Equinox (24 page)

They passed high-rises, squat shanty dumps and fully sealed towers all squashed up against each other. Brown rust, cracked walls and windows razed by the sandstorms. Still, it was thriving. People crowded the walkways and there was plenty of trade.

He got off the main artery and headed towards the Freezone, taking the back streets. The hotel was in a run-down area near the end of a cul-de-sac, sandwiched between a seedy Immerse XXX bar and a robotics seller. At the end of the street was the rear of a ten-storey mega mart, and a fenced off construction site took up most of the opposite side. He stopped near a boarded-up shop a block away from the back of the hotel and checked the time.

“Ten minutes to eight,” he said quietly. Dalton shifted behind him, but neither got off the bike.

“Looks too quiet,” Dalton said. Pip agreed. There were only a few people around and most of them seemed out of it, some just sitting on the pavement staring at nothing and talking to themselves.

The back of the Freezone rose five storeys above the sidewalk, with rows of small dirty windows marking the rooms. The only access was a shallow set of steps and a single door marked fire exit under a rusted overhang. A large square crate was on the sidewalk, one side partially caved in, as if it had been thrown from a great height. The stink of piss and stale beer wafted towards them. No sign of Rosie and no sign of anyone else. Something felt off, but Pip could see nothing to account for it.

“Going to have to check it out,” he said.

They got off the bike, coding it so it would only start with one of their thumb prints.

“Where’s Kev?” Dalton said. “Inside?”

“Yeah, there’s a back room with a side exit.” Pip pulled the gun from his waistband and they began walking towards the hotel.

The other people on the street took no notice of them. It was quiet, the sounds of the city traffic and humanity just a dull roar.

“I’m getting a bad feeling,” Dalton said.

“You’re not alone.” Pip’s heart rate was spiking, his muscles tensed.

Rosie almost didn’t call out to them. She’d been huddled at the table next to the window in the Immerse bar for what felt like hours but was actually less than twenty minutes. The bar had no patrons and was little more than a dark foyer with a few sticky tables, a booth for the attendant and a hallway leading to the Immerse rooms. The androgynous attendant didn’t seem to care that she only wanted to sit down. She took another thread of stim to keep alert and tame the implant, but mixed with adrenaline it made her feel like she was plunging through planetfall without a chute. When Pip and Dalton walked past she didn’t quite register them.

She saw Pip’s dark head then Dalton’s dirty blond one and didn’t quite believe it was them, even though she’d been hoping so fiercely they’d show. But then her brain clicked into action and she leaped off the stool.

“Pip! Dalton!” She was two steps out the door behind them. They boys spun around, eyes wide with surprise. But before they could say anything another voice shouted, “Get down!” It was not the kind of command to be ignored. All three of them dropped to the pavement as pulse fire hit the building above their heads in a spray of dust.

“Move!” Agent Sulawayo was charging from a gap in the fence over the road, a gun in each hand. She fired towards the Freezone, where two Helios grunts were shooting at them from behind the crate.

Rosie lunged back towards the Immerse, the boys behind her, but met two more grunts who were coming out.

“Rosie!” Pip yanked her backwards. She stumbled, overbalancing. Pip lifted his gun but wasn’t fast enough. The first grunt caught Rosie’s arm, threw her aside into the street and knocked Pip’s gun away as he tackled him. Her head struck the road. All the air left her lungs and specks of light danced in her vision. Pulse fire whizzed and spat off metal and brick and she rolled to the side, dizzy, trying to find some cover. Sulawayo was crouched behind a bin on the other side of the street, firing at the grunts, and both boys were wrestling with others. One of them had Pip against the wall, choking him. Rosie looked around desperately for some way to help. Pip’s gun was near the kerb. She scrambled for it, but someone seized her arm and wrenched it up behind her. She screamed.

“That’s not for little girls,” another grunt said. He kicked the gun away, sending it skittering down the street. She tried to hit him with her other fist, but he inched her arm higher chuckling.

She almost passed out. He was going to break her arm. White sparks made her vision swim, then she caught a blur of motion and a body hit the grunt from the side, throwing him off her. There was a sharp musky scent of leather and she caught a brief glimpse of a man’s face, dark skin and the flash of eyes the colour of river mud. Then he whirled towards the grunt who was sprinting away up the street. His long coat billowed as he moved and Rosie saw a knife at his waist. Seconds later the knife was embedded in the grunt’s back and he went down. The man then sprang on the grunts tackling Pip and Dalton. He attacked so fast he didn’t seem human. His arms sliced the air and the grunt who’d been strangling Pip was on the ground. Then Dalton was left standing as his opponent hit the pavement with nothing more than a startled exhalation. The man bent and stripped both grunts of their weapons. Then he was gone, moving fast towards the Freezone.

Rosie realised then the gunfire had stopped. Agent Sulawayo was out in the street, clutching her side, and another man like the one who’d rescued them was standing over the two other grunts who were out cold on the ground. A third man was with them. It had all happened shockingly fast.

Rosie tried to lever herself to her feet. Her left arm was throbbing and she had to hold it close to her side.

Dalton ran to help her. “You all right?” He was breathing fast and was bleeding from a cut to his mouth, but seemed okay. Pip had collapsed on the sidewalk and was shuddering and sucking in breaths, his head dropped between his bent knees.

“Better than you two.” Rosie went to Pip.

“I’m okay,” he said hoarsely as she reached him. He pushed to his feet, brushing away the hand she offered. He wasn’t steady though and a decent bruise was already forming under his right eye. Rosie watched him with concern. “Quit looking at me like that,” he said. “Anyone’d think you liked me or something.” A pained smile curved his lips, then he winced and touched his jaw. “Ow.”

“Who are they?” Dalton said.

“Yalgu Warriors,” Pip answered. “Who the hell is that woman with Kev?” He was watching Sulawayo talk to the third man and the warriors.

“That’s Agent Sulawayo,” Rosie said. “I thought she worked for Riley, but she’s Helios.”

“What?” Dalton said. “But–”

“Why the hell was she firing at the Helios grunts?” Pip interrupted. “And how is she even here?” He scanned the ground. “Where’s my gun?”

Kev and Sulawayo were heading their way, leaving the warriors to drag the grunts off the streets.

“She was on the train,” Rosie said.

“When we got attacked?” Dalton said.

Rosie shook her head. “I don’t know. I saw her at Capricornia. I thought she was going to help me. Then she said she was Helios, but that she’s part of a breakaway faction. She said that they want to change the way Helios operates. She wanted me to join them.” She looked at Pip. “Because she wants you.”

“Everyone wants me,” Pip rasped. “It’s my charm and good looks; I’m irresistible.” But his voice was far from even. He’d found the gun now and held it pointed down but ready. He watched Sulawayo approach, something dangerous behind his eyes.

“Pip …” Rosie put a hand on his arm. A muscle ticked in his jaw and she shared a worried look with Dalton who slowly stepped up to Pip’s right side. Sulawayo still had a weapon at her waist and was watching them closely. Even injured, Rosie doubted she’d be hampered.

“You kids okay?” Kev reached them. He was Pip’s height, in his thirties, dark skinned, with a face that looked like it smiled often. Just not now. “Rosie, I’m guessing, and Dalton.” His gaze took in the both of them.

Sulawayo held onto her injured side, but stood tall. “Pip.” She inclined her head at him.

Pip met Sulawayo’s gaze. “Kev, Rosie says she’s Helios.” Kev paused for a millisecond, then his gun was up and he stepped back pointing it at her, his face set hard.

“You said you worked for Riley,” Kev said.

“I did.” Sulawayo looked at him sideways, still keeping an eye on Pip. “I am also Helios but I’m not with those others.”

“You better explain that fast,” Kev said.

“She said she’s part of a rebel faction in Helios,” Rosie said.

Sulawayo acted as if Kev’s gun wasn’t pointed at her head. Her dark eyes found Rosie. “Changing things from the inside. You could help.”

“I don’t think so,” Pip said softly.

“You can too. Maybe Rosie could tell you how.”

“You leave her out of this.” Pip’s voice had become dangerously low, but Sulawayo only smiled.

“I saved your lives just now. Why would I do that if I’m a threat? We want the same things.”

“I doubt that,” Dalton said.

She sent him a measured glance. “I’m not sure what you’re planning, but my people are going to take over the base in Gondwana Nation. It’s probably best you stay out of it, for now. You don’t know what you’re up against.”

“Enough,” Kev said. He turned and whistled to get the warriors’ attention, then raised a hand and beckoned one of them over. “I don’t have time to deal with you now, but my friends here will keep you company – in case you have any ideas about following.”

“My people will be here soon,” Sulawayo said. “They will outnumber them.”

“Numbers don’t mean much to the Yalgu.”

“We won’t give them any trouble – unless they try to stop us leaving.”

“That will be between you and them,” Kev said.

“I am on your side,” Sulawayo said. “Isn’t that right, Rosie?”

Her dark eyes glittered and Pip stepped forwards, pushing Rosie behind him. He pointed his gun at Sulawayo. “You don’t talk to her.” His voice was rough with threat and the gun whined, powering up.

“Pip–” Rosie’s heart leaped with fear. Dalton moved like he was going to block him, but Kev stepped between Pip and Sulawayo.

“Relax, bro.” He carefully put a hand on Pip’s gun hand, pushing it down, and nodded at the warrior who’d reached them. “Take her weapon. Will you keep her here?”

“Until we leave.” The warrior held out his hand for Sulawayo’s gun. She calmly gave it to him, showing no sign of fear.

Kev spoke over his shoulder to Pip. “You and Rosie take that bike you’ve got. You know where to go. Dalton, you’re with me.”

Rosie, tense with fear, looked at Dalton. He was less than happy about leaving her.

Pip holstered his gun and she felt his muscles trembling as he took her arm. “Come on.” He cast Sulawayo a hard look as they moved off.

Pip drove the bike to a boarded-up building a few blocks away. Rosie squinted as they rolled inside, trying to adjust to the dimmer light. The air smelled of dust and grease. Three more bikes were lined up near the door. Kev and Dalton were passing a drink bottle between them and Pip pulled up next to them, dropping a foot to the floor. He kept the bike running. The cut on Dalton’s lip had dried but his mouth was swelling and he looked pale and exhausted. Like all of them. He handed her the water bottle.

“Thanks.” She took a long sip, not bothering to get off the bike.

“Picking up stray girls again, Pip?” a voice said behind her. Rosie jumped and almost choked as a tall, slim blond girl came out of the darkness. “Rosie Black, I presume?” Her cold gaze swept Rosie from head to toe and clearly found her lacking. “I thought you’d be taller.”

“Cassie? What the hell is she doing here, Kev?” Pip glared at her.

This
was Riley’s sister. Rosie stared. She was beautiful, in an angular kind of way, with the same straight nose and brown eyes as her brother, but her mouth looked thinner, harder. Or maybe that was just the way she was looking at Rosie, like she was some kind of unpalatable alien life form.

“She followed me,” Kev said. “And we’ve already had words. You need any more fuel, Pip?”

“No, we’re good.” Pip was still glaring at Cassie, who looked unconcerned.

Kev got on a bike. “I’ve got a jumper lined up to get us over the border and back to Worla. But we gotta motor; the border pass expires in an hour.”

“What happens if we’re late?” Rosie said.

“Border patrol zaps our bird.”

“He means the jumper will be externally locked down,” Pip said. “They’ll electro pulse it so we can’t lift off. And we’ll be stuck here until tomorrow. Kev will have to clear us again.”

“That’s about the size of it. Take that one, Dalton.” Kev pointed to another bike.

“Any idea where my brother is, super girl?” Cassie said to Rosie.

“No one knows; he disappeared.”

“I wonder why.” Cassie’s tone implied she thought it was Rosie’s fault.

“Cassie, get on your bike,” Kev barked. She rolled her eyes as if they were sharing some private joke, but the look in them could have poisoned a viper.