Gunfight on the Alpha Centauri Express (Nick Walker, U.F. Marshal Book 5)

by John Bowers

  He might need her.

  She reached the end of the dining car. The door was closed, but she pushed it open and stepped into the rear of Car 3. It was a sleeper—all she saw were doors leading into sleeping berths.

  She moved slowly forward, her heart pounding. The car was still moving, but decelerating. The terrain outside the window was barely moving.

  Gunfire! A firefight on the bottom level of the car ahead. She heard shouts, Walker yelling, and more shots. The door from Car 2 burst open and three people spilled through, a man and two girls. They were all armed and panicked, but not yet willing to surrender.

  Sandra dropped to one knee and took aim, her pistol cocked, safety off.

  “U.F. Marshal! Drop your weapons!”

  Nathan Green, Walker’s backup man, appeared suddenly from a doorway in front of her, aiming at the suspects. He had them cold, but they didn’t surrender. One of the girls took aim at him, but Nathan blasted her with his shotgun, racked another shell, and kept firing.

  The other two returned fire. Bullets whined past Sandra’s ear, but she held her ground. As Nathan Green fired again, she joined in, adding her fire to his. Both suspects slammed backward into the doorway, crumbling into a heap.

  Nathan held his fire and started to stand up. He spun to look in her direction—

  The train, having already slowed to a crawl, stopped with a sudden jerk as the magnetic undercarriage locked onto the monorail. The unexpected jolt flung Sandra off balance, face forward, and as she fell…

  …her gun fired.

  Chapter 29

  Alpha Centauri Express – Alpha Centauri 2

  Mile Marker 1,158, 12:01 PM

  Nick Walker, stepping over freshly killed bodies that flooded the deck with rapidly spreading pools of blood, stumbled through the doorway into Car 3. Hot blood spilled from his cheek into his collar, his chest was on fire, but he was still breathing…barely. He leaned against the doorway and surveyed the scene before him.

  Three ARMOs lay dead at his feet, sprawled obscenely with their weapons scattered about; blood spray decorated the walls and windows. Twenty feet beyond them, Nathan Green sat slumped in the doorway of a sleeping berth, his .45 still curling smoke. Nick’s eyes widened in horror as he realized Nathan had been hit.

  “No! Nathan, no!”

  He lurched forward, barely able to keep his feet, and dropped to his knees. He seized Nathan by the chin and lifted his head, turned it gently from side to side, alert for any sign of breath coming from his mouth. Nothing. Nathan’s eyes were open, but empty. Nick felt his throat for a pulse but found nothing.

  Not that he expected to. He’d seen this too many times before.

  Fighting back tears, he checked Nathan for wounds. He was wearing a vest and hadn’t been hit in the head, so he should have survived anything smaller than a rifle shot. He found the wound, a single bullet hole just an inch below the left armpit—half an inch above where the vest wrapped around the torso. A lucky shot, probably pierced the heart.

  Nick looked around at the pile of bodies behind him. If Nathan had been facing them, anything they fired should have hit him in the chest…this one had come from the side…

  …or behind him.

  He looked toward the rear of the car. Sandra Sanchez sat leaning against the bulkhead, arms wrapped around her knees, her eyes wide with shock. She was still holding her .45 automatic.

  Nick stared at her a moment, his emotions still on hold. Her entire body shook with sobs, but she didn’t say a word.

  Nick pressed his face into Nathan’s neck and closed his eyes, wrapping his arms around him. Nathan. The fair-haired kid he had met on Sirius, the kid who wanted to see the galaxy. Nick had talked him into becoming a U.F. Marshal, had recommended him to the Academy.

  Jesus!

  Another thought dawned on him like a sunrise bursting through a morning mist—Kristina!

  She had lost her mother just yesterday.

  How could he lay this one on her? God!

  He sat there a full two minutes, finally allowing himself a few tears. But he couldn’t let it all out, not yet. He still had work to do.

  He kissed Nathan on the neck and then laid him gently back against the bulkhead. He struggled to his feet, pulled his weapon, and walked another ten feet to stand over Sandra Sanchez. He pulled back the hammer on the .44 and pointed it directly between her eyes.

  She looked up at him in horror, her mouth open. Tears flooded down her cheeks.

  “Please! I didn’t mean it! It—was an accident.”

  “I don’t care. You hear me? I DON’T FUCKING CARE!! Give me one good reason I shouldn’t blow your stupid head off!”

  She turned her face to the side and held up her arms to cover it, screwed her eyes shut, and wailed.

  “I can’t!” she blubbered. “Go ahead. I deserve it.”

  Nick stood there thirty seconds, actually debating it. Wanting to do it. Finally he lowered the hammer and shoved the .44 into its holster. He bent over and pulled the .45 out of her hand, shoving it into his belt. He seized her by the arm and rolled her face-down, pulled her arms behind her, and secured them with E-cuffs. She continued to weep as he dragged her inside the nearest sleeping berth and dumped her on the deck.

  “Stay the fuck there, you hear me? Do you think you can follow orders this time? Do you?”

  “Yes.” She nodded. “Yes!”

  He stood up and backed out the doorway.

  “I’ll let Marshal Bridge deal with you. I don’t know what he’ll do, but I think it’s safe to say your career as a U.F. Marshal is over.”

  Nick turned and walked back to Car 2.

  ***

  The kid Nick had shot from the stairwell was dead, as were the five near the rear door. He checked each of them to make sure, then took the stairs up to the second deck. Nine or ten civilians, including the two small children, had huddled into the rear seats near the shattered rear window, numb with shock and fear. The children were crying.

  Nick bent over the girl he had left unconscious and found her just starting to come around. Her eyes were glazed with pain and she was whimpering. As he dragged her to a sitting position she tried to brush him away, but her hands were ineffective, her movements uncoordinated. Nick slapped her to get her attention, but the contact caused her to gasp with pain.

  “Where’s Saracen?” he asked.

  She blinked, still dazed, and tried to look away. He slapped her again.

  “Saracen! Where’s Ken Saracen!”

  She shuddered and drew back, trying to focus on his face.

  “Leave me alone!”

  Nick took her by the shoulders and shook her.

  “Where is the Chairman? Tell me! He was supposed to meet me on this train! Where is he?”

  She squinted at him, coming alert at last.

  “He’s not here.”

  “Where is he? Where does he hang out?”

  In spite of her pain, she smiled, her eyes turning insolent.

  “I don’t know. But he’s not here.”

  Nick sat back and stared at her, then nodded.

  “I’m not surprised. He sends children to fight for him, but he’s too cowardly to show up himself.”

  “Fuck you! He doesn’t have time to deal with you! He’s too important.”

  “Important!” Nick laughed. “Kid, you need to grow up. Do you know how many of your friends died here today?”

  Her smile faded and she just stared at him.

  “Twelve!” He shook her again. “Saracen was supposed to come himself, but instead he sent children! That’s how important he is. Oh, he’s a great man, isn’t he? A big man!”

  She stared up at him, disbelief in her eyes.

  “They’re dead? All of them?”

  “You’re the only survivor. How does that make you feel?”

  “Tracy, too?”

  “Tracy too.” He pointed at the redhead sprawled in the center of the car. “Ginger killed Tracy when she blew up the mon
orail car that I released. The only reason you’re alive is that you didn’t force me to kill you. Now…where is Ken Saracen?”

  The girl blinked for a moment, her emotions running wild, then began to cry.

  “I don’t know. He said if we didn’t kill you he would have to leave the planet, because you would never stop hunting him.”

  Nick stood up, feeling defeated. He had used all his E-cuffs, but tied the girl up with her own belt and sat down in an empty seat to catch his breath.

  Saracen owned a space yacht with warp capability, and was probably already on board, or getting ready to board; keeping the massacre out of the news wouldn’t do any good, because Saracen would be expecting his children to check in, and when they didn’t, he would know the plan had failed.

  The bastard was going to get away.

  Chapter 30

  Sunday, May 28, 0445 (CC)

  Trimmer Springs – Alpha Centauri 2

  A year earlier, the hardest thing Nick Walker had ever done in his life was to inform the mother of his deputy, Hugh Povar, that her son had been murdered from the church bell tower.

  That was nothing compared to what he had to do now.

  In just two days, Kristina Norgaard-Green had lost her mother and her husband. The fact that Nick shared her grief could in no way mitigate her pain, and the scene was heartbreaking. Kristina was still reeling from Suzanne’s loss, and to hear that Nathan had also died very nearly finished her. She slumped in Nick’s arms, leaning against him, her body rocking with pain. Nick also wept, but tried to maintain control for her sake. He had more tears to shed, but he would shed them later…alone.

  There was nothing he could say to console her.

  Nothing.

  Nor was there anything he could say to console himself. Suzanne had been the most beautiful woman he ever met, not only physically, but in her spirit. Kristina, as stunning as her mother, was now alone. Her father was Willard Kline, a resident of Sirius, but with the Sirian Confederacy now in control of that planet, she dared not go to him. She was a widow at nineteen, utterly alone.

  Except for Nick.

  And he didn’t know how to help her.

  Right now all he could do was be there, whatever comfort that might be. What happened next remained to be seen. They would figure it out later.

  Nick returned with Kristina to Trimmer Springs. The house seemed empty now, alien, without Suzanne or Nathan. Nick felt empty as well, with nothing left to live for. Maybe his life had come full circle. Maybe that’s what the court hearing was all about, retribution for whatever sins he had committed.

  As for the hearing, he no longer cared. He would not attend any more sessions. Victoria would finish that piece of business and he would accept the outcome, whatever it might be. None of it mattered anymore.

  Monday, May 29, 0445 (CC)

  14th Floor, Morgan Olsen Building – Lucaston, Alpha Centauri 2

  Victoria Cross stared at the document in her hand, her face flushing red.

  “Are you shitting me? Seriously?”

  She slammed the document onto her desk with a sigh and gazed out the window. As if Nick’s life hadn’t turned to shit already, now this. Judge Moore’s replacement had been named, and it wasn’t good news for the defense.

  Hildegaard van Wert, just thirty-one years old, was the youngest female Federation judge ever appointed. If Brian Godney had a counterpart on the Federation bench, she was it.

  Victoria felt her anger rising. She had clashed with van Wert three or four times on other cases, and they hadn’t gone well. The term “ball-buster” came to mind, and to van Wert it didn’t matter if the objects of her scorn were male or female, she still busted their balls. She had been described by others as a “bleeding heart”, but Victoria disagreed—van Wert was a hemorrhaging heart, convinced that every criminal in her court was just a small child trying to find his or her mother.

  As an officer of the law, Nick Walker wouldn’t stand a chance with her.

  Wednesday, May 31, 0445

  71st Floor, Federation Building – Lucaston, Alpha Centauri 2

  Nick Walker wasn’t in court.

  Neither was Geraldine Gabbard, who had a scheduling conflict.

  It didn’t matter, because it all seemed anticlimactic at best. Almost the only people in the gallery were Gary Fraites, who had attended every minute of the hearing, and members of the media.

  The gallery was less than a third full.

  Judge Hildegaard van Wert, a short, trim, underfed redhead who wore oversize reading glasses, gaveled the session to order and directed her gaze at the defense table.

  “Is the defense ready to proceed?”

  Victoria Cross got to her feet.

  “The defense rests, your Honor.”

  “Mr. Godney, is the Federation ready for summation?”

  Godney got to his feet, rather slowly, Victoria thought. She frowned as she saw the expression on his face, as if he was wrestling with dysentery and might need to make an emergency run. He almost looked in pain.

  “Your Honor…”

  Van Wert scowled at him.

  “What’s the problem, Mr. Godney? Are you feeling all right?”

  “Yes, your Honor, I’m fine. However…”

  He stared at the floor a moment and cleared his throat. He scratched his nose. Finally he looked up at van Wert.

  “Your Honor, at this time the Federation, in the interest of justice, would like to withdraw the—I mean—”

  Van Wert leaned forward.

  “Excuse me? What are you trying to say?” Van Wert’s blue eyes were icy.

  Godney looked flustered.

  “What I mean to say, your Honor, is that the Federation would like to…cancel the hearing.”

  Van Wert stared at him as if he had leprosy.

  “You want to cancel the hearing? Is that what you said?”

  “Yes, your Honor. That is our prerogative.”

  “Don’t deign to tell me what is your prerogative! I don’t need a lesson in the law, Mr. Godney!”

  “No, your Honor. I didn’t mean to imply that.”

  “So let me be clear about this—you spent two weeks of courtroom time, uncounted terros in court costs, imported witnesses from six light years away…and now you just want to quit? Is that accurate?”

  Godney avoided her eyes as he nodded.

  “Yes, your Honor. I apologize for wasting the resources, your Honor.”

  “You apologize for wasting the resources! Well isn’t that sweet!”

  Van Wert swiveled to glare at Victoria.

  “Did you know about this, Miss Cross?”

  “No, your Honor. This is the first the defense has heard of it.”

  Van Wert’s eyes called her a liar, but she didn’t say so. She turned back to Godney, her face almost as red as her hair.

  “Tell me, Mr. Godney—why are you doing this?”

  Godney glanced up at her.

  “Truthfully, your Honor, after the events of this past weekend…the case no longer seems to have merit.”

  “The case no longer seems to have merit. Unbelievable!” Van Wert’s sarcasm was on display. “Well I got news for you, counselor—you may no longer have the stomach for this case, but I have reviewed the transcripts at length and I disagree. Your motion—that wasn’t even a motion, was it? Just a weak-willed plea—your weak-willed plea is denied.”

  Victoria was on her feet before common sense could come to her rescue.

  “Objection!”

  “Excuse me?” Van Wert’s gaze welded her to the spot. “Did you just say ‘objection’? Are you objecting to a statement made by the Court?”

  Victoria stood her ground.

  “I do object, your Honor! This is not a criminal trial. There is no complaint here, no criminal action to be adjudicated. If the Federation has finally come to its senses and wants to back out of the case, that is their prerogative.”

  “‘That is their prerogative’. There’s that word again. W
ell, Miss Cross, this Court also has a prerogative, and I am exercising it. The Federation clearly had cause for initiating this hearing in the first place; it was initiated in good faith and a lot of money was spent in the pursuit of it. I am not inclined to see all that go to waste just because the Federation attorney’s witto-bitty feet got cold.”

  She swung back to Godney. “Mr. Godney, your summation, please.”

  Godney was staring at her in dumb disbelief. Judge Moore had given him a hard time, but van Wert made Moore look like a children’s holo V host. For thirty seconds he didn’t speak.

  “Mr. Godney?”

  “Uh…the Federation declines summation, your Honor.”

  “Good! That will save us some time. Miss Cross, are you ready?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “If I make a summation, will it make any difference? Does the Court even need to hear it?”

  “No. Do you also decline summation, then?”

  Victoria’s pulse was pounding; she was holding Nick’s future in her hands, but what was happening was so outrageous…

  “At this time, the defense moves that the judge recuse herself.”

  Van Wert came halfway out of her chair, resting her elbows flat on the bench.

  “What did you say?”

  “I believe your Honor heard me. I want you to recuse yourself.”

  Van Wert’s blue eyes blazed lightning as she glared at Victoria for ten seconds.

  “On what grounds!”

  “It seems apparent to me that your Honor is emotionally involved in the proceedings. Based on that, I submit that your Honor is biased against my client.”

  “Preposterous!” The judge grabbed her gavel and pointed the handle at Victoria. “You watch yourself, counselor—you’re very close to contempt of Court! Now, do you want to continue with summation?”

  “Excuse me, your Honor, but you haven’t ruled on my motion.”

  “What motion? That ridiculous accusation you just levied? Denied! Now—summation or no summation?”

  “The Defense declines summation. Let the record speak for itself.”

  Judge van Wert actually smiled. “Oh, it will! Believe me, it will. Is the defendant in the courtroom?”