The wall wouldn’t care.
Chapter Twelve
I was astonished anyway by how long the guards had needed to find out that Velvet wasn’t hiding inside the Invasion—or that there had to be a connection to their leader’s silence, respectively.
How much time would they need to send someone through the secret passage into our backs? I’d better not give them the time.
The sound of footsteps had fallen mute. I peeked out to the staircase. Three guards were standing next to the open door at the upper platform. Two were aiming down at me over their pistol barrels, and the third was just cautiously placing one foot on the topmost step. Ah, you’ve noticed that it’s dangerous, haven’t you?
But the three guard’s splitting up was convenient for me—not to mention the nice fact that neither of them wore an armor suit. I’d have been surprised anyway if the Cartel had had enough of them for the entire guard staff.
Impatiently, I watched the guard and his fainthearted descent. He wasn’t in a hurry to reach me. I, on the other hand, wanted to leave this damned trap as soon as possible—together with the girls, before one of them panicked. Freed and still literally trapped in hell, that couldn’t hold for long!
The man had now stepped down far enough that any shooter in the hallway could long have blown his legs away, and he crouched. Next, he’d spot the unlucky, frozen armor suit, and then—
I didn’t wait for his reaction. Instead, I jumped forward and up.
Clinging to the ceiling, I passed the scout, kicked his temple—while he was collapsing, I reached his partners. Two knocks, they dropped, I looked around.
The dim shine of fires that otherwise dominated the sixth level was complemented by pale neon light. The anteroom with the access to the seventh level was still empty except for the two unconscious and me, but two more guards were just entering through the door from the public area.
They saw their partners drop, added up two and two, and began to punch holes into the air. Sure, I’d have bet on an invisible, too.
My nano armor should be bullet-proof, but I wasn’t eager to test it. Instead, I dropped flat on the ground, took one of my victims’ guns and returned the fire. The newcomers hadn’t planned for that—their fire ceased in exchange for horrified screams of pain.
I had only aimed at their shoulders and hit accordingly.
Next.
No, nothing stirred outside the exit. Instead, muffled beats and ugly hisses sounded from upstairs, as if there was fighting going on.
That gave me a little time to return downstairs, as far as the branch to the side passage. There, I became visible again.
“Katrina?”
“Velvet?”
“Bring the girls and your prisoner. We’re leaving now.”
“Yes!”
Where did that only recently tortured girl take the power for this enthusiasm from? No matter, she came, and immediately followed the rest, of whom some had to support others. Some weren’t entirely broken yet. Perhaps some clients would have preferred it that way?
I grabbed the other Cartel boss and went first. “Follow me upstairs. Those who can handle a gun may help themselves.”
Only remotely, I noticed how the girls encouraged each other. Not all were able to adapt to the new situation as quickly as Katrina. But I couldn’t play their therapist, too. I had freed them, now they had to help each other—while I kept the guards off their heels. In any case, two of them followed my advice and fetched one pistol each. I didn’t even have to tell them to check the magazine.
I had no illusions—if there’d be a larger shoot-out, some girls would suffer. I couldn’t provide them cover—I could only be faster than our enemies.
“Give your guy to Vicky,” Katrina recommended and pushed forward to my side. “You don’t need to burden yourself with him now.”
She was basically right, but at this moment two guards came through a passage between two fireplaces ten meters ahead and leveled their guns. Why hadn’t I noticed their steps before?
Even without my Analogy’s advice, I knew that I couldn’t fight them both at the same time, over that distance, with my burden and only one pistol. Bad luck, girls. At least my shot struck home, and one guard lost his trigger finger.
At my side, a second shot rang. Katrina!
Bad luck, boys. Katrina didn’t try to just injure her opponent, instead shot a second bullet into his chest. He was dead before he dropped.
“Good shot,” she commented while we passed my victim—the man made a point of not moving in order not to provoke any further reactions. A pity that he and his fellow hadn’t come up with this bright idea earlier.
“Yours, too,” I returned and now passed my prisoner to a sturdy black-haired girl, who appeared rather lively despite the rings under her eyes, the numerous welts and scabbed cut-wounds. “Vicky?”
She nodded. “Thank you, Velvet. I owe you one.”
“You don’t owe me anything.” It surely was better not to mention that I had been here before and not grabbed the opportunity to free them.
“You’re risking your life for us.”
“Not for you. For me.” Because I couldn’t bear the thought of not doing anything? Aside from decapitating the Cartel, of course.
My gaze fell on the thin red scar line around Katrina’s arm. Dragon crap. Because I felt good. Because it was right.
Again, my fine hearing caught the footsteps of more approaching guards between the battle noises from the higher levels. I placed a finger on my lips and briefly glanced at Vicky and Katrina. Then I scurried forward.
Damn. Because I could!
Chapter Thirteen
The wide, velvet-furnished staircase to the fifth level was free. Four unhurt guards were sleeping at its foot.
Katrina at my side hesitated when I placed one foot on the first step. “What’s waiting for us upstairs? More guards? The clients seem to be all gone.”
“Evacuated long before, because of the shooting.”
“Yes…why, actually? You’re down here.”
I smiled. “I haven’t arrived all alone.”
Two golden shapes appeared at the upper platform. I pushed Katrina’s gun hand down—I had long felt the characteristic stray emanations of the two micro fusion reactors.
“May I introduce? Captain Stokes and Gunny Nick of the Marines. Captain, Nick, this is Katrina. I’ve freed her from the Cartel’s torture table.”
“Torture table?” both echoed almost together.
“Later. What kept you so long?”
“Upstairs, all hell was loose. Once your name was mentioned, they obviously gathered anyone who could hold a gun. Guards from all casinos in the vicinity, thugs, the local police. Most of all, the armor suits have delayed us, but they had a lot of plasma rifles, too, so that we had to advance with caution. Well—and of course we had to wait for the evacuation first, because of the many innocents. When we went in, the searchers had swarmed all levels of the Invasion. Until I could detach men for the Inferno, they had spread out here, too, and we had to fight our way through. These people simply don’t know when they’ve lost.” The Captain’s gaze touched the pistol in Katrina’s hand, then my arm. “You had trouble? You’re hurt.”
“A plasma rifle and no space to dodge, but otherwise we got along, didn’t we, Katrina?”
“What’s going on here, Velvet? I thought you were a thief working independently, much to the Cartel’s displeasure. How do the Marines come into play?”
While Nick attentively watched Vicky and the other girls curiously approaching with my two prisoners, the Captain tried an explanation. “We didn’t finally clarify who’s helping who, but we had agreed that it was time to end the Cartel’s reign. Velvet knew where we had to strike, and we simply followed her.”
“You could say this time I’ve been up to stealing the Cartel’s leader board,” I immodestly added. “If we can get them out here, you could say I’ve been successful. But what about the cops? They surel
y won’t let us go just so, or what?”
“I already took care of that,” the Captain explained. “I talked to the officer-in-charge. I told him that I didn’t come to debate authority and legal sophistry. I’ve told him straight to his face that he’s protected the head of organized crime for years, and that it’s over now. I told him I have a section of armor suits and I’ll create facts, and, if necessary, over his dead body and those of his men. I clearly told him that I won’t shed a tear for corrupt cop rats and traitors. All the time half a dozen of his men—probably his personal ass-lickers—had aimed at me, and after the last sentence, they pulled the trigger.” He knocked on his armored chest. “Nothing goes through there. In exchange, a quick volley from my left linear cannon nicely cut through the pack, across their armored police cars and their bulletproof vests. Thereafter, it was over.”
“Must have been the hard core,” Nick commented. “The rest quickly decided to wait for the winner from a safe distance.”
“The officer-in-charge would have preferred to leave, too, but I’ve arrested him. Together with those two, we’ll take him with us.”
Katrina only looked at me, still searching for the right words.
“I won’t leave you behind,” I promised her. “I guess you don’t want to have your old Inferno job back, do you?”
“When they brought me downstairs, I had thought it would be because some clients wouldn’t want to be seen, but otherwise a job like on the fifth or sixth level, you know? Ah no, how could you?”
“I’ve worked in the Inferno before, Katrina. As a whore. I know. I left before they could bring me downstairs.”
“Crap, Velvet. Really? Well, I didn’t think of anything bad only because it was dark. Part of the show, I thought, like a haunted house or so. Then they put me in such a cell, no deal either. I thought it would turn the guy on to find me there. But then one in the next cell started to talk, and then I felt quite different. Only too late, you know? Nah, well, I won’t stay here any minute longer. Nor will the other girls—what, Vicky?”
No, they all agreed.
“I told you,” I addressed the Captain. “You’re prepared?”
“Our medic will come down once he’s done with Marv.”
“Marv?”
“Got an ugly plasma hit in his leg.”
“Bring me to him, quick.”
If he was surprised, he didn’t show it. “Okay. Nick, you protect the ladies.”
Chapter Fourteen
Marv’s leg had suffered a full hit, as I could see from the distance. When Captain Stokes and I arrived—I had driven the section leader on to not lose any time—Chris the medic looked up with a sad face and shook his head. “I can’t save the leg, Cap.”
He didn’t offer resistance when I simply pushed him away.
Marv’s robust suit was burned away over the knee, together with skin, muscles and a part of the bone. I didn’t have to be a physician to agree with Chris’ assessment. I didn’t need my Analogy either to estimate the amount of body material simply being burnt away. I couldn’t afford to replace it from my reserves, as I had to heal my own arm first.
But perhaps Marv had reserves?
I placed one hand into the wound and sent out a nano column.
“Hey, what?” Chris protested, but didn’t continue when he saw Marv’s features relax. That was the most urgent action—blocking the pain receptors in the scorched nerve ends. Next, my healing nanos commenced a search for nutrients and material in Marv’s body, to first rebuild the bone and then the tissue around.
“Take care of the girls,” I advised him. “You can’t help me here.”
“Go,” his Captain confirmed and waved at another Marine. “I’ll follow soon. Mitch will be here.”
Before he left, he addressed me again. “Another of your special tricks? How’s it looking?”
What did my nanos tell me? “It will do. Marv, you’ll walk out of here on your own legs.”
“I could kiss you for that, Jo—Velvet,” he whispered.
“If it helps you?” While my nanos were working, I had time to lean over and give him an extended French kiss. First, he reacted with surprise, then enthusiastically.
By and by, more Marines arrived, gave Marv and me a surprised glance, and then quietly reported to the Captain. The cops had reacted to the change in power and decided to come to good terms with the currently stronger faction. The Cartel hadn’t only lost its two heads, but also a significant part of its troops and sub-leaders. Moreover, the word would spread that the Cartel had shown a weakness in Las Vegas.
Astonished and terrified calls, muffled curses, and embarrassed murmurs accompanied the freed girls’ arrival, still naked and covered with welts, cuts, scabs, and other traces of torture.
The Marines had known why I had come, not just for the Cartel bosses, but also to set a few victims free, but they weren’t prepared for this sight. If their fight hadn’t been over yet, they’d surely have been motivated now to send as many Cartel henchmen as possible to the kingdom come.
The Inferno’s entrance level had numerous alcoves separated by curtains. One of the Marines came up with the idea of wrapping the girls in curtains. Several of his partners copied the idea, which the girls obviously appreciated.
Meanwhile, my healing nano column returned to me. I took my hand away from Marv’s leg, my mouth from his, and winked at him. “Better?”
He threw a glance at the wound that was now covered by a thin, rosy layer of skin. “How did you do that?”
“Dragon technology. Be careful, your body is very weak now.”
“Yes, okay. Thank you, Jo.”
“You’re welcome, Marv.”
Chris checked the leg, too, and nodded approvingly. “You can have my job, Jo.”
“You’d like that.” I rose and searched for the Captain, who interrupted his talk with Nick and smiled at me when I stepped closer. “I’m done here, Cap,” I copied his men’s address. “Now I’ll follow you, as promised.”
Part Two—Loyalty
Chapter Fifteen
“Hello, Alan.”
“Hello, Jo—or should I say, Velvet?” He took my hand and shook it briefly. “Nice to see you. You’re looking good, like coming from a vacation. But it wasn’t that easy in Japan, or was it?”
“Did the word already spread?”
“You’ve gone a long way since the attack on the villa back then. But I still see the young woman before me as she’s coming from the sea, chilled through and trembling—and defiant. The tough cookie. Alone against the Cartel, if no one else dares. Right?”
“That’s over, Alan. I’ve got what I wanted.”
“After the Tokyo story, they’ll do everything to catch you.”
“I don’t think so, Alan. There’s nobody left to come for me.”
“What do you mean? The Cartel has so many people—”
“But no head anymore.”
“Why?”
“I made a little detour on my way here, Alan. We’ve been in Vegas to procure a little welcome gift for the President.”
“From Vegas?”
“Captain Stokes is bringing him the Cartel leader board.”
Thereupon he burst out in laughter. It took him some time to calm down again.
“That’s—oh darn, Jo, I lack the words. I’ve been trying with an angel’s tongue to bring him to a strike, and you just went in. And you wrapped the Marines around your finger, did you?”
“About like that. I told them, you must make up your mind yourself whether you’re going in, but I will. I’m fed up, I said, I’ll put an end to this game. I had a good plan, and that convinced them. And yes, I admit, after the Tokyo show, they followed me gladly.”
“And now you’re here. That’s a little surprise, too, honestly.”
“That’s part of the deal. You help me, I come with you. Cap said, the President might like to talk with me.”
“You bet, Jo. Well, I won’t jump ahead. And you don’t need
advice, as you’re doing your own thing anyway.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant. But at that moment, I didn’t care. “Come, I’ll introduce you to my girls.”
My girls had been carefully shielded since our arrival at the Naval Academy in Annapolis on the American eastern coast. Except for the Marines, with whom they had arrived, only few female officers were granted access to their quarters.
Some, like Katrina or Vicky, were walking tall outwardly, were radiating confidence toward their fellow sufferers. But they hadn’t quite processed all they had experienced. Others had withdrawn into themselves and were hardly addressable. Most of all Lucy, whom I had saved from being skinned alive, declined any contact—except with me. Again, a responsibility I hadn’t asked for, but which I had to face, even if it only served to soothe my conscience that told me again and again I should have cleaned up this pit with my first visit.
Could I have done it then?
No. I had to learn first how to kill—how to fight when truly everything was at stake, when it was no longer a game of skills. I first had had to take another step on the road to my own perdition.
“How’s she doing?”
“She’s asleep,” Katrina replied. “It’s good that way. I fear otherwise we’d have to tie her down, so that she won’t hurt herself.”
“Why?”
“She can’t handle it—what happened to her, and what became of her. I can understand that. I have nightmares, too. You know, when that guy applied the saw, I was short of cracking up. A few minutes later, and you might have stitched my arm back in place, but I’d have been a babbling idiot.”
“What can I do?”
“No idea. I only know that she’s murmuring your name again and again, Velvet. Perhaps you’ll ask her yourself.”
Lioness’ Legacy IV—Torment Page 5