Burn Out (12 page)

“Spartacus! Why does my leg feel like someone set it on fire and then pissed on it?”

James smiled at me. “Guess somebody’s pain meds wore off.”

“What’s up with all the names?” I asked.

James laughed. “Oh, that. Kale is one of the hardest core military guys you’ll ever meet. He’s obsessed with ancient military heroes.”

I shook my head. “He uses military names as curse words?”

James nodded and stretched as he walked toward the door. His shirt lifted—a strange jagged scar ran across his lower back. It looked too precise to be an injury. His body couldn’t keep secrets the way his mouth could. Another question for my list if I could get him alone again. He turned around at the door and caught me staring at his back. James tugged his shirt down. He whispered, “Seriously, Tora. Don’t trust them.”

What the hell was I supposed to do with that information? I already knew I couldn’t trust the Consulate, Kale, or Britta. Dad had told me long ago not to trust anyone if anything happened to him. Yet he had trusted Markus, who turned out to be a burner, so putting my trust in James would make me just as dumb. I couldn’t let him get to me no matter how amazing his abs were. Still, that sadness in his eyes—

Another bomb rocked the bunker, and I almost fell out of my seat. I gasped as the lamp in the study crashed to the
floor. My father got it at an antique trade market years ago. Lamps hadn’t been used in ages. The one benefit of Earth’s demise was that we got a truckload of solar energy. Special solar cell panels provided all the light any one person could use. We only had two panels, disguised as part of the cactus grove, and we could light this place up like a Christmas cactus if we wanted.

“Everyone doin’ okay?” Markus asked.

I reached the front room and noticed Britta sitting near Markus. Scratch the near part; she was almost in his lap. His hand rested lightly on her cuffed ones. Guess he wasn’t too disturbed by her trying to send me on a one-way ticket out of here.

Kale hobbled in, refusing James’ offers of assistance. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea for you to be bearing weight on it yet—”

“Nonsense. Am I the damn captain of this team or what? I walk when I want to walk. Nobody tells me when the hell to walk.” He grimaced as he hopped to the nearest chair and parked himself in it.

Markus looked over at James. “Is he drunk or something?”

“Nah, just the pain meds can have a similar effect. He’ll probably fall asleep again soon.”

“Dammit! I don’t want any more sleep. I want to get the hell out of here.”

I thought of their ship. It was unlikely that it was even
in one piece, so I didn’t think we were going anywhere. I told him so.

Kale laughed long and hard. Yeah, he sounded drunk. “They didn’t drop the bombs on the ship, I guaran-fucking-tee it. Tora hit their wing so they’ll save our ship in case they need it. But they won’t get far.” He started laughing again, then reached in his pocket and pulled out a small metallic object. It looked like a machine part.

Britta’s eyes widened. She was probably wondering if her fearless leader had totally lost his mind. She looked ridiculous, but I had to admit, I wondered the same thing myself.

“What is that, Kale?” asked James in the gentle tone one uses to talk to a child. His gravelly voice soothed me and I wasn’t even the one freaking out.

“Just a little thing my ship can’t fly without—the fuel converter. Those burners aren’t goin’ anywhere in our ship.” He chuckled a minute, then dropped his head on the table and started snoring.

Markus laughed. “Wow. Nice meds there, James.” He cleared his throat, and pulled his hand back from Britta’s. “So, in light of what’s going on here, don’t you think we should take off Britta’s cuffs? She’s promised to be a good girl.”

Britta scowled at me. Nothing about her looked remotely good. I fought to keep my temper, but it never allowed itself to be kept for long. “Markus, I realize this pint-sized burner raises the flag on your flagpole so to
speak, but no way in hell is she getting out of those. She’d just attack me again.”

“I didn’t attack you.” She spat the words at me. “Well, okay, I did, but it wasn’t like I tried to kill you or anything.”

Right. Because leaving me in a locked coffin for the Consulate was a total act of kindness.

“Please, these cuffs are killing me.” Her tone changed to that of a petulant child.

I couldn’t help laughing. “Yeah, like I wouldn’t know how that feels, right?”

“Fine, I’m … I’m … sorry.” Britta almost choked on the last word. It had to be the first apology she’d given in her life. She did look miserable though.

I looked to James, but he deferred to me. “It’s your call.” He stared at Britta. “But Britta, I’ll take you down myself if you try to sabotage the plan again. You didn’t follow orders and that’s punishable by death. You of all people should know that.”

A long look passed between them, one I didn’t understand.

“Fine,” Britta said. “But he doesn’t seem capable of giving orders right now, so that makes you in charge.”

“Only until he wakes up, which should be in less than an hour. What do you say, Tora?”

James’ deference surprised me. He was certainly trying to make the case that I could trust him. It was a shame I didn’t have an ounce of trust to spare. I wondered if the “punishable by death” thing would apply if I told Kale
about James not shooting at me earlier. If so, he trusted me more than I would have if I were him.

“You can release her.” A small surge of pleasure ran through me at having power over Britta. A taste of her own medicine.

James pushed the electronic release button, and Markus removed her cuffs. Britta rubbed her wrists vigorously, like she’d been confined for weeks in a dark dungeon, instead of an hour on the couch.

We sipped water, trying to be civil to one another while rotating door patrol and bracing as each round of bombs dropped. Kale finally woke up, swearing up one side and down the other.

“Sorry, sir, no more pain meds. We need you.”

“Zulu! What’s a man gotta do to get good medical help these days?” Kale bitched and moaned but James refused to give him any more meds. Markus handed Kale a water bottle instead, which Kale promptly threw against the wall. Thank God the lid was still on it; wasting water was unheard of. I’d never seen a man have a temper tantrum before, but he finally calmed down after realizing he wasn’t getting any more painkillers.

Kale took a long chug from the water bottle Britta had retrieved from the floor. “So, did you figure out a game plan in my absence?” he asked.

Looks passed back and forth among everyone. No one wanted to be the one to say there was no game plan.

James addressed him. “Sir—”

“Yes, we have a plan,” I interrupted. All heads swiveled to me. James had a questioning look in his eyes, like he was still trying to warn me. I might not be able to trust the rest of them and I might later regret my decision, but part of me must have decided to trust him. The words rushed out before I could stop them. “I’m getting the guns.”

I
LED
J
AMES DOWN THE CORRIDOR TOWARD THE RECREATION
room, then beyond it to the closet. I’d forced everyone else into the front room. James and I would bring the guns up to them. I didn’t want anyone else back there with us because a) I didn’t trust them even more than I didn’t trust James and b) I hadn’t yet decided whether I was bringing all of the guns or not. I was thinking of the most deadly ones. If I left the really bad ones there, maybe James wouldn’t tell.

Scratch that. It wouldn’t work to leave some in the room. The Consulate knew Dad had completed all the weapons—Dad told me he’d shown them T.O. right before he took off. They’d come looking for it faster than you could say
pistola
. I’d have to take them with me, and figure out what to do with them later.

As we reached the closet, I took out a stack of towels and placed them on the floor, then waved my hand over a hidden panel in the back of the door. It had been programmed to only accept my father’s hand and mine.

“I knew it,” said James, as the back of the closet swung inward, taking the rest of the linen-filled shelves with it.

“Of course you did.” I rolled my eyes at him.

He had the decency to look embarrassed. “I didn’t know for sure. It’s just when I came to find a towel for my workout yesterday, it seemed like the logical place for a secret room to be.” He waved his arm ahead of him like a gentleman. “After you.”

“Is there anything you don’t know?” I huffed and stepped through the small entryway. Pitch blackness enveloped us.

I heard him step through the doorway behind me and I turned to find the light panel. He leaned so close I could feel his breath on my face in the darkness. He spoke in a low voice. “There’s plenty I don’t know.”

My heart pounded in my chest. The effect he had on my body was so unfair. It was probably exactly what he wanted too. That would make it easier for all of them to screw me over. I wouldn’t let it happen.

I took a step away from him. “You mean like where the light panel is?” I felt along the wall and located it. The lights clicked on, flickered a little, then held a steady glow. James stared at me, like he wanted to say something, then turned and surveyed his surroundings like a good soldier.

Several boxes were stacked in a back corner of the rectangular-shaped room, some empty and others filled with the garden variety guns like Kale and his crew had. Dad thought it was a good idea to keep some around “just in case.” He was big on “just in case” things.

Clear cases lined the four walls of the room and each one contained different weapons. Every case had its own panel lock on it. I’d be doing a lot of hand waving. Good thing it was my ribs and not my wrist that was injured.

James let out a low whistle. “These are some serious guns.”

“That’s why my dad got paid the big bucks. Until he stole them, anyway.” I followed James’ eyes to the center of the large room. He hadn’t noticed it at first. I didn’t blame him. There was an island there about waist high and three feet long. It was completely clear, so it was almost invisible if you weren’t looking right at it. It appeared to hold nothing. I knew better.

I pretended I didn’t see the question in his eyes and started at the first panel. “I’ll get this group out and we’ll take them up first. We should be able to get them all in two trips.” I gestured at the boxes in the corner. “We can pack them in those. Except for the one I’ll use on the Consulate ship.” Without waiting for a response, I waved my hand over the first lock and began removing the guns, being careful not to power them up as I touched them.

James’ voice washed over me. “What happened to your dad? Markus said he … died.”

The desire to open up to him was strong. My resolve to get answers was stronger. “I believe you still owe me the rest of your story first … about your sister.”

“Oh, yeah, that story.” He sighed and looked straight ahead at the wall. “It started when I stole the W.A.R. machine … after my family’s machine had started to break down, along with our air unit. I’d already sealed off the other rooms in the pod to maximize the oxygen saturation, so we all slept in the center room.”

His voice was steely. “I knew a W.A.R. violation could result in death but I thought my gun would be enough to protect my mom, dad, and little sister.” James turned from the imaginary spot on the wall and faced me. “They came in the middle of the night, despite the night storms, so I was caught off guard. My gun was across the room when they came in. The officers saw it and seized it, assuming it was Dad’s. My little sister clung to me, screaming, when they shot him. He died instantly.” He described how his mother’s cries ended in the sharp sounds of more gun blasts.

James’ jaw muscle twitched, the only giveaway that this story caused him pain. He clenched his fist and took a deep breath. “I begged them to spare my sister. Told them it was all my fault and she had nothing to do with it.” He punched one of the gun cases. “They said that the world didn’t need another worthless child to feed and they shot her, her arms still wrapped around me.”

My heart strained, sadness pouring into the space inside me that I tried to keep empty. Tears leaked from my eyes,
and I fought the urge to hug him the way my sister used to hug me. I thought of how he tried to protect everyone by keeping them in the same room. “So the space thing …”

His voice was hard. “People are safer if they aren’t around me … or at least I’m not responsible if they die. I know it’s not rational but that’s how I feel. The only solo room on the ship was the captain’s. Kale offered it to me without me asking.” He looked back into my eyes. “Your turn.”

I hadn’t told anyone the full story, not even Markus. Yet it was only fair after everything James just told me. “Dad was told the guns were for the relocation program. In case the government ran into hostile species while exploring new planets. That was partially true, but he found out later they were also going to be used for another reason. He wouldn’t say anything other than it would be ‘against our own.’ ”

James gritted his teeth, like he had an idea what Dad was referring to. I paused, but he shook his head.

“Anyway, they tricked him into coming to a meeting in the pod city. They said they wanted to come to an agreement about the guns, that they understood his position. I think he wanted to believe it was true. That with so few people left in the world, there had to be some good in them. He was wrong.” I pulled another gun from its case and slid it toward James, not looking at him. He stacked it in the crate.

“He never came back from that trip. The story was on
the GlobalNet several days later—one of the last before the entire broadcasting system collapsed. I thought it was because they all died. I didn’t know they’d found a new planet. They showed a picture of my father’s abandoned land cruiser and claimed he was found in the wastelands outside their sector. Liars. They murdered him and had the nerve to plead that any surviving relatives contact the Consulate for assistance.” I swallowed.