James Axler – Exile to Hell

Waylon, in the lead, saw him first and he increased the length of his stride to intercept him. He held out his left hand, palm up. “Kane! Stop!”

He didn’t stop, but he slowed down just enough to slap Waylon’s hand aside and deliver an elbow thrust into the interceptor’s throat. Shoving the choking man out of his path, he stormed on.

“Kane!” barked Salvo. “I order you to halt!”

Kane didn’t even look at him. He had eyes only for Baptiste and her pale, blood-streaked face. Distantly he was aware of his lips peeling back from his teeth in a silent snarl.

“I’ll shoot if you don’t stop, Kane!” There was a click from his sleeve, and the Sin Eater filled his hand.

Kane slowed to a walk. He saw the fear and the anger in Salvo’s face, and it required a great effort to keep from filling his own hand.

“What are you doing with that woman?” he demanded, his voice ragged with thinly disguised fury.

Morales sneered. “What’s it look like? Placing a Preservationist bitch under arrest. What’s it to you?”

Kane’s blow landed like a steam-driven piston. Mewling, Morales folded over and clutched his stomach, then was hammered face-first to the floor by a side-handed smash to the back of his exposed neck.

Locking eyes with Salvo, Kane said, “What’s it to me? This archivist was following up a legal line of inquiry at my request.”

“Who authorized it?” Salvo shot back. Though his blaster was in his hand, he didn’t raise it.

“I did.”

“Then it wasn’t exactly legal, was it?”

Kane’s eyes met Baptiste’s. Though fear still swam in those clear green depths, relief gleamed there, too.

“Who struck you, Baptiste?”

“She resisted apprehension,” Salvo growled. “Only the minimum force required to subdue her was employed. Damn it, have you fused out completely? She’s a Preservationist. Do you understand that? A fucking Preservationist !”

Kane took a long, deep breath. By degrees, the flame of fury in his eyes was contained.

Salvo noticed, and some of the tension left his posture, but he didn’t holster the Sin Eater. “You’ve got some explaining to do,” he said grimly.

Waylon was back on his feet, still gasping, and he weaved toward Kane on unsteady legs, clutching his throat with his left hand. His right hand gripped his Sin Eater. He hissed, “You went too far this time”

Salvo gestured to him. “Stand down.”

Baptiste side-kicked at Salvo, but he grabbed her right arm and twisted it up in a painful hammerlock. She cried out. Kane shifted position, but stopped moving when Salvo cast a hard glance in his direction. Kane assessed the situation more coolly now, looking critically at Baptiste, Waylon, Salvo and the pair of blasters. He decided it wasn’t worth the risk. If he finished what he had started, both he and Brigid Baptiste would die.

Salvo smiled coldly. “You lifted a comp disk from Reeth’s slaghole, didn’t you?”

“I did,” Kane admitted, his tone cold and hard enough to match Salvo’s smile. “The disk had a data lock-out that defied the Syne.”

“And that aroused your curiosity.”

Kane pointed accusingly at the moaning Morales. “I acted on that pissant’s suggestion to consult historical.”

“And you blundered into an ongoing op.”

Kane quirked an eyebrow. “What kind of op?”

“Remember what I mentioned to you last night?”

“Yes.”

“We’ve suspected this bitch was a spy for quite some time, that she was feeding crucial ville Intel to the warlord’s army.”

“That’s a lie,” Baptiste said sternly. “I was following a Magistrate Division request.”

“Shut up.” Sajvo pursed his lips. “This isn’t the time or place to discuss it further. Morales and Waylon, escort this traitor to detention now.”

Kane stepped closer. “Wait”

“Face it, Kane. You were used. You fucked up. Fortunately it helped us to nail her, otherwise you wouldn’t be standing hereyou’d be on your way to a disciplinary tribunal.”

Waylon helped Morales to his feet and Salvo pushed Baptiste at them. “Take her. And Kaneyou and me are going to have a talk.”

Baptiste was led away, looking lost and slender between the black-coated magistrates. She didn’t look back, for which Kane was both grateful and sad.