Forced Compliance (The Galactic Outlaws Book 1)

by Bradford Bates

  Kenny raised the bat again and started to bring it down. Jumping backward, I pulled out my gun and fired a bolt into the floor by his feet. I’d had just about enough of this shit to last a lifetime. Next time I thought a job was going to be easy money, I’d have to tell Maze to kick me in the balls to snap me out of it.

  Kenny paused, his eyes full of rage, the gun on my hip was an unexpected development.

  “You, pay!” He roared.

  “Sure thing, big guy,” I said still backing away from him. My blaster was firmly pointed at his chest. There was no way I could miss, he was just too damned big, and I was still too close to that bat for comfort.

  “These credits are going to have to cover it,” I said tossing him the hundred credit chip I nicked back from the waitress. He caught the chip in one of his massive hands, gave it a quick look and tucked it away. He tilted his head to the side in thought. I hoped that was a good sign.

  The waitress moved behind him and started to whisper something. Kenny shrugged her off his arm and stepped forward again. I fired another bolt at his feet, but he didn’t stop coming. The brute must have thought that I didn’t have the balls to actually shoot him. That was a mistake, he didn’t know the first fucking thing about me. I’d killed more men than I was proud of, but I tried to avoid it when possible. Nothing brought the heat down from the law faster than a trail of cold bodies.

  Kenny raised his bat in the air again, and this time I decided on trying something a little more dramatic. What was the point of being an outlaw if you couldn’t do something a little flashy every now and then? I rotated my pistol just enough that the next bolt slammed into the bat. The wood splintered, and Kenny ducked away from the splinters. The blast left the burning smell of wood in the air. Kenny looked at his disfigured bat and back towards me. I had a feeling the message I had been trying to convey was lost on him. Kenny looked at the remains of the bat again and then threw it at me before charging in my direction.

  The jagged remains of the bat flew at me, forcing me to duck out of way. All I heard was a single roar, and he was nearly on me. Playtime was over. The hundred credits wouldn’t cover the damage I was about to cause, but he only had himself to blame. Kenny made it exactly four steps before he fell to the floor clutching the hole in his chest. I was actually kind of impressed. Not many men would have been able to move after taking that kind of hit. Somehow, he managed to howl in pain. He must have had a vest on. His men’s first priority would be to make sure he was safe. Never one to let an opportunity slip I turned and fled towards the door.

  Something slammed into my side as I started to run. Thank the stars I had put my coat back on. It had stopped the blade from ending up buried in my love handle, but it was still going to fucking hurt in the morning. Just because I didn’t have a fucking knife sticking out of me didn’t mean I was happy. The man that tried to stab me was holding his hand as blood dripped from between his fingers. His grip must have slid forward when the blade didn’t penetrate my coat. That was the thing with daggers, people thought you could just stab whatever you wanted, but you can’t. If the blade meets resistance and your hand slides off the grip, you get yourself a nasty cut. Now, he had a nasty plasma bolt through his foot, to go along with it.

  It was kind of funny looking at him rocking back and forth on the ground not knowing if he should be holding the cut on his hand or the hole in his foot. The smile that had been forming on my lips quickly fell away as four more men rose from their tables. At least three of them had blasters in their hands. That was my cue to leave.

  I ducked through the rows of tables and the few people that didn’t have the good sense to get out of my way as I headed to the door. Some of them finally came to the conclusion that blaster bolts weren’t good for their health and got the hell out of the way, and none too soon as red bolts of plasma slammed into the vacated tables, as I continued my mad dash towards the door. One of the bolts hit me square in the back, and I almost fell. Instead, I managed to turn my stumble into a flashy dive. I rolled through the entrance and darted to the side of the building.

  Maze and Gabe were running towards me as red blaster bolts continued to shoot through the open door.

  “Trouble, Captain?” Gabe asked, a little more calmly than I would have liked.

  “Nothing I can’t handle,” I said turning to fire my weapon back inside of the bar.

  “Do you always run away from trouble you can handle?” Maze asked with a smirk.

  “I wasn’t running. That was just a tactical decision. You know put a little room between me and the men with guns, so I could return fire at a leisurely pace until help arrived.”

  “Whatever you say, Captain.”

  “Let’s get the hell out of here. I doubt they’ll want to take the fight into the streets.”

  Just as the words left my mouth, two men burst through the door. Maze dropped both of them with shots to the chest. No one else came outside. The men were rolling back and forth on the ground, so at least they had some kind of kinetic armor on.

  “You were saying, Captain?”

  “Forget what I was saying. Let’s just get moving.” I turned and started to jog down the street.

  We didn’t need this kind of heat. I should have just paid the damn bill, but I couldn’t stomach the thought of giving those bastards three thousand credits for a few whiskeys and some kind of tainted burger.

  What in the hell had our contact been thinking, setting up a meet at a place like that? Sure it had been discreet and out of the way, but that didn’t make it safe. That little run in only made it more likely that I’d be wiping the smile off of that little bastard’s face when we met up. Three blocks and a few turns later, I spotted an autocar. We piled in, and the car started. An automated voice came over the speakers.

  “Destination, please.”

  I rattled off the address Ice had provided over the comms.

  “That will be one hundred and fifty credits. If the fare is acceptable, please place your finger on the screen.”

  “As if we have a choice,” I mumbled pushing my finger to the scanner.

  “Please sit back and enjoy the ride to your destination.”

  Enjoying the ride wasn’t on the top of my to-do list. My back was already starting to seize up from where the blaster bolt slammed into my coat, and my side was throbbing from the attempted stabbing. I found what I was looking for in the inner pocket of my jacket. I shook the plastic container. Damn, only two pills left. I was going to have to make them last.

  One of the little pink pills fell out into my hand, and I was reaching up to my mouth when Maze’s hand stopped the movement.

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” she asked with an edge of concern in her voice.

  “Actually, I’m pretty sure it’s a fucking terrible idea, but I’m not going to be able to walk around much longer without it.”

  She removed her hand, but the concern on her face stayed firmly in place. About thirty seconds after I swallowed the pill, I felt a rush of heat wash over my entire body. Then the pain slipped away as if it hadn’t been there in the first place. I could still do this. I was just going to have to take it easy for a few minutes first. Thankfully the autocar was the perfect place to sit back and relax.

  Maze’s hand slipped into mine and she gave it a brief squeeze. With her there by my side I knew it was going to be ok. We would find our contact and get the information from him. None of us were willing to let Kyra go. Whoever had taken her, had better hope that when we got to her, she was in one piece. If she wasn’t in mint condition, the amount of hell I was willing to unleash was going to be biblical.

  Chapter 2

  Captain Drake

  The pain medication had kicked in nicely, and the throbbing pain that had my back muscles twitching was subsiding. The damn pill did have me feeling a little too light and floaty at the moment. That was a feeling I was going to have to fight through if I was going to be able to do what needed to be done. Either our contact ha
d played us, or he was in trouble. I almost hoped it was trouble because if he played us, my feelings were going to be hurt. Seriously there might even be tears.

  The autocar came to a stop. “We have arrived at your destination. Please check to make sure any personal belongings are removed from the cab, before disembarking.”

  I was feeling a little spaced out as I started to check over my gear. My pistol was still tucked under my right arm, and my blaster was locked into the sling on my right hip. Everything was where it should be, but it all felt off somehow. The damn pain pill had me questioning myself. I was going to have to talk to Doc about trying something else. Climbing out of the car I felt myself sway a little bit. It didn’t matter what happened to me, but I couldn’t put any more of my crew at risk because my mind was foggy at best. Maybe Maze hadn’t even noticed the momentary lapse.

  Maze put a steadying hand on my shoulder. “Maybe Gabe and I should go first.”

  Shit, she noticed. I wasn’t ready to give up on me being able to handle this just yet. It was my fault Kyra was gone, and I was going to get her back. “I’ve got this.” I started forward and tilted a few steps to the right. So much for these being combat meds. It was time to realize that that pill had taken me out of the game. At least for now. “Maybe you and Gabe should go first,” I said it kind of casually, but Maze would have known how much those words hurt me to say.

  “That’s a great idea, Captain.” Maze patted me on the back and moved to stand in front of me.

  She didn’t give me any room to feel sorry about it. What’s done was done, and we needed to move forward. Maze moved into the point position with Gabe just a step behind and to the side her. My only job was to focus on their backs and keep moving forward. I could do that, I had to. Maze moved into the lobby of our contact’s building. Gabe stayed back and held the door for me. Once I was in he moved back into position with Maze. They moved to the bank of turbolifts.

  “Shit,” Gabe said.

  “What’s the problem?” I asked, already dreading what he was about to say.

  “No problem, Captain,” Maze said with a smile in her voice that was just this side of mischievous. “You’re going to get the chance to burn a little of that pain cocktail out of your system.”

  It was exactly what I feared. This building’s turbolifts were down. “Maybe I should just wait down here,” I said, hoping they would take pity on me.

  “Really, Captain. It’s only forty floors,” Maze said poking me not too gently in the side.

  Yep, she definitely had an edge of glee in her voice. There was no doubt in my mind she was enjoying this. Not the me that was getting shot and stabbed so much, as it was watching me have to run up forty flights of stairs half in the bag. Gabe opened the door to the stairwell and Maze moved in. Her rifle was slung over her back, but she had pulled out one of her pistols.

  “You expecting trouble?” I asked.

  “Always.” she responded moving up the stairs sideways to keep as much of the area above her in view as possible.

  “Gabe, make sure you have her back. I’ll be right behind you.”

  They started moving up the stairs with a grace I just didn’t possess right now. I kept my guns holstered and just focused on the stairs and the handrails. One hand on the rail at all times was going to be the key to me making it. The only good news was if I fell down the stairs I wouldn’t be able to feel it, but with my back already in rough shape, I didn’t want to chance it.

  By the third floor, I was starting to sweat. Fifteen flights in and it felt like I was back on the desert world of Najeen with full combat gear on. When I passed the twenty-fifth floor, I almost passed out. At the thirty-fifth floor, I could see the light, but my head was clearing up. It wouldn’t be long before the pain from the plasma bolts my jacket absorbed would start throbbing again. The pill should still keep the worst of my symptoms at bay for the next couple of hours. It would have to be long enough.

  When I gasped my way over the last step, I was sweaty like I had just run a marathon. I’d like to say the sounds I was making didn’t make me sound like a fish out of water, but I’d be lying. Maze was breathing hard, but nowhere nearly as hard as me. Gabe looked like he had just gone for a walk in the park. For a moment I felt a pang of jealousy at his youth. Being younger had its benefits, but my life had turned out ok. He probably didn’t even realize how hard it was for me not to snap at him. I’d let him have this moment though, he would know what it was like getting older soon enough.

  “You ready to do this, Captain?” Gabe asked with a little chuckle.

  Ok, maybe I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from snapping. Instead of verbalizing it, I just fixed him with a glare. He didn’t wilt under it, maybe I was losing my touch. I waited for another few moments, not trusting myself to speak right away. When I finally felt like I had enough air that talking wouldn’t send me falling to the floor, I gave the command. “Let’s move.” Ok, so it wasn’t an eloquent speech, but it was all I could manage to bark out before gulping for another breath.

  Maze opened the door into the hallway and poked her head out. She looked back into the stairwell. “All clear.”

  She moved forward Gabe behind her. I took one last look down the stairs to make sure we weren’t being followed and the grim realization of what would happen after we crashed our contact’s place. I’d have to run all the way back down those fucking stairs. I wasn’t relishing the prospect. No one was in the stairwell, so I slipped into the hallway closing the door behind me.

  Maze and Gabe had taken positions on either side of the door. Now it was show time. Christof had only ever worked with me, which meant I had to do the talking to get us into his place. I stepped in front of the door and knocked. Nothing happened, maybe he wasn’t home. A crash sounded from inside. Before I even thought about what I was doing, the blaster on my hip found its way into my hand. I fired three times, destroying the electronic lock before kicking the door in.

  Christof was on the ground, and there was a man standing next to a broken window. He looked at me and smiled before running forward and diving through the opening. Running past Christof, I stopped at the window and looked out. The man had tossed out some kind of small parachute and was gliding away. Fuck, I hoped Christof was still alive. I had some fucking questions for him, starting with why he hadn’t shown up to our meeting.

  I turned around slowly, and Maze met my eye and softly shook her head. Double fuck. “Let’s get what we can and get the hell out of here. Someone’s bound to notice the broken glass and call it in. We don’t want to be here when that happens.”

  Maze turned on Christof’s datapad and placed a remote access chip on it. I heard her talking to Ice as I turned around and started looking over the room. Gabe was pulling out drawers and checking the contents. He was smart enough to find a hidden panel or something taped to the bottom of them, but he probably wouldn’t find much else. I watched him continue his assault on the furniture for a moment before scanning the rest of the room. Something on the floor by Christof’s bed caught my eye.

  Pushing the bed back a bit revealed a loose tile. I grabbed my multitool and slipped it in the crack and used the blade to pry up the tile. The tile came away easily and underneath it was a safe. The number pad looked well used but in good working order, and a quick twist of the handle let me know it was locked.

  “Ice, I know you’re scanning the datapad, but do you think you can crack this remotely?” I snapped a quick picture and sent it to her.

  “Maybe if I had a few days,” Ice said.

  “I’d be surprised if we had more than ten minutes.” Sirens sounded outside, they were still far away, but our timetable was rapidly shrinking. “Make that five minutes.”

  “There are just too many combinations. We don’t even know how many digits the code is,” Ice said sounding frustrated.

  “Kyra is counting on us. We have to try.”

  Maze looked over my shoulder, and I could imagine that her cybernetic eye wa
s picking up details that I couldn’t see. “Try combinations that only use these numbers. Four, six, nine, and zero.”

  “That should cut it down,” Ice said.

  Now we had something to work with. Thank God for Maze, and that cybernetic eye of hers. “Time is of the essence, little one. Get it done,” I said, looking down at the safe and waiting for something to happen.

  Time seemed to be racing by, but finally I heard a click. We didn’t have enough time to look at what was in the safe here. Instead I ran towards Christof’s bed pulling off one of his pillow cases. Dropping back to my knees beside the safe I shoved its contents inside of my impromptu bag. “Time to get back to the Talon. Let’s boogie.”

  Gabe was out the door, and I was on his heels. Maze removed our remote access from the data pad and the safe and followed me out. We hit the stairs hard. It was tough for me to run at full speed but we needed to get out of here before they locked this place down. Just as we passed floor ten, Ice’s voice came blaring through my comm.

  “Emergency responders are in the lobby.”

  “Fuck.” That was just what we needed. If they locked the building down before we got out, we’d be detained for hours.

  I pushed open the door to floor nine and stepped into the hallway. Their first duty would be to get up to the fortieth floor and find out what happened. When they found Christof’s dead body and the broken window, it wouldn’t look good for us. Not to mention we had tossed the place. I’d give us less than a minute from when they found the body until they locked the building down. We had a small window of time from when they raced up the stairs past us, to get down the remaining stairs and out of the building before someone noticed us. It was going to be close.

  “Everyone get ready to follow me.” Maze and Gabe both nodded.