Kidnapped

by Nathan Pedde

  Cooley shoved the man. He half-dragged and half-pushed the man along the alley. “Let’s go.”

  Cryslis took point ahead of Cooley and the prisoner. She had her newly acquired stun gun loaded and aimed in front of her. The walk back to the door took them longer than it did to the ambush site, when they got there, Cryslis examined the area.

  Scattered around the sliding door was the six smoking robots and the two unconscious men. The men looked like they were going to live and have a crippling migraine for at least three days. Inside the building was a smaller storage room filled with two extended shelves of equipment, as well as a few small crates in one corner.

  “Jackpot?” Cooley said.

  “Perhaps,” Cryslis replied, “you grab stuff while I beat some intel out of the guy?”

  “You got it,” Cooley said, shoving the prisoner at Cryslis.

  Cryslis dragged the prisoner over and threw him against a wall of the storage unit. He crumpled to the ground in a heap. He was still conscious, but in pain from the broken limb. The prisoner appeared to be in his early twenties and baby-faced. He was older than herself but not old Cooley.

  “This is how it’s going to go,” Cryslis said. “I’m going to hit you until you tell me the information I need. Only then will I give you the sweet release of unconsciousness.”

  “I ain’t saying shit,” the prisoner said.

  Cryslis shrugged. “So be it.” She stepped on his broken limb. The guy cried out in pain. “No one is going to hear you out here.”

  She stepped harder and the man cried out in pain.

  “We’re too far from the road, and people don’t care unless it affects them. You might as well talk.”

  “Fuck you.”

  Cryslis stepped on the man’s knee, reaching down and pulling up on his foot. The leg resisted being pulled the wrong way, and Cryslis got the reaction she was looking for. The prisoner screamed.

  “Should I break this?” Cryslis asked.

  “Fuck you.”

  She dropped the leg, glancing up at Cooley, who was stuffing the bag full of gear. “Is there a hammer over there?”

  Cooley looked around and grabbed an item. He threw it underhand at Cryslis, who caught it with her free hand.

  She smiled at the two-foot long mechanic’s cresent wrench. “This will do.”

  Cryslis raised the wrench up in the air, aiming it for the knee cap.

  “Wait,” the prisoner said. “I’ll tell you what you need to know.”

  Cryslis lowered the wrench. “Who’s your boss?”

  “I don’t know the name of the one in charge,” the prisoner said, licking the sweat off his upper lip. “But I know the name of my direct supervisor.”

  “Keep talking.”

  “Her name is Ahnika Kiaboa. She’s the one who hired me.”

  “What does she do?”

  “She’s like you, a spy, but who works for the other side.”

  “What’s the other side?”

  “You don’t know who you’re facing,” the prisoner said. “We know all about you and your cell. As well as the cells of the others. It’s common knowledge passed around. We’ve your faces on playing cards with different disguises. There’s no hiding from us.”

  The prisoner reached into his pocket and threw a small object in his mouth. White foam poured out as he fell over.

  “Son-of-a…” Cryslis said, stepping back.

  Cooley walked over to the prisoner and checked his pulse. “He’s not dead. Not yet. It’s a knockout agent that puts the person into a coma.”

  “Shit,” Cryslis said. “Wasn’t that what Des got hit with-”

  “Des got lucky it didn’t get into his system. This guy is going to be hating his life in a week when he wakes up.”

  Cryslis peeked out of the door into the alley. “He must expect to be rescued soon then.”

  “Why do you say that?” Cooley asked.

  “Why else would you knock yourself out to be arrested by the station guards?”

  “Or whatever he’s planning will be over in seven days when he wakes up.”

  “Whatever the case is,” Cryslis said. “We need to move now, is the bag full?”

  “I found a half-dozen trackers on different items left behind,” Cooley said.

  Cryslis looked back at the shelves, noticing a pair of shoes, and a box of stun gun magazines.

  “Good catch,” Cryslis said. “I think it’s time to leave.”

  Cooley nodded, leaving the small storage room and out into the alley.

  Standing off to one side of the alley, were three homeless people. They were two guys and a girl. They all looked dirty, tired, and hungry. Cryslis panicked a touch, looking at them.

  “Someone took these guys out,” Cooley said in a raspy voice. “If you want free shit, get it now before someone comes looking for them.”

  Cooley took off, running in the opposite direction of the three homeless people. Cryslis struggled to catch up to Cooley, who turned a corner in the alley. Turning the corner, Cryslis spotted from the corner of her eye, the three homeless people running into the storage room. She hoped they would strip it of whatever was left and get away with it.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Des and Elsie walked down the road. It stretched along the farmer’s fields as they headed toward the elevated train in the farming cluster five kilometers away. The walk took them the better part of an hour to make.

  With the stores opening and people gathered around, Elsie went into one of the used clothing stores and came back out with a change of farming clothes including a jacket with many pockets. Des assumed the store was for the time when the clothes ripped while working.

  Des and Elsie climbed the stairs to the platform. No one waited for the train. However, a large number of people left the trains and headed off into the cluster to work. They worked the land and grew the food the entire station ate.

  A train pulled up into the station, and its doors opened.Des and Elsie got onto the train, waiting for the doors to close. Sitting up in front of the train car were a group of two teenage girls, dressed in a school uniform that Des didn’t recognize. A red light, only Des could see, glowed from their ears. Neither of them looked at Des. It didn’t matter. He knew they would’ve seen him.

  “Two players,” Des said to Elsie.

  “Who?” Elsie said.

  Des explained who it was.

  “Do you have a plan?” Elsie said.

  “I don’t,” Des said, the train’s doors closing, and the train picked up speed.

  With the train full of people, Des couldn’t pull his weapon out, there would be too many witnesses. He grinned, realizing the two targets couldn’t make a move either.

  “Stay here,” Des said. “Time to meet the neighbors.”

  Des walked up through the crowd of people, weaving his way to the two girls. He expected they would turn and see him, except they didn’t. They looked down at a phone with images playing across the screen.

  This is perfect,Des thought.They aren’t paying attention.

  Des walked up, stand behind them and spotted the screen. It was a news program, and on display was images of the building in the Green Sector. Words flashed across the screen called it a terrorist attack. An out-of-focus image from one of the opposite building showed two figures racing up the side of the building.

  “Fucking hell,” Des said, cringing as his words were meant to be thought and not spoken.

  One of the teenage girls turned around, gawking at him, their jaws dropped open.

  “A player,” one said.

  “Morning ladies,” Des said, tapping both girls’ right ear.

  The red glow from each turned to green as Des turned to walk away.

  “Hey,” one teenage girl said.

  “His glow disappeared,” The other said.

  “That means he was the— Fuck not again. I wanted to pass this year.”

  Des walked through the crowd leaving the two girls to cry into th
eir phone. Part of him was happy he had tagged them. The other part was unhappy he had seen the news program.

  He walked up, standing next to Elsie. “We made the news.”

  “Fuck,” Elsie said. “That’s not ideal.”

  “Luckily we are out of focus, but if there is one camera, there may be more.”

  “We can’t do anything about it now,” Elsie said.

  The train chugged down the tracks as people exited and got on. As he traveled, he couldn’t get the sinking feeling out of his gut.

  This is an ambush, Des thought.

  After a few stops, the two teenage girls glared at Des as they walked off the train. Des grinned, waving.

  “Those two are planning something,” Elsie said.

  “Of course,” Des replied.

  “I bet they have friends in the class and are gathering others to ambush you.”

  “Most likely. I shouldn’t have revealed myself to them.”

  “Then, why did you?”

  “Because I thought they had spotted me when I got on.” Des said.

  “They didn’t?”

  “No, they were too involved with the news.”

  “Fuck.”

  Des looked out of the window, seeing they had entered the Blue Sector.“Time to get off here.”

  “And do what?” Elsie said.

  “Run most likely.”

  The train pulled into the station. Des looked out across the station platform. It was packed with people — students going to school, workers going to their jobs. Standing amongst the crowds were a half-dozen figures with glowing red ears. One of them had a green ear. It was Veer, glaring at Des.

  “We’re fucked,” Elsie said.

  “Probably. Probably not,” Des said. “Time to make the news again.”

  “Not another sonic grenade,” Elsie replied.

  “A smoke grenade.”

  “We are going to be arrested.”

  “Perhaps.”

  Des pulled off his pack, opening a pouch. He felt the grenade with his fingers, checking to make sure it was one he wanted. The projectile was smaller than a normal one, being able to fit in the palm of his hand.

  The train slowed to a halt, and the doors opened. People pushed against each other as some wanted to get off, and others wanted to get on. Des followed the crowd of people off the train, Elsie a step behind him.

  Striding across the threshold, Des pulled the pin to the grenade with his thumb, dropping it in the gap between the train and the platform. Des continued to walk as people streamed past him, no one noticed what he had done. He pocketed the pin, continuing through the crowd.

  Veer and his classmates all moved in to intercept paths. Des spotted multiple figures had objects being concealed by jackets or bags. They were all armed. Smoke from the grenade made its way from the gap.

  “The trains on fire,” someone yelled.

  The word fire spread across the platform. A whistle blew, and sirens sounded.

  “Everyone out,” someone with authority bellowed.

  Des ducked through the crowd of people who streamed toward the exit. Looks of panic spread on their faces, bolting for safety. The word ‘terrorist’ was on everyone’s lips.

  Veer and his gang were trapped behind the horde of people. Des moved through the crowds with Elsie on his right.

  They were down the steps and out of the station before Veer could get at him. The square short buildings of the Blue Sector were spread out around him, reminding him of some regions of the Teal Sector.

  “Are they still following?” Elsie asked.

  Des glanced back, the red glow from the player’s behind him. “Twenty meters. I don’t see Veer, though.”

  “That’s worrying.”

  The crowd dispersed across the street and scattered. Many people headed away from the train station, not willing to stick around, while most hung out around the station waiting to see the events unfold.

  Probably those who must go to work,Des thought.

  Des made his way through the crowd and into the empty street beyond. Elsie walked in step. Behind him were the half-dozen players Des could only describe as a dozen gang members with Veer leading them.

  Sirens of firetrucks and police officers echoed, all screaming towards the elevated station. Des took off his backpack and pulled out another grenade, this one a sonic. He slipped it into his pocket and put the pack back on.

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Elsie said.

  “Probably not,” Des replied. “But this is ridiculous. Eighteen to two.”

  “Almost good odds,” Elsie said.

  “Only if I cheat.”

  The high-pitched hum of a set of heavy-duty hover-lifters reverberated ahead of him. The sound emanated from around the corner of a building.

  “Here comes the fire department,” Des said, not looking at the sound, but the eighteen people following him.

  “Des,” Elsie said. “Look.”

  Around the corner three large black vans emerged.

  “Shit,” Des said.

  The first hover-van screeched to a stop in front of Des with the noses touching the ground. The back end of the van spun around to face Des, opening mid-flight.

  Two heavily modified construction robots appeared in the doors, with weapons aimed at Des and Elsie.

  “Fuck,” Des said, pulling the grenade out of his pocket.

  “Run,” Elsie screamed.

  In one motion, he had the grenade away, tossing it into the van.

  “Fire in the hole—” Des shouted a warning to Elsie.

  The robots fired their weapons, the pins screamed by Des’s ears, missing him.

  The grenade exploded with a high-pitched squeal. Des covered his ears with his hands as the windows on the surrounding buildings shattered, and the glass of the vans exploded outward. The hover-vans crashed to the ground as the lifters failed. The second and third, still in motion, crashed into the first. The Robots hissing black smoke billowed out of their chassis.

  Elsie screamed, collapsing to the concrete ground. Des orientated himself, looking at Elsie worried. Blood dripped from her nose and ears from the sonic grenade. A pin sat lodged into her shoulder.Des grabbed it with two fingers, ripping it out of the flesh. A dribble of blood followed onto the pavement.

  He put the pin into his backpack. Please let it be a simple knock out pin and not something worse like poison.

  Des pulled out his last sonic grenade and a stun gun. He put both into his pocket. Remembering the multiple threats, he first looked at the vans. The three vehicles lay still on the road, not a single person or machine moved. Des looked down the street at the players, the closest few had been knocked unconscious. The remainder were on their feet.

  Des grabbed the stun gun out, aimed it at the gang members and players. The gang members spun around, heading back towards the train station. Veer turned and yelled something at them. Des wasn’t paying attention to what they were saying.

  The players walked up, stopping in front of Des. They hesitated, not pulling weapons out.

  “This is an awful time to play this stupid game,” Des said.

  “I can see that,” one player replied, an older-looking teen with long hair tied back in a ponytail, and tight-fitting clothes. He looked like he would be home in a night club, not fighting out in the city street.

  “What are those things?” the player asked.

  “No idea,” Des said. “The enemy.”

  “Enemy… As in Terrans?”

  “Who knows,” Des shrugged. “I hope not.”

  “Well,” the player said, two more vans pulled around the corner. “We’ll take a rain check on this.”

  The players moved off down the road, taking the few he had knocked unconscious with them.

  Des contemplated throwing the grenade, except it was his last one. He pocketed his stun gun and grabbed the unconscious Elsie. She looked heavier than she was, but he threw her over her shoulder as he took off, running down a
side street.

  The two vans screeched to a stop and opened. A half-dozen robots piled out. They were not armed with weapons, but grabbed the disabled robots, and people. They put them into the vans.

  Clean up crew,Des thought,no wonder we have no idea, they never leave anyone around to talk or examine.

  As he ran, he realized how ridiculous he looked. He ducked into a cramped alley and out of sight. He pondered what to do. The lane was almost clear of debris and devoid of any sign of people.

  He turned the corner of the alley, and sitting in front of him was a red Courier One delivery truck. Des ducked out of sight, setting Elsie on the ground between some boxes as he watched the vehicle. The vehicle would be filled with one of the many professional drivers of the company, taking important routes and packages.

  The truck was parked with the back door open. The driver pushed a lift filled with a crate into a nearby building. He walked out of the building with an empty elevator, the sliding door to the building closing behind him. The driver returned the lift to the back of the truck. He closed the door, walking around the side of the building.

  Des regretted his actions, but he had no choice in the matter. He stepped from around his hiding spot, raising his stun gun at the driver, who had yet to see him. Des put a pin into his shoulder, the man collapsing into unconsciousness.

  Des walked towards the prone man, pocketing his stun gun and listening to his surroundings. No sign of anyone around him to shout an alarm. Des grabbed the unconscious driver and dragged him to his hiding spot. He grabbed Elsie, hoisting her onto his shoulder once more. A quick opening of the delivery vans back door, and she was safe.

  After closing the door, Des went back to the unconscious driver. He took his wallet, credit chips, and the keys to the van. Des didn’t want to rob the man, so he left it underneath the seat of the van. He wanted anyone who found him to think it was a robbery.

  Des climbed into the seat and drove off down the street.

  This would only work if he got lucky and didn’t get stopped by station guards. He was still too young to drive anything but hover-scooters.

  Chapter Sixteen