“One punch is hardly an ass kicking,” Carl admitted.
Veridian’s eyes flew open. Whirling around to face Kayla, he threw up his hands in exasperation. “Are you crazy, Kayla? You hit him? You hit a trader?”
Kayla gave a small shrug. “I didn’t get to finish a full ass kicking. Give me a few more minutes and I’ll see what I can do.”
Cruncher stuck his head through the open door. “Sorry to interrupt, Boss. Ramiro and Vex just pulled up. You want me to bring them in here?”
Kayla jerked her head up to look at Carl. “Uh, would that be Trader Ramiro and his trusty sidekick?”
Surprise crossed Carl's face. “You’ve met them?”
“Oh, shit,” Veridian swore, running his hands through his hair in agitation.
“What is it?”
Kayla shifted uncomfortably, not liking the turn of events. “Yeah, Ramiro and I go way back and not in a good way. So, if you’ve got a back door, it might be a good idea to show us to it.”
“Oh?” Carl asked, leaning against the desk and waiting for an explanation.
“Shit, shit, shit.” Veridian paced the floor. He spun around and pointed at Kayla. “Dammit, Kayla, this is what happens when we get involved with traders.”
Kayla gave Veridian an annoyed look and then turned to Carl. “Ramiro and I had a misunderstanding about a year ago.”
Veridian shook his head. “It was a lot more than a misunderstanding.”
“Keep them in the entrance for a minute, Cruncher,” Carl instructed. The moment Cruncher disappeared, he turned back to Kayla. “You’d better tell me fast.”
Kayla crossed her arms over her chest. “It was his own damn fault. I found that data cube. That pig-headed sack of shit stole it from me, so I stole it back.”
Veridian nodded, his shoulders slumping. “Not to mention she slapped him down in front of his crew when he made a pass at her. By the time he realized it was missing, she had already sold it to Warig.”
Carl gaped at Kayla. “The Aurelia Data Cube? That was you?”
“Well you don’t see anyone else claiming credit for it,” she retorted. “Besides, don’t you traders talk to each other?”
Carl took a deep breath. “Yes, but Ramiro was pretty tight-lipped about that one. Cruncher told me about it. He heard about it from some of Ramiro’s crew. It’s a low blow to a trader when an artifact like that disappears. They lose a lot of respect. He tried to keep it quiet as best he could.”
Carl’s comlink beeped and he glanced at it. “Cruncher just met them at the entrance.” He pointed to Kayla. “Stay here. You’re a potential recruit and I’m going to resolve this one way or another.”
Veridian gaped at Carl. “You’re crazy if you think Ramiro’s going to listen to anything you say when it comes to her.”
“He’s right. I tend to piss Ramiro off simply by existing. I appreciate the gesture, but you might want to show us a back door.”
Carl headed for the door, ending the discussion. “Forget it. You’re staying here. I’ll take care of this.”
Kayla sighed and leaned against the corner of the desk, trying to mentally prepare for the inevitable showdown. She caught Veridian's worried look and tried to give him a reassuring smile. There wasn't much she could do to extricate the two of them from the situation. They'd have to roll with it.
She heard the voices in the hall and recognized Ramiro and his right-hand man, Vex. In Kayla’s opinion, they were both creeps.
The door slid open, and Carl and Ramiro entered, followed by Cruncher and Vex. A look of confusion crossed Ramiro’s face when he saw Kayla standing in Carl’s office.
Ramiro stood a few inches shorter than Carl but was considerably wider. He wasn’t overweight, but simply massive. His dark hair was cropped extremely close to his head and his arms were covered with tattoos. He reminded her of some of the pictures she'd seen of tanks from the pre-war era, both in stature and personality.
Vex was a bit taller and thinner than Ramiro, but his brown hair was slicked back away from his face, rather than cut short. His dark eyes narrowed dangerously when he saw Kayla. Neither one of them had much love for her.
“Heya, Ramiro,” she said cheerfully, giving him a little finger wave. “It’s been awhile, hasn’t it?”
“You little whore,” Ramiro sneered, his face twisted in rage.
Before anyone could react, he leapt across the room. He grabbed Kayla’s arm and yanked her off the desk.
“Get your slimy ass-grabbing hands off of me,” she shrieked and kicked him. He backhanded her across the face.
Pain lanced through her cheek and she stumbled backward, falling to the ground. Carl and Veridian both tackled Ramiro and wrestled with him. Cruncher grabbed Vex and held him back.
Kayla scrambled to her feet and rubbed her throbbing cheek. Working her jaw, she glared at him. “What’s the matter, Ramiro? Forget to remove your anal probe?”
Veridian and Carl both managed to subdue a raging Ramiro. He glared at her with venomous hatred. She considered blowing him a kiss to piss him off more but then decided that might be akin to suicide. Carl held up his hand and said loudly, “That’s enough, Kayla. Ramiro, I’ll let you go if you can manage to keep your hands off of her.”
Ramiro pulled away from Carl and demanded, “Why are you protecting this little bitch, Carl? If you think you can trust her, you’re a fool.”
“She’s a potential recruit.”
“Bullshit,” Ramiro sneered. “She’s screwing with you.”
Carl pulled up her contract on his monitor and pushed it toward Ramiro.
“I’ve already made her an offer. See for yourself.”
Ramiro stared at the screen and his eyes narrowed. “She hasn’t accepted and this doesn’t change anything. She owes me. I intend to collect.”
“I don’t owe you a thing. The Aurelia Data Cube was mine!”
“You stole it from my sector,” he snarled.
“You cleared those tunnels,” she shouted, clenching her fists. “It’s not my problem your crew couldn’t figure out if their ass was on fire with a flashlight and a three-way mirror.”
“Wait a second,” Carl interrupted. “You cleared the tunnels, Ramiro?”
Ramiro crossed his arms. “You’re a trader, Carl. You understand how things work. Maybe my crew had already finished in that sector, but that was my sector. I offered her a generous finder’s fee for the data cube. She refused and then walked into my base and stole it.”
“You lying sack of shit,” Kayla spat. “Your ‘generous offer’ was five hundred credits and me flat on my back while you tried to figure out how to pilot my speeder.”
Carl’s eyes narrowed. “Is that true, Ramiro? If you said those tunnels were clear, you know she was damn well within her rights. As painful as it may have been, the data cube was hers.”
Ramiro turned to Carl in disgust. “You would take her side over another trader? She’s nothing but a piece of ass.”
Carl’s face hardened. Understanding crossed Ramiro’s face.
“Ahh, I see now,” he sneered. “You’re hoping to get a piece of her. So how much are you offering to pay her?”
Carl’s fist shot out and he punched the man square in the face. Kayla heard an audible crunch and blood gushed from Ramiro’s nose. “You bastard! You’re going to pay for that!” Ramiro yelled.
Carl growled, “Get the hell out of my camp.”
Cruncher pushed Vex toward the door and yelled for Xantham and Zane who appeared a moment later. Along with Veridian, the four men forcibly escorted Ramiro and Vex out of the camp.
As soon as they were gone, Carl turned to look at Kayla. She gaped at him, incredulous that he had defended her against another trader. She could feel the side of her face beginning to swell, but it was insignificant compared to the emotions coursing through her. She swallowed, and decided it might be best to make light of the situation.
“Well, shit, Carl.”
“What?”
Carl stared at her for a moment. He shook his head in disbelief and laughed. “Are you okay? It looked like he hit you pretty hard.”
“He hits like a girl,” she replied and touched her swollen cheek.
“As I recall from earlier, some girls can hit pretty hard.”
Kayla considered that for a minute and then admitted, “Well, I guess he hits like a pissed off girl, then.”
He chuckled and reached out to touch her cheek. Although his touch was gentle, she winced.
“You need an ice pack on that cheek. Come with me and we’ll get you fixed up.”
“Do I get more of that scotch?” she asked with interest.
“Against my better judgment, but sure,” he agreed, and grabbed the bottle from the drawer. He took her hand and led her out to the common room. Plopping herself down in one of the seats, she poured herself a glass of the liquor while Carl put together an ice pack for her.
Corsin came into the room followed by a tall, fair-skinned, willowy redhead with hazel eyes. The girl asked, “We heard the commotion. What’s going on?”
Carl handed Kayla the ice pack and introduced her to Jinx, a former ruin rat. “We had an incident with Ramiro.”
Jinx sat down next to Kayla, studying her cheek. “Wow, the bastard hit you? I knew I never liked that guy.” Kayla pressed the ice against her cheek and winced. That made two of them.
Kayla looked up at the sound of excited voices to see Xantham, Cruncher, Zane, and Veridian enter the room.
“Holy shit balls,” Xantham exclaimed. “What the hell happened?”
Cruncher shook his head and stared at Kayla in amazement. “Unbelievable. You were the one who stole the Aurelia Data Cube?”
Xantham’s eyes grew huge. “No freaking way! That was you?”
Kayla looked around in exasperation, lowering the ice pack from her cheek. “I don’t know why everyone seems to have a hard time believing that. And it’s not entirely accurate. I stole it back. That pustulant zit on the ass of humanity stole it from me in the first place.”
Xantham climbed over the chair and sat down. “I’ve gotta’ hear this story. You better start talking, girl.”
Carl nodded. “I’m curious too.”
The crew gathered around while Kayla pressed the ice pack against her face and took a sip of her drink. She didn't usually subscribe to the practice of swapping personal tales with trader crews, but she figured she owed them an explanation. They hadn't thrown her out on her butt and Carl had actually stood up for her against another trader. She gave him a long look, contemplating once again the sincerity of his earlier words.
He leaned against the wall, arms crossed over his chest like some sort of ancient warrior standing sentinel over his troops. His gaze, along with the rest of the crew, focused on her and she resisted the urge to squirm under the scrutiny of an entire trader camp. She spared a quick glance at Veridian and he gave her a nod of encouragement. Somewhat reassured by his presence, she took a deep, steadying breath and began.
“Veridian and I were scavenging in a sector Ramiro’s crew cleared the week before. I didn't expect to find much since it looked like some sort of office building. I ended up locating a false wall that hadn’t collapsed. The room behind it had been mostly cleared out and trashed, but I found a safe in the floor.”
She twirled the scotch in the glass and took a sip before continuing. “The data cube was in there along with a bunch of journals that looked like lab records. I took the cube, along with the journals, and went back to ground.”
Veridian nodded and added, “One of Ramiro’s crew used to come by to visit Kayla. He’s the one who told us the sector was clear. When he saw our bikes that day, he stopped by to see her.”
Kayla shot Veridian a warning glance. There were some things she wasn't willing to discuss. “It was piss poor timing. He saw my bag and called it in to Ramiro. A few minutes later, there was a freaking party in our tent. Ramiro demanded the cube, and I refused. It got pretty ugly. Vex broke Veridian’s arm and Ramiro took the cube from me.”
She paused for a moment before continuing the story. “After we got Veridian back to camp, I worked on a program to send false data readings to the UV Guard at Ramiro’s camp. I drove out the next day by myself and told Ramiro I had reconsidered his offer. He took me into his office and I activated the program. When the alarm went off, he left me to go check the equipment. I broke into his safe, took my data cube back, and ran.”
“Holy shit,” Cruncher muttered.
Kayla took another sip. “I knew Ramiro would be hunting me down, so I drove straight to Warig’s camp. I told him I found it in a cleared sector and he bought it on the spot for forty thousand credits.”
Xantham let out a low whistle. “Damn, girl, that’s a lot of credits.”
Kayla shrugged. It was strange how some things seemed so important at the time. “It was fine until Ramiro found out I sold it to Warig. He flipped out and told Warig I had stolen it from him. Both traders blacklisted Leo’s camp on the spot. Leo was pretty pissed off about it, but the forty thousand credits helped smooth things over. He decided it would be a good idea to get out of the area. So we picked up and moved closer to Henkel and Carl.”
“So that’s why you came this direction,” Carl mused. “You first popped up on our radar about a year ago, right after that incident happened.”
“Yeah, well, it’s not like we had a whole lot of choice.” Kayla finished her drink and pushed away from the table. “So, thanks for the drink and the entertainment, but I think it’s time for us to head out. Come on, V.”
Kayla dropped the cold pack on the table and avoided looking at the faces around her. She knew she'd see a mix of emotions on them, some with awe and others with pity. She’d seen it before and wasn't any more prepared to deal with it now.
Veridian moved to stand beside her, offering her the opportunity to retreat without further conversation. With a smile, he took control of the conversation at the table and gave her a gentle nudge toward the door. She tossed him a grateful look.
Barely registering Veridian's voice saying his good-byes, she headed toward the exit and nearly ran into Carl leaning against the wall by the door. When she met his eyes, he gave her a small smile and a brief nod. Her face flushed at the approval in his expression. Turning away, she hurried out the door, wanting to leave and rebuild her emotional shields before they collapsed.
Chapter Four
A few days later, Kayla was back underground. Against Veridian’s advice, she snuck out of camp and headed back to the ruins. Veridian grudgingly followed her, unwilling to let her scavenge alone. She knew he was apprehensive about making Leo angry.
In Kayla’s opinion, she'd stayed above ground for a few days, which was more than reasonable. Sitting in camp made her stir-crazy and she found herself snapping at people left and right. She figured Leo wouldn’t be all that upset at her leaving. In fact, she reasoned, he would probably end up welcoming a more relaxing day without having her yell back and forth with him.
“Dropping down to level four,” Kayla announced over her headset. The cable lowered her back down into the ruins in Sector 12. Once her feet touched the floor, she pressed the button to signal she’d stopped her descent. Kayla unhooked the harness and looked around the room again.
This is where I belong. Most other ruin rats might look at scavenging as a way to survive, but there was something eerily calming about being in the ruins. Walking through rooms forever frozen in time allowed her a glimpse of another world. She could almost get lost in other people’s memories.
She smiled to herself as she moved through the old bedroom and spotted the empty jewelry box she’d thrown in the corner. She picked it up and stuffed it into her bag. It probably wasn’t worth much, but it had been preserved fairly well.
Making her way across the room, she climbed over a partially collapsed wall separating the bedroom from the hallway. She worked h
er way through the hall, careful to check the stability of the ground before each step to avoid another collapse.
She came to a large hole in another wall, which appeared to lead to another bedroom. This room was remarkably well preserved and appeared to have belonged to a child. Kayla began sorting through debris looking for any salvageable items.
She moved to the other side of the room and discovered what looked like an old toy chest in the corner. She grinned and knelt down on the ground. It might not look like much from the outside, but sometimes the contents were in decent shape.
Kayla pried open the rusted lid and discovered a few old-fashioned toys inside. One looked like some sort of worn plastic music player. She put it in her pack and picked up a ceramic doll wearing a long faded red dress. It was in better condition than she expected. She added the doll to her pack as well.
The rest of the items looked like trash. She doubted they would bring in many credits, but she made a mental note in case she ever wanted to come back.
“Kayla,” Veridian’s voice called over her headset. “We’ve got a problem. I’ve got three riders on approach. It looks like Carl again.”
“Shit. That guy is seriously becoming a pain in my ass. It can’t be a coincidence that he knew we’d be here today. How long do I have?”
“Not long. But if you get up here now we might be okay.”
Kayla dashed to the harness, strapped herself in, and hit the button for the cable to lift her to the surface. “Disengage the UV Guard and get the hell out of here, V. I’ll grab the cabling device. I’ll meet you where we discussed.”
“On it,” he replied.
By the time she climbed out of the hole, Veridian was already driving away. She grabbed the cabling device and attached it to her bike. Glancing up, she saw three bikes approaching in the distance. She leaped on to her speeder and fired up the engine.
With a grin, she pulled back on the throttle and took off. She sped over the landscape with the three bikes following behind her.
Beneath the Fallen City Page 5