“They aren’t going to use it to tear the ship apart are they?”
“Oh no, it’s just for passenger extraction. Anyway, the fire is out and the reactor is in safe mode. There doesn’t seem to be any damage, no radiation leakage or anything.”
“We need to get out there to look at it and I have to call my boss. I lost my mobi in the crash.”
“We’ll get around to all that but first I need to get a statement.”
Marla rolled her eyes at the thought of paperwork.
“Everything okay?”
“It’s just that I thought crashing would be the worst thing that happened to me today. I’m not a fan of regulations and reports.”
He smiled. “Let’s get started.”
— «» —
Eldridge led the party down the maintenance tunnel. It went much farther than Nathan would have thought but he had trouble gauging the distance. His legs became sore from compensating for the downhill angle of the crashed ship. They finally stopped at another hatch and Eldridge tried turning the wheel. Nathan joined him because the kid was struggling. Together they spun it and got the hatch open. Nathan pulled his mobi from his jacket pocket and tapped the screen. A light came on and he shined it around the compartment. Large tanks occupied this compartment too; they were about the same size as the ones in the cargo bay which held the coolant that was so damn important to Dodger.
Eldridge rapped his knuckles on the side of it. “Waste water. Be very careful in here. We don’t need to try swimming through liquefied crap.”
“That would be one hell of a mess,” Duncan said, taking in a breadth of it. “Why is it still full?”
“It didn’t pop in the crash and our plan was to pump it dry when we got this far into the salvage.”
“Why did you stop here?” Nathan said.
Eldridge pointed to another hatch set into the floor. “That is the maintenance port for the discharge chute. We can drop out here and…” His voice trailed off. “What is our next move?”
Nathan took a deep breath. “First things first. We find out what happened to my ship and crew. If Dodger gets in our way we go through him.”
“We may do that anyway,” Cole said.
“Can you get the hatch open?”
Eldridge nodded. “Sure. We used it during the initial inspection.” He and Ari moved to the hatch and got it open. A ladder rested against the hatch, probably from their earlier inspection, Nathan thought. They moved to go through and Cole laid a hand on Eldridge’s shoulder.
“Why don’t you let me go first, in case Dodger or his boys are out there?”
Eldridge backed away and Cole climbed down. After a moment, he hollered back up.
“We’re clear.”
They all descended into the bright sunlight and Nathan could see they had come out about halfway down the length of the ship. He noticed something moving up the access road toward Bad Rock and pointed to it.
“There goes Dodger’s tanker truck.”
The big rig blew up a plume of dust as it left the area. Several cars followed it.
“They may have left some guys behind if they went in and found us missing,” Nathan said to Cole.
“We can deal with a couple guys. I’m not worried about it. Besides, we have to find out what happened to the ship.”
Nathan patted him on the shoulder. “Yeah, let’s hustle.”
Ari glared at him.
“Is something bothering you?” Nathan said.
“You mean other than the fact that you’ve screwed up our whole deal? No, nothing at all.”
“This isn’t our fault,” Nathan said, pointing at his chest. “We were leaving when Dodger and his goons showed up.”
“Well, what are we supposed to do now? Packing up and leaving isn’t an option. We still have a contract to complete. This stupid job is literally everything we have.”
Nathan started to say something and bit it back. Once again, she’d hit a nerve without knowing it. “Let’s just go back to your camp and see what’s up. We’ll play it by ear.”
“As opposed to the plan we’ve been following up to this point?”
Nathan walked off silently, letting her have the last word. They made good time back to the base camp and Nathan saw nothing much had changed. The ‘bots were still working and he even saw a truck lift off toward the Corkscrew.
“Hey fellas,” a voice said from behind them. They all turned and Turtle and Daryl stepped out from the tent Eldridge and Ari called home.
“Stop right there,” Cole said, drawing his gun on them. “Don’t take another step and get your hands up.”
Turtle grinned and raised his arms. “It’s all good, m’man. No need for violence.”
Nathan moved to them and patted them down. He didn’t find anything.
“Satisfied?”
He motioned to the table where they had eaten lunch yesterday. “Sit down.”
They moved to the table and sat.
“Where’s your boss?”
Turtle answered. “He had to go but he wanted me to give you a message.”
“What’s that?”
“You’re screwed.”
“We haven’t done anything,” Ari said. “We’re paid up.”
Turtle held up a hand. “Oh not you, honey, or your boyfriend. You two are fine. Dodger knows you’re solid. He’s not stupid enough to let an operation this lucrative slip away.” He paused. “Unless you help these repo boys. You do that and you’ll get the same thing they got coming.” He turned to Nathan. “Yeah, boss, you’re done.”
“Where’s my ship?”
Turtle shrugged and a smirk crossed his mouth. “You saw the same thing I did. I’m no pilot but being on fire can’t be good.”
Nathan turned to Duncan. “Find us a ride. We have to go.” He turned back to Turtle. “Your boss should know that he’s bought more trouble than he can handle. If my crew is harmed, you’re all dead.”
Turtle lit a cigarette and nodded. “Yeah, chief, I’m shaking all over.” He stood up and Daryl followed. “We’re going back to work now. Dodger said he’ll catch up with you later.”
He moved to walk away and Nathan hit him with a punch that he’d brought with him all the way from his crappy little apartment back on Earth. The one that he could barely keep the rent paid on and where the bills stacked up and where his business threatened to go under and…
And then Cole pulled him off Turtle. Somehow, they’d gone down to the ground and Nathan was straddling the guy, landing haymakers left and right. Cole had his hands under his arms and yanked him up. Stunned silence filled the canopy.
Turtle lay unconscious on the ground, his head a bloody mess and Ari knelt beside him, checking him. Nathan shook loose and turned to Daryl who put his hands up.
“Hey, easy, man. Okay? I got it. I know what you’re saying.”
“Dodger’s paranoid right?”
Daryl nodded, “Very.”
“Then he should know he’s called down the lightning.” Then he heard a sound and saw Duncan pulling up in the same truck Turtle had driven last night. He nodded to it and said, “Let’s go.”
They moved to the passenger side and Eldridge came up to the truck. “What about us? What are we supposed to do?”
Nathan shrugged. “You heard him. Dodger’s happy with your arrangement so just keep working. This has nothing to do with you.”
Duncan spoke to him through the lowered window. “You better figure out how they got control of your ‘bots. If they did it once they’ll do it again. Which way to the spaceport? With the ship in trouble, that’s where Marla would have went.”
Eldridge pointed west. “Turn left off the access road and follow the signs along the main road. I hope your lady is okay.”
“Me too.”
It took them
half an hour to get to the spaceport. They parked the truck and ran to the terminal. No one greeted them in the empty building, no passengers waiting to depart or families waiting for loved ones. Nathan spotted an information kiosk and the hologram of a plump middle-aged woman started up when he walked up to it.
“Can I help you?” She asked, smiling.
“Did a starship crash here?”
“Flight information is available on the monitors above the gates.”
Nathan paused in an effort to get the information he needed. “Has there been an emergency landing today?”
The woman’s smile grew wider. “Oh my, yes. Just a little while ago.”
Nathan took a deep breath. “Are there survivors? If so, where are they?”
The hologram’s smile held steady. “Passengers are in the infirmary. Would you like to see them?”
“Yes.”
She pointed to the floor. “Follow the path being lit for you.”
They ran, following the yellow arrows flashing on the floor. Two minutes later they went through the doors and saw a group of people around three occupied beds. Duncan rushed to Marla, tears streaming down his face. She sat up and met his hug fiercely. Her tears mixed with his.
Nathan spotted Richie and Tricia and he went to her, sitting on the edge of her bed. Fear gripped him as he took her hand.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded and slid forward, hugging him tightly. “Someone tried to kill us.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
He saw Cole shaking Richie’s hand.
“I’m all you get,” Cole said. “So don’t expect a hug or a kiss.”
Nathan smiled. “You okay, Richie?”
He nodded. “Yeah.” His eyes fell to the floor. “I think the ship’s in bad shape.”
Nathan swallowed and held Tricia tighter. “Yeah, well, we’ll deal with that later.” For now, being alive and together was enough.
Chapter 17
“Get everyone ready,” Dodger said. They sat in the back office of the club, Jonesy in one of the chairs in front of Dodger and Cheech in the one beside him. Morris shook his head.
“You really think they’ll come here?”
Dodger held his hands up. “The repo guys? Where else are they going to go? You know how mad they are right now? Cheech took down their ship.” He popped a crystal into his mouth and grimaced as he bit down, anticipating the rush. “The intel we got on that Teller guy said he’s cool but if you push him he’ll push back. Well, we freakin’ shoved him today. They’ll be here sometime tonight and when they come, we take them out.”
Morris kept pacing as he spoke. “Look, that may be true but there’s only, like five or six of them.”
Dodger shook a finger at him. “Don’t underestimate them. You read the message we got from Earth. When they got mixed up in that business in the Alpha system they killed a couple of guys wearing shimmer suits and they even used some kind of modified virus. I’m not taking any chances. Call the guys in and get them spread around the club, out in the parking lot and across the street in those empty buildings.”
“I guess it can’t hurt to be prepared,” Morris said.
“You are damned right it can’t.” Dodger pointed at Jonesy. “If this moron had done his job and used the ‘bots to hold on to them out at the wreck site, we wouldn’t have this problem. I should have been able to interrogate them, to find out what they know. Now, we have to wait for them to come to us.”
Jonesy held his hands up to defend himself. “Boss, come on. I couldn’t help what happened.”
Dodger narrowed his eyes. “How the hell is them escaping not your fault? You had one job to do.”
“Yeah but Eldridge designed the things and…”
Dodger held his hands up like he wanted more of an answer. “And?”
“And he must have had some backdoor or something.”
“Or he’s just smarter than you.”
Jonesy fumbled. “Well, maybe.”
Dodger pointed a thick finger at him. “I told Cheech to crash their goddamn ship and you know what? It crashed.” Cheech grinned at Jonesy. “Figure out what went wrong. If I need to grab ahold of those things again, I want to be able to do it.”
“Okay.” Jonesy stood up. “I’ll get started right now.”
“Yeah, go do that.”
Jonesy turned to go and Dodger fired a shot glass at his head. The hacker stopped and rubbed the back of his head, “What the hell?”
“Screw up again and I’ll take a pool cue to your fingers, get me?”
Jonesy nodded with a worried look on his face. “Yeah, I got it.”
It grew quiet for a moment and then Cheech spoke up. “You know Dodger, that kamikaze stunt with the drone took away our capability to remotely spy on the salvagers.”
“And?”
The expression on Cheech’s face changed. “Well, it’s just that if we need to see what they’re doing out there, I don’t have any way to fly over. I mean, I could probably find something local but it’s not going to be military grade. It won’t have the audio-visual capabilities we had with the other one.”
Dodger waved him off. “Just do the best you can. There’s a place downtown that sells that shit. Go see what they’ve got. Maybe you can build your own.”
Cheech stood up. “Okay, I’ll go now.”
“Hey, good job taking them down, okay? It’s just that now we’ve got other issues. In this business you have to be ready to move on to the next problem.”
“No, I get it. I’ll take care of replacing the drone.”
“Yeah, get going.”
The kid left the room and Dodger waved Morris over. “Sit down. All that pacing is wearing me out.”
Morris flopped into a chair and had his mobi out, thumbs flying over the screen. “I’ve got a dozen guys coming over. That should be enough. I’ll get them organized when they’re all here.”
“Good. What’s going on out at the spaceport.”
“Our guy out there, Collins, called me after he spoke with the pilot who landed the ship and got me a copy of the preliminary report. They’re treating her like a heroine. Cheech did a good job with the drone, I mean I know it didn’t destroy the ship like you wanted, but…”
Dodger waved him off. “It was a drone, not a damned missile. I know.”
“Right, well he tore the ship up pretty bad but not enough to knock it out of the sky. The pilot did a great job, according to Collins. He heard the whole thing go down up in the control tower. She had a voice like ice.”
“That’s great. We go to the trouble of shooting down a starship and it’s got an ace flying it. Do we have any other way to do them in?”
Morris thought for a moment and then shook his head. “There aren’t any assets onsite that could do something like that. Collins is just a bureaucrat.”
“Is there any good news?”
“She won’t be flying it again any time soon. Collins says it won’t fly out under its own power. It’s buried in concrete up to its belly at the end of the runway.”
“That’s good. Will Collins let us know when they leave?” He picked up another crystal from the open package on his desk. “I’m telling you, they’ll want payback and they’ll be coming right here.”
“Yeah, I told him. He’s doing the accident investigation so he’s sticking right by them.”
“Good. We still need to know what they know and who they’ve told. Then we get rid of them.”
Morris paused for a moment. “Hey, you don’t suppose Teller is being truthful, do you? That they really don’t know anything?”
Dodger shook his head. “No way. They grab the ship hauling our product, show up here, and then just stumble across our lab? I don’t believe that. Oh, and now they want to leave. Why is that? Who are they reporting to? T
his operation produces millions in revenue and the law has never found it. No, Teller is working for Protective Services. Maybe we should make preparations to move the lab.”
Morris let out a low whistle. “That’s a week of downtime, minimum.”
Dodger considered that and chewed his lower lip. “Let’s find out what they know first. Get the guys ready to lock this place down tonight.”
“Will do. Oh, hey, there’s one other thing.”
Dodger frowned. “Yeah? You don’t look like it’s good news.”
“Remember how you left Turtle and Daryl out there to deliver a message?”
“Yeah?”
“Well, Teller beat the hell out of Turtle and then they took off. Daryl is taking him to the clinic to get him checked out.”
“How bad?”
Morris shrugged. “He’s unconscious.”
Dodger shook his head. “That guy. I don’t know about him. He tries, you know? He wants to earn but everything he touches turns to crap.” He grimaced. “Tell Daryl to dump him at the clinic and get his ass back out to the wreck site. If those repo losers show up back there I want to know about it.”
Morris nodded and started working his mobi. “Will do.”
“All right, if you don’t have anything else, get this place ready for a fight.”
“On it.”
— «» —
“Oh my God,” Nathan said, taking in the wreck of his ship at the end of the runway. They faced the rear of the ship and he could see the gaping hole the rescue ‘bot had opened. The smell of fire still hung in the air.
Thick black skid marks lead up the runway to where the Bandit sat. The bright orange drogue chute lay deflated on the ground, moving a bit when the breeze caught it. He turned to Marla and put an arm around her shoulders.
“You did good, honey. I am so proud of you.”
“Thanks, Nathan, but I have to tell you, I’m still shaking.”
“Looks like you’ll have time to get over it.” He turned to Duncan. “Can we get aboard?”
The engineer nodded and walked toward the ship. “Yeah, we can go right through the giant damned hole they ripped in the aft section.” He shook his head. “Anyway, the fire chief says the ship is safe at this point and the runway is out of commission until the ship gets moved. Everything is at a zero-energy state so don’t expect too much to work. We’ll be on the batteries because the reactor is shut down.”
Bad Rock Beat Down (The Milky Way Repo Series Book 2) Page 19