The Dead Fleet (Juggernaut #3)

Thirty Nine

Tila lay on the floor and watched as Malachi was dragged by the ankle to the lockers at the far end of the room. Her right arm hung uncomfortably from the handcuffs Typhon had used to lock her wrist to the console. Her staff lay the far side of the console surface. Even if she could stand without Typhon hearing her the staff would still be out of reach.

Even if she could reach it what could she do? Fight him one-handed?

And even if she won, could she or Malachi escape the handcuffs?

So Tila waited for an opportunity she couldn't conceive, to defeat a foe she couldn't beat.

But she had not given up yet.

Malachi see-sawed on the edge of consciousness. The gauntlet blast to his face had taken a toll, and Typhon was less than gentle as he pulled Malachi upright and handcuffed him to a rail inside a locker.

Typhon gave the rail a hard tug to make sure it was strong enough to hold Malachi's weight, then he slapped Malachi to shock him back into unconsciousness.

Malachi's head whirled as his brain worked to make sense of the environment and the pain, then recognition flooded back.He blinked into the face of Typhon.

'Welcome back. I'm glad you could join us. After all, what is the point in having a prisoner if they are not awake to appreciate it?'

Malachi snatched weakly at Typhon's clothing. Typhon simply walked away.

As he walked Malachi saw Tila laying on the floor, one hand cuffed high. She shuffled to a sitting position when she saw Malachi was awake.

'Hey Mal, you okay?'

Malachi shook his head. What a question!

'Been better,' he said weakly. 'You?'

'We're going to get out of this, Mal.'

'Really? How?'

Typhon reached Tila. He uncuffed her wrist and pulled Tila to her feet.

She struggled, twisted and scratched. Typhon savagely kicked Tila's feet out from under her, clapped the gauntlet on the small of her back and triggered it. The power snapped on and off like a light switch. It ripped through Tila's nerves and muscles, shredding her self-control. She flopped to the floor.

Typhon picked her up again and dragged her, this time unresisting, to join Malachi where he locked her cuffs to the same locker rail.

Malachi held Tila steady while she imposed control over her aching limbs. Fury and fear did most of the work for her. She pushed Malachi's hand aside and leaned forward, straining on the cuffs.

'Take these off and fight me like a man.'

Typhon continued his walk back to the console. 'You're not a man, Tila. Why should I fight you like one?'

'You're a coward.'

Typhon picked up Tila's staff and examined it, turning it around in his hands. He found the subtle mechanism and squeezed. The staff snapped shut.

'You're a puppet. Conway's dog.'

Typhon picked up the second blaster and holstered it. He leaned on the console, facing Tila and Malachi and tapped the staff against his leg.

'Still the obsession with Conway?'

'I'm going to expose him. I'm going to stop him.'

Typhon laughed. 'No one stops Conway. The man is too rich and too mean. As for exposing him? Well, that would take some time considering the depths of his reach. You won't stop him. You'll be lucky if you ever see a sunrise again.'

'So why not just kill us?'

'Don't ask him questions like that!' said Malachi.

Typhon tapped his communicator. 'New orders. You've caught the attention of people who want answers. People who want to find out how much you really know and who you've told.'

'No one else knows.'

'Your young friend knows.'

'She doesn't know anything,' said Tila. Desperation edged her words.

'We'll see,' Typhon replied darkly.

Typhon pushed off from the console and walked toward them again. He checked his chronometer and frowned.

'Is your back up late?' Tila guessed.

'It's a big ship,' Typhon said with disdain.

Tila gave Malachi a hopeful look. Typhon was clearly irritated that something wasn't going to plan. She said as much to Malachi in full defiant view of Typhon.

'How does that help us?' Malachi replied, watching more warily.

'Anything that goes wrong for him helps us. We need to take advantage of it.'

Malachi straightened up, his strength slowly returning, and tugged his cuffed wrist.

'I still don't see how it helps us.'

'Don't give up.'

'I'm just being realistic.'

'Being realistic never got us anywhere.'

'Yeah, if we had been realistic when we found that ship back home we wouldn't be here now.'

'But we know so much more now, Mal!'

'Do you, Tila?' said Typhon with little interest in the answer. He stood in front of them holding the staff like a baton. 'What do you know about this?'