Deadly Cargo (Jake Mudd Adventures Book 1) Page 4

  Jake grinned at hearing someone else giving Nadira a tough time. He stepped past Jafir, grabbing the other half of his sandwich from him.

  Jafir turned and reached for Jake, who had already stepped away from him. “Hey, that’s mine!”

  Jake mumbled something that sounded a little like ‘hungry’, though his speech came out garbled with his mouth full. He’d taken it in a single bite.

  Jafir tailed Jake as he walked over to Nadira, but let the argument die out. Jake figured the guy realized he came up a foot shorter and sixty pounds lighter.

  Jake stepped behind Nadira as she was swiping her finger down the side of the display screen on the wall.

  “So, what’s going on?”

  “Give me a minute. I’m just trying to get him down here.”

  The screen flickered, and static came through a speaker. Then the screen cleared to an image of another reddish-skinned man, but he looked to be larger, stronger, like he could handle himself. He wore a dark blue jacket. He appeared much more formidable than the man that gave Jake a sandwich. Jake wondered if the two of them would get along, or if he’d have to test the man’s mettle at some point.

  “Hello, Nadi,” the man said. “I didn’t think I would see you again any time soon.”

  “It wasn’t my fault, Rekla” she said. “We’ve been through all this before, but we don’t have time for it now.”

  “Why is that?” he said.

  “We’re going in,” she said, “after my father.”

  “You know that’s suicide?”

  “No. I don’t know that. I have to get him back, and he’s going to help me.” She nodded to Jake who stood just behind her left shoulder.

  “And who’s he?” Rekla asked.

  Nadira glanced at Jake again. “The delivery guy.”

  Rekla’s face soured. “Why does he care?”

  “He’s got his reasons. We have an agreement.”

  Rekla looked at Jake. “Is this so?”

  Jake stepped around Nadira. “I’m just going to get what’s mine. And to finish the job I came to Daedalon to do.”

  Nadira spoke up again. “So, are you going to help us?”

  Rekla looked to her, and to Jake, then back to her. “You know I will. But he’s your baggage.”

  “I’m nobody’s baggage,” Jake said. “If you go with us, fine. But don’t end up on the wrong side if a shootout starts.”

  “Fair enough,” Rekla said. “The others and I will meet you in the prep room in a few minutes. Feel free to grab something from the kitchen on your way.”

  The screen went blank.

  Nadira turned to face Jake.

  “So, where’s the kitchen?” he said.

  She rolled her eyes, then walked to the hallway across the room.

  CHAPTER 8

  K harn gripped the man's throat. The Cracian administrator had just informed his emperor that the package was not yet on its way back. The man's eyes teared and his face grew pale. He made small clicks and gurgles with his throat as Kharn squeezed.

  "You assured me your man had the package in hand," Kharn said.

  The administrator's knees buckled, dropping his body downward, but Kharn held him still.

  "Your services have proven unworthy." He released the man's throat, letting him collapse to the floor.

  He turned away from him and stepped to a table nearby. He lifted a decanter and poured himself a drink. "Remove that."

  Two guards who had been standing motionless and silent by the door hurried to retrieve the administrator, who still lived, but couldn't get up unassisted. They lifted him and carried him from the room.

  Kharn took a sip of his drink.

  He walked over to the controls to the left of his large viewing window, glancing at the mountain vista as he passed by. He tapped a square on the surface of the panel.

  "Sir?" The voice from the speaker was a woman's, spoken with a crispness, but there was an undercurrent of static.

  "Any word from our agents?" He took another sip of his drink.

  "We've received word from Jafir."

  "And why wasn't I informed before now? My orders were to be notified at once."

  "The contact only came in a while ago. The transmission was scrambled. The storms, as usual. We just finished clearing it up."

  "And?"

  "You were right. She's contacted Rekla for help. She has it."

  "Good."

  "What shall I tell them?"

  Kharn stood for a moment before answering.

  "Tell them to get the package, at any cost."

  "And Nadira?"

  "At any cost."

  "But sir, her father, we need him to finish it."

  "Leave him to me. Just bring me the package."

  "Understood, sir. One more thing."

  "What is it?"

  "She has someone with her, a man. He may be trouble."

  "Rekla can deal with him. Bring me the package."

  Kharn pressed the square on the panel again. The speaker clicked and went silent.

  CHAPTER 9

  J ake and Nadira entered the prep room, Jafir followed them. It was the smallest room they’d been in. A long metal table in the center took up most of the room, leaving just enough space around it for everyone to get to their chairs. Four people had taken their seats, two women and two men. One of those four was the man Nadira talked to on the display. Jake, Nadira, and Jafir took their seats.

  “How did you get out?” Rekla asked.

  Nadira glanced around the table. “I had a plan, Rekla. It almost worked.

  “Why didn’t it?”

  She looked at Jake.

  “Don’t blame me,” Jake said. “You tell a guy to shoot me, I’m not going to stand around asking questions.”

  “A Cracian,” Nadira said. “The plan went bad, but actually,” she looked at Jake, “he saved me.”

  “Not good," Rekla said. “Now they’ll be after you. And you lead them here. I thought you knew better than that.”

  “You, of all people, have no right to judge me. Besides, we’re not waiting for them. We’re taking the fight to them.”

  Jake leaned into the conversation. “I’m not one to shy away from a fight, if someone’s insisting on it. But my plan is to go in and get what I’m due, then get out of there. Having a gun battle with a thousand Cracians, and only a few of you on my side is something even I can recognize is not the best idea.”

  “You’re right,” Nadira said. “We will try to go in quietly. But the fact is, we may get in undetected, but getting out will be a little more difficult. My father is under heavy guard. It’s not likely his disappearance will go unnoticed for long.”

  “Look,” Rekla said, “we decided not to go to the Untamed Lands because we got tired of running. And now,” he looked around the table, “we’re tired of hiding. We’ll help you get your father out as quietly as possible. But I have no desire to live out the rest of my life hiding in caverns.”

  A couple of the others at the table spoke up. “Agreed.” “Truth.”

  Nadira reached into her pants pocket and pulled out a small metal disc, the size of the tip of her thumb. She placed it on the table. “These are the plans for their base. My father passed them to me before they took him away.”

  “Right then,” Rekla said. "You've looked them over?"

  "I have."

  “Show us where they’re keeping him, then we’ll gear up.”

  “We should move in before the storm dies down,” Nadira said. "We should be able to get there undetected that way."

  “Will the trenches take us all the way there?” Jake asked.

  “Almost,” she said. “There’s a quarter-mile perimeter around the base. We’ll go on foot from that point in. A mountain range protects one side of the plateau. The rest is mostly flat land, but no trenches get close to the base.

  Jake glanced up. “And the storm?”

  “I didn’t say it would be easy.”

  Rekla go
t up from his seat and walked over to Nadira. He held out his hand. She gave the disc to him. He stepped over to a display screen on the wall, like the one in the other room. He inserted the disc into a slot below the screen. A blueprint of the Cracian base appeared. Still facing the screen, he dipped his chin downward and said something, touching a device on his collar. Jake couldn't hear what he said.

  Rekla moved to the side, so everyone could see the display. “Ok. Show us where we’re going.”

  He backed away from the screen some more, taking a spot at the corner of the room.

  Odd.

  A loud boom sounded. The wall behind them exploded. The steel casing that covered the rock and dirt wall ripped back and scattered on the floor behind them. The lights flickered. Chunks of debris flew across the room.

  A hand-sized piece of the wall struck the man seated beside Rekla’s empty chair. The rock busted his head, leaving a gash that quickly filled with blood. The man collapsed backward against his chair, then dipped to the side and fell to the floor.

  The two women seated with their backs to the wall that exploded were sprawled across the table. Jake saw how bits of grit from the wall flew into both their backs. Scattershot. He instinctively dove away from the wall as it erupted. On his way to the floor, he scooped Nadira into his right arm, taking her down with him. A piece of debris grazed his shoulder, but it only cut shallow.

  The dust settled after a moment. Jake heard coughing. Nadira moaned, but he knew he’d shielded her from most of the blast and debris. “Are you OK?” he asked her.

  “Yes. The others?”

  Jake stood up to assess the damage. Two bodies sprawled across the table. Motionless. Wounds on their necks removed any doubt. He stepped around Nadira, who was kneeling on the ground, dazed. He assessed the man that had been sitting next to Rekla’s spot. No question about him either. His story had ended. Rekla leaned against the wall next to the display screen. He was bent over with his hand on his knee. A bit of shock, maybe. No severe wounds visible. Distance from the blast.

  Lucky timing.

  “Three down for good,” Jake said. He turned to see how Jafir faired. “Where is he?”

  Nadira rose to her feet and glanced around at the carnage. “Jafir?” She cupped her hand over her mouth at the sight of the two women draped over the table and of the man on the floor, his head resting in a pool of his own blood. “Rekla, where’s Jafir?”

  Rekla pushed off from his knee and walked toward her. He looked around the room. “He’s not here.”

  Debris littered the floor, but not enough to hide another body.

  Rekla touched Nadira’s shoulder as he passed her. “I’ll check the next room.” Then he turned to Jake. “Thank you for shielding her from the blast.” He looked at Jake's right shoulder, a tear in his shirt, the cut bleeding, but only a trickle. "We have some medical supplies. I’ll get them for you. He glanced at the man on the floor and the two women on the table. “Too late for them, I’m afraid.”

  Jake nodded to him.

  Rekla left the room to check for Jafir.

  “Nadira,” Jake said. “We need to move. This doesn’t add up.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The damn wall just blew in and Rekla is going to fetch medical supplies for this?” Jake glanced at his shoulder. “Too calm. We may still be in danger.”

  “Yes.”

  “Maybe an accident. Spark in the wrong area. Who knows? But I bet somebody detonated that wall. Come on.”

  Jake took her hand to lead her out of the room. She let him.

  CHAPTER 10

  J ake and Nadira left the destruction and death of the prep room seeking answers. They walked into the other room. Empty.

  “Where’s your friend?” he asked.

  “Not my friend.”

  They checked the next room too.

  “No sign of Jafir either. How well do you know these guys?”

  “Well enough.”

  “Sounded like you and Rekla have some bad blood.”

  “We had a falling out, but that was a long time ago.”

  Jake flicked open the strap across the grip of his blaster. “Stay close to me until we figure out what’s going on.”

  “It must’ve been an accident. This facility is secure and we’re the only ones who know of its existence. I’m certain.”

  “In that case.” Jake pulled his blaster from its holster, then he took out Nadira’s weapon. “He started to hand it to her. “Try not to shoot me.”

  “You don’t think?” She reached for it, but he pulled it back before she grasped it.

  “That’s exactly what I think. One or both set that blast. Too convenient that Rekla stood at the far side of the room, out of range. And sandwich boy probably slipped out just before the blast.” He tucked her blaster back under his belt. "But I think I'll hang on to this for now."

  "I'd rather have it handy," Nadira said, "but I get it."

  They passed through the kitchen and a couple more rooms. No one in sight.

  “That’s it,” she said. “The only area left is the landing bay.”

  “The pods.”

  They hurried back to the massive room they had arrived in. The three transport pods sat parked as before.

  Jake led, his blaster held in front of his chest, at the ready. Nadira followed him. She kept behind him, but poised to react to any threat.

  Jake tipped his head back toward her, but kept his eyes forward. “Stay near the wall until we get closer.”

  She nodded.

  A hundred feet to the first transport pod, he raised his hand and gestured toward the sphere. A man’s leg jutted out around the pod’s edge. Someone at the far side of the sphere, doing something to the vehicle.

  “Come on,” he said to Nadira. He sprinted toward the man, using the pod as cover. The noise from his footfalls carried through the metal-lined room and the man from behind the pod stepped into view, a gun in hand.

  The blasts from the man’s weapon zipped past Jake and Nadira, missing by a couple of feet. They couldn’t make out the gunman’s face. But Jake recognized the scrawny build. “Jafir. That little bastard. Glad I took his sandwich.”

  He returned fire, still running to get to the sphere to block Jafir’s line of fire.

  Outmatched, Jafir bolted. He ran away from them, toward the next pod down the bay.

  Jake and Nadira veered their run to chase him down. Jafir was fast. He was opening a gap between him and his pursuers.

  As they neared the first pod, where Jafir had tampered with something, Jake saw him glance back at them. Jafir slowed his run enough to pull a device from his pocket. The first pod exploded. A flash. A wave of heat. The air smacked Jake and Nadira hard, taking them off their feet. Jake questioned the blackness filling the room as he flew backwards. Everything went quiet. Dark.

  CHAPTER 11

  J ake felt the cold from the metal floor against his cheek, a stark contrast to the heat radiating from the wound on the side of his head. Both sensations reminded him he was still alive. He also felt bits of grit caked to his skin, on his face, his arms — debris from the blast. His nose drew in the lingering vapors of burned components from the pod, polymers of some kind. He opened his eyes.

  Nadira lay a few feet in front of him, head to one side, her eyes closed. He would have thought she was only sleeping were it not for the trickle of blood dripping down her forehead. He reached his hand out to her, diverting the slow red stream before it reached her eye.

  She stirred slightly at his touch.

  “Nadira?” He folded his reddened finger and used the back of his hand to caress her face.

  She opened her eyes. “I guess we didn’t stop them.”

  He smiled at her. “What gave you that idea?”

  They got to their feet, unsteady at first. After a moment, the shock from the blast wore off.

  He looked to where the pod had been, while she glanced around to get a handle on what happened.

  �
�I guess we won’t be leaving the same way we came,” he said, nodding to the two piles of debris, all that was left of two transport pods. The third one was missing.

  Nadira held her hand out to Jake. "I'd feel better with a weapon. I was as much a target as you were."

  Jake hesitated. Then he pulled it out of his belt and handed it to her.

  She took it and holstered it. Then she turned to see the destroyed pods. “I can’t believe he did that.”

  “They were working together.” Jake holstered his blaster too, then stepped over to her to glance at the wound on her head. “You’re lucky. It’s not too bad.” He ripped a piece off the bottom of his shirt and used it to dab the blood from the cut on her head. “This is your planet. Any chance we get out of here on foot?”

  “Halcion Station is the only place within walking distance of here.” She looked around the room, then sighed. “But I suppose that’s where you want to be going now.”

  “Why the hell would I want to do that?”

  Nadira looked confused. “I just figured all this would be too much trouble for you. You just came here for a delivery. This is my problem, and it looks like I may not be able to do anything for my father after all.”

  “You don’t know me that well,” Jake said, “but one thing you can count on is that I keep my word. I’m going to make my delivery, and I will help you rescue your father.”

  "Thank you."

  Jake pulled his comm device off his belt. "We can get the shuttle back down here." He flipped it on. "Sarah."

  Silence.

  "Sarah, we're going to need the shuttle."

  No response.

  "Could be the rock," Nadira said. "We're pretty deep."

  "That's never been an issue before."

  "Storms then. The ones in the upper atmosphere get highly energized. Sometimes I can't even get through on a connection down here."

  "That's just perfect. Seemed like it was going to be such a good day this morning."

  He clipped the comm device back to his belt. Then he looked at Nadira. He realized her problems were bigger than his.

  "Ok," he said. "Maybe that's the worst of our troubles. Let's get going."