Chapter 54

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"We have a green light," Rex said.

Joe unlocked the door and stepped out with a forced nonchalance. The atrium was nearly empty, as the cafés and food carts had closed for the night. Kit and Rex joined him.

Kit motioned to Joe's right. "Sloan's hangout is over there. I'll take lead." Then he looked from Joe to Rex. "Both of you, try not to limp."

"Easier said than done when you've got a blaster shot in your ankle," Rex said.

"I saw your wound. It was just a burn," Kit said.

"Still hurts," Rex muttered.

"Try getting stabbed with a rusty pitchfork," Joe said.

Kit sighed. "Really? We're going to compare wounds now?"

Joe decided that silence was the best response. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to walk without a limp, but Kit set a quick clip, making it harder. He glanced at Rex, but the man seemed to be having no problem keeping up the pace. As the trio walked through the long atrium, they passed the occasional service staff and pairs of murcs. No one paid them special attention, and no murcs stopped them to verify their credentials. Joe suspected that bounty hunters had become a common sight thanks to the Iron Guild's alliance with the Sloans.

If anyone looked closely, they'd notice that Rex and Joe bore the sigil of the Haft Agency, but fortunately, people tended to keep a distance from bounty hunters.

"Who I wouldn't kill for a photon cannon right now," Rex said, breaking the quiet.

"It's 'what I wouldn't give' for a photon cannon right now," Joe corrected.

Rex turned to him. "What?"

Joe shook his head. "Never mind."

"Here's our stop." Kit veered toward a door. "We check his office first. I'm not sure what's behind that other door." He nodded to the door marked PRIVATE: MRC ACCESS ONLY.

Kit waved his hand over the panel next to the door, and it opened. Once inside, they drew their blasters. Kit led them down a narrow hallway that opened to a spacious office. Kit stopped a couple of feet inside and scanned his blaster over the room.

Joe did a three-sixty as he took in the large office. Worry filled him when he noticed no other doors. "This is too easy."

"Don't taint our luck with your pessimism, Havoc," Rex said.

Kit looked around. "No. He's right. Something's off. An administrator's office should have better security than this. Not a single alarm is set. I get there being no guards on duty when Sloan's not here, but this is too easy."

"Oh, I'm here, and I'm watching you," the voice came over the speakers in the room.

The trio spun, searching for targets. Joe recognized the voice and practically spat out the man's name. "Sloan."

"I knew you'd come, Havoc, but I'm surprised you were able to talk others into your foolishness."

"Why don't you come here, and see how convincing I can be," Joe taunted.

"I'm too smart to be in the same room as someone with a weapon who'd like to kill me. I'll see you later, when you pose less of a threat."

An alarm sounded.

"We've got company," Kit said, and Joe heard the footfalls of several people in the hallway behind them.

Joe yelled, "Boom time!" and tossed a flash grenade at the murcs. He reached up to his helmet and closed the visual and auditory sensors; he trusted Kit and Rex to react as quickly. Even with the sensors blocked, Joe felt the boom of the grenade. He immediately turned on the sensors and checked to make sure Kit and Rex were still with him. Joe led them back into the narrow hallway. His leg protested, but his adrenaline made up for the pain.

Four murcs were on the floor in the hallway. Three were unconscious, and the fourth was, impressively, struggling to grab his blaster. Joe shot him. The door to the atrium opened. The trio jumped through, one after the other, and froze.

Facing them were thirty, if not forty, murcs in a tight semi-circle.

Rex tried the door and cursed. "Locked."

"Drop your weapons!" ordered a murc.

Joe rapidly assessed their options. They could go through the murcs, but though their exoshields could handle some blaster fire, a constant barrage wasn't viable. Even if they reached another door, Joe bet it would also be locked. The three hunters could take out several opponents before being taken down, but there was no way they'd shoot themselves out of the trap. Gunfights were numbers games. Those with the most blasters always won.

Funny how everything became clear when you were staring down the barrel of a blaster.

Joe swallowed and looked to his friends. Their body language told him they had made the same deductions. Joe held out his blasters and set them slowly on the ground. Kit and Rex did the same, though Rex muttered a string of curses.

"Get down on your knees!" came the next command.

Joe scowled and knelt, and shot a quick glance at Kit and Rex kneeling alongside him. Murcs stepped forward, picked up their blasters, and tied each of the hunter's hands behind their backs, being none too gentle. As they knelt there, the line of murcs before them parted, and Joe watched Gabriel Sloan step forward, a sneer plastered on his face.

"Well, well, well. What am I to do with this little band of miscreants? What do you think I should do with them, dear?" Sloan asked as he motioned to someone behind him.

Joe sucked in a breath as Sara Swinton was pulled forward by two soldiers.

Her features tightened when she saw him. "Joe."

He forced himself to not say anything that could put her in further jeopardy. That she looked healthy and unharmed brought him some comfort, but seeing her also stirred up the boiling hatred he held for Gabriel Sloan.

Sloan turned a haughty expression on Sara. "Well, dear? What should be done to those who attempt to assassinate a government official?"

"Let them live," she answered softly.

Sloan belted out a laugh. "'Let them live,' she says." Several murcs laughed. "What kind of example would I be setting? No, my dear. I think you are a rather bad judge of character, falling in with the likes of these."

Sloan turned toward someone else weaving through the lines of uniforms, and Joe saw Cat stroll through. Behind her was a bound Reuben, escorted by one of her hunters. Two additional hunters accompanied them.

"What do you think I should do with these troublemakers?" Sloan asked her.

Cat looked across their faces, lingering on Kit's. "A public execution would show that no one is above the MRC."

Sloan grinned. "I like the way you think."

"I ask that you return my hunter to me," Cat continued. "He brings shame to the Iron Guild, and I wish to see to his punishment personally."

Sloan nodded. "Of course, of course."

Cat walked over to Kit, and pulled his sword from its sheath. Then, she motioned to two hunters with her. They stepped forward, grabbed Kit by the arms, and yanked him to his feet. Kit remained quiet.

"You know, Cat, I should've killed you back in Westown," Rex gritted out.

She smiled at him. "And I should've made sure you were dead when you came through earlier today."

Cat shoved Reuben, and he fell down in front of Joe and Rex. "Have a nice execution, boys," she said and left. Kit was dragged after her by her hunters.

"Damn it, Reuben," Rex said. "Why'd you go and get yourself caught?"

"I'm sorry," Reuben blurted. "Cat was waiting for me at Kit's cutter."

"It's not your fault, Reuben," Joe sighed.

Sloan watched them with an evil glint in his eyes before he turned to face the murcs around them. "Good work tonight. Tomorrow will be an exciting day for everyone. I'll host a feast tomorrow following the public execution. You're all invited. Fresh lemons for all!" 

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