Chains of Freedom

by Selina Rosen

  Right swallowed hard.

  "Can you see anyone digging through that to make sure of anything? If they saw a part of what could have been his box, that would have been all the confirmation they needed." Jessica's features turned into a mask of white-hot anger, cool, but deadly. "That's why she did it. So that no one would notice, so that no one would look. She didn't kill Jack to make any sort of grand point; she just wanted the box. All along, she only wanted the box. It didn't matter who she got it from. She killed Jack to cover up the theft of the box." She looked out her office window and smiled a sadistic smile. "So, RJ, you're using the box," Jessica looked at Right. "Anything that can be pushed can be pulled. I think it's time we did some pulling, Right ."

  Chapter Eleven

  Levits hadn't found Alsterase very hospitable. He had no money and no skills with which to barter. There wasn't a hell of a lot of call for a starship pilot in Alsterase. He wound up with a job gutting fish, which gave him just enough money to eat on, and more or less guaranteed that he wouldn't be eating what he could afford . . . fish!

  Most nights he found a corner in some abandoned ruin and tried to sleep. Whether he actually ever did, he wasn't quite sure. He knew he sometimes approached something very near sleep, but when he did he had the nightmare. After he had the nightmare he didn't want to even try to sleep.

  He'd lost at least twenty pounds, and he'd been wrestling with a cold for two weeks.

  He had just enough money in his pocket for one half-assed meal, and payday wasn't for two more days. To make matters worse, it was raining. A cold rain.

  Things couldn't possibly get any worse.

  As he reached this point in his reflections, he realized that a big, burly, rough-looking fellow was following him.

  Now, Levits was sure that in his present condition fighting with this guy would be the closest thing to suicide, but he was hungry, and he had worked his ass off for the little money he had. The guy started walking faster, and Levits took off in a dead heat. He had never been much of a fighter, but he had always been one hell of a runner.

  A man darted in the door, fighting for breath.

  "Isn't that RJ's pilot?" Whitey slurred out.

  Mickey barely looked up. "Looks like it."

  Levits man watched with relief as the goon who had obviously been chasing him ran past the bar. He took a deep breath and started to go get a seat. He had almost reached his goal when someone grabbed his arm and damn near pulled it out of socket. The man was big and dark and looked to be witless, which meant there would be no dealing with him rationally.

  "Buy me a beer," the man ordered.

  There comes a point when a person has just been pushed one foot too far. Levits had reached that point. He balled up his fist and punched the man as hard as he could in the nose. As blood gushed from the man's face, he let go of Levits. Levits started to flee, only to be caught by the bleeding brute's other hand.

  "Let him go!" Whitey bellowed, without bothering to stand up.

  "He broke my nose, Baldor," the man hissed back.

  "Let him go, or I'll break your whole fucking head," Whitey said in a coolly menacing tone.

  The man grudgingly let go of Levits and made a rude noise in Whitey's direction. Then he turned and left the bar trailing a steady stream of blood behind him.

  Levits looked over at the odd pair. He remembered his first encounter with them. How could he forget it! A woman had been with them then. Now he realized that her words had been true. Alsterase was no place for a man alone.

  He walked over to where they sat. "Thanks."

  Whitey nodded his huge head. "Join us?"

  "Does the invitation include a meal?" Levits asked as lightly as his belly would allow.

  In answer, Mickey called a waitress over to the table and ordered. "Room, too. If you work with us," Mickey told him with a smile.

  "Where's the woman?" Levits asked looking around.

  "She doesn't love me," Whitey moaned.

  "Damn, now you've done it." Mickey said in disgust. "You got him started again."

  "Sorry," Levits shrugged. "So where is she?"

  "Away on business," Mickey answered simply.

  "With him," Whitey spat.

  "Him who?" Levits asked.

  "David! God, how I hate him!"

  Food was set before Levits, and all else was forgotten till he finished shoving his face full.

  "What can I say? This is too good to be true. Food, lodging . . . Do I get clothes, too?"

  "Oh, yes. And weapons," Whitey said bitterly. "And maybe RJ will come home and . . ."

  "RJ!" Levits gasped in a whisper. "Not the RJ! The one the Reliance wants killed at any price?"

  Whitey smiled sadistically. "Is that a problem?"

  "Damn, I knew it was too good to be true," he mumbled.

  "She grows on you after awhile," Mickey said with a reassuring grin.

  They looked out from their hiding place among the trees. Victory had made them overconfident.

  Or at least it had made David and Alexi overconfident. Things had gone smoothly. Too smoothly for RJ's liking. She'd learned to be leery of anything that seemed too easy.

  There was really no reason for her guts to twist themselves into knots. Everything was in position. She had checked and double-checked. Everything was in order. Everything except her gut. She had set the charges. She had placed her weapons. She had planned her strategy. She had checked and double-checked the box; still . . .

  "We're not going to do this one. Let's pack up," she announced. "It's time to go home."

  "Are you nuts?" Time and togetherness had not made Alexi any fonder of RJ, nor had it endeared him to her. "Those Reliance dicks are like fruit for the picking. As long as we have the box . . ."

  "What if they've figured out that we've got it?" RJ asked hotly.

  "What could they do then?" David didn't understand.

  "Remember in the forest when the Reliance were chasing us?"

  David nodded, how could he forget.

  "I knew were to plant the traps because I knew they were following us. Same thing here. If they know we have the box, they could enter false data. Scenario . . . We wind up facing a GSH and a troop of Elites for a shipment of bubble gum."

  "But surely we could finish this one. I mean, we're already set up," Alexi said. "Or is everyone's favorite warlord having an attack of woman's intuition?"

  "Maybe," RJ said simply. "But it's time to pack it in. We've got enough. It's stupid to let greed get us killed."

  "I agree, and no one will be happier than I will to get home. But why don't we go ahead and do this one?" David told the truth. He did want to go home. He found it exhausting to be in the company of two people who hated each other so intensely. "So, what do you say? Let's do this last one, and then we'll toss the box and call it quits."

  RJ thought for a moment. Was she being silly? Well, of course she was, but that was her prerogative. She looked at Alexi.

  "Troublemaker," she grumbled at him.

  He smiled smugly.

  They waited in silence. The caravan came into view. The lead vehicle came even with the charges. RJ threw a switch and BOOM! No more vehicle. The caravan came to a halt and well-trained Elites deployed quickly into the surrounding areas, looking for their targets. They ran right past the three rebels and right into a trap. Nothing fancy, just a line of dummies set behind automated projectile weapons controlled by a button in RJ's hand. The troops stormed up the hill towards the fake Rebels and right into a mine field.

  RJ whispered to her companions. "Those are Elites."

  "So," Alexi whispered back.

  "So, there weren't supposed to be any Elites in this caravan. So, what do you think of woman's intuition now, smartass?"

  "What do we do?" David asked.

  "We don't have a choice now," RJ said. "The men who stayed to guard the shipment aren't likely to sit down there or move on and forget about us. We've got to go on as planned. You know, sometimes—not v
ery often, mind you—but sometimes I hate being right."

  They ran in to clean up the remaining personnel. It wasn't difficult. The men that had been left behind were only first-class soldiers. Realizing that the Elites were gone, most of them were too busy deciding whether to bolt, or not to put up much of a fight. They were easy prey for the three rebels, who had killing down to a science.

  When the last man fell, Alexi looked at RJ and laughed. He walked to the back of the box-shaped supply truck and took hold of the handle. "See, RJ? I told you. Nothing to worry about."

  The door flew open with such force that it sent Alexi flying through the air for twenty feet. He landed on his head and was still.

  David looked at the mammoth form that filled the doorway. "GSH," he breathed.

  It seemed to survey the situation; then it jumped to the ground.

  "Holy shit!" David screamed, then fired the projectile weapon he held in his fist.

  It didn't do any good. The bullets hit the GSH, balled up, and fell off, inflicting little more than a few minor bruises. It turned its massive head to face David, and slowly raised the laser it held in its hand to level it at David's head.

  "Oh, holy shit! Holy shit!" He continued to fire as he began running backwards as fast as he could.

  The GSH was preoccupied with David. RJ watched. Just as the GSH prepared to shoot David, she fired. The laser hit it in the head. It groaned and fell to its knees.

  David dove behind a vehicle.

  RJ fired again, this time hitting it in the arm.

  It swung its weapon towards where she'd been, but she was gone. It got to its feet. It wasn't particularly hurt, but it was for sure pissed off. It looked around for RJ, but obviously hadn't forgotten about David. She was nowhere to be seen. That meant there was only one place she could be. With a mighty leap, the GSH landed on top of the truck.

  RJ had anticipated this move. She was lying on the other end of the truck. The moment the GSHs feet hit, she fired the laser. The bolt struck it in the chest, and threw it off the truck. It landed with a thud that seemed to shake the earth. Still the monster got up.

  David threw down his projectile weapon. It was useless now. He usually felt more comfortable with it; for dropping humans it was damn near as effective as a laser. Fortunately, he hadn't stopped carrying a laser. It was under his arm in . . . Where was it? He looked around quickly. There it was, on the ground more than ten feet out of his reach. It must have fallen out of the holster while he was running. With a GSH lurking about, that ten feet might as well have been ten miles. David steeled himself. RJ needed his help. He made a dash for the weapon.

  The GSH got shakily to its feet. It saw David and fired just as RJ landed on its back, knocking it off balance.

  David's leg buckled and he hit the ground hard. He retained enough sense to grab the laser as he pulled himself back behind the vehicle. The pain finally hit him, and he looked at what was left of his leg. Tears obscured his vision, but he could still see that at least half the flesh of his right leg was gone. The smell was awful. It was all over now—his quest, his part in the rebellion. His life was going to end here, on a dusty stretch of road, at the top of a mountain he didn't even know the name of. He couldn't see RJ or the GSH now, but he could hear the struggle. He would make sure RJ won. He would make sure the rebellion didn't die here on this road with him.

  RJ jumped on the GSH, knife in hand. Her intention was to sever his jugular vein.

  Not too surprisingly, the GSH objected, and was trying to redirect the knife in question to a similar point on RJ's throat. On most days, it would have been no contest. The GSH was three times RJ's size and much stronger, but it had taken a lot of damage from her laser. Enough that it wasn't repairing itself as fast as it should have been.

  They rolled around and around. It on top, her on top, like some bizarre mating ritual which seemed to last for hours. RJ realized that the struggle could go on long enough for the thing to repair itself. She had to make her move, and she had to do it quickly.

  David saw his chance. He fired.

  The laser hit the back of the GSHs head, the monster lost its grip, and RJ cut its throat. Bright red blood poured out over her. She threw him off, got up and stood watching as its struggles grew weaker and finally ceased. RJ walked over to where David was leaning against one of the vehicles. She patted him on the back, and he collapsed to the ground. After she picked him up and set him against the wheel of the truck, she looked at his leg and said nothing.

  "Kill me, RJ," David said, biting on his lip to fight the pain.

  "Cure you or kill you," she said thoughtfully. "There isn't any in between," she pulled the black leather pouch from her pocket and extracted the syringe.

  "What are you doing?" David asked through gritted teeth.

  "For once in your life could you just not ask questions?" She stabbed the needle into her arm and started to draw a syringe of blood.

  "What the hell are you doing?" David demanded.

  "Something I shouldn't. Now shut the fuck up." The syringe was full; she took it out. "Make a fist," she ordered.

  David gave her a skeptical look.

  "It will either work or you'll be dead. Either way we're never going to talk about it again. Now just make a fist."

  He did, and she shoved the needle into his vein and emptied the syringe. She withdrew the empty needle and carefully packed it away.

  At first, he felt nothing. Then there was a tingling. Then nothing again. Nothing at all—not even pain. He looked at his leg. The flesh of the wound began to bubble, and—to his amazement—it began to rebuild itself. He didn't know how much time passed, but it couldn't have been long. His leg was healed. New flesh and skin covered the wound. Oh, it wasn't exactly healthy-looking tissue; the muscle tone was nonexistent, and the skin was white and bare. But he had a leg again. He looked at RJ and started to speak.

  RJ smiled her most rakish smile. "I told you, and I meant it. We're never going to talk about it," she stood up. "Stay still. I'm going to make sure there aren't any more of them lurking about."

  "But . . . how . . ."

  RJ just shook her head and walked away.

  He watched her go. She wasn't human. Alexi had said she was an Argy hybrid. David hadn't believed it, but it must be true, because RJ was definitely not human.

  "They what?" Jessica screamed at the messenger.

  The man gulped and pulled at his collar before answering. "They killed everyone in the caravan, including the GSH."

  "How?" Right bellowed in disbelief. "How did they kill the GSH?"

  "What about the follow-up troops?" Jessica asked, ignoring Right.

  "An extensive search of the area failed to turn up any sign of the rebels."

  Jessica gritted her teeth. She definitely would have been all for the ancient custom of running the bearer of bad news through with a sword. "And I suppose that the roadblocks were just as ineffective," she said coolly.

  "Correct, Senator." The man cringed as he said it.

  Jessica drew a long, shuddering breath, and then completely lost her cool. "Fucking idiots! We had her in our hands, and they let her slip through their feeble fingers!"

  "How do you suppose they killed the GSH?" Right asked again.

  Jessica knew how, and she didn't want to hear that question again. She stood up and rested her fists on her desk, looking down at Right.

  "I don't care how they killed the fucking GSH!" she screamed. "What I care about is that RJ is still at large, and now she knows that we know that she has the box. GSHs are expendable, Right. They are made to fight and die. So one is dead. Does it matter whether they ripped out its throat or shot it a thousand times with a laser?"

  "If they can kill a GSH . . ." Right started.

  "What, Right? If they can kill a GSH, what? They're dangerous! Now, there's something we didn't know before!" She sat down heavily and took a deep, cleansing breath. She turned her attention back to the messenger.

  "I don't want a
nything left undone this time. I want every inch of ground for a ten-mile radius analyzed till it's bleached out white. I want everyone questioned—workers, soldiers, pigs, chickens and goats. Do you understand?"

  "Yes, Senator," he stood there, waiting to be dismissed.

  Jessica lost her cool again. "This week, if you don't mind too much, dumbass!"