The woman charged him like an enraged bronto, teeth bared as her clawed hands rose. Rather than trying to escape, Bharat dashed right at her and was pleased to see her slow visibly. A woman this big and intimidating would not be used to the people she wanted to pummel running toward her.
Pollen tried to tackle him. Bharat ducked under a clutching motion from her massive hand and slammed a fist into her stomach. The blow should have doubled her over, but it simply seemed to piss her off. She turned with surprising agility and almost clotheslined him with a swing of her massive arm.
Bharat smashed into Pollen’s side before she could fully turn. He was again surprised when she kept her feet and crushed him in a clenched hug. Bharat smashed his palms into her sides, aiming for kidneys or armpits, but her body armor blunted his strikes. It was only when he felt pain in his spine that he realized how badly he’d misjudged this giant woman’s strength.
As spots danced before his eyes, Bharat knew he couldn’t hold back. He pushed out and kicked up, using his Advanced strength both to loosen her grip and support himself in it. He planted both boots firmly in her abdomen and pushed.
Even the strength in Pollen’s impressive natural-born arms was no match for the genetically enhanced muscles in Bharat’s Advanced legs. He broke Pollen’s grip and, even as he toppled backward, caught himself on flat palms. He flipped backward and landed on his feet, hands raised in a fight stance.
“Not fair,” Pollen said, glaring from a few paces away. “He did not tell me you were flipping acrobat.” She stalked forward.
Her English was a little odd, which was unusual but fine. “Wait,” Bharat said, keeping his palms up as he backed in a shallow circle. “I told you, I didn’t inject Jan with anything. I need to find him before those torture nanos kick in again.”
“How do I believe you?”
“I can disable the nanos inside him permanently.”
“Seems you’re the reason he’s got nanos at all.”
“Listen to me. I’m working with Fatima. She’s the—”
Pollen charged with an animalistic snort. This time, Bharat ducked her arm and struck her side before dashing off. She howled with anger as she once again missed her grab.
“Just stop!” Bharat shouted. “I don’t want to hurt you!”
“You won’t!” she shouted back, and charged once more.
That was when the autocar hit her.
12: Dead Weight
Emiko Okazaki had not been certain where Jan’s latest scheme to retrieve Tarack’s data disc would go, but she had been certain she’d enjoy it. She always enjoyed working jobs with Jan, and having him back in her life was an unexpected pleasure. At least, once she’d ensured Elena Ryke wasn’t going to chop off his balls and dump him in the swamp.
Yet Emiko knew now how foolish she had been to think this job would be easy. When she’d agreed to help Jan, it had been under the condition that she not find herself walking a lizard-infested tunnel, dragging Jan’s unconscious body, with her face and hair gunked up with lizard spit. At least — she would have made that a condition of helping him retrieve Tarack’s data disc, had she known at the time that this might happen.
“Twenty minutes until the nanos kick in,” Kinsley said from Jan’s other side. Her voice sounded strained. “My map shows an old maintenance bay ahead. It may have what we’re looking for.”
Emiko simply grunted in response, putting one foot in front of the other. Why did Jan have to be such a nutsack about a little torture? It wasn’t like he was giving birth.
“Continuing as we are is not tenable if we want to succeed,” Kinsley said, as they both struggled on. “I doubt even your lip gloss will keep Jan unconscious once those nanos kick in.”
“Yeah?” Emiko breathed.
“The nanos stimulate his brain as well as his nerve endings. Once that begins, he will wake and become impossible to carry. Too much thrashing around.”
“Just have to get him to the Hole,” Emiko managed. “He wakes up, I’ll dose him again.”
“Inadvisable,” Kinsley said, and stopped. “Your gloss is toxic in large doses. Fortunately, we have me.”
Emiko stopped as well, unable to carry Jan forward without Kinsley’s aid. “So what’s your bright idea?”
She knew that was snippy, but it was hard not to be snippy after Kinsley still refused to say anything about her little secret from five years ago. If Fatima hadn’t betrayed Jan five years ago, why was Kinsley being so cagey about it? And if Fatima had betrayed him, was Kinsley looking for some way to justify it? Not having an explanation was maddening.
“Help me put him down,” Kinsley said.
Despite her guilt at what he might soon endure, Emiko was perfectly happy to set down Jan’s heavy body. She and Kinsley settled Jan beside the rail. He looked peaceful now, but he would be furious with her when he finally woke up.
Still, at least he wouldn’t be cutting his own throat.
“Find some way to restrain him,” Kinsley said, “to minimize the damage he does to himself, and us, once his torture begins. I’ll forage for what we need.”
“And what’s that?” Emiko knelt beside Jan and stroked his forehead, brushing a sheen of sweat off his dark and glistening skin. “What we need is an autohauler.”
“A litter will have to do,” Kinsley said. “Stay here and tie Jan up. I’ll see what I can salvage from the maintenance bay. Shout if he starts thrashing around early.”
And tie him up with what? Emiko wondered. She hadn’t brought her purse, in which she kept zipcuffs for emergencies, and it wasn’t like the people doing maintenance on this tunnel just left restraints sitting around. Unless the maintenance staff was a good deal more kinky than was generally known.
As Emiko watched Jan’s chest rise and fall, emotions warred inside her. They hadn’t seen each other in five years, and she’d thought, four years ago, that she was done with him. Yet here he was, back in her life and causing problems. Making things exciting.
Working for a ruthless crime lord wasn’t Emiko’s dream job. Sure, Ryke paid her well, kept her safe from anyone who might wish to harm her, and let her work the books at her own spa. And yes, getting a free massage whenever she wanted was a plus. Yet Emiko would much rather be doing her own jobs, with her own crew.
Emiko had loved numbers from the moment she learned what they could do. She could count the people better at laundering money than her on one hand. Her life had become comfortable, but that might be why she’d jumped at the chance to help Jan.
Comfort made her restless. Whenever her life became too easy, whenever her challenges went away, Emiko always longed for something else to do. Of course, Emiko would be the first to admit that taking on a Supremacy senator, Elena Ryke, Truthers, and the entirety of the CSD was absolutely bonkers.
She’d have preferred to start Jan’s next job with a bit of light stock manipulation, a casual honey trap or, perhaps, a pyramid scheme. Emiko had always enjoyed pyramid schemes. Still, here she was. Covered in lizard spit.
Minutes passed in agonizing silence as Emiko waited for Kinsley to return, hopefully with some rope. She kept her flashlight busy, scanning the tunnel behind, above, and ahead for more angry lizards. Just the thought of those scaly, slimy, smelly monsters made her shudder. She’d rather fight a knife-wielding thug, naked, than face another spitting lizard.
Emiko checked her wrist chrono. Did five minutes remain? Less? Jan’s breaths remained even, and his eyes remained closed. What if he’d been wrong about the time he had left? What if Bharat had lied about when the nanos would kick in?
In the distance, an all too familiar whine rose.
“Oh boo,” Emiko said, shoving her arms beneath Jan’s shoulders. “Move, you big lug!”
That low whine was the sound of repulsor jets, a constant, even tone that suggested a hovering vehicle. There weren’t many repulsorcraft on Ceto — such craft were expensive, fragile, and hard to maintain with all the dust in Ceto’s air — but there wa
s a repulsorcraft heading their way, which suggested two possibilities. Either Ceto Security Division had tracked them into these tunnels — or Senator Tarack’s Supremacy commandos had.
Emiko didn’t dare call out, but she spotted Kinsley sprinting back her way. With Kinsley’s help, they dragged Jan away from the rail. They settled Jan’s still-unconscious body behind an abandoned crate as headlights filled the tunnel.
Emiko’s ragged breathing and pounding heart sounded deafening in her ears, even over the whine of the repulsors. She tried to tell herself whoever was out there couldn’t hear her. She tried to tell herself they’d cruise right past.
The whine of the repulsors lowered as the craft approached. That whine faded as the repulsorcraft coasted to a stop. Behind the crate, bright lights lit the tunnel down which they’d walked.
Had the driver spotted them? How could they have done so? Emiko got Jan behind this crate before that repulsorcraft turned the corner!
Kinsley tapped her shoulder, waving the makeshift spear she’d used to kill a giant lizard. Emiko slipped out of her way to allow Kinsley to press up against the side of the crate. Beyond the crate, in the bright lights, Emiko heard boots impact on dirt, then the crunch of consecutive footfalls.
Someone was approaching the crate. That someone must have seen them go behind it, or had Wi-Vi in their ride, or was, perhaps, a tad psychic. Emiko was no slouch in unarmed combat, but there was a whole lot of open tunnel beyond this crate.
If the person now walking up on them wasn’t a moron, they’d round the crate with their weapon drawn and several meters to spare. Yet as each boot crunched closer, Emiko realized the approaching person was a moron. That was something.
A tall, slight figure rounded the crate, holding a flashlight, then shrieked as Kinsley swung. He cowered, and Kinsley grunted, as her makeshift spear swung by a mere finger’s width above his head. It snapped his head back as it impacted his tall pink fauxhawk.
The near miss sent the newcomer stumbling backward, thin, pale arms windmilling. Rafael Garcia slammed onto his ass, eyes wide as headlights. Emiko couldn’t help but gasp.
“Shit!” Rafe blurted. “Kinsley!”
“Rafe.” Kinsley lowered her spear and disapproved. “You are very lucky I managed to alter the direction of my strike. It would be unfortunate if I made your face concave before you explained why you abandoned us.”
“I didn’t!” Rafe scrambled up and brushed off his dirty pink pajama pants. “It was the CSD. They picked me up!”
“And left us unmolested?” Kinsley frowned. “Unlikely.”
“They didn’t know you were there! I cut my connection and blanked my drive when they busted in on me, made sure they couldn’t trace me to you. I didn’t want to be responsible for Jan going to jail again!”
Emiko felt a tinge of alarm. “Again?”
Rafe blinked. “I mean ... yeah! Like last time, when I didn’t go with him and he got caught.” His eyes darted around before settling on Jan, on the floor. “Ah, there he is. C’mon, we have to get him back to the Hole.”
“And why would you think that is our plan?” Kinsley asked.
“Oh, the tracker I stuck in Jan’s vest,” Rafe said, backing up and beckoning. “It’s got audio too. I’ve been listening to you all since you got to the Bowsprit. That’s how I knew where to find you. Now c’mon, hurry, get him up!”
“Effing hell,” Emiko said, but she hurried over and shoved one arm under Jan’s armpit. “C’mon, Kinsley, now.”
So Rafe had been listening to them talk this whole time? That meant he knew about Fatima’s betrayal. Emiko didn’t know if that was good or bad, or if Rafe would even believe it.
“Rafe,” Kinsley called, as she slid both arms under Jan’s other armpit, “you could at least help.”
“I am helping!” Rafe shouted from beyond the crate. “I hot-wired a maintenance scow!”
Emiko and Kinsley had made it all of six steps before Jan’s sudden thrash sent one fist slamming into Kinsley’s side. She grunted as he fell, and rolled, and screamed.
The raw agony in Jan’s earsplitting shriek chilled Emiko’s blood. That didn’t sound like normal torture, though Emiko had only heard that sound once. This sounded even worse.
“Nanos kicked in!” Rafe shouted. As if they didn’t know.
Emiko tried to pick Jan up again, but his thrashing, flailing, shrieking body made it impossible to get any true purchase. Emiko took an elbow to the gut and a slap to her face. A crackle of electric current silenced Jan’s screams.
Emiko blinked at the weapon in Rafe’s hand, the wires trailing off it, and the studs buried in Jan’s neck. “You stunned him?”
“Had to. Only way to make the nanos reboot. Probably won’t last long, though, so get him on the scow!”
Emiko grabbed Jan again, pulling hard with Kinsley on his other side. They dragged Jan’s panting, drooling body over to the repulsorcraft. Rafe lowered the tailgate, and it took all of Emiko’s remaining energy to help Kinsley lift Jan. They somehow shoved him into the scow’s bed.
Rafe slammed the tailgate and stepped back, grinning at nothing in particular. “Hey, we did it! Good job.”
Jan chose that moment to resume shrieking.
Bharat blinked in accident-induced shock as the gullwing doors to the autocar that had hit Pollen like — well, like an autocar — hissed open and rose. Fatima stepped out of the vehicle and rushed over to the giant armored woman now flat on her back. Fatima dropped to a crouch at Pollen’s side.
“Oh, come on.” Fatima checked Pollen’s pulse, scowling. “I scarcely tapped you. Get up, you big baby.”
Pollen mumbled something.
“Fatima, get back,” Bharat warned as he strode forward. “She may be—”
Pollen snatched Fatima’s neck and yanked her into a choke hold. Fatima gurgled, batting at Pollen’s thick arm. Pollen sat up, scowling at the blonde woman she now choked.
“You,” she growled, “hit me with a car.”
“Pollen! Listen!” Bharat crept closer, trying to ignore the urgent urks of Fatima choking to death. “Fatima and I worked together to free Jan from Tantalus! We freed him!”
“No,” Pollen said, as Fatima continued to flail and gasp. “She put him in prison. Rafe played the audio for me. Jan told the others Fatima betrayed him.”
“That’s a lie,” Bharat said, wondering how the hell Rafe was involved in this. “Let her go and we’ll explain.”
Pollen glared up at him and grinned. “Make me.”
“HOLD NOW, FRIENDS!” A booming, unnecessarily heroic voice echoed down the street. “END THIS BUMBLING JACKASSERY! JAN SABATO’S LIFE HANGS IN THE BALANCE!”
Pollen frowned as her gaze followed Bharat’s. “Bumbling?”
Bharat took in the tall, green and yellow armored figure striding toward them, green cloak billowing in his wake. And as Bharat spotted the sniper rifle strapped to the man’s back, he remembered the sniper who had supported Fatima’s efforts to free him from the Truthers last night. This armored ostentation was Marquis, the bounty hunter, and last Bharat had asked, Fatima no longer had the money to hire him.
“POLINA ROSTOV!” Marquis boomed. “RELEASE THE GOLDEN WIDOW!”
Fatima was now basically passed out. Bharat moved closer, looking for any opening to pounce. “Please, Pollen. You’re going to kill her. You can’t learn the truth if you kill her.”
“Hmm.” Pollen glanced at the now unconscious woman in her choke hold, shrugged, and dropped Fatima on the ground. “Fine.” She stood up. “You can talk to me.” She glanced at Marquis as he arrived. “But if either of you try to free the woman who sent Jan to orbit, I will make you dead.”
“I’D NOT DREAM OF SUCH!” Marquis boomed.
Pollen and Bharat both winced. “Turn off your voice mag!” Pollen shouted.
Marquis went silent for a moment. “Sorry.”
“Now speak,” Pollen said. “You have one minute to tell me why I should not poop her head.”<
br />
Bharat blinked. Surely, Pollen had meant to say pop.
“Fear not, Bharat!” Marquis said, before Bharat could say anything. “Emiko Okazaki hired me to find you, and I, as a man of my word, have done so. Here you are!”
“Oh,” Bharat said. So this was good somehow?
“Emiko, Jan, and the fair Kinsley Baker now rush toward the Hole in hopes of slipping Jan into a coma, before the sickness in his blood drops him in a hellish world of profane agony!”
“But I can stop that,” Bharat reminded everyone.
“Indeed!” Marquis boomed. “That is why I have come. Jan and the others fled into the old maglev tunnels—”
“Hey!” Pollen shouted.
“—and there is a sealed entry a block from here, one which we can use to intercept them,” Marquis continued. He raised his hands as Pollen advanced. “Please, m’lady! In no duel between titans may we both emerge unscathed!”
“Then stop talking,” Pollen growled.
Marquis shook his helmeted head. “I betray no one. Only Bharat can disable the nanos inside Jan’s body, which shall, I fear, torment him beyond reason. We must go at once!”
Bharat brought up his AR chronometer and grimaced. Yes, it was about that time. Jan would be in agony in a few minutes, and Bharat had to stop that agony before it drove Jan insane.
“Show me to the entrance,” Bharat said. “We have to find Jan.” He only then remembered Fatima, still unconscious.
He couldn’t leave Fatima here, with Pollen. If Pollen killed Fatima, Fatima could never free his family from Senator Tarack. Not to mention letting Fatima die would make him feel just awful. “Let me help her.”
“You say Fatima didn’t betray him,” Pollen said. “Jan said different. Guess who I believe.”
“Yet Jan Sabato will soon face torment you cannot imagine!” Marquis declared. “Is it not better to save him first? We will have plenty of time, after, to argue about who betrayed whom.”
Pollen huffed. “Fine. We will be friendly, for this time.” Pollen picked up Fatima as if she weighed nothing, then flung Fatima over her shoulder. “You!” She pointed at Marquis with her free hand. “Lead. And you!” She pointed at Bharat. “Follow him. Try to run and I shoot you dead.”
Supremacy's Outlaw: A Space Opera Thriller Series (Insurgency Saga Book 3) Page 17