For a minute, Seb had forgotten about the pain in his face. His hard frown quickly reminded him of it. He pulled a sharp breath as needles ran through his cheeks. The acute ache still throbbing through him, he said, You’re not making any sense.
I nearly screwed up big time. I was so caught up in our argument about revealing my powers that I sent you out of the airlock too early. Reyes did what she needed to do to rescue you. She saved me and you. Had she not been on the ball, your lungs would have burst, and you’d now be one of the many frozen corpses floating in space.
The glaze of only a few seconds ago returned to SA’s blue eyes. Where she still had her hand on his arm, Seb felt the shake running through her. Her guard well and truly dropped, he saw the woman he loved. The woman who would love him back. Then it vanished as if she had to force it down again.
Okay, Seb said, so we make a deal; no arguments while in the field. That’s on me. I can stop that.
You don’t get it, do you? To be the best fighter I can be, I need to shut down. I need to make sure my emotions aren’t clouding my thoughts. I need to learn the lessons I should have learned in the monastery. I love you too much for this to work. As long as we have something to battle, I can’t do this.
So you’re scared about how much you love me?
That’s not what I said. I’m scared about screwing up and someone dying. Surely you can understand that.
He’d not told her his fears for what lay ahead. He clearly didn’t need to. She already knew him better than anyone.
I’m more likely to make mistakes because I love you, she said.
You know the way the monks raised you wasn’t right? It’s okay for people to have relationships with one another. It’s normal.
Maybe if we had a normal life.
We could walk away from the fight. I’ll give up everything to be with you.
I can’t walk away from it. And come on, be realistic, you can’t either. Even if you try, it’ll follow you.
As much as he wanted to reply, he didn’t have it in him. Drained from their conversation, pain running through both his swollen face and his heart, Seb watched SA set off in the direction of the lift. They needed to get up top so they could fly to Aloo. His heart heavy, his body leaden, he pulled in a deep breath of the bleach-scented air before setting off after her.
CHAPTER 9
One good thing about working for Moses,” Seb said as he stepped out of the ship Reyes had just landed, “is we get designated Shadow Order landing bays in Aloo. That has to be a bonus, right? I wonder what the pension package is like.”
None of the others replied to Seb, the strong and salty Aloo wind crashing into him as he walked towards the spaceport. SA chose to take up the rear. In light of their recent conversation, it would do them good to have a bit of space from one another.
A huge black ship sat docked between them and the spaceport beyond. Pockmarked and dented, it looked like it had clocked up millions of light years. When they were closer to the vessel, Seb got a clearer view beneath it. The beings in the busy port were already watching them approach. If only he had some way of helping them all see he wasn’t entirely human. It would have made travelling the galaxy a hell of a lot easier. Although, he looked human enough that they’d probably hate him anyway. Not to mention, they had Reyes with them as well.
As they passed beneath the freighter, Seb saw a couple of beings call to one another, look back at them, and then run off into the crowd. Although he didn’t look at the others, he spoke to them over his shoulder. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this. Keep your wits.”
Despite Seb’s instinct, the spaceport—a hive of chaos—didn’t look any different than normal. The hustle and bustle of beings trying to make a living remained. Dirty stares came his way from at least one out of every two creatures. Not the first time he’d been looked at like that. So why did it feel so different today? Something had turned the air electric. It lifted the hairs on the back of his neck.
Once the rest of his crew had passed beneath the large ship and joined him, Seb turned to Reyes. “Is it me, or does it seem like—?”
“They hate us a whole lot more today?”
“Yeah.”
With a sharp nod, Reyes frowned as she scanned the crowd.
Unable to explain it, Seb said, “Let’s just keep moving.” A second after the words left his mouth, he heard the call.
“Oi, human.”
Instead of looking in the direction of the sound, Seb turned back to Reyes. “Do you think they’re talking about me or you?”
Before Reyes could reply, the deep boom of the creature came again. “Stinking human scum.”
A slight smirk lifted on Reyes’ Hispanic face. They’d been here before. They had nothing to worry about. “They’re clearly talking about you,” she said.
Despite still carrying the sadness from his conversation with SA, Seb smiled. “Clearly.”
Another disgruntled creature; hopefully they could deal with it without fighting and move on. Then he saw the beast that had called at him. It might have been the only vocal one, but it had another ten or twelve thugs with it. They came forward in a line. They were the same species as the three he’d seen in the prison cell. The ones with the thick skulls, weak bellies, and foreheads that started at their deep scowl and ran all the way to the back of their necks.
The other Shadow Order members gathered around Seb, close enough for him to whisper to them. But he rejected that chance and spoke loud enough for their aggressors to hear him. “I had to fight three of these in Moses’ prison cell.”
A whine to his voice, Bruke said, “They look tough.”
Seb stared at the line of creatures again, addressing them directly. “Not really, just punch them in the stomach and they go down like wilting flowers. They’re quite sensitive little fellas.”
The rest of the creatures in the spaceport clearly picked up on the atmosphere. Many of them had already walked away, the last few clearing the immediate area.
Just the Shadow Order and the line of thick-skulled brutes remained on the wide walkway. About fifteen metres separating them, the creature who’d already spoken led the line by stepping closer. “You have no place here, human.”
Although Seb felt his team close around him, he stepped forward too. If the things in front of him wanted to pick a fight, he wouldn’t shirk away from it. But he needed to make sure they focused on him and not the others. A second later, Reyes moved to stand beside him.
“What are you doing?” Seb said to her.
“We still don’t know who they want. I don’t want to put the others in danger.”
He couldn’t argue with it. Seb turned his attention back to the line in front of them. “Look, this isn’t the day for you to be picking a fight with us. We have far more important things to do than scrap with a bunch of jumped-up thugs trying to make a point.”
“If you don’t want a row,” Reyes said from the side of her mouth, “then you should think about referring to them in a different way.”
The squat creatures were all garbed in brown robes and wore them like uniforms. It placed them somewhere between peasants and monks. Because of their baggy clothes, Seb didn’t see their weapons until they’d drawn them. They moved in unison, training their blasters on him.
A look from Reyes and then back to the creatures, Seb let out a nervous laugh. He could fight, but with that many blasters on him … “I can’t help thinking this is personal. What’s your problem? I’m too pretty for you or something? You’re jealous of the way we look? It’s your round little heads, isn’t it? I’d have a chip on my shoulder if I looked like you lot.”
While he had their attention, Seb stepped forward another pace, leaving Reyes behind. He was the one winding them up. He could draw their fire.
“Dead or alive,” the leader of the thickset creatures said.
Confused, Seb frowned, the swelling on his face reminding him not to. Although he winced because of his pain, he stil
l said, “Huh?”
“That was Moses’ request, right?”
Not taking his eyes from the beings in front of him, Seb heard Sparks say, “Oh damn, they still think there’s a bounty on your head.”
“From what I’ve heard about you, Seb Zodo,” the leader said again, “you’re as slippery as they come. Give you an opening and you’ll exploit it. I’ve heard about what you’ve done to my brethren in the prison cell and what—”
“If you want to take me in, take me in,” Seb said. “But I’m not going to stand here listening to a bullshit monologue. You sound like a villain from a bad movie.”
The leader of the thick-headed creatures looked around. The other beings that had cleared them a space had backed even farther away. Parents pulled on their children, and the guards in nearby cargo bays withdrew into their ships. The hiss of hydraulics pierced what would have been near silence as blast doors closed.
A world in slow motion did little to help Seb at that moment, so he pushed his gift down as he moved closer again. Thankfully Reyes didn’t follow him.
Seb smiled despite his nerves locking his face tense. “You know Moses has called off the bounty on me, right? I’m back working with him.”
“You would say that.”
“You’re right, I probably would. That doesn’t mean it’s not true. Go and ask him.”
It seemed to unsettle the lead bounty hunter, who looked at his crew on either side of him. “I think we’ll take the risk of carrying on with our plan, right, boys?” Nods ran away from him in both directions. “Best case scenario, we get paid. Worst case, we make sure there’s one less human in the galaxy. The sooner we eradicate you lot, the better. You’re a bunch of egotistical arseholes who put psychopaths and narcissists at the heads of your twisted societies. The sad thing is you still see yourselves as progressive.”
While the creature talked, Seb looked both left and right. Despite the vast space they’d already cleared, the beings in the port continued to back away. He stepped forward again. “If you’re going to shoot me, why don’t you just do it? You talk about egos, yet all you’ve done is babble on as if the bile coming out of your small mouth is worth sharing. Get over yourself and—”
Before Seb could finish, he heard Bruke, Sparks, and Reyes call out behind him. Then an oomph as if someone had taken a blow to the stomach. When he turned around, he saw more of the small-headed creatures. They each had a member of the Shadow Order gripped around the throat with blasters pressed against their temples. One of the creatures lay unconscious at SA’s feet, but even she’d been overpowered, and two now held her in place.
Seb let go of an exhausted sigh and looked beyond his friends towards the black freighter. At least another thirty small-headed creatures had emerged, blasters in hands like the ones in front.
The leader laughed. “You wanted to know what the monologue was about?” He shook his head. “And you were dumb enough to fall for it, watching me while we snuck up on you from behind. Now, you might walk away from this, but I promise you, one wrong move and we’ll blow your friends’ brains out. We’ve done our research, Seb Zodo. We know who you are and exactly what you’re capable of. No chances taken when it comes to you. When told we could bring you in dead or alive, we agreed dead would be better. There’s a slight chance we could change our minds, but I doubt it. A dead human is always better than a live one. Unless they plan to torture you for a time first. Now on your knees with your hands behind your head.”
Seb’s legs damn near gave out beneath him as he dropped to the hard concrete. His hands behind his head, he watched the leader move forward with his blaster trained on him. “Any last words?”
Because he had nothing else, Seb laughed. “This has to be a record for a Shadow Order mission. Dead before getting off Aloo.” Then to SA he said, I love you.
CHAPTER 10
Seb stared up along the barrel of the blaster aimed at him into the creature’s eyes. “So what now?”
“Now I shoot you. Isn’t that obvious?” When some of the squat, thick-skulled thugs laughed, their leader laughed too. He shook his head. “And you keep saying we’re the stupid ones.”
Slow motion did nothing to improve the situation, so again Seb resisted his gift’s will to kick in. The beast stood far enough away that he wouldn’t be able to get to him before he ripped a shot off, so there seemed little point in dragging out the agony. “You know, Moses is going to flip out when you turn up with my dead body.”
He’d already said it, but for some reason, when Seb reiterated that Moses didn’t want him anymore, it seemed to unsettle the dumb brute. Narrowing his bright blue eyes, he frowned. “How do I know you’re telling the truth?”
Although Seb opened his mouth to reply, a voice behind him stopped him dead.
“I’ve got an idea.”
Bruke, SA, Reyes, and Sparks were still held at gunpoint, and the creature who’d spoken walked up and down in front of them. Wider than its leader, it too had a blaster in its grip. “Because we don’t know if he’s telling the truth or not, why don’t we kill one of his friends to see if he still wants to stick to his story?”
The most composed of the lot, Reyes appraised Seb with her dark-eyed stare. Her chin held high, not a hint of fear in her tone, she said, “You stick to the truth, Seb, no matter how much they try to manipulate you.”
The taste of salt on his tongue from the Aloo winds, Seb’s throat turned so dry it felt like it could crack. Although he stared back at Reyes, he didn’t reply. What could he say? Tell them the truth and he’d be okay, but they’d kill one of his friends to validate it. At least if he lied, they’d only kill him.
The creature who’d suggested shooting the others moved close to Reyes, who stood slightly ahead of the others from where she’d moved forwards with Seb when they were first confronted by the gang. The beast shoved his gun up under her chin. It pushed her head up, forcing her out of her strong pose.
All the while, Reyes stared straight at the creature but didn’t speak. She wouldn’t be intimidated by him.
The other beings in the spaceport might have moved far away, but they still watched on. Despite the dense crowd and an army of the thick-skulled fools, Seb heard nothing but the wind as he stared at his friend at gunpoint. As he opened his mouth to say something that might protect her, the creature with the blaster to Reyes’ face pulled it away.
Seb let go of a relieved sigh.
Still locked tense, his stomach churning and forcing bile up into his throat, Seb watched the creature with the blaster make its way along his line of his friends. SA, Sparks, Bruke, and then back to Reyes. He waved his gun at each one, hovering for a second before moving on.
Then—quick as a flash—the creature shoved his gun in SA’s face, cracking her cheek with the end of the barrel.
Seb hadn’t realised how he’d reacted until the leader behind him called to his friend. “That’s the one. That’s his weak spot right there.”
Barely able to hear anything around him for his pulse booming through his ears, Seb and SA stared at one another. Tears covered SA’s eyes, and a red patch from where the gun had hit her sat as a blemish on her cheek. You have to stick to the truth, she said.
I can’t lose you.
You have to stick to the truth.
The leader of the group shouted over Seb’s head at SA, “You’re a pretty one. I must say, I can see why he likes you. I’m guessing the feelings aren’t mutual though. I mean, why would they be?”
Although Seb heard the creature’s words, they barely registered as he watched his love.
“Now,” the leader said, “answer me this; does Moses still want him?”
A sharp shake of her head, SA now levelled her stare on the brute who had the gun pointed at her. She looked like she wanted to tear him apart.
“And, if I kill him, will I be in trouble with the big man?”
Like Reyes before her, SA straightened her pose and continued to glare at the creature with the
gun. She nodded.
“No, she’s lying,” Seb said.
The other Shadow Order members and the brute with the gun looked at him.
“What?” the leader of the wide creatures said.
“She’s lying. Moses does still want me. I was just trying to save myself.”
What are you doing, Seb?
With a shake of his head, the leader said, “So you were lying?”
“Of course I was, you moron. I want to try to save my life, don’t I?”
“And she’ll give hers to back up your lie?”
At that moment, Seb looked back at SA. Where she’d stared rage at the creature holding her at gunpoint, she now turned her fury on him. What are you doing?
I can’t let them kill you.
But you need to survive, Seb. And I’m not going to lie.
I can’t let you do it, SA. Your life is more important to me than my own.
The hostility SA had stared at Seb eased a little. She then shook her head. I’m going to get the others to back me up.
“No!” Seb called out, all of the guards staring at him, several of them raising their blasters.
The leader of the group shoved Seb with his foot and said, “What was that for?”
Knees sore from where he knelt on the ground, Seb didn’t reply. Instead, he watched the faces of his friends. He watched Bruke’s, Reyes’, and Sparks’ eyes all glaze slightly as they clearly listened to a voice in their heads. Before they could say anything, he jumped to his feet, yelled, and charged straight for the leader of the group.
His world now in slow motion again, Seb saw the leader panic as he raised his blaster. In his peripheral vision, he saw many of the others do the same.
Surprise on his side, Seb had to get one blow on the creature before they filled him with holes. As he wound back his fist, something grabbed it with a strength he didn’t expect. It yanked him away from his target as if he weighed nothing.
CHAPTER 11
Enigma: A Space Opera: Book Six of The Shadow Order Page 5