by Gary Weston
‘Shit!’ gasped Valiant.
‘He’s not dead. He’s not dead.’ Martin started slapping Norton’s face. ‘He can’t be dead.’
‘Dale. He is very dead.’
‘No. Crap, crap, crap.’
‘I’ll call security.’
Wild eyed Martin said, ‘No. It was an accident. I didn’t mean to kill him.’
Valiant pointed to the security camera in the corner of the room. ‘It’s all recorded. Time to turn ourselves in.’
‘No. I can’t do time. Dan. I just can’t. We gotta get off this rock.’
Valiant clasped Martin by his shoulders. ‘We’re cooked. I’ll call security and what will be, will be.’
Martin pushed Valiant away and ran from the office to the security door. Valiant ran after him, trying to stop him making things even worse. The glass security door opened, the female guard standing in their way with a gun. Martin charged on, catching a searing blast to his shoulder, then he crashed into the guard, sending her sprawling to the ground. Her head struck the floor and she was out like a light.
‘Dale. Stop this insanity.’
Martin grabbed the gun and pointed it at Valiant. ‘You’re either with me or against me. We can get away, Dan. Come on, before the cops get here.’
Valiant stared at the unstable Martin pointing a gun at him and raised his hands in the air. ‘Drop it, Dale. You know it’s all over.’
‘Not until I say it is. We’re in this together. Come on. Let’s go.’
Valiant could hear sirens in the distance. They wouldn’t be far away. All he had to do was to keep Martin preoccupied and let them deal with it all.
‘Ok. We need to hurry.’
The buggy was waiting outside, and they jumped on the back of it and it set off to their ship. The sirens were getting closer, but Martin was racing away in the opposite direction. They reached the impounded, ancient freighter and bounded on board.
‘We have to give ourselves up, Dale. This old bird can’t fly, remember?’
‘No. Ok. Maybe not this one. So, we take another one.’
‘And go where? We could never land anywhere.’
‘There are planets out there we can live on. Not another soul on some of them. Dan. I can’t be banged up. I just can’t do it.’
Valiant said, ‘Hey. Just calm down. Give me the gun.’
‘Not happening. Dan. Work with me. We can get away with this.’
‘Give me the gun. It’s all over.’
Martin staggered backwards. ‘Stay away from me, Dan.’
‘Give me the gun.’
‘Get off my ship. Go on. You’ve never been one hundred percent behind me.’
Valiant said, ‘That’s crap. Come on, Dale. Time to put an end to all this.’
‘Don’t come near me.’
‘Dale. Give me the gun. Come on, pal.’
Martin waved the gun about. ‘Stay away from me.’
Valiant made a grab for the laser hand-gun, then dropped back with a hole in his chest.
‘Dale…’
‘Jeez. Dan. I …Dan.’
Valiant fell to the floor, clutching his chest. ‘Give yourself up. It’s all over. I…’
‘Dan!’
Valiant closed his eyes for the last time. Martin held his friend and business partner of twenty years, all their memories flashing through his now deranged mind. ‘I gotta go, Dan. I gotta go.’
Martin let the dead body of Dan Valiant go. They were not going to bang him up. Not an option. There was a freighter parked on the next pad. All he had to do was to get on it and take off. Find a planet where he could live free from strife.
Martin needed a distraction. He knew ships. He knew plasma engines. The state his engines had been left in, he well understood what would happen if he dared start the ship up. He loved this old bird. It was part of his families history. And here was how the great ship died. Martin fired up the once mighty engine, from which there came a roar the like of which had never been heard for two hundred years on Mars.
Martin raced from the airlock, away from the exploding ship becoming a fireball of all that he had ever owned. He was down face-first on the ground, flames in all directions, blasted debris raining all around him. From the freighter next door, the airlock opened and the figure of a man strode down the ramp. It was Sam Thorne.
This was Martin’s chance to escape. The airlock of the freighter was open. From the shadows, Martin ran at Thorne, catching him by surprise, sending him crashing to the ground. Badly winded, Thorne couldn’t fend off the heavy blows to his face and passed out. Martin seized the moment and ran up the airlock ramp and into the ship.
Karma Casey had seen what had happened to Sam and wild with fury, dived onto Martin’s back, her fingers raking his face, digging into his eyes. He spun madly around, falling backwards against the wall, slamming Casey hard against it. Casey didn’t let go and pulled hard with both hands on Martin’s hair. He pulled free, only to receive a solid punch to his nose. He dropped to his knees, and Casey’s boot smashed into his face. Half blinded, he grabbed Casey’s leg as it was about to kick him again. Using all his strength, he twisted hard and Casey fell onto the floor. Martin got on top of her, clenched her head in his hands and bashed it on the floor. Too stunned to fight, Casey was like a rag doll.
Martin took hold of her belt and dragged her to the edge of the airlock. A groggy Sam Thorne was climbing into it. Martin kicked Sam hard in the chest, sending him falling out of the airlock, onto the ground. Casey was hurled out of the ship. In the distance, sirens and flashing lights were heading his way. Martin closed the airlock and ran to the flight-deck and began the take-off sequence. As armed security officers surrounded the ship, the thrusters let out a roar and the freighter rose up in the air. A minute later, it was a blue speck of exhaust from the plasma engine as the ship flew away into deep space.
Chapter 387
‘Now that was a feed,’ said Raven, patting his belly.
Joy Dainty said, ‘Trust you to have two desserts. Come on. Let’s go get Dixon.’
As Raven was swiping the sensor to pay the bill, two uniformed security officers appeared at the door and after a few words with the maître de, were taken over to Raven and Joy.
‘Sir,’ said one anxious officer, ‘You need to come with us.’
‘Why? What the hell for?’ demanded Raven.
‘Sam Thorne’s ship has been stolen. Both he and Karma Casey have been hurt, but are ok. I’m afraid the children are still on the ship.’
‘Get us to the launch pads, now,’ snapped Raven.
The security vehicle raced to the launch pads, past the emergency crews putting out the fires of the burning freighter, black plumes of smoke making the air choking. The vehicle wove a path around the chaos, to where a commandeered ship was waiting to take off, Sam Thorne standing in the open airlock.
‘Tagg. Hurry,’ yelled Thorne.
The security chief had already told Raven and Joy that Casey had been hurt more than Thorne and was in the city hospital. Joy was distraught, shaking by Raven’s side.
Raven said, ‘I’ll go with Sam. You go to Karma.’
‘Oh, Tagg…’
‘No time,’ said Raven, jumping in the airlock.
The airlock closed up and the ship was in the air just seconds later. As the security vehicle with the lights flashing and sirens wailing rushed Joy away to the hospital, she looked up through her tears to see the ship disappear into space.
Raven sat next to Thorne as the ship was pushed to maximum speed.
‘What the hell happened, Sam?’ Raven asked as he buckled himself up.
‘I heard that ship explode. I got out and was hammered by the joker who took my ship. He has Shannon and Dixon with him.’
‘Jeez. If anything happens to those kids, I’ll kill that son of a bitch with my bare hands.’
Thorne growled, ‘Not if I get to him first. Look.’
Martin in the runaway ship was on the screen. With the s
tart he had, he was almost out of the radars range.
‘Where the hell is he heading?’ asked Raven.
‘Sector six, by the look of it. My guess he’s hoping to find an uninhabited planet he can survive on. He’s crazy, but he still knows he can’t land on a populated planet.’
‘Can we catch up to him in this?’
Thorne said, ‘We can close the gap a little, but I doubt if this ship can catch my ship. We just need to make sure we don’t lose him.’
‘Right. I’ll call Mars. See what the situation is with Karma.’ As Thorne flew the ship, watching the screen like a hawk after its prey, Raven worked the radio. ‘Yeah. This is Boss Raven. Patch me through to the hospital. Reception? This is Boss Raven. I want to know how Karma Casey is. Yes, I’ll hold. An anxious thirty seconds seemed like an hour until a male voice came through.
‘I’m Doctor Chuck Samala. Miss Casey is in a stable condition. She’s conscious but sedated. Her right arm was broken in two places, and she took a blow to the head, but not enough to have caused lasting damage. She’ll make a full recovery.’
‘That’s a relief,’ said Raven. ‘My partner Joy Dainty should be with Karma by now. Please let her know that Sam and I are tracking that ship into sector six.’
‘I’ll do that. Oh. Boss. You should know the man you are chasing is Dale Martin. He murdered Commander Norton.’
‘He what? He killed Norton?’
‘Yes. About two hours ago.’
‘Ok. Thanks, Doc. Over.’
‘That is one desperate man on my ship, Tagg.’
‘He probably thinks he has nothing to lose.’ Raven squeezed Thorne’s arm. ‘At least Karma’s going to be ok.’
Thorne nodded. ‘Yeah. We just have to save the kids.’
Chapter 388
Seven year old Shannon Thorne had seen some of what had occurred. She had wanted to run to help her mother, watching her being hurt and thrown out of the ship. Then she had heard Dixon crying. Shannon hurried away to the baby and picked up him up the way she had seen Aunty Joy do it, supporting the head. Then she went to a storage cupboard and got inside, pulling the door shut, sitting on the floor. She remembered about Pinky. That monster had hurt Karma. Maybe he would hurt pinky, too.
Shannon placed Dixon on the floor, and carefully opened the door, just a few inches to see if that bad man was around. He wasn’t.
‘Pinky. Pinky. Come here, Pinky.’
From under Shannon’s bed, the pup peered out, saw Shannon and ran to the girl. Once safely inside, Shannon quietly closed the cupboard door. Outside, she could hear the sirens of the security officers and emergency vehicles. They would help them. They would save them. All they had to do was stay quiet so the bad man couldn’t find them.
Dixon started crying, so Shannon picked him up, holding him tightly, rocking him.
‘It’ll be ok,’ whispered Shannon. ‘Just keep quiet and they’ll save us. Shush.’ For a change, Dixon did just that. ‘Good boy.’
Stay quiet, she kept thinking. The security men would be coming in the ship in a minute. Then she heard something she shouldn’t be hearing. The ship’s engines. The familiar slight wobble of the freighter lifting off the launchpad. Shannon gasped as she realised the ship was taking off and she and Dixon were alone with the bad man.’
* * *
‘We’re gaining on him, but only just,’ said Thorne.
‘Hey. Does thing have a cannon?’
‘Yes. When we pirates were raiding and pillaging, quite a lot of commercial ships fitted cannons. No damn use to us, though. We can’t shoot it with the kids on board.’
Raven said, ‘I just thought we could take out the thrusters.’
‘It would be a long shot of doing that without blowing up the ship. I wouldn’t even think about it. You saying that reminds me we’re at a disadvantage. My ship has a cannon which Martin can use against us. And he knows we daren’t shoot back.’
‘We need to talk to him. Tell him to hand himself over.’
Thorne said, ‘He has all the aces, Tagg. We can’t use our cannon, he can use his. He can threaten to hurt the kids and tell us to back off. And we would have to do it. Maybe if we try to talk to him, we’ll force him to react in a really bad way. He’s a killer.’
‘Thanks for reminding me. And we’re basically powerless to stop this mad man.’
‘Yep.’
Chapter 389
‘Oh, God.’
Joy grasped Karma’s hand of the good arm. ‘Hey. Karma.’
‘Joy.’ Karma tried to sit up and immediately wished she hadn’t, flopping back on the pillow.
‘You’re going to be ok.’
‘Sam. Shannon. Oh, God. Dixon.’
Joy said, ‘Bad news. That man took your ship. And our children. Tagg and Sam are after them.’
With a pounding head, it was a lot of information to take in. ‘He kidnapped our kids?’
‘He was on the run, Karma. He killed Commander Norton and he’s trying to escape.’
‘A killer has the kids? Oh, Joy. I…I tried to stop him. He got the better of me. Joy. I’m so sorry.’
Joy said, ‘Joy. Look at the state of you. He almost killed you. You couldn’t have done any more than you did. Tagg and Sam will hunt him down.’
At the thought of Shannon in danger from a killer, Karma broke down completely, which made Joy fall to pieces, too. All they could do was to try to console and comfort each other and hope for the best.’
* * *
A frightened seven year old girl sat in a cupboard, feeling the steady throb of the engines as they powered the ship through space. A little light streaked in through a ventilation slot at the top of the door. Why? Why had this bad man hurt her daddy and Karma? To steal their ship? Even to Shannon, that didn’t make sense. He wouldn’t steal a ship with a baby and a girl on it. He would steal an empty ship. Daddy wouldn’t let somebody just take them like that and do nothing. And what about Uncle Tagg? He ruled the galaxy, she’d heard people say. Well, maybe not really rule the whole galaxy, but he was a very important man. He could send the D S I after them. Hundreds of ships after the bad man. Yes. Uncle Tagg would do that. Dixon was his baby, so he would send lots and lots of ships after them. All they had to do was to wait and stay quiet and Daddy and Uncle Tagg would rescue them.
Pinky made a slight whimpering sound and peed on the floor. She had tried not to do it, because she didn’t want to be shouted at. But she just had to.
‘It’s ok, Pinky,’ whispered Shannon. ‘Not your fault. Come here.’
Pinky went to Shannon and nuzzled up close to her, letting the girl stroke her scarred pink ear. Was this a new game? But the puppy sensed the girl’s fear. This was no game. Pinky did what all dogs do when unsure. She closed her eyes and fell asleep with her head on Shannon’s lap.
Chapter 390
‘I should call Joy and Karma,’ said Raven.
‘I don’t think that’s a good idea.’
‘Oh?’
Thorne said, ‘I’ve been thinking. Maybe Martin doesn’t realise we’re after him yet. Let’s not give the game away. If he hears us on his radio, he’ll know.’
‘Oh, come on, Sam. Joy and Karma will be frantic. We have to talk to them.’
‘And if we do, he might do something stupid out of panic. Besides. There’s something else I’ve been thinking. Why hasn’t he been calling us, telling us to back off, because he’s got the kids? Either like I said, he’s too damn busy escaping to notice we’re on his tail, or he knows we won’t dare do anything, because he has the kids.’
‘Crap!’ said Raven. ‘All of the above. He is too busy running away to even notice us. And he hasn’t even realised he has our kids on board. You just said it, Sam. If we were in his position and had children on board, we would exploit that. Our kids would be his best chance ever of escaping.’
Thorne said, ‘He doesn’t know. That crazy son of a bitch doesn’t know he has our kids. There’s no other explanation.’
&n
bsp; ‘Right. And as you said before. We can’t put that out on the radio. Sam. Is there any chance Shannon has hidden away from him?’
Sam knew Shannon better than anyone. She was very bright. She also knew the ship as well as he or Karma. What would Shannon do?
‘Tagg. Shannon’s hiding on the ship. That’s why Martin hasn’t told us to back off. Same for Dixon. Of course. That’s exactly what Shannon would do. My gut’s telling me, Shannon is hiding on the ship and she’s trying to look after Dixon.’
Raven tried to pick holes in that hypothesis. He knew Shannon was a very smart girl. The freighter was a big ship with plenty of places to hide. Martin had been injured and he was concentrating on escaping.
‘Shannon’s our main hope, Sam. Damn. I hope you’re right about this.’
Thorne was grasping at straws. ‘She’s my daughter. And right now, she’s all we have.’
Chapter 391
Shannon was mature for her age. She had seen and done more than most kids twice her age. She knew her father and Uncle Tagg would be looking for her. She just had to stay safe and away from that bad man. But she was hungry. Baby Dixon was also hungry. And Pinky, too. They could stay hidden for some time, maybe until her daddy found them. They needed food and water to sustain them.
‘Pinky. I gotta go get food. You have to stay here and keep quiet. You look after Dixon, ok?’
Shannon opened the door an inch and looked out. Nothing. She stepped out and closed the door behind her. Then she went to the door out of the room and opened that slightly. The galley was almost opposite. The door was slightly open. She went to the door and listened hard for the bad man. She couldn’t hear anything, so chanced looking in the galley. Nobody. Thinking fast, she knew she could only take seconds to grab anything. Finding clean towels, she placed three on the table. Then she filled a container with water. In the fridge was a bottle of Dixon’s milk. These two things she placed on the towels. Food. In the fridge were cooked chicken and fish, bought in the stores in the city on Mars. They were put on the towels. She found bread. There was just one more thing. A long bladed, sharp knife. That would have to do. Shannon bundled up the supplies and found it heavier than she’d realised and almost dropped it all on the floor.