Zero (21 page)

After having confirmed there was no other patrol in sight, he knelt and pulled a charge from his pack, nestled it into the juncture between the ground and the wall and pressed
a code into the keypad. There was a bleep and a small red light flashed twice and then went black. Hugo got up and ran the length of the building to the next corner. Once again he flattened himself against the concrete and peered around. He could see the barred gate, sentries on either side, but they were both facing away. Hugo knelt and laid the second charge, activated it and then sprinted back the way he had come.

Rami turned the opposite corner just as he came back round the rear of the building and waved for him to follow her. He kept close to her heels as they
hurried to join Bolt waiting at a side door. They took up positions on either side and Rami glanced at her wrist panel and held up her hand, splaying the fingers.

Five minutes
, she mouthed. Hugo checked his gun then stared ahead into the faint haze of the night vision feeling blood pulse through his hands.

Five minutes ticked by and then
three more before the next patrol opened the door. A man and a woman stepped out, pulling their dust-scarves up over their faces as they did. Hugo's and Rami's shots hit the first one in the head and chest and then a shot from Bolt brought down the other. There was barely even a sigh from them as they crumpled to the ground. They dragged the bodies out of sight from the door then ducked in, clicking it shut behind them.

He pulled down his goggles, blinking in the brightness and followed Rami and Bolt at a run down the bare corridor. They ducked through the first open door and found themselves in
the dark and echoing hangar. In the light from the corridor he made out stacks upon stacks of munition crates, racks of guns and the gleam of yards and yards of bullet belts as well as the row of armoured fighters hulking in the shadows like insects. All three of them stood frozen and stared around at the stockpile for a moment before Rami brought them back with a click of her fingers. They let the door close behind them, plunging them back into darkness, and used a lenslight to start searching.

“
You think getting the cement back through the gate is the best option?” Hugo whispered as he helped Bolt check over the nearest stack of crates.

“
It's the quickest way,” Bolt muttered.

Hugo didn't ask any more and just focussed on the search, aware of time ticking by.

“Captain,” Rami's hiss came from another dark corner of the hanger. “Over here.”

Bolt and Hugo trotted in the direction of Rami's voice. She had found the doors that lead through to the entryway they had brought the Jeep into earlier. After a quick scan around with their lenslights they saw their crates still in the corner where they'd left them.

“
Zero
?” Hugo whispered into his panel.

“
Webb here. How's it going, Captain?”

“
We have laid charges and located the cement. Moving to re-take it now.”

“
Roger.”

“
Captain,” Rami breathed, shining her light into one of the crates. “There's some missing.”

“
What?” Hugo said, leaning in. Sure enough, two cubes had been removed from one of the crates. “Find them. We can't leave without -” He blinked and cursed as light flooded the room.

“
Freeze,” came a hiss from behind them. Hugo froze, bottom dropping out of his belly. Rami and Bolt looked over his shoulder, faces hard and pale. “Turn around. Good and slow.”

Hugo turned, holding his hands away from his sides. Two men stood there, rifles trained on them and nasty smiles over their dust scarves that melted away as Hugo turned. One glanced at the other, though the guns never wavered. One nodded and the other's face screwed up and he pushed at something on his throat.
“Armin. Armin, come in.”

“
What?” came a crackly voice from the speaker on his throat comm.

“
The
Zero
fucks are back.”

“
Who?”

“
That spacer lot from today. Bastards are only trying to steal back their sale.”

“
What the hell are you telling me for? Take care of it.”

“Webb,
wait
,” Kinjo pleaded. “You can't. Rami said -”

“
Screw what Rami said,” Webb said hitting the hatch control. “Get back up to the bridge and monitor their transmission. Let me know if anything more goes wrong. You ready, Marilyn?”

“
As I'll ever be,” Harvey grumbled as she pulled on gloves, but Webb couldn't miss the tight smile under her goggles.

“
Just keep up,” Webb said, getting on his bike and firing the engine. “Kinjo,
go
.”

He watched over his shoulder just long enough to make sure the midshipman was heading back up the ladder then was riding down the
hold ramp before it had finished lowering. He tore out of the docking bay and onto the docks, weaving between stacks of cargo. People jumped out the way, angry shouts drowned in the engine noise. The gates were ahead, the customs officer staggering out of her booth to see what the noise was. He pulled the bike in the other direction towards a loading ramp. He sped up the ramp, across an industrial lifter, pulled up the handlebars and revved. The bike jumped the distance between the lifter and an outbuilding. He was vaguely aware of the customs officer shouting but then the bike juddered to the edge of the outbuilding roof and he accelerated off the edge.

The bike cleared the dock wall and hit the tarmac of the groundway on the other side with a bone-juddering impact that sent waves of pain riding up from his ribs, but he just gritted his teeth, and then he was tearing away from the docks. He spared a single glance over his shoulder to make sure Harvey was following then turned back and increased his speed, heart hammering in his ears, cursing Hugo with every breath.

ɵ

“
Okay you lot,” the Splinter said, the leer back. “Against the wall.” Hugo didn't move away from the cement. The man who had spoken scowled and hoisted his gun to aim. “You wanna take this whole sector with you? See if I care.”

“
Wait... ” Hugo held up a hand.

“
I thought so. Step over there.”

Hugo managed to throw
a look at Rami and Bolt. They were stiff but their faces were calm. Rami flicked her eyes his way and nodded almost imperceptibly then looked back toward the Splinters.

“
Move,” the second man growled.

Hugo raised his hands and took a slow step away from the crates. Bolt did the same. The second they passed between Rami and the men there was a flash of movement, a thunk and a gurgling sound and the first man was stumbling back, hand clutched at his throat. The second the other man took to gape at his dying cohort was all that was needed for Bolt to put him out with a shot to the head.

“Quick,” Hugo said, rushing forward and grabbing one of the fallen men's rifles. “Grab the lifters.”

“
Captain,” Rami began as she retrieved her knife from the first man's throat.

“
There's no time,” Hugo snapped. “Grab one each and move now.
Now
.”

Rami and Bolt looked at each other then ran for the crates. Hugo rushed over to the door control, pulling on his goggles.
“As soon as I've cleared the gate,” Hugo said, reaching for the light switch as Rami and Bolt drew level with the crates on lifters, “you move. Get that shit as far away as you can as quick as you can. I'll retrieve the missing cubes.”

“
Captain -”

“
Are you ready?”

He saw Rami swallow, then she nodded and pulled on her goggles. Hugo shut down the lights then hit the control for the door. With a screech it started to open. In the night vision he saw the two sentries by the gate turn in the direction of the noise. Hugo dropped to one knee and fired. The night split apart, the rifle hammering into his shoulder. Sparks flew on the metal of the gate and the two men went down.
“
Go
.”

Rami and Bolt dashed to the gates. Hugo watched long enough to see Rami hack the controls and the gates start to open then he dropped the rifle, drew his hand gun and turned back into the building. He glanced at his wrist panel, saw there was twenty minutes left, cursed and ran back across the warehouse floor. Just as he was passing the two dead men he heard a crackle then a tinny voice.

“Mario? What was that noise? Is it done?”

Hugo pushed sweaty hair back from his face and knelt next to the first body, fingers sliding in the blood for the throat comm.
“It's done,” he grunted.

“
Good. Dump the waste then relieve Arvo and Nam on the gates. No more fuck ups.”

Hugo took another steadying breath, pressed the throat comm.
“Acknowledged,” he said, then held his breath. No reply came and he let the breath go and scrambled to his feet and ran for the storage hanger.

The stores loomed up on all sides in the dark. It would take weeks to look through it all, but he couldn't see the Splinters being stupid enough to throw a couple of red cement charges loose in with all their supplies. He hesitated one moment then went with his gut and made his way back to the door into the corridor. He flattened himself against the wall and opened it a crack.

His night vision blurred and flashed in the light and he pulled off his goggles, squinting. There was no sound or movement. He waited ten more heart beats then stepped into the passage and ran, keeping his steps light and gun ready. He glanced in the windows of the doors he passed but just found darkened store rooms and supply lockers.

There was a flight of stairs at the end of the corridor. He strained his ears, glanced at the time on the wrist panel
, swore and raced up. The next level was another brightly lit corridor with doors on either side. Still there was no one around and he dared to hope most of the Splinter force was in the apartment block for the night-cycle.

He peered in the window of the first door he came to and saw a room with banks of displays and workstations. Lights flashed and reports and newsfeeds scrolled on the screens but no one was sat at any of the keyboards. He spotted a long workbench with tools, scanners and other equipment scattered along it, including the probe the Splinters had used to test the cement. With one more glance along the corridor to confirm he was still alone, he ducked inside. He caught the telltale smell of bloodgrease in the air and felt his heart beat rise and started rifling through the piled junk on the workbench.

He muttered curses as he kept searching and found no cubes then jerked as someone grabbed his collar. The shock caught him off balance and they slammed his face into the worktable. He tasted blood, saw stars and then there was the cold muzzle of a gun pressing into the back of his neck.

“
Drop it, asshole.”

Hugo recognised Armin's voice from the throat comm. He dropped his gun and it clattered to the floor. Then he was being hauled up off the workbench and bundled out of the room. He tried to pull away but the hands that had him were strong and the tightened hold on his collar cut off his air. He scrabbled at his throat as he was manhandled down the corridor and then the world exploded in a shower of white stars.

Somewhere beyond the pounding in his skull he was aware of being hauled through another door and flung on the floor.

“
Hold him.”

Hands pulled him into a kneeling position and the hardness of a gun was pressed against the back of his head. He blinked until his vision swam back and saw he was in a bare room with blank walls, a few chairs and wall displays and Splinters stood all around, all in black, all armed. Armin stood before him, wiping Hugo's blood off the butt of his gun. Hugo recognised his tall and whip-like frame as that of the Splinter who had done the talking when they made the hand-off. Without his dust-scarf or goggles Hugo saw that his face was sharp and pinched, his cheekbones severe angles in the thin face with black eyes like holes drilled into his head. He holstered his gun then crossed his arms, his face unsettlingly composed. He was just opening his mouth to speak when another man, face and shaved head beaded with sweat, came barrelling into the room.

“Armin,” he began before focusing on Hugo. “You got him...?”

“
Did you catch the others?”

The sweaty arrival shook his head.
“They killed Arvo and Nam and got away.”

Armin regarded the man for a moment the turned his attention back to Hugo.

“So. You stole back your cement. That alone is enough to make me want to skin you from the feet up, but first you're going to tell me why you stayed behind?” Armin's thin brows drew together in a frown. Hugo attempted to pull against the hands holding him but they shook him and he saw stars again. “Now, come,
Zero
. You're dead anyway. So are your crew. Buy yourself some dignity and a quick end for your crew and tell me why you are still here?”

“
Armin...” Someone, a woman, from behind him pulled off Hugo’s wrist panel. She brought it round and handed it to the thin Splinter. “Set to transmit,” she said, glaring at Hugo.

“
I see,” Armin said, turning the panel over in his hands. “A set up. We shall have to have words with Mistress Evangeline.”

Hugo squinted, trying to see the countdown on the panel but Armin held it facing away. He locked his black eyes with Hugo's then brought the panel close to his face.
“Do come play,” he said into it. “We're waiting.” Then he threw it on the floor and smashed it with his boot. “Tie him up and throw him in a holding cell. We'll wait for his friends. Get a dozen troops over from the block and get them round the walls and doors. I want these
Zero
fucks dead before day-cycle.”

There were a series of mumbled assents and then Hugo was hit on the head again and the world went black.

He came round just as he was dumped in a holding cell. Every pulse was like a hammer in his skull. He cursed and forced himself to lie still and just breathe until the dizziness and nausea lessened. He fumbled himself into a sitting position and just had time to take in the white walls, bare floor and locked, windowless door when the room was plunged into darkness. For a few precious minutes he just sat there and breathed in the darkness, then he tried the binders securing his wrists, pulling and twisting until the metal bit into his flesh, feeling the skin split and blood pool in his palms.

He laid his head back against the wall and again forced himself just to breathe. He tried to bring up his internal clock and figure out how much time there was left but the whack to the head had skewed his count. He slumped back down, pressing his cheek against the cool floor and closed his eyes. He tried to pull back the veils of pain and uncertainty and find the bit of himself that used to take over in a crisis. Time slipped by and nothing came. He scowled in the darkness, the movement awakening fresh pain in his head and resorted to counting down the seconds.

A time later, that his internal clock told him was only a few minutes, even if it felt like he had lived through the destruction of Lunar 1 a hundred times, a series of bangs, shouts and the rattle of gunfire filtered through the walls. He lifted his head and strained his ears, hope warring with despair in the pit of his belly. Then there was a shout and the thunder of rifle fire outside the cell. He sat himself up then swore when the door banged open, flooding the room with light that clawed at the inside of his aching head.

“
Need a hand there, Captain?”

“
Webb?” Hugo spat, trying to get to his feet. “How the hell did you get in here?”

“
It’s amazing where an unguarded drain and enough stun charges can get you,” Webb said, holstering his gun and pulling off a Splinter face-scarf.

“
You
idiot
, there’s not enough time. You should have left me -”

“
Don't flatter yourself, Hugo. We came for the missing cement. Figured I had just enough time to save your ass.”

He pulled out his lock pick and knelt behind Hugo. He cursed softly and Hugo wondered just how badly he'd damaged his wrists but then there was a click and his hands were free. He hissed as his shoulders were freed of the pressure.

“We need to move.”

Webb didn't wait for a reply but helped him to his feet then they were out in the corridor.

“Webb!”

They turned and Harvey, cap, goggles and scarf obscuring most of her face came trotting down the corridor, slinging a pack on her back as she came.
“Got the missing cement. It was in their lab, like you said.”

“
Nice work, now... shit. They’ve found us.” All three of them looked back and forth as the sound of shouts and feet came from the stairwells at either end of the corridor. “Get back,” Webb said then drew his gun and shot out the glass in the strip of windows running below the juncture of the wall and the ceiling. “Quick,” he said gesturing to Harvey.

Harvey came forward and Hugo, ignoring his strained shoulders, helped Webb give her a leg up then she was scrambling out and onto the roof. Hugo jumped and pulled himself up. The night air was cold on his sweaty skin. He turned himself, got his elbows up onto the flat roof and scrambled up, Harvey helping with a grip on his elbow. As soon as he was clear Webb was up behind them and then they were running across the roof, feet pounding on the metal. There were shouts and
the sound of people moving about on the ground but it quietened as they crossed edge furthest from the gates. Hugo squinted in the dark and could make the top of an outbuilding in the gloom below. Without a word Webb took a run up and jumped, landing with a roll on the corrugated iron.