“Yeah, tell me about it,” Lucas agreed. “You should’ve seen the bill I had to cover for Charity.”
“Which our ‘esteemed’ overseer here bid on our girl Lucy when she opted for iSlave status. A list of bidders, per Consortium law, is available back at headquarters,” Gabriel confirmed. “It’s the ultimate money laundering and illegal slave operation. The money gets washed through the judge as ‘donations’ or ‘payments to the court’ for whatever reasons and the judge pays him back in the form of young ladies that he then charges mightily for. They both get rich and there is a fresh supply of women heading to the farm and the Wastes for the locals to sample and get a free bride out of. Their pockets are lined and everything is on the up and up as far as the Theocracy is concerned.”
“But, where the Consortium is concerned,” Lincoln said, seeing where Gabriel was going with this, “it’s tantamount to illegal slavery operations as you are openly forcing women into that status.” He glanced at Lucas. “I suspect, your Honor, that fate was going to be reserved for your wife had you not intervened at the right time as Overseer Anderson here has now been connected to the Spence case.”
“You have no proof,” Anderson said rather weakly.
“I have no proof… here,” Gabriel corrected, “except for one star witness.” He made a pointed look over toward Lucy. “Shall I get her up here to testify? I’m sure that she’ll be more than happy to.”
“She’s not allowed to!” Anderson protested with a dignified and defiant lift of his chin. “She is not allowed to speak in the presence of men….”
“Unless she is given permission by her master,” Deacon piped up from the crowd as he pushed his way to the forefront. “Which I so allow.” He glared daggers at Anderson. “Is it true what the Jaegers here are saying? Have you been enslaving the women of our country against their will like this?” When Anderson didn’t answer, Deacon bit his thumb and spat at the ground at Anderson’s feet. “You make me sick!” He twisted back around and beckoned. “Lucy! Get up here and tell them what you know!”
***
Lucy came up with the Dixie Marine sergeant still by her side acting as her escort. She was uncertain, but seeing both Deacon and Gabriel smile and nod their encouragement, she stepped forward. Even Lincoln, Coleton, and Lucas silently supported her with smiles. She could do this. She’d done this twice before. Why should now be any different? She took her place in the center to render her testimony.
“He… he said that he wanted me to be his wife to lay claim to whatever assets my family had left,” she said and then related everything that Anderson had told her right as the raiders were attacking. Lucy left no part out and even supplied the connections between her brother and Overseer Anderson. Relief swept over her as she realized that she was able to supply the account, word for word, thanks to her upbringing.
“He even has a device on him which called the raiders here,” she added, finishing her testimony.
“You can’t honestly expect to believe the word of a woman in a moment of panic during an attack?” Anderson protested, sneering at Lucy.
“Ad Hominem attack!” Coleton called out, raising his voice. “No bearing in Consortium court!”
“We’re supposed to believe her just like we’re supposed to believe you, when you told me that you were escorting her to safety when I found you cowering behind the flower beds?” Gabriel challenged, pointing over to the stone that had given them both protection the previous night. “Besides, Theocracy women have a knack for memorization, recital, and dictation as they’re often required to learn such skills when they have to memorize passages and poems out of the One Book.” He smiled at Lucy, acknowledging her skill. He then walked over and fished out the transmitter. “Well, whaddya know? You do have a radio transmitter here keyed to a raider transmission.” He tossed it to Lincoln.
Lincoln examined the device. “Yup, this is one of the frequencies that Auctor Frost loves to use for his fleet,” he confirmed.
Lucas shook his head, holding up a hand to forestall any further argument or discussion. “Doesn’t matter. I find that enough grounds exist for the charge and that Jaegers Emancipator and Messenger have provided sufficient evidence to find the accused guilty of illegal slavery practices as well as colluding with raiders to force others into illegal slavery in this battlefield court.” He pointed at Lucy. “Mr. Michaelson, get her out of here and get some clothes on her. She’s returning home to Atlanta under our care. I hereby suspend her iSlave status pending an official order from both the Theocracy and the Consortium.”
As Deacon guided Lucy away, he averted her head so that she didn’t have to see what was about to happen.
***
Lucas waved a hand over toward the two Jaegers. “Carry out the sentence.”
“With pleasure,” Gabriel said, leveling his arm cannon at Anderson.
Lincoln and Coleton turned and squared themselves in line with Gabriel, pulled their beamer rifles from over their shoulders, and aimed.
The crowd hastily parted behind Anderson to avoid being in the path of the newly formed firing squad. Anderson had time to glance back to see the now empty space behind him before looking back and down the barrels of the weapons.
Inside the armor, Gabriel tightened his fist around the pressure trigger assembly while Lincoln and Coleton squeezed their triggers. Multiple beams of light went through Anderson’s head and upper torso, killing him instantly.
“Court’s adjourned,” Lucas added dispassionately at the falling body.
CHAPTER 20
Flanked by Shadow and Emancipator in full battle armor, Gabriel led the way into one of the small side courtrooms in Atlanta. Gabriel was in his dress uniform while Shadow remained incognito by borrowing Gabriel’s armor.
Up on the bench, Takacy droned on about the Theocracy’s propriety standard for women while Ladd looked smug over at the prosecutor’s table. A young, frightened woman stood alone on the dais as Takacy passed judgement on her.
Takacy’s face fell at the sight of three Jaegers walking into his courtroom. A wave of startled whispered went through the audience. Ladd caught the judge’s alarmed look, turned, and blanched as he saw them stop right behind his table. Emancipator clamped a brass, gauntleted hand on the man’s shoulder.
“Prosecutor Ladd, you are under arrest for aiding and abetting illegal slave trafficking,” he said, his voice cold and mechanical as it came out of the armor’s speakers. “You have the right to remain silent, so shut the fuck up. You have the right to an advocate. If you can’t afford one, I’ll make sure I find a goddamn first year law student at the bottom of their class to represent you.” He hauled Ladd up out of his seat and started dragging him out of the courtroom.
“What is the meaning of this?” Takacy demanded, standing up at his bench as his face turned red with anger. “We are in session here!”
“Not anymore,” Gabriel beamed. He fished out a letter from his briefcase and held it up for all to see. “This is an order from the Regional Director of the Jaeger Corps and the Regional Director of the Consortium to take Judge Bartholomew Takacy into immediate custody and to suspend all of his pending cases.” He placed it on the empty advocate table and pulled out another letter. “This is from the Internal Security Council of the Theocracy that was just signed in emergency session. This order places into immediate review all trials that Judge Takacy, Prosecutor Ladd, Overseer Anderson, and five other Theocracy prosecutors were involved in.”
That paper then joined the first and Gabriel pulled out a third. “This…,” he said with a flourish, “is a joint order from the Theocracy of Dixie and the Consortium that officially overturns Theocracy v. Lucille Spence.”
Over on the bench, Takacy quivered with rage. He snapped his fingers at the muscular bailiff off to the side. “Get them out of my courtroom!” he shouted, his face red and flushed with anger.
“Like hell,” the bailiff snorted, crossing his arms in defiance while shaking his head. “I ain�
�t going up against three Jaegers… especially when they have legal orders and two of them are in armor.”
“Good man,” Gabriel said and smiled at him. “I’d take the rest of the day off if I were you. While you’re at it, take her back to her holding cell and make sure that she’s taken care of with decency and dignity,” he added, pointing to the confused, frightened girl on the dais.
The bailiff gave a small smile and a slight bow before taking the girl out a side door away from the courtroom.
“So, now what?” Takacy thundered, looking over to where Ladd was being shackled and pushed out of the courtroom by Emancipator. “We go to trial? I’ll have to call my advocate.”
Gabriel held up a single finger as he looked down into his briefcase. “Oh, yeah… you’re gonna love this.” He snapped his fingers dramatically as he pulled out another paper. “This is your termination order.”
Takacy looked at him incredulously. “I’m being given my firing papers by you and not the courts, just like that?”
“Wrong kind of termination,” Gabriel gave him an evil smile.
“I think,” Shadow said, lifting the arm cannon of his armor, aiming right at Takacy’s chest, “that we’ll just skip the rest of the paperwork.”
***
“Are you ready?” Gabriel asked Lucy softly as they stood outside her old manor home. He looked at her with concern etched on his face.
Not for the first time since leaving Atlanta, Lucy stroked her bare neck as she stared up at the manor. After growing accustomed to the iron collar, she felt naked without it, despite the simple dress that Charity Carmichael had given her to wear until they got here.
“What’s going to happen to it?” she asked as childhood and adolescent memories came rushing back.
“Well, the statute of limitations goes back a decade to the first family that has yet to have reparations made to it, which is my family, I’m get first claim to it.” He looked up at the manor. “I personally don’t want it, but if you do, then I won’t hesitate to nab it for you.”
Lucy shook her head. “No, this stopped being my home the moment daddy… no, the Reverend…,” she corrected herself, no longer thinking of the man as her father, “the moment he kicked me out is when this stopped being my home.”
“I have a place down in Elysium that you might like….” Gabriel grinned. “It’s a nice little studio apartment overlooking the Havana Bay.”
Lucy smiled. “A simple studio apartment sounds good… so long as you’ll be there with me?”
“It’s a date,” he said, holding out his hand. “Ready?”
She took it and squeezed. “Ready.”
They walked into the manor where a clockwork opened the door and showed them into the spacious living room that had been stripped of all but the basic living necessities. Lucy took one look around and shook her head sadly. “I’m going up to get my things,” she told him.
“Stay there until I come and get you,” he told her, “You….”
“Don’t want to see this, yeah, you’d think I’d be used to this by now.”
“If you were getting used to it, I’d worry about you.” Gabriel gave her a peck on the cheek and watched her go back out to the grand staircase to go to her old room.
***
“Well, my boy,” Reverend Edward Spence, Jr. said, beaming at Gabriel as he came in from the kitchen with arms open wide. “I got your missive that you were coming here, and what can I say? You did it! You freed my daughter from slavery and restored her to her rightful place at home. The prodigal son returns triumphant. If there is anything you want; you just name it and it shall be yours. A home? A wife, perhaps?” He gestured upwards toward Lucy’s room. “My daughter is available if you want her hand in marriage. A good marriage to an old Theocracy family will do well to restore both of our houses.”
“She’s not a pawn for you to move around just because it’s convenient for you,” Gabriel ground out, squaring himself for this last fight in this case. “You’ve used her as a bait and switch for far too long and it ends here today.”
Spence snickered at him. “You can’t just waltz in here and dictate what I can and cannot do to my own daughter, even if you are a Jaeger.”
“Yeah, but she’s not your daughter anymore,” Gabriel interjected, his voice taking on a dangerous tone as he got right up next to the man to the point that they were nearly in each other’s faces. “Regardless that she’s been of age for years now, you disowned her after your son’s trial and execution to the point that she moved out on her own accord.” He jabbed a finger in the air his way to emphasize the point. “As far as both the Theocracy and the Consortium are concerned, she’s her own person and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.”
“My boy….” Spence took on a fatherly smile. “Anything can be reversed. Just like you are the prodigal son returning, she would be the prodigal daughter returning. You two can be rightfully married just like you were originally intended to be, and you’ll take your place as my heir. All will be right in the world once again.”
“You just don’t get it, do you?” Gabriel didn’t match his jubilant attitude. Instead, he simply held up a single piece of paper. “All I want right now is to serve you with this,” he said evenly, though he glared at Spence. He laid it onto the table next to them and took a step back, drawing his beamer. “The Consortium has found you guilty of illegal slavery stemming over the past decade. The sentence is death and is to be carried out immediately upon serving of these papers.”
Spence looked down at the paper that had CONSORTIUM ORDER OF EXECUTION emblazoned across the top with his name immediately underneath it. He looked back up at Gabriel.
“Is this a joke?”
“Do I look like I’m laughing?” Gabriel countered, aiming the beamer at Spence’s forehead. “I’ve waited ten years for this moment since you sent me and my family up the river. My parents and my sister were sent up to Taylorsville where they all died. I just got lucky enough to get away before they got me as well.”
“Your parents are dead now… that is true…,” Spence admitted, his voice somber now that he had a beamer pointed at his head. “But your sister isn’t.”
Gabriel paused, his face furrowed with confusion. “What are you talking about? She, what?”
“You were told that she committed suicide the day that she got there. Yeah,” Spence nodded. “But, think about that for a moment. That was a ploy to get you out into the open so that we could nab the last McKibben who had claim to the fortune, the land, and the military assets. Imagine my surprise when you did an end around us and gave the assets to the damn fucking Michaelsons and skipped on out to Elysium. No, your sister is alive… last I heard, anyway. She was traded by Anderson to his people over in the Wastelands.”
A torrent of emotions washed over Gabriel. Everything he’d been led to believe for ten years had been a lie. His jaw clenched and his hand shook with rage. He glared daggers at Spence as his finger went from the side of the trigger guard to wrap around the trigger itself.
“Wait!” Spence cried out, stumbling backwards over a fainting couch with an outstretched hand. “Don’t you even want to know where she is? I can even give you Auctor Frost’s hideout that’s far out west where she was last seen!”
“I don’t care if I have to hire outlaws like Cheyenne or the Angel to track her down. I’ll fucking find her my own way without any help from the likes of you,” Gabriel snarled as he pulled the trigger.
***
Lucy paced back and forth in her room, wringing her hands nervously. It felt odd to her, being back in a normal corset and dress after spending a couple of months near naked or totally naked. As expected, she didn’t have much left — just a couple of trunks full of her clothes that appeared to be tagged for sale. She changed quickly, folded up Charity’s donation dress to put into one of the trunks, and then had what few clockworks were left in the house take them to Gabe’s steam carriage outside. Now the room was empty and lo
nely as she waited.
A crack of beamer fire downstairs made her jump. Seconds later, she heard heavy footsteps coming up the stairs and down the hallway. She let out the breath she’d been holding when Gabriel opened the door.
“It’s done…,” he said with no trace of joy or satisfaction in his voice, which relieved her further. “The Spence family is now, officially, dissolved.”
“Then let’s get out of here, my love,” Lucy said, crossing the room to him and pressing her body up against his. Craning her neck, she gave him a quick kiss. “There’s nothing left for me here. I want to go home… with you.”
Gabriel smiled and offered her the crook of his arm. She matched his smile and slipped her arm through his, allowing him to lead her down the stairs, out the door, and off into the future.
EPILOGUE
Out in the far west, in the outskirts of the desert city known as Vegaston, the Angel of Death pushed his way through the double swinging doors of the Lucky Lady saloon and hotel. He looked particularly beat up today and his hard face belied his equally foul mood. His boots thudded on the wooden floorboards as he crossed the space to the bar, going for his usual stool that someone else occupied. Other patrons made a point to scramble out of his way, but the oblivious man at the bar paid no mind to him. Even the barmaid tried to shoo the drunk patron off to make way for Angel.
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