by A. B. Keuser
*
They heard gunshots in the distance, and Flynn wondered what they’d do if a stray bullet took Giuseppe’s life. Glancing at the bomb, he knew the answer. They’d all die.
At least it would be quick.
The gunfire died down, and silence stretched into eternity.
“Do you think they could have lost?”Chadrick asked. He turned back to Flynn, eyes wide, his mouth a firm, white line.
Flynn knew he expected the worst, but it was an outcome Flynn wouldn’t accept. The bleakness he saw in his friends eyes, was something Flynn would give anything to quash. He could only shrug. He hadn’t the faintest clue.
“I’d give them decent odds…. Giuseppe probably didn’t count on us fighting back. He might even think we died on that moon.”
The scuffle of boots on the hard packed floor pulled Flynn around, gun leveled into the dimness.
“It’s just me,” Nika called out before he came into view.
Flynn lowered the gun, but kept his finger on the trigger.
“I found a snake in your gopher hole. Thought you might want to skin him yourself. Though I don’t think this one would make a pretty pair of boots.” Nika pushed Giuseppe to the hard ground, kicking a spray of loose dirt over him.
“We weren’t getting anywhere with this thing,” Chadrick said, though everyone there knew they hadn’t dared to touch it.
Nika nodded, casting a sideways glance at the bomb. “We also found a girl, high off her rocker. I think the doc here should take a look at her before we toss her in the clink.”
Putty let out an odd breath, and Flynn turned in time to see some of the tension drain from his brother’s face. He may have hated her for what she had done, but he would have hated himself more if he’d let her die.
“I’ll go make sure Sophia’s okay.” Chadrick squeezed Putty’s shoulder then hurried off.
“I’ll leave this louse in your custody,” Nika said. “We got him, but some of his men are still out there being annoying. I’ll keep my boys guarding the entrances, so you don’t get any surprises.”
Nika left, and the Monroe brothers were left staring at Giuseppe Refuti as he got up and brushed dust from his coat’s breast pocket. “Good afternoon, gentlemen. I am surprised to see you’re still breathing atmosphere. I had hoped you’d gone up with the moon.”
“Funny, I hoped the same thing about you when I destroyed it.” Putty’s voice was a feral growl.
Giuseppe turned to him with a bland expression. “It is lucky that only part of the moon was destroyed. My secondary base was near completion, we’d moved most of the men across the hemisphere already. Though I suppose my scientists will regale me with a hundred little things you messed up that will alter my plans.”
Flynn saw Putty’s jaw tightened and decided they’d had enough small talk for the time being.
“Disarm it.” Flynn gave Giuseppe a shove, but he didn’t move closer to the bomb, instead, he turned to face Flynn.
A sly smile came to Giuseppe’s lips as his eyes settled on the gun in Flynn’s hand. “No. Not until every last one of you leaves.”
“If you don’t disarm it, we all die. I thought you cared more for those suits of yours than that.”
“If you don’t leave, I’ll just keep setting the time back. I’ve accounted for this contingency. I can continue on like this until my mining barge arrives and you’re overwhelmed by my reinforcements.”
He wasn’t bluffing. Flynn had seen this sort of madness in a man before. It was unsettling and not at all what he’d hoped to find in the mining conglomerate owner’s eyes. He hadn’t planned for that.