Havoc (Dred Chronicles 2)

Inside, there was already a bunch of stuff she’d raided from Ike’s storeroom. Doing that hurt so bad. Dred dropped to her knees and touched a knot of copper wires, petting them for a few, ridiculous seconds. There was no point to it; it wasn’t like these bits and bobs contained any of Ike’s spirit, but Mary, she missed him.

I didn’t realize how much I listened to him, relied on him, until he was gone. Even more than Einar because I always knew the big man wanted in my bed.

Aloud, she said, “Ike . . . he didn’t want anything, except to feel useful.”

“He’d want us to kick their asses,” Jael said.

“Definitely.” She forced a toothy grin and pushed to her feet.

“Don’t do that. Don’t lie with your eyes. I’m usually bollocks at knowing when people mean what they say, but your face is plain to me.”

“Is it? What’s it saying then?”

“That you’re bleeding like hell over that old man.”

Dred swallowed hard and nodded. “It’s worse because—” She couldn’t say it, couldn’t get the words past the knives in her throat.

“I know, love.” His arms were around her without her ever seeing him move. That fast, a blink, and he was there, only his racing heartbeat giving a hint that he might be suffering, too.

“I shouldn’t care. The Dread Queen wouldn’t.”

“She’s a straw man, an effigy made for burning. Tam knows that even if you don’t, and he’d be the first to tell you not to let the role swallow you.”

“Would he? I wonder.”

The old Tameron probably wouldn’t have, actually. He’d have used Dred until she broke, then found another piece to move about the board. The new Tam? Dred had no idea what he was capable of—but she hoped for a great many things.

* * *

“I can see why you came to me,” Martine said. “Sounds dangerous.”

Tam nodded. “We need an advantage now that we’ve lost the element of surprise with the Peacemaker. The mercs now know the full extent of our capabilities, and Dred has her hands full keeping order in Queensland.”

In the days since the death matches, there had been a few abortive runs by Mungo’s monsters, and Silence had tested the turrets as well. With Ike gone—the thought sent a fierce pang through him—it had been a struggle to get the new turrets installed. Even now, they didn’t work correctly and didn’t recognize the mag bracelets half the time. One of these days, a native would end up mowed down by their own defensive measures.

Calypso tilted her head. “You’re sure we don’t have what we need here, little man?”

She called him that because it was supposed to bother him. He was supposed to get angry and defensive, but the truth never troubled him. Lies were another matter though they were sometimes politic and necessary. So he merely offered her a level look.

“I’ve checked all of our storerooms. For my plan to succeed, we must retrieve chemicals currently in storage elsewhere.”

“How far are we going?”

“Priest’s domain. We prioritized on our last trip and took what we needed most. But circumstances have changed.”

“There are three separate factions that want to kill us wandering the station. Or had you forgotten that?” Calypso didn’t look eager to venture out.

And honestly, Tam didn’t blame her. But he needed people who could fight and haul a significant amount of weight. He and Martine could manage the former, but their upper-body strength wasn’t up to dragging multiple bottles of chem across the station. So he couldn’t complete this mission solo, and his usual crew was busy. Which was why he’d asked Ali if she minded helping as well. The Rodeisian female was fair in a fight, and she’d be able to bring back plenty of components.

Ali joined them a few minutes later, just as he convinced Calypso that the benefits outweighed the risks, and she had Brahm with her. “Are we going?”

Tam swept a hand toward the barricades. “Stay close.”

The downside of this group was that they couldn’t travel through the ducts as he normally did. Ali couldn’t fit comfortably, and even if she squeezed through, the noise of her passage would alert anyone to their presence. Best to stay on the ground and fight through if necessary. They each took rifles, but because there wasn’t enough armor for everyone, and Ali couldn’t wear it in any case, they went without. Dred and Jael saw them off, but Tam could tell by their expressions that they were worried about something and trying to hide it. He didn’t derail the mission by inquiring. Timing was everything in such matters, and he was skilled at choosing both his moments and his battles.

Since he didn’t want Calypso to know about the secret way in and out of the territory that the aliens had devised, he led the group out the east barricades. Sentries helped pull down some of the junk so Ali and Brahm could pass, and as soon as Tam’s people climbed over, they immediately started rebuilding. It appears that the death matches had a meritorious effect on the work ethic. Some of them doubtless recalled how different it was under Artan’s regime.

On the other side of the barrier, Tam powered down the turrets and signaled for the women to move out of range. There weren’t enough magnetic bracelets to go around; since he had one, this was the only way.

“Someday you’ll have to tell me what a proper little man did to end up here,” Calypso said, as Tam moved toward the intersection.

“That’s unlikely,” he said politely.

Newly broken pipes and wires torn from the walls showed that someone had been here recently, some forty meters from the end of the turret range. The destruction suggested to Tam that it had been Mungo’s lot. Silence’s assassins tended not to yield to rage if they were frustrated in an objective; they were colder and more disciplined. The sentries couldn’t see what happened past the barricades, but they should’ve reported hearing the damage.

“I don’t like this,” Martine said.

Calypso nudged the other woman forward. “We’re exposed. We need to move. If the brutes are still around, we’ll spot them soon enough.”

“Rather fight them than the mercs,” Ali put in.

“Agreed,” Brahm said.

Tam concurred. Even if there were a lot of cannibals between here and Priest’s abandoned territory, his crew had laser rifles, so they should be able to take out a fair number before the monsters closed to hand-to-hand. He moved past the wreckage and set out, aware that Queensland’s survival depended on the success of this mission.