Gunship (43 page)

The room grew silent as Welch looked around furiously. He had let that woman fool him once, but not again, not twice. He pointed at his man.

“You! Go pull up the security feeds—hurry!” The man scurried warily past Crazy Ray and Tiny, headed for the large holoscreen. The man pulled up the feeds. The cargo bay camera was tilted and showed a major fire had taken over most of the bay. Ships and cargo were strewn across the docking areas as the loading teams tried to suppress the flames and pull bodies from the wreckage. Crazy Ray watched, furious but also fascinated by the scene. The corridor feeds and area feeds continued to come up, all except for the detainment wing.

“No. It can’t be!” Welch breathed as Crazy Ray’s head tilted even more radically and his eyes gave off a demonic light.

Welch pointed at Tiny. “Get down there and secure that wing!”

“I’m don’t work for you. I work for him,” Tiny snarled and nodded at Crazy Ray, who grinned even more maniacally at Welch.

Welch turned to Crazy Ray. “Reilly Campbell is behind this! She set you up! She’s trying to escape!”

At that, Crazy Ray’s face turned a bit pale. He couldn’t lose his birthday presents; he hadn’t had any time with them yet. He turned to Tiny, his eyes desperate, longing. She looked at him and nodded once, then sprinted through the door to the lift. She understood him. From the few short hours they had spent together, she understood him better than anyone else. For the first time in his life, he sincerely hoped that she would live. Life would be so much more interesting with her around, his mystery woman.

Welch lowered the rail gun and picked up his handheld, ordering his men to secure his cruiser and to send backup units to the detainment wing to assist the bounty hunter. Then he grinned and turned his attention to removing Tiny’s knives from his arm. At the same time, Crazy Ray overrode the protective fields in the cargo bays and flushed everything out into space. He watched as the flames went out then turned to see the debris float by the sky wall.

Welch stepped up next to him as several bodies drifted by at a distance, and Crazy Ray smiled to himself.

“Reilly Campbell didn’t set me up. She set you up,” he noted smugly. “So I have to wonder now…were you questioning me about being involved with her because of the conspiracy, or was it out of jealousy?” Crazy Ray smirked at Welch as he shifted uncomfortably. “And while we’re waiting, I’d love to hear more about your plan to take over the galaxy and where I fit into all of that as your primary arms supplier.”

“You know, one of these days it will get ugly between us,” Welch noted, “and I won’t have a need for you anymore.” He tore another strip from his designer shirt and began to bind his own hand.

Crazy Ray smiled again and walked over to pour himself another drink. “Like it hasn’t already? By the way, you
were
interrupting something important. I’ll expect my usual compensation…and whatever you’d like to provide for her.” He pointed at Tiny sprinting down the hall towards the detainment wing as the last camera lost sight of her. “She is fond of knives, I think,” he finished with a disturbed laugh.

Welch snarled a curse at him as he used the torn fabric from his shirt to tie down the deep gash in his bicep. The bounty hunter could have whatever she wanted as long as Reilly Campbell remained alive and under his control. She was behind all of this, and he would make certain she paid.

—————

As Tiny pushed her way into the detainment wing, a rush of people pushed back. Crazy Ray did not implant his detainers for fear it would interfere with their creative talents. The more dangerous were collared, which allowed them freedom of thought and action but limited where they could go and what they could do. Several were standing miserably just inside the door now, clawing at the rings on their necks or wrists in vain attempts to try to leave the wing. Jamie and a few others pushed through the door and into the main station corridors as Tiny entered. She made certain to show off her weaponry, lest they decided to attempt to take her on as their next project.

Jamie waved at her and then warned the others off, telling them in his little-kid creepy voice she was the Boss’s Lady now. They gazed at her briefly and then backed off. It was apparent that whatever was happening would be short lived and when Crazy Ray had things under control again there would be an accounting. The murders of a few civilians or any of Welch’s people would be overlooked, especially if they could get it on camera for the boss to enjoy. Interfering with the head psycho’s new love interest would not.

Tiny pressed on towards the torture and detainment cells when suddenly a low whistle pulled her back. She dodged back through the rushing people and looked down the end of the hall towards her room. There stood Marek waving her back. She sprinted to him and ducked into the room.

“We’ve got maybe ten minutes. Welch and Alton think I’m down here trying to secure the wing. They’ll be sending back up shortly. Where’s the Captain?”

“As soon as I got your message, I got her out and brought her straight here. The cameras could be coming back on any minute, though, so we need to move. Duv is en route and Chang has the plot set for the soft seal. We’ll need to cut the inner hull, though, to help him.”

Tiny nodded as she set up charges by the entrance door and the back room. Then she punched in a code and slid the metal plate in the wall out onto the floor.

“After you.” She waved Marek into the ventilation shaft.

“Don’t mind if I do,” he said, slinging his rifle and locking it down to his leg while clipping onto one of the cables Tiny had set up. “These dang people are as insane as all get-out. I just hope it’s not catching!”

Tiny watched as he disappeared up the vent and then slipped into the vent herself and hooked up to the last cable. She re-secured the wall with the magnetic locks, just in case they had any pursuers, and then punched the electric remote, lurching upwards into the darkness to join the others.

—————

Reilly felt sick. Marek had pulled her out of the detainment cell thirty minutes earlier and sent her up the shaft to be with Ty. The dark had been disorienting, and the constant wind through the large shaft was chilling and sent them spinning and careening into each other. Reilly finally grabbed Ty’s harness and pulled him in, locking their two cables together to prevent further injury.

Ty was in bad shape. He was only partially conscious and had lost a lot of blood. His face and head were crusted with it, and large bruises covered his temple and around his eyes from where he had been repeatedly knocked unconscious with the butt of a blaster. His nose was broken, and Reilly suspected some other breaks as well with the way he was wheezing as he breathed. She held onto him as best she could, trying to stay conscious herself.

At one point, he looked up briefly at her and gave a small grin of recognition.

“Hey, Captain.”

“Hey, Ty. How are you feeling?”

“I can’t feel my legs. Or my ass. Something’s wrong with my head.”

“Well, I hate to tell you this, but that head problem has been going on for a while. Not sure the docs can fix that!” Reilly joked.

Ty nodded and gave another small grin, then grimaced in pain.

“How much longer we gotta wait?”

“Hang in there, Sargent. They’re coming for us soon, real soon.”

As Ty passed back out again, Reilly looked down into the black and hoped she was right.

—————

Duv and Chang waited on the bridge impatiently. The waiting was the worst part. It had been fourteen hours since Tiny, Marek, and the Captain had departed, and they had no idea what was happening. They took turns monitoring the comms for the signal and tried to play cards, but neither one felt up to it.

“Finally!” Duv sat up, dumping his cards as Tiny’s signal came up on his screen. He traced the location, and then Chang pulled up the station maps and found the shaft, following it to the closest access point to the hull.

“Got it. It looks like they got into one of the main vents. They can come up to this cross hatch and then over and up again, which puts them at this access point.” Chang pointed out the location and enlarged it on the holoscreen.

“I can put us right on top of it, but we’ll have to move quickly. The stealth plating will hide us from optical detectors, but if he has frequency detectors, he may still pick us up. I won’t be able to move during the pickup, so if they start shooting, we’ll have to hope that they don’t get lucky on the first few tries. I’d rather not vent anybody into space,” Duv noted, firing up the Dark Angel.

“Agreed. I will go get suited up and wait in the bay. Let me know when we’re in position, and I’ll extend the emergency accessway and start working on the hull.” Chang hurried down the hall to don his gear.

Duv checked all the systems and slaved the guns to his control, then initiated the stealth system. The Dark Angel shimmered once and then disappeared as it moved out towards the asteroid field.

—————

Reilly heard movement below her and saw a faint light. The light disappeared to the dull gray-blackness of the shaft as Marek came into view. He pulled up even with them on his cable and looked at Ty, the concern obvious on his face.

Ty chose that moment to regain consciousness. He looked at Marek and promptly said, “I can’t feel my ass. Is it still there?”

Marek almost choked as he tried not to laugh. He sobered up as Tiny came into view. Ty, still not fully comprehending, spun in his harness slightly as Tiny appeared.

“Will someone check out my ass? Please?” he asked desperately.

Tiny looked at him, worried. “We need to get him out of here, and soon. If he starts to panic or get loud, we’re all going to be dead.”

“He won’t.” Reilly looked over at Ty. “Sergeant Ty. Shut the hell up and do as you’re told. You copy me, soldier?”

Ty focused on Reilly. “Yes, ma’am,” he said, then passed out again.

Tiny and Marek each grabbed a harness as the auto winch engaged, pulling Ty and Reilly up the shaft with them. They reached the cross hatch, and Tiny clambered into the crawlspace while Marek pushed Reilly to her. She unhooked the captain as Reilly crawled past her into the vent, pulling herself along on knees and elbows towards the next shaft. Marek pushed Ty over next and helped Tiny drag him into the horizontal shaft. She hooked herself into his harness and began to crawl behind Reilly, dragging Ty’s weight along as Marek swung in behind them, retracting the cables to use in the next vent.

It seemed like forever as they moved through the cold, damp metal piping. Air rushed past them, keeping them all shivering as it cooled the sweat from their exertions. Reilly finally reached the upper ventilation shaft and signaled to Tiny. She passed the cables up to the captain. Reilly shot the cable gun up the shaft and heard it click as it connected with an upper flat surface. She had loaded and shot a second and then a third when they heard the first charge detonate.

“Ma’am, we need to go.” Tiny tried to look back at Marek but couldn’t see him with Ty in the way.

Reilly shot the last cable and began to hook into it as the second charge went off. She swung out into the darkness and waited for Tiny to get Ty hooked up, then hung onto him until the rest of the team had joined her in midair. Tiny briefly turned and placed a small device in the shaft they had just come from, then urged the others to go. They all rose together up the shaft, watching the openings they passed for any signs of danger.

The shaft ended at a large fan covered by a screen that roared air at them. Tiny swung to the right and was able to slip into the access point. The metal here was colder still as they approached the outer double hull, the only thing between them and freedom. The opening for the next vent was further away. Tiny gracefully arched her cable and slid into the half-darkness. Reilly unclipped Ty’s cable so she and Marek could push him to Tiny. It took several swings before Tiny could grab him to pull him in. As she leaned back, grasping the front of his harness, the material gave way. Tiny threw herself backwards, struggling to pull Ty in, bracing her legs on the edge of the vent. Marek swung over and gave a quick push, forcing Ty into the narrow shaft on top of her to keep him from tumbling back down the vent to his death.

Ty looked down at her blearily as she pushed him to one side in the enclosed space so she could make room for Reilly and Marek.

“I can sorta feel my ass again!” he mumbled cheerfully, still out of it. Then he looked at Tiny with a goofy grin. “You have the most beautiful eyes ever. Smell nice, too. And warm.” He snuggled up to her and then blacked out again.

Tiny rolled her eyes, and with a groan re-hooked him to her waist rig. His chest harness was still intact and able to bear weight, thankfully, freeing up her arms to navigate the air duct. She crawled a few body lengths ahead, pushing her ruck and pulling Ty. Marek helped Reilly swing into the access point and then followed to help her unhook. He released the cables for all of them and turned to followed them into the tunnel. Ty’s cable swung out into the vent and promptly dropped.

The cable made a rattling, hissing sound as it picked up speed and bounced off the sides of the shaft. If there had been any doubt about where they were, the noise from the falling cable would certainly help to point their pursuit in the right direction.

Tiny crawled faster, her handheld balanced on her ruck as she moved along, looking for the best place to cut the hull. Her arms burned from pulling Ty’s weight, and her knees were scraped from pushing off of the metal plating in the shafts. Finally, she found the perfect spot and sent the second and last transmission signal. She pulled out her plasma cutter and tossed on a set of tactical goggles, then began to cut. In the distance, they could hear voices and the scraping of metal. The chase was on.

—————

Duv angled the Dark Angel in above the space station, lining the bird’s belly up with the last point of transmission. The stealth system had gotten them inside the station’s defenses. Now it would just be a matter of getting back out in one piece. Duv watched as Chang extended the emergency accessway over to the station’s hull.