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DusktoDust_Final3 Page 21
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“I was in the head.” His eyes were drawn to the troopers charging their weapons. “I thought we had an alliance with Black Crescent.”
“We do,” the sergeant said. “The lieutenant has found out where the pilots are being held. We are going to finish the job from earlier.”
Letsego was confused. “The raiders are okay with us killing them now?”
“No, but I doubt they’ll break this alliance over the deaths of two smugglers.”
Castle walked across the room. “Get ‘em moving sergeant. I want Carpenter now.”
So Castle was willing to threaten the peace just to settle some personal vendetta with Carpenter. The situation was quickly spiraling out of control and it seemed Letsego was just along for the ride.
“There! You’ve almost got it, D!”
David barely heard Alana’s words as he sailed through the air. The cage creaked and rattled as he pumped it back and forth like a pendulum. He quickly glanced up at chain suspending it. The bolts attaching it to the ceiling weakened with every swing. It wouldn’t take much more. He pumped his body harder, sending the nearly perpendicular cage to the floor.
“Just…a few… more,” he grunted. Alana sat in her cage waiting and watching. This was the grand plan, at least the first step of it. As for steps two and on, David still had to work those out.
At long last, the chain broke free. David’s cage plummeted the five meters to the ground, crashing against the hard concrete. He cried out in pain as his body impacted the solid metal bars.
“You alive?”
David rolled in pain. His left shoulder throbbed. He hoped it was only a sprain. “Yeah,” he managed to blurt out. “That hurt.”
“So what are you going to do now?” came the voice of the other imprisoned man. “You’re still in the cage.”
“Shut up.” David suppressed the pain and analyzed his situation. Despite the fall, his cage was still locked shut. Not having any better idea, he braced his back against the floor. Winding up with his legs, he kicked the lock.
The cage was of solid construction, and a sharp pain shot through his leg. He grunted in pain. The man started laughing. “I told you,” he said.
David ignored him. He kicked again, and then again. With every kick more pain shot through his leg and the man’s laughter increased. He kicked ten times. Then twenty times.
And then the lock shattered. The man’s laughter stopped.
A final kick opened the cage door. David stood up and climbed out of the cell, ignoring the pain in his leg. The man’s laughter had been replaced by concerned protest.
“No, what are you doing? You’ll never make it out of here. They’ll catch you.”
“Stow it, asshole.” David limped over to the cage controls. The panel was a collection of levers. He found the one for Alana’s cage and pulled it down. The chain holding it dropped, and the cage hit the ground with a clang. David rushed over to it.
Alana struggled against the bars. “What now? You think I can kick it open?”
Before he could respond at shot rang out, followed by the spark of a bullet ricocheting off the concrete.
“Don’t move, you scum,” a gruff voice yelled.
David glanced behind over his shoulder. It was two raiders with their weapons raised. They must be the prison guards. They were probably sleeping until they heard the crash of the cage.
One of the raiders walked up behind David. The man grabbed his wrist and twisted his arm behind his back. “Pretty ingenious for a couple of slaves,” he sneered. He then kicked David in the back of the calf and slammed him against the ground. “For future reference, actions like this will result in pain.” He cranked David’s arm until it wouldn’t go any further. “Or worse.”
David winced, but showed no other signs of discomfort. He wasn’t going to give the man the satisfaction. “Noted.”.
“Let him go.” David tried and failed to turn his head to face the new voice. But he recognized it.
The raider on top of David was surprised. “You can’t be here. This area is Black Crescent only.”
“I’m not here to cause trouble,” the familiar voice said. “I just want those two.”
The raider stood up, yanking David to his feet. David turned to see Castle standing alone in the entrance to the cavern. “Well, you can’t have them. They are property of Captain Nadeem, now.”
Castle laughed. “ Your Captain just made a deal that is going to change the face of the galaxy. Do you really think he cares about two slaves?”
“I have my orders. If you don’t like it you can take it up with the Captain.”
“I have another idea.” Castle motioned and the entire squad of helmeted troopers entered the cavern. “You are going to tell the Captain that the prisoners escaped.” He glanced at the broken cage. “It already looks like that happened anyway.”
It was the raider’s turn to laugh. “Even if that were true, he would kill us for not putting up a fight.”
“Good point.” Castle nodded to one of the troopers. The man pointed his weapon at the other raider and pulled the trigger. The man collapsed to the ground as his partner watched in horror.
“What the hell are you doing?!” he screamed.
“Now you can tell your captain that you put up a fight.” Castle raised his own pistol and shot the man in the shoulder. He fell to the ground, releasing David. “Don’t even think about it, Carpenter,” Castle directed, adjusting his aim.
Nursing his wound, the lead raider unlocked Alana’s cage. The troopers then cuffed both her and David. Before exiting the cavern, Castle crouched next to the wounded raider. He placed the muzzle of his pistol on his forehead. “Remember, the captives escaped,” he told the man. “If the captain hears otherwise, I’m going to come back here and finish you off.”
The squad left the prison, keeping a tight formation with their prisoners in the middle. David didn’t know where they were going but he suddenly wished he was back in his cage dangling from the ceiling. As they marched through the corridors, Castle prodded David in the back with his pistol.
“You didn’t think I would leave without saying goodbye, did you Carpenter?”
“I hate to disappoint you, Castle,” David countered, “but I’m not a fan of long goodbyes.”
“Don’t worry,” Castle said. “I don’t intend on making this long. Just painful.”
Five minutes later they reached their destination. It was an airlock. David should have guessed as much. “Real creative, Castle. You’re just gonna flush us out the airlock?”
“Eventually, yes,” Castle said. “But first we are going to walk down memory lane.”
Alana struggled against her captors. “Goddamnit, let me go!”
“Please, Ramirez. You really don’t want to miss out on this.”
“Excuse me if I’m not interested in reminiscing over all your torture fantasies.”
“Ramirez, you say it like it’s a bad thing. But you forget that that your partner here taught me everything I know. And then he hung me out to dry.”
“The difference is that Carpenter is not a sick son of a bitch.”
David listened to the exchange. Part of him admitted that Castle was right. He had taught the man everything he knew. That had been their job when they had served together, to coerce information out of the enemy. But unlike David, Castle had taken to the task like a fish to water. “Castle, whatever problem you have with me, it doesn’t involve her.” David was not going to let Alana get hurt over his faults.
Castle shook his head. “Carpenter, when has that ever stopped you before?” He put his arm around David’s shoulders. “Let me take you back. Do you remember that colonist couple on Mars? When we suspected the husband of providing arms to the resistance. What did you do?”
“This has nothing to do with-”
“What did you do!?” Castle barked. “I’ll tell you what you did?” Castle walked over to Alana. “You di
dn’t touch the man. You left him alone. Instead you went after the wife.”
“Those were orders, Castle, and you know it,” David protested.
Castle pulled out a multitool and continued his narrative. “You had me hold her hands on the table and took out a pair of pliers.”
Seeing what was happening, David tried to break free. The troopers held him tight. “Don’t you do it, Castle!”
The lieutenant smiled. He grabbed one of Alana’s hands and then in one swift motion grabbed hold of the fingernail on her little finger and ripped it out. Alana let out a blood curdling scream.
David lunged at Castle, once again being held back. Alana’s pain was fueling his rage. “I am going to kill you!”
“I doubt it,” Castle said matter-of-factly. He then reached out and removed another fingernail.
“Ahhhhhhhh!” she screamed.
David attempted to reason with the monster. “What do you want, Castle?”
“This is exactly what I want!” he snapped, standing up. “I want to watch you suffer. You ruined my life! I am going to ruin yours, before I take it from you.”
“You think I ruined your life?”
“Of course it was you! You taught me how to do my job, and then when the shit hit the fan you abandoned me. You testified against me!”
David exploded. “Of course I did! What you did was wrong! I taught you how to torture, but I also taught you to only use torture when ordered to. You were never ordered to go after those men.”
“I was following a lead. Everyone knew that they were guilty.”
“They may have been guilty, but that’s not why you tortured them. You tortured them because you liked it.”
Castle stared him down. “Maybe you’re right, Carpenter,” he said slowly. “Maybe I do like it. Maybe I do like the control, the dominance.” He calmly paced across the room. “And if I like it, what does that make me?”
“A psychopath,” Alana spit out.
“A psychopath!” Castle reveled. “And in a scenario like this, what would a psychopath do? Oh, I know.”
The next two seconds David witnessed in perfect clarity. It was as if all actions happened in slow motion. Castle stepped in front of Alana and once again locked eyes with David. He slowly pulled out his pistol and placed it against Alana’s forehead. There was nothing David could do.
The next motion was the movement of Castle’s trigger finger. This was followed by a muzzle flash and the recoil of the slide. Then the bullet entered Alana’s skull, passed through her brain, and exited, leaving a large exit wound. Her death was instantaneous and nearly painless. It was the most horrible sight that David had ever seen.
“Noooooooo!” He lunged at his partner’s lifeless body. His adrenaline induced frenzy made the troopers’ hold on him insignificant.
Castle showed little emotion.
Tears welled up in David’s eyes. He was falling apart as Alana’s blood stained his clothes. He wanted to act, to leap up and kill every trooper in the room, starting with Castle. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t let go of Alana. Her body was still warm with signs of life, but she was never coming back. She was his only real friend in the galaxy. After all they had been through together, she was his family, his only family. And now she was dead.
Castle stepped in front of David. “You know, it is really sad to see a grown man cry.” David shot him a piercing look. Castle smiled and lifted his pistol. “Well, I have accomplished my first goal of making you suffer.” He aimed at David’s head. “Now I will take your life.”
Suddenly, a fusillade of bullets filled the room. David ducked instinctively. When he looked up, four of the troopers were down and Castle was grabbing his arm. His pistol lay on the ground. David seized the opportunity.
“Ahhhhh!” He sprang up and with his cuffed hands grabbed Castle’s neck and slammed him against the airlock door. David squeezed and watched the color drain from the man’s face.
The machine gun fire continued behind him. “Carpenter, we gotta go now!”
David didn’t know whose voice it was and he didn’t care. He squeezed tighter. Castle flailed but could not stop the smuggler. David’s rage was focused and determined. He was going to keep his promise. He was going to kill Castle.
The man’s eyes bulged out of his head, but at the last moment he made one last ditch effort to stop David’s attack. He swung his hand against the airlock door, smashing the manual release. The door hissed open.
With the loss of the door backstop, David and Castle tumbled backwards, into the airlock. Castle was the first to recover. Even as he sucked in preciously need oxygen, he threw a left hook. David reeled back. With the increased separation, Castle kicked him square in the chest.
David was thrown back out of the airlock, and Castle was able to seal the room shut, locking himself inside.
David banged his fist on the door, staring at his enemy through the thick plexi window. “Coward!” he screamed.
The gunfire continued behind him. “Damnit, Carpenter!” the same voice screamed again. “I’m almost out of ammo! We gotta go now!”
David wheeled around. For a split second his rage subsided. He had been so preoccupied with Castle that he had no idea why this gunfight had started. What he saw was unexpected.
There were now six troopers lying dead or incapacitated with bullet holes in their armor. Another trooper crouched in the airlock antechamber doorway, firing his weapon at unseen assailants. What confused David was why the man was not firing at him.
“Don’t just stand there!” the man screamed at him through his trooper helmet.
David leaped into action. Running across the room, he grabbed a rifle from one of the fallen troopers and joined his savior at the doorway. He peaked around the corner, his curiosity rewarded with gunfire. Four more troopers were in the hallway, and they were not very happy.
“What the hell is going on?” David demanded.
The trooper continued to shoot down the hallway. “I’m not a trooper,” he said between volleys.
David still refrained from firing. Whatever was going on, he didn’t trust this man. This could all be an elaborate trap. “You could’ve fooled me.”
The trooper was clearly annoyed. Seeking cover behind the bulkhead, he stripped his helmet off. “Happy now.” He continued firing down the hallway.
It was the black Peacekeeper from back on Prospect. What the hell? David was even more confused now. This wasn’t possible. “How the hell did you get here?”
“Carpenter, I think we have more pressing matters to attend to than my life story.”
Even though David wanted a complete explanation, the PK was right. He gritted his teeth. “Fine. What’s the plan?”
“This wasn’t exactly well thought out,” the PK shouted over the gunfire. “But maybe you should fire your weapon.”
David nodded, lifting the rifle and aiming in on one of the troopers in the hallway. They were dug in well, using the cover of various shipping crates and barrels. “We’re not getting out that way,” David observed. “Even if we kill these guys, the raiders will be responding any minute.”
“Well, that’s the only way out,” the PK argued. “Unless you want to take a walk through space.”
And Castle, David thought. As much as he wanted to finish the man off, that was not a viable escape option. He looked around the antechamber. “Maybe it’s not the only way.”
The PK turned to where he was looking. It was an air duct. The vent was at ground level and about half a meter square. It would be a tight fit, but they could make it.
“Are you kidding me?” the PK protested.
“I don’t hear you having any great ideas.” David peaked around the corner again. The volume of fire had increased. He was pleasantly surprised to see a team of raiders augmenting the troopers. “Oh, great.”
The PK saw the same development and fired off a burst. Then he turned back to the vent. “Bloody hell
.” He ran over and started pounding on it with the stock of his rifle. After three hits, the panel clattered to the ground. He looked down the shaft. “Where does it lead?”
He couldn’t possibly expect David to know. “Anywhere but here.” He joined the man at the duct.
“You first,” the PK directed.
David hesitated. He glanced one last time at Alana. Her body lay lifeless in the antechamber, ringed by a pool of blood. He hated having to leave her here in this awful place. She deserved far better. It should be him lying dead here.
The PK shoved him. “We can’t take her with us, Carpenter,” he said urgently. “She’s dead, just like we’re gonna be if you don’t move now!”
David nodded. He took one last look at his partner. Then he disappeared into the duct.
21: The Great Escape
Letsego didn’t know why he had done it, why he had saved Carpenter. It did not increase his probability of survival. Likely, he was now public enemy number one on this asteroid, followed closely by the smuggler. It was not because Letsego thought the man deserved saving. Carpenter had murdered Jankowski and nearly gotten the rest of Letsego’s team killed. The man was an outlaw.
As Letsego crawled on his hands and knees through the stuffy air duct, he continued to ask himself why. But there was no good answer. He had acted on impulse, raising his weapon and dropping two troopers in his first burst. It was all a blur after that. The why didn’t matter. It was the here and now he had to focus on.
He continued to crawl. Letsego didn’t know where Carpenter was leading them but the intelligence operative followed blindly. He didn’t hear any signs of raiders following them, which was a good sign.
It was at least fifteen minutes before Carpenter found an exit. Letsego followed him out. As he cleared the duct he was abruptly yanked to his feet.
“What the hell is going on?!” Carpenter demanded, slamming Letsego against the bulkhead.
The PK struggled against him. “I saved your ass. You should be grateful.”
“I’ll be grateful when you tell me how the hell you got here.”