Zero (20 page)

“
Thank fuck,” she said, leaning back on her bench. “Some sense at last.”

“
You are to stay on the
Zero
and help Spinn monitor the local systems for anything that might hamper the ground team.”

“
Hey, I'm flattered and all Hugo but I ain't exactly a systems whizz,” she protested.

“
Then you can make him coffee,” Hugo said. “And help Kinjo and Sub in the hold. Anything they need, you make sure they get.”

“
Sir,” Kinjo said in a small voice. “Sub and I could cover the apartment block... we could give the ground team warning if anything starts stirring.”

Hugo eyed her, hands clasped together, unblinking. He considered it for a moment but shook his head. “I think the fewer people we've got in the field for this one, Midshipman, the better. If all goes to plan we should be out of there before they even know what's happened.”

“I wish I had a tenth of credit for every 'if' that gets used on this ship,” Harvey muttered.

“
Commander?” Hugo said, looking at Webb where he leant against the wall by the display, still looking at Rami who wouldn't look back. “No protests?”

“
Thousands,” Webb muttered. “But you won't listen so I won't bother.”

“
Good. First thing's first. Everyone needs to get some rest. Flag goes up tomorrow before midnight”

ɵ

“Are you sure you've got all that, Captain?” Webb said.

“
Commander if you ask me that again you're grounded. I'll deploy the welding torch if I have to.”

“
It's just...” Webb scrubbed a hand over his face. “Fuck it. Whatever. Just,
Jesus
, make sure this shit is well,
well
away before you ignite any charges.”

“
I've seen this cement in action, Commander. You don't have to tell me again,” Hugo said, checking over his weapons. He didn't look up to see Webb's face, knowing the tightness in it would only fan the cold flames that were dancing along his nerves.

“
Sir,” Rami leant out the Jeep. “We have to go.”

Hugo climbed into the passenger seat. The ramp went down and Bolt started the engine. The commander's face was pale in the rear-view mirror as they pulled away.

Even on the night cycle the harbour was a hive of activity. Cranes still moaned, scanners beeped, lifters hummed and spacers swore. Floodlights washed everything a sickly sort of yellow and Bolt steered the Jeep down the exitway between loading bays towards the gate. Another customs agent with a computer panel came out of the booth at the gate and shone her lenslight on the reg panel and then in the back on the cargo. She came round to the driver's window.

“
Zero
?” she said around a mouthful of gum. Bolt nodded. She peered at her computer panel. “Your record says you're here buying.”

“
We're taking parts back,” Bolt grumbled.

“
At this time?”

“
I'm on a deadline.”

The woman stood there chewing for a second longer, shining her light first at Hugo then Rami and again on the crates in the back.
“Open it up.”

Bolt sighed and got out the Jeep. Hugo concentrated on sitting still. He watched in the rear-view as Bolt opened the back door and the woman swapped her lenslight for a scanner.

“Won't work,” Bolt grunted, reaching in and keying in code into the topmost box. “Old crates.”

The crate popped open. The woman leaned in with her light, wrinkling her nose.
“I smell bloodgrease.”

“
Cheapskate used it to oil the connectors,” Bolt growled. “Captain told me to get them off the ship. The dealer might like playing it fast and loose but we'd prefer our engines didn't blow in drift.”

“
Too right,” the woman said, leaning back. “You got a purchase record for these?”

Rami handed the woman a panel and she peered at it.
“There's no seller details.”

“
The shit didn't give us his name. But we know where he is,” Bolt said.

“
Fine. Get this crap away from my dock. And report that dealer to the Sector Enforcers.”

“
Yes Ma'am.”

Hugo let out a shuddering breath as the gate disappeared from the rear-view. No one talked as Bolt wove the Jeep through the
dim groundways. The traffic thinned as they left the docks behind. They steered around the clusters of bars and clubs and kept to darkened side-streets. Factories, maintenance yards and warehouses, all locked and closed down for the night-cycle, loomed in the dark around them behind tall fences.

He closed his eyes and reached inside for the part of himself that knew how to wear fear like armour, but all he found was a bleak emptiness. He opened his eyes and clenched his fists until his fingernails dug into his palms and sunk himself into the pain instead, using it to anchor himself.

A barred gate with a blinking control lock and two cameras appeared in the headlights. Bolt drew up alongside them and stopped the Jeep and waited, engine humming.

“
Everyone's panels locked to transmit?” Hugo mumbled.

“
Aye, Captain.”

“
Good. Here we go.”

Two men clothed head-to-toe in black with assault rifles stepped into the Jeep's headlights whilst the gate continued to creak open behind them. They looked like skeletons in the bald light, heads shaved and faces obscured by goggles and dust-scarves pulled up over their noses. They waved them forwar
d. The headlight beams bobbed off a wall of concrete. A finger of light appeared in the solid surface as they edged closer, widening as doors in the side of the structure opened. More silent, faceless figures appeared in the opening, gesturing them through. The interior of the building was brightly lit. There were empty crates and piles of scrap piled on one side, empty workstations on the other. More Splinters with guns were arriving through interior doors, all with scarves and goggles. They took up positions around the Jeep and one tapped the barrel of her rifle on the driver's door. They climbed out in silence.

Hugo peered over the shoulders of the nearest Splinters, trying to make out more of what lay in the room beyond. He made out ranks of crates, racks of guns and a row of armoured flyers before the doors clicked shut.

“Hey, spacer-boy,” someone snapped. “Eyes front.”

Hugo looked away and stepped up beside Bolt. The man who'd spoken, who was so thin his temples looked hollowed-out, kept his face turned toward Hugo a moment longer. Everyone was silent and Hugo felt his palms dampen. Then the first man turned away and gestured to someone further back to come forward. He wasn't in a suit any more but Hugo recognised the man who had relieved him of his weapons in Evangeline's office. The man looked from him to Rami then back to the Splinter and nodded. The thin Splinter turned back to them.

“Bring it out.”

Bolt and Hugo moved towards the back of the Jeep.

“Just you,” the Splinter snapped, pointing at Bolt.

Hugo stayed put as Bolt moved out of sight around the back of the Jeep. He didn't dare look at Rami but kept his eyes focussed on the thin man. Bolt brought round first one then the other crate and lowered the
lifters to the ground.

“
Open them.”

Bolt popped the tops and lifted off the false top-trays of engine parts to reveal the neat cubes of red cement stacked underneath. The leader leaned in to see before nodding to another Splinter at his side. The nominated man slung his rifle over his shoulder and came forward, pulling a device with a long probe from his belt. Hugo counted his heartbeats in an attempt to calm them down. The Splinter knelt by one of the boxes, pulling his goggles off as he leaned in. Hugo was aware of heavy scrutiny locked on him as the man dipped the probe into the cement. There was a series of beeps. The Splinters and Evangeline's man all watched in silence. Hugo watched the leader who watched him right back.

The tester straightened then nodded at the leader before resuming his place.

“
Over there,” came the leader's muffled instructions as he pointed to a spot against the wall. “You got your accounts?”

Rami took a step towards him with her computer panel held out. Hugo looked away when he felt Bolt's elbow in the ribs and turned to fire up the second crate's lifter and follow Bolt with the first to the spot indicated. It made his skin crawl to turn his back on the guns but he forced his pace to be easy and his movements smooth as he stacked the crate in the corner. They returned just as the leader was handing computer panels back to both Rami and Evangeline's man.

“Open the exterior doors,” someone barked and the exit started grinding open again. The ring of men began to break up, some disappearing back into the building, some towards the cement crates. Evangeline's man was talking in the leader's ear but the thin man's blanked-out face was turned toward Hugo still. He didn't look away as Bolt backed the Jeep out of the warehouse.

“
Take us a few miles away, Crewman,” Hugo said as the gates of the compound closed in the rear-view mirror, amazed his voice was steady. He swallowed over and over with a dry throat as they put distance between themselves and the stronghold. He instructed Bolt to pull over once there was more light in the puddles on the groundway.

“
Zero
?”

“
Webb here.”

“
Did you get all that?”

“
Affirmative.” Webb's voice sounded a little too cool, even over the wrist panel's speakers. “Sound like a merry bunch. Did you get inside?”

“
Yes.”

“
And?”

Hugo looked at Bolt who nodded.
“We're going to take out that building. Tonight.”

“
Tonight?”

“
Affirmative,” Hugo said. “Before they get a chance to use the cement.”

“
You think they plan to move that soon?”

“
The building is crammed,” Hugo murmured. “Whatever they're going to do they're ready to do it.”

There was a pause.
“Good luck then, Captain. We'll be listening.”

“
Get Spinn misdirecting the external cameras and sensors where he can. We'll leave it an hour then we move in.”

“
Affirmative. Out.”

“
Take us further away where we can hide the Jeep and get ready,” Hugo said zipping up his jacket and fishing gloves out of his utility belt.

“
Yes, sir,” the crewman said and started the engine. He couldn't read either of their faces and hoped this was only a sign that they were focussed.

It was the slowest hour Hugo could ever recall experiencing. He tried to make himself not watch the chrono but every time he came back to himself he was
staring at the red numbers, ticking from one minute to the next with aching sluggishness. Rami and Bolt murmured to one another as they checked over their tech and the charges in the compartment under the driver's seat, but on the whole it was a silent waiting game. That night cycle seemed darker than the ones he'd spent suited in drift during orientation.

When the hour was up Bolt
edged the Jeep as close to the complex as they dared, parking behind a boarded-up meltworks. They pulled on their goggles and slipped into the dark, keeping to the shadows as they stole over a low wall into the next yard. The bulk of the Splinter warehouse showed up black against blinking track-lines and the distant orange of the colony's night-cycle ceiling. Hugo took up the rear, keeping his ears tuned for any movement.

It seemed like an age later and yet far too soon when he had his back pressed against the compound wall. A glance at his wrist display confirmed they still had four hours left until the day-cycle began. All was silen
t apart from the dull hum of life-support somewhere overhead.

He turned to Bolt and Rami, waiting for his order, and nodded. In the green haze of the night-vision he saw them return his nod, strap on grips and start climbing.

There was no precise ascent through a sensor blind spot this time. This was a scramble with time a beast at their heels. They crested the wall right next to a camera. When they hoisted themselves over and started the climb back down the other side and no shots were fired, he assured himself Spinn had managed to get a hold on the camera feeds at least.

His boots hit tarmac just after Rami's. They crept through the shadows to the back wall of the warehouse.
Nothing moved.

“
Ten minutes,” Hugo whispered after they’d confirmed the coast was clear. “And I don't care what happens, you get in trouble you get on the comm.”

Bolt and Rami nodded
then disappeared into the dark. Hugo watched them go, gathered himself and turned and skirted the warehouse wall in the other direction. He kept close to the concrete, controlling his breathing with an effort. When he reached the corner and peered round, he saw a Splinter patrolling the length of the building, rifle held ready. Hugo ducked back out of sight and pulled out his gun. He held himself still until the man came into view then there was the pop of his silenced weapon and the man lay crumpled on the ground. Hugo stared at him for a moment, the blood showing a dark green in the night vision, then bent, grabbed a handful of his stab-proof jacket and pulled the body around the corner. He shoved it into the deepest shadows and hurried back to the corner.