Blackthorn (Taurian Empire)

by Nate Johnson

“Just until we get away from the port. If they are looking for you. They might very well have bribed half the taxi drivers in the area. Better to wait until we put some distance between them and us.”

  She nodded and started to the left.

  “Hold it,” he said as he removed her welding helmet and the quiver of welding wands. “You would look out of place wearing these in the city. Keep the coat.”

  Tossing the two items into a dumpster, he placed his hand on the small of her back and steered her back onto the sidewalk towards the Embassy.

  “Can we find me different shoes?” she asked. “Even with three pairs of socks, these boots are too big. I feel like I’m walking around in my mother’s shoes when I was a little girl.”

  Logan laughed. “No way princess. Besides. I think they make you look tough. And sexy at the same time.”

  She looked up at him for a moment. Her eyes clouded with some hidden thought. It was enough to make a man wonder what the hell he was doing and confirm the fact that he would never understand women.

  As they made their way, Logan constantly scanned the crowd. Every doorway, every window. His skin prickled with tension. They could come at them from a dozen different directions.

  And here he was armed with nothing more than a spacer’s tool. It could cut through just about anything, but it wasn’t made for fighting. Too small.

  Of course, if he had time, it would be great for skinning a man alive. But not too efficient when it came to stabbing.

  As they hurried up the street, Logan stared at every person approaching. His eyes searching for any clue and tell that might give him a warning. Old habits never went away, it seemed.

  If he could get her to the taxi stand on Fifth, they’d be okay.

  The city sounds, blaring horns, and scurrying people added to the tension. Things could get lost in all that noise.

  Taking her elbow, he steered her across the street. Kaylee had to skip to keep up with his hurried pace.

  “Can’t wait to get rid of me, huh?” she asked with a smile.

  “Something like that,” he said without taking his eyes off the people around them.

  When they made Fourth, he felt his insides begin to relax. They might make it.

  Of course, the universe didn’t see it that way. As was normally the case. Things didn’t go easy.

  A man stepped out of the darkened doorway of an abandoned building and placed himself directly in front of Kaylee. His feet set wide, a sick grin on his face. As if he’d just found the prize of a lifetime.

  Logan’s heart fell. He should have known. Why hadn’t he spotted the man and taken a different route?

  The guy was dressed in the normal fashion for Montlake. Cloth pants, a tight button down shirt and a heavy jacket. He was a few inches shorter than Logan but had a mean look to his eyes that let him know this was a serious character.

  “That’s far enough Miss Williams,” he said as he pulled back his jacket, exposing a laser/projectile combination pistol much like the military issue one Logan had used just the other day.

  “You need to come with me,” the man said to Kaylee. “Nice and easy, no one has to get hurt.”

  Logan scoffed and stepped in front of Kaylee.

  “Back off, dick,” he said.

  The man shook his head as if he couldn’t believe someone could be that much of an idiot. Pulling his jacket back, he reached for the gun.

  The man obviously knew what he was doing. He’d come armed for the job. He had the look and attitude of a competent operator. But this guy hadn’t grown up in Corona. Not during the bad years.

  Logan didn’t think. He didn’t plan or contemplate. He just acted. Quicker than a Valdorian snake, he punched the man in the throat and then again in the face. The satisfying sound of a crunched nose breaking in a dozen places sent a thrill through him.

  Reaching, he grabbed the man’s arm before he could retrieve the gun.

  Kaylee screamed behind him.

  Logan’s focus narrowed down to just the man in front of him as they wrestled over the weapon. If the man got the gun free and clear, Logan was dead and Kaylee, a prisoner. There would be no discussion. No negotiations. The man would kill him and take her.

  Not going to happen, Logan thought as he strained every muscle to control the man’s arm and keep him from his weapon.

  “Logan,” Kaylee yelled. “They’re coming,”

  Out of the corner of his eye, Logan spotted two men, weapons drawn, running down the street towards them.

  To hell with this he thought, as he swept his leg against the man’s knee, bringing him to the ground. He needed to end this before the man’s companions showed up.

  Logan followed him down, using his own knee to land on the guy’s gut. The air whooshed from the man's lungs like a bursting balloon. And his arm went slack for just a moment.

  It was enough time for Logan to pull the gun and jump away.

  “RUN!” Logan yelled as he pushed her towards Fifth Street.

  Kaylee took off. Her heavy boots clomping on the sidewalk as they dodged around frightened people.

  Logan shifted the weapon to his right hand and took her elbow with his left to hurry her along. Maybe he should have let her get different shoes after all.

  He could feel the men getting closer. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw one of them stop and bring his pistol up.

  Logan pulled Kaylee in front, shielding her with his back.

  “This way,” he said as he dipped into an alley just as a shot rang out from behind them. The sudden burn in his shoulder pushed him to the side and into the brick wall.

  Kaylee slid to a stop and looked back, her eyes as wide as the galaxy itself.

  “Go,” he yelled as he pushed himself off the wall. Flexing his hand, he hurried after. Things seemed to still work, he thought, as he glanced over his shoulder.

  Nothing yet. They were probably hesitant to come around that corner. Afraid he was waiting for them with their friend’s pistol.

  As they raced across the street, he pointed to the taxi stand on the corner.

  Kaylee smiled back at him then her eyes got suddenly serious.

  He glanced towards the taxi stand. Two men were there, both of them big, serious, and scanning the crowd, obviously looking for somebody. The fact that they both held guns in their hand was not a good sign.

  Damn, he thought. Who were these guys, and what the hell was he doing messed up in all this stuff? His lungs were on fire. His shoulder ached with a burning pain, and he could feel the blood dripping down his arm.

  They needed to find a bolt hole. Somewhere to hide until he could figure out what to do next.

  Fighting to calm his racing heart. He pulled Kaylee into another alley.

  The two of them raced down the alley, jumping over trash cans and around dumpsters. Once through, they turned up the block and then into another alley. They did this repeatedly until he began to think they might have lost their pursuers.

  At last, he slid to a halt and let go of Kaylee’s elbow.

  She immediately bent over, resting her hands on her knees as she took deep breaths.

  “Did we get away?” she asked as she fought to regain enough air to continue living

  A man yelled from the street behind them. “This way.”

  “No,” Logan answered as he took her arm and began to run again.

  “Where are we going?” she huffed next to him. “I can’t keep running. Not in these damn boots.”

  Logan tried not to smile. He had to give it to her. She didn’t scare easily.

  “There,” he said as he pointed across the street. An older brick building tucked in amongst a dozen other brick buildings. Only this one had a blue neon sign out front that said ‘102 Club’.

  Kaylee’s brow furrowed as she obviously fought to understand.

  “Come on,” he said as he pulled her across the street and into the bar.

  The smell of stale beer, wood, and some sweet Montlake spice that Log
an had never been able to identify, greeted them as he guided Kaylee inside and quickly shut the door behind them.

  “Logan!” the barmaid screamed from behind the bar as her face lit up with a huge smile.

  The bar was empty except for old man McCain at the far end, his head resting on his arms.

  Logan felt a sense of relief. Some things never changed.

  Laura’s huge smile dropped as soon as she saw Kaylee and their interlocked hands.

  Logan winced, but he really didn’t have time to explain.

  “Is the door at the top of the stairs still unlocked?” he asked the barmaid while he fought to catch his breath.

  The young woman frowned and shook her head.

  “You’re gone for two months, show up here with a strange woman and ask if the upstairs is unlocked.” Her scowl could have killed a Valdorian mountain lion at three hundred yards.

  Logan could feel Kaylee backing away. Trying to pull her hand free. He tightened his grip, if he let go, she might bolt.

  “Laura, please, she’s in trouble. We need a place to hide. Now.” He glanced over his shoulder at the door. Expecting it to burst open at any second.

  The barmaid keyed in on the gun in his hand. Her eyebrows rose as she studied them for a moment, her eyes traveling over Kaylee as if inspecting a diamond broach and not liking what she saw.

  Logan held his breath, if this didn’t work, he didn’t know what to do next. But he knew Laura, the woman had a heart of gold and up until a few minutes ago, had been rather fond of him.

  At last, her shoulders slumped. “Yes,” she said. “Go. I’ll send them out the back.”

  Logan smiled at her and said, “Thanks, you’re the greatest.”

  Laura scoffed. “If I was the greatest you wouldn’t be bringing strange women into my bar.”

  Logan hurried towards the back of the room. He could feel Kaylee studying Laura for a moment. But he didn’t have time to deal with that.

  Reaching the back, he opened the door slightly, then guided Kaylee up the stairwell.

  “Hurry,” he said to get her moving.

  “Who was that? Your girlfriend?”

  “Not any longer,” he hissed with exasperation. “Move it.”

  Kaylee harrumphed but started up the stairs.

  “In there,” he said as he pointed to the second room on the right.

  A pounding of running feet on the hardwood floor below made them both freeze in place. Kaylee’s hand hovered over the doorknob, afraid to move.

  A heavy man’s voice said something that he could not make out, then a soft feminine voice answered. Logan held his breath.

  Two sets of heavy feet raced to the back of the bar and out into the alley beyond.

  “Go,” he told Kaylee as he let out the breath he had been holding.

  Kaylee led them into the storage room filled with cleaning supplies, advertising material that hadn’t been used for three years, and in the corner, a ladder leading to the roof.

  She turned back to look at him. “Another damn ladder,” she said with a scowl.

  Logan laughed. “What can I say, the view is spectacular. It’s not bad from the roof either.”

  Kaylee punched him in the arm and tried to hide her blushing cheeks.

  Logan hid the pain shooting through him. She’d tagged him directly on his wound.

  Shaking his head and gritting his teeth, he followed her up the ladder and through the trapdoor.

  At least he’d been right about one thing. The view had been spectacular.

  Chapter Six

  Kaylee’s heart wouldn’t slow down. It was just like the pirate attack all over again. Only instead of shivering in fear, hidden in a luggage compartment, she was standing on a Montlake roof top shivering with fear.

  They would kill Logan if they could. The thought sent a chill through her. It could not be allowed.

  Logan dropped the skylight hasp into place, locking it. He caught her questioning look.

  “Laura and I used to come up here sometimes to look at the stars.” As if that explained everything. What he didn’t realize was that it opened a dozen new questions. In addition, to which, she was relatively positive there had been more going on than looking at the stars.

  “Come on,” he said. “Keep it low, and in the middle, so they can’t see us from the street.”

  Bending at the waist, she followed him across the roof and over a small retaining wall. Three more times they crossed a roof, working their way further and further away from the tavern they’d ducked into.

  When they came to a high, ten-foot wall, Kaylee stopped, looking up at the top then back at him. No way were they getting over that.

  Logan smiled, then interlocked his hands, forming a stirrup for her. She hesitantly put a foot into place and put a steadying hand on his shoulder.

  He grunted as he lifted her up, almost throwing her to the top. For a brief moment, she was floating. Her hands grabbed the edge and tried to pull herself up and over, kicking her legs to gain momentum. As she struggled, he put two hands on her butt and pushed.

  She almost squealed but kept herself together enough to get a leg up and over the wall.

  Logan smiled up at her, then stepped back to get a running start. At the last moment, he jumped and caught the edge. His face grimaced in pain as pulled himself over the top. Was he hurt? she wondered.

  He smiled at her once he made it, then dropped down to the other side and held up both hands to catch her.

  The idea bothered her for some reason. She wasn’t some helpless infant. He didn’t have to constantly save her. Shaking him off, she jumped. Landing with bent knees, her heavy boots making a huge clomp sound. She caught herself from falling and stood, giving him a quizzical look as if to ask, ‘What Next?’

  “Down the stairs,” he said, indicating a door in the center of the roof.

  Pulling up the hatch, he held it in place while she scampered down into darkness. A damp, dusty smell washed over her. Unused space. The weak light from the doorway showed her a small cramped stairwell.

  “Down, and to the right,” he said as he let the hatch bang shut behind them.

  The sudden darkness halted her in place.

  “Through the door,” he said as he placed a calming hand on the small of her back. Instantly, she felt most of her fears wash away.

  The door opened into a large, semi-dark room. A kind of open space with round metal pillars holding up the ceiling. High windows, caked in dust and dirt let in just enough light to see where she was going.

  “In the back corner, he said.

  “What is this place?” she asked.

  “I think they were going to use it for manufacturing, but they never got around to it.”

  “How do you know about it?” she asked as her face narrowed in confusion.

  “Laura and I were exploring. There are a ton of empty places around here. They over built this section of the city.”

  She frowned, this Laura woman seemed to be included in a lot of his life. Was there any chance she would inform on them? Tell her pursuers where they might be. The look she had given Kaylee was not filled with kindness. More the kind of look a woman reserved for a spider in the corner. Something to be eliminated as soon as possible.

  Their footsteps echoed as they walked across the hard wooden floor. Kaylee noticed a layer of dust on everything, as if no one had been here in ages.

  “Why the corner?” she asked as her mind raced with a thousand other questions.

  “Because I need to wash this,” he said with a wince as he started to remove his jacket.

  For the first time, Kaylee saw the rip in his coat and the blood on the back of his hand. She gasped and brought a hand to her mouth.

  “You’re hurt,” she said, then immediately felt foolish. Obviously, he knew he was injured.

  “Yeah, but I don’t think it’s too bad,” He said as he finished wiggling out of his jacket, then used one hand to unbutton his shirt and slip that off as
well.

  She froze for a brief moment, but then shook her head and asked. “What can I do to help?”

  “I need to wash it out and bandage it up,” he said, as he twisted to look at his injury.

  The nasty gash was a good four inches long, through the meaty part of his upper arm. She caught a brief glimpse of white bone beneath the red blood that continued to leak from the gaping wound.

  “Here, let me borrow your spacer’s tool,” she said holding out her hand.

  He raised an eyebrow, as he handed over the small tool.

  “Be careful,” he said, “it’ll cut your finger off like they were sausages.”

  She frowned at him, he must really think she was an idiot.

  Taking the tool, she cut off both of the rolled-up cuffs from the bottom of her pants. Soaking one in water from the sink, she turned and began to wash away the caked-on blood.

  He held perfectly still and stared off into the distance. Her hands trembled a little as she tried desperately not to hurt him any worse than she had to. The wound needed to be stitched up. They really should go to a hospital, but she was pretty sure he’d refuse, so she didn’t waste her breath.

  “I can’t believe they tried to kill us,” she said as she wrapped up the wound, pulling it tight across the homemade bandage.

  Logan laughed. “They were trying to kill me,” he said with a twinkle in his eye. “It is you, they want alive. It’s the only reason we are both still here, they couldn’t get a clean shot.”

  Kaylee froze. He was right. They would kill him in a heartbeat. Just like they had done to those men onboard the Voltaire. She, on the other hand, was too valuable and must be kept alive. Dead, and she lost her value. Pawns and queens.

  Of course, if they knew about the evidence in the report. They wouldn’t hesitate to kill her as well. But Logan was different. Him they would kill instantly.

  The thought sent a cold chill through her entire body. It wasn’t right, it wasn’t fair. This man had been pulled into her troubles through no fault of his own.

  She almost cried, thinking of him being killed because of her. Biting her lip, she gently pushed him toward the bathroom door.

  “Go sit down, rest,” she said. “I’ll wash out your shirt and be there in a minute.”