by C. G. Hatton
DiMarco disappeared into the car. LC tried to keep track of him, follow the thread of his thoughts but it merged with the ever-present background noise as the car door closed.
He scuffed his boots on the gravel and looked up at the big guy standing guard, who he could hear and who was thinking that it was a bit cooler today. Christ, if this was cooler, he didn’t want to be out here when it was hot. He was sweltering. Head to foot ops kit wasn’t the best gear for the desert. He should have taken his jacket off but he had the gun tucked into his belt at his back and if they had to run, he wanted his stuff with him.
Sean was standing beside him, running a quiet assessment of the situation through her mind. It was strange but it seemed like the more time he spent with someone, the clearer he could read their thoughts. She didn’t know how long it would be before her ship would be here and she didn’t like that there were so many guns openly on display.
LC didn’t like that DiMarco was taking so long in the car.
When the doors opened, the pilot emerged first followed by a man in worn desert fatigues. He had a scar cutting his jawline and was thinking that DiMarco had done well for once. That in itself didn’t mean anything but LC still didn’t like the way the guy was looking at him and Sean.
There were no introductions.
“DiMarco tells me you have more than our cargo on board,” the guy said, Wintran accent and the kind of voice that people listen to, not too loud but powerful. He didn’t give them time to say anything. “We might be interested in negotiating a price for your full manifest. We don’t often get ships out here and we have to take advantage of situations that present themselves, you understand.”
There was the dilemma. Gallagher wouldn’t want to lose his shipment, no matter how much these people offered.
LC was about to open his mouth to object but Sean got in first. “DiMarco doesn’t have any authority to bargain. You’ll need to speak to our captain. I’m sure you understand.”
The man he assumed was Tierney nodded. “He’ll deal with us. People don’t tend to refuse our offers.” He turned to DiMarco. “We don’t have much time.”
The pilot grinned and gestured towards the ship. “This way…”
LC tried to contact Elliott as they walked back to the Duck, unease growing at the sight of more vehicles arriving. There was no reply. He tried Thom and saw the kid raise his hand in casual acknowledgement from the top of the ramp as he connected. They’d started unloading the cargo, bulky loaders carrying the shipping boxes out to waiting flatbeds.
“Thom, warn Gallagher that these guys want the whole shipment,” LC sent, keeping his voice calm. “They haven’t mentioned a price yet but they want the whole lot. DiMarco’s getting some kind of backhander – he’s way too pleased with himself. Just tell Gallagher to watch himself and not agree if he isn’t happy with whatever they offer.”
“Do you want us to stop them unloading?”
“Only let them take the stuff that’s theirs. Let’s agree a price before they get anything else. Something’s screwy with this whole set up. Do you know where Elliott is?”
He didn’t.
“Okay, stay on the ramp,” LC sent as they reached the ship and climbed up into the hold. “Let us know if anything happens out there.”
They passed Thom and the kid just nodded and kept his position, casually watching the vehicles surrounding them, hands in his pockets like he was bored. “Are we expecting anything to happen?” he asked through the link.
“Just let us know if you see anything,” LC replied, “and whatever happens, stay on the ship.”
It was a relief to get back into the cool interior of the Duck. Sean introduced Gallagher to Tierney and suggested they go somewhere quiet to talk. “Stay with me,” she warned LC through the wire. “Does this feel hinky to you?”
He caught her eye and shrugged. Everything had been hinky in his life since he’d got the message from Mendhel that Anya was missing.
She led them to the back of the cargo bay and through into an empty equipment storeroom. The big guy, plus another they picked up on the way, followed Tierney, bodyguarding from their stance. Why would a mining colony boss out in the middle of nowhere need bodyguards to negotiate the price on a cargo of domestic supplies?
The back of LC’s neck was prickling and the buzz of noise in his head was increasing with the heightened tension he was picking up from all directions. He thought he’d been getting better at controlling it, dampening it down to the background, but it peaked with a voracity that sparked a pulsing headache. He stayed by the door, keeping it open and keeping an eye on the cargo bay.
“How much for the whole manifest?” Tierney said, straight to the point.
Gallagher shifted uneasily. “I’ve got a contract to take those supplies somewhere else,” he said. “I’m sorry but…”
Tierney stopped him with a gesture. “Do you know what we mine here?”
Gallagher shook his head.
“Minerals, copper, diamonds… andirium. We can pay whatever you need for the full cargo. We have plenty of raw materials. What we don’t have is supplies.”
LC swapped a glance with Sean. No wonder DiMarco was so pleased with himself.
Gallagher shook his head again.
Something caught LC’s eye out in the hold. He took a few steps back to increase the angle of his viewpoint just as there were shouts and the crash of a crate falling.
He heard Thom yell, “Hey,” and footsteps thundering across the deck. Sean frowned and nodded at him. LC backed out and broke into a run, sending through the link, “Thom, what’s going on?”
The kid didn’t reply and LC saw why when he skidded to a halt, out in the open. A crate was lying in front of a loader, racks of weapons spilled out of its packaging onto the deck, rows of rifles and rockets glistening in the sunlight pouring in through the open bay doors. Thom was being held with a gun to his head.
“Hey,” LC yelled and pulled out his pistol. Emotions were high and his head was throbbing with the clamour of indistinct voices. He thought he felt Gallagher run up alongside him, absolute dismay in a split second of frozen shock.
Trying to reach Elliott failed again and amongst the uproar of paranoia and anger and sheer disbelief that was pounding in his head from a dozen different people, LC sensed the presence of a body behind him a fraction too late to react as he was grabbed. The pistol was twisted out of his grip and he was pushed down to his knees.
Chapter 21
It was hard to explain why Sean hadn’t brought LC straight in. NG chose his words carefully, feeling the strained patience wearing thin.
“The Between is no place to linger,” the Man said. “It’s no surprise, is it not, that they became embroiled in the murky lives of the folk that infest it.”
NG turned his attention back to the board. His bishop was in danger of being taken by a mere pawn. It was tempting to react but that was too obvious a move.
The Man was right. It wasn’t surprising that LC had run into pirates. The raiders were getting more bold as tensions between Earth and Winter rose and the tenuous stability of the Between degenerated.
“Out loud, NG,” the Man chided.
“There are whole colonies of pirates out there now,” NG said. “It’s a lucrative way of life. And seeing how most of the ships targeted are well-insured vessels belonging to the corporations, rich corporations, a lot of people are content to turn a blind eye, if not outright sympathise with the renegades.”
He made his move, a white pawn stepping forward to threaten the black knight. Offensive not defensive, a dangerous strategy to attempt against the Man.
The Man smiled. “They are violent brigands,” he said and moved his piece to safety.
•
“This is unfortunate,” he heard Tierney say behind him.
LC tried to get up but the hand on his shoulder pushed down and the cold metal of a gun barrel was pushed against his neck. He could feel Gallagher seething.
He sent through the Senson, “Sean?”
“Right here,” she sent back. “Don’t move. Let’s make this easy for them. We’re fine and if all they want is the weapons and supplies, we can get out of this. Don’t do anything stupid.”
LC glanced over at Thom and could tell the kid had got the same message. He was twitching to fight back. They all were but Sean was right.
“Take them somewhere secure,” Tierney said.
LC was hauled to his feet and turned around. Gallagher and Sean were pushed ahead, guns at their backs.
DiMarco led them up through the ship to the mess, standing aside and watching as they were searched in turn. Gallagher and Thom were clean but they took two knives and a small pistol from Sean. They took their time with LC, checking him twice with a wand and still missing the knife in his boot. He stood calmly while they frisked him, staring at DiMarco and wondering how the hell he hadn’t seen it coming.
“Long time ago, huh?” he muttered.
The pilot shifted uneasily. “Nothing personal, Luka buddy.” He turned to one of Tierney’s men. “There’s another one in the medical bay but he’s in no state to move anywhere. Don’t worry about him. And there’s a tech guy who’s probably on the bridge.” He turned back into the room, leaning on the doorway. “Make yourselves comfortable – this might take a while.”
Gallagher moved to step towards the pilot, squaring up to him. He was stopped by one of the men, a hefty palm on his chest, as the other two guys both raised their guns. LC took a step forward but Sean stopped him with a hand on his arm.
“Why?” Gallagher said simply, anger still bubbling beneath the surface.
DiMarco shrugged. “It’s not what you think.”
“You’re a goddamned pirate.”
DiMarco narrowed his eyes. “It’s complicated. You wouldn’t understand.”
“Damned right I don’t understand,” Gallagher fumed. “Gun running, DiMarco? For pirates? For Christ’s sake, didn’t you think I had enough trouble?”
“You’re not the only one with trouble,” he said and left, followed by the other three who slammed the door shut behind them.
LC sat on the floor and stared at Thom who’d tucked himself in the opposite corner of the mess, tapping a hand incessantly on his knee. Sean passed round bottles of water from the fridge, LC refusing and asking for a beer instead. He was feeling flaky, head still pounding, and he needed the hit from the carbohydrate. She frowned but threw him a beer.
“Well, this is fun,” she said.
Thom was quiet. LC tried Elliott again but there was no sign and there was nothing in the mess that he could hack into to get into the ship’s systems.
Sean sat down. “It’ll be fine. They just want the supplies,” she said out loud, adding privately to LC, “This has nothing to do with us. Don’t make it worse than it is.”
“They haven’t found Elliott,” he sent back.
“He’ll be hiding somewhere. What else can he do?”
“You might be surprised,” he sent, regretting it as soon as he said it. His bizarre relationship with Elliott relied on them both keeping secrets.
“What does that mean?” Sean bounced back.
“Nothing, forget it.” He was relieved that she didn’t follow it up, attention focused as it was on their own immediate predicament.
He drank down half the beer. It didn’t help as much as he was hoping. As much as Sean said this had nothing to do with them, the fact that DiMarco knew about the bounty was niggling at the back of his mind.
They hadn’t caught Elliott so the tech guy could still help them and there was also Duncan, but he was probably in no state to move if the virus was running anything like it had with him. He’d spent the first three days in a delirious fever according to Hil. If Duncan was lucky, he’d start to stir in about four day’s time. No good for them right now.
Gallagher sat on the sofa and rubbed his face with his hands. He looked up suddenly. “I’ve been shot down by bastard aliens, set up by double-dealing bastard mobsters, attacked by corporate bastard mercenaries and hijacked by bastard pirates. Is there a pattern here, do you reckon?”
LC couldn’t help but smile at the uncharacteristic outburst. He genuinely liked Gallagher. Mendhel had that same sense of self-deprecating humour. The smile faded and he felt the pang of loss deep inside. Mendhel had believed in him, despite everything everyone else at the guild had said when he’d arrived on their doorstep as a scrawny kid who’d known nothing but war. Mendhel had seen something in him and nurtured it, and he would have done anything for the man.
He looked up at Gallagher, who was scrubbing a hand over his head as if he could shake away the bad luck that was following him. LC bit his lip. He didn’t owe these people anything but at the same time he was caught up with them in a way it was hard to explain, even to himself.
DiMarco came back after about an hour. LC had been itching to go walkabout, see if he could find Elliott, but Sean glared at him every time he stood up – and thinking about it, she was right. They were searching the ship and probably had thermal imaging out there. They’d catch him in an instant if he went crawling around the ducting vents of the ship.
The pilot leaned in and said, “Up and out, people. We’re gonna take a little ride.”
Gallagher folded his arms. “I’m not leaving my ship.”
DiMarco opened the door further to show them that he wasn’t alone – two guys armed with stubby assault rifles were standing in the corridor.
Thom got to his feet and walked out but Sean touched LC’s arm. “Wait.”
She wasn’t happy and she was worried about Gallagher too. She whispered something in the older guy’s ear and he nodded reluctantly and stood.
DiMarco smiled. “That’s the smart thing.”
“What about Hal?” she asked.
“He can stay here. He’s too messed up to move. One of our guys will look after him. We’re just going into town. Tierney wants to talk to you.”
They were escorted off the ship and led towards a line of vehicles. It was hotter than it had been earlier, the sun higher in the sky and no hint of a breeze. LC put his sunglasses on and hung back, trying to gauge the scene. His headache had eased off but he didn’t like the tension he was still picking up.
DiMarco dropped back. “You’re with me, Luka buddy,” and directed him away, separating him from the others.
Sean stopped but was persuaded along by a nudge from a rifle butt.
“I’m fine,” LC sent to her. “It’s DiMarco. What’s he going to do?”
“What if he knows about the bounty?”
“He doesn’t. Trust me, I’ll be fine.”
DiMarco stopped at a jeep and opened the door. LC climbed into the front seat and watched the others get into an array of battered vehicles painted in desert colours, an armed escort getting into each one.
It was hot in the jeep. No air con but windows that wound down or pushed open, real old style, the type of vehicle that had no dependence on electronics in case of EMP. LC pushed out the small corner window in the door and quickly checked the door pockets while DiMarco walked round. There was a bottle of water and a box of small bore ammunition but no weapons.
He was sitting quietly, looking out of the window when DiMarco got in and fired up the ignition. He drove off, spinning round and kicking up a cloud of dust to take the lead in their convoy.
“How much?” DiMarco said without looking at him, eyes on the dirt track ahead.
LC smiled without turning. “How much what?”
The pilot grinned. “Out here we’re all running from something, Luka. You should think about staying – you have skills we could use. You can take care of yourself and I heard about the way you hacked into the station’s systems on Poule to get us out of there.”
“Don’t believe everything Thom says.”
DiMarco laughed and spun the jeep into a hard left turn, the wheels spinning on the desert floor and the vehicle bouncing over ruts
in the rocky surface. “Five hundred thousand,” he said, proud of it as if the price on his head was a badge of honour. “Wintran side.”
“Twenty six million,” LC said simply, still looking out of the window.
DiMarco laughed louder. “You’re something else, buddy, you really are.”
He could tell that the pilot thought he was joking, being flippant to avoid telling him the truth. DiMarco joked and drank to avoid thinking and it was easier to assume that was what other people did than it was to realise they might be serious. Whatever the hell had happened to him or whatever it was that he’d done, it was all buried way beneath the surface and far deeper than anything LC could read from the guy’s mind, even sitting next to him.
They bounced across a dried out riverbed and veered right towards a range of mountains that loomed on the horizon. The side mirror was cracked but he could see in the few shards remaining that the other vehicles were keeping up behind them.
“I’m serious, Luka,” DiMarco said suddenly. “Tierney isn’t going to let Gallagher go. He’ll offer him a choice – join us or else. How can we risk just letting you all go? There are too many people here that are safe only so long as no one knows where we are. You could do well here, Luka, I’m telling you. We need people like you. And Jiro appreciates the type of skills you have.”
LC turned to look at him, one arm resting on the window. “You loaded guns onto Gallagher’s ship, DiMarco. Do you know what would have happened if we’d been inspected before we left Sten’s?”
“We do what we have to do, buddy. I’m sure you of all people understand that.”
LC turned back to look out of the window. He wasn’t going to stay. He definitely wasn’t going to get caught up in someone else’s fight. If Sean’s ship was on her way here, he needed to make sure Gallagher was sorted and then they’d split. Simple.