Justice Keepers Saga--Books 1-3, page 82
He moved up the stairs.
In the hallway that extended from the second-floor landing, he saw two large men walking side by side with their backs turned, each one carrying an Antauran-style assault rifle. He ducked low in case one of them decided to look over his shoulder.
They turned down an adjoining corridor.
Jack closed his eyes, pressing a hand to his forehead. He rubbed away a layer of sweat. We've done all the damage we can, he noted. We're going to have to start making some noise if we wanna keep them off Ben.
He moved into the corridor, keeping a hand on the pistol that was holstered at his hip. The gun was set for stun-rounds – he wanted to get through this without killing if at all possible – but he left it powered on so that he could draw quickly.
Footsteps to his right.
Jack spun around, pressing his back to the corridor wall. For a very long moment, he just listened, trying to pick up some sign that someone was coming this way. If only Nassai came with the ability to see around corners. For some odd reason, Summer felt guilty about that. Or at least sorry.
After nearly half a minute of silence, he decided to start inching his way toward the intersection. If he could find some kind of critical system – a science lab, perhaps – and do some damage, that would get-
A security officer stepped out from the adjoining hallway and and froze when he saw Jack. His eyes flared behind the visor of his helmet. “Intruder alert! He's right here in corridor 4-C!” The guy tried to aim his rifle.
Jack snap-kicked, striking the barrel and pointing it upward just before the weapon went off with a POP! POP! POP! Chunks of some kind of building material rained down on the soldier's helmeted head.
Jack slipped past his opponent.
He whirled around, wrapping an arm around the guy's neck and holding the man's body against his own. As he backed away from the intersection, another armoured guard appeared. This one wasted no time shouting for help.
Instead he lifted his rifle for a kill shot, squinting through the visor of his helmet. “Let him go,” the man ordered in a thick accent. He wouldn't fire so long as Jack continued to use his comrade as a shield. “Now!”
“Say please.”
“Let him-”
Jack gave his captive a shove.
The man went stumbling forward like a freight train gone off the tracks, careening toward his partner. Sadly, the second guard was quick-witted. He stepped out of the way and took aim with his rifle.
Jack jumped and did the splits in midair just before the gun went off. Three bullets sped through the space beneath him, and then he dropped to the floor to land in a crouch. Another stream of bullets went over his head.
Jack somersaulted across the cold floor tiles, uncurling to lie flat on his back right in front of his opponent. He kicked up, striking the rifle and ripping it from the man's grip before he could fire.
The guard gasped.
Curling his legs against his chest, Jack kicked out with both feet. A powerful hit to the chest sent the security officer stumbling backward to collide with his colleague, and they both went down in a tangle of limbs.
Jack got to his feet.
Drawing his pistol, he pointed it down at the pair of men who were writhing on the floor. He fired a stun-round into the first guard's neck and watched as the man spasmed from the jolt of electric current.
The other one managed to roll out from underneath his collapsed partner and push himself up on all fours. A stun-round took him in the neck as well – that armour would absorb the current if struck directly; so Jack had to aim for a weak spot – and he flopped about like a fish on dry land before collapsing to the floor.
Best to leave now.
Jack started up the adjoining corridor, silently congratulating himself for defusing that situation without resorting to any of his special abilities. Anna would be proud, and Summer was grateful that he hadn't asked her to tire herself.
The hallway stretched on for several hundred feet with three intersecting corridors in the wall to his left and one in the wall to his right. No sooner had he finished praising himself for defeating two guards than three more came around the corner.
Two men and one woman stepped out from an intersecting corridor, each carrying an assault rifle. Like the others, they were all dressed in black body armour and round helmets with clear visors pulled down over their faces.
They froze upon seeing him.
Half a second later, they had rifles up and ready to fire. Only one thing to do. With Summer's aid, he crafted a Bending, wrapping space-time back upon itself. The air before him seemed to shimmer, light stretching and refracting until the only thing he could see was a blur of swirling colours.
Bullets jerked to a halt in front of him, curving slowly as they followed the path of twisted space-time, each one heading back in the direction it had come from. He allowed the Bending to dissipate.
Three guards were staggering backward through the corridor, having just suffered the sting of their own gunfire. The man on the right had dropped his rifle, and now stood rubbing his upper arm. The guy in the middle looked dazed. Time to press his advantage.
He Bent gravity.
Jack flew through the corridor with his legs curled up against his chest, propelled by an irresistible pull toward his opponents. He planted both feet against the middle guard's chest and rode him down to the floor.
Instinct made him turn in time to see the woman round on him and try to take aim. Jack kicked her hard in the belly. She went flying backward to hit the corridor wall at full force, dropping her weapon on impact.
He grabbed her by the shoulders.
With a growl, Jack turned and flung her at the man who was still standing. They collided before the guy could finish drawing his sidearm, and they both fell to the floor. Now was a good time to-
Jack yelped.
The man he was standing on had seized one of his legs and was now trying to force him off his feet. Keeper strength got him through that mess. Jack pulled his leg free and kicked the guard's face.
He ran past them and ducked into the nearest corridor, seeking cover wherever he could find it. Those three would be on their feet again any moment now.
Move, Hunter, he thought. Move.
Anna had made her way down to the ground level where the dimly-lit corridors felt like long caverns that led to the lair of a sleeping demon. Sometimes, when she passed an intersection, she caught the sound of footsteps or frenzied voices, and one of the locked doors was muffling the sound of a young man who was clearly sobbing, but aside from the odd glimpse of black tactical gear, she had been able to evade her pursuers.
She turned down a corridor that ran parallel to the one outside the cargo bay and froze. Two men walked side by side about thirty paces away, both facing away from her. Should she stun them now?
Anna ducked around the corner.
Pressing her back to the wall, she drew in a slow breath. “Have patience,” she whispered to herself. “No need to start a confrontation. For all you know, they have ten more buddies around the corner.”
She ventured a glance and saw that the two had made it all the way to the far end of the corridor. She was about to follow when something else caught her eye. The doors in this part of the station were a little different.
Instead of the standard-sized doorways that would probably lead to workrooms or crew quarters, one large opening in the wall to her left led to what appeared to be a mess hall. She couldn't get a good look from this angle, but if she was correct, that would be a great place to hide and plan her next move.
Anna started up the hallway.
Scrubbing a hand over her face, she ran fingers through her sweat-drenched hair. “So far, so good, Lenai,” she noted. “Just hold out for Ben to give the all clear, and you can make your way back to the SlipGate.”
She approached the opening and froze.
A man in black stood there with his back turned, peering into a large room with a low ceiling. Several long tables were positioned against the wall to her right, and there was a serving counter along the wall to her left. Definitely a mess hall.
The guard must have heard her footsteps because he turned around and stumbled backward when he saw her. “She's here!” he shouted at the top of his lungs. “We've got an intruder in the mess hall!”
He thrust a gun in her face.
Anna crouched down, seizing his wrist in both hands and pointing the gun upward before it went off with a POP! With Seth's help, she Bent gravity and lifted the man right off the floor.
He flew up to collide with the ceiling, then dropped to the floor, landing face-down at her feet. A groan was her reward for all that trouble. Half a moment later, he looked up to blink at her through the visor.
Anna touched a foot to his chest.
A second flare of Bent gravity sent him sliding backward through the mess hall, screaming as he clawed at the floor to steady himself. For those brief few seconds, he was falling toward the far wall.
Footsteps in the hallway.
Anna reached out to the side, brushing a plastic chair that was positioned at the end of a table. The light Bending she applied would last for barely half a second, but it would have to be enough.
The chair flew backward.
It collided with a guard who tried to come in through the doorway behind her. Knocked back by the impact, he stumbled into the hallway and tripped over the next officer in line. Both men toppled over, falling to the floor.
Anna broke into a sprint, running across the floor tiles. When she looked up, she saw that the man she had kicked across the room had recovered and was already getting to his feet.
Anna leaped, somersaulting through the air. She uncurled to land behind him, then whirled around to face the man. Wrapping an arm around his neck kept him from struggling too much.
She grabbed her stun-pen.
Pressing the tip to the man's neck, she thumbed the release and extended the needle into his carotid artery. In just a few seconds, her captive went still as the tranquilizer put him down. Damn it but this guy was heavy.
Glancing around him, she saw the other two security officers on the far side of the room, standing just inside the doors with assault rifles pointed at her. Neither one would fire so long as she held their comrade captive. “Looks like we have a standoff,” she said.
“Let him go.”
Anna closed her eyes, sweat matting damp hair to her brow. “I don't think so,” she said, shaking her head. “Now, the thing is, I'd rather avoid any more violence. But you're going to have to put down those guns.”
The man cocked his head to one side, blinking at her from behind the visor. “You invade our facility,” he said in a thick accent. “Then you blame us for the use of violence. Leyrians are such arrogant-”
“You have a telepath prisoner here.”
“What of it?”
“You don't understand why holding a human being captive is a problem? And you call me arrogant?”
She drew her pistol and took aim.
A flickering force-field appeared in front of both men just before she squeezed the trigger, her shots bouncing off the buzzing wall of electrostatic energy. Thinking on her feet, she tossed the body aside.
She dove to her right, passing through a narrow opening in the serving counter, and landed on her side next to a stainless steel island. No doubt the serving bots used that to chop up vegetables. “Multi-tool active!” she gasped. “Begin white noise protocol. Jam all electromagnetic and SlipSpace radio frequencies!”
Shots rang out, striking the counter and sending chunks of wood flying. Some of them punched right through, hit the island and ricocheted off it. Her body was aching, but she couldn't stay here.
Anna crawled on her belly across the tiled floor, moving through the narrow space between the island on her left and a series of ovens on her right. There were cupboards at the back of the kitchen, a fridge and several dishwashers. She noticed a large set of doors that would probably lead into the pantry.
All the while, those shots kept coming.
Most flew over her, striking the pots and pans that hung from racks on the ceiling. Others hit the island or the cupboards. Her enemies didn't yet have a good angle to shoot at her. But they were coming. Seth was afraid. Anna didn't blame him. She tried to offer comforting emotions, but the Nassai beat her to the punch.
The prickling tingle in her skin said that she had pushed Seth further than he would like to go; using her special abilities at this point might actually result in her passing out from the strain. And that was a best case scenario.
She reached the pantry and sat up just long enough to pull the heavy door open. She crawled inside, staying low just in case a stray bullet came this way. The door swung shut behind her. It was utterly dark in here, but she could sense the layout of the room through her connection to Seth. Shelves lined all four walls and separated much of the floorspace into narrow aisles.
The top shelf on the wall to her right held several large wooden barrels. Wine, she assumed. With the crew of this station stuck out here in the middle of nowhere – cut off from their own people – they would keep a few luxuries.
Rubbing her nose with the back of her hand, Anna heaved out a deep breath. “Okay. Think, Lenai,” she said to herself. “There has gotta be something that you can use to your advantage in here.”
She got to her feet and walked through one of the aisles, scanning the contents of each shelf with her mind. Only then did she notice the silence. The guards had stopped firing blindly into the kitchen.
She spun around.
The pantry door swung open, revealing two silhouettes standing side by side, each with large bulbous helmets for heads. The fact that they didn't immediately start shooting proved they had some sense. It was generally a good idea to avoid pulling the trigger until you knew what you would hit.
Anna aimed for the barrels on the high shelf.
She fired and listened for the loud POP of cracking wood. Dark liquid splashed out, falling on both men and causing them to stumble backward in surprise. Now she just had to finish them off.
She squeezed the trigger again.
A stun-round took one guard in the neck, where his armour couldn't protect him. Electric current surged through his body, his arms and legs flailing about as he dropped his rifle and fell to the floor.
The other one lifted his weapon. He let loose and sent a wild spray of bullets into the pantry, each one bouncing off the metal shelves with a high-pitched ping! Anna dropped to her knees to avoid being hit.
“Get moving!” she muttered, crawling through the aisle toward the door. She took aim and fired a few more shots.
Slugs hit the man's chest, the current absorbed by his armour. Each one delivered the force of a hard punch, however, and the man went stumbling back. His arms drooped, and then he was firing down at the floor.
Chunks of tile flew upward, bouncing off the visor of his helmet. He collided with the corner of the stainless-steel island and fell hard onto his ass. “Damn it! Damn it! Flay me alive under the Mother's eye!”
One last stun round hit the soft fabric that covered his neck, and then he spasmed, keeling over with a low-pitched groan. His arm twitched a few times before he finally went still. It was over.
She had to get out of this kitchen before more guards came.
As he crouched down with his back to the wall, Jack listened to the sound of voices growing louder and louder. The small conference room in which he had taken refuge was almost totally dark, but he could still make out the long table and chairs.
A set of square-shaped windows on the far wall looked out on the hallway, the view partially hidden behind thin blinds. He saw three guards in heavy tactical gear creeping along through the corridor. Two men and one woman.
One ventured a glance through the window, his face contorting behind the visor of his helmet. If he saw Jack, he gave no sign of it. Instead, the three just kept going without pause. That was close.
Jack hung his head, breathing deeply through his nose. Sweat drenched his hair and made his skin itch. Too close, he added. Give them a few minutes to get gone, Hunter, and then find a new hiding place.
His earpiece squawked.
“Jack?”
Squeezing his eyes tight, he banged his head against the wall. “Nice to hear from you, An,” he replied. “If you're in trouble, you might have to wait a few moments before I can get to you.”
“I'm fine,” she said. “You?”
Jack covered his face with one hand, massaging his aching eyelids with the tips of his fingers. His skin was on fire. “Fine,” he answered. “But I'm not sure how much longer I can avoid the patrols.”
“And Summer?”
“Strained.”
“Seth too,” she explained. “I pushed myself a little harder than I would like. I think it's time we started making our way back to the cargo bay. With any luck, Ben already has the telepath with him.”
“Agreed,” he said. “See you there.”
13
The gray-brown surface of Ganymede filled her canopy window while a wireframe outline of an Antauran fighter sped toward her. Bright blue particle bursts threatened to overpower her shields.
Jena thumbed the hat-switch.
Her ship slid upward, and the bolts zipped past under her belly. The wireframe of her enemy was still there in her window. She reoriented herself and fired with her own particle weapons.
Thin orange bolts converged on her enemy, which flashed as its shields absorbed the impact. “Take that, you little shit,” Jena said. “I was flying these things before you even learned to shave your-”
A harsh screeching sound.
The shuttle used audio signals to alert her to the presence of someone on her tail. She pulled up and watched the moon slide away to be replaced by a field of twinkling stars in the endless night.
Her opponent was still on her ass. The shuttle shook when particle beams hit its backside, jostling her around in her chair. Thankfully, she had always been immune to motion sickness.
