“So? I don’t like to waste my time,” Van Toreg hissed.
“Me either, Mate,” said Jared. “That’s why I am late.”
“Come on, man. Be professional.”
“Eh? Eh?” Jared leaned forward and cupped his ear as if he had trouble hearing. “I thought you just said something rude, but I’m sure I’m mistaken. Hey Tyrell, did you hear Ian say something rude?”
“It could have been rude.” Tyrell shrugged. “But I kind of want to get the fuck out of here, so let’s get on with this.”
“Sure, Mate,” Jared said before he turned back to Ian Van Toreg. “You bring the stuff?”
“Yeah.” Van Toreg nodded to his men, and they set the two large leather duffle bags down at Jared and Tyrell’s feet.
“Careful with that stuff, or you’ll kill everyone in your district,” Van Toreg warned.
“We know what the fuck we are doing,” Jared said as he squatted next to the bag. The man opened it and began to rifle through the contents with surprising care.
“Yeah, whatever. I don’t have much of a conscience, but I’d hate for you to kill a quarter of a million people because you measured something wrong and put too much boom in your bomb. You said you’ve got someone who knows how to wire the explosives?”
“Yeah, Mate. I’ve got my orders, you’ve got yours. Worry about your own district, eh?”
“Whatever. Pass us the merchandise,” Van Toreg said as he pointed at the crying girls.
I felt the beast in my stomach growl when the man called the girls ‘merchandise’, and I had to take a dozen long breaths to relax the muscles in my back.
“Careful with them,” Jared said with a sneer. “You gotta put your wanker in the right hole, or you’ll damage them.”
“Ha. Asshole,” Ian Van Toreg said with a sneer.
The men in Jared’s group pulled the chained women over to the other men and handed the leash over. One of the girls began to sob loudly, and she yanked on the chain that attached her wrists to the other young women. Her sudden movement caused them all to fall, and the man next to her raised his hand to hit her.
“Hey! No hitting! I can’t sell them if they are bruised,” Van Toreg shouted before the man could land his strike.
“Have you seen enough?” I growled to Juliette. “Let’s make our move.”
She pushed her hand against my chest to keep me from walking forward and then turned away from her camera. “A bit more. I need as much as possible.”
I growled in return, and the woman dropped her hand from my chest so she could look back to her camera. The men were picking the sobbing women up from the ground, and I saw Jared open up the second bag so that he could search through the contents.
“Looks like you are eight kilos short, Mate,” Jared said.
“Naw. There is sixty-four total there. Count again,” Ian Van Toreg said as he ran his hands over the ass of one of the girls. The movement wasn’t sexual at all. It was as if the man was inspecting livestock.
“I just counted again. You are short.”
“You’re kidding me? I counted it myself before we left.”
“Then you need help doing math,” Jared snarled.
“Jared, every time we do an exchange like this you say I’m fucking you. Doesn’t matter if it is drugs, weapons, or explosives. Then I do a recount, and it ends up that you were wrong. So today, you can go piss off.”
“That’s not the right answer, Mate. I’m not going to be able to take out the harbor platforms without the extra eight.”
“It is there. Also, you need to get a better tech. I’m taking care of mine with only thirty kilos. Our contacts told me to give you more because you are an idiot,” Ian Van Toreg said.
The eight men standing behind Jared and Tyrell all pulled pistols out of their belts and pointed them at Ian van Toreg’s crew. The other men were quick on the draw also, and they all held their weapons out half a moment later. The handcuffed girls shuffled to the side a bit so that they weren’t in the line of fire, but one of the men held onto the girl nearest him.
So that she shielded most of his body.
My anger roared through my muscles, and I felt the beast threaten to take control of my body. My human mind knew I’d get shot full of holes if I jumped into the fray at this moment, so I forced the animal back down to the depths of my stomach. The sensation made my body shake with a painfully, but Juliette was too busy studying the camera to notice.
Z’s hand rested on my left tricep and I turned to face her. The woman’s eyes met mine, and I felt the rush of blood through my ears slow slightly.
“You’re being foolish, Jared,” Ian Van Toreg hissed.
“I’ve got a lot more to do than you. I’m taking out the security station, three banks, and the harbor. I need the full set of explosives, so you need to stop fucking with me,” Jared answered.
“I’ll recount,” Turell sighed and then bent down to sort through the two duffle bags. It took the man a handful of minutes to go through it, but then he looked up at Jared with a shrug. “I count sixty-four.”
“No shit? Huh,” Jared lifted up his cap to scratch the top of his skull. “My bad, Mate.”
“Yeah. You do this every time,” Ian Van Toreg groaned.
“Just like to keep you on your toes is all. I supposed we are done here.” Jared’s men slowly lowered their pistols and then holstered them in their suit jackets.
“Looks like we are. I’ll see you in Parliament,” Ian van Toreg said as he motioned for his men to get ready to leave.
“Yeah, Mate. Gonna be fun. Cracking eggs to make an omelet and all that.” Jared motioned for two of his men to pick up the bags, and the group turned to walk away.
I thought that Juliette would have tried to make the arrest, but she just put her camera away and moved back into the alley. She pointed in the direction Ian van Toreg and his crew were moving with the girls, and then set off through the alleyways to follow them.
“I thought they were trading drugs for the girls,” Juliette whispered as we snuck through the alleys.
“Do you know what they have planned?” I whispered.
“No. I have some theories.”
“Oh?” I asked.
“We’ll talk later. First priority is saving those girls and arresting Ian Van Toreg.”
“Got it,” I said as we reached the edge of the alley.
“When?” Z asked softly.
“We’ll wait for them to get to the tunnel entrance,” Juliette said. “Adam and I will make the arrests. You’ll get the girls unlocked and into the tunnel.”
“Okay,” Z whispered.
“On my signal,” Juliette said, and we continued to follow her movements through the forgotten city.
The group of gangsters made it to the tunnel, and they shone the light inside so the captured girls could walk down the stairs without tripping. The men seemed completely unaware that we were following them, and I thought we’d be able to catch them by surprise.
“Let’s go,” Juliette said as she pulled out her pistol. I followed her example, nodded at Z, and then walked into the center of the street next to the redheaded cop.
“Ian Van Toreg, you are under arrest for the illegal trafficking of slaves and suspected terrorism,” she said with surprising calmness. Her words made the men jump with surprise, and a few reached for the guns.
“Ahh, ahh, ahh,” I growled as I aimed my pistol at him. The gun in my hand wasn’t as large as my revolver, but it was still one of the largest pistols I had ever seen, and the man’s eyes widened as he stared down the wide barrel.
“Put your hands on your head and get on your knees,” Juliette instructed.
“Who the fuck are you?” Van Toreg asked.
“Doesn’t matter, you are under arrest.”
“What authority do you have to arrest me?”
“How about the big gun in your face? Get on your knees!” Juliette stepped toward the man, grabbed his arm, twisted it behind his back,
and then pushed him to the ground. One of the other gangsters standing next to her moved to reach his hand into his coat, but the woman saw him out of the corner of her eye, and she swung her arm around to point her pistol at him. “Don’t be an idiot.”
The man nodded, placed his hands on his head, and then sank down to his knees. The other men followed their example, and I kept my weapon aimed at them while Juliette searched them, disarmed them, and then bound their wrists together behind their back.”
“Keys,” Juliette said as she pulled a ring of them out of one of the men’s pockets. She tossed them in the air to Z, and the blonde hacker caught them with a fluid motion.
My friend moved to the handcuffed girls and began to push the keys into the locks while Juliette finished disarming the last man.
“What’s your plan, girl?” You’ll never make it through the district with us in tow. I’ve got guys on every street corner. They are all armed and will put a bullet in you as soon as I give the word.”
“You know, it’s illegal to have a firearm on Queen’s Hat,” Juliette said with a mocking tone. “I don’t even need to take you to trial, I can just push you out an airlock right now.”
There isn’t an airlock anywhere close by, bitch, and good luck getting to--”
Juliette interrupted Ian Van Toreg’s words by shooting one of the kneeling men in the head. The man’s head snapped back with the impact of her bullet, and most of his brains splattered the street and curb behind him like a bucket of tossed paint.
“What the fuck? You just killed him!” Van Toreg shrieked.
“Good riddance. Want any of your other goons to die? Keep talking,” Juliette growled as she moved her pistol to point at another one of Ian Van Toreg’s henchmen.
“I thought you were a cop. You aren’t supposed to be--”
Juliette’s handgun went off again, and another one of Ian Van Toreg’s men’s heads exploded like a smashed watermelon.
“Let me make something really fucking clear to you, scum,” the redhead said as she yanked Ian’s head back and shoved the business end of her pistol deep into his mouth. “You are buying and selling kids. I don’t give a fuck about what you think I can, or cannot do. As far as I’m concerned, death by airlock is too good a fate for you, but if you come with me peacefully, and answer my questions, I’ll argue that you get life in the brig instead of a cold space death. If any of your fucking friends in District E try to take a shot at me, I’ll just kill you first and consider it a victory. Got it?”
The man tried to speak around the barrel of her pistol, but she didn’t bother to pull it out of his throat.
“Good. I’m glad we understand each other.” Juliette turned to Z. “Put the ball gags on these fucks, cuff their legs together, and then chain them.”
“We aren’t taking them with us?” Z asked.
“No, I just need Ian Van Toreg. These guys are going to be too much of a liability. We’ll leave them.
“They’ve seen what we look like, though,” Z said.
“Good point. We should probably kill them,” Juliette said as she pointed her gun at the head of another man.
“No!” Z shouted along with the three men kneeling on the ground.
“What’s your problem? These are slave traders. They were about to sell these girls. It will be too risky to take them with us, and you are right, they’ll be able to identify us later.”
“We won’t say shit. Honest!” one of the men begged.
“Ehhh. I don’t believe scum like you for a damn second,” Juliette growled.
“Wait,” Z said. “It feels wrong to kill them after they surrendered.” She turned to me, and then Juliette did the same.
“Well, handsome. What’s your vote?”
I turned over the situation in my head a few times. I hated the idea of killing someone when they couldn’t fight back, but these were evil men, who sold kids as sex slaves.
I knew what Eve would say if she had been here.
My pistol kicked three times in my hand. Each bullet ended a man’s life by putting a massive hole in the center of their skull. They fell over dead, and I turned to look at the woman without feeling any remorse in my chest.
“Guess that’s an answer,” Z said with a sigh. “Probably for the best.”
“You just didn’t want to pull the trigger. Your man doesn’t have a problem taking care of business. I’m starting to like him more.” Juliette winked at me.
“Whatever,” Z huffed as she picked up the lantern and walked toward the steps leading to the claustrophobic corridor. “Let’s get back to our ship so you can interrogate this asshole.”
“Let’s go,” Juliette said as she pulled her pistol out of Ian Van Toreg’s mouth. Then she looked to the young women who Z had just freed. “Girls, we are going to get you out of here. Just follow us and stay--”
A gunshot cracked from behind, and I threw myself between where I thought the sound originated from, and Z’s location. The bullet missed us, and I pulled my friend toward the entrance to the tunnel.
“Go!” Juliette shouted to the girls as they screamed and sprinted down the steps.
A series of shots echoed behind us and I turned around to shoot back at where their muzzles flashed. The men were a good eighty meters away, so their pistol bullets weren’t coming anywhere close to me. My shots were more accurate, and one of the men screamed after I fired for a third time. I doubted that I did more than hit him in the arm, but his cry cautioned the other men from firing, so I was able to retreat down the stairs. Z still held the lantern, but she was at the front of our procession, and the light flickered with the movement of my friend and the running girls.
I didn’t see a latch or anything to close the hatch, so I fired my pistol out toward where I thought the men were taking cover to buy us some time, and then I turned around to chase after the women.
I was expecting that the journey back to our ship was going to be dangerous because of Ian Van Toreg’s henchmen, but we’d have even bigger problems if Jared, Tyrell, and their eight men decided to follow us. If they gave chase, we’d be pinched between two different gangs with the added burden of five girls and an uncooperative criminal to protect.
We were going to have to move fast.
Chapter 11
“I’ll take the front. Z, you take the rear and watch our backs. They might be coming after us,” I said as we exited the tight tunnel.
We were back in the machine shop now, and the lamp the blonde hacker carried gave me enough light to see that all the massive machines were bolted to the metal floor. If I was desperate, I might be able to yank one of them out of the mounts and then tip it over on top of the trap door, but I didn’t want to waste any time making an attempt to block their escape if it wasn’t going to be successful.
“Got it,” Z said as she let me run in front of her. I crouched at the edge of the roll-up door and didn’t see anyone, so I moved under it and into the alleyway. I found the man Juliette kicked still unconscious and in the same position we had left him. Or maybe he was dead. I didn’t really care at this point. Anyone who went along with enslaving kids deserved to die.
“You are going to be okay.” I heard the redhead soothe the five girls as they ducked under the roll-up door. “We’ll get you to our ship, and then back to your homes.”
“Ha,” Van Toreg said with a mocking laugh.
“You got a problem?” Juliette said as she yanked him under the roll up door and to his feet.
“Naw, girl. You’re the one who's gonna have a problem. I’ve heard about you,” the gangster said.
“I’m sure they say I am just the sweetest thing on the station,” Juliette replied with a mocking tone.
“You’re Juliette Larns, eh?”
“Street looks clear,” I said as I leaned across the corner of the alley. “I’ll keep my hands in my pocket but hold onto my gun.”
“It’s not gonna matter. As I said before, you won’t make it to your ship. I have a fucking
army on the streets. Even the cops are on my payroll.” Van Toreg looked at Juliette and smiled smugly. “But, you know that, though.”
“I’ll do the station a service if I just put a bullet in you,” the cop said as she pressed the gun to his temple. “I’m a big fan of cutting dead weight. Especially if it is scum like you.”
“Naw, you need me to give you info about--”
Juliette pulled her pistol away from his head and then smacked him with the butt of the weapon. Van Toreg let out a cry of pain, stumbled back, but didn’t fall because she yanked on his arm.
“No more talking until we get to our ship,” she said as she tugged him after me.
I glanced at Z, and she gave me a sour look. She opened her mouth to speak, but I shook my head, and the blonde hacker swallowed her comment. I didn’t like the way that the redhead had referred to Persephone as ‘our ship’, but I kept my mouth closed.
Z made one last check around the corner before she nodded to me. Then she put her gun in her jacket, grabbed the hands of two of the most emotional girls, and whispered for the other three to follow us.
Then we stepped out of the alleyway and into the dirty street of District E.
I was in front, Juliette, and Ian Van Toreg walked behind me, then came three of the school girls followed by Z and the two teenagers who were still crying. There weren’t any pedestrians within fifty meters, but we were close to the abandoned part of the station, and I knew we’d walk through busier sections.
Then we would have to get on the tube to take us back to the harbor.
If Van Toreg really did have the cops on his payroll, we were going to have a really hard time getting to our dock. At least the ones I had seen didn’t carry firearms. They’d been equipped with stun batons and tasers. I didn’t like the idea of fighting police, so I looked around the streets for another alleyway we could take.
“You aren’t gonna find anything like that.” the gangster read my mind. “This is the only avenue to the tube. All these allies head perpendicular. We’re gonna walk past one of my look out groups up ahead. This is your last chance to surrender.”
Zeta Hack: A Paranormal Space Opera Adventure (Star Justice Book 3) Page 13