DusktoDust_Final3 Page 6

  “Well, that’s very disappointing.” The man nodded to one of the other PKs.

  Before David could react one the PKs raised his rifle, pointed it at Alana, and pulled the trigger. He expected to hear the explosive flash-bang of a bullet, but instead there was a pop-hiss and a large net sprang out at Alana. She screamed as it wrapped around her. She tried to struggle against it and then fell to the floor.

  “We’re not leaving here until we find his body.” The lead PK finally stepped into the glow of the trivi and David immediately recognized him. It was the man he had tailed in the train station. He cursed himself for not following his gut.

  David thought through his options. He wanted to raise his weapon and shoot the Peak bastards. But that would be an emotional decision. Tactically he was in a terrible position. He was outnumbered at least four to one and completely exposed except for the concealment afforded by the shadows. And Alana wanted him to run. That was clear. She had told him twice, first by tossing her pistol and then by telling the PKs he was dead. Surprise was on his side. The message was clear. Live to fight another day.

  It took David two seconds to make up his mind. He needed to regroup and get the drop on the PKs. As slowly and quietly as he could, he slung Alana’s backpack over his own duffle and made his way into the smaller, rank, lower tunnel. In the glow of the trivisium he started formulating his plan. Don’t worry, he thought. I’m coming back for you.

  This was not going to plan. Burleigh was going to be pissed. If Dominguez was dead the mission was scrubbed. The task had been to observe and follow the duo all the way to their Windcorp employers. But the glassers had ruined that plan. When given the choice of stopping the criminals or letting them escape from their pursuers, Ski had made the right one. But that meant the chase was over.

  Letsego wasn’t pissed because Captain Burleigh was going to be upset. He could care less about how that arrogant bastard felt. Letsego was pissed because of the wasted opportunity. For the first time, he had received carte blanche and a damn good chance to stop Windcorp, and he had botched it. And because of it the Peacekeepers would continue to struggle helplessly against the operations of the criminal syndicate.

  The priority now was to find the body. As unfortunate as it was that the team’s chase had been cut short, they needed to know for sure it was over. And if he was to report that Mr. Dominguez was dead, Burleigh would want proof.

  The team held its position at the site of the cave-in. A few well placed shots deterred the remaining glassers from advancing. Yang and Conway went to work carefully sifting through the rubble looking for any sign of the dead man. Smith took watch down the tunnel from where they had come. Ski guarded the unexplored portion of the tunnel. That left Letsego to deal with the prisoner.

  Mrs. Dominguez- whoever she was- had been freed from the electro-net. She was now sitting against the tunnel wall, her hands bound. She hadn’t said a word. Her face was emotionless, her gaze fixed on an uninteresting point in front of her. For someone who had just lost her husband/partner, she didn’t seem very distraught. She didn’t seem much of anything. Maybe it was shock.

  Letsego decided to extend an olive branch. If Dominguez is really dead, maybe he could make her open up. “Here.” He offered her a water bottle. She looked at the container suspiciously. “I’m only going to offer once,” he said with an edge in his voice.

  She hesitated and then reached up with her bound hands and took the bottle. “Do you mind?” She nodded toward the bottle cap which she couldn’t manipulate with cuffs on. Letsego unscrewed it for her. “Thanks.”

  He watched her drink the water. As it had been before, her face was emotionless. As if the events of the past forty eight hours hadn’t even happened. Letsego figured it took a special kind of criminal to show so little feeling when losing a partner. “Are you satisfied?” He asked.

  Mrs. Dominguez looked up. “It’s okay,” she said, referring to the water.

  “That’s not what I mean.” He pointed over to the pile of rubble. “Are you satisfied with how this turned out? Your way of life got your partner killed, not to mention the hundreds of other lives you ruin with your smuggling.” He watched her face for signs of remorse but saw none. Instead she tried to keep up the ruse.

  “You’ve got the wrong idea. We are not-”

  “Bullshit!” Letsego leaned down to look her in the eyes. “I know who you are, lady. Or should I say who you were. You were a pair of smugglers working for Windcorp. You were a pair of individuals with no morals, no honor. You were a team that likely killed hundreds because of the contraband you smuggled. You were the scum of the planet.” He let that sink in. “But now you are alone. Your partner is dead and I am going to take you back to Skylift where you will be locked up for a very long time.”

  She returned his stare. “What do you want?”

  “I want you to show one ounce of remorse for the crimes you’ve committed.”

  That comment made her look away. Letsego watched her face. For a split second he saw something. Maybe it was remorse, maybe doubt. Either way, he was getting to her. “See, I knew you were human.”

  She quickly regained control of herself. “We’re not as bad as you make us out to be.”

  Letsego highly doubted that. “You work for Windcorp. In my mind that’s about as bad as it gets.” She said nothing. She wasn’t ready to directly admit her guilt. “But maybe you can convince me otherwise. Tell me what you know about Windcorp.”

  7: Fight and Flight

  The tunnel was tight. At various points David had to get down on all fours to fit through. Luckily, the tunnel had plenty of visible trivi deposits and illumination was not an issue. He moved as fast as possible. There was no way of knowing how long the PKs would hang around with Alana searching for his thrashed and mangled body.

  The game had changed. They had Alana now. David kept second guessing his inaction back at the cave-in. Had he done the right thing? He might have been able to get both of them out of there alive. Instead he was crawling around alone in the bowels of hell and Alana was bound and gagged in the hands of the Peacekeepers.

  No, he though, I couldn’t have done a thing. It was a tactically impossible situation. If he had opened fire either or both of them would be dead. Now the question was what were the PKs doing with Alana. The man from the train station had told his men that they weren’t leaving until they found David’s body. That meant David had some time. He needed to get back to the cave-in site.

  After five minutes of crawling and wriggling through the cramped tunnel, he reached an opening. Above him the small tunnel opened up into a larger one. David only hoped it was another part of the main tunnel that he and Alana had raced through earlier. There was no way to know for sure, but if it wasn’t he was out of luck anyway. He climbed up into the larger tunnel and started walking cautiously in the direction that the PKs should be holding Alana.

  David moved much slower than he had in the other tunnel. Each step he took was carefully placed. He kept close to the walls, staying in the shadows. He listened for any sound as he crept. That was how he would find them.

  Fifteen minutes passed and he covered half a kilometer or so. He should be getting close. And right on queue he heard the sound. David stopped. Not moving a muscle, he strained to listen. It was digging. The sound of metal on rock. On top of that he could hear voices.

  He weighed his options. His military training kicked in. He had found the enemy. Now he had to decide a course of action on how to free Alana. He still had the three grenades in his pack along with some paracord. He had both his and Alana’s pistols with plenty of rounds. But he had to be smart. He didn’t know how many PKs there were. He had spotted at least four, and taking them all out would be ambitious even for him. This had to be a surgical strike.

  His mind worked in overdrive, and within a few seconds all the pieces fell into place. Just as carefully as before, he began making his way back up the tunnel, away from the PKs
and Alana.

  She was resilient. Letsego had exhausted all of his verbal interrogation techniques. The girl didn’t want to talk. That was incorrect. She talked, but not about anything important. Letsego now had a rundown of how the chess boxing playoffs were going back on Earth, but nothing more about smuggling, the Domiguez’s, and definitely nothing about Windcorp. It was a futile effort. Maybe the intrusive interrogation unit back at the Skylift could get something out of her.

  Letsego checked his watch. They’d been waiting here for almost an hour. He looked over to Conway and Smith who were still digging through the cave in. “Find anything?”

  Conway looked up. “Nothing yet, Lets. If you ask me this is a waste. The dude is buried too deep.”

  “Or he’s not in there at all.” Letsego knew there was the chance that Dominguez was still alive somewhere. If so, he must be long gone by now. “Alright, let’s pack it up. Whether the bastard is in there or not, we have more important things to do right now. Burleigh will just have to believe that Dominguez is not a problem anymore.”

  The woman reached up and grabbed his sleeve. “Wait, you’re just going to leave Mike in there! Leave him to decay in this awful place? You can’t!”

  Letsego pushed her hand away. “Look lady, I don’t have time for this. If Mike really is under there, that’s his fault for coming down into the Skull Pit. I have more important things to do like get you back to Skylift and continue this investigation.” He turned back to Conway. “Sergeant, we’re going back the same way we came in. Yang, you’ve got point. Ski, bring up the-”

  His words were cut short by a bright flash that exploded right in front of him. He fell to his knees, hands reaching for his ears as they began ringing. The sensory overload was completely disorienting. Seconds passed and he tried to regain his footing. His hearing soon returned.

  “Nobody move or I will blow his brains out,” were the first words that Letsego heard.

  David crouched in the shadows of the tunnel. Up ahead was a bend. Just around it he could hear the voices again. Judging by the volume they were no more than twenty-five meters away. David thought through the mechanics of what he was about to do. In high school he had run the forty yard dash in five seconds. He would be able to make it. He just hoped they were looking the other way.

  In his right hand he held his pistol. In his left he held a modified grenade. Instead of the explosive charge that it normally carried, David had attached a packet of gun powder to the grenade’s detonator. He hoped it would make do as a rudimentary flash bang. He’d spent fifteen minutes with his multi tool tearing off the bullets from sixty pistol rounds to get the powder.

  David inched along the inside wall of the tunnel. He would need a clear line of sight to throw the grenade. Inch by inch he made his way toward the cave in site. He soon reached the end of the curve and could make out figures. He counted six, including Alana. The closest PK was fifteen meters from David and was facing away from him.

  It’s now or never. Still holding the pistol, David slipped a finger through the grenade’s pin and pulled it. Keeping the grenade as low to the ground as possible, he tossed it as far as he could. The device skipped across the ground past the closest PK and landed right next to the team leader. David looked away, plugged his ears, and counted the seconds.

  The sound was deafening as the powder ignited in the confined space. It reverberated through David’s bones. Anyone not expecting the explosion would be completely disoriented. But for David it was the sound of a starting gun.

  He covered the distance between the tunnel bend and the closest PK in mere seconds. The man was doubled over on the ground clutching his ears. David was more than willing to help him up. Then he slid his left arm around the man’s neck and placed the muzzle of the pistol on his temple.

  “Nobody move or I’ll blow his brains out.” Even as he said it, the man he held hostage started clawing at the arm around his neck. A blow from the butt of David’s pistol convinced the man to stop. But the rest of the PKs continued to pick themselves up off the ground. Enough of this. David raised his pistol and sent a loud, echoing round into the tunnel ceiling.

  “I said, nobody fucking move!” He now had the undivided attention of the team leader and his three stooges’.

  Nothing moved in the tunnel, but the tension could be cut with a knife. David surveyed the situation. The team leader stared David down. He was in the middle of the tunnel, half hunched over. A submachine gun lay on the floor just out of his reach. Alana sat against the tunnel wall with her hands bound. The other three PKs were further down the tunnel, maybe ten meters past the leader.

  David nodded toward the submachine gun. “Don’t even think about it.” The team leader hesitated and then backed away and put his hands up. “Good, kick it over here.” The man did. “Okay, you three, your turn.”

  The three PKs looked at each other, clearly not interested in surrendering their weapons. David tightened his grip around the hostage’s neck. He felt the man’s legs start to weaken as the blood choke took effect. “I’m not playing games here. You, you’re in charge right? Tell your dumb henchmen to drop their weapons or they are going to be collecting dumbass’s brain matter off of the ground.”

  The direct threat clearly infuriated the man. His already intense gaze focused on David. He felt as if the man’s eyes were boring a hole in his skull. After a tense ten seconds, the man spoke. “Do it.” The words left his mouth as though he were pledging allegiance to the devil.

  The orders were followed. Three weapons were tossed into the pit that David had fallen into a mere hour before. David was satisfied. “Alright, now that we’ve all learned to get along, I’ll tell you what’s going to happen. We- meaning she and I- are going to go that way.” He nodded down the tunnel. “I really could give a shit as to what you all do, but you will not follow us. You understand me, Peak?”

  The leader laughed. “It’s a nice plan. But it’s not going to happen.” His South African accent was clearly evident.

  David pushed the muzzle of his pistol harder into his hostage’s temple. “We’ll see. Mrs. Dominguez, let’s go.” David’s commitment to the cover story threw her off for a second, but then she stood up and walked over to him.

  “You really have a plan?,” she whispered as quietly as she could in his ear.

  David nodded. He didn’t take his eyes off of his adversaries. “My multitool is in my back pocket.” She retrieved it and cut her hands free. “Now go, I’ll catch up.” With obvious reservations, she took off down the tunnel.

  “That was dumb,” the leader said.

  David smiled. “I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve.” He started walking backwards down the tunnel with his hostage. Once he felt like he was at a comfortable distance he made his move. Releasing his grip around the man’s neck, he brought his leg up and gave a firm kick into the small of his back, sending the man sprawling across the floor. At the same time, David reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a second make-shift flash bang. He pulled the pin and tossed it toward the PKs. They dove for cover , but it was too late. David was already making his exit.

  “Adios, amigos.” He allowed himself one cocky comment before rounding the corner. Three seconds later he heard the muffled explosion of the flash bang.

  “What was that?” Alana asked as he caught up to her.

  David didn’t break stride. “Just a parting gift. But I’ve got a strong feeling it’s not going to stop them.” He grabbed her arm and they started running.

  Alana looked at him disappointed. “So that’s it? That’s your whole plan, D? Stun and run? I should have shot my way out while I had the chance.”

  “Calm down. I’ve still got one present left for those assholes.” They rounded another bend. “Slow down. We’re almost there.” He slowed down to a fast walk. He scanned the ground in the dim light for what he was looking for. When he found it he stopped. “Careful.” With that he quickly stepped over the trip wire.
Alana followed suit. “Okay. Let’s go.” With that they took off again down the tunnel.

  Once again, Letsego was blinded and disoriented. It wasn’t as bad this time. The grenade had not exploded as close. But still his eyes and ears ceased to function. All he could hear was ringing. Ringing and scream

  His senses were coming back slowly. He tried to place the unsettling noise. He forced his eyes to focus. The light was there but distorted, a combination of purple and grey and brown hues.

  And red.

  Letsego’s eyes snapped into focus. It was Ski. He was writhing in pain on the ground, his face and chest covered in blood.

  “Shit.” Letsego rushed to his teammate. “Conway, get over here!” He tried to hold Ski still as he looked at the damage. Blood was pouring out of cuts on his face, including his eyes, and his chest was a bloody mess. It looked like Dominguez had kicked him to ground and then the grenade had gone off right in his face.

  Seconds later Conway was at Letsego’s side. “Calm down, Ski. You’re gonna be okay.”

  “I can’t see!” the man cried as he tried to wipe the blood out of his eyes to no avail.

  Letsego held his hands down, stopping Ski from making things worse. “Get me a med kit!”

  Yang rushed over, tearing open a medical kit. He was the team’s designated medic. As his hands fumbled through the supplies in the kit, he evaluated Ski’s wounds. “Looks like multiple lacerations to the face and chest. That flash bang must have gone off right in front of him.”

  “No shit!” Letsego’s concern was turning to rage. He leaned over Ski, wanting to help but not knowing what to do. Conway pushed him back.

  “Lets, we’ve got it covered.” He could see his friend was losing control. He was going to get in the way. “He’s gonna be okay.”

  Letsego stepped back as Yang leaned in to treat Ski. He started applying fusing gel to the dozens of cuts the man had sustained in the blast. Letsego just watched, knowing there was nothing else he could do. Dominquez had gotten the best of him, again. And now one of his team had paid a high price. He guessed that Ski would never see again. His eyes were a nasty pulp of flesh and tissue. He continued to writhe and flail, begging for someone to ease the pain. They would be lucky if they got him out of this hell hole alive.