Milky Way Repo

by Michael Prelee

  “You have a way out of here? One that doesn’t involve catching a ride with Captain Teller?”

  Montario smiled. “Oh yeah. I have a plan. Just follow me.”

  Gretchen walked back in, glancing around furtively. “Is it safe?”

  Montario made a show of looking around. “It’s all good Gretchen. Please hurry, dear.”

  She bent, cutting them free with a kitchen knife. Montario and Caleb stood up, rubbing their wrists. Montario looked at Caleb. “We’re good? You haven’t changed your mind?”

  “No,” he said, shaking his head. “Let me grab a bag and we can go.”

  Montario grabbed him by the arm. “We can buy anything you need on the way. I’m guessing we’re almost out of time.”

  The building rumbled as a ship flew close by. They both looked up, realizing what the ship might be. Montario looked at Caleb. “I’m leaving now, Caleb. Are you coming?”

  He looked toward the door leading back to the landing pad. If it was the Syndicate coming in for a landing he could run out there and tell them what happened. Explain how it wasn’t his fault. Sure, and maybe they’d set him up in another cushy gig like this instead of killing him. He looked back at Montario with nothing but hate in his heart but his choice was already made. “Okay, let’s get out of here.”

  The other ship circled the field once more. Marla and Kimiyo watched from the cockpit as the Blue Moon Bandit’s scanners tracked it. Marla let out a low whistle. “That’s a LL-429 quick courier. Very fast. No wonder they got here so quickly.”

  “So whoever it is has some money, huh?” Kimiyo said.

  “Yeah. That’s going to be bad news for us.”

  “Faster than us?”

  Marla wiggled a hand and gave her the half-and-half sign. “It’s not all about speed. They’re more maneuverable than us, for sure, but with the modifications my man has made to the Blue Moon Bandit we can outrun them.”

  Kimiyo looked back down the corridor toward the galley. Arulio was sitting there at the table, calmly staring into space. “Tell me, Marla. Are there any more guns aboard?”

  Cole watched as the courier ship hovered over the landing pad opposite the Blue Moon Bandit and slowly lowered itself. From his position at the bottom of the ramp he saw the ship settle lightly on its landing gear. He had one hand on the strut support and a hand on his rifle. He glanced at the door to the temple and wondered where Nathan was.

  A hiss of steam caught his attention and Cole looked at the other ship. It was outgassing, dumping coolant pressure from the ride in. After a few seconds the noise stopped and the steam floated away, revealing a landing ramp. Before it lowered all the way to the tarmac he saw boots and legs hurrying down. His breath caught in his throat and he said, “Oh shit.”

  Atomic Jack, Kinty and Bonto stepped off the ramp and started walking across the landing pad.

  “What the hell are they doing here?” Nathan said as he looked out a window at the rear of the temple. “We left that guy for dead back on Olympus.”

  “Which one?” Celeste said.

  “The one in the big pressure suit. The guy on his left,” he pointed at Kinty, “shot him back on Olympus.”

  “They look pretty chummy. You sure they were trading shots with each other?”

  “No, he shot him in the back. I don’t have time to explain but this is very bad news.”

  “Can we make a run for it?” One of the Charon crew asked. “Maybe we could get to your ship before they get to us.”

  Nathan shook his head. “No, and we have to carry Captain Geechy, besides. Let me think a minute.” He looked out the window toward the Blue Moon Bandit again and saw that Duncan and Richie had done a good job freeing the landing gear. Cole was standing at the base of the ramp, trying to keep as much cover between himself and the new arrivals as possible. He had a rifle in his hand and spare magazines strapped across his chest so Nathan knew the ex-marshal was expecting trouble. He was probably trying to cover their escape. He bit his lower lip and sized up the situation.

  “Our best bet is to run for the Bandit,” Nathan said. “Grab the captain and get ready to haul ass. If those jokers start to shoot just run for the ship and get up the ramp. Cole will cover us. Try to stay out of his way. If any of you drop anything, besides the captain, leave it behind. We’re only going to get one shot at this.”

  “What about Montario and Caleb?” Celeste asked. “We can’t just leave them behind tied up like that.

  “I really don’t care,” Nathan said. “They created this whole mess. I’m not sticking my neck out for them.” He noted she looked back toward the common room. “We just don’t have time, Celeste.”

  “We should have just gone through the common room on our way to the door. We could have cut them loose.”

  “They’ll be fine. I imagine they’ve both had experience at getting out of scrapes. Besides, they wouldn’t go back for you.” He grabbed the handle to the door. “Okay, I’m going to open the door and we all run, okay? On the count of three; one…two…three!”

  Nathan grabbed the door and yanked it open.

  Cole watched as the three Syndicate guys surveyed the situation. They glanced toward the temple entrance and only gave a passing glance toward Nathan’s ship. Atomic Jack was gesturing at the temple explaining something and he seemed to be ignoring the Blue Moon Bandit. That might work in their favor. If the message the Syndicate received was only about the money being stolen they might not realize Cole and the rest of their crew was involved at all. Until something tipped them off they might have a short window to escape. He moved slowly to get more cover behind a landing strut and the ramp, trying to reduce the angle at which they might see him. He glanced toward the temple entrance again and saw the door kick open. Nathan held the door as Celeste and four guys came running out. Two of them were carrying someone. They cleared the door and ran up the walkway toward the landing pad. Atomic Jack pointed at them and Kinty and Bonto started to move, pulling guns as they went. They clearly meant to intercept Nathan’s group before they could get to the Blue Moon Bandit. Cole said, “Damnit”, rolled around the landing strut and raised his rifle.

  Nathan saw Cole moving and looked toward Atomic Jack and his crew. Kinty and Bonto were moving toward them, guns out. “We’ve got company coming, guys, move faster.” They picked up the pace but were slowed by Jeff and Chuck carrying Captain Geechy. The captain swayed between them as they ran but they didn’t stumble. They crossed the threshold to the pad as the two gangsters started running across the grass separating the two landing pads. Nathan ran toward the Blue Moon Bandit and gave his group even odds of reaching it in time.

  Cole saw the two gangsters hit the grass and decided Nathan’s group wasn’t going to make it without help. Screw it, he thought. If they wanted to play with guns he would show them how it was done. He sighted in ahead of them and let a long burst go from the rifle. The rounds kicked up dirt and grass in front of the two gangsters and they came to a halt, dropping, rolling and raising their guns. Cole let another burst go and they threw their arms up over their heads and slugs ripped through the grass all around them. Cole took a deep breath and calmly ejected the spent magazine and loaded another. He stepped around the landing strut and hollered. “Just stay down you two. If you raise your heads up no more warning shots. We’re leaving and if you try to stop us again I’ll put one right through your hearts.”

  He spared a glance at Nathan’s group and saw them tearing across the landing pad. They were about twenty meters from the Blue Moon Bandit when the slug hit Cole square in the back and laid him out on the tarmac.

  Nathan saw Cole get shot and said, “No,” under his breath. Cole’s body was pushed forward onto the tarmac and his rifle skittered away, coming to a rest near the landing strut Cole had been using for cover. Nathan ran toward him and another shot rang out from behind his ship. He pulled up short, unsure of where the gunman was. He didn’t see anyone but clearly someone was in that direction. It was all just open
grass past the tarmac’s edge. Celeste ran up to him and said, “Nathan, look.” She pointed at Kinty and Bonto who had been lying in the grass. They were up and moving toward them again, guns drawn.

  “Just stop right there,” Atomic Jack’s voice boomed out from the other landing pad. It was amplified, of course, to reach across the distance between them. “Just stay where you are and no one else will be shot.” Nathan saw him moving quickly in his pressure suit. He must have some sort of amplifier built into the helmet. “We just want to straighten a few things out and then everyone can be on their way.”

  Kimiyo watched from the top of the landing ramp as Cole went down. She rushed forward and Marla caught her arm. “Hold up, we don’t want to get anyone killed.”

  Kimiyo shook her off. “You mean anyone else?”

  Duncan came running up from the engine room corridor. “What just happened? Did I hear shooting? Did Cole shoot someone?” Richie was behind him with a bewildered look on his face.

  “It’s those idiots from the alley back in Go City and Olympus. The ones Richie owes money. They shot Cole.”

  “What?” Duncan said. “Is he all right? Where is he?”

  “Bottom of the ramp but they don’t want anyone moving. They say they’ll shoot anyone who moves.”

  “They did not shoot Mr. Seger,” Arulio said from the galley. He stood up and walked to Kimiyo. His red eyes were suddenly alive, blazing with intelligence and life where before they had been blank.

  “What do you mean?” Kimiyo asked.

  “It was not those three men that shot Mr. Seger. It was the man on the opposite side of the ship. I can hear the one they call Jack speaking with him on a radio. He’s telling him to shoot anyone who moves.”

  Marla and Duncan moved to a monitor set into the wall to the right of the door. She called up a camera view under the ship. Duncan panned the camera around to where Arulio indicated. “Are you sure, Arulio?” Duncan said. “I don’t see anyone.”

  “You wouldn’t Mr. Jax,” Arulio said. “He’s quite invisible.”

  Nathan watched the two gunmen approach. They were walking more slowly now, more confident that they had things under control. He looked at Cole again. “I want to see my man,” he said, raising his voice. “I need to see if he is all right.”

  “Stay put,” Kinty said, close enough now to hear when he spoke. “You can check on him when we get there.”

  “Then quit taking your damn time,” Nathan said. “I don’t want him bleeding out while you mess around.”

  “Just sit tight. We’ll get there in a minute.”

  “What do you mean invisible, Arulio?” Kimiyo said. “How is he invisible?”

  “I noticed it after the other ship landed. There was all this buzzing, you see, creating interference in the spectrum, disrupting the signal flow. It took quite a bit of concentration to pinpoint it. The sensation was quite annoying.”

  “A shimmer suit,” Duncan said. “The bastard is wearing a shimmer suit.”

  “What’s that?” Kimiyo asked.

  “Camouflage,” Duncan answered, “turns you damn near invisible. If you look hard you might see a ripple in the air like heat rising off a hot road but most times you wouldn’t notice. Cole didn’t see him.”

  “Arulio, where is this interference now?” Kimiyo asked.

  “Behind the port engine nozzle.”

  She hefted the small assault rifle she’d been holding and chambered a round. Duncan saw she had two extra magazines, the high capacity ones Cole favored. “What do you think you are doing?”

  “Get ready to help Nathan,” she said.

  “With what?”

  “Cole’s a big guy. He won’t be able to lift him all by himself.”

  “Wait a minute…” Duncan said, but she was already through the door and moving down the ramp.

  Nathan saw Kimiyo take three quick steps down the ramp and duck low. She had a rifle in her hand and aimed it toward the landing pad under the port engine nozzle. She let a stream of fire loose in that direction and Nathan heard someone scream. Duncan ran down the ramp past Kimiyo.

  “Nathan, grab Cole,” Duncan said.

  They ran toward their prone crewman and Kimiyo turned toward Atomic Jack and his men, letting another burst loose in that direction. Nathan saw the mobster in the pressure suit moving faster now, probably as fast as he could in his suit. He was shouting at his men but Nathan couldn’t concentrate enough to hear. He reached Cole at the same time Duncan did and both of them bent over their friend.

  Another shot ricocheted off the ramp near Kimiyo. She turned, surprised, and pulled the trigger again. She got two rounds off and it clicked empty. Another shot whistled past. She retreated up the ramp, trying to escape from whoever had a bead on her. She dropped the empty magazine from the rifle and grabbed for another to reload.

  Cole jumped up, frightening Nathan and Duncan and pulled his pistol from its holster, snapping off two shots behind them before they understood what was happening. He whirled back toward the mobsters, stepped into a Weaver shooting stance and covered the approaching mobsters. They were no more than five meters away, pistols drawn. Kimiyo stepped back onto the ramp, ducking low again and covered them. Nathan bent, picked up Cole’s dropped rifle and hefted it, holding the pistol grip and staring at Atomic Jack. The mobster stared back.

  27.

  “You’ve got five seconds to explain what you’re doing here,” Jack said, his voice raspy and metallic. “I thought you were hunting that ship that carts dead bodies around. Tell me, or my boys are going to end this quickly.”

  “Anyone else behind us in a shimmer suit?” Duncan asked.

  Cole raised his pistol to Jack. “Is that how you got the drop on me? Invisible men?”

  Jack looked back, his fiery eyes drilling into Cole. “There were just the two and I have to admit, I’m less than pleased with their performance. They were expensive.”

  “The men or the suits?” Nathan said.

  “The suits,” Jack said.

  “Anyone else in your vessel?” Cole said. “You have more guys?”

  “We’re it,” Jack said. “We had to come fast and the two you shot were the only extra help available.”

  Nathan looked back toward Celeste and the crew of the Charon. They were on the ground, either laying down or kneeling, like Celeste. She stood up and walked over stopping behind Nathan. “I don’t know what’s going on here but my crew and I are leaving,” she said.

  “No,” Jack said. “No one is going anywhere until my business is concluded. Don’t worry, it won’t take long.”

  “We know all about your business,” Nathan said. “The money you’re laundering through the Children of the Apocalyptic Rainbow. We know who took it and we know why you’re here.”

  “How?” Jack asked.

  “The people here took this woman and her crew hostage,” Nathan said. “Their ship is the body barge. This cult stopped them and impounded the ship until their ransom was paid. My crew and I took care of that.”

  “That’s why you needed the wetjack, wasn’t it?” Jack said. “Your man with the purple skin, the one who bets on dogs, said you needed the wetjack to do something for someone, to get someone free.”

  “Yeah,” Nathan said. “He told us how you tortured him.”

  “Well, he wasn’t as forthcoming as we wanted. Anyway, our money is gone, you appear to be the people who took it and I need it back. Looks like you’re my problem now.”

  “No, we’re not your problem,” Nathan said. “See, we don’t have your money. It’s true that we played a part in stealing it from you but we were coerced into doing it. You’re looking for a man named Montario Dawson. He was the lead asshole around here until he got too big for his britches and decided to move into grand larceny.”

  “And I suppose he’s long gone?” Jack said.

  “You suppose wrong,” Nathan said. “We left him tied up in the common room inside. Your man Caleb is tied up with him. By the way, do
n’t be too hard on him. He did what he could but he was outclassed.”

  Atomic Jack looked at Bonto and nodded his head in the direction of the temple. “Check it out.”

  “We’ve got an injured man,” Nathan said. “We need to get him inside. I’m going to do that now.”

  “I’m fine, Nathan,” Cole said.

  “I know,” Nathan said. He knocked on his chest, producing a deep sound. “Duncan’s bucky vest worked pretty well, huh? Nothing like carbon fiber.”

  “I still felt it but I don’t think I’ll even bruise. It was pretty easy to play possum.”

  “Any way, the injured man is Captain Geechy. He’s ill and I can’t leave him lying in the grass.” He pointed to the captain’s prone form. He was face down on the ground, arms and legs splayed around him. “Besides, these people have nothing to do with this.”

  “Do what you have to,” Jack said, “but if this ship moves you all take a bullet and my pilot will shoot down your ship.”

  Nathan cocked his head. “I thought you didn’t have any other men?”

  “He’s a pilot. He doesn’t count.”

  The crew of the Charon walked up the ramp, two of them carrying Captain Geechy. Nathan turned to Duncan, ducking his head and speaking softly. “Duncan, you go in too. Tell Marla to be ready for a quick take off. Help everyone get strapped in.”

  “She’s ready now,” the engineer said. “All we need is for everyone to come aboard. What about Kimiyo?”

  “Leave her right where she is. For a caretaker she’s a pretty good shot.”

  The crowd moved up the ramp leaving Nathan, Celeste, Cole and Kimiyo facing Jack and Kinty. Cole nodded at Kinty. “The wrist looks healed.”

  Kinty blew out a slow breath. “You’re just making it worse, man. Things aren’t over between us.”

  “I’ve heard that before. In the alley, at Sean’s pawn shop. You like to talk. Must be a big part of your job, huh? Scaring people into giving up their money. You ever run into people who don’t scare?”