Star Road (23 page)

Nose to nose.

“What was in—?”

He gave the scientist a shake, a human rag doll.

“—that god ... damn ... pod?”

“Jordan!”
Annie shouted.

Eyes blazing, he turned to face her. His cheeks were flushed. She had never seen him like this.

Never.

“He knows something. About this trip. About Omega Nine.” Jordan hiked his thumb in the direction of the terminal. “Maybe even about what just happened in there. And I want to know what it is.”

Annie frowned.

“It could endanger all of us,” Jordan said.

He gave the man another wild shake. Rodriguez’s eyes rolled back. He looked like he was about to pass out.

“I can’t—I’m not authorized,” he said, his voice faint... defeated.

Annie stood immobile for a few seconds.

What the hell?

Bad enough replaying the Alamo with the warrows back there ... but now this? Jordan—who barely spit out more than three words at a time, who never lost his cool... now his cool, was clearly gone.

“Jordan, can this wait—?”

Jordan stared at her. His eyes wild.

“I can’t have you beating up my passengers.”

She was trying to infuse calm into her voice, but after what they had just been through, everyone’s adrenaline was soaring.

But Jordan turned back to Rodriguez.

“You’ll tell me, Doc. One way or another, you
will
tell!”

Then another thought.

Nahara.

He was hurt. Slumped in his seat. Looked to be in shock. He needed medical attention now.

Things are out of control,
she thought.

Her world would spiral out of control if Jordan lost it.

“He can’t tell you,” Nahara said.

“What?”

Jordan. Still holding on to the scientist.

“He— he’s under World Council orders. He can’t tell you
anything.
Not unless they say so. He’d get fired.”

Nahara made a loud watery sound when he coughed.

Annie went to him.

“Or worse.”

Only then did Jordan relent, slowly lowering Rodriguez.

Annie knelt down in front of Nahara.

“Let me have a look where it grabbed you.”

All SRV captains had basic medical training, so Annie was able to deal with most minor medical emergencies.

She wasn’t so sure when she slowly pulled up Nahara’s shirt. He winced and let out a low moan when the material pulled away from a bloody spot.

The warrow’s teeth had raked three parallel lines across his ribs. Already, there was evidence of swelling.

“I’ll have to clean and disinfect those bites.”

Nahara nodded.

Everyone in the cabin had their eyes on her.

She studied the three lines where the warrow had bitten him.

His left side was okay, only a bruise. Nasty-looking. Big. But the skin was unbroken.

His right side, though ...

The gash could be deep. Blood was dripping steadily onto Nahara’s lap.

Jordan—pulling it together—came over to her with the med kit, already open.

She grabbed a spray can that would sterilize and cauterize the wound. As she did that, Jordan took out a bandage and antiseptic. She couldn’t put any Nu Skin on until the wound stopped oozing.

She looked closely at it, being careful as she placed the bandage.

“Not too bad, Mr. Nahara. All things considered.”

Still, he needed to have a real doctor take a look at it.

Next way station,
Annie thought.

She stood up.

“Okay. We’re going to get the hell out of here.”

Her eyes fell on Gage sitting quietly in the back.

Their savior ... still holding his gun.

She looked at the storage locker, thinking:
How the hell did he get a gun?

Maybe she’d ask one of the others. The Chippie, perhaps.

She turned to Jordan. Maybe both of them were thinking the same thing.

We need to get that gun away from him ... at least for the duration of the trip.

Another thing to deal with later.

For now?

“Gage.”

He looked up with sleepy eyes. The only one who didn’t seem worried or stressed about what had just happened.

“Thanks for the help.”

He nodded.

“We’d all be warrow food if you hadn’t shown up.”

In the back, Gage nodded again and raised a hand. A slight wave.

She thought:
Who is this guy?

“We’re leaving here now. Back on the Road. We’ll have to get Mr. Nahara some help at the next station. For now, though, everyone sit tight.”

She turned to Jordan.

There was a lot she needed to talk to him about.

That, though, also had to wait until they were in the cockpit, away from the ears of their ever-more-interesting group of passengers.

Annie climbed the stairs to the cockpit, Jordan following with none of the passengers saying a word ... maybe from fear ... maybe too numb to feel.

What does it matter?
she thought.
We gotta get moving.

~ * ~

23

SUSPICIONS

Annie didn’t relax until the
SRV slid through the portal.

First, a check of the Road ahead. No signs of the storm, only the ribbony expanse of lights looking now serene—after what they’d been through— stretching out into space.

And what about the ion deflectors?

No more EVAs, that was for sure. So she’d have to wait—and hope they made it to the next station.

Only then did she turn to Jordan.

“So what was
that
all about?”

Jordan hadn’t spoken since they got back to the cockpit other than single words during the preflight check.

Although he always kept his thoughts to himself, that total silence— after what had happened—seemed unusual, even for him.

She kept her eyes on the screen and gauges, making minor adjustments but mostly to simply keep busy.

Engine’s running good... core’s well within parameters.

Thank you, McGowan,
she thought.
We’re alive because of you.

Jordan’s response: “What’s
what
all about?”

“With Rodriguez. I thought you were about to strangle the guy.”

“I was.”

She was aware that Jordan had turned and was looking at her. She gave him a quick glance but went back to her screens.

And since she wasn’t exactly asking the question out of curiosity, she liked keeping her attention focused ... elsewhere.

“Care to explain?”

“Okay. That son of a bitch has information from Earth. About what’s ahead. About his mission, on Omega Nine, right?”

“So?”

“Any information he has could be vital for us. For our survival. It could give us a heads-up. Especially after that freak show back there at the station.”

“It’s classified, Jordan.
Classified.
By the World-freaking-Council. Don’t you get that?”

His eyes were still on her.

Then, after a long, uncomfortable pause: “Yeah. So. It’s still dangerous.”

“The Road’s always dangerous,” Annie said, still not looking at him.

He’s not telling me something,
she thought.

Another quick look at him.

“You have to let it go, Jordan.”

She knew him too well. She knew he wouldn’t—or couldn’t—let it go.

“I’m not asking,” she said. “I’m
telling.
This is
my
ship, so you let it go. At least, until we get to—”

Jordan leaned close, about to say something. His breath was warm on the side of her face.

“It’s that guy. Gage.”

“You mean the guy who saved our asses?”

Jordan nodded. “Damn good shot, don’t you think?”

“Lucky for us he is.”

“Annie. Truth is, what I saw? He’s an
amazing
shot.”

Another silence.

“He knows tactics. Aiming ... a firing retreat.”

“Impressive.”

Jordan shook his head. “You’re not getting it.”

He took a breath and held it as if he himself didn’t like what he was about to say.

What it might mean for this trip.

“There are only two ways you learn that stuff. Two that I know of, anyway—”

She chanced to look away from the screens, the SRV rolling along smoothly, everything fine. A solid stretch of straight Road ahead of them.

No need to keep up the charade that the vehicle needed constant monitoring.

“You might learn all that in the World Council Forces. Like me,” Jordan said. “You learn it after years of fighting in those
pissant
shoot-out wars that seem to be the new normal on Earth. Weapons use. Strategy. Tactics. Marksmanship. Special Ops. The WC teaches its troopers well.”

Now Jordan looked away.

“Kind of like ... after all that... you’re not much good for anything else?”

Jordan nodded, his mouth a straight line.

Annie nodded, thinking:
Jesus, I’ve learned more about my gunner in the last few minutes than from years of him riding shotgun with me.

“And the other way?” she said, breaking the lengthening silence.

Jordan’s face tightened. As if he didn’t like the word ... or the implications ... or the fact that it was most likely the correct option.

“Runners.”

“What? You think he’s a Runner?”

“Not just any Runner. Someone key. The way he took command of the retreat—”

“A Runner, traveling with us.”

The idea sank in slowly.

“And if he’s who I think he is ... and if Runners unleashed those war-rows like unloading a crate of rats on a ship ... if Runners are active along this route, following us, following him—

“Or leading us on,” Annie said as the realization hit her like a cold slap in the face.

“Then I’d say we’re heading into a load of shit, Annie.”

It was her turn to take a deep breath. Thinking... trying to absorb what Jordan had just said. His logic was damned good unless—

Unless you’re getting paranoid...

But the more she thought about it, the more sense it made.

So where did that leave her?

Gage. Either a WC vet... or someone who had trained with the Runners, a paramilitary group using the same techniques, the same weapons, skills, tactics.

Finally: “So what do we do?”

“We have to do something.”

Annie nodded.

And try not to rattle Rodriguez, not if he has any information that could be relevant.

“I’ve been running facial scans from the WC data banks, but so far, no matches,” Jordan said.

“He might have had some reconstructive surgery,” she said.

Jordan nodded.

“Let me mull it over. But you keep running through the files. See if you get a match.”

Jordan nodded, and then, for a few moments, they both sat quietly.

~ * ~

Ruth leaned over to Gage, Touched his arm. It was thrilling to her ... how solid it felt.

He turned to her slowly, eyes narrow slits.

“Can I tell you something?” she asked.

He nodded.

“I was scared back there. Terrified about what was going on. I could barely breathe. Or move. I’ve never ...
never
been so scared.”

“It happens.”

“I know. Or at least I’ve heard about how dangerous the Road is, but when she”—Ruth indicated Sinjira, sitting a few seats ahead, curled up, maybe sleeping—”wanted to open the door with everyone running, and those ... those
things
chasing you, I screamed—”

The fear still twisted inside her, but instead of screaming now, Ruth lowered her voice. Barely a whisper: “—for her to shut the door.”

She looked down, but Gage hadn’t looked away. “I was so scared. But now I’m just embarrassed. That was wrong. I mean—”

Gage took a slow breath.

“Look, people do stupid things when they get scared.”

Is that what you think I am? Stupid... and weak?

“Fear’s probably the biggest motivator for people. Makes ‘em do things they don’t think they’d normally do—until there’s a crisis. I’m sure if we hadn’t gotten to the door in time—”

“But you did.”

“Yeah. We got lucky, maybe, but I’m sure you would have gotten the door open and done whatever else was necessary.”