Retired – Chapter Four – Battle in the dark

My eyes snapped open early in the morning hours. I was spooned against Lizell’s back, and sometime in the night we had stripped down to our underwear. I had a real problem. The end of my dream had left me in a condition that could be a serious embarrassment if Lizell woke up.

I started to move and her voice whispered out of the dark. “Who is Pralla?”

“She was my commanding officer in the Praetorian Guard.”

“She must have been one hell of a commanding officer,” Lizell said, as her legs squeezed the evidence between them.

“We were very good friends. We helped each other when we needed it.”

Lizell rolled her head to look at me. I could just see her eyes in the light of the heater unit. “What are we going to do, Drake? We are trapped on a planet with people trying to kill us. Then you bring us to where most of those people are located.”

“We are going to get to the spaceport and commandeer a shuttle. Then I will get you somewhere safe.”

“Where is safe? A jump shuttle can’t get out of the system. They also aren’t armed.”

“I don’t know. I am stuck. If we wait for help to arrive it could be weeks. Any way I think of to get you out has flaws.”

“You could get yourself out if not for me, couldn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Then why are you protecting me?”

“Because, you are an innocent in this. Your life is threatened because of me.”

“I think you have that backwards. Your life would not be threatened if it wasn’t for me.”

I shook my head. “This is too well planned. You were set up to find the information. They needed you to lead them to me.”

“How did they know I would find you?”

“They didn’t. They gambled.”

Lizell sat up and turned the lamp on. “What kind of equipment do you have in those bags?”

“A little of this, a little of that.”

“Do you have a sniper rifle?”

“A couple, why?”

“Can you teach me to use it?”

“I could teach you to shoot the wings off a fly.”

“Good, there is an old hanger at the space port. I saw inside it when we landed. There is an old star yacht inside the hanger. If we can commandeer it, we have a way out.”

“What is your plan?”

“You get me to the top of the communications tower. I will cover you until you get to the yacht. Then you swing by and pick me up and we run like hell.”

“What kind of star yacht is it?”

“It is one of the big old ones, with the side masts.”

“Those came standard with jump radios. If we get to it I can call for help. Let me do some scouting, and I will see what we can do. What do you want for breakfast?”

“Food would be nice.”

“Stay put, and stay down. If I am not back inside an hour, hunker down and try to survive until help arrives.”

“If you are not back in two hours, I am coming to look for you.”

I left her and headed off in another direction. It was dark down here, but the occasional vent gave some light. I found an access after a few minutes and headed up.

When I lifted the hatch I noticed the streets were still empty. I had hit the jackpot though, if I could make it there unobserved. Directly across the street from the alley was a sporting goods shop.

I climbed out and moved to the end of the alley. There was a car at the far end of the street with two men leaning against it. They were facing away from me, and I slipped across the street unnoticed.

I moved to the back of the store and broke in. The first thing I did was grab a hover cart and power it up. Then I moved to the tools area and grabbed a tape measure. The cart would fit down the hatch. I started to pile the cart high with food items, camping gear, a battery-operated stove, and some extra batteries. Then some small propane tanks went in the cart. Then I headed for the ammo area. I started to load up on rounds that would fit my weapons. Then I noticed a spot of luck. This had to be the only shop on the planet that carried black powder. I threw several cans in the cart. Then I moved to the fishing gear and gathered several large spools of line. I shortly had a cart full of enough food and gear to keep us going for a couple weeks.

I moved to the back door and peeked out. That damn car was sitting right at the end of the alley.

Both men were standing there and talking. I heard snippets of their conversation.

“Jax, you are just strange. Why did you have to kill that woman?”

“I thought she was good, so I didn’t want anyone else to enjoy her.”

“That is bullshit! You just get off on the killing. Besides, she couldn’t have been good — you were raping her.”

My anger boiled up and I raised my weapon.

“You’re right. She really wasn’t that good. Maybe we can find another one wandering the streets.”

“We need to keep our mind on our job. The duchess is going to be pissed if we don’t kill this bastard before we have to leave. The imperial forces will be headed this way as soon as they realize the planet is off the communications grid.”

“That doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy ourselves while we are here. How often do you get a chance to rape someone?”

I was seeing red, I aimed very carefully and started to squeeze the trigger. Then my mind cleared. If I killed these two, they would be missed. If they died this close to the access hatch, our hiding place might be given away.

I gave a light growl and started to lower my weapon. I watched and engraved their appearance in my mind. A few minutes later, they got into the car and drove off.

I pushed the cart out into the alley and looked across the street. The car was now a couple hundred yards down the street. The men had not exited the vehicle yet, so I dashed across the street and into the alley. I quickly opened the access hatch and pushed the hover cart over the top of it. As the cart sank into the tunnels I entered and climbed down the ladder, shutting the hatch behind me.

I was about a hundred feet up the tunnel from our hiding place when I saw the light, from our lamp and heater, go out. I froze and listened. There was the sound of a motor in the tunnels.

I moved to the shadows and waited. Soon there was a bright light shining down the tunnel. They were searching the tunnels for us. I don’t know how they found the tunnels. They had been closed so long, most people did not know they were here. I only knew about them because Randall and I had discovered them as kids.

The light passed on and headed down another tunnel. I started moving again and soon was at the platform. I heard the slight click as the safety on one of the pistols clicked off. “It is me. Relax.”

“Damn it, Drake, I could have shot you. They are searching the tunnels.”

“I saw. We are going to have to go deeper in. There is a tunnel I am pretty sure they won’t search. Let’s load the bags on this cart and head there.”

We quickly had the bags on the cart and were moving through the tunnels.

“Where is this place they won’t search?”

“There is a section of the tunnels that collapsed. There is a way through if you know how. The other side is a dead end with another controller’s office.”

“I guess there is food in the cart?”

“There should be enough for us to last a while if we need to.