Zeta Hack: A Paranormal Space Opera Adventure (Star Justice Book 3)

by Michael-Scott Earle

  “Probably only rubber rounds for riot control,” the other woman answered.

  “Probably?” Z grimaced.

  “Wait here,” I said as I moved again to the mouth of the alley.

  The gun fire had another surge of intensity, but it sounded as if it was far off in the distance. When I reached the end of the alley, I risked a quick lean out to glance in the direction of the tube that would take us to the harbor. I didn’t see any more armored police officers on the street, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Then I glanced back to the direction of the crowd. I saw the backs of the last line of armed police. They were a good eighty meters away.

  I motioned for the women to come up and meet me at the edge of the alley. As soon as they did so, I pointed toward the police lines. “We are going to hug the left sides of the buildings and work our way toward the tube station. Eventually we’ll have to cross the street to get there. Got it?” My question was aimed at the teary eyed girls. They nodded, and I gestured for Juliette to follow me.

  I turned the corner, and began to slide down the front of the buildings away from the line of riot police.

  We made it past the first building, which was actually a bank, then we crossed another alley and passed a drone repair shop. The third storefront was a bar, and I gestured for the women to duck into it for a moment. As soon as they did, I glanced back behind us to see if any of the riot police had seen us. They were now a good hundred and thirty meters away, and I guessed we were out of immediate danger.

  I nodded to the women and then darted around the corner again. The tube station was another eighty meters ahead, and I saw one of the cars leave the station to head toward District E’s harbor. I did a rough estimate and figured that we’d probably need to wait a few minutes for the next tube to arrive, but I didn’t think it would be a big deal as long as we could find a spot to hide.

  We ducked into another alleyway, and I checked the row of riot police one last time. The police were plenty far away now, and no one had turned to spot us. I felt my nerves relax a bit, and I started to think that we were going to be able to get back to Persephone without a confrontation.

  “One last stop and we’ll board the tube,” I told the women before I moved around the corner again. We passed another four buildings and then ducked into the last alley. The next corner was another major intersection, and it formed a T intersection with the street we had just fled. Across the road was the tube station, and crossing to board it would put us in plain sight of the distant riot police and anyone who was stationed on this intersecting avenue.

  “I’m going to go check out the next street,” I told the women. “You all stay here.”

  “Careful,” Z said.

  “Always,” I replied.

  “Uhhh, no. You are the exact opposite of that, Kitty Boy,” she said with a frown.

  “Kitty boy?” Juliette asked as I turned the corner.

  “Uhhh. Pet name for the captain. Sorry,” Z said, but I almost couldn’t hear her over the siren.

  I moved to the end of the building and paused to see if I could hear anything around the corner. I couldn’t because of the siren, so I took a deep breath and leaned out. I made a quick count of fifteen guards sweeping the street a good twenty meters away from my position. Their backs were to me, and they were walking away, but they each wore full riot gear. Half of them held shock batons, and the other half held shotgun looking weapons with large magazines. I deduced they were riot control weapons which fired suppression rounds, but I didn’t really care to find out for sure.

  I returned to the alley where the women hid and gave them the update.

  “As soon as the tube hits the station, we are going to make a run for it. There are riot cops down both of these streets, and I’m hoping we can make it in without them seeing us. Don’t look in either direction, just run. Do you all understand?” I asked the captured girls. They nodded, and I looked to Z. “Make sure they get inside the tube.”

  “Got it.”

  “You help her,” I said to Juliette.

  “I don’t need any orders from--” she began, but I waved my hand at her and gestured for them to move deeper into the alley.

  “It’s coming. Stand back,” I said, and Juliette did follow my orders.

  The tube train pulled into the raised platform, and I made ready to run. It was a forty meter distance across the street, two meters up the stairs, and then another fifteen to the tube. I’d be able to make it there in under fifteen seconds, even without my changed tiger form, but I didn’t think the girls would get there for thirty. The doors stayed open for about a minute, so I figured that we had time to spare.

  The doors slid open with a hiss, and I opened my mouth to order the run, but then six cops in riot gear stepped out of the train.

  Chapter 12

  “Shit. Get back,” I hissed as I moved away from the edge of the alleyway.

  “Crap. What do we do now?” Z asked as we retreated.

  “They will leave,” Juliette said. “Probably on the next train, or they will move to the streets. We just have to wait.”

  “I actually agree with you.” Z snickered.

  “Ahh, you have a brain after all,” the redhead said.

  “Annnnnnnd, now you can go fuck yourself. For real. I’ve got a gun you can use.”

  “I can think of someone else’s weapon I’d rather fuck,” Juliette said, and I felt a hand tap me on the back.

  “You don’t have many friends, do you?” Z hissed.

  “Nope. Not a single one. I don’t think you have many either,” Juliette answered.

  “Hey,” I hissed back at them, and they both closed their mouths. “Shut up.”

  Both of the pretty women glared at me, but I turned back around before they could reply. The armored soldiers were standing on the tube platform and talking to each other. The siren was still going so I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it didn’t look like they were in a hurry to go anywhere.

  We waited.

  The next tube came to a stop after a few minutes, and the doors opened silently. The armored cops didn’t even look at the tube, they were engrossed in their conversation. Two of the men carried the riot shotguns, and the other four held door sized plastic shields and stun batons. The group of them would make short work of a group of protestors, and I wondered why they weren’t moving to join the rest of their comrades.

  “Looks like you were wrong,” Z said.

  “Let’s wait till the next train,” Juliette huffed.

  We waited in silence, except for the sound of the sirens and the distant shots from the riot guns.

  The next train came to the station, and the riot cops didn’t leave. It was obvious now that they were stationed here to keep anyone from taking the tube to the harbor. I guessed that even if we did get past these six men, there would be another group of them waiting for us at the harbor.

  “Looks like you are still wrong,” Z said.

  “We’ll keep waiting. Eventually--”

  “Eventually they are going to find us. You said these are crooked cops?” Z asked.

  “I don’t know if all of them are, but I’m guessing a lot of them are on Ian Ven Toreg’s pay--”

  “Were on his payroll. Now they aren’t. They are going to be fucking pissed. We need to get out of here,” Z said.

  “We can continue our run in this direction and get to the harbor without taking the tube,” Juliette said.

  “We’ll still have to get by the six of them,” I said. “There was also a group on the next street over, and there will be more on the way.”

  “You have a better plan?” the cop asked.

  “Yeah. We take the tube.”

  “Uhhhh--” Z began to say, but Juliette interrupted her.

  “You just pointed out the six officers in the way.”

  “Yeah. We’ll go through them.”

  “No,” the woman said as she shook her head. “I don’t know if all of them were on Ian’s payroll
, so you can’t shoot them.”

  “I’m not going to shoot them,” I said.

  “Then how are you going to--” Juliette said.

  “Oh no. Adam, don’t,” Z interrupted.

  “Don’t what?” the other woman asked.

  “I’m going to charge them and take them on hand to hand. You all will get in the train.” I pointed back at the tube station and felt the beast inside of my DNA roar with the promise of release.

  “Uhhh. There are six of them. They have stun batons and riot guns. You are going to get--” Her green eyes opened wide when she stared at my face and took a step back from me.

  The beast screamed through my body.

  My back arched against the pain of my spine reforming. My muscles burned, stretched, tore, regrew, and became stronger. My legs, chest, arms, shoulders, hands, and feet enlarged. My jeans were baggy, and I fumbled open my belt as my waist expanded. The boots I wore were from the scientists that put the monster in my DNA, and they expanded at the seams to mold to my half human-half tiger feet.

  Juliette’s mouth hung open, and the girls moved to cower behind her. Z began to talk to them in a soothing voice, but I couldn’t actually hear her words over the sound of my blood and the beast screaming through my skull.

  My human teeth popped out of my mouth, and the tiger’s pushed through my enlarged jaw. My vision was tinted yellowish now, and it snapped into focus on Juliette’s neck. The beast was all raw emotions, and it wanted me to rip her apart for mistreating my women as much as it wanted me to fuck her until she was mine.

  “Oh. Shit. Oh. Shit.” The redhead took three small steps backward and tripped over one of the girls who stared at me with horror.

  “I’ll engggggage them, and you all get on the train. Understand?” my voice growled on the g’s, but the women nodded, so I knew they understood me. Or maybe they were just nodding because I sounded like I asked them a question, and they remembered the last order I gave them.

  “What the fuck are you?” Juliette gasped.

  I didn’t answer. Instead, I turned and sprinted toward the tube station.

  Toward the six riot police who were completely unaware of the approaching monster shooting toward them like a striped missile.

  Toward the stopping train.

  I made it to the top of the stairs before one of the men with the riot shotguns noticed me. He let out a surprised shriek of warning, but the other men turned just as I bowling-balled into them. I shoulder checked one of the officers holding a shield, and the impact caused him to fly away from me. His armored body slammed into the side of the tube train with an impact hard enough to dent the metal of the vehicle.

  My left fist lashed out with a haymaker that caught another baton carrying man in the helmet. The metal cracked under the impact of my blow and his body spun around like a top. I used the momentum of my swing to carry me past the group, and then I did a rear kick that connected with the armored ass of another baton wielder. My boot lifted him off the ground like a catapult, and he flew down the stairs.

  There were three men left standing. Two with riot shotguns, and one with a shield and baton. The men with the guns pivoted to point their weapons at me, but I grabbed the barrel of the one on my left and jerked it away from my chest as I grabbed onto the helmet of the baton wearing man with my right hand. The man on the left fired, but his slug missed. The man on the right also fired, but I had yanked the cop with the helmet toward me, and the soft riot slug kicked him right in the back. The man let out a surprised scream, but it was cut short when I let go of my hand and threw him face first into the side of the train.

  I held firm to the rifle on the left, which was still in the man’s grasp. I pulled on the gun as I drove my fist into his stomach. The blow might have killed an unarmored man, but the padded plates on his stomach made it so that I just knocked all the wind out of his lungs.

  The second riot gun carrying cop fired, and I guessed it hit me, since we were at such close range, but I didn’t feel the rubber slug make any sort of impact. I let go of the barrel of the left gun, stepped toward the man on my right, and then grabbed him on the shoulder. He pushed his gun into my stomach and I felt like someone slammed a mallet into my abdominal muscles. It hurt like hell, but I’d experienced far worse, and the pain didn’t prevent me from slamming his face into the side of the train three times.

  Then the doors to the tube train slid open with a happy chime sound.

  I turned to the women and saw them begin to sprint from the alley. I didn’t see the cops on the adjacent street, but I did see the line of police off in the distance to my left. The sight gave me some relief, but I figured we would still have to worry about the security at the harbor.

  “Z and Juliette, pick up the shields,” I ordered, and both women pulled the large clear door shaped shields from the arms of the unconscious men.

  I crouched down and picked up one of the shock batons. The thing was on, and I put it up to my mouth so I could hold it in my teeth like a dog with a bone. Then I reached for both of the riot shotguns. They were large weapons meant to be used with two hands, but they fit fine enough in my massive grip, and I stood with one in each hand.

  Juliette did hint that she didn’t want me to kill any cops.

  “You took out six men in that many seconds,” the policewoman said when we stepped into the tube.

  “Hmmm,” I mouthed around the baton as the door to the tube train slid closed with another happy chime.

  “What the hell are you? The witnesses at the bank said you turned into some sort of tiger-man. How is this possible?” Juliette looked at me, but when I didn’t respond, she turned to Z.

  “Shit, girl. I’ve only got half a brain, don’t ask me.” Z smirked and then waved her arm around to test the weight of the riot shield.

  “Whatever. You both are going to answer questions when we get back on my ship.

  I growled at the policewoman, and the five girls let out gasps of surprise. Juliette narrowed her eyes at me and then shook her head.

  “Persephone isn’t your ship. That’s the second time you’ve said that,” Z growled after she cleared her throat. “I don’t think you should do it again. Do you see how big Adam’s teeth are?”

  “Hmmm.” The woman bit her lip and then glanced at my mouth.

  “Fine. It’s your ship, and here is our stop.” Juliette nodded behind me, and I turned as the train began to slow.

  I moved to the door and then pointed the shotgun in my left hand at the space behind me. Z understood what I meant and moved behind me with her shield. Juliette did the same, and they formed a wall protecting the terrified girls from any riot bullets that might make it into the train car.

  The tube track cover opened up, and I saw the harbor platform through the window. The sight made me growl with frustration, and I turned to shake my head at the women. I knew that Z and Juliette could also see out the window, and the emotion on their faces was clear.

  There were thirty riot police gathered around the station platform.

  They weren’t really watching the train pull in, which was a small blessing, but they’d see me as soon as I stepped out of the car. There was probably a half-dozen, and then four other groups scattered around the harbor landing area. Our dock was some two hundred meters down to our right past the second info station, and there was no way we could sneak by these assholes. We would have to go through them.

  I would have to go through them.

  “What are we going to do?” Z’s voice was filled with fear, and I stared into her pretty blue eyes for half a moment.

  “No,” she said as I turned around.

  “No, Adam. No! Spit the damn baton out and talk to me! You can’t fucking run out there, you crazy fuck,” she begged, but then the train came to a stop, and the doors slid open with a happy chime.

  I stepped out of the car and pointed both of my riot guns at the first group of cops.

  Then I pulled the triggers.

  None of t
hese men expected an attack here. They expected this to be the easy assignment where they just kept the ships docked while the rest of their comrades did the messy work. Maybe some of them were a bit upset that they didn’t get to be on the front lines.

  Maybe they wished they could see some action.

  I was less than three meters from the group of men, and I half expected the riot slugs to bounce harmlessly off their riot armor. The exact opposite happened though. My first shots lifted two men off the ground and sent them tumbling down the stairs of the platform. The group of police jumped and turned toward the gunshots. Some carried riot shotguns similar to mine. Most carried the stun batons and shields.

  They all shouted with surprise when they saw a two and a half meter tall tiger-man carrying a riot gun in each hand.

  I pulled the triggers again and sent two more cops tumbling away from me. Their armor was soaking up all the kinetic energy from the riot slugs and distributing it evenly across the panels of their suits. They were probably designed to take hits from melee weapons or maybe thrown bricks. The riot slugs were made out of some sort of soft rubber-like material, and every joule of energy from the shots pushed against them. It was as if I was shooting cartoon cannonballs out of the guns, and the last two men on the platform tumbled down the stairs.

  I sprung to one side as the guards below me turned to shoot their own riot guns. The rubber-like bullets pelted the train behind me like a bass drum roll, and I somehow managed to avoid getting hit. My twin guns sounded a reply, and two more of the armored cops bounced off the ground below me.

  Then I leapt down the stairs as another volley of riot slugs parted the air around me. My next twin shots hit two more armored men before I landed beside the other six standing in the group. Most of these men carried stun batons, but I managed to take another two of them down with point blank shots to their chests.

  One man swung his baton at my face, but he had to angle his swing upward, and I was able to lean back a bit so that the weapon only tickled my whiskers with electricity. As soon as the baton passed wide, I stepped into the man to check his return strike while I pointed my twin shotguns at two more men in the group. They were raising their shields to deflect my shots, but I shrugged my shoulders up so I could push my weapons down over the door sized barriers. My guns barked, and each of the men caught the slugs in their helmets. Their heads snapped back, and they tumbled head over heels away from me. I didn’t want to kill police officers, but there were too many of them in my way. If I pulled any punches, it could mean our capture. Then we wouldn’t be able to stop Huyan Kar from doing whatever it was that he planned with the explosives. We wouldn’t be able to save these five girls, and there was a good chance that Eve would never be freed from prison.