Satan's Forge (Star Sojourner Book 5) (18 page)

“For what purpose?” Joe asked the brothers?

“Tell him, Ned,” Adam said in a choked voice. “I can't get it out.” He wiped his eyes.

Ned stared at his hands in his lap. “The crotemungering pritculls murdered Dad.”

“The guards killed George?” I asked.

Ned nodded. “Killed him the way you'd run over a dog in the road.”

Who'd run over a dog in the road?
I thought. I glanced at Joe. His expression hadn't changed. “My God! Why did they kill him?”

“They said our prices were too high,” Adam said, “and our whiskey was watered down, and the girls who worked for us were a bunch of whores.” He sniffed and wiped his nose. “When Dad gave them an argument, they just…just –”

“And then they took over the tavern,” Ned added.

“OK. Never mind,” I said. “Don't talk about it.”

Tommy moaned and rolled his head.

“Take it easy, Tommy,” I told him. “We're getting you help.”

“Did we win?” he whispered.

I looked at Joe.

Joe smirked. “Sure, kid. We won.”

We taxied into camp, the last to arrive, and were crowded by the men. I saw Sophia and Huff behind the group. Ty, the medic, squeezed through the crowd with his black bag. Joe and I left the aircar so Ty could get in and tend to Tommy.

“Do you think he'll live?” I whispered to Ty.

He nodded. “But I don't know about that leg. We might have to send him back to Earth for a prosthesis.”

“Did we lose anybody?” I asked and held my breath.

“Not this time around,” Ty said. “A couple of superficial wounds, but you tags are the last ones in. We all made it back.”

I breathed again.

He opened his black bag, took out an IV, and pulled the sheath off the needle. I shivered and moved through the crowd to where Sophia and Huff waited. Some of the men patted me on the back as I went by.

“Good work,” a few remarked. “Nice job.”

Sophia, Huff, and I embraced, with Huff wrapping his massive forearms around me and Sophia. Joe and Big Sarge were talking alone. I saw Joe nod toward Ned and Adam and tell Sarge something. Sarge turned to watch the brothers.

Chancey walked over. “You pulled your oysters out of the fire again, huh, Superstar?”

I looked at Ned and Adam, who were surrounded by the men and answering questions. “We had a little help, Chance.”

* * *

The storm finally passed, and at dusk Sarge gathered the men around him and sat on the tailgate of his vehicle. “We're going in again,” he told his people.

There were a few moans, and curses under their breath.

“We'll have the bastards running around in circles.” Big Sarge looked around. “Isn't that what we've been hired to do? To close down the mine and complete our contract?”

The men fell silent.

“Let's hear it,” Sarge said. “What's our motto?” He leaned forward. “Anybody still remember it?”

A few of the men mumbled “We never, never, never give up.”

“That's the one!” Sarge said.

“What's our objective for the night?” a soldier called.

Sarge reached back, picked up a land mine from the trunk, and held it up. “This little baby is for the foot patrols outside the fence. He put it down.”Should you come across a dead enemy…" He looked around. “Or even one of our people, you strip off everything that's of use to us. Right?”

“Right,” some of the men said and kicked dirt.

“We've got a couple of plants in Wydemont Creek,” Sarge said. “The scuttlebutt is that the guards are becoming demoralized. A few of 'em already left their posts and boarded ships back to Altair.” He folded his arms and stared at the men. “Nobody said this was going to be a cakewalk. But we're making progress. If anybody's not up to it, speak now, take your pay, and head back to wherever you came from.”

The men glanced around, but nobody moved.

“OK, then,” Sarge said. “No more bitching. Rammis is paying you top creds for this work. You all knew what was involved in the contract.” He stood up. “Let's go!”

The men headed for their vehicles.

“Luck,” I told Chancey as he climbed into a vehicle.

“You, too, Superstar.” Chancey shook my hand, then Joe's. “See you tags at the next campsite.”

I nodded and climbed into our vehicle, beside Joe and three other soldiers.

Sophia, Huff, and Bat watched us go.

Two moons combed the dark woods with tree shadows as we approached the mine, stopped, and piled out of the vehicle.

Joe and I found cover behind a line of bushes close to the fence while the men spread out to plant mines. The dirt road had been cleared and was probably being used again by the guards. Some of our people positioned themselves on either side of the road to pick off guards who might give chase after a mine exploded.

I had strict orders from Sarge to stay put and use my tel abilities if it would help the mission. Joe and I were to leave as soon as the mines were planted and the signal was given by Sarge, a red flare, to get out.

I felt a certain unease come over me. Not exactly fear, but a cousin of it that made my hands tremble, my throat tighten up. I felt restless and just wanted to walk it off. “I don't think I'm cut out for this work, Joe.”

“Join the club, kid. Few of us are. With any luck, our next mission will be to engage the enemy on their own ground, and close down the damn mine once and for all.”

“What if the conglom just brings in more paid guards?”

“Not if we blow it into hell with a few well-placed devices.”

“Joe, I'm afraid more slaves are going to die.”

“That's a possibility,” he said. “Sarge would rather see slaves die, then put his own men into harm's way. You can hardly blame him.”

I rubbed my forehead. My stomach was churning. “But aren't we supposed to free the slaves? Not kill them? Wasn't that the purpose of all this?”

He put his hand on my shoulder. “They call it collateral damage.”

“I don't give a fuck what they call it, Joe! If we armed the slaves and led them, at least they'd have a fighting chance. We might convince the conglom that they have to hire free workers, not slaves to torture and work to death.” I waved toward the compound. “The ponies too. They kill the ponies with work!”

“Take it easy, Jules. How do you propose to arm the slaves?”

"There's a hunting outfitter store in Wydemont Creek, and this is the hunting season. I'll bet the store's stocked up with rifles.

“You told me yourself, Wydemont is in Slade's pocket. What makes you think the store would sell them to us? And even if they did, you can be certain Boss Slade would hear about it before your ass was out the door. They'd probably have a couple of Mack's men follow you back to camp.”

“I wasn't thinking about buying them.”

Joe slid me a look. “Of course not.”

An explosion broke the silence of the forest night. Guards screamed. Flames licked up from vegetation around an exploded mine. A red flare lit the sky.

“Let's go,” Joe said.

We ran deeper into the woods and rendezvoused with our ride. Three soldiers were already inside the vehicle. The driver headed for our next position, close to the dirt road.

We stopped there and waited, while our three other vehicles showed up, running dark.

I watched the main gate through graphoculars. And then I saw it. “Oh, God.”

Guards were pushing slaves out in front of them, forcing them to walk the road, and the perimeter of the fence.

“I was afraid of this,” Joe said.

“Christ and Buddha!” I exclaimed. “The only people we're getting killed are the slaves!” I squeezed my head between my hands as I felt anguished kwaiis sweep by. “I can't take this, Joe. I'm sorry I ever hired these gun-happy cowboys.”

He put a hand on my shoulder. “It's almost over, son. The boys are waiting for guards to come down the road.”

I rubbed my eyes. I didn't want to see it. Even more, I didn't want to hear the screams. I had unleashed the hounds of war, and it was too late to recall them.

The slaves were forced to spread out in a line across the width of the road, crying, covering their faces, as guards behind them pushed them ahead, to walk the road.

“Watch your victims die, pritculls!” a guard called into the woods. “Watch their bodies explode like Terran dog meat!”

An explosion rocked the night and went through me like a bolt of electricity. There were no screams, but two kwaiis, whether guards or slaves, left their bodies and fled in terror.

I lowered my head and cried.

Our men trotted out of the woods on either side of the road and jumped into the four vehicles. We sped down the dirt road, with our people throwing spikes, and pouring thick oil onto the turns.

When we arrived at our new campsite in the mountains, I got out of the vehicle. Sophia and Huff watched as I walked alone into the woods. Huff started toward me, but Sophia said something to him and he stopped.

I sat on a log and observed a small black-furred creature nibble on a nut. What business did an astrobiologist have with battles and killing? My work was to understand alien lifeforms. To push the store of knowledge of all the known worlds just a little bit further with the pure light of the scientific method. I thought of Blackroot, that fascinating plant/animal, a denizen of planet Halcyon. I should be back at the Los Alamos Lab doing research on the enigmatic creature, and forming hypotheses. I wiped tears and sighed. What the hell was I doing here, helping to get more slaves killed?

Footsteps.

Sarge came up to me with two cups of coffee, and sat on the log.

“Time for a Dutch uncle talk?” I asked him.

“Something like that.” He handed me a cup.

“At least if they had a fighting chance!” I said.

He sucked a tooth. “Did you really expect to finish this work without the death of innocents? I can't believe you're that naive.”

“I didn't know we were going to use slaves as dispensable pawns. I thought all the players on our side were equally important.”

He sipped coffee. “And your plan is?”

“We arm the slaves and we lead them in open revolt. We show the conglom that legal or not, we won't stand by while they torture and kill captive people.”

“We've gone over this before, Jules. It won't work.”

“Tell me why one more time.”

“The slaves are untrained. They'll be shooting each other and my men.”

“OK, then suppose we hit the high tower? Suppose we kill the leading bastard and maybe the guards will disperse and call it a day.”

“That's a lot of supposing.”

“Then what's your next move?”

He stood up. “We don't engage in head to head confrontations. That's not our way, and the odds are too great against us. I've got some more bad news for you.”

I looked up.

“It seems Mack and his crew were hired on by the conglom. We think they're ensconced in the compound.”

“Oh, that's just great! Now what do we do?”

“Mack's a whore. You could buy him off.”

“I've got some bad news for you, Sarge. My credcount is close to wiped out from hiring you tags and paying for all the weapons.” I stood up and threw the rest of my coffee on the ground. “Weapons that are killing slaves.”

He stroked his drooping beard. “That is bad news.” He turned and walked back to the campsite.

“This has gone far enough!” I said to no one and slapped a tree. If Sarge wouldn't come up with an invasion plan to arm the slaves and give them a fighting chance, then, dammit, I would!

I stayed to the edge of the clearing as I came out of the woods, trotted low to a vehicle, and jumped into the driver's seat.

Ned and Adam ran up and jumped inside. “Where you off to, tag?” Adam said in his squeaky voice.

“Just going for a ride. Get out.”

“In the middle of the night?” Ned glanced at Adam. “You're planning something, Boss,” he told me, “and we need employment. We lost the tavern, you know. Hire us on. We'll help you with whatever work you've got in mind.”

“My credcount is close to depleted.”

“We work cheap. What's your plan?”

I bit my lip. I could use help with the plot I had in mind. I started the vehicle.

People got up and stared as I pulled out of camp. “I'll tell you as we go.”

* * *

Wydemont Creek was in full swing. Casino lights blazed. Air and land vehicles formed long lines, like strands of lit necklaces down the main drag. It was beautiful in its own sleazy way.

I found the gun shop on the edge of town and pulled up next to the dark receiving bay behind it. No one in Wydemont was allowed to carry weapons, except the police. I used my stingler to burn open the lock on the overhead door and we slid it up quietly.

Ned and Adam loaded long boxes of rifles and even some camping supplies into the trunk of our vehicle. I went to the automated credcount behind the counter in the front of the store and left a payment for what we'd taken, from my dwindling resources.

We left town without incident. Ned and Adam were quiet as I drove toward the mine. I wondered if they were sorry they'd gotten involved in this work.

“I'll let you off in Bolton Springs, and pay you for tonight's work, if you like,” I said. “Thing is, you can't use the auto credcount until after the mine is closed down. Slade's got a lock on my account. If you try to cash in, he'll trace you.”

“We'll see this through with you first,” Adam said.

“Your call,” I told them. “Appreciate the help.”

“Hey,” Ned said, “we want to see those pritculls in graves for what they did to Dad. We want to put a few of them in the ground ourselves. We can wait for the pay.”

“OK.” I nodded.

I stopped in the dark woods not too far from the mine, and studied it through graphoculars.

The slaves and the ponies were finally allowed to sleep. But the compound remained lit. I pointed to where I had felled the tree, gone now, to escape on Toby, a mine horse. “Over there,” I told Ned and Adam. “The ground is soft and we can dig under the fence. I'll go in first and you tags pass me the rifles. Then you come in.”

“Jules,” Ned said.

“What?” I continued to scan the compound. Where were the guards? Had they taken up positions under cover, anticipating another raid before dawn? Could be.