Jim flinched as a voice came from the direction of the searchers. “Stop there!”
From what he could gather the command was directed at the brother he had just passed. Looking back, Jim saw him continue to walk, ignoring the command.
The voice called again. “Stop where you are!”
The brother looked right, shook his head and continued on his way. One flash from a laser pistol and he fell, the center of his back smoking. The two searchers rushed from the trees and rolled him over.
“You idiot wha...!” The speaker changed his tone of voice. “Brother, this is not the son of Satan we seek. It’s another. Do not concern yourself brother. The lord and the prophet guided your hand. This one must have been contaminated by the evil.”
‘Ah.’ Jim thought to himself. ‘Not enough of the leaders available for the search. They’ve called out the faithful.’ He slipped from shadow to shadow away from the scene of the unfortunate brother. There was now another advantage. Armed amateurs running around were more of a danger to each other than to him.
A silhouetted figure sat on the fallen tree where he had stopped to think. It appeared female, although it was hard to tell in the fading light. It sat in the same spot he had occupied while discussing things with himself days before.
“Brother Frank. You didn’t leave.” Cathy stood to face Jim. “This has become my thinking spot. Things have become so confusing here lately; I do want someone to talk to. Sit down; I’d like your opinion.”
“Ok,” Jim said, taking a couple of paces forward, pulling the Colt close to him and hiding it in the folds of his robes.
Cathy continued to speak. “I missed you at the dance in Centralia last night. You said you’d meet me there.”
“No,” Jim thought for a moment. “ah... I don’t remember saying anything like that.”
“Yes you did!” she snapped. “Last night, here, right here, you told me you would meet me at the dance!”
“Cathy, last night I was getting ready to leave. Remember, brother Sorgen told you and you talked to me for only a couple of minutes back at the dormitories.”
“No! That was days ago, I talked you out of leaving. You said you loved me!” Cathy’s voice was becoming frantic. “Is it him, that man you’re seeing, Peter, I think his name is? Are you leaving me for him?”
“Ah... no...” Jim hesitated; he had to choose words carefully. He was positive that the girl’s psychotic outbursts were due to some crash course in her nightly indoctrination. “Peter’s just a friend, I.....”
“No!” she screamed as she rose to her feet. “You’re just like my damn ex-husband. Lies, all lies, remember I walked in and f.. found you in bed with that w.. woman.” Cathy was now visibly shaking and starting to stutter.
“Cathy, we’ve only talked twice. Once here, briefly, then the second time yesterday. Someone has put these other things in your mind, they never happened.” He slowly walked toward her. “Sit down, let’s talk.”
“L.. Liar, You said you loved me.”
Jim stopped as her hand went into her robes. The moment the butt of a laser pistol appeared, Jim fired from the hip. His intended target was her shoulder but in the fading light due to the speed of action he missed the mark. The bullet caught her in the chest. She fell backward.
She wasn’t alone. Two men rushed from the bushes as Jim looked down at the empty gun. A laser beam cracked over his shoulder as he dropped the useless weapon and prepared to run. A second crack missed him by a wider margin.
Jim had taken two paces when he glanced back and saw the two men fall. He stopped and blinked. The two bodies lay there motionless.
“¿Hey amigo, que passe?” Jim turned to see the speaker standing a few meters behind him. “Uncle Santiago sent me to keep you out of trouble. Saw those guys taking you to the spaceport then heard that thing of yours go off so I got myself a weapon.”
“I’m very happy you did. How did you get here? How did you pass their screening process?”
“We found someone who was already coming and sidetracked him with a bit of money. It took care of his debt troubles and I took his place.”
“Where did you get the pistol?”
“Your friend Peter gave it to me.”
“How did he…?”
“Here.” The man handed him a small plastic bag. It contained .38 caliber ammunition.
“How....?”
“Uncle Santiago contacted your friend Redmond. He sent the specifications so we could have replicas made. Come, we can talk while walking. My name is Miguel.”
They turned back and walked in the direction of the spaceport.
Jim picked up his pistol and loaded it. “How did you get these here?”
“I swallowed them. Saw that on one of your videos. Smart fellahs back then.”
“Ok, what now?” Jim asked, looking around.
“Uncle Santiago’s private yacht’s in orbit. It has its own armed shuttle. All Montoyas have an implanted communication beacon in the arm in case someone tries to kidnap one of us. We have to get to the spaceport; it’s the only clear area where the shuttle can land.
“When will it be there?”
“It should be on its way now. So we...” They stopped as they heard the sound of voices coming their way. “We do have one thing on our side. They think you’re alone and almost out of those bullet things. Peter said he heard them talking.”
“In that case the unexpected is called for. Shall we attack? There’s no time to set up a proper ambush.”
Miguel smiled and nodded.
“How ‘bout bounding overwatch then a rush? You over there,” Jim pointed to the left, “me here.” he pointed to the right. “You move, I cover then I move, you cover. When we come into contact we rush ‘em, guns blazing.”
“Sounds good. You know they sent me because I have the most experience.”
“You’ve been in a firefight before?”
“No, I am the only Montoya that knows how to use a pistol and I watch a lot of 3V.”
“Some crime family,” Jim commented as he started his advance. He ran a few paces then crouched. “Covering, move now.”
Miguel made his move. “Covering.”
The voices and sounds of movement came closer. One appeared directly in front of Jim. The man was totally unprepared, he fell with one shot. Laser beams cracked in all directions punctuated by pistol fire.
“Miguel cover me, I have to reload!”
“No need, I think we got them all... three of them over here. Can you recharge that thing while moving?”
“I’m moving.”
There were no further encounters as they walked. Catching sight of the spaceport, Jim stopped.
“You said you had an armed shuttle ready?” Jim asked.
“Yes.”
“If you’re the only member of your family experienced with weapons, who’s handling the shuttle’s guns?”
“Your friend Chris, he was in the Guard. He said the old pulse cannons were still functional and were sort of like the ones he used. He thinks they’ll work fine.”
“How old is old?”
“Same age as the shuttle, one hundred and forty years. It’s from the old days but my cousin flies it well.”
“He’s a pilot?”
“He is only fifteen, but he is a good pilot.”
“One moment. I’m being rescued by a ground team that learned fighting from 3V. A backup consisting of a fifteen year old flying a relic with a gunner that hasn’t touched a ship’s gun in ten years using aging equipment he thinks will work?”
“Yes.”
“Who’s directing this operation, Woody Allen?”
“No... My cousin Raul.”
“Couldn’t you have hired some professionals?”
“It had to be family and friends of family. The name Montoya is losing the reputation it once had. Our competitors no longer fear us and that is bad for business.”
“Huh?” Jim scratched his head with the butt of his pis
tol as he started to walk in small circles. “I didn’t end up in the future, this is Wonderland and I’m Alice.” He stopped and looked back at Miguel. “Your uncle is risking your lives for business?”
“Jim, it was our idea. At the family meeting we told him send us or we would go without permission. Your gift, the plate, started the restoration of our family honor, we had to continue.”
“This isn’t happening. I’m not really here...”
Miguel seized Jim’s arm and started to pull him in the direction of the spaceport. “I hear someone coming; we have to meet the shuttle. Hurry.”
“The truck, it hit a big rock, I hit the steering wheel and I’m in a coma dreaming this.” Jim was no longer walking, he was wandering. “I’m in some hospital in Phoenix. They’ll wake me up soon.”
Nearing the spaceport, they passed a small group of men and women who stood talking. Jim and Miguel tucked their weapons in their robes and slowed their pace as they drew near.
“Great dream I’m having. Everything’s so real,” Jim whispered.
“Shhhhhh. We’re almost there.”
A laser beam cracked close to them, then two more. Jim heard a scream and turned to see that a shot had burned off the left arm off a female in the group they had just passed. The rest were running, leaving the girl who had fallen to her knees.
“It is real. Miguel run for it! We have to get the gunfire away from innocent people.”
They took off at a sprint. Half a dozen more beams split the night. The shots seemed wild and random.
Miguel was the first to reach the ditch by the side of the landing field. He dove in followed by Jim. Two more beams cracked three meters over their heads. Out of the corner of his eye, Jim caught sight of a robed figure lying in the ditch a few meters away. He swung around, leveling his Colt and took up a light pressure on the trigger.
“Miguel, cover me there’s someone there.”
“I see him, shoot quick, he has a pistol.”
Jim crawled a short distance. “I see the pistol but this guy ain’t moving.” He continued to crawl then carefully reached out to remove the weapon from the man’s hand. He was lying face down at the bottom of the ditch with his head toward Jim. He remained motionless. Jim grasped the man’s shoulder and gave him a solid shake. The body’s head flopped to the left, turning a little further than a head was normally able to.
“What the..,” Jim exclaimed. “This guy’s neck’s broken.”
“There’s another one further up,” Miguel said.
Jim rose to a crouching position. “Keep your head down Miguel.” He turned to looked along the ditch in the opposite direction. “There’s another body that way.”
“You think that they were waiting for you here?” Miguel asked as he looked left and right.
“Probably. Is this the work of some more of your cousins?”
“No, I’m the only one down here.”
“Well, looks like there are others on our si...” Jim was cut short by another laser shot some distance above their heads.
Miguel raised his head, took aim and returned fire.” I could shoot better than that when I was six years old,” he said.
“Inexperienced reserves. Their best troops are probably back in the woods where we left them lying.” Jim looked back at the limp body in the ditch. “And there are more lying here.”
“So we have nothing to worry about.”
“Yes we do. These guys are programmed fanatics. They’ll launch a suicide attack.”
“You are not shooting back?”
“This thing has a range of only fifty meters.”
“Fifty meters? What use is that?”
“Soon will be, here they come.”
Jim took aim at the closest of at least twenty charging men and women and waited for her to come within range.
A battle yell went up from the attacking force. “The lord and the prophet are with us!”
They were easy targets. One after the other fell to pistol shot or laser beam. Jim noticed that many of them weren’t armed with pistols, they carried lumps of wood.
“There’s more of them to the left. I’m almost out of ammunition, couldn’t you have swallowed more?”
“What do you think I am? A goat?”
“Too many of them. We’re about to get overrun. It was nice knowing you. Hope this does something for your family honor...”
The ground in front of them erupted. Jim was thrown backward by the blast. He gripped the Colt hard to keep from losing it. Several smaller explosions ripped the ground at a distance. A hand pulled at the loose material of Jim’s robes dragging him to his feet.
“Come on. The getaway car is here.”
“Don’t tell me,” Jim said, staggering through the cloud of dust and falling dirt. “You heard that on one of my videos.”
Ahead, Jim saw a bolt of lightning snap to ground from the build up of static electricity on the craft’s surface. A ramp lowered. A young girl appeared. Friendly fire cracked from a weapon Jim knew as a pulse rifle from watching 3V.
“Hey Miguel,” she yelled while firing two more bursts, “just like great-great-grandpa’s time. Cooking the competition,”
“Serafina, put that thing down before you hurt yourself,” Miguel said, climbing the ramp and hauling Jim after him.
“It’s all right, Chris taught me.” She fired another extended burst into the distance. “It is called suppressive fire.”
The ramp rose as they piled into the interior of the small craft. Jim had seen the interior of a number of small vessels; none had been in such an obvious state of disrepair. Cracked and worn insulation covered slightly warped bulkheads. Several control panels were loose, exposing the circuitry beneath.
“Raul, we are in. Get us out of here,” Miguel called.
The shuttle rapidly rose. Jim was propelled to the deck. Then he slid two meters, slamming into a bulkhead as the craft accelerated.
“Get into a seat and secure yourself!” the young pilot yelled. “My scanners picked up some big guns ten kilometers away. By the radiation, their coils are almost charged.”
Everyone scrambled for a vacant seat. The restraining arms rapidly secured them.
“Hold on we’re going straight up, full power.”
The G force pressed down hard, forcing Jim to exhale. He struggled to catch his breath.
“Cowabunga!” Serafina yelled.
The craft creaked and groaned under the force of acceleration. Violent vibration continued as unsecured parts and equipment rattled and scraped. Jim thought the ship was about to tear itself apart.
“We’re out of range,” the pilot announced. The G force subsided.
Chris peered around the side of the gunner’s seat. “Having fun?”
“Loads,” Jim said. “Let’s do it again.”
“Did you get what you came for?”
“I got more than that. What I found out will cause chaos throughout the galaxy.”
Miguel clapped his hands together. “Great-great-grandpa Montoya used to say: In chaos there is profit.”
The trip to the yacht took twenty minutes. The shuttle came in contact with the docking tube. Jim felt the jolt. A low hiss signified that the space between shuttle door and docking tube door was being pressurized.
The restraining arms retracted. All in the craft stood and climbed through the link into the yacht.
“Jim.” Dr. Redmond caught Jim by the elbow, assisting him through the small door.
“How’d you get here Doc?”
“A very fast Commonwealth cutter. Come with me, there’s someone I want you to meet.”
Jim followed Redmond down a corridor then into a 3V room. Three chairs were arranged side by side. Miguel also entered and took a seat.
“Link with Epsilon established,” the computer announced.
A middle aged woman appeared on a seat in front of them.
“Jim, I would like you to meet Councilwoman Rossetti of the Commonwealth council.”
Jim’s eyes opened wide as he recognized her from watching a replay of the council’s emergency session. “Madam, you’re the one that moved for suspension of the talks on nabbing my stuff.”
“Yes, Mr. Young. You’ll be happy to know that three of the council no longer hold that position.”
“Nice to hear.”
“There’s something else I wish to ask you. I have the members of the Commonwealth Supreme Court on hold. May I bring them in?”
Jim nodded. Two men and two women appeared either side of the councilwoman.
“These are four out of the five justices,” she smiled. “The fifth was conveniently called away on personal business. As I understand it, you have been granted citizenship of Batalavia. Is this correct?”
“Yes it is.”
“During your stay on Tranquility, was any imposition placed on your person by that government?”
“Yes, I was in custody.”
“You were held against your will?”
“That’s correct.”
“Did they quote any legal reason to hold you?”
“No.”
“During the time you were in custody did they move you anywhere against your will?”
“Yes, from the main hall to the spaceport.”
“Were there any witnesses to this abduction?”
“Yes,” Miguel interrupted. “I saw it. Jim here did not seem to want to go where the men were taking him.”
The councilwoman continued her questioning. “Did you see anyone else detained, or harmed, that you believed to be a citizen of another planet.”
“One man killed and a woman severely injured,” Jim said, glancing over at Miguel.
“Yes, I saw that too.”
She looked left and right. “Your honors, I believe this constitutes kidnapping of a foreign national by a government, without legal cause for detention, as well as danger to foreign nationals on the planet in question.”
The judges nodded in unison.
“Your honors, I wish to petition under the Commonwealth constitution and the laws of probable cause for permission to use the Commonwealth military to investigate this act.”
The judge on Jim’s far left raised a pad, the other three opened the cover on the right arm of their chairs quickly registering their vote. The judge announced: “Petition granted by a unanimous vote.”
The Time Stone (The Time Stone Trilogy Book 1) Page 38