Sunspire (The Reach, Book 4) (20 page)

Knile stopped, hearing a noise deeper within the way station.  Ursie stopped the tap, the smile evaporating from her face in an instant, and Tobias began to look about, alarmed.

There was another thump, and then the sound of a door closing.

Knile moved back to the central aisle of the greenhouse, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.

At the far end of the room was another translucent plastic sheet covering the doorway, and beyond it he could see twisting shadows.  He heard footsteps.

Someone was coming.

24

They had been moving across the ruins for almost half an hour before Silvestri found a place that he liked.  It was a larger dwelling, perhaps the remnants of an old tavern, with a balcony on the top floor that afforded good visibility in all directions.  The walls were still in good condition, unlikely to topple over unexpectedly,
and there were also three exits providing multiple escape routes.

“In here,” he said, guiding Talia and Roman inside.  “Quickly, now.”

Gernot and his men did not object, following the others inside without a word.  Silvestri watched them filter past, wondering about how and when to ditch them.  At this point he had no reason to trust them, or to believe that they would make any attempt to protect Talia, Roman or himself should they find themselves in a firefight.  In fact, even though they had shown no outward hostility, he reasoned that Gernot’s bodyguards’ only concern was Gernot himself.  He was the one paying for their services.  Anyone else was simply expendable.

In the morning, before first light, after we’ve rested
, Silvestri thought to himself. 
That’s when we’ll leave, quickly and quietly.  We’ll be on our way to Sunspire before they even know it.

He moved inside the tavern and closed the door.  A rectangle of bright light suddenly flooded the room, and Silvestri realised that Talia had activated her phone in order to see.

“Just keep that away from the windows,” Silvestri cautioned her.  “We don’t want to give away our position to the raiders.”

“Yeah, of course,” she said.

“So, what’s the plan?” Norrey said.

“We take turns at watch, up on the balcony,” Silvestri said.  “We should be able to see, or at least hear the raiders when they approach.  If they get too close, we scramble.”

“Sounds fine,” Gernot said.  “Kolos, take first watch.”

“I’ll go with him,” Silvestri offered.

“No, let me,” Norrey said.  “The rest of you need sleep.  I’ll come and get you in a few hours.”

Silvestri nodded graciously.  “Very well.”

The three of them disappeared into the next room, and Silvestri directed Talia and Roman to a smaller room that adjoined the main area.  The tavern had been ransacked long ago, it seemed, for there were no internal furnishings whatsoever.  No beds, chairs or anything else that might have provided some comfort.  Talia and Roman settled down on the floor, huddling close together for warmth.

“Couldn’t have chosen a place with mattresses, huh?” Roman said good-naturedly.

Silvestri shrugged.  “Everything else in town was booked out.”

“Nothing wrong with a good
hard floor,” Roman said, wriggling as he attempted to get comfortable.  “Just like the old days.”

“Yeah, I’m starting to get used to it again,” Talia said.  She stared up at Silvestri.  “What about you?”

“I’m going to have a chat to our friend Gernot.”

Talia sat up suddenly.  “What about?”

“About getting our weapons back.”

“Do you think they’ll agree to that?”

Silvestri thought about that.  “Hopefully by now they’ve realised that we’re no threat to them.  If they’re reasonable, they’ll comply.”

“And if they’re not?” she said.

“Then it’s probably best not to push it.  They still outmuscle us, after all.”

“When are we going to cut loose from these guys?” Roman said.

“In a few hours, after we’ve rested.  I figure we’ll just slip away.  No need to make a big deal of it.  But I don’t want to be heading out into the lowlands without protection if I can help it.  Not with the raiders hanging around.”

“Makes sense,” Talia said.

“You two get some sleep.  I’ll come back and join you soon.”

“Silvestri?” Talia said as he turned to leave.  She held out her hand.  “Don’t do anything stupid.”

Silvestri smiled, reaching out to gently clasp her fingertips in a reassuring gesture.  “Never.”

He left them there and made his way back through the tavern, locating the steps that led to the upper level.  On the second floor, Gernot was in a room by himself, having slid down against a wall.  Beside him was a rusted can in which he’d lit a small fire, and now he sat there with his fingers stretched over it for warmth.

“You should put that out,” Silvestri said, moving over toward him.

“The windows are boarded up, it’s fine.  No one’s going to see shit.”

“It’s an unnecessary risk,” Silvestri said firmly.

“Yeah?  And I’m cold.  The fire stays where it is.”

Silvestri sighed, exasperated, but realised there was nothing he could do.  Negotiations to get their weapons back would not be helped by kicking over Gernot’s fire or by getting into a scuffle.  Better to get this done and then leave.  That was the safest way forward.

“Where are your men?” Silvestri said.

“Out on the balcony.  Where do you expect?”

“Are they reliable?”

Gernot scowled at him.  “The fuck’s that supposed to mean?”

“How long have they been in your service?”

“A while.”

“They’re not going to fall asleep on us?”

Gernot chuckled to himself.  “Those two don’t sleep, as far as I can tell.  Ever.”

“You must be glad to have them serve you–”

“Is there something you wanted to talk about, mister?” Gernot said cantankerously.
  He touched gingerly at his bandaged arm. 
“Because I’m kinda, y’know… worn out by my
big day
, and I’d like to get some sleep at some point.”

“Still a long way to go to reach Gardon, yes?”

“Yeah.  Long way.”

Silvestri nodded.  “Very well.  Let’s get down to it.  I’d like you to give our weapons back to us.  The ones you confiscated before we boarded the dirigible.  In the event of a–”

“Nope.  Not gonna happen.”

“What?  Why?”

“My boys are the only ones who are going to be handling guns around here.  I don’t know you, buddy.  I don’t want a bullet in the back of my head while I’m sleeping, thank you very much.”

“If I wanted to sneak in here and kill you, I could do it without a gun.”

Gernot pressed his lips together.  “Is that a threat?”

“No.  I’m telling you that there’s no reason not to hand back our weapons.  We’re not going to kill you, or your men.”

“Sorry, can’t do it.”

“So when do we get them back?”

“Who knows?  Wait and see.”

Silvestri knelt close to the other man and looked into his eyes in the flickering light of the fire, imposing himself.

“You’re being unreasonable.”

Gernot grinned sourly.  “You wanna push me around, you’re gonna have to get in line, mister.”

“What?”

Gernot seemed to find something funny, all of a sudden.  “I don’t know what they’re going to do to you in the end, but it ain’t gonna be good.”

“Who?  The raiders?”

Gernot laughed again and turned away.  “Get the fuck outta my face.”

Silvestri snapped, reaching out and grabbing Gernot by the collar, clamping a hand over his mouth before he could call out.

“What’s
going on, Gernot?  Who are you?”  Gernot’s eyes widened in shock and he struggled unsuccessfully to break free of Silvestri’s grasp.  “You try to call out to your friends and I’ll slit your throat.”

Gernot nodded vehemently, and Silvestri eased the pressure on his mouth.  “Yeah, man,” he croaked hoarsely.  “Okay, I’ll spill it.  Don’t hurt me.”

“Talk.”

“I… I’m a businessman heading home to Gardon–”

Silvestri gave him a solid backhander across the face, clamping his hand across his mouth again to stifle Gernot’s cry of pain.

“Cut the bullshit, Gernot.  I know your cover story is bullshit.  I knew that from the moment it came out of your mouth.”

“But–”

“Remember my story, about how I
worked in Gardon?  There’s no Old Man Donohoe there, no windmill on the southern highway.  You’ve never even been there, have you?”

“Okay, okay, I made it up, but–”

“Tell me the truth!”

“I’m just a hustler, a fuckin’ con man, okay?”  Gernot’s eyes darted to the doorway and back again.  “I got a rep in Link, and these bastards came and tracked me down.”

“Who?  The bodyguards?”

“Yeah.”

“When?”

“A few hours before we met you at the airship place.  Honest.  I ain’t never seen ’em before that in my life.”

“Who are they?”

“How the fuck would I know?  They just told me to play the part, pretend that I’m their boss.  That was all they wanted.  In return, they were going to pay me a mountain of creds.”

“What did they ask you to do?”

“Just wait with them there at Bagley’s.  Said some people were going to show up looking for a ride.”

Silvestri reeled away from him.  “They… they were waiting for us?  Norrey and Kolos?”

“Yeah, but listen, I–”

There was movement at the door, and Norrey entered, a .45 equipped with a silencer in his hand.  Silvestri whirled to his feet, dragging Gernot with him as a human shield.

“Mr. Gernot, Mr. Silvestri,” Norrey said calmly as he moved across the room.  “Seems I interrupted something here.”

Kolos came in behind him and stood in the doorway, a rifle in his hands.

“Now, uh… listen, Norrey,” Gernot said.  “I didn’t tell him nothin’–”

“By the look on his face,” Norrey said, “you told him more than enough.”  He sighed and shook his head.  “You had one job to do, Gernot.  That’s all.”

“Who the fuck are you?” Silvestri said.  “What do you want?”

“This has gone far enough,” Norrey said.  “I don’t think we need to discuss it any further.”  He started to walk forward, and Silvestri tightened his grip on Gernot.

“Get back, or I’ll break this guy’s neck,” Silvestri spat.  “You know I can do it.”

Norrey raised the .45.  “Let me save you the trouble, Silvestri.”

He pulled the trigger, and the bullet ripped through Gernot’s left eye socket, splashing warm blood across Silvestri’s face.  He dropped to the ground, dead, and Silvestri gasped in shock, stumbling backward.  Norrey
walked forward and stood over the dead man, looking down at him impassively.

“I would offer a prayer for this unfortunate soul, but I fear it would be wasted on the likes of him.”

Silvestri stood for a moment, stricken, before his well-honed survival instincts kicked in.  He moved forward and barrelled into Norrey, sending him sprawling backward, but Norrey recovered quickly, twisting his body and sending Silvestri spinning away again.  From the corner of his eye he saw Kolos coming at him and
countered, delivering a blow to the sternum that would have dropped most men.

Kolos grunted and fell back slightly, but seemed otherwise unhurt.

Who the hell are these two?
he wondered briefly, before Norrey came at him from the other direction, clouting him on the back of the head and sending him skidding across the floor toward Gernot’s body.
  He went to his knees, his vision blurry.

Get up!
he told himself,
shaking his head.  As he got back to his feet, he found that Norrey was pointing the .45 at him. 
Silvestri
looked about the room, panicked, searching for some way out of this predicament, but there was nothing.  They had him dead to rights.

“And what of you, Silvestri?” Norrey said.
 
“Will the light guide you in the next world, do you think?”

Silvestri opened his mouth to scream a warning to Talia, but the words never left his throat.

Norrey pulled the trigger.  Silvestri felt no pain, just the gentle whisper of some unfathomable emptiness as the bullet passed through his head, tearing into the innards of his skull and splashing his brains across the tavern wall behind him.

25

Duran crossed the threshold of his father’s house and moved inside, his instincts as an Enforcer taking over automatically.  He’d conducted plenty of raids in his time, many of them involving hostages, so this scenario was all too familiar.