Hell Is Empty (The Frontier Book 3)

by Travis E. Hughes

  “We no longer hire Tom Thorn to assassinate people,” Roslyn said in a loud voice. “Besides that, how would you get any answers from Rex if Tom Thorn shoots him at hundreds of yards away?”

  Talbert grunted and tugged at his ear. Roslyn knew it wasn’t the last she’d hear about it, but he seemed stumped for the moment.

  “Not to be a total business lady bitch, but we need to look for work that brings in money,” Roslyn said changing the holoscreen to the wanted section. “These came through this morning.”

  An image of several faces with names and bounties below them appeared above the table.

  “Ben Tomlinson?” said Charlie Siringo. “I know him. He’s a bastard. But what’s he done now?”

  “It says he killed his brother-in-law,” Frank Lee said. “The family had some money and, looks like some neighbors pitched in to give him a nice bounty.”

  “But we have a new number one this morning, folks,” Roslyn said, flipping to the next slide.

  “Kidd Wylie,” Frank read the caption below the image of a rail thin, woebegone man-boy in a suit slightly too small for him, in that the sleeves didn’t quite reach his wrists. His bowler hat had a large blue feather sticking up out of it.

  “No shit,” Talbert said, coming out of his revelry.

  “You know him?” asked Roslyn.

  “He’s the kid we kicked off of Chindown,” Siringo said.

  “That’s right,” Hassan said, nodding at the image. “He’s all grown up now.”

  “He was a pickpocket, homeless kid,” Siringo explained. “He turned into a stick up artists and a con man. But he was just a kid, literally. Like fourteen years old, sticking up drunks in alleys. Kid had no family to speak of. Both parents died during the war. He was from Danaus but stowed away on a ship to Shiva after the war.”

  “You kicked him off the planet?” asked Roslyn.

  “We sent him back to Earth,” Siringo said. “There are homes there for troubled youth.”

  “Back in civilization,” added Roslyn.

  “Right?” said Siringo with a scoff.

  “But now he’s eighteen and free to go be a scumbag again, looks like,” Roslyn said.

  “Not just a scumbag but a murderer too now,” Talbert added, reading the file on his transponder.

  “Twelve men,” Roslyn read. “Damn. Robbery gone wrong is only one of them. The rest it says was during a war between rival groups in Yanker. That’s in North Vader back on Danaus.”

  “Who wants him caught?” asked Talbert, flipping down the page.

  “It just says a concerned group of citizens,” Roslyn said, finding the contract’s authors. “Main contact and to collect see, Arjun Grover in Yanker.”

  “Rival group then,” Frank Lee said with a chuckle.

  “Most likely,” Talbert agreed. “He must have taken out their toughest fighters for them to want to pay that much to get him off the board.”

  “Kidd Wylie grew up tough and turned even tougher on Earth it would seem,” Frank said with another chuckle.

  “Well, let’s send a team to Yanker… God, who names a town that?” Roslyn said shaking her head at Hattie who smiled.

  “It’s named after Lu Yanker,” Frank said. “The man that found the silver mine there originally.”

  “You know this because…?” Roslyn asked.

  “I worked a case out of Yanker when the first wave from the silver find came in. There were only a few people out there digging around. Lu Yanker had already filled his pockets and I followed a guy there from New Oldtowne. Stupid dud case, turned out. That was before they found gold,” Frank said with a flare of his white gloves. “I met Lu Yanker. Nice guy when he’s sober.”

  “Okay, well should we accept the contract?” Siringo asked.

  “Let’s go to Yanker and see what’s up and who’s in the right or wrong or if this is just a move from one faction to get rid of a dangerous enemy. We’re not mercenaries or assassins people.” Roslyn adjourned the meeting. She noticed Talbert remained seated as everyone filed out. Several agents agreed to go out for lunch.

  “What’s up?” Roslyn asked, closing the door for privacy. “You still want to storm Omnious Ranch guns blazing?”

  Talbert grimaced and scratched his stubble.

  “You think aside from buying your farm from your wife, Rex had more contact with her?” Roslyn asked, realizing the harshness of the accusation after the fact. She wished she could retract the words and reshape them.

  “I don’t know,” Talbert finally said, he was staring at the table, arms crossed. He rocked back and forth for a moment, thinking deeply, then stood and left the room without another word.

  “Good talk,” Roslyn said after he’d left.

  *

  Talbert

  Talbert strolled down the block to eat noodles at a cart on the corner. He had a taste for a beer, but the idea of what that could lead to made him order an orange soda. No longer drinking gave him a powerful sweet tooth, he noticed.

  He couldn’t get the image of Rex Omnious out of his head. How in the hell could he get to that bastard? He pictured tying him up and torturing the spoiled little rich kid until he gave him everything he knew. Then killing him for spite.

  He realized the freedom Rex had to move from planet to planet without detection. He owned shipping shuttles for his cattle. With his own buggy, which essentially was a small private shuttle, could stow away in… The thought opened another door. Did Rex own his own bridge jumper?

  “Hey, Bill,” said a familiar voice behind him. He knew who it was before he turned.

  “Hey, kiddo,” Talbert said with a sad grin.

  Hattie returned the expression. “How are you holding up? I see you’re drinking a soda, that’s a good sign, right?”

  “Yep,” Talbert said, using his chopsticks to twirl the noodles toward his mouth. He slurped them like a bird with worms.

  “I know how badly you want to find out what this Rex or Dylan knows about your family, but, you should also know how dangerous it would be to go down there now.” Hattie placed a warm palm on his forearm. He wanted to put his hand on top of hers but resisted.

  “How was your time with the Birds?” Talbert said, after swallowing. He washed them down with the orange bottle of Jarritos.

  “Incredible… Life altering… Mind blowing… Uhm… Let’s see… I don’t have the words to explain what they showed me and…” Hattie bubbled forth, cheeks ruddy with passion.

  “Okay,” Talbert managed to retort.

  “They showed me the higher dimensions and I transcended through heavy meditation and guidance. They opened my mind up to new realms of reality,” Hattie said, almost laughing.

  “All right, then,” Talbert grinned. “That’s somethin’. Huh?”

  “I know you have trouble believing in the Holy Avians, but, I can tell you they showed me the secret truths of the universe. Not all of them, of course, that comes with many lifetimes, but what they did open for me were doors into vast truths. That’s all I can say about that. Really… I mean…” Hattie seemed to be panting from excitement.

  “Sounds like you had a good experience, then,” Talbert said and leaned forward to slurp more noodles.

  “Uh, yeah, I’d have to agree, Bill,” Hattie finally laughed fully. It was her shrill, girly giggle and it brought back many memories of their time on Danaus. Something ached in his chest.

  “I’m glad for ya, then,” Talbert said and smiled the best he could, though his eyes still held their pain.

  “I want to try and help you locate them,” Hattie said, after their eyes met and then parted for either the traffic on the street or the other patrons of the food cart.

  “Using your Bird magic?” Talbert asked.

  “If that’s what you want to call it, Bill,” Hattie giggled again. “It’s not magic to us, it’s just understanding the universe a little more is all.”

  “Uh-huh,” Talbert said, sipping his Jarritos and suppressing a belch with a grimace
.

  “I learned to astral project,” Hattie said. “I was able to travel to some beautiful and remote parts of Shiva. I can maybe do the same and try to help find your family.”

  Talbert put his chopsticks down into the bowl and stared at her. He wanted to tell her to go ahead and try that, but he would bet his right arm it wouldn’t turn up anything. But that wouldn’t be polite and he liked her too much to be rude.

  “I can see you’re very skeptical, Bill,” Hattie said with a warm smile. She placed her hand again on his forearm. The gesture was too tender for his comfort but again, not wanting to be rude, and guiltily enjoying the warmth, he didn’t protest.

  “I just ain’t ever seen it work before,” Talbert said. “I’ve seen a lot of strange things, but…”

  “But you spoke telepathically with the Avians when on Shiva,” Hattie said. “That’s part of telepathy, astral projection. It’s based on the same principles.”

  “You say so,” Talbert said and picked back up his chopsticks. She removed her hand. The absence of its warmth tugged again at his heart.

  “Would you at least let me try?” Hattie asked, giving him wide eyes and a warm smile.

  “I don’t know…” Talbert stared across the street at a couple of people seated on a stoop, laughing about something. “I guess so. What do you need from me?”

  CHAPTER THREE

  “I can tell you if they are on Athena or Potter,” Hattie said, taking the chair across from the small couch in her apartment. Talbert looked uncomfortable on the couch, with his hat in his hands. He played with the low gravity by twirling it to spin and then catching it. She wanted to laugh when he wore his hat on the moon. There was no need for it, practically, so it must have been some bizarre form of vanity.

  “How’s it work? Do you need something of hers?” Talbert asked, pulling a long, lady’s dress glove out of his jacket. Hattie shrugged but took the glove.

  “Does she have family still on Athena?” Hattie asked.

  “No parents living. Died in the war,” Talbert said. “She had a sister, Claire, who died a couple years back. But, last time I talked to her, she hadn’t heard anything from Amanda. Radiation poisoning took Claire, like I said, couple years back. So…”

  “Were her things gone when you got to the house?” asked Hattie.

  “Yep,” Talbert grunted. “She packed up and left, looked like to me.”

  “Okay, well, that’s a very good sign, right?” Hattie said, examining the glove. There was a tiny tear in the pointer finger, just at the tip. Holding it up she realized it was a left-handed glove.

  “Except she didn’t leave one word where I could find her when, or if, I ever got back,” Talbert said, placing his hat on the coffee table, seemingly tired of playing with it.

  “Are you thirsty?” Hattie asked, pointing to her kitchen over her shoulder.

  “You have no idea,” Talbert grimaced. “But I’m fightin’ that demon one day at a time.”

  “Oh, I didn’t mean that, Bill,” Hattie said, leaning toward him with her hands on her thighs. “Want some water? Is all…”

  “I’m more interested in finding out if my family’s still alive, right about now,” Talbert said with a false grin. His heart beat too fast. “If ya don’t mind?”

  “Right,” Hattie gave a little start and leaned back straight. She then crossed her legs and rested her hands on her inner thighs, palms up, thumb and ring fingers touching at their tips. “I have to warn you, I’m still fairly green at this.”

  “Okay,” Talbert replied. He was doing his best impression of politeness.

  Hattie closed her eyes and began to breathe deeply and steadily. Talbert tried to breathe quietly so not to disturb her. He wasn’t sure if he believed any of it, but at that point he was desperate. He almost felt embarrassed sitting there, looking at Hattie. She seemed to believe in it with all her heart and soul. He didn’t think she was crazy.

  “Amanda Talbert…” whispered Hattie after several long quiet minutes ticked past. “Emyah Talbert…”

  Memories crept into his mind as he sat there waiting for Hattie to scan the planet. Each new flash struck him in the gut a little more, but he felt the need to explore them just the same. As if thinking about them would help Hattie conjure their location. Life had been so much better before the war. What he would give to go back and relive those years? He had nothing left to give, he supposed. But to hold his baby girl and stand in the doorway of his farmhouse, looking out at a full garden and thirty head of cattle in the pasture beyond. He could hear the chickens in their yard and the dog gnawing at something on the porch. To feel Amanda stride up behind him, throw her arms around him, and kiss the back of his neck. He took a tour of his former land, flying over the pastures and the orchard. There below him gurgled the creek and the small bridge he’d built over it.

  Then he pictured his rebel neighbor Bo Forester with the signs along his property line. Ain’t no government zillions of miles away gonna tell me how to live my life! Guns save lives, not Earth’s government. Taxes are for Asses!

  Anger boiled in his stomach and he snapped out of his musings. Hattie had opened her eyes. They were filled with a wet apology.

  “What’s that mean?” Talbert said.

  “I don’t think they are on Athena, Bill,” Hattie said. “Not any more. At least that’s what I… I’m not picking up anything from them.”

  Talbert nodded, feeling something next to stupid and angry and faked another grin before bowing and heading for the door.

  “You leaving?” Hattie asked, standing and hurrying to the door.

  “Yep,” Talbert said. “I uh… I appreciate you tryin’ and all. Still not convinced about that Bird shit, though. All due respect.”

  “Okay, Bill,” Hattie said, trying to hide an offended reaction.

  “Well, seems to give you peace, so…” Talbert pushed the button to hiss open the door.

  “It does that indeed, Bill,” Hattie gave a tiny curtsey as he stepped out into the hallway of her apartment building. “It could give you the same peace.”

  Talbert tugged at his ear and tried not to chuckle.

  “We can try again when we get to Danaus,” Hattie said.

  “We’ll see,” Talbert said, waved with his hat and walked away. She grinned when he put it on and tipped it to a lady in the open elevator. Hattie felt a pang of jealousy when the lady gave him a flirtatious grin. And she felt relieved when he didn’t seem to notice. She only prayed he wouldn’t stop at a bar on his way home.

  *

  Fourteen weeks. That’s how long they had to settle into the comforts of the SS. Golden Hawking. Once again the entire office was relocating to another planet. To say Roslyn had given up her dream of taming Athena wouldn’t be purely accurate. She would save that battle for another time, is how she spun it.

  The idea to move to Danaus had been Hattie’s first. She suggested it was safer for them on Danaus than on Athena with the Amazons calling for their heads and an extremely well protected and dangerous cattle baron running things and organizing them. For reasons not yet fully clear, Rex Omnious, aka Dylan O’Hare had it in for them and he knew how to command both a Lycan and the Amazons. Hattie foresaw a war they couldn’t win coming and tactical retreat seemed the best reaction.

  When Frank Lee seconded her notion, Roslyn felt inclined to agree. The moon wasn’t good for the health and they weren’t moving down to Athena any time soon. That was the final argument that convinced Talbert and the other senior agents. So once again, she loaded her entire agency onto a bridge jumper and they set sail for new digs.

  Talbert kept to himself for most of the trip, occupying his days by reading and doing pushups. He’d moved on to crime fiction, Roslyn noticed. Without being too nosey, she asked people if they’d noticed if he was drinking again. By all accounts he wasn’t, at least not in public. That gave Roslyn hope.

  The highlight of the first eleven weeks came when they passed through a mini planetary system o
rbiting the enormous super Jupiter class gas giant, Brontes. It was a hundred times the size of Jupiter, said the robotic female voice over the PA system. It then went on to name all the moons. The largest moon, Og, had a domed city called Bashan. From the monitors in the main lounge and on live video feeds in people’s cabins, the shimmering lights inside the domed city sparkled orange and yellow on the face of the otherwise dark side. Beyond the moon the fantastic beast Brontes swirled blue and cream colored storms, each ten times the size of Earth. Once past Brontes’ system, the galaxy opened up into the great expansive void. Clear of the last of the frozen rocks the bridges stood as spinning holes through the very fabric of space.

  It was at the bridges that Earth’s presence was still seen and felt. The UN galactic navy still protected them. Magnificent gun ships saw to the line of jumpers going in and out of the eddying vortexes. They made sure no one could possibly destroy them by parking capital ships all around the mouths, fully loaded. The rebels had beaten back the UN military by bleeding them dry through guerilla warfare. But here, at the bridges, there wouldn’t be anyone capable of taking on these dreadnoughts in a straight fight. Roslyn felt a tickle of pride as they passed by the enormous guns and keen, protective eyes of the navy as they floated into the bridge. She wanted to salute the screen but thought better of it. She was floating in the main galley with Grace and Frank Lee. The mock thrust had been stopped when they came out of warp drive and now they floated weightlessly through the bridge.

  Puff made a clicking noise as he floated above her. That meant he was nervous about entering the bridge. She wondered what he made of space travel. How aware was he really? Did he understand the greater scope of the universe? Surely not. But the dragon seemed to be paying attention and was caught often staring at the monitors that played the live feed from atop the ship.

  Once through the bridge it was only a mere three weeks to reach Danaus. That would prove a cakewalk. Once through the bridge, the warning bells sounded for thrust to return and everyone either strapped in or held on.