“Of course I don’t want that, but we can’t leave the others behind either.”
“I had to make a judgement call,” Skip said. “I waited as long as I could. They were headed straight for us.”
“We can’t leave them.”
“I told you, I didn’t have a choice—”
Gemma entered the cockpit. “Do I get a say in this?”
“No,” Skip said. “X-1 made it clear that the mission was to keep you away from your mother. Now—”
“X-1 know you just abandoned him?”
“No, but I am next in command on this plane to make decisions in the event that he is not, and you would know that if you would let me finish a damn sentence.”
She said nothing and glared.
“I’m not leaving anyone,” Skip said. “I have a plan.”
“You going to let us in on it?” Gemma asked.
“No, you should go back and man your machines—they may still need you.”
Switch wanted to argue, but Skip was right: there was still plenty going on, on the ground.
39
X-1 was running, trying to think of a way to go on the offensive against the heavily armored tank and coming up with nothing. He heard an explosion and assumed the cannon had fired at him. He went low, saying, “Max protect,” to his suit, and rolled hard to his left. The second explosion he anticipated, but the next one, the one he thought may be the last thing he would ever hear, didn’t happen.
He looked back to see the tank was disabled—someone had taken out one of the tracks with a rocket-propelled grenade. As the turret swung away from X-1 and toward the threat from behind, someone, a citizen, ran up to it. The person jumped on top of the tank and stuck something on the turret as the tank rolled past.
X-1 braced for another explosion, but the package stuck to the tank was some sort of hyper-corrosive solution that poured out and burned a sizeable hole in the hull, and through that the citizen threw a grenade.
Then X-1 got the explosion he expected.
40
Quato managed to stand on one foot when he saw a soldier come around the corner. The soldier saw him and the burning tank behind him.
Quato shrugged at him, thinking that as a one-legged, unarmed man, he could reasonably deny any involvement. But either Quato just looked guilty or the soldier didn’t care, because he raised his rifle and took aim anyway, lining up Quato in his sites.
Before the soldier could pull the trigger, he was hit with a barrage of bullets. After the soldier fell, Quato looked back to see a small mob of armed men moving his way.
“You take out the tank?” one asked as he got close.
“As a matter of fact, I did.”
“How?”
Quato pointed at the pieces of his multi-firearm not under the track of the tank.
“Awesome,” the man said, then turned to the men who were with him. “Get this man a gun and a crutch.”
As someone handed Quato a machine gun and another gave him an actual crutch, the first man could see his confusion.
“We’re here because these motherfuckers were going to level Benji’s. Even if I weren’t inside when they were going to do it, we can’t allow that shit to fly here.”
Quato said nothing, but nodded.
The man waved to the rest of the mob and said, “Let’s go.”
Quato kept up as best he could. They caught up with the rest of his group. Quato could see they were pinned down, but the angry patrons of Benji’s were not ordinary. A few of them fell under the bullets of the soldiers and grenades drove them back, but more of the crowd from Benji’s flanked the soldiers from the other side, and it was not long before the battle was over.
“I’m not complaining or anything, but what the hell just happened?” Fizz said to Quato as he hobbled over to join them.
“Evidently, they pissed the wrong people off.”
“Better them and not us,” Little Lister said as he held up his injured brother.
Quato looked over at the crowd cheering and dancing on the corpses of their enemies. “Yeah. No shit.”
They watched X-1 emerge from the mob. He appeared to be talking to himself, but they all knew he was communicating with someone through his suit.
“We need to move,” he told them as he approached.
He didn’t say another word as he walked past, and didn’t need to, because each of them followed.
41
Grieves was expecting to hear from Donner telling him the rest of their tanks were on the way when someone opened communications. And there appeared a hologram of Darlene.
“I didn’t expect to see you,” he said.
“Just thought I’d call and let you know your little pet is dead.”
“You hacked into our coms just to tell me that?”
“That and to say goodbye.”
“This isn’t goodbye. As soon as I burn Pawn City to the ground and kill your boyfriend, I will hunt you down and kill you too. That is a promise.”
“You will do none of the above,” she said.
“It’s a shame you still have no idea what I’m capable of.”
“That’s funny, considering I’ve only seen how careless you are.”
Grieves sputtered with annoyance. “Careless?”
“You left your remote-controlled artillery out in the desert.”
Grieves had to think on it for a second, but she was right. The anti-aircraft cannon they had used to divert the fuel cell smugglers was still out there. But he was not worried. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“You underestimated the fact that coms aren’t the only system I can hack…”
Before Grieves could answer, something struck his tank hard enough that the occupants went airborne, including himself. He hit the dirt with an “oomph” and sat up to check and see if he had sustained any injuries. A second shell hit the tank and exploded. Grieves was far away enough, but still he was shaken. There was a sharp and constant ringing in his ears.
The other two tanks tried to take action to avoid the oncoming barrage, but they were just as easy to pick off as the one Grieves previously occupied. They were soon disabled and then destroyed.
Darlene opened up a channel to Donner. “Did you see that?”
“Yes.”
“You might want to rethink your attack on Pawn City.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Getting a bit hot in there?”
Donner didn’t answer, which was as good as a yes.
“Anything comes within three hundred yards of the city, you’ll get the same thing that happened to the general. Tick…tick…boom!”
“You would never get us all,” Donner said.
“You’re welcome to try me.”
Again, Donner didn’t reply, but his silence let Darlene know she was right.
“Don’t be stupid, Donner,” she said, then signed off.
She watched over satellite as the first couple of transports left Inferno City. Just as she had instructed, they headed the opposite direction of Pawn City. She was actually disappointed—she had been looking forward to killing more of them.
42
Fizz found it difficult to breathe with cracked ribs so it was hard for him to catch up to X-1, but with Little Lister having to help his wounded brother, Fizz was the only one with a chance to run him down.
“We’ve got problems,” Fizz said as he got close enough that X-1 could hear him. “Switch told me Skip left us here.”
“I am well aware of the status of the plane,” X-1 told him as he reached the front of Benji’s and stopped.
“So…”
Fizz’s question was interrupted by Bishop and Seven emerging from Benji’s.
“I assume I have you to thank for stirring up this mob?” X-1 asked.
“That was all Ferris,” Bishop said. “With a little help from Switch’s broadcasting.”
“Speaking of Ferris…” X-1 said.
“He’s been eli
minated.”
“Good. However, your side mission caused the rest of us more than a few problems.”
“I didn’t ask anyone to help me.”
“Yes, but they wanted to help. For some strange reason, they seem to like you.”
“This explains them, but why did you come?”
“My mission will be easier with you and all of them on my side,” X-1 replied. “We do, however, need to get moving. Laura, Corvan, and a whole ship full of his mercenaries are about to arrive.”
“Go back without me,” Bishop said. “I still have one more asshole to kill.”
Whistler came outside, along with Benji. “Is the asshole named General Grieves?”
“Yeah.”
“You see that big-ass smoking crater over there? Apparently, there are pieces of him spread all around it. Looks like your job is done.”
“It’s true,” Benji told them. “I know Darlene. If she says he is dead, then he’s dead.”
Bishop scratched his head and then shrugged. “All right, let’s go.”
Whistler looked at Quato and the twins. “You three have certainly earned a trip back home. Stick around and I will arrange it.”
“You will be making arrangements for more than just them,” X-1 said.
“What do you mean?” Whistler asked.
“He means our ride already left,” Fizz said.
Before anyone else could comment, X-1 told them, “There was no other option. They either had to go or we had to prepare to possibly fight a war on two fronts.”
“So what do we do now?” Fizz asked.
X-1 looked at Whistler. “This is where you come in.”
“Come with me,” Whistler said. “I can hide you until they leave.”
“Unfortunately, it will be more complicated than that,” X-1 said. “We need to rendezvous with the plane. The skies are still the safest place for us.”
“You are asking a lot.”
“Yes, I am.”
“What the hell,” Whistler said with a nod. “I suppose you could go to Rio with them.”
“No. They are still looking for us there. Someone will be watching for our plane.”
“Wait,” Big Lister said as they all began to follow Whistler. “Does this mean we aren’t on the team anymore?”
“You were never on the team,” X-1 said.
“What the hell? This bullet in my leg says different.”
“Speaking of legs…” Quato added.
“Sounds like they’ve earned themselves a spot,” Bishop said.
“They’re as much of the X-Squad as the rest of us,” Fizz said.
X-1 stopped and turned to look at them. “You do realize the X would mean you’re expendable?”
“Yeah, so what’s your point?” Fizz said.
X-1 shook his head. “It’s your funeral.”
Fizz said, “Hell yeah.”
Quato and Big Lister clapped him on the back and said, “Welcome to the squad.” And so did the others.
Whistler led them down a narrow alleyway and made another turn into another alleyway, which, if he had not led them to, they might not have noticed. After looking around to confirm no was watching them, he opened a door to what appeared to be an abandoned building and motioned everyone inside. Once inside, they found a well-maintained hallway leading to a working elevator.
“There’s a fully stocked safe house here,” Whistler said. “You’ll be secure, relatively comfortable, and have everything you need until we figure out how to get you to your ride.” Whistler led them down. “I take it no one is going to Rio?”
“Looks that way,” X-1 said.
43
“I will need a full complement of fuel cells.”
“Price will be pretty steep for a ship that size,” the man at the airstrip told Corvan.
“These will come courtesy of General Grieves and the army of the Lord Inferno.”
The man laughed.
“Something funny?” Corvan asked, thinking the mass exodus from what Laura called Inferno City that his people had observed meant something had gone wrong.
“No, not really. But, given recent events, name-dropping the general around these parts is liable to get you killed. As a matter of fact, it’s best that you get going. Like, right now.”
“Can I pay for the fuel?”
“Cost you ten a cell.”
“Going rate is five,” Corvan said. I could do better buying from a legitimate dealer.”
“Funny that. Looks like you’re stuck with me. And after all the shit your so-called general put us through, it’s just your luck I won’t shoot you in the face. But I’ll do you a solid instead and just tell you to fuck off.”
The End…
About the Author
Hannibal Adofo is an emerging author of Speculative Fiction Genre.
The Mods and Mayhem Series:
Book One
X-Squad Vault 2150
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hannibal.adofo.author
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X-Squad Pawn City (The Mods & Mayhem Series Book 2) Page 10