Warnings and disclaimers in first section.
“Duo, you can stay with me. We’ll wait here while my men retrieve your friend.”
Taking a break from watching the comings and goings at the building down the street, I cut my eyes to Chester and hissed, “No way in hell, man. I’m going in with them. If Quatre’s been hurt while being held, he won’t trust your men.”
“I think we can handle one small businessman,” another sort-of friend named Justin snorted, eyes gleaming in the flashing neon lights of the surrounding businesses. “I’ve handled more dangerous jobs while stoned out of my mind.”
“Quatre isn’t the pushover everyone thinks he is, you know.”
“Yeah, I’m sure he’s a really tough negotiator. He may even get a wrinkle in his suit during a long meeting.”
If I hadn’t known Quatre personally, I might have thought the same thing. “He fought in the war.”
“I don’t really count people that pushed papers during the war as fighters, Maxwell,” Justin sneered.
As Chester’s right hand man, Justin was privy to everything, and everyone, Chester knows. Luckily, we had always gotten along, but that might be because he was as much of a smartass as I am. “Quatre pushed a lot more than paper. He literally fought right beside me.”
Not only was Justin a smartass, he was smart, “Winner was fucking Gundam pilot? Jesus, did they just hand the damn things out?”
“You’re just jealous because my Deathscythe could have stomped out your Leo without any problems, other than having to pry out the scraps of metal later.”
“Maybe, but it’s not fair that a bunch of kids got to fight in those things. Winner has obviously made a good life for himself, but what about the rest? Are they all as crazy as you are?”
Damn it, I couldn’t help but think of Trowa. He was already on Chester’s flagship, the Holmes, waiting for Quatre before they left. I missed him so much it was like having an abscessed tooth; the pain was overwhelming. “They’re all good guys. Respectable, ya know?”
“Bet you don’t have a damn thing in common with any of ‘em. You ain’t respectable, Maxwell.”
“Justin, Barton is one of those respectable men. I think he and Duo have a lot in common,” Chester said quietly, waiting for some of his men to report back in, letting us know what we were gonna be up against.
“We have some things in common, but not enough.” Seeing Justin open his mouth, I shook my head, “It’s done, so don’t say anything about it. Chester, how much longer are your men gonna take? We could have been inside already.”
“I was just wondering the same thing, to be honest.”
“Do we need to be worried?”
“I don’t know.” In spite of what Chester said, both he and Justin were beginning to look apprehensive. I wasn’t fooled when Chester rolled his shoulders, “I’m sure nothing is wrong. It could be taking more time to get in and out than we had first assumed.”
So I trusted what he was saying and waited patiently, sandwiched between two men bigger than I was…yeah, that lasted about a total of eight seconds. “Fuck this.”
“Duo, you need to wait.”
Jerking my arm out of Justin’s grip, I glared at Chester. I had forgotten they had a habit of teaming up on me when I did something they didn’t want me to do. Too bad that this time I had no intention of backing down the way I would have in the past. “Like hell. You may not get the concept, but my friend is in there. If your guys haven’t tipped off the assholes holding him prisoner, I plan to get him out before he gets hurt.”
“Do you at least have a plan?”
This should have been my element. This should have been when I felt the most alive, but I couldn’t reach that pinnacle without Trowa beside me, like he should have been. Those rare, fleeting moments of action are what used to keep me going for the rest of the time I spent in space alone, but I could only think of Trowa and how empty I felt without him. “When the hell have I ever planned anything and it worked out the way I wanted it to? Things seem to go better when I wing it and don’t plan a damn thing.”
“I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but,” Chester scrunched his face up in a pained expression, “What do you want us to do?”
“Chester?”
“He’s going in one way or another, Justin. At this point, it’s better that we go in with him than let him commit suicide.”
It took a few seconds before I realized they were serious…or at least Chester was. Justin looked like he wanted to tuck his tail between his legs and run like hell. “Here’s the deal. You stay behind me and watch my ass.”
“That’s an easy task.”
“Whoa there, buddy boy. Don’t let your heart go all pitter-pat. Your guys went in slow, right? Taking all precautions and all that jazz?”
Chester acted like I just insulted his hair, “Of course they did. I’m a killer, but I wouldn’t put my men in more danger than necessary.”
“Don’t get your shorts in a twist; I was just asking a question. How long is that tranq supposed to work?”
“Eight to twelve hours. Do you want to wait until Barton wakes so he can go in with you?”
“Hell no; Trowa has a fast metabolism; all the Gundam pilots do because of the enhancers we had to take. It’s already been two hours, so your ship has to be gone before another three; he should still be unconscious then,” God, I missed him so bad it was pathetic. “That means we go in fast and dirty. You sure you’re up for this?”
“We’re all gonna die,” Justin wasn’t backing out. In fact, he was checking his pistol and extra clips with a pained expression on his face.
“Who needs to live for tomorrow as long as we live for tonight,” the grin on my face was forced. My main reason for living was now lying unconscious on a ship scheduled to leave as soon as possible. The only thing that was keeping me going was that Quatre needed me. There was no one else that could do this. “Move out.”
Just like I had warned Justin and Chester, I moved fast and dirty, rushing directly toward the guards in front of the building Quatre was supposed to be inside. I had…borrowed Trowa’s knife, using it in one hand and my own blade in the other, taking the men down before they could recover from their surprise enough to raise an alarm. I didn’t even pause as the dead bodies hit the ground, feeling just as dead inside. By the time my companions caught up to me, I had the locking panel rewired and was heading inside, keeping low to the ground. “Quatre better be here, Chester.”
“He was moved here from Deroge yesterday; I saw it with my own eyes,” Justin told me, flinching when I looked at him.
I didn’t know what they saw in my eyes, but they didn’t like it. “I’ve had people watching the building since Winner was brought here, Duo,” Chester added, avoiding my gaze. “No one has come in or out, so unless they managed to fly from one place to another, they’re here somewhere.”
“Tunnels?” It’s how I would’ve snuck out if I hadn’t wanted to be seen.
“The only entrance to the tunnels in this sector are on the street.”
“Good. You guys go left, I’ll go right.”
“What if we find Winner first? Is there a signal or something we should use to get your attention?”
“You guys watch too much television. Just shoot the bad guys; I’ll hear that.”
Before I could move away, Chester grabbed my arm, “Be careful, Duo.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t forget our deal.”
“Actually, I’m very fond of you. I would hate for anything to mess up that fair skin.” That prick was smirking as he walked off, Justin giving me quick wave before they vanished into a hallway. Chester always had to have the last word.
Let’s see; the place looked like it had once been a nightclub of some kind. There was a long hallway off to each side, one of which Justin and Chester had gone down. I knew I said I’d take the one on the right, but when did the bad guys ever take a side route?
The Little Sister is one of the few businesses that have a tall building on the Shoe. Most are built like this one was, with the decorations prettying up the place up until past normal eye level and leaving the top eight or ten feet of space empty. Only housing units and very successful business have more than one story; it takes too much energy to keep those places warm.
That knowledge had me looking up, smiling as I spotted the bare rafters that ran crisscrossed over the entire space. Yeah, I told Chester I was going right, but I needed to get to Quatre, and he was going to be held in the most difficult areas to get to. In this case, that meant he would be in the back of the building, past the wide open space that had once served as a bar and dance floor, where the offices would be located.
“It’s a dang good thing I’m not scared of heights.” Eyes and ears open, I worked my way through the center of the building, dodging the four men patrolling the area instead of killing them. Dead bodies outside can be explained away; dead bodies inside the building would have signaled an intruder.
The bar had an odd design, with tall walls that shot up to the ceiling. By timing it carefully, I managed to use the shelves as a deranged ladder until I reached the top, shimmying across it until I could reach the first beam. Trowa would have loved that; he had always liked being up in the air and I seriously doubted the four inch beam would have had him quaking in his boots.
The lack of guards bothered me. Yeah, there were a few, but if I was a jackhole that was keeping a wealthy and powerful businessman captive, I’d have had a few more goons to make sure no one was going to be able to get past my security. Most criminals don’t seem to think that way, not that I’m gonna sit one down and have a philosophical conversation about it. Most jerks, like this one, seemed to think putting the majority of their forces in one area would help if someone did sneak in.
That’s what I was hoping they’d done. If Justin was wrong and Quatre wasn’t here, I wouldn’t find him in time to save him. It had taken too long to get that far and there were too many rumors for the PSP to take chances. Small spaces between the walls had been left open for the beams that supported the ceiling. For once in my tortured life, I was thrilled that I’d never really grown, squeezing my way through gaps that would have been too small for someone bigger than me.
Oh, yay, I had finally found the guards, less than ten feet below where I was carefully standing on the small beam, patrolling the hallways behind the main open area, just like I had assumed they would be. There were a lot of them; the dumbasses all crowded together. If I’d had a bomb, I could’ve tossed it into the middle of the hallway and killed half of them at once; the rest would’ve likely been squished when they were trampled.
Too bad I didn’t know where Quatre was and had a handy bomb to use, but them’s the breaks.
Clearly this place had been more than just a nightclub or bar. The back section of the building was bigger than the public part, with numerous rooms partitioned off, over half of them with beds in them. Someone had been running a cathouse back there at one point in time. Had I ever gone there when it was open? Not for the prostitutes, but for the drinks. Surely there was something here that had caught my attention, but who the hell knows? There were a dozen places, just like it, in that district alone.
Something was…off here. I’ve infiltrated a lot of places in my life, for a variety of reasons and there’s always plenty of chatter: people talking about their plans for the night or what they did to get a hangover or some other kind of shit. There’s always a low drone of conversation, but there was…not nothing, but only a few guards were talking, their heads and voices kept low so the discussion couldn’t be overheard. What the hell was going on?
Crossing over a room with three men in it, I stopped and listened, hoping to find out what the deal was. None of them were slouching, all standing at attention even though they were alone and no one else was around, again, something that’s weird. Holding up the bottom of my coat I crouched down, using one hand to steady myself on the beam. It ain’t easy to do shit like that. Holding still on a piece of four inch metal you know can collapse any minute is a bit trying on the nerves.
“…don’t know what the hell he’s thinking anymore. This isn’t what I agreed to when I said I’d work for him.”
“I didn’t think we’d be hurting people. I thought we were doing this to make sure we could keep working, not so we could take over a colony that’s falling apart and on the outskirts of everything. I hate this place.”
The first man that spoke put a hand in his fist slowly, as if afraid someone would hear the small sound of unrest, “We should tell the lieutenant we’re done with this. I want to go home.”
“You do that and we’ll be putting your body in the recycling unit with the others. The lieutenant’s lost his damn mind.”
“You’re going to stay here, knowing he’s planning to kill Winner and all those men that tried to come in a little while ago? You’re okay with this? I don’t know if I can live with myself if I take part in this anymore.”
The second man shook his head, “If it was just me…I have a wife and kids at home, Jerry. You heard what happened to Bruce and his family after he left.”
“If he hadn’t tried to go to the Preventers with what he knew, nothing would have happened to him. You heard what Allbright and the lieutenant said…”
“They’ve said a lot and none of it has been good,” the third member of the group spoke up suddenly, drawing surprised looks. I guessed this guy didn’t talk a lot; when he did, everyone decided it was a good idea to listen.
“What do you mean, Mark?”
“Allbright said that our jobs were in danger and that by joining forces and basing our operations from here would be the best way to prove we were able to do our jobs. If we could clean up a place like Witches Shoe, we would be able to do the same on other colonies. All of this was supposed to prove the PSP was sufficient to protect the colonies so the Preventers weren’t able to take our jobs. Once we got set up here, they said we were taking control of some of the businesses so the residents would take us seriously. Then they said we needed to bribe and threaten other business owners so no one would be inclined to take back what we had acquired.”
Sounds like Allbright and Harrison had done a pretty good job convincing these guys they were doing the right thing…for a while. Obviously it hadn’t taken long for Mark to figure it out, so why did he keep going along with it?
“When he began making speeches about kidnapping a respected member of the L4 colony, some of the men voiced their objections. Those men disappeared and haven’t been found yet.”
That explained a lot. Disappearing co-workers is always a good way to keep your minions from objecting to anything.
“Others that sought outside help also went missing, along with their families and close friends. Now, we all know what they’re doing is wrong and have for some time, but there isn’t anything we can do to stop those guys.”
“You’ve worked closer to the lieutenant, Mark. What’s he planning next?”
“Does it really matter?” Mark sighed, clearly having given this a lot of thought and deciding there was nothing he could do. I’ve seen that kind of resignation before, from people that knew they were dying and couldn’t stop it; Milo had the same resignation when I had spent time with him. “Whatever he does, we’ll be the ones to pay for it, not him. He’ll stay here with his businesses and the people he’s bought, sending us to do his dirty work and not feeling guilty when we get caught or killed. I’m afraid our fate is sealed, but this is the price we pay for listening to the lies those two told because we were afraid of losing our positions.”
“So what do you suggest we do?”
“I suggest we stay out of the way as much as we can. I want to do the right thing, but I have a family that depends on me, too.”
“There isn’t anything we can do to stop this?” Jerry winced. “He’s planning to have those men killed in the center of Deroge; a public execution will make everyone afraid of us, he says. I don’t want to be part of that. If I did, I wouldn’t have fought with the rebels during the war.” The poor guy looked like he was going to have a mental breakdown.
“If only the captain hadn’t disappeared,” the unnamed guy said with a shake of his head. “He was the only one able to keep Harrison in line. Without him here, things have gotten way out of hand.”
Well, I can either keep moving forward until I managed to locate Quatre by accident or I could reveal myself to these men and hope to hell this wasn’t some kind of elaborate trap. Oh, what the hell did I have to lose at that point? I didn’t bother trying to get their attention; if I had made that much noise, someone else would be bound to hear. I took the next option, slipping from the beam and dropping right down into the center of the room, lifting a finger to my lips while keeping my eyes on Mark. He seemed to be the most intelligent in the room, his blue eyes wide as he nodded at me and then glanced around at his companions. “Stay quiet. This may be the answer to our problems.”
“I really hope you don’t mean you can solve your problems by turning me over to your boss.”
“That wouldn’t solve anything. You’d just become another body rotting in the recycling center.”
Wanting to be totally honest, I held out my hands, “I can’t promise you won’t get into some trouble later for joining up with this nutball in the first place, but I’ll do what I can for you if you can help me. I think I’ve heard enough to know you guys were pulled into this with good intentions that went to shit before you could get out again.”
“Do you really think anyone will listen to you?”
Looking at Jerry, I gave him a quick nod, “I have some pull with the agency. I’ll keep you guys out of trouble as much as possible.”
“There are others that feel the same way we do. Many of the men and women here have been put in the position where they had no choice in the matter.”
“We’ll talk about all that later. Right now I need to know where Winner is being held so I can get him out of here. If something happens to him, no one has a chance at mercy. Who am I going up against?” It wasn’t really important, but I wanted to verify who I was hunting.
“Harrison, a lieutenant that is lovers with Jonathon Allbright, a PSP captain. We weren’t aware they had dealings with…criminals. No offense to you,” Mark added with a wince.
“I’m not a criminal, not the kind that would deal with a white pig, no offence.”
Mark was smiling like he actually understood me. “My father was a smuggler before and during the war. I do understand the distinction.”
“Cool. What can you tell me?”
“The lieutenant has plans to contact the Preventers and suggest a trade; Winner for the captain. This is all what I’ve heard secondhand, not what I know to be true. It does make a twisted kind of sense; the lieutenant depends on Allbright more than he lets on. I think Allbright is his sanity, in a way. Harrison thinks the reason Allbright hasn’t returned yet is because he’s been captured.”
“He’s right. Allbright is in a cell on Strident and won’t be leaving anytime soon. Some of his recent activities have come to light.”
“The agency doesn’t give in to threats,” Jerry frowned. “Don’t they have a policy about not giving in to terrorist demands?”
“They do, but will they alter that for Winner? It’s likely because of his position and influence. He’s a powerful man,” Mark shook his head. “It doesn’t matter; Harrison doesn’t intend to give up his bargaining chip, at least not alive. As soon as the Preventers agree, he plans to poison Winner with a slow acting serum. Winner will be set free, but too late for it to do any good.”
That thing I had told Chester and Justin about, with our accelerated metabolisms? That would speed up any poison Quatre was given. Son of a bitch, why couldn’t one damn thing go right so it was a little easier to do my damn job? “Do you know when he plans to administer the poison?”
“Not until after he can communicate with the agency. You probably know that communications from here are not the best and there’s been some stalling with the people that run the comm hub. They may have gotten wind of his plans.”
Communications on the Shoe were controlled by a small group of people that made sure there weren’t any dangerous messages going out that would prompt a peacekeeping force down on their heads. There’s no way in hell those people would agree to send a message to the Preventers. They’d stop Harrison at the cost of their lives; he’d likely mow them down and then send his message.
“Winner is being held at the manager’s rooms, at the very back of the building. He’s been sedated since last night, to keep him from resisting. I think Harrison was having some problems looking at his eyes and listening to Winner without killing him outright. The tranqs being fed to him through an IV.”
So much for the half-baked idea that Quatre would have been able to help me, “Can any of you leave the building?”
“We’re all on shift for the evening. If we leave, someone will get suspicious.”
“Damn. Is there any way to get most of the other guards into the front of the building? There’s too many people for me to get past right now. I won’t be able to make it to Winner.”
Mark bent over, taking a piece of paper from his pocket and scribbling a crude map onto it before holding it out to me. “I’ll begin speaking of my displeasure with what we are doing. It will get everyone’s attention, including Harrison’s.”
“That’s too dangerous. You could be killed for speaking out. You have a family to worry about, man,” I reminded him quietly. That he was willing to take such a chance was humbling.
“People only go missing when they are alone, with no witnesses to say what happened to them. I should be safe until later, when everything calms down.”
“I won’t let anything happen to you. If I can’t take down Harrison, I’ll get you off the colony with some protection, the kind these jerks don’t stand a chance against.”
“I’ll stand with him,” Jerry said decisively. “If there are two of us speaking out, others might follow.”
“I’ll be with you, too,” the third man nodded. “I can’t do this kind of thing anymore. I’d rather fight in the open than slink around and complain about how bad everything is.”
It was possible they would be fine, but it was just as likely that these three men would be thrown to the wolves. “I’ll end this as fast as possible. Be very careful.”