Session 15

~JET~

I opened the hotel room door with a cigarette hanging from my mouth and a beer bottle in my other hand. Rich and Dodge filled the doorway instantly craning their heads to glance inside. The lights were off, a sci-fi action flick I'd been watching blaring on the screen, murderous screams filled the air as the aliens closed in on their space station stranded victims. I was missing the best damn part and I hoped my expression conveyed it.

"What do you two want?" I pointed over my shoulder. "Someone griping about the noise? I can turn it down. No need to call the cops, they could have just asked."

Rich failed to hide the rubber necking. "Ehhh uhhh, no. That's not why we're here. We need an update on … "

Dodge was worse, his palm roughly shoved me aside, eyes locked on the rumpled bedding. He yanked the covers off to find nothing. "Where is that little shit?"

Shock flashed on Rich's face. Clearly there was supposed to be subtlety. None-the-less Dodge intruded on the hotel room and searched it aggressively with his eyes.

I pulled the cigarette from my mouth and shrugged. "Ran off with some of my stuff. If you ask me, that was the last time. I see that punk again, I'm gonna fill his corpse so full of lead he'll bleed bullets. You guys were right. I invited trouble when I messed with the kid."

Rich scoffed, pointing at the bed. "You said he was sick, and I saw him here!"

"Yeah, well, guess he's a damn good faker."

Staring me down, Dodge barked, "What did he take from you?"

I ran a hand through my hair. "Raided my wallet, rifled through the kitchen—tossed the whole place in the process. So he nabbed some cash and food. That's the thanks I get … hey, what are you doing?"

Dodge pressed further into the room, opening the bathroom. I watched as in the mirror reflection he ripped the shower curtain back. His anger only growing as he found nothing.

I sighed. "Tellin' yah, the kid split without so much as a fuck you. What's the deal? He kill someone or something?"

Still standing by the door, Rich's twitching fingers strayed toward the gun on his belt beneath his jacket. But he wasn't looking at me or the room—his eyes were roving out toward what would be down the hall.

Pushing past me, Dodge growled, "No, not that we know of."

And yet this strange visit out of the blue … heh. I scratched my beard. "You know, I'd like to get out of this place and go back home to Ganymede. Any word on when that's gonna happen?"

"Not now. Word is something's going down. We might need you to run point soon." Dodge grabbed Rich by the arm. "Come on, let's go."

The door slammed behind them, followed by footsteps down the hall.

"Aaaaaaaaachhooo!"

I rolled my eyes toward the bed, or rather under it. Tugging the edge of the blanket up, I spied his eye shine. "You're lucky that didn't happen with them in here." I'd been amazed at how quickly the kid had vanished from sight at the vaguely anticipated knock, he'd been fully dressed and seated on the couch beside me as I stood up. Before I had closed the distance to the door he had vanished.

With a bit of grunting he crawled out of the tight space. "Huh, I held it as long as I could." He grabbed and tissue and blew his nose. After another full night's sleep he was better but still a touch under the weather.

"Good thing they fell for my story."

"Not hard to fool halfwits." He snorted.

"Sorry to throw you under the bus."

"Heh, used to it … granted, not used to it being done in my favor. But I'd say this showed their hand. They know about the book."

"Maybe but … "

A shout outside stole our attention.

Carefully, Spike tugged the curtain back, the dark room hiding our presence. Three stories down in the street Dodge held someone up against a lamppost as Rich brandished his gun. Holding our breaths I could just make out the words. Dang, they were loud mouths.

"You slimy lying bastard! I'm beginning to think you didn't have it to begin with."

"I did! I'm tellin' yah, that street brat swiped it from me just as I got it off the mule. Lay offa me, you fuckin' pigs!" I knew that voice, that was the guy Spike called Nails.

"You know we can just haul you off to jail." Rich grinned.

"Or beat your ass black and blue right here in the street." Dodge shook him. "No one would know!"

"You promised me—" A blow to his jaw shut him up instantly.

I reached up sympathetically and rubbed my own jaw. Beside me, Spike didn't so much as flinch. Damn, what had this kid witnessed before.

"And you failed to deliver!" Releasing Nails, Dodge let his body crumple down against the lamppost. "Useless piece of shit. You better track that kid down and bring the book to us."

Rich pressed the gun against Nail's temple. "Or else you'll learn what happens when you piss off the local heat, bottom feeder."

"Won't be a long lesson." Dodge scoffed. "Not much brain to penetrate in that skull."

Nails lifted his head. "The kid's probably dog food by now."

"Then you find the dog that ate him and get that book back!" Rich shoved him aside. The pair stalked off into the darkness. Slowly, staggering a bit, Nails climbed to his feet and wandered off in a different direction.

I swallowed as we both backed away from the window. "Damn Spike, good thing you aren't out there for them to find."

"Yeah." Looking over his shoulder at me the relief lingered in his eyes before it was replaced by determination. "So the question is, what are we going to do?"

"Well for one thing, you're staying out of sight."

The glare that earned me.

"Not that you can't handle yourself, they just clearly mean business. We need more evidence. I can't just tell the local chief … or even mine for that matter. They'd never let this stick with so little proof."

"That whole issue of the badge means a good guy." He offered me a scowl.

"I guess so." I pressed my finger against the book concealed in his vest's inner pocket. "Well, we know we have a few days before the next delivery. That should be enough time for you to finish kicking this cold."

He leaned against the wall, his eyes strayed to my holstered gun hanging up with my tench coat. "Why's that so important? I mean, without a gun how am I supposed to back you up?"

I ruffled his hair, to his marked displeasure. "You're a smart kid. You'll figure it out. Now, do you know the warehouse that entry referenced?"

"Sure do." He followed me to the kitchen as I started a stir fry for our dinner. Leaning on the counter he watched me cutting up some beef strips and vegetables. "It's to the northwest of here, near the crater's edge. The place used to have a lab, you can tell by the equipment still there. Shelves with glassware, some old rusty machines and shit. Even found an old fridge there."

"Anything good to eat in there?" I tossed some of the cuttings into the oiled pan, it started to sizzle.

Distractedly, Spike replied, "Don't think you'd want to eat anything in there. The thing broke down, wasn't working."

"So everything was rotten, huh."

"Mmm hmm. All those brains smelled really bad."

In mid stirring of the meat and vegetables I froze, eyes widening. "Brains? As in … human brains?"

He shrugged, his eyes half lidded as usual. "Probably. Looked to be close to the right size. But they were brains alright. And some eyeballs too. Now those were human for sure."

I would never get over how casually he talked about stuff like this.

Clearing my throat it took me a moment to ask, "So, some kind of covert operation?"

"Oh yeah. I mean, I never saw anyone working at the place. By the time I found it the building had been abandoned for a couple years. But now it seems to be a place for the mules to hand off their deliveries. It's out of the way enough and hard to get to, so folk don't wander that way without a purpose."

"Why were you there?" I side-eyed him.

"I was scrounging for food at first. After that, well, sometimes I got bored and followed from the rooftops, seeing what I could learn. Oh, that reminds me, you can climb, right?"

"Of course I can." I flexed my muscles. Now, I wouldn't be able to do what Spike could, bouncing from foothold to foothold. I had a bit more mass to me. But, the fact that the kid knew the building was a blessing. We actually had a chance of finding a place to stake out.

"Good, then we should be able to get in, no problem. The doors are chained and locked, so the ways in are crawling through windows on the upper floor."

He held out the plates as I dished up our food. It seemed refreshing to see him steadier on his feet now. Now when he ate it was with a healthy appetite, not the scarfing habit I had first witnessed. He savored his meals.

Seated on the couch we ate with little discussion watching alien spawn bursting out of the guts of spacemen, probably not the best mealtime entertainment. Spike laughed at the old special effects. But the minute the scene switched to outside the space station, his eyes widened. Instantly it captivated him. An endless star field wrapped in ribbons of color.

Setting my fork down, I leaned forward. "Never seen any 'aliens' like that, but they got this part pretty close to accurate."

"What part?"

"Being out in space."

"How would you know?" He glanced at me before grabbing a mouthful of the stir fry.

I smiled. "I'm from Ganymede. It's a moon around Jupiter."

The fork dropped with a clang. I had mentioned it before, but I doubted it had sunk in. "People really fly in space?" He thrust a finger at the screen. "Just like that?"

"Similar enough, yeah. I got here in a spaceship."

"Whoa, neat!" Suddenly he bowed his head, the heat rising to his cheeks. "I mean, I saw ships flying and all that … but I didn't know they went that high! I'm not stupid."

"Nobody said you were, Spike." I offered him a smile. "Now, how does that taste?"

Food always seemed to overcome his awkwardness. "Great. I mean, I can actually taste stuff again. This is really good."

I chuckled. Now, I just had to keep him from being found for a few more days. Then, as soon as possible, I would secret him away from all this. Show him the solar system … and an ocean.