Indomitable (26 page)

A rimmed seat slid out from the wall at the right height, and a privacy screen dropped from the ceiling.

You've got to be kidding me.
“This is sanitized, right?”

The guard laughed. “Lady, you've got more important things to worry about than that.”

“Anything to read?”

On the way out the door, the guard cupped his ear as he subvocalized, presumably to the boss he'd referred to a moment before. She instantly recognized the Mann 23 pulse pistol strapped to his thigh. It wasn't pretty, it got the job done.

Limping to the cell door, Promise swept the room for a way out. Though she couldn't spot the pickups she was sure they were there, recording everything she said and did. The door was plexi and no doubt reinforced. Outside, she saw three spartan workstations, all empty. A close-up of a large sea creature hung on one wall, and the eyes could have been human.

She envisioned spending the rest of her vacation incarcerated, or worse. If she was lucky, they'd hand her back to the Marine Corps with a trumped-up charge, her word against theirs. She'd receive a formal letter of reprimand in her jacket, perhaps career-ending. Or she might go home in a body bag.
Unless I do something about it.

Promise knocked on the plexi, three times. When the guard didn't appear she started pounding and yelling.

“Hey, knock it off in there. I'm on the comm.”

“Hey, yourself. Tell me something. How does it feel to get off raping little girls?” The guard walked to her cell, fists clenched at his sides. He went to say something but changed his mind and sat back down.

Interesting.

“What? Oh, I get it. You were ordered not to touch. That's too bad. I was hoping to rumble.”

“You've got nerve, Lieutenant, I'll grant you that.” He gave her a once-over. “And pretty-girl potential. When the boss is through with you, then it's my turn.”

“Lieutenant” again.
Her rank was obviously providing her a bit of protection. She'd been in the nets recently. Maybe that was it. There was the matter of Montana and her battle with the Lusies, and her appearance before the Senate. At the moment, it was the only leverage she had.

“What are my charges? Assuming you're actually a station enforcer, which I doubt.”

“They are legion, Lieutenant.” Her guard crossed his legs and leaned back in his chair. “Breaking and entering. Assault and battery.” His eyes narrowed. “Murder. Kidnapping. How'm I doin'?”

“Kidnapping?” She hadn't expected that.

“You tried to take Sephora without her guardian's permission.”

“Sephora? Nice name for a pretty girl, isn't it?”

The guard clenched his jaw and looked away, and then he crossed his arms and met her gaze evenly. “You tried to take her without permission. She didn't want to leave.”

“
Sephora
is being trafficked.”

“It's perfectly legal work in this part of the 'verse.”

“Not in the Republic of Aligned Worlds, it's not. Besides, what law gives a man the right to beat a woman or force her to have sex?”

“We may be in Republican space, but the RAW's laws do not apply here,
Lieutenant.
Our exclusive charter to the planet exempts us on this matter … and others. You presumed a lot and it's going to cost you.”

There it was, and without the girl to back her story, this wasn't going to end well. Unless she called their bluff.

At this point, I have nothing to lose.

“How's the man with the ponytail?”

Anger flashed across the guard's face. “I believe I mentioned a murder charge. He was a good man.”

“He was a coward and a rapist.”

The guard cracked his neck. “When I get my hands on you—”

“Tell your boss he can either deal with me now on his terms, or deal with me later on mine.”

“Is that a threat?”

“A guarantee.”

She turned and walked two paces to her bunk, easing herself down so as not to injure her knee further.

A moment later, she heard the guard get out of his chair and walk out of the room. Promise didn't have to wait long before her cell door opened and a stranger entered.

“Declan, leave.”

“Sir … I don't think that's a good idea.”

“She's not going anywhere because she wants to live. Isn't that right, Lieutenant Paen?”

Promise opened her eyes to find a small man standing over her. As she sat up she realized he was one of the shortest men she'd ever seen, no more than one and a half meters tall. One of her platoon sergeants—her close friend Maxi—had at least five centimeters on the man, which wasn't saying much. Shorty looked early fifties, and wore the fashionable clothes of a much younger man. A low V-neck exposed toned muscles and several scars.

He rolled his sleeves to the elbows while appraising her wounds. “Now, Declan. Kill the pickups on your way out. I want this off the record.”

“Thank you, Declan,” Promise said without taking her eyes off of Shorty.

Declan slammed his chair into his station desk. “I'm locking you in … just in case.”

“Fine, now go.”

Shorty struck her as the sort of man who could slit a person's throat with a steak knife one moment, and then clean his hands and the blade before carving into his medium-rare sirloin the next. He casually leaned against the plexi door. “This is nice, yes? I've seen worse. The perspective shifts on this inside, doesn't it? I've made up my mind to let Declan have you. You have two minutes to change it.”

For a moment Promise thought she'd miscalculated. The girl, Sephora, she'd been right about their predicament. They were both as good as dead. She envisioned Sephora lying on the deck; all the horrible things they'd probably done to her. Promise wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball and cry. She'd only meant to help and instead she'd managed to kill the girl before her time.

“Ninety seconds, Lieutenant.”

You came to me. Something has you worried.

“I want safe passage off of the station and the girl goes with me. Otherwise, you're going to regret this day.”

The man's eyes widened in surprise.

“Watch your words as you value your life, Lieutenant Paen. You can't hide behind your uniform, not from me. I make bad things happen to people…” His voice trailed off. “… very bad things, very slowly. My men like to take their time, Declan in particular. One Marine can easily get lost in a 'verse as large as ours.”

Shorty sounded like he was posturing. She got to her feet while making no effort to hide her injuries, and pulled nose-close with him. “You've obviously done some homework on me. I've tried to keep a low profile.” Promise shrugged indifferently. “I'm due back on Hold in a matter of days. After that my unit deploys. A lot of people know I'm here: your people; the station workers; the ship I arrived on; my commanding officer. After the Senate hearing, even some of the Congress knows, including Senator Terra Jang.”

Dropping Jang's name was a calculated risk. The senator was a stalwart anti-slaver. Jang's history with human trafficking was well documented, Promise knew. She prayed Declan's boss knew it too.

I hope he reads the news.

“Thirty seconds.”

“When I don't return on schedule my superiors will send someone after me to find out why. You're a businessman in a line of work with enemies, and people know you're here. My people know I'm here. You don't want the Marine Corps Criminal Investigation Division snooping around. That could be very bad for business.”

“You sound desperate, Ms. Paen. I believe we're done.” He turned to go.

“Taking Sephora off your hands will be doing you a favor.”

Shorty paused and then turned back to face her. If he was surprised that Promise knew the girl's name he didn't show it. His eyes flicked sideways. “Declan took care of her already.”

No.
The room started spinning and Promise fought the urge to sit down. “I thought Declan liked to take his time,” she shot back.

His slight smile told her she'd struck home. “You can't prove anything. Still, the girl is a … minor inconvenience.” Finally, they were getting somewhere.

“That's true,” Promise said. “That's why I'm going to do you the favor.”

“What can you possibly offer me?”

“My silence. And when I die doing my job on some forsaken, backwater planet, what I know about your operation won't matter anymore. I'm a mechanized Marine in a frontline company that's prepping for a long deployment to Sheol. We expect to take casualties. Do the math.”

Promise grabbed her side as a sharp pain hit her. “I'll actually be doing you a huge favor,” she said through gritted teeth. “Sephora doesn't want to be here any more than I do. If you kill her you'll have to kill me too.”

“Don't tempt me, Lieutenant. I can think of ten different ways to do you … just off the top of my head. It's not complicated.”

“Let's not circle round the issue. You're going to have to deal with the girl one way or the other, and you're going to have to deal with me, too. If I disappear there will be an investigation. What I'm offering you avoids
that
complication.”

“Perhaps. Say I kill you and dispose of your body. Maybe no one comes looking after all. Say I stage your death, tag your corpse, and space you out an airlock, and then retrieve your frozen body and smash you into a million little pieces. Say I strap you into a capsule and drop you into the sun with the rest of the trash. Say I do the same to you and the girl. Death notices are easily forged. I'll write yours myself.” The man looked up in thought. “Ah, how's this? As soon as you arrived, you shuttled down to the surface and hit the north shore. Regrettably, what passes for a shark on Guinevere dragged you under and had you for lunch. We never saw you again. I'm a good storyteller and everyone has a price. What then, Lieutenant?”

Promise didn't miss a beat. “The Marine Corps will still investigate. We never leave one of our own behind. Consider my brain-box.” Promise tapped the base of her skull. “It's implanted in my cerebellum. If I die, it records the time, place, and cause of death. It's nearly indestructible. You can tamper with it but the Corps will know, and the Corps will want it back. They'll go diving.”

The man scratched his head. “Maybe, assuming they can even find it. I've made a career out of solving difficult problems.”

“Go ahead. Make me disappear. Incinerate me.” Promise dared him. “When I don't report in on time my superiors will file a report. I'll be considered AWOL and the Corps will want to know why. Take it from me: I'm not the type to desert my post. Either way, the RAW-MC will come looking for me.”

The man pursed his lips and seemed to give her words some thought.

“Why, Lieutenant? Why should I believe either of you won't talk if I let you walk? What prevents you from running to the senator you mentioned and trying to shut me down?”

“Like you said, the Republic's laws don't apply here. And, I keep my word. If either of us talked, I'm sure you'd make sure something unpleasant happened to us. Believe me, I very much want to live.”

“How good is your imagination, Ms. Paen? What's to stop, as you put it, something
unpleasant
from happening to you in the future?”

“I'm going to lie.” Promise knew her decision would eat at her for the rest of her life. “I came here on vacation, had a good time, and told the staff so in writing. I even wrote a letter to the management expressing my thanks. Draw it up, name whomever you wish. I'll sign it.”

“I want more. You're also going to write to your commanding officer and you're going to explain your injuries as an unfortunate accident on the planet's surface, while telling him what a wonderful time you had. Please brag about our medical facilities and our staff. We took amazing care of you. We care a great deal about our military guests. By the way, thank you for your service. We've already created a backstory for the girl … in the event we need to dispose of her. Never deviate from the story for as long as you live. Do, and I'll have you both disappeared.

“One last thing, Lieutenant. Please listen very carefully because I want these words to haunt you in your dreams for the rest of your life.” A thin smile crossed his face. “I know you're an orphan, just like Sephora. But, you do have friends in the Corps. Kathy and Maxi. Did I get their names right? They each have families. Little nieces and nephews and parents who love them dearly. I found their stills on the nets, and both look like upstanding Marines. I would hate to think something might happen to either one of them, or their families. Or to Sephora. Something unfortunate. Something unpleasant. Something permanent. Do we understand each other? Do we have a deal?”

“Yes, we have—” Her words caught in her throat and it took everything in her to get them out.

 

Thirty-two

MAY 15
TH
, 92 A.E., STANDARD CALENDAR, 1214 HOURS

PLANET GUINEVERE, NIGHTSIDE

KIES ORBITAL TOUROSPHERE

STATION SECURITY, CELL TWO

A half hour later,
Ms. Night opened Promise's cell, her luggage and a fresh set of clothes in hand.

“Size four, right?”

Promise raised an eyebrow as she hobbled outside. “Where's Declan? I want to say good-bye.”

Night appeared tense, fidgety even. “We're stopping at Medical before you leave … for your first round of treatment. You may change there.” Night hesitated. “You're staying aboard for the next couple of days, for the rest of your convalescence. I put you in one of our best suites. You won't be permitted to leave your room or roam the facility. I'm sorry about that but there's nothing I can do. I wish things … well … I wish you the best, Ms. Paen.”