Reason For Vengeance (Dark Vengeance Book 1)

by Adrian D. Roberts

  “What is it? We lose Barney?” Deni yelled back.

  Half out of the door and hanging on grimily, Troll searched for Valerie. There. She had righted herself and was now clinging to her coat. Troll watched it billow out behind her. Why was she doing that? Why not activate the grav-belt? Valerie wore one, just as Barney and she had for the Job. Troll had seen it a number of times, it was better than anything they had.

  “No.” Troll shouted over the sound of the wind. “It’s Valerie, she’s airborne and not using her grav-belt!” A hand grabbed her from behind and hauled her inside the car properly. Troll glanced back and saw Barney there, his face calm as he slapped a new tether in place, this one connected to the aircar. There was only time to briefly nod her thanks.

  “Shit, I see her. Hang on.” Deni put action to her words and the aircar leapt forwards and then into a dive. Troll started to force herself out of the door into the wind when a hand on her shoulder stopped her. Barney was a there again, this time he held out a flight helmet with a clear, full face visor.

  Pulling it on and activating the airbreather as quickly as she could, Troll pushed herself out into the rushing air. The flight helmet made it much easier, as it was fully enclosed. She could breathe normally, without the pressure of the fast moving air stealing her breath away. She could see clearly the rapidly growing dot of Valerie. It also allowed her to speak to Deni over the com, rather than shouting through the aircars cabin.

  “Go to Valerie’s right,” Troll directed. “I’ll grab her from here.”

  “What do you think I’m doing?” Deni’s voice held barely supressed panic. Troll knew the fifteen year old had done well under Rush’s tuition showing some good skills. Plucking a falling woman out of the sky was something else altogether.

  “Once I take hold of her, you’ll have to slow down carefully or you’ll pull her right out of my arms.” Troll instructed, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible. Barney would make sure Troll didn’t fall out, but a lot was riding on their Driver. Even if they reached Valerie and Troll was able to grab her, if Deni braked too quickly, Valerie was dead. The aircar was also heading to the ground faster than Valerie to catch up with her. If Deni didn’t slow down enough, they would crash.

  If they did crash there were three different options. They all died in a fiery explosion and none of it mattered. They hit slowly enough to survive, but hard enough to damage the aircar so that it could no longer fly. They would then have to try and escape on foot. Lastly, they could hit the ground softly enough to keep going. They would be chased through the air in a damaged vehicle and may not be able to get away.

  Yep, everything hung on to how well Deni managed the next few moments. “Come on, Deni. You’ve got to catch her.” Oh, that didn’t help. Now Hanna had caught up and was getting involved, even though there was nothing she could do from her place nestled in the middle of the tower.

  There wasn’t time to tell her to shut up. They were almost alongside Valerie and it seemed Deni chose to ignore her as well. She didn’t respond to Hanna either. Deni’s control was absolute. The aircar matched speeds with the falling woman and Troll reached out. Her right hand hung onto a grab bar on the open hatch. She felt Barney’s hand grab hold of the back of her belt.

  Stretching as far as she was able Troll seized the only thing she could, the back of Valerie’s coat collar. “Gotcha!” she proclaimed triumphantly.

  ***

  It was over. Here was peace.

  That peace was interrupted by a large shadow blocking out the sun right beside her. A hand grabbed the back of her collar. In the rushing wind, Valerie couldn’t hear anything and did not care. Her hands latched onto the arm above her. Swinging upright, she looked up to see Troll half out of the aircar, her eyes wide and mouth open as she screamed in pain.

  Glancing down, Valerie saw the ground still coming up at her, but more slowly. She could hear the whine of the aircars engines from Deni struggling to slow it down. Up and up came the ground. Hanging from Trolls arm, there was nothing Valerie could do. From Trolls expression, there was little she could do either. The tall woman wasn’t strong enough to pull Valerie in.

  If Deni didn’t decrease her rate of descent, they weren’t going to make it. On cue the engines whine increased in strength. Valerie felt the pull on her arms increase. The aircars momentum reducing quicker than her own. Now she could hear Troll’s screams and yet she still held on. Valerie’s hands clamped on Troll’s forearm even harder.

  The ground continued its rise towards them. It cared nothing for the women and man who dared to defy this planet’s gravity. Even her life, which would span hundreds of years, meant nothing to a world that measured its life span in billions. Humanity would be the merest grain of sand in its desert of a lifetime.

  With engines and Troll screaming, the aircar came to a halt only metres above the pavement. Four lives would continue their journeys across the surface of this planet.

  All around them people were pointing and shouting at the aircar. It hung in mid-air on its side, with two women dangling from its door. Here in the middle of the shining towers of the Privileged, the Police would not be far away. Looking up to Troll, who stopped screaming, her face was a grimace of pain as she still hung on.

  “Let go, Troll,” Valerie told her.

  The red head could only nod. Valerie saw the effort in her face as she released her hand. Valerie dropped easily to the ground and waved for Deni to come down. The girl looked in shock in the cockpit. It took a few moments to for her to recover and bring the aircar down.

  Troll was pulled in by Barney and sat on the floor rubbing her arm with him close beside her.

  “Thank you, Troll,” Valerie said to her as she climbed in. She felt warmth in her voice, as though the peace she found in the fall brought her out of the depths of despair she sunk into the week before. “How’s the arm?”

  “How do you think?” Troll demanded. “You almost tore it clean off!”

  “Is it dislocated?” Valerie asked worriedly and was amazed that she could feel the emotion.

  “I don’t think so,” Troll said shaking her head. Barney was already attaching the medical scanner to his datapad and directing towards her arm.

  Valerie wanted to stay and help the woman who saved her life, but there were more pressing matters. Stepping up to the cockpit she laid a hand on Deni’s shoulder.

  “Are you OK?” The girl was shaking under her hand. “Do you want me to take over? We need to get out of here now.”

  That seemed to wake her up and she shook her head hesitantly before grasping the controls.

  “No, I’m fine, I can fly. Safe house three?”

  “I think that’s a good idea. We need to get this aircar out of the sky as quickly as possible.”

  Deni brought the aircar round, engaging the controls to send it rocketing back up into the sky. Valerie patted her shoulder gently.

  “Well done, Deni. You saved my life. Thank you.”

  “I’ll, err, knock it off what I owe you,” Deni said, her voice shaking.

  Valerie smiled as she headed back to the cabin. “You do that.”

  Troll removed the flight helmet and looked up at her as she came back in. “How could you be so bloody calm out there? I saw your face. You looked like you were just waiting for it to end.”

  Shutting the aircar door gave Valerie a couple of seconds to think about her reply. “I was.” She told them quietly, her voice full of sorrow. It was as though something opened up inside of her and for the first real time in two years, it wasn’t either cold or filled with rage. Even the last few months there had only been some life in it, not as much as these people deserved.

  “I thought I would finally be free. No more pain, no more nightmares and no more wishing for something that will never happen.” She shook her head. “This isn’t the time for this conversation though.”

  She activated her com. “Hanna. Can you see if anyone is pursuing us?” There was no response. “Hanna
? Can you hear me? Hanna?” Valerie truly was worried now. She was about to order Deni to turn around when a voice from the front forestalled her.

  “Oops. Sorry she was annoying me so I cut her out of our net.” Deni paused. “Here you go.”

  “…uck is going on. Someone talk to me!” Hanna’s frustrated and angry voice sprang from all of their coms.

  “Hanna, it’s Valerie.”

  “Hot Blazes! You’re alive?”

  “Thanks to Troll, Deni and Barney. I am, yes. It got a bit manic out there and I need to know if we’re being tracked.” Valerie told her in a calm even tone. It wasn’t the time for emotions or long explanations.

  “Checking. No you’re clean. My worms in the Inferno PD and traffic systems are still hiding you from them. Now what happened? How did you survive that?”

  “Good. We can save the stories for later and I’ll let Troll tell it. She’s better than me. How are Charlie team doing?”

  “All going to plan, Guv. They should have Bjorn in the box any second.” Hanna’s relief at Valerie’s survival and surprise at her relaxed attitude, were obvious.

  “Then I suggest you get on with your job and keep an eye on them.” There was genuine humour in her voice with a little reprimand mixed in. It was almost like she was back with Shadow Company.

  “Yes, Ma’am.” Hanna signed off.

  “Did you catch that, Deni?” Valerie asked their Driver.

  “I did. That’s good news. Shall I stick with three?”

  “Yes. There’s no point taking any chances.” With things back in control, Valerie crouched down next to Troll. “May I?” She asked Barney. He nodded and handed over the datapad.

  “No dislocation, so that’s good, Troll.” Valerie said as she inspected it. “You do have some nasty ligament damage. We’ll have to get you to Doc Kaiser as soon as we can to get that fixed.”

  “So what did happen in there?” Troll asked a bit carefully as she tried to sound out who this new woman was who came on board. Valerie didn’t blame her for her caution.

  “To be honest I got sloppy,” she said ruefully. “They wore body armour and I should have expected that. I didn’t check my surroundings properly and one of them got the drop on me. I let myself get into a vulnerable position and paid for it.”

  “Wow. Miss Infallible makes not just one mistake but two.” Troll exclaimed and even Barney raised his eye brows.

  “Yeah, well. I am human you know and it cost me my favourite Mag pistols.” Valerie said with the hint of a smile and pulled the medical kit from its nearby storage locker. “Let me get that arm fixed up.”

  CHAPTER FORTY

  Unlocking the heavy door, Valerie walked into Safe House One where the Crew arranged to meet. Two new Mag pistols sat in her holsters. Fortunately the safe house in Swaffham included a small armoury. Deni came in behind her. It was a three hour journey over from Safe House Three. Valerie took the time to thank the girl properly for the excellent flying that saved her life. Barney meanwhile had taken Troll off to Doc Kaiser’s for treatment.

  Inside Hanna sat with her feet up on the table in front of her. Her hands were behind her head and eyes closed. They opened at the sound of them coming in and the girl jumped up immediately. “Valerie!” She exclaimed and ran over to throw her arms around her. “When I saw you go out of that hole, I was sure you were dead.”

  This was the first physical contact, when she wasn’t unconscious or hadn’t been killing someone, Valerie experienced for two years. She didn’t know how to respond to the girl who clutched her tightly. Lightly she placed her hands on Hanna’s shoulders.

  “It’s OK. I’m not dead. Thanks to Deni, Troll and Barney anyway.”

  Pushing gently, she disengaged Hanna from her and was surprised to see tears in her eyes. Deni stepped up and placed a hand on her friends shoulder. “Always the drama queen, aren’t you.”

  “But you know...” Hanna began.

  “Yeah, I do know.” Deni said gently.

  Valerie wasn’t entirely sure what was going on. Hanna was a friend but she had survived and that was what mattered. Her newly released emotions did cause her to admit it would be different if she actually met her end, on the pavement at the base of Harbury Tower.

  “How did it go? Is he here?” Valerie asked trying to defuse the strangely emotional moment.

  Scrubbing the tears from her eyes, Hanna pointed to a door. “Hobbs and Judge are watching them in there. Both have sensory helmets set to full mute on.”

  “Both of them?” Valerie questioned in surprise. There should have only been Bjorn. After leaving the scene of her dramatic rescue, they had been completely out of communication with the others. With Sneakers encryptions it was unlikely the Police would have been able to track their coms, but there was no point taking the chance.

  “Yeah. My plan went off without a hitch.” Hanna said proudly, her chest practically puffing out at the success of her first role as Crew Boss. “His security team dragged Pomykala right out of his suite just after you went out of the hole. He was almost carried to the lift and out to his car. If they existed, I would love to show you the imagery. The look on their faces when they realised was priceless. The bodyguards had no idea the lift deposited them in the wrong garage and the aircar they were racing to, wasn’t theirs, but our exact duplicate.

  “Hobbs and Judge killed the bodyguards easily with their Pulse rifles and bundled Bjorn and his daughter into the car. Rush then drove them here.”

  “His daughter?” Valerie asked. “We didn’t know she was going to be there. Have you managed to find out anything about her?”

  Hanna shook her head. “No, she wasn’t and yes, I have. Noomi Pomykala, twenty one years old and just finished university. She’s out here to begin her apprenticeship with her father. She arrived this morning and it’s why we didn’t know about her. She wasn’t even listed on the hotel register yet.”

  Valerie nodded. Things could always happen on any mission that you didn’t expect and plan for. Her use of Mag pistols was poor planning on her part. Bjorn’s daughter on the other hand was just one of those things. Noomi would be doing what a lot of the Privileged Scions did. She would be learning the company her father worked for, first under him and then moving through various departments. She’d be guaranteed a job in whichever suited her best.

  Looking at the door, Valerie considered how she was going to approach Bjorn and the rage inside of her rose up.

  “Have they seen any of your faces?” Valerie asked, forcing it back for the moment.

  “They saw Hobbs and Judge when they were taken. That wasn’t for long. Judge had them bagged as soon as they were in the door.” Such was their society people still stuck black cloth bags over people’s heads, so bagging was the phrase of choice, even if more high tech means were used.

  “OK. Make sure you’re masked if you’re coming in.”

  “What about you?” Deni asked.

  “I want them to see me.” The rage was fighting Valerie now, frantic to be free and she heard the cold enter her voice.

  Several black cloth masks with mouth and eye holes were on the table. “I’m coming in.” Hanna said as she grabbed one. Deni nodded her agreement and pulled hers over her head ready.

  Nodding, Valerie opened the door. Inside the empty room, sat in two chairs were a smartly suited, portly man and a young woman, dressed more appropriately for a night out, rather than a business meeting. Both were secured by their legs and forearms to the square metal chairs wearing sensory helmets.

  “Thanks, I’ll take it from here.” Valerie told Hobbs and Judge who were leaning against the opposite wall. The cold was certainly back in her tone. They glanced at each other briefly before walking out.

  “Go and stand behind them.” Valerie said pointing in turn at a space behind each of the chairs. Hanna and Deni complied. “Stand in an at ease position, hands behind your back, feet shoulder width apart, alert but relaxed. Don’t say anything unless I speak to you directly and
then follow my lead.” The girls did as instructed. “Good, I want you there as a presence behind them they can sense rather than see.”

  With the girls in position, Valerie took Bjorn’s helmet off. He blinked in the sudden light and looked around. He didn’t speak straight away. he seemed to be collecting himself as he took in his surroundings. Bjorn’s face tightened with anger when he saw his daughter tied to the chair next to him. Tears were clearly visible coming from underneath her visor.

  After a few seconds he looked at Valerie and she could see he didn’t recognise her.

  “What do you want?” he asked with controlled anger.

  “You don’t know me.” She stated as she let the rage seep back into her. The temperature in the room dropped. “You kill my children and my husband. You ruin my life and you don’t have a clue who I am.”

  He stared at her, obviously trying to work it out. “You’re not from the Families. Are you some of Bacc’s manics? Whatever it is. Leave my daughter alone. She’s got nothing to do with it.”

  “How many people have you had killed Bjorn?” Valerie asked him softly. She stepped closer so that she was right in front of him and leaned down. “How many has it been in your two hundred and thirty four years? Twenty? Thirty? One hundred?” He glared back at her, not saying anything.

  “I’ve killed far more than that Bjorn, in half the time and you know what? I remember them all. I remember every single one who died. I remember every pair of eyes that went dim as I choked the life from them, all the bodies that dropped in the dark as I squeezed the trigger from a hundred metres away.” An image flashed through her mind. An anti-matter reactor exploding, a space station being ripped apart. Twenty four thousand, five hundred and sixty two people. That was the final death toll at Furioso. Valerie ignored it and it faded, the rage swamping the guilt.

  “You don’t know though do you?” she continued. “That’s because you don’t get your hands dirty. No, you make a com call and pay some Sovereigns. Sometime later, people die and lives are destroyed.”