Deadly Ghosts, page 27
He turned and reached out to me, and it took me a moment to realize that he was suggesting that he would take the body. Slowly, I lowered what was left of the woman and handed her across.
Alek disappeared in the direction of the ship, with many of the children trailing behind, while Lara stayed behind to help those who remained. There were only a very few and the small one who had been holding Imogen’s hand was clutching her leg for dear life.
“You have to go,” she said quietly in a calm, assuring voice.
“I’m scared,” the kid said, eyes wide and wet.
Imogen knelt. “I know but it’s not safe here, and we need to get you back to your mommy and daddy.”
Imogen looked up at me, her eyes saying that I should join her so, quickly, I knelt too.
“I’ll help you across,” I offered, holding out my hand, and the kid took it. The remaining smoke was blowing all around as the Buzzard came in for a landing, the ramp already down. Alek helped the children begin to get on board while the Peacers aided one another.
I picked up the child and handed them across to Lara, but as soon as I did, I heard a voice like a thunderclap from beside the base of the tower.
“Acolyte Hush!” Inquisitor John Gregory boomed as he stepped down from the Mortal Coil. He had a new young woman standing behind him in nearly identical armor to what Imogen had been forced to wear. “See what devastation you have wrought!”
I watched Imogen stare at him for just a moment. Her eyes narrowed and her face flushed.
I knew what she was about to do before she even did it and said, “No!” but it was too late. With the child in my arms, I couldn’t stop her from grabbing the spear from my side. She activated it immediately and rushed toward the man that represented everything evil in the universe to her.
She was clearing the distance between them quickly, and I turned back to Lara, who grabbed the child and then shouted, “Go!”
I began running after Imogen, but after three paces I heard the wail of an oncoming Phoenix. I turned just in time to see the micro missiles streaking down toward me, and I had to throw myself back to avoid the line of incoming fire. All around me, the earth shook and erupted.
Flaming asphalt poured down on me, a huge chunk crashing against my back and throwing me all the way to the ground. Smoke and fire consumed my world and my body ached, but I had to get up. I had to help Imogen.
Forcing myself to my feet, I jumped through the wall of acrid smoke just in time to see John Gregory carrying the limp body of Imogen Hush onto his ship.
For acting without thinking, she had paid the price.
“Get back here,” Ned demanded. “The Inquisition ships are turning on us and we have to go.”
I had to decide what to do next. I was hurt and weak, but I could help. But just as I was about to start running, four inquisitors came rushing out from inside the facility. The moment they saw me, weapons were raised, and muzzle flash filled the Plaza. I turned and jumped through the smoke, another bullet passing through my leg as I did so and hobbling me.
But I wouldn’t stop. I couldn’t stop.
Leaping haphazardly over the second row of craters, I nearly tripped and fell when my wounded leg hit the ground.
The Buzzard lifted off the ground and began thrusting backward, clearing the distance between us and it was all I could do to jump up and land on the ramp, my chest slamming against the metal just as it began to close. Lara and Alek dragged me into the cargo bay full of traumatized children and wounded Peacers.
“We have to go after them,” I said to anybody who would listen as the ramp sealed close behind me. “He got Imogen.”
“What?” Alek demanded.
The Buzzard lurched as it ascended quickly into the sky. We vibrated and rattled when I heard the telltale crackle of our shields being shot.
“We’ll go after her later,” Ned informed me. “For now, I have to get these people out of here.”
I didn’t know if I could override his programming, but as I lay there and stared up at the faces of the kids cowering together, dust sprinkling down from them with every quaking shake of incoming fire, I knew that I shouldn’t.
We could save these children, but we had lost Louise.
Ron was gone.
Imogen had been taken.
And the location of Codename: Extinction was gone with her.
I lay my head on the ramp. “Shit.”
EPILOGUE
Vince Delfina leaned back in the chair and pulled the cigar and ornate cutter off of the silver platter. The moment he did, the woman in nothing but an apron turned, and he watched her figure sashay away. It didn’t matter how many times he watched it, he enjoyed it every time.
“News of the assassination attempt has been spun to make you look sympathetic,” Tony, the aide on the computer screen, said. “Your favorables are up three points on Emortium and ten here on Parm.”
“Well, that’s good,” Vince said. “Happy to know nearly getting killed twice has some upside.”
“Honestly, boss, it’s all upside,” Tony assured him. “As they say, if they’re trying to kill you, you must be doing something right. And you looked tough surviving.”
Vince chuckled to himself. Since they had also spun the story to make it look as though he himself had defeated the Ghost of Korfuu, he knew that many of the people from his Sector and around the universe now thought of him as quite a badass.
Tony was right that it was pretty much all upside.
The young man cleared his throat. “I also looked into that other thing,” he said. “To do even the most bare-bones job, it’ll probably cost a couple hundred grand. Those people were promised a lot, and there are still many of them left here on the planet.
“Now, if, as you suggested, you double what they were promised, well…”
Vince held up a hand to silence the aide before setting the rounded end of the cigar into the clipper and squeezing it closed. He held the brown shaft to his nose and inhaled deeply. It was a thing of beauty.
Cigars from Tobacconalia III were nearly impossible to come by, but his cousin had found a crate that, he had explained, “Fell off a truck… in space…”
The two men had laughed heartily at that one, and now, as he moistened the tip between his lips and the little far end, he grinned again.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said with a dismissive wave. “Not that important anyway.”
Vince had been happy to see Imogen, but her presence had come with nothing but headaches. And while the two people he had invited over to his home had saved his life after speaking earnestly about their cause, he wasn’t sure how true any of it was.
He had spent a lot of time with Inquisitors and had a hard time believing what the scruffy man who had shown up with a girl he thought of as family said. In his political career, he had been told a lot of stories, and most of them had turned out to be bullshit.
Slowly, he let the smoke seep out of his mouth, inhaling it through his nose and then pretending like he wasn’t looking at the computer screen to see if Tony was impressed. The young man smiled and nodded in an affirming way to let him know that he did, in fact, think it looked cool.
Vince had always wanted people to be impressed with him and knew it. He had never been shy about wanting to be famous or about his political ambitions. In fact, he resented people who pretended like they went into politics for anything other than fame and power. Those people were either lying to everyone or deluding themselves.
Politicians did what they did because it made them feel important, and Vince had no problem telling that to anybody who would listen.
“I—I should advise that you do something to appease the people from Korfuu,” Tony said in a sniveling whimper. “You don’t want them to send anyone else after you.”
The kid had a point.
And Vince thought that he would do something. Though, it almost certainly wouldn’t be opening his purse. Maybe instead, he could send a friend of one of his associates to have a… conversation… with those wretches.
Thinking about that, he couldn’t help himself but chuckle at Imogen. The girl had made him promise that he would be “good,” and she even believed him when he assured her that he would. But that’s not how anything got done in the universe.
Being good was how you spent a lot of money on an election that you ended up losing.
Being good was how you made a speech in front of Parliament that everyone clapped for but nobody took seriously.
Being good was how you won awards that nobody gives two plops about.
He knew that she would learn that in time.
“You’ve got a point,” he said finally.
A pounding knock at the door cut through the house, causing Vince to suck in a mouthful of smoke and begin coughing uncontrollably.
“Who’s there?” Tony asked.
“No fucking clue,” Vince said. “Someone who’s about to get a swift kick to the ’goots, I’ll tell you that much.”
He stood and tied closed his silk robe. It was a surprise that anybody would be able to knock at his door, given how much security now surrounded his compound. If it was the companion he had ordered, he doubted they would knock so aggressively.
That pretty much just left some government official or friend, who Vince was sure he didn’t want to see at this hour.
As he stepped out into the foyer, he stopped and cocked his ear when he heard a strange sound. The front door to his home blew off its hinges and slammed to the ground.
“The fuck is this?” he demanded, even though part of him wanted to turn and run.
Through the smoking hole that had been his door, a shape in red armor over black robes stepped in. She was a tall, fierce-looking woman with a curved, handheld scythe in her fist. It glowed a deep purple, and she looked straight at Vince.
“Vincent DeLuca Delfina,” she intoned. “You are wanted for questioning by the Inquisition.”
“Is this a joke?” Vince demanded. “I’m on the oversight committee. Your boss works for me.”
She took two more steps forward and held the weapon up as she revealed wrist bindings in her other hand.
“My boss answers to no one,” she seethed. “You were seen consorting with the enemy, and you will tell us everything you know. Come with me now or die here.”
He knew there was nothing he could do. There were no cards left to play. The cigar fell from Vince’s mouth, the cinder leaving a scorch mark in the exquisite antique rug, and he held his hands out straight with his wrists pressed together.
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
J. N. Chaney is a USA Today Bestselling author and has a Master's of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. He fancies himself quite the Super Mario Bros. fan. When he isn’t writing or gaming, you can find him online at jnchaney.com.
He migrates often, but was last seen in Las Vegas, NV. Any sightings should be reported, as they are rare.
Matthew A. Goodwin has been writing adventures about spaceships and dragons since he was a child. After creating his first fantasy world at twelve years old, he continued to write in his spare time. He spent his days as a zookeeper, but when his son was born, he decided to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming an author.
Having always loved sweeping space operas and gritty cyberpunk stories that explored man’s relationship to technology, he penned the international bestselling series, A Cyberpunk Saga. His passion also inspired him to create and cofound Cyberpunk Day ™. For more information and FREE content, visit thutoworld.com.
J.N. Chaney, Deadly Ghosts
