“Today?” He whispered leaning toward her.
“No. We’ll come back for them. Right now we need to just grab the girl and get out of here before the SC figures out we’re here and comes after us.”
“I agree with this plan, Ms. Drake.”
“So one of us needs to go in there to see if Charm is inside.”
“I’ll let you do that. We’ll cover your back.”
“Thanks,” Holly said, drily. “Oh and one more thing.”
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry about what happened on Joppa.”
He smiled at her. “Don’t say that, Ms. Drake. Let’s discuss it later.”
The others on the other side of the door had been watching Shiro and Holly conspiring, and now, as Holly went back around the corner, Shiro went to join them and tell them what was happening.
The children slept as Holly entered the room on tiptoe and walked through it, passing by each sleeping child, searching for a pale violet face. There were small footlockers next to the beds and one at the foot of each bunkbed. The sleeping arrangements seemed to be according to age, with the youngest children put in the rear of the room, where there were doors into what looked like a bathroom and shower. The beds were large, like they were intended for adults and not children. Holly finished combing the room, a knotted rope of anxiety in her gut as she thought about all the parents missing their children, and how scared the kids must be.
Charm wasn’t in the room. They would try the next. As Holly retraced her steps, heading for the doors, a child sat up in bed, crying. Holly was almost to the door, she wanted to run, but thought that would seem odd to the child. So she kept her pace until the child said, “Mommy is that you.”
Holly froze.
If she answered, the sound might disturb the other children. Then she would have an entire slew of kids crying and looking for their mothers. But the child’s voice. The tears. The realization that the kid had been taken from its parents and forced to work. It all mounted a siege against her willpower to just keep running. She should run. Shiro poked his head around the corner and motioned for her to hurry up.
It was what she should have done. But she found herself beside the crying child. It was a little boy. Probably eight or nine.
“Hey,” Holly said. “No tears.”
The tears stopped. The boy rubbed his eyes and stared at her.
“I’m not your mom. I’m sorry. But listen,” she whispered. “I have to leave. But I’m going to come back. And I’ll take you back to your mom or dad.”
He nodded and made a soft sound like a hiccough.
“You have to promise me, though, that you won’t tell anyone you saw me or that I said I’ll be coming back to save you from this.”
By the light of the hallway, she saw new tears forming in his eyes.
“I know. It sucks. But you need to brave right now. And I will be back for you. What’s your name?”
“Jasper,” he whispered.
“Jasper. I’ll come back for you. I’m Holly. Holly Drake. Remember that, when you feel scared or alone. I’m coming back for you.”
“I will,” he said.
She rose and went back to the door. She stood there waving at the boy as the door shut. The sound of it closing was so final. She wouldn’t think about how it was to be on the other side of that door, a mere child, being left behind.
“Terrible call, Drake,” Voss told her.
“The very fact that you don’t like it, tells me it was the right call,” Holly said as they moved to the next door. “We could probably speed this up if we all looked.”
So Voss opened three more doors. Some of the rooms were empty, as though the kids worked on shifts. Day for some. Night for others.
Soon Holly realized that perhaps Charm wasn’t even there—perhaps she was out in a ship. That left her feeling cold. She didn’t want it to be so.
Odeon came running out of one of the rooms. “Holly, I think I found her. Come with me.” Holly had been waiting beside Voss as she worked on a lock. She followed Odeon into the room where he’d found who he believed was Charm.
The two of them crept to the bed where a child slept. Violet skin. The same nose Holly recalled from her few encounters with Charm. She looked small and naive, sleeping in a bed lost amidst the stolen children of the base.
“This is her. You wake her up.” Holly stepped back to allow Odeon to do it, hoping that the familiar face of a Druiviin would be more comforting than the color and shape of a human.
At the prodding from Odeon, the young girl stirred and blinked till her eyes remained open. “Father?” The girl said.
“No,” Odeon answered, then he spoke to her softly in Yasoan. Her eyes widened in response and she immediately slid out of the bottom bunk. She grabbed a change of clothes out of the footlocker beside the bed, then joined Odeon as he crept out of the room. Holly followed behind them. In the hallway, Voss had gathered Shiro and Charly from the other rooms and they were waiting for Holly and Odeon. The door shut behind them, and the crew began to speak in softer voices.
“This is working out too easy, guys, is anyone else worried about that?” Charly glanced nervously up and down the hallway.
“We’ve got the child, now please let’s get back to the ship,” Shiro said.
“You’re not going to get the others?” Charm asked Holly.
“Charm,” Holly said, getting on Charm’s level and giving her a quick embrace. “I want to, trust me. But I made a promise to Tyro and Aetion that I would find you. I can’t take all the kids. I didn’t know how many there would be. But I’m making a promise to you, now, that I’ll come back for the others.”
“Let’s go Drake, we don’t have time for this. You can have your reunion on the ship,” Voss said.
“Lead the way,” Holly said, suppressing the urge to put Voss in her place. “Charly, you take the front. Shiro pull up the rear. Odeon and Voss, you keep in the middle with the girl.”
Now that they had the child, Holly wouldn’t be taking any more risks. She pulled the Equalizer out and kept the barrel pointed at the floor as she followed Charly back down the corridor and out into the main corridor.
* * *
As the crew made their way back to the elevator, a door on the inside of the corridor opened and four or five Shadow Coalition people came out, one of them apparently a higher rank. A human male, dressed in a black suit, a bolo tie, and a black Panama hat. He was talking to a female Constie who had jet black hair and red tattoos on her cheeks as though he were giving her important instructions. The others trailed behind like an entourage—there for looks.
It was unavoidable. Holly and her team came face to face with the small group of Shadow Coalition people.
The SC group stared at Holly’s crew for a moment, their expressions moving from convivial interest to annoyed confusion, drifting for a split second towards outraged shock and then finally settling on irritation as they seemed to grasp what was happening. The higher ranking man stopped whatever he was saying and just looked at Holly. Their gazes went to Odeon, then to Charm. And then there was a mad shuffle as the SC thugs pulled out their knives and the man in the bolo tie began to laugh. An indulgent, offensive laugh, like he found what was happening to be impossibly hilarious.
“What is this, a sad attempt at a rescue?” His arms were outspread like he wasn’t threatened by Holly’s motley group. “Holly Drake, I presume?”
She pointed her gun at his face and closed one eye. I should do it. But then she’d never know who he really was. And she would have to live with killing an unarmed man. “Who wants to know?”
“Don’t you remember me? We’ve met. On Po.”
“That was you?”
“I was dressed for warehouse work. What can I say? I clean up nice, though, don’t I?”
He was cheeky. A smart ass.
“Why are you using children for labor?” Holly asked. “I should kill you right now. And take all the kids with me.”
“I’d steal a tanker. I’m sure my pilot could handle it.”
“Steal a tanker. From the Centau? Brilliant idea. They would love that. Let me guess, your pilot is a Centau. Don’t you know, Holly Drake? Centau don’t steal from other Centau.”
He was probably right. But Holly wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of telling him that.
“Besides,” he continued, “You kill me, what’s to stop the other Hands from going after you? You kill one, the others come for you. You kill them too? The Heart will come after you. And the Heart isn’t as nice as the Hands.”
Holly exchanged a look with Odeon, then Shiro. “Keep him talking,” Darius said in the earpiece. “Let’s find out as much as possible before you try to get away or actually kill him.”
“Hands. How many are there?” Shiro asked.
“Ah ah ah, I’ll never tell,” he said with a laugh.
Odeon interjected. “Why should we believe you that there’s any more than one?”
“I dare you to find out. By killing me,” he said leaning forward. “You know what? You can call me Hand #1. There might be nine. There might be two.” He shrugged exaggeratedly. “Then again, there might be just one Hand. Who loves to tease his victims. That’s right. You’re my victims. You’re in my territory. Now I own you.”
“Why are you doing this? To children? What kind of monster are you?” Holly wanted to stall now, as she thought about how to get out of the situation. The longer they waited, the worse it became. The chances increased that soon they would be surrounded by SC thugs. Becoming outnumbered would be the worst possible outcome in that moment.
The elevator was only a few more feet away. The best choice currently was to get down to the main level where the SC were likely loathe to draw attention with a firefight. She suspected they were somehow flying under the Centau’s radar, and any attention currently would bring their scrutiny down upon the SC. The fact that they had stolen children doing their labor would draw the ire of the Centau. Probably. Sometimes it was hard to know what the Centau would think about things that would normally piss off humans.
“Why are you such a bitch? It’s a simple answer really.”
Holly felt a twist of rage corkscrew through her at his insult. It drew on memories of life with Graf and the sense of helplessness she felt at his so casually tossed out insults.
She fired a warning shot over the Hand and his thugs. The thugs jumped, the Hand laughed.
“Don’t toy with me. Give me the answer.”
“Keep firing your little magical gun device and see how long you last out here with just me and my tiny cadre of brawn.”
“I know the answer,” Holly said in a ferocious whisper of suppressed rage. “It’s because you’re a soulless monstrosity that preys on the weak. Beneath your skin, beneath your insecure laugh, your fragile machismo, your flawed bravado, you are a vortex of greed. A black hole that wants to be fed all the light in the universe, eternally unfufilled no matter how much money or power you suck into your emptiness.”
“Whoa, lady, please. That’s flattering. You flatter me,” he said, laughing as though he was unmoved by her insults. But there was a twitch in his cheek and a flicker in his eyes that belied his true feelings. Holly had enraged him.
“Really my reasons are noble. You can’t see that yet, because you enjoy being a slave to the Centaus and in a way, the Druiviin. Fucking Druiviin, right?”
Holly saw Odeon flinch as though he intended to charge at the Hand and take him out with his Ousaba.
The Hand laughed when he saw that he’d riled up Odeon. “Yeah, you know what, Holly Drake, I think you actually believe them, that they are better than us. That they deserve to be served. That all labor should be carried on the backs of humans and Consties. You believe that, don’t you? Isn’t that why you’re here now, just to rescue a piece of shit Druiviin? Why do you care about her? Let her go. What about all the human kids in there? You just going to leave them behind?”
Holly had heard enough. He was scum. And he was only talking to Holly in order to hurt her, even lower, hurt Charm.
“Darius,” Holly muttered, “I’m through with this monster. I hope you’ve had enough. Crew, get ready to go for the elevator. He won’t come after us on the main floor, I don’t think. On the count to three, rush them, I’ll call the elevator. Odeon, you protect Charm.”
“What’s that Holly? I can’t hear you. Making plans?” He leaned toward her, putting his hand behind his ear exaggeratedly.
“One, two, three.”
Charly charged at the Hand with a roar and knocked him to the ground with a body slam. Two thugs lunged at her with their knives slashing, but Shiro stepped between them with his sword drawn, flicking the tip between the two of them until they danced away.
“I wouldn’t, if I were you,” he said.
Holly spun around the other foot soldiers, dodging their outstretched knives, and punched the call button on the elevator. “Got it! Just a few seconds now,” she said to the crew, knowing her voice would carry into the ears over the commotion. She spun and saw Odeon protecting Charm with his staff as the thugs fought around Charly’s rough fists and sharp kicks. Voss was apparently terrible in a battle. She crouched near Odeon, a panicked look on her face. Clearly if it came down to it, she wouldn’t know how to defend herself.
For a moment it seemed like they were winning. As much as could be said about winning in an uneven battle between teams armed with knives, fists, and a gun. The Hand remained on the floor of the hallway, but he wasn’t unconscious. He was a coward. Probably waiting for the scuffle to move away from him so that he could get up and scramble away.
There was a moment of confusion and then Holly realized what was happening. The SC foot soldiers were pulling their guns out. At the same moment, a door down the corridor opened and a cluster of SC thugs appeared. This new batch of foot soldier’s shock only lasted a moment and then they were drawing their own weapons and beginning to fire their aether guns at Holly and her crew, carefully so as not to hit the Hand and their comrades. Holly turned—the elevator door was just opening.
“Get in, get in,” Holly ran for Charm, pulled her back toward the elevator, shielding the girl’s body with her own frame. Holly fired haphazardly back at the thugs who were shooting at them, to warn them off, and then she was in the elevator.
Shiro charged in, his cheeks red from breathing hard, then Voss appeared, Odeon, and then last, Charly.
Holly punched the main level button, and pressed Charm against the inside wall behind her, then fired another warning shot out into the hallway to again warn back their opponents.
“The hell,” Charly said. “That was close.”
“They’ll follow us,” Odeon said.
“They won’t fire on the main floor, though. They’ll be discreet. They won’t want the Centau to notice them.” Holly was sure of it. She crouched in front of Charm. “You OK? Did you get hurt just now? Did you get hurt ever? Did they ever hurt you?” The words tumbled out of Holly. She wouldn’t have been able to stop them if she’d tried.
Charm nodded. Odeon took her hand and pulled her up. “Holly, let’s focus on getting her to the ship. Then we can quiz her.”
“We move through the market area, go straight to the ship. Simple. Shiro, you take the back. Charly lead the way. Odeon, you’re still Charm’s guard. And I’m the free agent, but I’ll stay in the middle with you. Voss, you stay in the middle as well,” Holly said, almost as an afterthought. She nearly insulted Voss, but thought better of it.
The doors opened and Charly led the way out after checking to see if there was anyone waiting for them. She moved ahead and motioned for the others to follow. The market was as busy as before. The crowds were thick and easy to get lost in, for which Holly thanked Ixion and a host of other imaginary beings. “Trip, get the ship ready, we’re going to want to hightail
it out of here as fast as possible.”
“Got it,” Trip’s voice answered over the comms. “Is everyone all right?”
“Thanks. So far, yes,” Holly answered, scanning the crowd ahead of them for SC thugs acting suspiciously. “We’re not out of the woods yet.”
“She’s powered up. The SC Olavia Apollo is at your service.”
“Fantastic. Should be there in less than five minutes.”
No one was more shocked than Holly when they reached the corridor that led to the internal landing bay. She looked over her shoulder as she moved through the doors, and spotted a cluster of Shadow Coalition soldiers sweeping through the crowd.
“Go, go,” Holly said, rushing the team through the corridor. At her urging, everyone ran for it, pushing through the humans, Consties, and the odd Druiviin and Centau.
They sprinted out of the corridor and into the landing bay and followed the delineated path to the ship. A few casual walkers got in their way and Shiro excused the crew and pushed through. “Pardon us, a bit of a hurry here, ah yes, thank you. Apologies.”
And then they were at the ship. Back the way they’d come, the SC thugs had appeared in the landing bay. The team boarded. The last to get on was Holly, though Voss lingered with her.
“Get on, Voss. I’m the last to board,” Holly said. “Hurry.”
“I’m afraid this is where you and I part ways, Drake.”
“What? Stop joking, there isn’t time. Get on the ship.”
“Not a joke, Drake.” Voss pulled out her own gun and pointed it at Holly. She wagged the barrel toward the ship. “Get on, and leave me here.”
“What the hell for?”
“I have business here.”
Holly stared at the other woman, frowning. She hated Voss. Why fight her if the woman wanted to stay? What did Holly care?
She knew immediately why she cared: she’d let Voss onto the team. Against her wishes, yes, in many ways. And though she didn’t like the woman, Voss was Team. And Holly would not leave Team behind.
“I can’t leave you here,” Holly said, quietly. She knew the thugs were getting closer. The entire mission was in danger now if Holly didn’t get on the goddamn ship right now and leave.
The Colossus Collection : A Space Opera Adventure (Books 1-7 + Bonus Material) Page 49