“That’d be my guess, yeah.” Finally looking away from the screen, she turned her attention to me. “We must contact the authorities as soon as possible, and—”
“I want you to do that,” I said, cutting her short. “Leave this place, and head straight to the nearest Jorkan military outpost you can find. There’s one in the city. Tell them everything that you know.”
“What about you?”
“The moment Alzon realizes that we’re gone, he’s going to erase his servers and move all these weapons out of here,” I continued. “We won’t have any evidence, and he’ll just go free. No, I need to find a way to download these documents and catch the bastard red-handed. If the Rippers are really involved with this, then it’s my duty to stop them.”
“Oh, don’t even think about it,” she said. “Where you go, I go.”
And that was the end of that.
Elle
“All clear.” Peeking out of the room, Kazan looked back at me and nodded. We crept out as silently as we could. “Any idea where that asshole might be?”
“None,” I replied. “We should try and find his office, though. The servers and more documents should be there. With some luck, he might be in there, as well.”
“Then let’s go.”
We walked up a sloping corridor that opened onto the mansion’s lobby, where several tall marble columns supported a vaulted ceiling. A few maids were walking across it, carrying baskets of fresh laundry, but Kazan and I hid behind one of the columns. We waited until they were gone, and once we were sure nobody had noticed us, we rushed up the palatial stairs leading to the upper floor.
Paintings hung from most of the walls, and there were even a few exotic sculptures here and there. Alzon had the money, and he wasn’t afraid to flaunt it. Unfortunately for him, his kingdom was about to come down on his head, and all because he had made a very stupid mistake: he had messed with us.
Every time I thought of him, anger flared inside me.
I still couldn’t believe the bastard wanted me by his side. How could anyone be that stupid? Not to mention that he had tried to take advantage of me in the most hideous of ways. If I ever saw him again, I was going to kick his balls so damn hard they’d fall out his mouth.
“Hold on,” Kazan whispered, placing his arm in front of me to stop me from turning the corner at the end of the corridor. He cautiously peeked around it, then frowned. “This has to be it. There are two guards posted outside a room.”
“Any idea on how to get around them?”
“There’s no getting around them,” he replied. “The corridor ends there, and they’re blocking the only entry into that room. If we want to get in there, we’ll have to face these guys.”
“I have a plan.”
Without waiting for Kazan’s feedback, I straightened my back and cleared my throat. Striding forward, I turned the corner and started running toward the guards, doing my best to put a frightened expression on my face.
The moment they saw me running toward them, they frowned and raised their handguns. I immediately recognized them as the two Jorkan goons that had showed up at our cabin and kidnapped me.
“What are you doing out here?” the one with a single horn growled, taking one step forward and waving his handgun menacingly. “You weren’t supposed to—”
“Alzon told me I was free to walk around,” I lied. “I’m staying with him, after all. I’m not a prisoner, remember?” They exchanged a confused glance, but ended up lowering their weapons. “I need your help. There’s a mouse in my room.”
“What? A mouse?”
“Yes, a mouse,” I repeated. “I’m not going back there unless you take care of it. Mice scare the living shit out of me.”
“We’re not supposed to leave this door and—”
“You’re supposed to do what you’re told,” I insisted, doing my best to put some authority behind my voice. I needed to make them believe that I had Alzon’s backing. “Now come and help me out, or do I need to ask Alzon himself to help?”
“Of course not,” the one-horned Jorkan muttered. Holstering his handgun, he waved me forward. “Lead the way. Let’s see this damn mouse.”
I walked down the corridor with the two idiots in tow, then slowed down as I turned the corner, hoping that Kazan would know what to do.
He did.
Growling like a caged beast, he jumped out and punched the one-horned Jorkan in the face so hard that his head snapped back. He hit the wall behind me and slumped down, unconscious.
“What the…?” the other Jorkan started saying, but he didn’t have a chance. Kazan was already on him. Grabbing him by the shoulders, he savagely headbutted him.
“Not bad.” Looking down at the two unconscious goons, Kazan placed both hands on his hips and nodded approvingly. “That was some quick thinking, Elle.”
“I’m a lawyer, that’s what I do.”
“I can see that.” Smiling, he pointed at the double doors at the end of the corridor. “Shall we see what’s on the other side?”
Together, we walked straight toward the doors, and Kazan didn’t even bother seeing if they were locked. No, he just kicked them as hard as he could, and they flew open as if a tornado had hit them. On the other side was an opulent office, a massive native wood desk in the middle of the carpeted floor. Shelves lined the walls, and a holographic map of the colony floated at the right of the desk.
“What the fuck?” Seated behind the desk, Alzon jumped up the moment we stormed into the room, his eyes as wide as plates. He tried reaching for something hidden under the desk, but Kazan anticipated his move.
Rushing forward, he kicked the desk against Alzon, the edge of it slamming against the blue Jorkan’s midsection. The handgun he was trying to grab fell to the carpet.
“We meet again,” Kazan said, grinning like a madman. Reaching across the desk, he grabbed Alzon by the collar and flung him across the room so easily you’d believe Alzon weighed as much as a sheet of paper.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Struggling to get back on his feet, Alzon wiped spittle off the corners of his mouth, anger flashing in his eyes. “How did you manage to leave the cell?”
“I broke him out,” I replied. Then it was my turn to have some fun.
Closing in on him, I placed both hands on his shoulders and rammed my knee between his legs. This time, his eyes bulged so much I almost expected them to pop out from their sockets. Satisfied, I watched as Alzon slumped back down to the floor, writhing in pain.
Sitting behind the desk, Kazan whistled.
“Here it is,” he announced, using the keyboard to activate the screen on Alzon’s computer terminal. Grabbing an infopad from one of the drawers, he plugged it in and started downloading as many files as he could. “You’re finished, Alzon. We figured out what you’re trying to do here, and we’re shutting it down.”
“Do you have any idea what you’re doing?” the sick bastard threw back, groaning as he stood up again. “Do you have any idea who my partners are? Once they know that you—”
“Your partners are the Rippers, and once they know that I’ve put a stop to this madness, they’re gonna take it out on you,” Kazan said. “Admit it, Alzon, you’re fucked. You were trying to overthrow the government so that you could rule this colony on behalf of the Rippers, but your plan backfired. Instead of having your pockets lined, your ass is going to be lining the inside of a prison cell.”
“In your dreams,” Alzon shouted, then dove forward and grabbed the handgun lying on the carpet.
Jumping up, he appeared beside me and pressed the barrel against my temple. Even though I couldn’t see him, I could feel the victorious grin he had on his face. “Seems like the tables have turned, Colonel. Step away from that terminal right now...or else I’ll be forced to put a bullet in Elle.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Kazan whispered, shaking his head. He didn’t sound worried. Doing as he was told, he got up from his seat and walked around the desk. “Lower
your gun, Alzon. You’re going to hurt yourself.”
“Stay where you are, or I swear I’ll shoot.” Kazan ignored him, and took one more step forward. “I’m warning you, I’m not fucking around,” Alzon insisted.
When Kazan pressed forward, I heard the click of the trigger, and I really thought that it was the end of the road for me. My knees trembled, I held my breath, and...nothing happened.
Absolutely nothing.
“Damn idiot,” Kazan said, then punched Alzon straight in the face and yanked the gun from his hands. “If you really want to threaten someone, at least make sure you’ve taken the safety off on your gun.”
Kazan
“Where do you keep your private shuttle?” Jabbing the handgun’s barrel into Alzon’s ribs, I forced him to walk toward the door. Still clutching his broken nose, he ambled toward it like a drunken racoon, and I had to hold him up by the scruff of his shirt. “Start talking, asshole. Unlike you, I know how to take the safety off.”
“The garage,” he whined. “It’s in the garage.”
“Lead the way.”
Elle opened the door, and the three of us stepped outside. I had the infopad in my pocket with all the incriminating documents Alzon had kept on his server, and now it was only a matter of hauling his ass to the closest military outpost in the colony. If I remembered correctly, there was one no more than thirty minutes away from the resort.
“Stop right there,” someone shouted.
The two Jorkan bastards I had knocked out had already regained consciousness. They stood outside the office, right at the end of the corridor, pointing their guns at us. “Drop your weapon or we will shoot.”
“And are you going to shoot your boss?” I asked them, still prodding Alzon with the handgun. We marched forward slowly, the two goons matching our pace by walking backward. They didn’t look so sure of what they were doing anymore. “You lower your weapons.”
“Do what he’s telling you,” Alzon grunted, his voice affected by his broken nose. It sounded like he was trying to speak while holding a poached egg in his mouth. Thankfully, his goons didn’t particularly care how he was speaking. They were trained to obey, and that’s exactly what they did. They lowered their weapons and allowed us through. But they followed us, still scowling as we went down the stairs.
“The garage...where is it?” I insisted, and Alzon dragged his feet toward the right door in the lobby. When he pushed it open, we were greeted by what looked like a massive warehouse, with more than a dozen luxury shuttles and at least two racing ships resting there. “Is that a Viper Model II?”
“It is,” Alzon replied, his eyes darting toward the sleek ship parked in one of the corners. It had an elongated nose, two wings with an aerodynamic curvature, and the entire fuselage was a glowing silver. I had never seen one of those ships up close, but I knew they were fast.
“You might be an asshole,” I said, “but you know how to pick a ship.”
Popping the Viper’s cockpit door open, I peeked inside and smiled as I saw four seats. Elle climbed in, and I thrust Alzon into a seat, then followed her. Before settling behind the controls, I tossed Elle the handgun. She pointed it at Alzon as he strapped himself into the seat.
“You know how to fly this ship?” Elle asked me, and I hesitated before replying. I knew how to fly most ships, including tactical shuttles, but I had never been behind the controls of a luxury racing ship. This thing was capable of flying at twice the speed of the tactical shuttle my team used, and I wasn’t entirely sure if I could tame such a wild beast in a pinch.
“Of course,” I said, offering her a confident grin. “I’m an ace pilot.”
She merely arched an eyebrow.
Doing my best not to eat my own words, I revved the ship’s engines, and activated the thrusters. We rose off the floor slowly, but once I grabbed the yoke and pushed it forward, the damn thing moved so fast that we simply exploded out of the garage.
Literally.
The Viper’s nose burst the garage doors open like a battering ram, and the sudden G-force shoved me back against my seat. I tilted the yoke toward me, and we shot into the open sky like a speeding bullet.
“I’ve always wanted to fly one of these,” I cried out, enjoying how loudly the engines were growling. I glanced at Elle, who was glued to her seat, but she didn’t look to be as excited as I was. Instead, she looked terrified.
“What’s that?” she said, pushing the words out with great effort. She pointed at a screen mounted right above me, and I knitted my eyebrows together as I tried to read the information on it. It was a radar, but it was different than the ones I was used to. On it, a blinking dot seemed to be approaching our position. “Is someone coming after us?”
“Shit,” I muttered, suddenly realizing that Alzon’s goons were on our tail. They must’ve grabbed the other racing ship he had in his garage, and now they were chasing after us.
“Well, they can’t shoot us down with Alzon on board, can they?”
“These are racing ships,” I explained. “And they’re probably equipped with drive-killers. They work like a regular weapons system, but they’re not meant to cause any damage. They simply deactivate a ship’s drive and force the guidance systems to take over and land. Not that I’m going to let it happen.”
Gritting my teeth, I banked the ship to the left as the blinking dot on the screen approached. The warning system started beeping loudly, announcing that three missiles with drive-killer units had been launched, and I was forced to make a barrel-roll with the Viper.
I dodged the missiles fired at us, but I knew I had to do something. There was no way I’d reach the military outpost if I just kept on dodging Alzon’s goons. No, it was time for us to go on the offensive.
“Hold tight,” I said, and pushed the Viper into a wide loop. We climbed up into the heights before coming back down, the cockpit facing the planet’s surface, and I managed to position us right behind the ship piloted by the two goons. It was a good model, a Fang V, but it wasn’t as fast or maneuverable as the Viper.
Grinning, I diverted auxiliary power to the engines and closed the distance between us and the ship in front of us. Right before the Viper’s nose bumped against its thrusters, I lifted and positioned myself above them.
“Eat this,” I growled, and lowered our ship suddenly, pushing its belly against the cockpit of the Fang. I activated the outside cameras to see what kind of damage I had caused, and grinned as I saw that the Fang’s cockpit had shattered, the entire ship dipping toward the surface at an impressive rate. I didn’t even blink as I followed its trajectory, and only looked away when it crashed in the ocean.
“I hope your men know how to swim,” Elle said, turning in her seat so that she was facing Alzon directly. He didn’t say anything. He just remained looking down at his own feet, one hand in front of his face as he tried to deal with the pain from his broken nose.
“You’ll pay for this,” he finally muttered, but Elle shut him down right away. She whacked his head with the handgun, and the corrupt bastard sank into his seat, sulking. Fifteen minutes later and we were flying over tall skyscrapers, the city lining the beachfront rising below us.
“There it is.” Pointing out the windshield, I let Elle know our destination and dipped the Viper’s nose, making a straight line toward the military outpost. The ship’s radio crackled with static, an alarmed air control official asking us to identify ourselves, and I happily offered him my rank and clearance codes.
“Hmm, our files say that you’re on a leave of absence, Colonel Kazan,” the official said. “You shouldn’t be working or performing any official duties, so what is this about?”
“Let’s just say that the beach inspired me to do some fishing, and I’ve made quite the catch. I have someone aboard that was actively planning a coup against the colony’s government, and I have evidence of it. Permission to land?”
“Granted.”
Surprisingly, I managed to land the Viper without making a fool
out of myself. As the landing pads touched smoothly on the tarmac, a truck rolled out from a nearby building and made its way straight toward us, two Jorkan military officers riding inside it.
“Hello, boys,” I cried out as I opened the door. Grabbing Alzon by his shirt, I shoved him out of the ship, and he fell facefirst onto the tarmac. “I brought you a gift.”
The two officers exchanged a confused glance.
“But that’s—”
“A resort owner, a rich bastard...and a scheming little bitch who’s in bed with the Rippers.” Jumping out from the Viper, I then offered Elle my hand to help her down. “Now, put that guy in handcuffs before I decide to play judge, jury, and executioner.”
“Right away, Colonel.”
Elle
“I can’t believe we pulled it off,” I said, stretching my back as I climbed down from the racing ship. The military officers had already booked Alzon and, after a two-hour interview, Kazan and I were granted permission to leave...and take the racing ship with us. We landed right on the beach, outside our cabin, and its silver fuselage reflected the midday sun. It was a perfect scene.
“All thanks to you,” Kazan said with a bright laugh, draping one arm over my shoulders and pulling me in. Nestled against his body, I went up on tiptoes and brushed my lips against his. For a moment, everything was perfect. Then a strident voice cut through the perfection.
“Miss Ashby,” Yilap cried out, and Kazan and I looked up to see the blue Jorkan rushing toward the cabin, the hem of his white tunic flapping in the wind. “Colonel Kazan! I came as soon as I heard. What a disaster.”
“It’s fine, Yilap.” Still with his arm over my shoulders, Kazan offered the distressed guide a smile. “Alzon is already in military custody, and the weapons have all been seized. The situation has been straightened out.”
“But your vacation has been ruined,” he continued, only stopping when he was a few feet away from us. Gasping for air, he placed both hands on his knees and bent over. It took him almost a minute before he could continue. “It’s my duty to apologize to you. These were supposed to be the best days of your lives, and now they’ve been ruined. I tell you, I had no idea Alzon was like that or else I would’ve never accepted to work for him.”
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