Free Breakout by Ann Aguirre Page B

chute.
    â€œAshes to ashes,” Vost murmured. “You’ll be missed, my friend.”
    What an abbreviated service. The more people die, the less we have to say. Soon it’ll be, “
See you, pal. Ker-thunk.”
It was hard
not
to envision a future where there was nobody left to do her the same courtesy. Which meant she’d rot where she fell or be eaten by station rats. Either way, it likely wouldn’t end with her in a ship, putting this place behind her.
    â€œDon’t give up,” Vost said. “If you do, we’ve already lost.”
    â€œWhat?” She’d almost forgotten he was there.
    â€œYou think I haven’t noticed that you’re the heart and soul of this group? If
you
secretly think it can’t be done, they’ll sense it. But all great feats are deemed impossible until someone proves otherwise.”
    His determined optimism pried a reluctant smile out of her. “All right, Captain Brightside. I’ll keep my chin up.”
    As they turned to leave the recycling room, footfalls outside alerted them to enemies nearby. She mouthed at Vost,
Fight or hide?
    He cocked his head, as if trying to estimate the number of opponents, but before he could reply, the opening door took the choice away from them.
    â€¢Â Â Â â€¢Â Â Â â€¢
    JAEL skidded into the recycling room and locked the door behind him. The blood covering him startled a curse out of Dred, who he hadn’t expected to find here. Vost stepped out from behind her, pissing him off profoundly. It wasn’t that he was jealous, but . . .
Oh, frag it. Obviously I am.
There was no point in being coy inside his own screwed-up head.
    â€œTrouble?” Dred asked.
    â€œI stirred up a bit of a hornet’s nest. Just about every able-bodied murderer on board is hunting for me now, and like twenty of them are right outside.”
    â€œHow many did you take out along the way?” Vost wondered.
    â€œTwenty, twenty-five. I lost count after a while.” That made it sound like a mighty battle but it was more of a slaughter. He didn’t mention that the ones he’d killed had been so zoned that they couldn’t tell a real threat from their chem-induced dreams.
    â€œDid you get Silence?” Dred came toward him, apparently listening to the thump of bodies against the door. It was solid metal, so they wouldn’t be breaking it down anytime soon. Yet the way Silence’s minions crawled around the ship, they could probably find a hidden route.
    And we don’t have the food or water to wait them out. Sooner or later, we’ll be fighting.
    Jael shook his head. “Mary knows where she is, but
I
didn’t find her. Did for her new Speaker, though.”
    Dred smirked. “Now there’s a job with short life span.”
    â€œShe probably can’t replace him either unless she maintains a small pool of unmutilated subjects, just in case.” That was Vost.
    â€œSomehow, I don’t think talking to us will rank high on her list of things to do,” Jael said.
    â€œI suppose not.”
    Kill or be killed. Now it’s down to the most basic conflict of all.
    â€œHm,” Dred said. “I wonder why she had someone ready to step in before. It’s oddly forward thinking.”
    â€œThat means she’s capable of planning,” Vost murmured.
    Jael eyed the merc with irritation. “We already knew that, thanks. My odds of surviving this contretemps have gone up, though. I didn’t expect to find anyone in here, I was just leading them a merry chase before picking a few more off.”
    â€œYou can’t go on like that indefinitely,” Dred said.
    â€œWorried about me, love?”
    Once she would’ve denied it, but now she only nodded. The resultant pleasure eradicated the residual bitterness at finding her roving the station with Vost. “I culled their numbers for sure, and I learned something that we can