Published: 9 May 2019

After Jared left we just stood there looking at each other, not sure what to do. Laurant and John kept glancing at me as if expecting me to lead. I didn’t know what to tell them for sure. Here I was, just a young girl with two experienced military types waiting for me to choose an action.‘Crap!’ I thought, ‘I must look a mess too. Filthy from head to toe, messed up hair and damn, a torn sleeve. How’d that happen? They must think me a ridiculous kid.’ I stood there staring at the floor with these thoughts going around in my head, not even realizing the others were still waiting.

“Uhm… If you ask me, we should look around here. Oh see if anything’s left that we might need.” John said quietly.

“Oh! Ah… yeah, that sounds good.” I responded, snapping out of my thoughts.

There wasn’t much left, as the guards had probably taken most of it before the battle. We scrounged a few items, then left by the back door. As soon as we got out into the hall, we heard voices to our left. John and Laurant took the lead, slipping quickly into old comfortable routine.At the end of the hall were two doors. One marked ‘Quarter Master’, the other ‘Treasury’. The first door was wide open, the room empty. It had already been ransacked. The other door was mostly closed, the voices of at least three men coming from inside. We slipped up to the door and kicked it open, surprising the men.

“Guns down! NOW!” Laurant ordered.

“Don’t shoot, don’t shoot!” they all cried, tossing down their weapons.

“We won’t stop you or harm you!” one guy claimed. “We just want out of here! Do what you want with that idiot!” another guy said.

“Yeah, he got himself into this mess. Let him get himself out!”

Laurant looked at John and they both looked at me. ‘Oh crap, not again.’ I thought. ‘They expect me to decide?’

“Okay…” I started hesitantly. “If you’re serious, go ahead, get gone. Oh! Hold on, do any of you have keys or key cards for this place?”

“Yeah sure.” they all said, handing over what they had. We let them take some cash as they left. They ran down the hall and disappeared around the corner. We stood there a few moments looking around at the treasury. I wasn’t thinking about the stuff in there though. One of those men had stripes on his uniform. The way he had looked at me as he left gave me the creeps. It made me aware of how small I looked compared to Laurant and John. Looking down at myself, I decided that wearing my favorite spandex catsuit hadn’t been the smartest idea, even if I did look really cool in it.

“Wow! This place is loaded!” John said, snapping me out of my thoughts again.

I looked around at all the stuff in here. I wouldn’t have thought there’d be much left. I was amazed with what I saw. There were drawers full of cash and coins, a shelf of gold, silver and platinum bars, bags of gemstones and jewelry, incenses and perfume, paintings, statuary in bronze, stone, gold and silver and one whole cabinet full of fancy clothes.

“We have to take this stuff!” John said.

“I agree. It’s worth a fortune!” Laurant said.

“Oh come on!” I said. “You want us to pack all this crap out? It would take hours, not to mention anti-grav carts to carry it all!”

“So you want us to just leave a fortune down here?” John asked.

“The people are more important! We ain’t got time for this! Look… here’s keys and a key card for each of us. Go let the slaves out. When that’s done you can come back here if we still have time.”

“God I hate leaving all this behind. It would be justice for Ja’qu’ill and the others we’ve lost.” Laurant grumbled as he left the room.

“I agree.” John said. “But it can’t be helped. Sam’s right, let’s go.”

“Hey, wait a second. Take a look at this map here in the Quartermasters room.” I had noticed it as I passed the door. We all gathered around it. Each room, cell, hall and bunker was labeled. We now knew the slaves were in one place, the kids in another.

“We need to split up. There’re just too many to stay together,” I said.

“Yeah. Look, I’ll take this hall. Laurant, you take that one. Sam, it may be best if you take the kids’ rooms. I think they’ll trust you more than us.”

“Okay.” I answered. I was glad John had stepped up and taken over. I had been really uneasy trying to give these guys orders. I’m just better on my own and I’m not Jared.

We parted ways at the end of the hall. As quickly as I could, I made my way around the kids’ rooms, letting them out and sending them down the tunnels and sewers. Most of them seemed to know where to go. Those that looked lost or confused I sent with ones who were clear. At one point, I met Laurant coming the other direction.

“Hey, Sam. I thought of something. Can you use that teleporter thing of Jared’s?” he asked.

“Yeah sure. But why?”

“I thought we could use it to get all that loot out of here. Do you think it would work?”

“Yeah sure it would. But we just don’t have time.”

“Oh come on! Let me do it then.”

“Fine!” I said in exasperation. Pulling out my comlink I contacted the ship and instructed it to follow Laurant’s orders, then handed him my com.

I went away shaking my head. “Men and their treasure!” I muttered. Ten minutes later I rendezvoused with John and helped send the slaves and kids down the tunnels. We were talking quietly about Jared, Ryan and Phy-Tong-Ki when a boy came up to me.

“Hey lady!” he said, pulling on my already torn sleeve. The sleeve gave out altogether and came off in his hand.

“Oh great!” I thought. “As if being torn wasn’t bad enough, he has to go and help it.”

I turned on the boy, ready to tell him off. When I did, he was standing there holding the sleeve like it might explode at any moment. His eyes were wide open and a wild, terrified energy emanated from them. My anger vanished as quickly as it had come. Now all I felt was ashamed.I gently took the sleeve out of his hand and put an arm around him.

“That’s okay, don’t worry about it. It was already torn anyway.” I said softly. “What did you want to say?”

“I… I… I hear man talking to Phy-Tong-Ki. He… ah… next to my room. He may be this man you look for, yes?”

“Was his name Jared?” I asked.

“I think yes. I only hear some of what they say.”

“Did they talk about a boy named Ryan?”

“Yes. Lots.”

“Is he alive?” Did Jared free him?”

“I not know. You want to go to him?”

“Yes I do. Can you show me where Jared is?”

“Yes… but… um… I know secret way to Phy-Tong-Ki if better.”

“Better? Hell yeah! Show me!”

We took off, not even waiting for John or Laurant. The boy took me back up into the bar and out the front door. When we hit the parking lot, there were the three guys we kicked out of the treasury, loading some of the slaves and kids into a vehicle. We ducked behind a dumpster and ran off down a side street as soon as their backs were turned.

The boy lead me out through the city until we were about two or three blocks away. We arrived at the cellar door of an abandoned building. It was locked.

“You open, yes!” he said pointing.

I opened the door and he lead us inside, across a storage room, down a hall and into a utility room. He walked up to an electrical box and opened it. I looked into it expecting wires and breakers but found a key pad instead.

“You got the code kid?”

“No. I not know. You do! Like outside door!”

“This is different. That was just a lock. This’s a code. Without the code we can’t get in.”

“You make open. Do thing with wires or something.”

It was the only choice I had. Maybe shorting the wires would work. It took me about five minutes of trying different wires. After singing my fingers several times I finally found a wire that worked. A panel popped open and slid sideways about an inch, then stopped. I tried to push it open but it wouldn’t move. Looking around I couldn’t see anything I could use as a pry bar.

Suddenly the kid took off out the door. I kept trying to push the panel open. About a minute later the kid reappeared with a piece of wood broken off a pallet. It did the trick. It was a good thing we were both small since we couldn’t get the door all the way open.

We squeezed through and found a set of stairs that spiraled down into the dark. Holding one finger to his lips, the boy lead the way down, keeping a hand on the outside wall. We crept down the stairs until we reached the bottom. There was another door there. Light leaked out from underneath it, casting odd shadows back up the stairs.

Carefully I tried the handle and found it unlocked. Phy-Tong must be so arrogant that he didn’t think this door even needed a lock. Slowly I inched the door open enough to take a peak.There, not ten feet away sat Ryan, a chain cuffed to his leg. Across the room, about 30 feet away, Phy-Tong-Ki stood at a door, talking to someone on the other side.

It made me sick to leave Sam that way but I was not going to risk her life any longer. She would have her hands full with Laurant, John and getting the slaves and kids out. From the map, I had a general idea of where Phy-Tong’s bunker was. Even though a few things had been changed, it didn’t take long to find my way there. I didn’t like the look of the halls at all. Too many corners to hide behind. My worries proved correct as soon as I rounded the corner from the kids rooms. Ahead was a bending hall that wasn’t on the map. Slowly I stepped down the hall, pressing myself against the outside curve.

There was a flash and a bang. I ducked back just in time, as a hole the size of my head appeared in the wall where I had been just seconds before. I fired back blindly around the bend. My rounds zinging and pinging in all directions as they ricocheted off the floor, walls and ceiling. I heard a grunt, then it was quiet.

Carefully I peaked around the corner and found a guard on his knees, holding his stomach. There was blood down his front and oozing between his fingers. His gun lay three feet to his right where he had dropped it.

“You’re gut shot fella.” I said, cautiously approaching him. “I can either finish you here and now or I can let you run. You may still have time to get to a hospital. Which will it be?”

“I… I’m done. I’ll t… t… try and get out… of here.”

He rose unsteadily to his feet, one hand over his wound, the other against the wall. He stumbled away, leaving a bloody streak along the wall.

Turning, I approached the next corner. This time I wasn’t going to risk it. Pulling the pin on one of my sonics, I lobbed it down the hall with a quick flick of my hand around the corner, then quickly jammed my hands over my ears. Even then the grenade about shook my teeth out. The sound reverberated up and down the halls for several seconds. When I opened my eyes, the lights were flickering and I could hear the hiss and pop of an electrical short someplace around the corner.

I chanced a quick peak and found the hall empty. One light was hanging from it’s wires, swinging back and forth. There were three doors on the right side of the hall with electronic locks. The shorting sound came from one of the keypads as it spat sparks into the air.

Lying face down on the floor at the end of the hall was one of the big Jorrashien guards. He wasn’t moving but still I approached with caution, my rifle at the ready. When I got to him I could see the blood still trickling from his ear, down across his face and joining the growing pool under his head. Bending down, I checked for a pulse. He was dead. “Wow! Who knew?” I thought. “They may be big and have 360 degree sight but they’re vulnerable to sound.”

The hall continued a short distance to the right, then made another left turn. As I crouched there checking out the dead guard, a voice assaulted my ears.

“That you Jared?” it asked. “Don’t bother answering, I know it is. Who else would it be?”

“Give me Ryan Phy-Tong and I’ll let you live!” I answered, standing.

“Come for your son have you?” he giggled. “Well it’s too late. I already blew his head off!”

“Don’t treat me like I’m stupid Phy-Tong. If you had, you’d be long gone by now!”

“Oh, that’s where you’re wrong! Again!” he said with another of his sickly sweet giggles.

“What do you mean, again?”

“So many times you’ve been wrong over the years. You seem to have one piece of bad luck after another, haven’t you.”

“I don’t think so. At least, no more than anyone in my profession.”

“No? Well, how about that crystal weave box? Ever wonder how the pirates knew where to find you?”

“I already know that. It was a leak, and it got plugged by the way.”

“Yes, yes, it did at that. But I anticipated that. How about the time you got drugged on Volitovia?

Not wise to make deals with Thaybiens, hmmm!”

I didn’t know how to respond. How could he know all this? Who is this guy?

“What’s this game you’re playing Phy-Tong? We don’t even know each other? What is it you have against me?”

“We don’t know each other?” he ranted, his voice becoming even more high pitched and sickly sweet. “We’ve known each other ever since I was just a teenager. But you don’t even remember, do you?”

“No. And if I don’t you can’t have been very important.”

“Not important!” he screeched “You killed the only person who mattered to me! Then you just left me there alone!”

“Left you where? Killed who?” I said angrily. I still didn’t know what he was talking about.

“Damn you! Gregor! It was Gregor you ass! You splattered his head all over the wall! And for what? A bunch of old antique guns!”

Suddenly the memories slammed back to vivid color. It shocked me so badly I stumbled back against the wall, nearly tripping over the dead body behind me. I hadn’t thought about that for over a hundred years. As I stood there in shock I noticed several kids standing in the hall behind me. Apparently my sonic had disrupted the locks on the three doors there. Quickly, I moved to them.

“Run! You’re free now. Take the tunnels and sewers. Get out now! Go”

I shoved them away and watched for a second to make certain they left, then stepped back to the corner of the hall.

“No! That can’t be! You can’t be that kid. It was over a hundred years ago.”

“You remember me now, don’t you! Yes, it was me. Do you know what they did to me when they found me there? I spent ten years of hell in the slave markets because of you. Not only that but they took my manhood from me as well. No! Not manhood, boyhood. I never even got the chance to reach manhood status. And the worst part was that you took my protector, my provider, my lover from me. Gregor was all I had in the world! I swore that day and every day after, that I would do anything I had to, to see you pay!”

“Look Phy-Tong, I was just a kid myself back then. I was barely 18. It was a military operation. I was only following orders. You can’t blame me for doing what a soldier does.”

“Oh can’t I? I did, have and will! I promised myself that you would never be happy and I’ve kept that promise!”

“Okay, so you interfered with some of my deals. Whoopy! I’ve made plenty of others. How’s that making me unhappy?”

“Ha Ha Ha” he laughed. “You don’t even realize the extent I’ve gone to, do you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Your wife! Your son! That’s what I mean!”

“W… Wh… What did y… you…d… do?”

“Your wife died in childbirth. I saw to that. It wasn’t natural causes. And that so-called accident with the transport your son was on? It was no accident!”

Now I started to see red. Anger swelled inside me like I had never felt before. It was a fire that burned away all reason. “You fucking sadistic piece of shit! I will end you! I’ll make you feel every second!”

“I see my little traps have served me well. I’ve taken your son from you twice now. Time to go do it a third time. Say goodbye to Ryan hum!”

I heard running footsteps receding down the hall. I dove around the corner and filled the hall with every last round I had in my clip as I chased him. Just as I ran out of ammo I heard a heavy door slam shut somewhere up ahead. I continued running up the hall in a blind rage. The tunnel took a left swing, turning around 180 degrees, ending at a large blast door. I bashed at it until my rifle broke, then beat on it with my fists. All the while I could hear Phy-Tong laughing maniacally from behind the door.

I finally realized that my fists were leaving bloody imprints on the door but doing little else. I couldn’t get through that door without some heavy explosives. The only thing I could do is try to keep him busy talking while I tried to think of a plan.

“Phy-Tong! What do you mean ‘twice’? I only had one son!”

“Only one son? Yes, I suppose you’re right, technically. But you never could let him go, could you! Not really.” he said, his voice amplified through a speaker someplace above the door.

“Are you talking about my hologram?”

“Of course I am. I made certain my men destroyed it. Why else would they have gone to your ship? They already had Ryan.”

“Damn you Phy-Tong!”

“No, no It’s you who are damned. Oh and once I’m finished here, I’ll go get that sleeper ship you found. I’ll be richer than I’ve ever been.”

“How the hell do you know about that?” I screamed. “I never told anyone about it!”

“Oh yes you did. You had to explain where Ryan and the other two came from. Did you forget? Hmm?”

“But that was only for official documentation that’s not available to the public!”

“When you’re as rich as I, anything is available. For the right price that is.” he giggled.

“Yes of course. By the way, how did you become so rich? You say you spent ten years as a slave. How’d you get where you are now?”

“At first, well, let’s just say that I was very good at what I did. I got a lot of money and gifts for my… uh… services. Because of that, I had access to many rich homes. I got quite good at picking up a few extra items from time to time.”

“In other words you became a thief.”

“And why not? Those rich bastards were getting what they wanted, why shouldn’t I have as well?”

“But that still doesn’t explain your wealth now.”

“You see, by the time I was an adult, I had saved up enough to buy my own freedom and several slaves. That was my start. Of course, I made a lot off you you over the years, as well.”

“How do you mean?”

“That crydex that was confiscated from you on Volitovia? It found its way conveniently into my hands. And that’s just one example.”

I was running out of things to talk about and I still had no idea how to get past the door.

“So you became exactly what you say ruined you as a child huh? Now you do the same thing to other kids! You’re a hypocrite, you know that Phy-Tong? You’re a fucked up, worthless eunuch! You don’t even have the balls, literally, to face me like a man!”

“Why should I? I already have all I want and need to keep hurting you. I’m not going to kill you either. I enjoy my little game with…”

Suddenly, there was a very large explosion close enough to shake the hall I was in. When the dust settled a bit and it went quiet again, I stood up and faced the door wondering what had happened.

“Phy-Tong! Phy-Tong! What’s going on in there?”

“You… You… You… shit… god damn you Jared!” he stuttered, obviously in a rage. “HOW! How… did you…? How do you…?”

He was incoherent and unable to complete a sentence. He kept coughing and panting like he couldn’t breathe right. Just then I heard running feet approaching from behind. I whirled around, drawing my battle knife, the only weapon I had left. I had no idea how I would fight one of those big Jorrashians but I had no choice. I crouched down, ready to spring, when John burst around the corner. When he saw me he back peddled and slid to a stop about three feet away. I was so shocked I dropped my knife and stood, staring at him in disbelief. He stepped over and grabbed my arm, dragging me back up the hall.

“NO!” I said, pulling away. “I’ve got to get Ryan, somehow.”

“Sam’s already got him! He’s safe and sound!”

“What? How? When?”

“No time now. We gotta get out of here!”

“Wait! Not yet! I have one more thing to do!”

I now knew exactly what to do. Walking back to the door I called out to Phy-Tong. “Something go wrong with your little plan there?”

“God damn you Jared! How do you keep slipping my noose? Every time! You come back and pick yourself up! How did you know? How do you succeed when I keep failing?”

“Because I live for my family and friends. I let the past be the past. You, you’re the one who never let go. Now you can sit in your little bunker all alone and watch your world crumble around your ears. It’s more than you deserve you scum!”

“Jared! I’ll kill you yet! Mark my words! I’ll hunt you to the end of time!”

“You do that!”

I turned and walked up the tunnel back to John.

“You still got that block of explosive?” I asked him.

“Yeah. What do you want to do?”

“You think you can bring down this tunnel?” I asked, pointing up in front of the door.

“Sure. Give me a few seconds.”

Ten seconds later we ran down the hall together, weaving around corners and past rooms. We heard the blast before we felt it. The dust and shock wave reached us seconds later. We kept running.

Are you enjoying this story? If you are, please, let Jared know by emailing him at: Jared at CastleRoland dot Net