Fugitive: A Space Opera: Book Five of The Shadow Order Read online

  Hairy, barrel chested, and with a strong stance, the creatures created what appeared to be an impenetrable wall. But Seb dropped his head, picked up his pace, and headed for the largest of the lot. Take the big one down and the others backed off. At least, they usually did.

  When Seb barged into the creature, it took more force than he’d anticipated, but it stumbled enough for him to push his way through.

  What sounded like war cries came after Seb, but he ignored them and looked for Owsk. He couldn’t see him. A look left and right, his heart quickened. He couldn’t see the creature anywhere.

  When Seb turned around to look at the beasts that had tried to block his way, he saw them bristle and move close to him again. Owsk had set him up. The hostility around him seemed like much more than that now. Every creature in Aloo was in on it. Moses had already put the call out. He’d been set up. A deep breath, he swallowed a dry gulp and clenched his fists. If he had to go down, he’d fight until he had nothing left to give.

  CHAPTER 7

  One last check around, Seb first looked left. He saw a bank of ships like all of the others he’d passed so far. A mismatched collection from tiny shuttles to intergalactic freighters. He looked back at the crowd and their anger. No way would he win this fight; he had to try to escape. The beasts he’d shoved past moved a step closer to him.

  When Seb looked right at the largest ship he’d seen in the port—chrome and glistening in the strong Aloo sunshine—he suddenly saw the space next to it. A walkway of sorts, he quickened his pace to see into it.

  Owsk had made it halfway down the path already, his long black hair hanging between his broad shoulders. The hostility around him suddenly looked very different. Less like a collective agenda. He broke into a jog to catch up with the troll, throwing another check behind him as he ducked into the alleyway. Still no evidence of something following them. Just a mob that hated humans, and a feeling of being watched.

  By the time Seb had caught up with Owsk, they were on the other side of the ships. The damp concrete ground stretched away in front of them all the way to the sea. The wind ran stronger than it had in the spaceport, and he blinked against its saline sting, trying to swallow as the salt in the air dried his throat.

  In the middle of the expanse of open concrete stood a large warehouse. No other buildings around, it had a chain-link fence surrounding it. Where the spaceport had been hostile, what he now faced looked positively volatile. “Where are we going?” Seb said.

  But Owsk didn’t reply.

  The world in front of Seb still moved in slow motion. He looked behind him at the ships they’d just passed through. Nothing followed them. “Owsk, why do I get the sense that we’re walking into a dodgy situation? I thought you were going to take me to your friend. What is this place?”

  Still nothing from Owsk. The thickset grey creature increased his pace. Maybe Seb should have turned around at that point. Instead, he broke into a half jog to catch up with his guide.

  Seb saw a locked gate in the chain-link fence. When they got a few steps closer, a guard appeared on the other side of it. It had clearly been aware of their approach. A mandulu, it had a semi-automatic blaster strung across its chest. It stared at Owsk and Seb whilst gripping its weapon.

  Seb couldn’t control his quickening breaths or tightening stomach, but he could control his actions. Until he had a reason to fight, he had to hold back and let everything play out as it needed to. Owsk was pissed with him, but he’d had no tangible reason to doubt him so far.

  The mandulu—larger than many Seb had seen at easily nine feet tall—kept one hand on its blaster before pulling the lock on the chain-link gate free with a snap. The hinges creaked as it pulled it open, a heavy glare still on the beast’s face.

  Although Owsk strolled straight through the gate without breaking stride, Seb stopped. He stared at the mandulu, and the mandulu stared back. The weakness of its fat chin stood out and he balled his metal hands. He could knock it out if it attacked him, but he couldn’t let his paranoia win. Also, what lay beyond the gate? And how many other opportunities for help would he come across if he didn’t follow Owsk at that moment?

  As he watched Owsk walk around the side of the warehouse out of sight and into the unknown, Seb chewed on his bottom lip. A look behind and he still didn’t see the presence he’d felt watching him.

  After he’d straightened his frame, Seb nodded to himself and walked through the gate. Hopefully Owsk could be trusted.

  The mandulu stared at Seb for the entire time, looking down on him as he walked past. Although Seb kept his fists balled, he didn’t react. He had to let this play out.

  Once he’d gone a few metres past the creature, the rattling slam of the closing gate made Seb jump. But he didn’t look around. Don’t show them any weakness they can exploit. Just be ready if he needed to be.

  On the same path Owsk had walked, Seb rounded the corner to see the warehouse’s entrance sat wide open. A metal shutter had been rolled all the way to the top.

  The loud wind had masked the sounds from inside the building. Even if Seb had heard the rattling of chains, he would have put it down to the fence outside. But now he saw the creature, he froze. He should have twigged sooner.

  A small brown porcupine-looking beast shook and twisted, but it had been wrapped so tightly in heavy metal chains, it couldn’t squirm free. A ball gag had been wedged into its mouth and its eyes were wide with fear. Tears had darkened and flattened two vertical lines of fur down its face. What little light they had in the warehouse caught the glistening tracks of the creature’s wounds all over its face. It looked like something had gone to town on it with a knife. The creature kept looking down at a pit in the ground.

  Six mandulus stood around it, daring it to try something stupid. In the middle of them stood what must have been their boss.

  A lizard creature that changed colour from blue to green as the light hit its moving form. It had a thick barbed tail and yellow eyes that were narrowed into tight slits. It might have only been about five feet tall, but it looked like what it lacked in height, it made up for with malice.

  Before Seb could do anything, the reptile looked over at him, appraising him with its cold glare. It then pushed its prisoner into the hole in front of it.

  It had been hard to tell what lay in the pit until Seb heard the splash as the small chained creature vanished from sight.

  “No,” Seb said, shaking his head, his breaths quickening. He then looked at Owsk, who’d taken his place beside the mob. Seb pointed to where the porcupine had just gone. “I know you’re pissed at me, but I ain’t going in there. No way.”

  But when Seb backed away from the gang, he hit the wall of the mandulu who’d let them in. The press of the guard’s blaster felt cold against the base of Seb’s skull, and it spoke in a deep voice. “You ain’t going anywhere, sunshine.”

  CHAPTER 8

  Usually a creature of impulse, Seb had been about as patient as he could. He should have trusted his instinct and turned around the second he saw the warehouse. He stared into Owsk’s granite eyes, and Owsk stared a cold disregard back at him. Whatever he’d done to the dumb creature’s submarine, he didn’t deserve this. A shake of his head at the granite troll. He did it ever so slightly so as not to startle the mandulu behind him. If he gave him any excuse to pull the trigger, he’d be watching his brains exit through his nose.

  As much as Seb wanted to move—even to dip his head to ease the pressure of the cold steel at the base of his skull—he didn’t. Instead, he retreated into his gift, the world slowing down around him.

  Probably imperceptible at a normal speed, Seb felt the slightest easing of pressure on the back of his head. He didn’t need any more encouragement than that.

  Dropping to the hard concrete ground, Seb looked up as he fell to see a pulse of red laser fire shoot over the top of him. If he hadn’t moved, would the creature have blown his brains out, or did the movement panic it into pulling the trigger? />
  Before the mandulu had time to react to him not being there, Seb spun around and swept its legs from beneath it. He connected clean, a loud and satisfying crack ringing out before the beast’s feet flew skywards. The ground shook when the lump of a brute landed hard on its back.

  Over it in a flash, Seb punched the creature. The connection ran through the brute’s fat chin, sending ripples across its chubby face and turning its lights off.

  By the time he’d gotten to his feet, Seb looked across the warehouse to see the six mandulus that had been by the hole charging his way. The lizard creature ran in the opposite direction—probably to hide, if it had any sense.

  They came forward as a pack, a wall of mandulu. But Seb had been here before. He had all the time in the world to watch their slow charge. So long, in fact, he snapped his neck from side to side, balled his fists, and smiled at the attack. None of them were armed. This would be a walk in the park.

  Giddy with anticipation, adrenaline lighting him up, Seb roared when the creatures got closer.

  Then he heard it.

  Snap!

  When Seb looked in the direction of the sound, he saw a wall of chain flying towards him. It didn’t matter that he saw it in slow motion because it moved so fast and stretched so wide, he couldn’t avoid the metal net’s spread.

  Just before he took the impact, Seb saw the lizard through the net. It stood by a large cannon it had obviously used to fire it from.

  Too much time to think, his breaths quickening, his heart racing, Seb almost welcomed the violent embrace just to stop the anticipation of it. The heavy metal chains—each link as thick as a mandulu’s finger—crashed into him, gathered him up like he weighed nothing, and squeezed the air from his lungs. The smell of metal surrounded him as he got scrunched into a ball. The momentum of the net dragged him out of the warehouse into the dock beyond. A loud whoosh filled his ears as the chains scraped over the concrete ground.

  The cold links of the net pressed against Seb’s face, making it hard for him to see. Not that he needed to be a genius to identify the six large forms descending on him.

  Seb’s bonds allowed him the slightest twist before they locked him tight again. He’d moved enough, however, to be able to see the blaster nearby. It must have been the one the mandulu had pressed to the back of his neck. He’d obviously dragged it with him when he got caught up in the net. As much as he fought to be free of his bonds, he couldn’t untangle himself. Thick, heavy webbing—the more he struggled, the more it crushed him in its grip.

  Still partially blinded by the chains pressed against his face, Seb could have sworn he saw a figure move around the side of the warehouse. Clearly nothing to do with the lizard creature and his henchmen, they looked to be hiding. As much as he tried to angle his head to see better, he couldn’t. It had to have something to do with Moses.

  In real time, the mandulus would have closed down on Seb in seconds. It felt like minutes as he waited for them to get near.

  “You lot are brave, aren’t you?” Seb said as he tried to twist and shake against his bonds.

  The mandulus closed in a little more, blocking out the bright Aloo sunshine.

  “I wish I had the courage of you lot. I mean, it takes a fierce warrior to approach someone wrapped up in chains on the ground. Especially when they have five of their friends with them to hold their hands.”

  “Shut up,” one of the mandulus said.

  A shake of his head, his breaths running away from him, his pulse rampaging, Seb said, “You were just about to get your arses kicked. If I walk away from this, I promise you, I won’t forget I owe you a whoppin’.”

  Before Seb could say anything else, he saw one of the mandulus lean over him and raise its fist. Telegraphed from a mile away, he could do nothing but wait for the inevitable sting as its punch forced the thick chains hard against his nose. A nauseating crack ran through Seb’s face and he instantly tasted the metallic tang of his own blood.

  Another blow flashed white light through Seb’s right eye, and the sting lit up the side of his face like an electric shock. His head moved from side to side as several more blows crashed into him, each one fogging his perspective and slowly turning the daylight surrounding him to darkness.

  CHAPTER 9

  Every muscle in Seb’s body ached when he came to, but most of the pain sat in his face. The swelling felt like he had knots of fire beneath his skin. Whenever he moved, electric shocks streaked through his sinuses and jabbed knives into his eyes. Hardly surprising when he’d had six mandulus attack him. As much as he didn’t want to make a sound, his body betrayed him by releasing a groan like a punctured tyre leaking air. “Owwwwwwwww.”

  A cloudy view of his surroundings, Seb tried to raise his hand to wipe his face but couldn’t. Heavy chains similar to the ones the net had been made from had been wrapped around him. Several blinks later, he saw they pinned him to an upright frame. A vertical rack of some sort. The realisation chased away the fog in his mind. They clearly weren’t done with him yet.

  It took several more blinks for Seb to fully realise his surroundings. An office of some sort. It looked cheap in its construction. With yellowing stud walls and the thick smell of salty damp, it had a desk in one corner that looked one strong shove away from collapse. Two chairs, both of them with torn upholstery and the browning foam hanging out of them like lolling tongues, sat to either side of it.

  Just one window in the cheap space, Seb looked out into the warehouse beyond. Maybe the same one he’d been in when he was last conscious. Maybe he’d been out for long enough for them to take him somewhere else. Had they called Moses to come and collect?

  “Nice to see you’re finally with us.”

  Seb gasped as he jumped and turned to look in the direction of the speaker. The heavy chains rattled against the metal frame.

  Unable to calm his rapid pulse, Seb breathed heavily as the lizard creature moved towards him. Even in the poorly lit office, its skin changed from green to blue as the light hit him from different angles.

  A grin spread across his face, showing he had a mouth wide enough to catch a frisbee in. His gums were studded with small but sharp teeth, gaps between each one. But Seb saw them for the distraction they were and looked down at his captor’s thick and powerful tail. It looked to be pure muscle and wore its barbs like a medieval club. One swipe of that thing would take his head clean off. Even at only five feet tall, it made sense why the mandulus called this creature boss.

  A stale taste in his mouth, Seb gulped. As much as he tried, and as much as he hated himself for it, he couldn’t hide the shake in his nervous voice. “What do you want with me?”

  Before the lizard could respond, something moved in Seb’s peripheral vision. Owsk stepped forward and Seb shook again. The chains rattled and the hard metal frame remained rigid. “You sold me out, you rat!”

  A detached granite glare, Owsk watched Seb for a few seconds before he looked at the lizard.

  As much as Seb wanted to continue to rip into Owsk, he didn’t matter at that moment. “Come on then,” he said to the lizard, “whatever you have to do, get it done … whatever your name is.”

  The lizard regarded Seb with its cold yellow eyes. A dark mind looked through that pallid stare, sending panic spiking through Seb. As often happened when he got backed into a corner, his mouth ran away with him. “That’s how you want to be, is it? Go all dark and mysterious on me like the OG you are? If you won’t give me your name, I’ll have to give you one myself. I’ll call you Buster.”

  A snap of its head to one side, an alien twist, the lizard creature said, “Huh?”

  “Smuggler buster. That’s what you do, isn’t it? Bust being smugglers? Save the day by obtaining a commodity a grieving family would sell their soul for. And I thought drug dealers were bad.”

  A crocodilian smile, Buster shook his head. “You’re quite a talker, aren’t you?”

  As he looked from Buster to Owsk and back again, Seb said, “Someone
has to be.”

  A nod to concede the point. “So you’ve heard of me?”

  “Only through that traitorous rat next to you.” Both Seb and Owsk stared at one another again. Impossible to read the granite troll, Seb squirmed against the metal frame behind him. It proved as pointless as it had the first time.

  “In that case, I’ll forgive you for not understanding the gravity of your situation.”

  “You think you deserve more respect, do you?” A still-galloping pulse, Seb’s mouth galloped faster. “I get out of trickier situations than this on a daily basis.” It took until that moment for Seb to see the bloodstains in the concrete at his feet. Old bloodstains from where other beings had suffered the same fate that clearly awaited him.

  When Seb looked back up again, he met a slight narrowing of Buster’s yellow eyes. An agitated twitch sent his thick and powerful tail kicking out to one side. “You’re not that smart, are you?” Buster said.

  “I’m not the one hiring mandulus for protection.”

  “They dealt with you just fine.”

  “Your net dealt with me just fine. They simply stuck the boot in when I was down. A child could have knocked me out at that point.”

  Where irritation had tightened Buster’s features, it seemed to fade away. “I don’t know why, but I like you, Seb.”

  Seb didn’t reply.

  Buster shrugged. “So Owsk has told you a little bit about me, then?”

  “For what it’s worth, yeah. Although I’m not sure I trust much that comes out of that rat’s mouth.”

  Owsk’s deep inhale punctuated the quiet office’s stagnant air.

  “Well, I reunite families and take a small commission for saving their loved ones,” Buster said, “just to cover my expenses. I also find the smugglers themselves. And when I do …”