Killer Be Killed Page 16

  “Yes,” Roslyn answered, coming out of her revelry about hell. “He saved my life plenty of times.”

  “And now you are even?” Grace asked, still not looking away from Dogg.

  “We’re no where close to even,” she said, looking across the street to avoid showing the guilt she felt for potentially, eventually arresting Dogg and turning him over to the Avians.

  It took her eyes a moment to focus, when they did she recognized a dapper, boyish man, but she couldn’t place from where. He gave her an immediate mole in the inner ear feeling. Her rule was still, recognizing someone wasn’t good for your health. She could not place him. He looked right at her. She had to glance away. Was he still looking at her? So he recognized her, as well. They did know each other. Where and when had they met? Nope. She was pretty sure they hadn’t actually met before. It sent the mole tunneling deeper within. She didn’t know how to stand, or where to put her arms. However it came out, she’d need to be able to reach her pistol.

  When she looked back he was gone. She scanned the street for him. No sign.

  Dogg’s return to the living distracted her and ended the search.

  “Am I dead?” asked Dogg, opening his eyes.

  “No, my darling Dogg,” said Grace kissing him repeatedly. “You are alive.”

  “Well… ain’t that a bitch,” he said, looking around. “I’m afraid my head feels like a bomb went off inside of my skull.”

  He gently touched his nose and winced. He’d broken it. That was apparent by its new tilt.

  “What’s the fate of our old friend Krave Allison?” Dogg asked. “Last thing I recall was hitting him in the gut.”

  “No, buddy, sorry, you hit him in the hip, actually” Bat said, overly wincing, relishing in detail, pretending to deliver the news delicately.

  “How is it I’m still alive then?” asked Dogg, seeming to redden.

  “Roslyn saved your life, Dogg,” Grace said. Roslyn’s stomach dropped. She did not want to be on Dogg’s shit list.

  “And by what means?” Dogg asked, turning to stare those dead eyes at Roslyn.

  “I’m sorry, what?” Roslyn asked, hoping to buy a second to think.

  “And just how did you save my life?” Dogg reiterated.

  “I rigged Krave’s pistol to stun mode,” Roslyn said quickly, because she saw Grace open her mouth and didn’t want it to come out that way.

  Dogg stared at her for three rotations of a jaw chewing gum.

  “Who asked you to do that?” Dogg said in a nasty roar.

  “You did,” she snapped back.

  “When did I do that?” Dogg asked.

  “When you saved my life,” she answered, trying to sound as tough as she could. Dogg nodded, but even that seemed to cause his head to throb.

  Star’s voice preceded her into the street from the hotel next door. Roslyn hoped Hattie had reached her lookout from the roof of the nightclub. She didn’t want to give her position away by looking for her. A glance came up empty. Fear, cold and unrelenting, washed over her. She was exposed. Talbert had left to take Krave to the shuttle out of town. Dogg wasn’t in any position to fight if Star decided to strike.

  “Okay, so you rigged the fight,” Star said approaching her. Roslyn leaned against the side of the hardware store so that no one could sneak up behind her. She would have come sooner, Roslyn realized, but she had finally just finished settling all bets.

  “I didn’t rig the fight,” Roslyn said. “I just made sure no one died.”

  “Don’t you think you’d be doing the world a favor, if one of the those assholes wasn’t here any longer?” Star put both fists to her hips.

  “Why, Miss Bell, whatever have I done to you, to make you treat me as such?” Dogg said, groggily. He coughed.

  “What is it with you people and stunning everybody?” Star asked, ignoring Dogg. She lowered her head toward Roslyn, pressing her against the wall by her sheer presence. “Something funny about that.”

  “It’s because we aren’t allowed to,” Roslyn said, giving her large snarky eyes. “It’s our religion not to kill people.”

  Star stared at her. Roslyn folded her arms and did her best to hold the stare.

  “You know the problem with stunning people is this,” Star said, finally, nearly in an entire different tone. “ If they want you bad enough, they’ll just keep on coming for you.”

  “Are we really that broken as a species?” Roslyn asked.

  “I think so, yes,” Star said, nodding. “People suck. But that’s the truth of it. When you start to know the truth, then you understand that the standard rules of society don’t apply out here. Not at all. Your religion is going to get your asses killed, is the plain of it.”

  “So we choose to give up and accept the fact that we have created for ourselves a living hell?” Roslyn said, voice trembling.

  “It is, what it is, kiddo,” Star said and actually gave her a warm smile. Roslyn almost missed it. Something beyond her five senses felt it just as it passed. It was a glance. A subtle act of eye-contact.

  Her pistol rose to Bat’s head before she realized she’d drawn. Practice put to the test. A red dot danced around Star’s head. Hattie had found her perch.

  “What are you going to do? Knock us out?” asked Star.

  “Yep,” Roslyn said and almost simultaneously both ladies shot, dropping Star and Bat onto the boardwalk. Roslyn shot a guy she recognized as having worked for Star. She couldn’t remember what he did, but he was a threat either way.

  Dogg and Grace gently removed themselves to their hotel room amidst the chaos. Grace lifted a smart watch off of Bat as she passed.

  Roslyn helped Hattie climb down from the roof and they hurried to their tent to pack. The plan was to get out of town until things could cool off.

  The erratic weather didn’t help speed decisions along, but they managed to trade a diamond for a new tent and enough rations to last them a week in the mountains.

  “What about Bill?” Hattie asked as they finished packing.

  “Shit,” Roslyn sighed. She’d forgotten to take him into account in her plan.

  *

  Talbert

  They’d stopped to pee. Wyatt didn’t need to go, because he’d gone off the back of the truck ten minutes before the sudden stop. So, he sat on the edge of the truck, a hologram book rose out of his transponder device.

  Once the break was over, Talbert tried to persuade Drago to drive, but this only backfired and nudged Drago toward suspicion.

  “You’re driving,” Drago shrugged. “Two against, one.”

  Talbert nodded. Earl Wyatt, who’d previously been reading a book, fell over twitching before Drago could fire even a synapse.

  “Now it’s one against one,” Talbert said. Drago’s shoulders fell. They met eyes. Half a breath later, Talbert shot him right between the eyes. Just like Krave had done to Dogg.

  Leaving them in the mud, Talbert hurried toward the center of the camp alone, armed with both of their weapons.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Talbert parked the truck up the road from their tent, in front of a construction site. When he made it into the tent, Hattie threw her arms around him, kissing him. Roslyn shook her head. Where they going to do that in the office back on Shiva?

  “I’m so glad we waited for you,” Hattie said. “Pack up quickly.”

  Puff made a strange noise that could have been called a squawk. Was he agreeing with Hattie?

  “For what?” Talbert asked.

  “Don’t you think we should get out of town for a few days, until everything cools off?” Roslyn asked, trying to keep her voice flat.

  “No. I don’t,’ Talbert said, taking a seat on the edge of his cot. He poured sparkling sand out of his boots.

  “They’re going to be coming for us,” Roslyn said, with an ironic laugh.

  “Where does she get her power from?” Talbert asked, resting his elbow on a lanky knee.

  “Uh, from her money,” Roslyn said. “
We’ve started a war with a very powerful and well connected person.”

  “The war’s already going on,” Talbert said in a low voice. He trained his steely blues on her, “And we’re winning.”

  “What?” Roslyn asked, laughing again.

  “She’s connected and backed by Earth,” Talbert said.

  “Exactly,” Roslyn said over him.

  “You learn anything from our most recent history? Earth is too far away to be effective out there. It isn’t relevant.” Talbert stood and washed his face in the bucket by the door flap.

  “But she can hire an army,” Roslyn said. She glanced at Hattie who watched like it was a tennis match. Puff mirrored her. What was their take? She didn’t need to ponder to know it would be with Bill for Hattie. She hoped Puff was on her side.

  “She’s in over her head,” Talbert went on, drying his face with his rag. That rag was disgusting to Roslyn. He blew his nose in it, and used it for whatever job needed a rag. It was filthy, even though he cleaned it relatively often, it could never come clean, not in a million high-grade, duel-jet washers.

  “What do you suggest we do? They’re going to be coming for us, aiming to kill us,” Roslyn said, flabbergasted at his lack of a plan. “They won’t be in stun mode.”

  “We can’t leave without taking those diamonds with us,” Talbert said.

  Roslyn thought about all the things they could do with that money. She thought of her father. She thought of her future. Talbert was right.

  “You stand up to bullies out here,” Talbert said. “That’s the only way to live.”

  “Why hasn’t Earl Wyatt blown our cover?” Hattie asked, turning both of their heads to her.

  “Well, he might now, honey, since I shot him off the back of the truck, when he wasn’t looking, no less,” Talbert said with a twitch of his head and a tug of his ear.

  “It is odd,” Roslyn joined. “I mean what’s his play?”

  “He’s looking to work both sides,” said Talbert. “Up until I shot his ass off the truck, we were friends and professional courtesy entailed silence. There was a mutual respect. He was just working the job. So were we.”

  “Why’d you shoot him when he wasn’t paying attention?” asked Roslyn.

  “Well, I should have shot your boyfriend first, but I wanted to see the fear in his eyes.” Talbert returned to his cot and eased down on it.

  “Real mature,” Roslyn said, shaking her head. “So that’s it? We’re just going to stick around town with big targets on our backs, until we find a way to get those diamonds off world?”

  “I’m not afraid of either one of those dipshits,” Talbert said. “Well, maybe I respect Mr. Wyatt, but your tub of lard boyfriend can go to hell.”

  “He’s already there, we all are, trust me,” Roslyn said quietly.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Nothing.”

  “No way I’m going to run from the likes of either of those two,” Talbert snorted.

  Roslyn nodded. Puff squawked again.

  Despite acting tough, they decided to sleep in shifts, keeping a watch throughout the night. The next day they hardly left the tent. Talbert brought them food from a nearby cart. He didn’t see any of Star’s men.

  “Do we really want to live this way?” Roslyn asked after the third day of laying low. She was confused. Talbert acted like they were going to stand up to Star. Why was he avoiding her?

  She finally decided to ask.

  “I wanted to see if she’d attack us,” Talbert said, shaving his chin in a mirror. The LED lantern brought ample light to his features. He looked handsome with his hair wet and freshly shaven.

  The next day they made for Dogg’s hotel, leaving Puff to guard the tent. They found Dogg and Grace having breakfast in front of a new food cart, parked in front of the hotel. The state-of-the-art printer could manufacture nearly any food.

  “I still feel like I need a menu, though. Just to narrow it down,” Hattie said in her morning voice, which was extra chipper.

  Roslyn shook her head. Of course she did. She needed to be told what to think. Then, Roslyn tried to think of what she would like to eat. Some choices would be nice, she hated to admit.

  “Any word?” Roslyn asked Dogg as they huddled beneath a rare tree analogue. The ones that couldn’t walk away had all been chopped down for building supplies. It was an older tree, fixed and fully rooted. Trash and refuse hung from its tired branches.

  “I gambled at the Belle Star last night, unmolested,” Dogg said, enjoying a crepe of some kind. It smelled delicious.

  “And what did Star say to you?” Roslyn asked.

  “She said it looked like it was a tie between Krave and I,” Dogg said. “I couldn’t dare correct her.”

  “Did she ask where we were?” Roslyn asked.

  “No,” Dogg said.

  “Was Drago around?” asked Roslyn. Talbert turned his head toward her.

  “No. She’s hired a new organization to work security,” Dogg replied.

  “What about Wyatt?” asked Talbert.

  “He’s around,” Dogg nodded. He finished his crepe and tossed the wrapping onto the pile of garbage behind the tree. Fury mammalian insects buzzed in swarms over the heap. To think, the place had only been in operation for a week. Roslyn hadn’t noticed the smell yet because they were upwind, but the wind died down and the stench crept back toward them. It was a horrible spot to have a picnic, but she enjoyed the shade. The star was point three times brighter than the Earth’s sun and when it was fully basking, it was hot. Between the heat and the smell, Roslyn and Hattie both lost their appetites.

  “He’s around? Like how?” Talbert asked.

  “He’s walking around with a rather nasty disposition. Got a scowl on. Quick to anger.”

  “He’s looking for me,” Talbert said.

  “Probably,” Dogg said.

  “Who are these new guys? How many?” Talbert asked. “Any body of note?”

  “I never heard of them. There are seven new guns to replace the two from before.”

  “So the question becomes, what’s our next move?” Roslyn asked.

  “Time to find a smuggler,” Talbert said. He looked to Dogg.

  “Why would you ever suggest I’m in league with smugglers?” Dogg asked, pretending to be shocked.

  “You don’t know anybody, or haven’t heard of anybody who transports goods under the radar?” Roslyn chimed in.

  “Now see, here’s the rub,” Dogg began. “So you have to trust the first shuttle pilot and then when we get into orbit and to the station, we have to unload them, hide them in the bridge jumper headed for Shiva, or wherever else we decided to go to cash them in. Unload them at the station above Shiva onto another shuttle. Shiva, or wherever else we decide to go, that is.”

  “No, I think we settled for Shiva,” Roslyn said in a voice slightly higher. “But here’s my whole thing about that. People are transporting diamonds off of Danaus every day. Why would we be different?”

  “Because Miss Belly contracted ninety-nine percent of the transports. She has records and information about them all,” Dogg explained. “Every pilot in this camp knows that if you try to hire them they are to report directly to her.”

  “You said ninety-nine percent,” Roslyn said.

  “I did,” Dogg nodded cordially. “Very good. Now assume we are being watched at all times.”

  “True,” Talbert said. He had that strange light about his face again. Dogg amused him.

  “Couldn’t we smuggle them out of camp and find a different shuttle service elsewhere?” Hattie asked.

  “That may be an option,” Dogg said. “But I may know someone local.”

  Through many double backs and quick angle changes, Dogg took them to see Wells Wallace; the most crooked smuggler on Danaus. They found him playing corn hole with a group of people on the far northern edge of the camp. At first glance it appeared Wells had a pair of smart goggles on his top hat. But upon closer inspection, they wer
e a cheap knock-off pair that only magnified and had semi-capable night vision. Wells compulsively cleared his throat and either spat or swallowed a thick ball of mucus. His voice was gravely and wet from all the fluid in his throat.

  “I’d need something up front,” Wells said.

  “How about a diamond?” Roslyn asked, making and holding eye contact.

  “How big?” asked Wells, hacking up a lung and spitting the fruit of his effort over his shoulder.

  “What’s your normal rate?” she asked. She’d lost eye contact when he spat and then stared at the ground.

  “My normal rate?” Wells said in a raspy voice. “My normal rate includes letting Miss Star Belly of the Belle Star Casino know that I am taking diamonds off planet and who I’m taking them for. We get paid extra for this information.”

  “Seems Miss Belly has her finger in everybody’s pie out here,” Dogg said with a wink at Roslyn. Did he think this was funny?

  “But you see where this is going?” Wells said. “So to replace what she pays us for reporting diamonds, I got to charge that amount. She pays on the amount of diamonds. Like a percentage of the haul. The bigger the haul, the more I get paid to report it. She wants to find out where they found them and move in on them. That’s how she does it.”

  “I’m waiting on a number,” Roslyn said, trying to hide her annoyance.

  “Well excuse me,” Wells said, and spat. “Okay, then. Five percent.”

  “Three,” Roslyn said, finding his eyes again. She held them.

  “Are we negotiating? I don’t think so,” Wells said.

  “We can find somebody else,” Roslyn said, turning to Dogg.

  “No you won’t,” Wells said. “Unlike most of these pilots, I actually have a track record for doing this before. Good luck finding someone who just wouldn’t rather take the payment from Miss Star and not bother. But I fought in the Great Rebellion. And I did that to be free.”

  “You don’t say,” Dogg grinned. “You from Annabellus, sir?”

  “Damn right,” Wells said, clearing his throat. “Uh-hum. Montgomery City.”

  “Why, is that a fact?” Dogg said in earnest.