The Ninth: Invasion (33 page)

“Like you’re any better!” Cain shouted back.  “A narcissistic ego manic with a stick wedged so far up her . . .”

“Cain!” Cassandra shouted over him.

Cain blinked for a moment, then looked at the others.

“You with us?” Tyra asked.

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?”

“Good, now take us to some place to hide out for a while.”

“Didn’t you want to go see my dad?”

“Once we have a weapon or two, yes.  For now, let’s concentrate on not getting shot at.”

Cain nodded and started running in a seemingly random direction.  The troopers quickly kept pace behind him.  The locals ducked inside buildings and homes as the troopers passed.  The troopers moved quickly and silently, diving down alleyways and moving up and down levels.  Cain finally came to a stop in front of a rundown looking bar.  A group of children playing ducked out of sight as the troopers gathered in the street in front of the bar.

Cain gestured for everyone to wait as he ran inside.  A moment later, he emerged and led the others down a side alley and down a flight of stairs into the basement of the bar.  A large, muscular man with a disturbingly pale complexion eyed the troopers as they entered.  After the last one was clear, the man sealed a door that had no business in a rundown bar.  The door looked like it was designed to ward off an entire army.

“Man, I haven’t seen you in
forever
.”  The man spoke in a slow and cool manner.  “What kind of trouble you gotten yourself into now, Cain?”

“The ‘I think they are going to shoot us’ kind of trouble,” he said as he took a seat.

“You didn’t come here direct, I hope.”

“Lost all faith in me?  Don’t worry about it.  They’ll get lost a dozen times over before they have any idea which way we really went.”

“Friend of yours?” Tyra asked.

“From way back when.  Long before I darkened Administer Bloom’s doorstep, Romero and I were running scams that would make the bookies in the academy
drool
.”

“You sure he won’t turn us in to the Protectorates?” Cassandra asked.

“You want to say that to my face?”  Romero got to his feet and approached her.

“That’s not a good idea,” Brent said standing between the two.

“Who’s the string bean?” Romero asked, pointing at Brent.

“Romero, mind your manners,” Cain said with a chuckle.  “You have guests.”

“That
string bean
as you call him just stared down twelve heavily armed Protectorates,” Dante said.

“Protectorates?” Romero asked, obviously confused.  “Cain what are they talking about?”

“They weren’t Protectorates,” Rhea stated.  “Protectorates are a branch of the government.  They protect planets of the
Commonwealth
.  This world is managed and run by
Core Industries
, so the government leaves its protection up to the corporation.  Those men we just beat up are part of CI’s private security force.”

“The lady knows her stuff,” Romero said with a nod of approval.

“Would you all just shut up for a minute?” Marie asked.

“You did
not
just tell me to shut up in my own place!”

As Romero turned to face Marie, a pulse of energy shot past his head, leaving a small charred spot on the wall.

“Got it,” Marie said with a smile.

“You . . . did she . . . did you just
shoot
at me?” Romero felt his face to make sure it was still there.

“You bypassed the coding?” Ronald asked.

“It was trickier than the ones we used in practice, but not impossible.”

“Wait a second.  Cain, are you telling me you brought a chick in here that can take a coded gun and make it usable?”

“Yes, I did, no you can’t have her, no you can’t borrow her, and no I won’t change my mind,” Cain said with a grin.

“I thought we were friends man.”

“We are, but I’m not about to become an accessory to armed robbery.”

“That’s low, man.  You know I’d never do something like that.”

“Then you don’t need her services, do you?”

“You haven’t changed a bit.”  Romero started laughing.

“Everyone get ready to move out,” Tyra said, peeking out a window.  “As soon as Marie finishes, we are out of here.”

“Sorry Tyra, but you’ll have to wait a while.

“But you just . . .”  Doug scratched his head.

“That was a side arm.  Look at the wall.  It barely made a scratch.  These rifles could do some serious damage,” Marie said picking up a rifle.

“So the coding is much more complex,” Mr. Springate said, understanding.

“How long are we looking at?” Ronald asked.

“For the side arms? It’ll take me a few hours, maybe more.  If you want the rifles, you’re looking at days to unlock them all.”

“Well, that won’t work; they’ll find us before then,” Tyra said with a sigh.  “Get to work on the side arms.  I’d rather have a water gun than nothing at all.”

“How can you be so sure they’ll find us?” Kindra asked.

“Cain has always been good at giving people the slip,” Romero spoke with obvious experience.

“Those security forces had orders to ignore
Cain
,” Tyra said.  “If their orders were that specific, whoever issued them must have anticipated him resisting.”

“Which means they won’t bother tracing our steps,” Dante said, rubbing his chin.  “They know Cain will take us to a hideout, so they’ll just start searching every place where he has friends.”

“Exactly.  Depending on how many friends Cain has, our time could be
very
limited,” Tyra said.

“Man, these people are
serious
!” Romero said to Cain.

“They are troopers of the Commonwealth, after all.”  Cain shrugged.

“Seriously?”  Romero looked them over with renewed interest.

“Didn’t he know?” Penny asked.

“Eos is a closed world,” Rhea said, taking a seat.  “The nebula keeps everyone without CI permission out.  So, of course, he’s never seen a Protectorate or a trooper before.”

“I’m impressed,” Romero said.  “How do you know so much, little lady?”

“She’s Cain’s rival,” Angela said with a smile.

“Is that a fact?  Why she bother you so much?” Romero asked Cain.  “Doesn’t look all that threatening.”

“It’s probably because she’s part of the ITU,” Doug said with a shrug.

Romero instantly turned on Rhea.

“Moron.”  Mahoney slapped Doug upside the head.

“You brought the
Union
here?” Romero said, closing in on Rhea.

As Romero got close, he threw a punch.  Before anyone could react, Humphrey pushed Rhea out of the way but failed to dodge the blow.  Romero turned to face Rhea as Humphrey gasped for air on the floor.  The blow had apparently hurt,
a lot
.

“Angela, if you please,” Brent said.

Romero collapsed to the floor, clutching his head and panting feverously.

“Dougie, you idiot,” Marie shouted.  “Can’t you keep that mouth of yours shut?”

“How could I know he’d do that?” Doug asked defensively.

“We’re at war.  A group of armed men tried to take her into custody.  What more do you need?  Should I make you a diagram?  Perhaps I should paint a sign as big as the hole in your head.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Cain said, jumping out of his chair.  “Angela, would you release him
after
we’ve left the room?”

Angela nodded as Cain helped his trembling friend to his feet.  Together, the two hobbled over to a side room.  After Cain shut the door, she visibly relaxed.

“Well, this just gets better and better,” Dante said with a sigh.

“Is he okay?” Rhea asked Owen desperately as he looked over Humphrey.

“Had the wind knocked out of him is all.  He’ll be back to his normal mumbling self as soon as he catches his breath,” Owen said, standing.

“Your orders?” Ronald asked Tyra.

“We’re stuck for now.”  Tyra kicked the useless rifle on the ground.  “Getting those side arms in working condition is top priority.  We have no choice but to wait for Marie to finish.”

“I’ll do my best,” Marie said, saluting.

“What about the rest of us?” Sanderson asked.

Tyra rounded the bar and started pouring herself a drink.

“Nothing better to do but toss back a few and keep quiet.”

“Now there’s a plan I can get behind,” Erin said, taking a seat at the bar.

The troopers tried to relax as best they could while Marie worked.  Owen checked everyone over after their afternoon brawl.  They all made sure Doug didn’t have a single drink.

“Brent, what exactly did you tell Angela?” Cassandra asked.

“Yeah, how’d you know a slap would bring him to his senses?” Kindra asked.

“I didn’t,” he said with a shrug.

“That was a guess, sir?” Dante asked with a chuckle.

“It was more than that,” Angela said, taking a sip.  “He told me to go all out on Cain – physically
and
mentally.”

“You told her to use her Weaver powers on him?” Mr. Springate asked.  “Isn’t that dangerous?”

“Not at all,” Brent said with a smile.  “Cain just needed a push.  He’s a fighter above all else.  He couldn’t let Angela have the last word any more than he could let Mrs. Lucchesi have her way that first night on Deriso.  Plus, Angela would never really hurt him.  She wouldn’t hurt any of us.  She’s not that kind of person.”

Angela looked at him in surprise.  She blushed slightly under his praise.

“Not that I want to argue, but you do remember that she tried to
kill
you, sir.”  Dante poured himself another round.

“Of course I do.  How could I forget?” Brent said with a smile.

“Now you’re not making sense on purpose,” Humphrey mumbled.

“Think about it.  Back in the academy, Angela and every other Weaver were trained day in and day out on the intricacies of hurting people, making them doubt themselves, even forcing them to suicide if need be.  How would you see people after years of being taught they are nothing but puppets to be manipulated whenever it suits the mission?”

“When you put it like that . . .” Penny eyed her glass solemnly.

“Then, why is our cute little Weaver so friendly now?” Cain asked, returning from the side room.

“Because of the Gauntlet,” Angela spoke in a weak voice.  “For the first time, I helped people instead of tearing them down.  It felt . . .
wonderful
.”

“I told you she wouldn’t hurt me,” Cain said with a grin.

“Don’t push your luck.  How’s your friend?” Angela asked.

“Fine now.  He’s calmed down a bit.”

“Does he really hate the ITU that much?” Doug asked.

“He lost his older brother to pirates when he was young.  Story goes there was an ITU ship in range that could have saved him.  The ITU ignored the pleas for help, as it would have put them behind schedule to deviate from their jump route.  Romero’s never forgiven them for it.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know,” Rhea said in a depressed voice.

“Don’t worry about it.  It’s not like you had anything to do with it, personally.  Plus, just between you and me, he’s settled the score a dozen times over.”

“How can you be so cheery?” Penny asked.

“What else can I do?  It’s old news to us anyway,” Cain said with a wide grin as he poured himself a drink.  “Me getting all wet and weepy won’t bring his brother back.  Blaming Rhea wouldn’t help either.  A laugh here and a joke there helps keep me focused.  I figure me being ready for the future is a lot more helpful than wallowing in the past.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Doug said, grabbing a bottle.

“Oh no you won’t.”  Mr. Springate quickly snatched the bottle away.

Cain patted Rhea on the back as the troopers chuckled.

“Master Hooten!” a loud voice thundered through the room.  “This is security force three, eight, eight gamma.  We urge you and your fellow troopers to come out in a peaceful fashion with your hands above your heads.”

“Looks like they found us sooner rather than later,” Ronald said.

“Marie, status report,” Tyra whispered as the troopers ducked away from the windows.

“I did the best I could; got you nine side arms,” Marie said, sliding the guns along the floor to the squad leader.

Tyra looked over the unimpressive weapons and passed them to the best shots.

“Cain, you got a plan to get us out of here?” she asked.

“Me?  I did my part getting you here.”

“This is your home.  Don’t you know a way out?”