“Let’s hope she’s still here.”
“I thought you said that you knew she’d be here. You said you knew her well enough.” Pitbull eyes Akita warily.
“I know I did but now I think of it…who knows?”
He brings the Airvan to a stop a few feet from the front veranda and the light brown dust below, blows out from either side of us. The engines whine down until they become silent and the sliding doors open almost noiselessly, letting in the warm but breeze-cooled air of Callican.
“Okay let’s get this over with. Akita you take point.”
I jump out of the van and notice that the light brown dirt beneath my boots is a bit soft; dry…but soft.
“I’m on it…” Akita swings around from the driver’s seat, slips through the two foot wide aisle and steps onto the ground beside me. Then we’re off, Akita in the lead, all of us in breathable clothes, and military boots behind him and spread a few feet apart.
“Akita?” He keeps walking but acknowledges my voice “What’s this girl’s name?”
“Maria…Anna Maria but she prefers Maria.”
“I’m glad you remembered, you slimy snake-minded bastard.”
We all stop, Akita on the veranda and the rest of us, feet on the stairs. A dark haired, beautiful, fiery-eyed woman with a Hispanic accent standing off on our right is holding what appears to be a Bullhorn shotgun.
“Maria!”
Akita’s voice does not betray his nerves but he remains where he is and so do the rest of us.
“What do you want Neil?”
She lowers the gun, and he begins to walk slowly toward her.
“You want the truth or do you want to hear what you want to hear?”
“Don’t be smart with me…” Gun raised again “…spit it out.”
“Seriously Maria, put that thing away. We need your help.”
She eyes the rest of us suspiciously. “Who is “we”?”
“My team, it’s a long story.” She doesn’t move “Mariaaaa, come on, let’s go inside, have a drink, talk about what we need…”
“…No, let`s go round back and talk about what I get in return…”
“…Yes, and what you get in return.”
“You sonofabitch…” I like her accent “…You tell me one thing, do another, avoid me, and then disappear…” The way she clips her sentences “…Now, you’re here what…five years later, telling me you need my help?”
“I’ll explain everything once we go inside and you calm down.”
“Oh believe me Neil, I am calm.”
I smile and the rest of the guys fight to stifle theirs. If I were to guess…it seems that Akita had met his match five years ago, ran from it and now, ended up right back where he started.
Maria shoulder’s the weapon and walks past us. But not before staring me and the other guys down. “Names…?”
“Huski…”
“Hound…”
“Pitbull…”
She turns around “…and Akita…Dogs…” then walks through the front door, rambling off in her native tongue, only God knows what.
I linger behind until Akita is near me “Nice one…”
“…just a little misunderstanding, she’s harmless.”
“Riiiiight…”
********
“So you want me…” Maria mumbles something in Spanish “…to get you off Rouna, so you can get to your ship…a ship that is guarded by Earthfront Military?”
We are in her back yard under an open shed and some large trees where what looks like a severely modified Aircar, sits with half its body parts missing.
“We need you to smuggle us into Argyle and we’ll do the rest.”
“And what’s in this for me?”
“Credits…”
She looks toward me as I say this
“…lots of credits.”
“How much of these credits are we talking about?”
“Two hundred thousand creds…”
“Make it two million, Earth credits, and we have a deal.”
The guys and I exchange looks. I think on this for a split second. “Two million credits…? I don’t even know if you can get the job done.”
“Then get your asses off my property and find your own way.” She readies the Bullhorn.
“Okay…two million credits…if, you get the job done.”
“No…two million credits, when, I contact you before we go anywhere.”
She’s a tough one but we have no other choice “Deal…”
She looks at me as though I’m crazy and then stares at the ground…Spanish under her breath again while pacing. “I can get you to Argyle but how do you know that your equipment will be ready?”
“If they’re not, then I know where I can get them fixed.”
“Okay, I’ll get organized and we’ll get on the move in twenty four.”
“Twenty four hours?” Akita jumps in now
“You want to fly with a rocket up your ass to Argyle, or do you want to travel comfortably?” She’s ballistic again.
Akita, what did you do to this woman?
I intervene. “Maria. We just need to get off world undetected. Then once we’re on Argyle we’ll be able to get to the ship, undock and leave the system before any red flags can be raised.”
“You are all insane. Even if you get to your ship, and I’m not saying I believe you will, you’d never get out of the system unnoticed…”
I cut her off “…You leave that to us…”
“They will know that the ship is no longer docked…”
“Not if the computer tells them it still is…”
I see understanding register on her face. Her eyes light up but they grow hard again. “No one…no one, has ever cracked Earthfront system security…”
“Who said anything about cracking it?”
She’s puzzled and so is the rest of the team. “Um…Cap…now I don’t get it…” Pitbull speaks for the first time since we’ve started this conversation.
“Karen said she had a brother who’s a Space traffic controller at Argyle…”
“Who’s Karen?”
Akita eyes me like a bird of prey.
“A girl we just met here on Rouna…” He answers her quickly.
I jump in again “She’s the taxi driver that got us to our place. She told us that she had a brother who works as a…”
“…and why, would she help four men, she just met?”
Silence…I think of Terri, I hear his final transmission and see Mirana with a gun in her hand holding off the inevitable. “Akita, get Karen in on this if you think she can be trusted. Find a way to convince her to get her brother involved…I know…”
He begins to protest but I cut him off
“…but this is the only way we get off this planet and right now, it is all that matters.”
Maria looks to Akita and then back to me “Hmm, so you’ve found yourself another victim…” It’s not as much a question, as it is an accusation “…well I don’t care. I just want you all gone and my life returned to the peace that it was. I’ll help you but when I’m done, we’re done.”
“There’s one more thing…”
The annoyed woman eyes me warily “What?”
“I need to know what’s recoded on these.” I remove the small pouch with the two Digital Eyes from my pocket and show them to her.
“There’s no place on Rouna outside of Earthfront Military that has the technology to read that, but I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thank you baby…”
“Neil…if you call me baby again…”
“Okay there’s not much time…” This feud is going to cost us everything so I have to cut in “…We’ll wait for you to make contact. You have my Com Code. Let’s go guys.”
As we walk around to the front of the building, I take a deep lung full of air. It’s fresh and clean and feels the same all the way through. I hear Akita pleading with Maria and her voice rising, a
ccent even thicker and switching effortlessly between English and Spanish. I join the rest of the team in watching the fun but I sense something. Pitbull and Hound both feel it too. We turn toward the Airvan and then without a doubt, I see it, a barely noticeable ripple in the perfect picture. My heart pumps more blood into my system and new energy surges through me.
“HOSTILES..!”
I shout it as the first assailant appears, no more than three feet from me, knife drawn and moving like lightning toward my throat. Instinctively I shift, deflecting his thrust with my left hand while the right draws my Fifty-eight, brings it to bear and I pull the trigger. The assassin tries to vanish but after the first powerhouse slug hits true, his suit’s Regeneration Technology fails, so I put another one into him for good measure and watch what’s left of his twitching corpse fall to the ground.
Across the yard and down the iron sights once more, I pause on the trigger. My new target is now in the air as Pitbull’s hulking frame stands tall, with his attacker held at arm’s length high above his head and then with a sickening crunch, he merges the combat-suited man with the dirt below.
The dead man is now a twisted heap in Bull’s wake; the suit, arms and legs and neck, all bent at awkward angles malfunctioning and going from visible to semi visible. I jump to my feet and squeeze off two rounds in Akita`s direction, breaking his opponent’s focus just long enough for the martial artist to drive his knife to the hilt through the enemy’s throat. The blood sprays but Akita is already on the move. I scan the area for any more signs. Their suits would keep them invisible only if they move very slowly or remain still, but I don’t sense any more threats.
BLAM!
The sound jolts us all into a moment of confusion. I turn to see the lower half of the last attacker slam into a post of the farmhouse veranda, splitting the timber in two and Maria’s Twelve Gauge smoking as she lowers it. Then she spits and begins cursing in her native tongue.
“There will be more. There’s no time to get our gear, the house is no longer safe…”
“Alpha, what the hell is going on?”
I look at Pitbull and then to Maria “Someone wants us dead that’s for sure. Maria, we need to get off this planet and by the looks of it, so do you.”
“And where am I to go eh?” Anger in her voice “Everything I’ve invested in is here. Where do I go?”
“You can come with us or fight the next wave alone, make your choice.”
Time is of the essence. I run toward the Airvan, feeling my pocket to make sure the bag with the confiscated Dees is still there, and it is. Akita pleads with Maria for what seems like the last time and then as he walks toward us, she turns and goes into the house.
“She says that she’ll help.”
He enters the vehicle and jumps into the driver’s seat. Maria reappears with a crate hovering behind her and Hound and I get out of the van in order to help put it in the back. In it, are automatic assault weapons and a few high explosive grenades; I must admit…I like this woman. We jump back into the Airvan and Maria enters after.
“Get out!”
Akita, with a quick glance in my direction, unbuckles himself after I give the okay, and moves to the other front seat as the curvy woman in her green jumpsuit and military boots slides into the driver’s side.
Without pause Maria guns the throttle and then we’re off, but not back to the road. Instead, we cut a path across one of her wheat fields and then enter into a tree line that will supposedly take us off this spire and to the underground network on Rouna. I do as she suggests and hand out the weapons in the now opened crate. In my hand is an M-8 or the Mate as is generally known. I haven’t seen one of these in a long time and they are hard to come by. However its accuracy and high velocity, high impact rounds do their jobs and more than make up for its unusual weight.
“Those were Earthfront assassins…”
Hound is right. I had feared that they might be.
“Something seriously full of shit is taking place here boss and we’re in the middle of it…” Pitbull now
My mind races with new thoughts “I know. Maria, what’s the plan?”
“We get to a friend of mine and he gets us a flight off Rouna. We’re obviously not going to get your ship from Argyle…”
Hound cuts in “…I was really hoping that was still an option…”
Maria looks at me in the rearview mirror “What kind of idiot team do you have Captain?”
Hound retaliates but I stop him quick. “I’d appreciate it if you showed a little more tact. We’re in this together weather you like it or not and we’ve got one shot so let’s get it done right.”
She remains silent for a second or two. “I have a friend. His name is Manny, if there’s anyone who can get us off this world, it’s him…”
“How do you know that this, Manny, will help…?”
“I know because I know. Unlike some of the bastards I’ve come across, he, is a man of honor, he’ll do as I ask…” She ignores Akita’s stare and he doesn’t reply.
The ground below the Airvan suddenly becomes steeper and rockier. The drop goes from gently sloping hill to ninety degree, boulder ridden incline and now we’re high over the beautiful blue once again.
“Who’s Manny?”
“What’s it to you?”
I intercept this new argument. They are going to have to put their differences aside if we are to be successful in this venture.
“Guys..!” Silence now “…Just drive Maria…” Akita looks at me “…and shut up Akita.” And I put up a hand to silence him as the sparkling blue now passes under us, less than twenty feet away.
********
Half hour later, we land between some trees on a spire very near the water’s edge. This spire, by the look of it and from what I remember from my days of geography class, still has a few thousand years to go before it leaves the sea entirely. We all exit the vehicle. The breeze is cool and the air, crisper than in Callican. There is not much here. The land in every direction can’t be any more than three acres, give or take a few meters; we are definitely in the middle of nowhere and far from prying eyes.
We follow Maria silently, guns at the ready, down a rocky path and through a dense line of wiry brush. These plants snagging our pants and shoes have adapted to the salty air and water and rock covered surface of this Spire and in doing so, have become almost as ridged.
We keep walking until we meet a small clearing where she stops at a patch of grass, stoops down with one hand in the ground, and pulls upward. A hidden metal cover slides aside smoothly and gives way to a ladder that leads down into an abyss, but there is no time for hesitation. I wait as my team follows, and climb in behind them.
The ladder takes us to an empty room. We then pass through a metal corridor, our footsteps echoing loudly, and down a set of stairs. Through two doors now held open by our guide, we enter what looks like a command center. With the sound of the doors slipping shut behind us, I turn to Maria and we lock eyes. In the dim light, hers glimmer and her face, void of emotion worries me. Her dark hair flows to her shoulders and if it were another time and place, I might have asked her to dinner.
“Welcome captain, to my home away from home.”
She turns and walks toward the nearest computer console. The rest of us follow and the room lights up as she hits a switch and a holoscreen appears.
“Manny..?”
A man’s face appears on the Holo and the computer’s male voice fills the room. “Hello Maria. What color is the sky today?”
“It’s okay Manny they’re with me, it’s safe.”
A sound of gears moving, almost silently, causes me to look up. I hear someone gasp. High above us, embedded in the stone roof of the cavern are about a dozen narrow metal tubes hanging off the ends of a dozen wicked looking Auto-cannons. We would have been dead and not heard a single shot.
“Now, before I help you…” Maria looks at me coldly “…tell me this…What the hell is going on?
”
I’m a bit taken aback by her sudden outburst, but the memory of the Auto-cannons overhead and the sociopathic looking computer named Manny makes me answer.
“To be honest, I don’t know.”
“Manny..?”
The emotionless voice comes to us again “He is not lying.”
She looks to me “Then what’s so important on Keden?”
I’m between a rock and very hard place. I breathe deeply, this will calm me enough and without interruption, I tell the story of our ordeal from the start; from our encounter with the Rhinos on Keden, to Mirana and to our current plight.
Almost ten minutes have passed and I finally shut my mouth. I’m thirsty now but there’s nothing I can do about it, so I’ll wait and see where we all go from here. Maria looks at me, no doubt processing everything I have said and deciding if we are worth her troubles or not.
“You’re risking your lives…” She looks from face to face and then back to me “…You’re risking their lives, for a woman who has no attachment to you?”
“Look…” I lean forward on the console and hear the gears above us move, but I don’t care. “…We need to get off Rouna. It’s either you help us, or we find our own way. No bullshit, just results and if this is too difficult for you, then I’m sorry for getting you into this but you go your way and we’ll go ours.”
It’s now or never. Maria’s next move will decide whether I walk away from this place, or we benefit from her help. But she turns away and goes back to her computer generated man.
“You must really love her…”
Her statement hangs in the air and the silence is not as awkward as I would have imagined it to be. I’ve never thought of the possibility of it being love. I don’t know what it is really. All I do know is that I can’t stand the thought of Mirana being captured or dead. I don’t know what I feel, I don’t know for sure. I haven’t felt it in so long and yet to say I didn’t recognize the signs would be a lie.