"Now, Sheriff Alken said you'd be one to make threats like that, and yet his head still sits atop his body."
"For now," Mason answered calmly.
"Okay, let's try this again."
He grabbed Mitchell, pushed him to his knees, and held a pistol to the side of his head.
"We've already got one of you. We'll take him with us and try him for the unlawful killing of Herschel, then we'll come back in greater number to take however many of you are stupid enough to still be here."
Mason squinted as he tried to get a read off the man and see how serious he was. Everything he was seeing told him he had to act.
"Sorry, Felix."
"For what?" Mitchell replied; sounding confused.
Without hesitation, Mitchell snapped his weapon from its holster and fired from the hip. The laser hit Hunter square in chest, but he got a shot off as the impact struck. A laser from the pistol clipped Mitchell's ear before striking the ground in front of him. The Sergeant was launched off his feet and disappeared from view. The other three men lifted their weapons to respond, but one was struck a second after Mason had fired. The laser came from the roof and hit one of their shoulders. He was incapacitated and immediately on the ground in pain.
Mason fired the next shot and took out the leg of one. Liu struck the last in the face, killing him instantly. The doors of the bar flew open, and Erin rushed out to Mitchell's aid. Mason was ahead of her and got to the bodies to see Hunter was gone. He saw the Sergeant vanish down a narrow corridor between two of the buildings in front of him.
"Help him!" he yelled as he gave pursuit. He took the bend he had seen Hunter disappear down and could tell by the speed he was making, the laser had made little effect. Mason guessed he must have been wearing the same torso body armour they wore, expensive gear for the average militiaman.
He heard a tussle around a bend and rushed as quickly as he could. As he took the bend, an arm struck out from the corner and clotheslined him. It sent him into a roll, and he crashed down into the dirt with no finesse. His pistol flew out of his hands in the fall. He tried to get to his feet, but Hunter kicked him to the ribs hard. He rolled over onto his back from the impact. His armour saved him from broken ribs, but it still hurt like hell.
"Guess you're not all that, Captain," said Hunter disdainfully.
Mason rolled over and got to his feet as quickly as he could. He reached for his knife, but his hand found an empty sheath. Hunter lifted the weapon and brandished it with glee, having ripped it from him during his fall.
"Looking for this?"
Hunted lunged at him with the knife with lightning speed. Mason leapt back and pulled in his stomach to avoid the strike. He stabbed again and Mason parried the strike and grabbed the knife hand, trying to get a lock. Hunter skilfully twisted out, and the knife was thrown from both of their hands. Mason realised he was fighting a skilled opponent, more so than he had in a long time.
He punched forward with a quick jab, but Hunter moved up and under the strike. He drove a knee in, took a standing grapple, and forced him back into the sidewall. Hunter's elbow struck Mason's face and crunched his neck. He recovered quickly with a punch to Hunter’s face and a second into his ribs. The Sergeant came right back at him with two furious rib shots. As Mason responded with a hook, the Sergeant took hold of his arm and launched him over his shoulder so he landed on his back.
Two laser pulses rushed overhead and struck the wall beside them. Hunter looked up. Liu was rushing towards them with a gun in his hand. He turned and fled rapidly as Liu arrived at Mason's side.
"What the hell happened to you?"
"Got into a fight.”
“Looks more like you got your ass kicked!” Liu shouted and rushed past.
“Thanks!” snapped Mason.
Liu got to the edge of the building and saw a vehicle rush off into the distance. The Sergeant was at the controls and already two hundred metres out. Liu lifted his rifle and took aim. Liu fired a single shot that zipped past his head. He fired another, but the vehicle was beyond his range, and he couldn’t see if it had struck its target or not.
“Get him?” Mason asked. He was hunched and nursing his ribs.
“No.”
“Well, I guess we both failed.”
“He’ll go right to his boss with this. We’re gonna have a whole world of trouble bearing down on us.”
“That was always gonna happen once we took the money. Now it’ll just be sooner rather than later.”
“Nolan really thought this could be settled with a stern conversation. He must have come from one polite planet.”
“Liu, when you work with scum on a regular basis, we can forget there are some good people out there who are oblivious to the more ugly sides of life.”
“You’re right, and even if we can take this Volkov character down, they’re gonna have to learn to fend for themselves.”
“One thing at a time.”
He went to go back to the bar, but Liu stopped him.
“Volkov has numbers on his side, you know if any of the people in this town will fight with us?”
“Even if they would, how useful are a bunch of untrained civilians?”
Liu knew he was right. They turned and paced back to the main street. Mitchell was being led into the bar. He was able to walk, despite the pain. They followed them through and sat down at the table they had been talking at before the fight. Nolan sat there with a tall drink and looked astonished.
“Is there really no other way?” he asked.
“Sometimes, you just have a fight on your hands whether you want one or not.”
“And if we just forgot it all and continued to pay everything Volkov asks of us?”
“It’s too late for that,” Liu said. “Now you’ve insulted him and brought into question his authority, he’ll want to make an example of you all.”
“What does that mean?” asked Kaper.
“It means that a few assholes wanting to take your daughter for a bit of fun will seem like nothing compared to what they have in store now,” he replied.
“Why have you brought this upon us?” Nolan asked.
Liu could see Mason was at first silent in shock, and then the anger began to build in his eyes, so he stepped in to calm the situation.
“You didn’t ask to be robbed in the way you are, but you did recruit us to solve it. You recruited a team of - I hate to say it, hired guns to solve your problem. You can’t have thought for a moment this was going to end peacefully?”
“I hoped,” replied Nolan wearily.
He turned to Mitchell who was getting bandaged up by Erin and Kaper’s daughter. He was knocking back spirits and grimacing at the pain. Liu stepped over and snatched the glass away from him, the bottle too.
“Hey, I need that!”
Liu shook his head. “Same old same with you.”
“That’s not fair. I’m in pain!” he yelled.
Mitchell looked to Mason for help, but it did not come.
“You’re not the one that got shot!” he shouted again.
“No, we’re the ones who saved your ass. We got a big problem to deal with. None of us can afford to get drunk, no matter how bad they are hurt.”
“I told you I wasn’t cut out for this shooting stuff. I’m a goddamn pilot.”
The room fell silent until Nolan finally broke it as he took another sip.
“Maybe we hired the wrong people.”
“No,” replied Mason. “You hired the only people who would take this lousy job. Now man up, and deal with it.”
He strolled back to the door and looked out across the street where they’d recently shot the militiamen. A few of the town’s people were now back on the street, but they avoided the bodies like the plague. Liu joined him.
“They want the problem solved, but they don’t want to get their hands dirty.”
“Are you surprised?”
“I don’t care who they were, Liu. They don’t deserve to just be l
eft out there that.”
“Maybe we should cut our losses now, and get the hell out of here?”
“Too late. We took the job and started it. We’re in this now till it’s done.”
“And if it costs us our lives?”
“You’re one cynical bastard, you know that?” replied Mason sharply.
“You know back when I was a cop, before I was a detective, I saw this kind of thing all the time. Maybe not on this scale but the same thing, some thug muscling the locals about for money, or whatever. More often than not, we would try and take them down and fail. If the victims are too scared to help, then what chance do you have?”
“Well then, I guess it’s time they got their act together.”
He turned around and paced up to address Nolan.”
“There are three bodies out in the street there. Get them sorted.”
Nolan looked at a loss for having been told what to do.
“On your feet!” Mason ordered.
Nolan almost jumped out of his skin and stood up. Mason grabbed his shoulder and led him out towards the door.
“Look at them!”
“They’re dead.”
“Not the dead, your people. Passing by like the bodies are litter on the sidewalk.”
He shoved Nolan forwards.
“Get it sorted!”
Nolan looked sheepish, and Mason could see he was desperate to find an excuse not to, but Mason’s eyes told him not to try it. He staggered over towards the bodies and called over a few people by name to help him.
“It’s a start,” Liu said.
Chapter 7
Thirty minutes had passed as they watched from the bar with the door prised open, the town’s people clearing the bodies. It had dawned on them all that they had taken a job beyond their means.
‘So what now?” Erin asked Mason.
“What do you mean?”
“I can see what you’re thinking.”
He turned out of curiosity to look at her.
“Oh, and what might that be?”
“You’re thinking Volkov is going to come back with an army that you cannot expect to face.”
He recoiled. “So what’s the answer?”
“You took the job and the money, and you said you always see things through, so leaving is out.”
“And?”
“And you’re looking at them and thinking they don’t have a hope in hell of being useful in a fight.”
Mason turned to Liu.
“Hell, girl, where are you from?” asked Mitchell.
She rolled her eyes at the pilot.
“It doesn’t take a genius to see what is going on here. So that about sums it up?”
“That’s the problem, but what’s the solution?”
“Find people who can shoot and who are willing to join us, Mason.”
“Us?” asked Liu.
“I’m here with you, aren’t I?”
“Are you? You didn’t pull the trigger when the time came against those militiamen.”
She dipped her head in shame.
“Can you remember the first person you shot?” Mason asked Liu.
“Yes.”
“How easy was it for you?”
He went silent.
“Go on,” said Mason.
“Like I said, we need more people who can handle weapons and fight.”
He lay back in his chair and thought about it for a moment.
We’ve never recruited during a job before, and it’s far from ideal.
He looked to Liu for an opinion.
“It’s not a bad idea, but where could we hope to find anyone?”
“Frontier world like this, bound to be a few who could be up for it.”
“Good luck finding ‘em.”
“A small town like this always has around three bars; an upstanding one like this with nice furniture and expensive drinks. A family friendly place to take the kids, and then there is the dive. The sort of bar where your boots stick to the floor, the beer costs half as much as everywhere else, and half the patrons are ready to kick your teeth in. That’s where we’ll find a few guns to join us.”
“And you think you’ll find a place like that in this little town? Come on.”
“Damn right I do.”
He turned and called for Kaper to join them.
“What can I do for you, gentlemen?”
“We’re looking for a bar.”
“You’re in one. With the finest wines and ales and the best food in town.”
“Yes, yes. I want a different kind of bar. Where in town do all the fights start? The place with the cheapest drinks and the rowdy customers gather?”
He shook his head. “No, no, you don’t want to go there, Captain.”
“No I don’t, but I still asked.”
He looked around to see if his daughter could hear and then leaned in close.
“The place you describe is called ‘The Slap Up’.”
Mason sat back and smiled.
“But really, Captain, you don’t want to go there. It’s full of dirty gambling, fights, and whoring. This is a good town, and it’s the only stain on its name.”
“So you do have more vices than expensive alcohol?” he asked with a smile.
Mason kicked back his chair and stood up sharply.
“Where you going?” asked Erin.
“Not where am I going? Where are we going? Liu you hold down the fort here while Mitchell sobers up. Erin, you and I are going on a recruiting trip.”
He could see Kaper wasn’t happy about it at all, but Erin hadn’t heard what he had said and happily joined the Captain.
“So where to?” he asked Kaper.
“Captain? Surely not.”
“Just tell me where to find it, and we’ll be on our way.”
“Get to the crossroads south, and then head west for maybe five hundred metres.”
“It’s on the edge of town?”
“Thankfully, yes.”
“All right, let’s go.”
They stepped out, and Erin looked surprised he didn’t go for the copter.
“Half a click and you’re walking? I haven’t seen you walk anywhere in the time I have known you.”
“Well, maybe you don’t know me as well as you thought. Which gets us back to you.”
“What about me?”
“Liu said you didn’t fire when Hunter and his men started the fight. He wasn’t wrong.”
“I…”
“I know what you did. You hesitated. Back at the ship you proved to us you can shoot, but in this line of work that doesn’t count for anything, if you can’t do it when it’s needed.”
‘Then why did you defend me?”
“You know you did wrong, but Liu isn’t always the most accepting of types. If it were up to him, we’d only recruit highly training ex military and law enforcement. That would rule me out for a start, let alone you.”
“I just don’t know what happened. I just couldn’t pull the trigger when it was a person in my sights.”
“Then we’re gonna have to sort that out. It’s a dangerous job we do, and you’re getting thrown into the deep end. If you’re gonna be a part of this crew and get your fair share of the cut, you have to do your fair share of the work. I need to know the next time you need to shoot someone you won’t hesitate. Hesitate, and you could get one of us killed.”
“Maybe I’m just not cut out for this kind of thing.”
“Maybe, but right now you’re flying with us, and we need all the help we can get.”
“This is normal life for you, isn’t it?”
“No such thing as normal. Every job is different, and the only dull day is the journey from one to another.”
“So you enjoy it, then?”
He thought about it for a moment. It was not something he had ever considered.
“It’s all I’ve ever known. Boss recruited me young, just like you have come to us. I wouldn’t know how to do anything else.�
�
“So you keep doing it because you don’t know what else to do?”
He nodded. “Maybe. But I wasn’t born into any money, and working a desk wasn’t for me. Just sort of fell into this, what’s not to like?”
“Maybe the fact that people are trying to kill you on a regular basis?”
“And yet you didn’t choose a dangerous life and still ended up in the thick of it?”
It gave her pause for thought.
“So you haven’t told me where we’re heading. Kaper didn’t seem to think it was a good idea.”
“If we always did what the barkeep recommended, where would we be in life?”
“So we’re heading for another bar?”
“What makes you think that?”
“Because he wouldn’t be so anxious about you leaving for any reason but a rival establishment.”
“You’re quick. You might just work out for this team yet.”
The sun was high in the sky, and there was little shade as they made their way west through the streets. Transports continued to roll in and out of town at a steady rate, with workers and materials aboard. Sweat was dripping down their faces, and their clothes were soaked.
“Must be close now.”
Just as she said it, a woman flew out into the street and landed hard in the dust. Another rushed out from the side of the street, and a fight ensued. Erin stopped. They watched as several men poured out onto the street and clapped and cheered as they watched the scuffle.
“You’re just going to stand there and watch?” Erin asked.
“Hey, it ain’t my fight.”
“Asshole,” she muttered and rushed forward to help. She reached the two to pull them apart but was struck in the face by the back of one of their hands, throwing her onto the floor. The small crowd roared with excitement that she had joined the fight. She put her finger to her lip and found blood trickling from her mouth. Erin got to her feet, got the rifle from her back, and fired a shot into the air. The single laser shot made a loud crack which echoed down the long street and made them all stop in their tracks.
“Enough!” she screamed.
The two women looked at her and immediately turned back and kept slugging it out. Mason stepped forward and grabbed Erin by the shoulder, hauling her towards the door as the cheering continued.
Maniacs: 01 - The Krittika Conflict Page 10