Suzy Spitfire Kills Everybody

by Joe Canzano

  “I’m not implying anything. I didn’t offer Suzy anything—okay?”

  They stared at each other for a long second. Then Banks turned and left the room. As the door closed, he thought he heard Blurr laugh.

  Banks was in a daze as he walked to his cabin. His head was spinning, and he needed to lie down—but he didn’t. Instead, his thoughts turned to Suzy. He sat down and immediately accessed the files he had on her case.

  He already knew a few things about her, but he only knew what was officially known—murder, armed robbery, and a long string of complimentary charges that tended to follow any armed fugitive shooting her way through the solar system.

  Suzy might be the minor criminal here, he thought.

  He read and reread every fact he could find. Finally his eyes were tired and needed a rest—but then they wandered to a photograph of his wife, Danielle. It was good to have her picture on his desk. It reminds me of more important things than all this bullshit. Maybe he’d send her a message. At this distance, it would take a few hours to reach her. But that was fine.

  He’d be counting the seconds until she replied.

  Chapter 29

  Suzy rubbed her bloodshot eyes and stared at the icy gray wall of her cell. The thugs who’d tossed her in here had explained how the ship was heading toward the dark and murky confines of Super Station 6. They’d been thrilled to inform her that she’d be interrogated there and probably killed. They also hadn’t given her any ketchup with her French fries. What a bunch of assholes.

  Her heart was beating fast, dreading the future. She’d been in plenty of scrapes before; she’d been beaten up and bruised and left for dead. She had a high tolerance for pain, but she’d never been tortured in one of the ways her squirming mind was now imagining. She tried to block the flailing images from her head—and then realized it wasn’t the pain she feared. It was the embarrassment.

  She laughed a bit to herself. Don’t be so proud, Suzy. No one says you can’t cry and squeal and beg for death—just try and do it in the most dignified way possible.

  She thought about Ricardo and Maria. She could have made her escape attempt without them, but she’d decided to sacrifice some precious time in order to set them free. Blurr would probably interpret this action as an indication of affection. This meant he might do agonizing things to them first and make her watch.

  Meanwhile, Blurr hadn’t come to see her. He hadn’t reappeared with his offer of a bogus deal. She guessed he was letting the tension build, but her anger was building as well—and she’d been pretty angry already. She’d been ready to tear out his guts with her teeth.

  How much longer would it be? How much more time did she have until the door would slide open, and she would be handcuffed and dragged off to some modern, bone-rattling dungeon? She looked up at the camera mounted in a high corner and wondered if Blurr was watching.

  She tried her best to look brave.

  ***

  A week went by, or maybe less—it was hard to tell. In all that time, Suzy saw no one. Food was placed under an opening in the door, and the lights dimmed every sixteen hours to simulate a useless evening.

  She recalled stories where prisoners kept track of their captivity by scratching the number of days into a stone wall. Her wall was steel, and she wouldn’t be here long—but she wanted to scratch her wall. She wanted to leave something behind other than fading memories of her sweet disposition. At the very least, she wanted to defile one little square of her prison.

  The forks and spoons they gave her were plastic, and there were no knives. Apparently, they didn’t trust her with a plastic knife. This seemed ridiculous; after all, it was still possible to poke someone’s eye out with a plastic fork. She jokingly considered writing a letter of complaint, but no one had trusted her with a pencil, either. No doubt it was some robotic regulation.

  She knew there would be few regulations on Super Station 6. It was a “dark outpost.” It was the kind of place where things happened outside the semi-regulated eyes of government. It was a place with no witnesses—at least none who knew what was good for them. But of course that’s why they were taking her there. They wanted to hurt her in the worst way possible.

  She finally did manage to scratch the wall a bit using one of her dragonfly earrings. She did it while the lights were dimmed. She knew if someone saw her they’d try to take the earrings away. They’d been a present from Aiko a long time ago, and she wouldn’t give them up without a fight. They’d have to cut them out of her ears.

  Luckily, she still had the chain around her neck—the one with the ring through it. The ring had been worn by a small finger, and it hung close to her heart.

  At the end of the seventh day, the door swung open. Suzy looked up and saw two goons dressed in black body armor. They were a couple of grim-looking guys.

  She was doing push-ups at the time. She wasn’t trying to be the fittest person in her cell; she was just trying to keep from going insane.

  “Stand up,” one of them said. “It’s time to go.”

  “Good morning to you, too,” she said, rising to her feet. “So, have I been upgraded to the penthouse?”

  The two guys kept grimacing like angry gorillas. “Turn around,” one of them said. He held up a pair of handcuffs as three more people appeared outside the cell. They all had guns.

  Suzy sighed as they cuffed her hands behind her back. “Five of you, just for me? Do you think I’m hiding a platoon of marines under the bed?”

  One of the goons gave a grunt—and then he punched her in the stomach. As she doubled over, he swept her off her feet. She hit the floor hard and gasped for breath.

  “Get up,” the same guy said. “And shut up. Do you understand?”

  She glared at him from the floor. “Hey, if you want my autograph, you can just ask for it.”

  She got up. He immediately punched her in the gut again—only harder. She didn’t fall down this time, which was probably bad. Another guy grabbed her from behind and put his beefy forearm across her throat. Then he pulled her up straight and the first guy hit her in the stomach once more.

  She saw stars before her eyes—especially when he hit her three more times.

  They let her fall to the floor again. She felt sick and couldn’t breathe. Then she threw up.

  The guy who’d been hitting her laughed. “You dumb bitch! We should make you lick that up. But you’ve got an appointment to go to.”

  “Really?” she said, gasping for air. “I hope it’s a job interview. This gig isn’t working out so well.”

  The guy swore, and his hand shot out and grabbed her by the hair. He yanked her to her feet.

  “You think you’re funny, don’t you?” he said. “You almost blew up two of my friends, do you understand?”

  The room was swimming. She felt woozy—and enraged. “Yeah, I screwed up,” she said. “I thought they were dead.”

  Then she spit in his face. Since she’d just vomited, it was extra special.

  “You fucking cunt!” he screamed.

  His big hand grabbed her around the throat. She tried to slam her knee into his balls but he was ready for that and deflected it with his thigh. Then he slammed her against the wall, still holding her by the throat, and shoved his other hand under her skirt and between her legs. He was clawing at her like an animal, sticking his fingers inside of her—and trying to make it as painful as possible.

  The other guys were just watching. Suzy snarled and struggled—but she couldn’t breathe, and she couldn’t move, and then a voice rang out. It was Captain Banks.

  “What the fuck is going on here?”

  In a flash, the guy let her go and she once again slid to the floor.

  Her abuser snapped to attention. “Nothing, sir.”

  “Nothing? Did I imagine you were just abusing this prisoner?”

  “Sir, she almost killed several of our people.”

  “I’m well aware of what she did, Sergeant; I was one of those people. I’m also aw
are of what you just did. You are under arrest. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “You will remain locked in this cell until further notice.” Then he turned to one of the other guards and said, “Get him a rag. He can clean up this mess while he’s sitting here.”

  He turned to the other two goons. “Help the prisoner to her feet. Take her to the sick bay and have her checked out.”

  “Sir, Commander Blurr said she was to be brought directly to the Super Station.”

  “Fine. Then bring her to a doctor there. But she will be treated for her injuries before anything else happens to her.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Suzy felt dazed as she got to her feet yet again. She glanced at Banks but didn’t say anything. She guessed he was following a regulation requiring a prisoner to get medical care before being executed.

  Chapter 30

  Pablo frowned. This is all so useless.

  He was sitting on a sun-drenched deck that overlooked a cliff outside his house in Ensenada, watching the blue ocean below roll foaming white waves against the shore. He’d just arrived this morning from his house in the hills of Mexico City. He owned five houses but this one was his favorite. It was the first one he’d purchased with a fat bag of cash.

  Cash had been the topic of a meeting he’d just wrapped up with some business associates; the meeting had gone well and the cash would continue. But he wasn’t feeling appropriately thrilled, and now that his associates had left he could show it. He drank his beer with droopy eyes and sighed at the hypnotic waves. Then he glanced at the person sitting across from him.

  “I should get the hell out of this business, Oscar. I’ve made a lot of money quick. Maybe I’m tempting fate.”

  Oscar grinned through a couple of gold teeth. “Get out? You were just talking about how much money we were making. Now you want out? Fate loves you.”

  “Yeah, fate loves me—but I can’t marry fate, right? Fate’s a real bitch.”

  Oscar laughed. “Why do you want to get married? Have some fun. The girls love you, too.”

  “They love my money, Oscar. Also, my great looks and charming personality. But the girl I want doesn’t love me.”

  “Pablo, Maria loves you just fine. She’ll come around, believe me. Until then, have some fun.”

  Pablo sipped his drink and shook his head. “She’s in trouble, Oscar. Ricardo sent me a message. They were about to be captured by the government.”

  “What?”

  “You heard me. And this whole big plan I’ve got going on might fall through—and it’s my way out, right? So I don’t want that to happen.”

  “It’s not your way out. You could get out right now. You have more than enough.”

  “No. I have a lot, but with this deal I could have enough for ten generations. So I need this to work.”

  “What you need is to learn how to count. You already have enough for twenty generations.”

  “I need one more big score.”

  “That’s what every gambler says before he loses it all.”

  Pablo put down his glass. “It doesn’t matter, either way—because I don’t want to get out and be alone. And Maria is in the hands of the government.”

  “That’s bad. What can we do?”

  “They’re probably going to Super Station 6. So we’ve got that going our way.”

  “Yeah, that could be a lucky break… Will our friend be able to help?”

  “I don’t know, but I’ve sent a message; I also advanced her a lot of cash… I hope it works out, Oscar. I hope.”

  “You hope what works out?” said a woman’s voice. “Another crazy scheme?”

  Pablo turned to look at the stump-shaped, dark-haired woman who was walking out of the house. “No, Mamma. This is something important.”

  “What? Do you finally have a girlfriend? Someone who’ll be in your bed two nights in a row?”

  Pablo laughed and looked at Oscar. “She’s keeping score.”

  “That’s right,” his mother said. “And the score has been low lately. Are you having a problem? Is everything still working down there?”

  Now Oscar laughed while Pablo just rolled his eyes. “Everything is working fine, Mamma. I thought you didn’t want me to have too many girls.”

  “I don’t want you to have too many whores,” she said with a smile. “But I want you to meet a girl. And really, some of those whores were nice. You have to be in it to win it.”

  “I’m in it. I’m going to marry Maria.”

  His mother threw up her hands. “Maria! Always talking about Maria! She isn’t interested, Pablo.”

  “She is!” Pablo snapped. “I know how to read the signs.”

  “Really? She went to outer space to get away from you. What kind of sign is that?”

  “You don’t understand. She didn’t go there on purpose.”

  He got up and walked to the railing overlooking the slippery blue sea.

  “She’ll be back,” he said. “She’ll be back, and you’ll see.”

  Chapter 31

  Suzy realized the Justice Three was about to dock.

  As she was led past a wide window, she stared and caught her breath. Super Station Six was out there, looking like a sprawling black spider ready to pounce, with its legs bent and scrunched around its center. The docking bay was in the middle, like some kind of glowing gash, and the ship was heading toward it.

  Suzy was allowed to stand and watch as the ship glided past the station’s outer limbs, dark and twisted, and finally touched down in the hangar. A shiver went up her spine, and she wondered if she’d be attacked again. I’ve got to be ready for anything. She was determined to do better than she’d done last time. The next guy who touched her wasn’t going to stop because of an order; he was going to stop because he was dead.

  She was shoved into a short glass gangway and then entered an elevator that sucked her down into the station. She walked through a few passageways, gray and stark like a winter sky, before entering a whitewashed room that smelled like disinfectant and held several beds. A small woman approached.

  For an instant, Suzy thought the woman was Maria—and she felt her heart skip a beat at the implications, good and bad. But then she realized it was someone who merely looked like Maria. Only this woman seemed less reserved.

  “Hello,” she said with a warm smile. “My name is Kryl. I’m a doctor.”

  Suzy shrugged. “Hello, my name is Suzy, and I’m a pilot. You got anything you want me to fly?”

  Kryl just smiled again and told Suzy to undress and lie down on a bed. She also told the three guards to wait outside.

  “We can’t do that, Doctor,” one of them said. “This prisoner is dangerous. We need to be present.”

  Suddenly, Kryl’s smile vanished and her eyes turned dark. “From what I understand, this woman has suffered some trauma, and I need privacy. Do I have to contact someone?”

  “Sorry. I have my orders.”

  Kryl pressed a spot on her collar. “Hello, Commander Blurr. This is Doctor Kryl. I can’t examine the patient with your thugs in here.”

  Suzy’s pulse jumped as Blurr’s voice echoed on the line. “All right, I’ll talk to them,” he said. Then the guard’s link chip whistled, and he answered it. “Hello,” Blurr said. “Are you one of the thugs the doctor is talking about?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Do whatever she says but make sure the prisoner doesn’t escape. Understood?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good.”

  Blurr disconnected, and the guards went into the hall. But they didn’t go far.

  Kryl proceeded to do a thorough examination. Suzy was poked and prodded and flipped around like a pound of pizza dough, but it was done with care and professionalism. Kryl asked about her bruises, old and new.

  Suzy wasn’t in the mood to talk. She wanted to block out the worst of it and focus on escape—but then again, she wanted Kryl to know. She wanted someone to know. So sh
e gave a quick rundown and noted that Kryl seemed good at filling in the blanks.

  After a half hour of examination and soothing talk, the doctor turned on a device that made a loud whirring sound. She leaned close to Suzy’s ear and said, “This machine doesn’t do anything; it’s a drink mixer. But every part of this station is under surveillance, and it’ll provide some ‘noise cover.’ Right now my back is to a camera and no one can see my lips... Suzy, I worked with Aiko. We were good friends. I’ll do my best to help you, so hang on.”

  A brief rush of hope shot through Suzy’s body. She reached out and grabbed Kryl’s hand—but said nothing.

  Kryl turned off the machinery and stood up straight. “Suzy, you have quite a few bruises and abrasions but there’s no serious damage.”

  “Oh, great. Am I strong enough to be tortured?”

  “No one is strong enough to be tortured. I’m going to recommend you get some serious rest and take painkillers as needed.” Then Kryl squeezed Suzy’s hand and said, “Good luck.”

  The guards reappeared and Suzy was handcuffed again and marched down a long passageway to another elevator. She found herself wondering about what had just happened. Had Kryl really been a friend of Aiko’s—or was she an agent of Blurr’s? Finally, they arrived at a blank gray door.

  Blurr was standing in front of it.

  She felt her stomach tighten into a knot—but her face showed only defiance. I’m not afraid of you, motherfucker.

  Meanwhile, Blurr was grinning, looking happy with his stiff blond hair and shark-infested blue eyes.

  “Hello, Suzy,” he said. “I see you’re looking bright and beautiful in a beaten-up kind of way. Congratulations on your escape attempt. You almost blew up the ship—reckless, as always. I keep telling you to cut that shit out. Did you enjoy the week in your cell?”

  “Sure. Too bad I didn’t bring my knitting needles.”

  The door opened and he motioned with his hand. “Ladies first.”

  She glared at him and had a brief thought about her sister. I might be joining you soon, Trish. She gave a flippant shrug and walked through the door.