintrans, anyway?”

  “I transferred them to Maisie,” I said quickly.

  He stopped. “What?”

  “All of it,” I said. “Everything from your account, I transferred it to her.”

  Dayton stared at me open mouthed.

  “Everything,” I said. “All of it.”

  He grabbed at the holster.

  I brought round my left hand and levelled his own gun at him. “Looking for this?”

  He glowered at me.

  I was holding the gun in two hands, looking down the barrel at him, and all the hurt, all the pain and intensity of every loss I’d ever felt focused into sharp clarity. I wanted to kill him for what he’d done
to Maisie, to Latia, to Freddie, to Charlie, even Calum. I wanted him to die for what he’d done to us eight years ago on the night of Rainfall, and I wanted him to die knowing that he’d failed. That ultimately, he’d failed.

  I wanted it to end.

  I pulled the trigger.

  The hammer fell with a hollow click. Misfire.

  Dayton bellowed and ran at me.

  I threw the gun at him and dodged, not well, the painkillers were wearing off and my knee was starting to scream at me again.

  He caught me with a sideways backhanded blow and sent me sprawling. He reached behind his back and pulled out another gun.

  I lay there, staring at him, staring at this son of a bitch who had sold us out, as he pointed the gun at me, and I laughed. “You’ve lost, Dayton,” I said. “I took all your money and, you know what? The whole resistance will find out that you’ve been betraying them.”

  It wasn’t the smartest thing I’ve ever done but I didn’t care. Dayton’s face was stone as he stepped forward. He steadied his aim and pulled the trigger.

  Chapter 23

  There was a sharp crack. And another. I recoiled, jerked backwards, but it wasn’t me that was hit. Dayton’s bullet went wide, kicked into the dust beside me.

  He staggered backwards, blood blossoming out across his chest. He tried to say something but he was choking, red spilling from his mouth. He crumpled and fell to the dirt.

  I staggered to my feet and turned.

  Calum emerged from the shadow of the building, a rifle held steady in his arms. He walked forward, stare not leaving Dayton’s prone form, lying there on the ground, bleeding red into the dust.

  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 bec
ame 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 slapped 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.”