Chapter 9 #2
Ridgeman shoved her in their general direction and turned, heading for the ship. With a quick, furious look at Ridgeman’s back, a tall, muscular woman closed her hand over Velda’s forearm.
“No problem, Ridgeman,” she said, but under her breath. “Your wish is my command.”
A few of the people around her sniggered.
“The Commander has spoken.” Another woman stepped up to look at Velda. “Hear and obey.”
“He’s just stressed, is all,” one of the men said. “He doesn’t mean to sound like that.”
“You keep believing that, Fred.” The man who spoke opened the door closest to where they were standing. “Put her in here, Neena. There’s a couch.”
He stepped to the side and Neena pushed her into the room.
“Why’s your friend so far behind?” The woman who’d made the crack about ‘hear and obey’ stepped in after them.
“He was shot. They’re carrying him in.” She realized her throat tightened up as she spoke, just thinking about Ethan, hurt and vulnerable.
“Here they come.” The man who’d opened the door shook his head. “Vang and Nyler are carrying him between them.”
Something eased a little inside Velda, and she took stock of the room.
It was clearly used for planning and admin. There were diagrams on the board, stacks of paper on a trestle table, which served as a desk, and a long couch with a small side table up against a wall.
Neena turned her to face the door again and released the restraints on her wrists. “Sit.”
She moved to the couch, rubbing her arms, and sank down. It wasn’t a very well-sprung couch, but it was a relief to rest. She had been pushing herself since they heard the engine noise late last night.
“Can I have my pack back?” she asked. Ridgeman had dumped it on the ground when he’d pushed Velda at the group. “Get my water bottle?”
Fred brought it in, and Neena took it, opened it, and unpacked it. She put Velda’s clothes in a neat pile, her toiletries in another, and handed her the water bottle before she set out the camping equipment. “No food?” she asked, fingering the sleeping bag.
“It’s in Ethan’s pack,” Velda said.
“Give me your comms unit.” The man who’d opened the door held out his hand.
“She can’t exactly use it, Brayden.” Neena flicked a look his way.
“No, but as soon as she’s away from the dead zone, she can. And we have enough on the line without that worry.” Brayden flicked his fingers, a hurry up gesture. “We’re going to let them go eventually, might as well give ourselves as much time as possible to clear out.”
Velda took her wrist unit off and handed it over. It had been turned off anyway, so she hadn’t realized they’d set up a dead zone here, but that would make sense. It would be so much harder to spot the mine if there was no electronic activity.
Also, she didn’t know whether to believe him about letting her and Ethan go. She didn’t think Ridgeman was planning on that. And he seemed to be in charge.
“It’s not even on.” Brayden looked down at it.
“It died. I forgot to bring a charge.” Velda shrugged.
Brayden shoved it into his back pocket as Vang and Nyler came in, carrying Ethan between them.
They dropped him on the floor, and Velda shot them a vicious look before sliding off the couch to kneel beside him.
He was still out, but breathing steadily, and his pulse was strong. She shivered, unable to control her relief.
“You look puffed out,” Neena said to Vang, and there was a slightly mocking quality to the comment.
“He’s solid.” Vang shot her an annoyed look.
Nyler was already backing out. “Ridgeman says we need to load.”
Everyone in the room suddenly seemed to remember there was a ship outside, and filed out after him, leaving her and Ethan alone with Neena.
The woman swept her gaze around the room, shoved all the papers on the trestle table into a lockable cupboard to one side, slid the key into her pocket, and gave a nod.
“Toilet’s through there. The water from the tap is drinkable.
Don’t cause trouble, or Ridgeman will end you.
” Then she moved out, closed the door, and Velda heard a key turn in the lock.
As soon as the click sounded, Ethan opened his eyes.
Velda stared at him, and he sent her a wink.
“Well played,” she murmured, leaning forward to kiss him. “You had me fooled.”
“Thought I might hear a bit more chatter between Vang and Nyler if they thought I was out of it.”
“And did you?” she asked.
“I did.” He sat up, and rubbed at his chest, which is where she assumed he’d taken the laz hit.
She got up, went through to the tiny bathroom at the back, found a tiny glass on the edge of the sink, and filled it, brought it back to Ethan.
He downed it in a single swallow.
“Where’s your pack?” she asked.
“Good question.” He tilted his head. “Back at the cliff face, I think. It was leaning against the rock.”
“They just left it?” Velda hoped that was true. “They took my comms unit, but yours might still be in your pack.”
“Unless they specifically took it out, it is.”
They smiled at each other.
“So, what did they say?” she asked.
“The ship was arriving, so most of the talk was about the shipment, how it was the last one, how they were glad to be going, and curiosity at what was going on in Demeter since the laser strikes.” Ethan rose to his feet and began to wander around the room, studying everything he could.
“Where are they going with the shipment?” Velda wondered.
“They didn’t say. But they aren’t locals, that’s for sure. They had a few unflattering things to say about our beautiful planet.” Ethan stopped at the locked cabinet and crouched in front of it, studied the lock.
“That explains why none of them seem to recognize me.” Although Velda thought some of them did sound local. It may be down to context. They assumed she was a random hiker, and so that is what they saw.
Ethan looked across at her, eyes narrowed. “I hadn’t considered that. But if there’s a dead zone in place, they won’t have heard about the crash.”
“A few of the team here are definitely local, unless they’ve adopted an Aponi accent.” Velda went into the bathroom to get herself a cup of water, and then froze when someone tried the door.
Ethan moved away from the cabinet, and lay on the couch, gesturing for her to join him.
“Neena, where’s the key?” Ridgeman’s voice was loud enough for her to hear him perfectly.
She heard a feminine voice respond, and by the time a clearly angry Ridgeman opened the door, she and Ethan were on the couch, him half lying down, her hovering over him anxiously.
“He’s not still out?” Ridgeman asked, his focus on Ethan.
“He’s just started to come round.” Velda glared at him, then gently brushed a hand over Ethan’s forehead.
“Ridgeman.” The woman who Velda had seen coming out of the ship stopped just in the doorway, blocking the natural light. She seemed shocked at the sight of them. “So these are the two you’re holding? Where’d they come from?”
“Hikers. Stumbled across us this morning.” Ridgeman looked down at the empty table, and narrowed his eyes. “Where’s my stuff?”
“Neena put everything away in there before she locked us in,” Velda said, pointing to the cabinet.
Ridgeman walked over to it, tried the handle, and swore softly. He strode to the door and the woman stepped back to let him out.
She winced when he bellowed for Neena and shot him a sour look.
Ridgeman returned, key in hand, and retrieved the papers, spreading them out on the table and grabbing several that were clipped together. “Here.” He shoved them at the woman.
She didn’t look pleased by his attitude but she took them, angled them to the light coming through the door, and gave a nod. “It’ll do.”
“It’ll do?” Ridgeman’s voice dropped.
“Yes, it will do.” She looked up at him, eyes hard.
“I’m not saying it’s your problem, or your fuck-up.
I’m just saying it looks like there’s enough ore on hand for us to placate the fucking Caruso and save our little agreement from imploding.
This, and what we have in the warehouse in Demeter, will be enough to keep them from outright walking away. ”
Velda had a bad feeling about the fact that this conversation was happening so openly in front of them. So did Ethan, if his grip on her hand was anything to go by. She could feel his body tense, and she forced herself not to look at him, to keep her expression neutral.
“Fine. You can take the hikers and the ore, and get the fuck out of here, Brink.” Ridgeman’s lips twisted. “We’ll pack up and head back to the city.”
“The heads would prefer you stayed here and kept mining, but they need boots on the ground in the city.” Brink shrugged. “I can see you’re pleased with that outcome, but don’t get too comfy in Demeter. This mine is currently our only hold on the Caruso, and you’re the one who knows it best.”
Ridgeman shook his head and walked to the door, leaned out. “Nyler!”
Brink’s hold on the sheaf of papers tightened in irritation.
Velda knew the shout had been intended to irritate when Ridgeman turned and propped a shoulder against the doorjamb with a smirk.
“What do you need these two for, anyway?” he asked.
“Nothing you need to worry about.” Brink smiled back, and Velda couldn’t tell if she was being difficult in response to Ridgeman’s attitude, or because she really didn’t want to tell him.
Either way, she didn’t like it.
Neither did Ethan, because he stood up and took a step forward, shielding her from their two captors.
“You’re going to be difficult, aren’t you?” Ridgeman said.
Ethan leaped at him, silent and furious, and then fell.
Velda turned her head, saw Brink had a laz out. One Velda hadn’t seen before.
She rushed her, fury fueling her own attack, but Brink was ready for her.
She saw the flash of laz fire, and then nothing.