I thought perhaps those officers sitting around us didn’t. But it was harder to tell with Tremblay. Sometimes he hid his emotions well. He kept the smile on his face and nodded his head.
Then looked at his officers.
“Let’s do this, then,” he said, gaze lingering on the one with the head injury. The guy didn’t look much better, but at least someone had cleaned off all the blood that had been on his face.
“Good luck, sir,” López said, standing. Her men had already headed out to relieve the two officers on guard.
“Thank you, Andrea,” he said. “Keep a good watch.”
“Will do, sir.”
He turned and looked at me.
“Ready?” he said.
I still didn’t know what he really wanted from me. My wrist comm, yes. Someone to get him through hatches, definitely. But the way he looked at me now with a mixture of hope and fear, couched with something that might have been concern for me, made me second guess myself.
I nodded my head.
“That datapad,” López said before we could step away. “Should we check it?”
Tremblay looked at my datapad and then looked at me.
“It might have something useful on it,” he agreed.
“I haven’t used it since Aquila went rogue,” I offered.
Tremblay held my gaze. It was hard to look away.
“Leave it for now,” he said and started to walk off.
I moved to follow him. López stepped in front of me. I held my breath.
“If you hurt him,” she said quietly, “I will see you hanged for it.”
I nodded my head and hunched my shoulders. Ratbag whined softly beside me.
“Stay,” I said to my dog. “Good boy,” I whispered and walked away.
Tremblay watched me with eyes that told me nothing. And yet I felt safer walking toward him than I did standing beside the woman I’d so briefly thought could be a friend one day.
Why did everything have to be so confusing? So fucked up?
My dad had a lot to answer for. I wrapped my hate and loathing for the man who had fathered me around my shoulders like a protective cape.
I would be strong. I would be fierce. I would show no weakness.
Even if I had to do it all on my own; I would survive this.
Nathan Price wasn’t taking one more thing away from me.
Twenty-Two
Too Late
Hugo
We stared out of the hatch that led into the medbay. It was empty. No sign of the doc. And no sign of Price or his men.
“Johnson and I should go, sir,” Armstrong suggested behind us.
“It feels like a trap,” I said instead of answering him. My eyes flicked to Adi’s. That’s what she kept insisting I call her. Adi. And for the life of me, I couldn’t refuse her.
I’d started calling her Adi in my head. So far, I’d avoided calling her anything out loud.
She didn’t much look like an Adriana anymore. Adi suited this persona she now wore. A hint of strength wrapped up in a blanket of innocence dancing with courage openly.
She had courage, I realised. She had courage in spades.
I looked back at Armstrong. “The medscanners should be in the cupboard on the far wall,” I advised. “The doc kept them locked away; you can bet Price does too.”
Armstrong scowled at the back of Adi’s head, but he didn’t say anything.
“I’ll go,” Adi said. Of course, she did. And of course, I couldn’t let go alone.
“I’ll cover her,” Johnson rushed to offer. I almost glowered at the man.
“Armstrong,” I said. “You stay here. Report back to Commander López if it all goes wrong. She needs to know. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’ll go first,” I said. “Adi behind me when I say it’s clear. Then you, Johnson.”
“With all due respect, sir,” Lieutenant Johnson said, “I should go first. I’m dispensable.”
I wasn’t going to sit here and argue with him over this. And part of being in command was to know your position in the scheme of things. I might have been the chief tactical officer once, but I was now the captain.
I sighed.
“Go on, then,” I said.
He grinned at me and shuffled past.
“Adi,” he said, indicating she should lower the hatch with her wrist comm.
I rolled my eyes at the lieutenant’s use of her Christian name and watched as she reached past him, bringing her wrist comm close enough to activate the gel wall.
It was intriguing to watch. And also a little unsettling. I’d never seen a wrist comm do that before. There was no denying that Adi’s wrist comm was unique. But was it unique to her or unique to the leaseholder and his men?
I didn’t know the answer to that, and it bothered me. We were working in the blind and severely outnumbered. It didn’t take a tactical genius to see how bad this could go and I’d never claimed to be a genius.
Johnson slipped out, plasma rifle up and eyes scanning.
“Clear,” he whispered a moment later.
Adi slid out, while Johnson covered her. She remained next to the hatch until I slipped through it. My eyes connected with Armstrong’s just as the hatch closed. Behind the grille, you couldn’t even see him. But I was sure he was watching our every move.
Was anyone else?
I walked across the medbay with Adi trailing me. Johnson stepped into the centre of the room and aimed his rifle at the closed door. There were usually cameras in here. Security coded to the chief medical officer. If Price had Dr Romano in his care, then he could have access to the footage.
The hair on the back of my neck stood on end.
I stopped beside the medscanner cupboard and looked at Adi. She lifted her wrist comm up, bottom lip between her teeth. She looked like she expected it to fail. I was betting differently.
The door clicked, and I opened it. Bingo. Reaching inside, I pulled out a scanner and a mobile treatment unit. I also grabbed some multi-injectors, preloaded with trauma meds. I didn’t think we needed to be prepared for the common cold.
I shut the cupboard up and turned to look at Johnson, just as the door to the medbay chimed. We dived to the floor. Adi and me behind a workbench, Johnson behind one of the beds. We were far too exposed, and nowhere near the hatch. I pulled my plasma pistol out slowly. Then leaned in toward Adi and whispered in her ear.
“Any other exits?” I asked.
She looked at me; this close I could see the striations in her blue eyes. I ignored how stunning they were. She shook her head.
“If you would allow me to tend to the civilians,” Dr Romano was saying, “then you wouldn’t have to field so many complaints.”
“They can complain as much as they want, Doctor,” a merc said through his helmet speakers. These guys weren’t taking any risks, I noted. “They’re not our problem.”
“They should be,” Romano snapped.
“They’re not the ones who harmed our men.”
The six in the brig at a guess. They’d been found, then. I wondered if any of them had lived. I should have felt bad about that. But it was kill or be killed, and just because we threw the first punch didn’t mean they hadn’t started this.
I watched as the doctor went across the medbay to a cupboard. He used his wrist comm to open it and pulled out a medkit.
“Here,” he said, holding it out to the merc.
The merc shook his head. “You carry it, and we need a scanner.”
The scanners were behind us. To get to them, they’d have to walk past the workbench Adi and I were hunkered down at. Even a few steps closer and they’d spot us, I was sure. I searched out Johnson. He met my eyes from around the corner of the bed and nodded his head.
The door had closed. There could be more men outside. But it was the best we could hope for.
I leaned into Adi, handing her the medscanner and multi-injector, slipping the treatment unit under my shirt. Then q
uietly whispered, “When the shooting starts, get to that hatch.”
Her eyes were wide. Her skin pale. But she nodded her head.
I nodded mine in reply and then stood up and fired my pistol. Johnson joined me as I watched Adi out of the corner of my eyes crouch-run along the wall. Intent on circumnavigating the medbay and getting to Armstrong and that hatch.
The guard reacted quickly. But rather than fire back, he reached out and grabbed Dr Romano about the neck and hauled him in front of his chest. He lifted his own pistol to the doc’s head.
“Stand down, or he’s dead,” he said.
Plasma had melted some of his armour, but none of it had time yet to penetrate the outer layer. He was uninjured, and we’d played our hand. I would not get the doctor killed.
“Stand down, Johnson,” I said.
Dr Romano met my eyes, putting two and two together. No Captain Moore or Commander Lawrence meant I was the acting captain of Aquila. He gave me a look that said, “What the fuck were you thinking?” And then closed his eyes, offering no resistance to the neck gripping merc.
“Who are you?” the helmet speakers asked.
“Who do you think?” I said. “Did stripey and the gang in the brig not clue you in?”
“You,” the merc spat. “The major wants a word with you.”
“I bet he does,” I muttered, wondering just who the hell this major was. Not Price. He had no military experience, although talk was he supplied several different militarised organisations with weapons back on Earth.
“Hands up,” the merc said, still holding Romano by the neck.
“Let the good doc go,” I argued.
“You don’t get…” He didn’t finish his sentence. But he did let the good doc go.
Romano stepped away, rubbing his neck. He stared at the merc, who stood there, looking like some shiny metal statue.
“What the hell?” Johnson muttered.
We couldn’t see the merc’s eyes; the helmet faceplate was set to mirror; a predatory setting chosen with the intent to install fear, I thought.
“Doc?” I said. “Did you do something?”
Romano shook his head, taking another tentative step away from his captor.
“It was me,” a female voice said. Adi revealed herself by peering around the back of the merc’s armour, eyes wide and blinking rapidly.
In an instant, all I wanted to do was to get her away from him. From the threat. And then maybe tan her backside for being so reckless.
“Adi,” I said, holding out my hand. “Step away from him.”
It was with no small measure of relief that she did as I asked, even going so far as to take hold of the hand I offered her. I tucked her behind my back and said, “How the hell did you do that?”
“They have a reboot cycle for when EMPs are used against them,” she said quietly. “You can trigger it manually from a small hidden switch on their backs. So medics can take over the armour’s computers and treat the men inside if needed.”
And she’d known this because her father had manufactured them.
“The reboot takes two minutes,” she added.
We had to get out of here, then.
“Come on, Doc,” I said. “Let’s go.”
“I’ve got patients,” he said. “I can’t leave them.”
“What about your medical staff?” I demanded, pushing Adi toward the hatch.
“They are the patients.” He gave me a pertinent look. “It’s been rough.”
“I’ve got a man down, and I need him treated, Doc,” I urged.
He walked over to Johnson and gave him the medkit. “You had time to grab a scanner?” he checked, correctly assessing the reason why we were here.
I nodded as Adi opened the hatch. The doctor’s eyes widened.
“I’d rather you, Doc,” I said.
“Captain,” he replied. Definitely reading the situation correctly. “I can do more if I stay here than if I don’t. Trust me.”
“They’ll question you,” I said as I urged Adi into the hatch. Johnson hesitated but followed behind her with the medkit when I gave him a hard stare.
“They will,” the doctor agreed. “But they already know who you are, Hugo.” He looked at Adi as she peered out over my shoulder, keeping the hatch open. “And they suspect who you’re with. What more can I tell them?”
I shook my head. Did this confirm that Adi was a trap or did it exonerate her?
“And now they’ll definitely know who I’m with,” I muttered, just as lights blinked to life on the merc’s armour and he started to jerk.
I jumped up and back into the hatch as Adi swiped it closed behind me. A plasma blast hit it a second later.
“Too late,” I heard Romano say. “Now, let’s tend to your injured men.”
I lay there a while longer, listening to the merc rant and rage, and Romano’s calm replies to him, and then I flipped over and started heading back to the computer core. I would have liked the doc with us, but at least we’d got what we came for.
But I wondered if Price had got what he wanted out of this little get together too.
Twenty-Three
It Doesn’t Work That Way, Adi
Adi
“Price knows we’re using the emergency tubes,” Captain Tremblay said to Commander López when we arrived back at the computer core. “He also knows we’ve got his daughter.”
“Damn,” López muttered. “How the hell is he going to react to that?”
“Hard to say.” Tremblay looked at me. “Depends on how much he wants her back.”
“Oh, he’ll want her back,” López offered. “If not just for the fact that we have her.”
It sounded like I was a possession. It sounded familiar. I glanced off into the electronic towers and said nothing.
“Zenith needs to stand down,” Tremblay said, watching as López scanned the guy with the head injury. “How is he?”
“I feel fine, Captain,” the guy said. “Just a headache.”
“And I can deal with that,” López offered, holding a multi-injector up to the side of his neck. The guy winced and then relaxed as the pain meds took effect. “Concussion, but no bleeding. Rattled your brains, Wilson, but didn’t do anything permanent.”
“Good,” Tremblay said. “You’ve got the watch, but take it easy, OK?”
“Yes, sir.”
Wilson got up and stretched. He seemed a lot better than when we’d left, but that could have been the drugs. He nodded to two other officers and they headed out into the towers to relieve López’s men.
“Take a seat, Adi,” Tremblay said. I watched as López arched her brow at him, but he ignored her.
Stepping forward, I scooped Ratbag up and sat down, settling him on my knees. He blinked sleepily up at me and then snuggled down. Someone had been wearing him out, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out it had been those resting in the pit. A rolled up ball of synthesised wipes was sitting off to the side, evidence of little Ratbag teeth marks all over it.
I tried not to smile.
López repacked the medkit and slid the scanner and injector inside. “This is good,” she said. “Worth the exposure.”
“I hope so,” Tremblay replied, lying back and closing his eyes. He hadn’t taken a pillow or the blanket. But he looked relaxed and entirely unexpected. I’d only ever seen him tense and in charge, firing off orders and making the odd snarky comeback.
Watching him rest was both intriguing and uncomfortable. I looked away unable to relax myself.
López’s two men came back then and fixed themselves something to eat from the synthesiser. Johnson and Anderson fought briefly over a pillow until Commander López glared at them and then purposefully pointed at the captain.
Her eyes flicked across the pit to me. I looked down.
“Get some sleep,” she said. “In a few hours, the captain will want to head out to Deck D.” She looked down at my wrist comm and sighed. “And he’ll want you with him.”
I nodded my head and grabbed a pillow, then lay down on my side. I hadn’t realised I’d laid down facing the captain until I realised his eyes were open and he was watching me. I don’t think Commander López had noticed. For a moment, I wasn’t sure what to do. He kept staring at me, and I couldn’t look away.
And then Ratbag licked my chin and broke the spell. Thank God for needy dogs is all I can say. I rolled over and put my back to him. Ratbag fell back to sleep within seconds. It took a lot longer for me.
I woke to a steaming mug of coffee placed down on the gel floor beside my nose.
“Rise and shine,” Tremblay murmured.
I sat up, rubbing my eyes. “Thanks,” I mumbled, reaching for the drink. Ratbag was curled up in López’s arms. His tail wagged when he saw I was awake, but he didn’t move another muscle.
I sipped the coffee, glad for the pick-me-up and studied the captain who was studying my datapad.
“Have you switched it on?” I asked quietly.
He shook his head. Then flicked his eyes to my face.
“Was it here waiting for you?” he asked.
I shook my head back. “I had it on me when Aquila went rogue.” I should have said when my father attacked. But even though I logically knew that to be the truth, part of me refuted it. How could the man who I called a parent do such a thing? And what did it say about me?
“Then I don’t think we’ll take the chance,” Tremblay said, placing the datapad down beside him. He looked at my wrist comm.
“It’s mine,” I said. “My father’s never touched it.” I knew what he’d been thinking.
“So, Aquila did?” he asked. “Is that a better option?”
I shrugged. I didn’t know what to tell him. The wrist comm had saved my life and theirs. Why couldn’t he just accept it?
The captain scratched at his stubbled jaw and then finished off his coffee. He stood up and placed the disposable cup back in the synthesiser. It was a long time before he turned away from the machine. Another puzzle he hadn’t been able to figure out, I thought.
Zenith Point (The Sector Fleet, Book 4) Page 12