Stalker's Luck (Solitude Saga Book 1) (26 page)

Roy woke with a start, clutching his leg. The muscles in his thigh were cramping, twitching in agony beneath the bandage. He gritted his teeth and rode the wave of pain until it subsided.

The bulb overhead gave a barely audible hum. Water dripped from a pipe somewhere in the ruined building. He coughed a few times, the smoke in the air irritating his lungs.

How long had he been out? He had no idea. It didn’t feel like it’d been more than an hour, but he had no way of knowing. His mouth was dry; he’d kill for a drink and a smoke. He pushed himself up onto his elbow and looked around. Lilian still wasn’t back. Had Leone’s men got to her?

No, she was more careful than that. It’d take time to navigate streets swarming with Leone’s people. She’d be back when she could be. He knew that. But something else niggled at the back of his mind. Something was wrong. He could feel it.

He reached out, picked up his machine pistol. He couldn’t hear anything, couldn’t sense any movement. But his stomach was twisting. Something was missing.

The bag. The money.

He twisted, scanning the room. The bag of money was nowhere to be seen. Lilian had tossed it down here. He’d seen it. He’d passed it as he came in. So where was it?

There was only one possibility. Lilian had taken it.

He sat up, ignoring the pain in his leg, and tried to control his breathing and his swirling thoughts. There was a reasonable explanation. She needed supplies. She needed money for that.

But the whole bag? Over a million vin? He could understand her taking the pistol from inside, taking a few tens of thousands. But taking the whole bag was just dangerous. What if she had to run and leave it behind? She was a smart woman, and more careful than that. So why had she taken it?

As he shifted his weight, the corner of something hard pressed into his side. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a tab. The tab he’d picked up in Lilian’s room at the hotel. He stared down at its screen, fingers tightening around its covering.

He opened her log of recent calls. Every one of them went to the same number. No name attached, but he recognised the number he’d gotten from his captive, Hudson. Feleti Leone’s private number.

Why would she be calling Leone? Some of these calls were made as recently as yesterday. She called him nearly every day. What twisted game was he playing with her?

He navigated through the files on her tab, flicking rapidly through them. A name caught his eye. He stopped, scrolled back.

A digital book. No, not just one, dozens of them. She’d always loved reading. But as he scrolled through, he saw the same author’s name coming up again and again. Eddie Gould.

He thought back to her apartment. She’d had one of Gould’s books there as well. She knew him. That had been clear when she’d talked to him at the spaceport. She’d asked Roy to spare the stalker’s life. Why?

The answer came as a whisper in the back of his head.

She betrayed you for him. Why do you think she took the money? She took it to him. She’s going to lead the stalkers straight back to you. She loves him, not you. How could you ever think a woman like that would love a monster like you?

No. It wasn’t true. He knew her past. He knew what she’d done to survive. She was strong, but so was her thirst for life. She’d betrayed men before to protect herself. He knew that. He respected it. She’d done what she had to.

She had never been weak. She was a leader. She’d helped him run the syndicate. She’d helped him secure territory, take over businesses, slaughter rivals. She could be as ruthless as him. That was part of why he loved her.

But she would never betray him. Not now. Not after everything he’d been through to get her back.

Fool
, the voice in his head whispered.
You’ve already lost her. She’s Gould’s now. The stalkers know your secrets. They’re coming for you. Just listen
.

He listened, holding his breath. And he heard the squeal of the back door opening.

He picked up his machine pistol and waited.

30

Eddie stood by the window in the lobby of the abandoned brothel, watching the street. His stomach was slowly tightening into knots. He could feel the end approaching, and he didn’t like the way it felt in his gut.

From here he had a perfect view of Lady Luck Gentlemen’s Club, the burned-out building still and silent in the twilight.

Knox was fiddling with his tab next to the brothel’s office. Next to him, Dom knelt, checking her shotgun for the tenth time.

“How sure are you that this information of yours is correct?” she said.

Knox didn’t take his eyes off his tab. “How many times are you going to ask me that? It’s right, okay? Jesus Christ. It wasn’t put together by gorillas like you in some sweat shop on New Calypso. This is Solar tech, painstakingly restored by Radiants on Uriel for the benefit of this great Federation. The tracker’s pointing there, so Williams is there. Get it?”

“All right, calm down.” She absentmindedly touched her wounded jaw. “I just wanted to be sure.”

“He’s there,” Eddie said. “She took him there. She knows this place.”

He could feel Dom’s eyes on him, but she didn’t say anything.

He tested the feel of the unfamiliar assault rifle against his shoulder. It was heavier and longer than he liked, especially for a close-quarters engagement like this was inevitably going to be. But he knew better than to go up against Williams poorly armed. The man was wild.

Dom produced two flashlights from the pockets of her duster coat, along with a roll of electrical tape. Eddie took one and taped it to the side of the rifle barrel. He tested the light. Bright enough.

“How are we doing this?” he said.

“Stick together. Sweep room by room.”

“Doesn’t look like there’s many rooms left,” Knox pointed out.

“That’ll just make him easier to find,” Dom said as she finished securing her flashlight to her shotgun. “Knox, you stay here and keep a tab connection open with us. I want to know if he tries to run.”

“No problem,” he said. “Just as long as you don’t get any funny ideas about pocketing some of that cash while I’ve got my thumb up my arse out here.”

“You’ll get what you’re due,” she said. She looked to Eddie, concern creasing her forehead. “You sure you can do this?”

Eddie nodded. “Just be careful, all right? Cassandra’s in there somewhere. Watch where you’re shooting.”

“With a bit of luck there won’t be any shooting at all.” She put her earpiece in her ear as Knox twiddled the knobs on his tab. “Can you hear me?”

“Just as guttural as always,” Knox said.

She racked her shotgun. “Let’s get this over with.”

They moved to the door. As they moved out of earshot of the augment, Eddie tapped his ear and glanced meaningfully at Dom. She took her earpiece out and covered it with her hand.

“What?”

“I just…if I take a hit in there—”

“Eddie, come on.”

“Shut up, all right. If I take a hit in there, just make sure Cassandra gets out safe. Okay? Can you do that?”

She sighed. “I’ll do what I can. But don’t you dare get killed.”

“Worried you’ll miss me?”

“I just don’t want to spend one more second alone with Knox. I’m about ready to plug the little bastard.”

Eddie grinned as she slipped the earpiece back into position. They lingered in the doorway of the brothel for a moment, checking up and down the street.

“We’re clear,” Dom said. “Cover me.”

She darted out of cover, swiftly crossing the street and pressing herself against the wall next to Lady Luck’s ruined entrance. She paused, sweeping back and forth with her shotgun. Then she raised a hand and signalled.

Eddie took a deep breath and followed, the assault rifle hard against his shoulder. He pressed himself against the burned building’s exterior and tested the door below the neon sign.

“Jammed,” he whispered.

She glanced around. “No windows. Let’s see if there’s another way in.”

They slipped around the side of the building. Nothing else moved. Eddie spotted a back door and nodded towards it. They formed up on either side, their footsteps crunching against the debris littering the ground. The back of the building wasn’t so burned out; the whole rear wall was black, but intact.

Dom nodded at him and he reached out and pressed down on the door handle. The hinges squealed as he pushed the door inward. The stench of smoke filled his nostrils.

Dom flicked on her flashlight and aimed the shotgun through the entrance. Eddie followed suit. The darkness was quiet except for the creaks and groans of the injured building. Flakes of ash drifted from the ceiling, shining as they passed through the flashlight beam.

With a nod from Eddie, Dom slipped inside the building, swinging to the left and shining her beam around the debris blocking the main hallway. He followed a second after, moving to the right. His light revealed a doorway that opened into a small office. He moved inside, the beams overhead groaning with every step.

There was a carpet spread out in the centre of the office. But the corner of it was lifted, revealing a clean patch of floor. Someone had moved the carpet recently. Pushing aside the pain in his ribs, he crouched and dragged the carpet aside. There was a trapdoor set into the floor.

He turned back in the direction Dom had gone. He could see her light playing across the walls.

“Freckles,” he whispered. “Over here.”

He switched off his flashlight and tugged on the trapdoor’s handle. A faint light spilled out from downstairs. As he swung the door fully open, the hinges gave a long, low groan. He paused.

A rattle of gunshots burst out of the open trapdoor. Eddie scrambled out of the way as bullets skimmed the air in front of him and slammed into the ruined ceiling. Over the echoing sound of gunfire he could hear Dom’s footsteps stomping through the building.

The burst of gunfire ended, leaving his ears ringing. Someone was swearing downstairs. Eddie raised his gun and prepared to descend.

The ceiling groaned above him. He glanced up to see dust falling from the tiles around the bullet holes. Something gave a loud crack.

He stumbled back as part of the office ceiling caved in. Black dust spewed out as beams clattered to the ground. Eddie put his hands over his head and dived under the office desk. Hell rained down on him. The dust got in his lungs. He suppressed a coughing fit.

The rumbling quietened; the sky stopped falling. Eddie gave it a few more seconds, then peeked out from under the desk. Dust filled the air. The hallway outside the office was completely blocked with debris.

“Freckles!” he called out.

He was answered with coughing. “I’m okay. You?”

“Just peachy.”

“The door’s blocked,” she said. “I’m going to have to find another way to get to you.”

“Be careful. I don’t want this whole damn place collapsing on our heads.”

He moved to the trapdoor and flicked his flashlight back on, shining it down the steep stairs. The light barely did anything in the dust-filled air. He pulled his collar over his mouth and breathed through the fabric, trying to squint through the ash. The swearing had stopped. Whoever had shot at him had gone quiet. Probably reloading. If he waited for Dom, they’d be facing another hail of bullets.

Besides, Cassandra could be down there with that madman.

He raised his gun and started slowly down the stairs. They creaked with every step.

The dust cleared the further he descended. His light revealed a small bare room with an overturned table and a chair in the middle. Small spots of blood stained the floor. A machine pistol lay discarded off to one side.

He paused at the bottom of the stairs, listening. He could smell Williams’ sweat in the air, mixed with the faint tang of blood. He stepped forward.

A man crashed into the side of him, hands wrapping around the barrel of his assault rifle. Eddie had been ready for Williams to ambush him, but he wasn’t prepared for the brutality and swiftness of his attack.

He slammed against the wall, his assault rifle pressed back against him as he struggled to pry it away from Williams. The fugitive snarled at him, spitting blood and saliva into his face.

Williams twisted and drove a fist into Eddie’s side. Eddie grunted, his finger involuntarily squeezing the trigger. The gun roared as bullets peppered the far wall. The barrel grew hot against his skin.

The sudden gunfire did nothing to distract Williams. As Eddie released the trigger and tried to bring a knee up into Williams’ groin, the larger man twisted the gun away from him and tossed it across the room. It landed with a clatter.

Eddie could feel his pistol pressing against his hip, but he had his hands full trying to fend off Williams. His heart slapped in his chest as he stared into the eyes of a madman.

“Where is she?” Williams screamed in his face.

Before he could say anything, Williams’ fist collided with the side of his head like a brick. He slid to the ground, eyes swimming. His ears rang.

Williams pulled him up by the collar of his shirt and slammed another punch into Eddie’s cheek. His head swung limply to the side. He could taste blood.

“What did you do to her?” Williams yelled. “You turned her against me.”

Eddie’s fingers wrapped around his pistol. He drew it, aiming his shaking hand at the blur in front of him.

Williams meaty palm wrapped around his gun hand and crushed. Eddie heard himself screaming as pain stabbed through the bones of his hand. He dropped the gun.

“She was mine!” Williams slammed him back against the floor and fell on top of him. “She was mine and you took her away.”

Summoning what was left of his strength, Eddie struck out, landing a blow on Williams’ already broken nose. It crunched, fresh blood spraying out. But Williams didn’t even seem to notice. His hand flashed.

Eddie didn’t even see the box cutter before the blade plunged into his shoulder. He grunted, no longer able to find the breath to scream.

But even through the pain, a sense of distant satisfaction gripped him.
She left him. She abandoned him. She knew what he was. Good for you, Cassie. Good for you
.