by Joe Canzano
“You’re not protected from this!” Aiko blurted. “This isn’t a routine bust, where you call a crooked lawyer who calls a crooked judge. Is there another way out of this building?”
Ricardo pointed down the dim hallway. “There’s another exit. We’ve got a car on the street... Carlos, what happened to Dave and Francisco?”
Carlos shouldered his rifle and chomped on his cigar. “They left a few minutes ago.” He pressed his ear against the phone again. “SF will be here in less than a minute.”
“Let’s go!” Ricardo said.
He waved his hand and everyone charged down the dark passageway.
Suzy stayed close to Aiko, who gritted his teeth and hustled like a champ. She also marveled at the spidery network of crooked tunnels and considered how something once again didn’t feel quite right. Then again, they’d never felt quite right, except for a few minutes back in pre-school when she’d met a kid who’d let her play with his plastic dinosaurs, and her heart had felt warm like a sunny day. Get a grip, she thought. No one’s going to be handing you a plastic brontosaurus tonight.
Now there were sounds coming from where they’d just been; a booming noise and lots of shouting. Nobody slowed down for a second. They bolted up two flights of stairs and reached a heavy metal door. Ricardo was about to open it when Suzy grabbed his wrist.
“Wait!” she whispered. “They might be out there.”
With her pistol up and ready she pressed herself against the door. Carlos aimed his rifle as she pressed a button. Everyone watched with wide eyes as the door slid open.
Suzy saw dim streetlights and deserted asphalt. She got down in a crouch and slipped outside, swinging her gun at heaps of broken buildings. She braced herself—but no shots came her way.
“Where’s the car?” she said.
“Right there,” Ricardo replied.
It was just across the street. They headed toward it—Ricardo, Suzy, Maria, Carlos, and Aiko, who was limping. It was a sedan-sized hover-car. Ricardo jumped behind the wheel with Suzy to his right, riding shotgun with her pistol ready. Carlos, Maria, and Aiko were in the back seat as they roared off.
“Where are we going?” Carlos said.
“To the spaceport,” Suzy said. “Let’s get off this rock.”
Chapter 3
The streets were infested with grim shadows and pulsing stoplights. Suzy scanned the blinking urban evening with fast eyes, waiting for the inevitable pursuit. But it didn’t come—not yet.
Behind the wheel, Ricardo was grinning. “I guess we were just a little too quick for them.”
“We’re not safe,” Aiko said. “If they found us, they probably identified you. They found the van, right? And they might be saying, ‘Hey, where would Ricardo take them?’ ”
Ricardo laughed. “That van is untraceable—but man, I hate the thought of those bastards getting my crate of stolen whiskey. That was good stuff.”
Maria leaned forward and spoke near Ricardo’s ear. “Ricardo, whoever told them about the hideout might have given them your name. You should lay low until you know for sure. Maybe get out of town.”
“Oh, yeah?” Ricardo said. “Maybe I’ll do better than that. Maybe I’ll take Pablo’s spaceship and get off this whole planet. So where are we going?”
Suzy and Aiko looked at each other. Aiko gave her a slight nod. “If you could take us to Tycho City that would be great.”
Suzy didn’t say anything.
Smile, she thought. But once again, she felt suspicion—and she could tell Aiko felt the same way. Tycho City was on the moon, and Ricardo didn’t need to go all the way to the moon just to "lay low." Either he was an adventurous guy who was extremely hot for her or he had an ulterior motive. And she didn’t want him to have an ulterior motive because, well, she liked him. But that voice in the back of her head was screaming something—what was it? Something about not trusting anyone? Damn, she just couldn’t focus.
Ricardo grinned again. “Okay, the adventure keeps rolling all the way to Tycho City. And then I guess we’ll see what happens.”
Right, we’ll see, Suzy thought.
They were on the main highway now, speeding downtown toward the spaceport. Suzy once again checked her weapon and saw she didn’t have too many cartridges left. Then Maria reached down and grabbed something stashed under the back seat.
“Can you use these?” Maria said, and she handed Suzy a bag of variable energy clips. They were all a standard size that would fit in a Series 7 pulse pistol.
“Hey, thanks,” Suzy said. “So what else do you have back there? I don’t suppose you’ve got any ice cream.”
“No problem,” Ricardo said. “There’s some in the glove compartment.”
Suzy laughed as she reloaded her gun.
“No, really,” he said. “Check it out.”
Suzy gave him a sideways glance and then opened the glove box, where she found a box of ice cream cups. They were the kind that came encased in perma-freeze and would never melt.
“Now that is amazing,” she said. “How did you know?”
“I didn’t,” Ricardo said. “I mean I didn’t know you liked ice cream. I love it, though, and that’s why it’s in there. So I guess we have something in common besides being fugitives.”
“I don’t know about that, Ricardo. There’s no black raspberry in here, and I’m really not a vanilla girl.”
“Don’t you know I ate all the black raspberry?”
Suzy laughed again. “Listen, I’m sorry about all the trouble,” she said. “I’m sorry I dragged all of you into this shit storm. I appreciate what you’ve done, but you should just dump us off at the spaceport and go.”
Aiko spoke up. “Suzy, I’m sorry I dragged you into all of this. This is all my fault. But I really didn’t think I was being tracked.”
“I was wanted anyway,” Suzy said. “If one more government group is after me they can get in line.”
“I’m no saint, either,” Ricardo said. “So it really doesn’t matter all that much. Sooner or later I would’ve been running. Might as well do it now.”
“Hey, I’ve got my problems, too,” Carlos said. “Why do you think I was wasting my Saturday night in that shitty hideout?”
“Ha,” Suzy said. “So I guess that leaves Maria as the only innocent one.”
Ricardo said nothing while Carlos snorted with laughter.
Maria just blinked a few times and looked away.
Suzy decided not to ask. These new friends probably wouldn’t be in her life much longer, anyway. And they weren’t really friends. But if Ricardo could get them to the spaceport, maybe she could figure out a plan to snag a new spaceship.
“So what happened to your ship, Suzy?” Ricardo said. “And when did you learn to fly?”
“I’d like to say it came to a heroic ending, but it didn’t. The fusion drive died and I didn’t have the cash for a new one. I’ve been flying since I was a kid. My grandmother taught me.”
“Hey, that’s cool,” Ricardo said. “I think my grandmother taught me how to make tortillas. So is your grandmother still flying?”
“No. She hasn’t flown in a while.” Then Suzy narrowed her eyes and gripped her pistol tighter. “Someone’s following us.”
“What? No way,” Ricardo said. “I see a lot of cars back there, but nothing special.”
“The cops all use the same kind of unmarked cars and that looks like one of them.”
It was true. Law enforcement really needed to work on being more imaginative. But of course, it might not be a cop. It could just be someone who had one of those grim-looking rides that exactly resembled a police car minus the flashing lights.
Aiko looked back. “I don’t think it’s a cop. But don’t speed or anything.”
“I’m not speeding.”
“Yes, you are, and we need to be careful.”
“Be careful? I’m not the guy who’s shot full of holes.”
Suzy ignored the chatter and kept her eyes on the ve
hicle that seemed to be tailing them. Stretched across the highway, she saw a splashy glowing sign for the Diego Tijuana spaceport. As Ricardo veered off toward the exit, the mysterious car didn’t follow. Instead, it headed toward a rest stop just short of the ramp, right toward the greasy sparkle of a place called Alejandra’s Diner.
Ricardo watched the car in his rear view mirror. “Suzy, you were right. It was a cop. Probably one with high cholesterol.”
Suzy turned her attention to the roadway ahead as it curved past the sprawling gray takeoff terminals surrounded by scurrying travelers and robot vehicles piled high with luggage. Were they in the clear? The spaceport was the biggest ticket out of town and the most obvious place for them to go. And how were they going to punch that ticket, anyway? It’s not like they could just hop on a luxury liner and head for outer space. Ricardo said he had a ship—or access to a ship.
They rode along in silence while Suzy studied the anxious faces. Got to stay alert. The crew from Los Pocos had been friendly enough so far, but she knew little about these people, and their organization had a bad rep, and a girl who chugs a big bottle of whiskey tends to start puking sooner or later. As her father had often said, “It’s all about the math”—and the math wasn’t adding up too well. But then again, how smart had it been to develop a super AI that would get himself killed? Not very. And what had he done about Trish’s depression? Nothing, except make it worse with his bullshit attitude. Well, now he was gone, and so was she.
Suzy watched as they headed for the area beyond the commercial terminals. They parked the hover-car somewhere in the sea of asphalt and headed into one of the massive gray buildings that branched out into hundreds of tentacle-like docking areas that held spaceships.
Suzy glanced at Aiko. “How are you holding up?”
“I’m okay,” he said.
“He should be in bed,” Maria said.
Ricardo laughed. “His bed was probably blown up by a grenade.”
“I know,” she said. “But as his doctor, I’m obligated to tell him.”
The terminal was like a mammoth warehouse wrapped around a shiny shopping mall. Aiko motioned with a finger at the steel beams above the shops and booths, and Suzy glanced around. In addition to piles of people hawking skin care products and duty free alcohol, the whole bustling building was a swarm of filthy surveillance equipment. Aiko grimaced and put on a pair of sunglasses. Meanwhile, Suzy just smirked and scowled into every camera she saw.
Mixed in among the shops and stores were heavy steel doors with red numbers painted on them.
“We’re looking for number six-ninety-two,” Ricardo said.
Maria pulled at his arm. “Ricardo, won’t Pablo get mad if you take his ship?”
“Are you kidding?” he said. “Pablo loves me. Just like everyone else.”
Carlos laughed, but Maria did not. She said, “Pablo loves you when you’re making a delivery, but he isn’t going to love you if you steal his brand new spaceship.”
“Who’s stealing? He told me to test it out and make sure it was worth what he paid for it. So I’ll tell him I’m testing it out. And I need to be thorough, don’t I?”
“You need to be smart and not get killed.”
“Okay. I’ll put that on my list of things to ‘not do.’ But we both know Pablo isn’t going to kill me and make his favorite girl angry, right?”
He gave Maria a wink. She fired back a stormy look and said nothing.
They found number six-ninety-two and Ricardo pulled out a small concave piece of glass about the size of a coin. He flashed it in front of the eye scanner and the heavy door slid open.
Suzy studied what he did. “A fake retina?”
“Of course,” Ricardo said. “Do you think we registered this ship under a real name? We make up fake people—and fake eyes to go with them. ”
“Nice. So what’s your fake name?” Suzy said.
“Mr. Eye.”
Suzy tried not to laugh but she did, anyway.
At the end of the passageway they reached a clearing that was surrounded by high concrete walls reaching up toward the starry night sky. In the center of the clearing was a spaceship.
Suzy stopped moving. Her jaw hung open and her heart beat fast. It wasn’t a big ship—but it was so sexy. It was red and sleek and shaped like a bird with its wings spread wide, and even while standing on its landing gear it looked like it was moving.
“What the hell is this?” she gasped. “I’ve never seen this model before.”
Ricardo grinned. “That’s because it’s custom built, baby. But it’s got the same basic power and guts as the Super Sun Corvair—with a few improvements.”
Suzy nodded. The Super Sun Corvair was an elite spaceship mainly used by racing enthusiasts and speed freaks. It was also seriously expensive.
Ricardo touched his allcom and a ramp descended to the ground. He touched it again and a series of lights sprang to life inside the cockpit and under the wings.
“Of course, I’m supposed to file a flight plan,” he said. “But I think I’ll let it slide tonight.”
Carlos embraced Ricardo. “It looks like you made it, Ricardo. I’m gonna get out of here—maybe head to Rio. Maria, do you want to go to Rio?”
Maria shook her head. “I don’t know why I didn’t have you drop me off in the city, Ricardo. I don’t think the Strike Force people will come after me.”
“You wanted to protect him,” Carlos said. “Again.”
Ricardo smiled while Maria said nothing. And then a voice boomed out from high above.
“Hold it right there! Drop your weapons and show your hands.”
The SF force was up on the roof—all around the rim of the clearing that encircled the ship.
Suzy jerked her head around fast and saw a ring of rifles aiming down; they looked like crooked black sticks silhouetted against the night sky. She felt her heart drop. There was no way out.
She stayed still but gritted her teeth. Her eyes twitched. The ramp to the ship was right there, and it looked like it was ready to take off—and all those sharpshooters couldn’t hit them if they ran underneath the ship. Bad planning by the government, as usual.
Unfortunately, the SF group that came rushing in through the passageway where Suzy and her group had entered would easily be able to shoot them.
They were definitely trapped this time.
A Strike Force soldier with a captain’s braid on his uniform came strolling in. He was a tall black guy with a grim look on his face. He had a pistol in his hand, and he was flanked by several people with guns. Suzy recognized him from the shoot-out at the pub.
“Hands up!” he said. “Behave yourselves and no one gets hurt.”
Suzy glanced at Aiko and saw him give an imperceptible shake of his eyes, like a warning. He was telling her don’t be stupid, it’s over—but then two things happened.
First, a guy dressed in silver came striding into the standoff. Blurr! And then someone on the roof started shooting—but it wasn’t someone in the Strike Force.
A barrage of gunfire ripped through the air, followed by a chorus of shouts. Then two SF fighters came tumbling down, crashing to the ground. In a flash, Suzy crouched down and whipped out her pistol. She also slid backwards toward the ramp and shouted at Blurr.
“You son of a bitch! You killed my father!”
She nailed him in the chest with two bursts and watched him go flying backwards. The tall captain was quick; he fired a couple of rounds and Carlos went down. Half the other SF people standing in the entry area were hit in a matter of seconds—some from a flurry raining down from above, and some from the efforts of Suzy, Ricardo, and Maria, who had produced a pistol and was blasting away.
“Get inside the ship!” Suzy yelled.
Ricardo started to go but then he grabbed Carlos. “We have to take him!” he said.
But there was no way; he had fallen too far from the ramp to be dragged on board.
Suzy kept shooting. She also suspecte
d that Carlos was only stunned. These people were not firing fully-maxed bullets, but she was shooting the real deal now—because she was just damned annoyed.
They don’t want us alive to be nice. They just want to torture us for information before they kill us.
The fighting on the roof was raging. Who were these people coming to their aid? She could take a good guess but didn’t have time to worry about the implications. And that’s when Aiko got hit.
He was shot in the back as he reached the top of the ramp. He tumbled down and landed hard on the ground.
“No!” Suzy said. She looked up—and saw Blurr standing on his feet with his gun up. He was now firing at her.
She moved fast to her left and heard the energy bullet whiz past her ear. She also fired a wild shot of her own and nailed Blurr in the forehead. It was dumb luck. Sometimes the universe is with you, she thought.
Blurr went down again but Aiko wasn’t moving. Where was Ricardo? Damn it!
Suzy seized Aiko’s legs and started dragging him up the ramp. Meanwhile, the ship’s engines were roaring to life. And then Maria was there, helping her move Aiko—and the ramp moved upward, closing like a clamshell, and they were inside.
Ricardo’s voice came blasting over a speaker. “Strap in, ladies! We’re outta here.”
Suzy dove toward a nearby chair and fumbled with the straps. Aiko was still lying there on the metal floor, and she had a bad feeling. Then the ship’s ferocious acceleration squashed her down into her chair like a crushed piece of fruit and sent them hurtling toward the sky.
Chapter 4
Suzy knew Aiko had been hit with a low-powered energy bullet, but that didn’t mean he was okay. The problem with stun bullets was they instantly turned a person into an unconscious bag of meat, and an unconscious bag of meat isn’t able to stick out a hand or an arm to break a fall. This meant that stunned people often ended up with broken bones, smashed teeth, concussions, or worse. A person who was shot while standing on a ramp leading to a getaway spaceship could easily end up with a broken neck.