The Dead Fleet (Juggernaut #3)

Eighteen

Malachi led Ellie from shadow to shadow. Lamps high on the walls cast an even light, enough light to see by, but closer to the ground more powerful beams illuminated critical parts of the refinery infrastructure, and it was they that created enough shadows in the lees where they could hide.

Malchi dashed to the edge of every corner then slowly peered around it. Coast clear, he ran for the next pool of darkness. Ellie's arm was yanked painfully with every new movement, but now was not the time to complain. Pirates had entered the room, and their present danger had resolved with a new, sharp clarity.

Malachi stopped suddenly. Ellie bounced off his back.

'What?' she whispered.

Malachi turned his head and looked over Ellie's head at the corner they had just left.

''What?' she whispered again.

'I took a wrong turn.'

'Okay, lets go back.'

'I don't know if it was left or right.'

'Does it matter?'

'I can't see the chain from here. If I go the wrong way we'll head toward the pirates again.'

'Mal!'

'Shhh. Let's go back two steps.'

He swapped Ellie's hand from his right to his left and turned to retrace their steps.

He only got as far as one.

* * * * *

Tila lay still, unseen and unheard. This was new information. But did it change anything? Did it add anything? Was this something that would bring Conway to justice any faster or any more than the evidence they already had? Mal had the datapad. With that they could record some images as proof. But Mal was on his way to the cargo area. She couldn't call him. That would alert the pirates. Tila crushed her fingers into fists. Everything was so damn difficult! But the priority was to get out of here. All the evidence in the galaxy would be for nothing if they didn't escape.

Tila bounced up to a squat and balanced on the balls of her feet. The gangway to the control platform was a few meters out, and still high enough to be a challenge.

I've got one chance. How do I make this jump?

The gangway itself was an easy target to hold onto if she could reach it. But the jump looked difficult. Even at full stretch Tila felt uncertain she could reach.

She reached behind her back and pulled the staff free. A little extra distance would make this easier.

Tila studied the metalwork for a moment and settled on her target. Now she had to trust to her legs and to physics.

She backed up the full length of the cargo pod, stood up and ran. There was no point looking around now. They would see her or they would not. She couldn't control everything, no matter how hard she tried.

Her feet pounded on the roof of the cargo pod, pushing her forward. At the front she leapt, legs exploding against gravity, defying it to stop her.

She pulled the staff over her head and snapped it open. For a moment she hung in the air, legs pedalling against nothing, staff held with two hands overhead, as if ready to spear a wild animal.

Tila passed the apex of her leap. The gangway was close.

The spear thrust forward, and the strike was good. The staff slipped between horizontal bars and under the floor of the gangway. Gravity pulled Tila down at last but the staff swung up and wedged tightly in place. There were no sparks, only a low scraping noise as metal shifted against metal.

Tila pulled herself forward, one hand over the other, and grabbed hold of the gangway with one hand. For a short moment she swung freely. She needed both hands to pull herself up. She tugged at the staff. It was wedged tight against the metal frame. Tila let go of the staff and pulled herself up the side of the guardrail. With no foothold she pulled herself up, hand over hand. Her shoulders and biceps burned while her forearms and fingers locked tightly to the rails as she climbed. Then her arm reached the top and her legs could finally reach the lowest rail. She rested one foot against the guardrail and took the pressure off her grateful hands and arms. Tila swung her other leg up too. Her thigh clipped the staff. Without her weight to lock it into place between the side and bottom of the gangway it began to slip free.

Tila let go one hand and swiped the other to catch it.

She missed, and her staff fell to the factory floor.

The metal pole spun end over end as it fell. It clipped the upper surface of the cargo pod with a clang and reversed the spin. The other end struck the side, then the floor, then crashed into the side of the pod again.

A metal drumstick dropped onto metal percussion.

Tila swore, then with one urgent movement she pulled herself up and over the rail and dropped onto the walkway.