“See you on the inside.” He waited for Tink to enter before following the orbot into the billowing smoke. Tiger Lily followed close on his heels with Tootles shadowing her. That left me with the Twins and Curly, who stayed as far away from me as possible.
He gave me an anxious glance. “Aintcha going inside?”
“Naw, thought I’d smoke a bit and take in the view. Nothing you boys can’t handle inside, right?”
Curly exchanged worried glances with the Twins, obviously thrown off track by my lack of enthusiasm. “You gotta go in. Pan’s gonna need your help.”
“Is that so? Tell you what. You go first and I’ll toe the line at the rear. Keep the heat off your backs and all.”
The boys exchanged looks again. Finally, one of the Twins shrugged. “Can’t stay out here all day.” He tapped his other half, and they both whooped and darted inside. Curly gave me one final nervous glance, then tried to follow. Until I reached out and seized him by the ear, that is.
“Ow! What’s your problem, mister?” He winced while dancing on his tiptoes. “Pan’s not gonna let you get away with this. He’s gonna—”
“Do what? Set me up? Spring a trap? You better start squealing, boy. Otherwise I’ll find out if you can fly like your fearless leader.” I hauled him toward the railing.
“No, wait! Don’t hurt me, Mr. Trubble. I don’t know nothing about no traps. He just said he was gonna teach you a lesson about meddling in his business is all. Honest, that’s all I know.”
He clapped his hand to his reddened ear when I let him go, glaring at me with unshed tears in his eyes. I almost felt sorry for the little goon.
“Stay here, kid. I see you on my tail and you’ll have a lot more than a sore ear, pipe that?” I pulled the Mean Ol’ Broad from her holster and flung myself through the doorway. Fortunately no one tried to plug me when I slammed against the wall. The hallway was cramped and hazed with smoke from the flashbangs. I crouched and crept slowly, holding the Broad steady. I didn’t want to shoot a kid, but I figured I could scare ‘em if they tried any gonzo business.
Blood was smeared across the wall. I found the first body a few feet away. Multiple stab wounds decorated the suited man’s torso. A biogun lay near his limp hand, deactivated by the man’s demise. Two more goons lay prone nearby, staining the floors crimson. Looked like Hooke was on point with his assessment. Pan was a savage little bastard.
Tiger Lily crouched beside a fourth body when I rounded the corner. I put my heat away when I saw she had a towel pressed against the man’s throat, compressing the gash in his neck. Her hands were painted red, and the towel was more scarlet than white. The man was ashen and half-conscious, but he was still ticking.
Tiger Lily looked up when I approached. “I’ve never seen him like this.” She’d pushed her goggles up, exposing eyes widened in shock. “I don’t know what’s gotten into him. He’s been full of rage the past few weeks. He treated it all like a game before. But now he’s bent on something. It’s like he’s desperate, but he never explains what he’s looking for. I swear I didn’t know he would go this far.”
“Not your fault, darling,” I said. “Just keep that compress tight. There’s bound to be a medimech on this ship somewhere. I’ll try to find it. Where did Pan go?”
“To the lower decks. Where the boys are caged up.”
I paused. “So this is a trafficking ship, after all.”
“Yeah. But Pan lied when he said he takes them in to be Lost Boys. The Lost Boys came off the streets. The boys he frees from the slavers he takes somewhere else.”
“Where?”
She looked stricken. I could tell she was torn between her loyalty to Pan and the truth she felt in her gut. “I don’t know,” she finally said. “Dr. Mannering would, though.”
Another piece of the puzzle span across my mind and clicked into place. “Dr. Mannering. As in the father of the missing girl.”
“Yeah.” Her voice was barely above a whisper. “Pan has been meeting with him lately. Ever since then he’s been in this rage. That’s when he started hijacking airships.”
“Oh, my.” Pan’s voice crackled over the intercom. “Looks like my secret is out. Never trust a pretty set of gams — isn’t that right, Mick?”
“The gig is up, Pan.” I stared at the camera in the corner of the hall. “It’s not Hooke who’s been nabbing boys, it’s you. What do you need them for? And what’s the Mannering girl got to do with this?”
His scornful laugh sputtered over the com. “If the gig was up, you’d know the answers, wouldn’t you? Some detective you turned out to be. So howzabout you go down with the captain of this ship? He isn’t exactly in the frame of mind to pilot right now, on account of the dagger in his back.” Pan chuckled. “I know how that feels, having so recently been backstabbed by my darling Tiger Lily. But you know what they say: loose lips sink airships. Did I mention I yanked a few wires while I was in the cabin? Bon voyage, suckers.”
The ship lurched in a sickening manner, groaning like a dying whale. Tiger Lily tried to brace herself while still compressing the guard’s neck wound.
“Hang on.” I staggered down the hall and stumbled down the stairwell while the airship did its best to make me lose my dinner. No one was visible when I tumbled into the cargo hold, but it was obvious the hold was used to smuggle humans. Cages hardly large enough to hold dogs lined the walls, and the chamber smelled of piss, vomit, and despair.
Pan’s mocking laugh carried over from the com. “Looking for me? You’re slow, old man. I got what I came for. Enjoy the ride. It’ll be a short one.”
A wide open door led to the rampart on the opposite side of where we rappelled in. The wind picked up where it left off, kicking my ass as soon as I stepped out. Pan’s ship floated above us, with the rappel lines still hanging. Each line was attached to a listless, harrow-eyed boy. There were five in all, scrawny things in dirty rags that barely looked able to stand on their flippers without being blown over. Curly had apparently made it from the other side, because he was securing the rappel cords to harnesses that were strapped to the captive boys. When he clapped eyes on me, he looked about ready to burst his ticker.
“Stop right there, kid.” I waved him away. “Those boys aren’t fit to make the jump. You’re gonna kill ‘em if you go ahead with this.”
The boys stood lethargically in place, glassy eyes devoid of any feeling. I hated to imagine what they’d been through. At that point, they were as docile and unfeeling as cattle raised in a slaughterhouse.
Curly shook his head. “Pan’s orders. You better back away, mister!”
I opened my mouth angrily, but shut it in a hurry when a sizzling blast struck the wall near my head. As I cursed and ate the floor, I caught sight of Tink hovering a few yards away. The orbot was equipped with some kind of pulse laser. The shot would have burned straight through me if she’d meant to hit me with it.
Pan’s grin was fiendish when he landed on the balcony railing with a clanging sound. “That was a warning, Mick. Tink’s programmed to fire one before the kill shot. Better stay where you are if you don’t want daylight leaking in your head.”
“Thanks for the advice.” I rolled and drew the Mean Ol’ Broad in one smooth motion, using Pan’s body to buffer Tink from tracking my movements. By the time I cleared, I already had the Broad locked on the orbot’s location. Pan opened his mouth, but his words were drowned out by the booming shot that sent Tink straight to scrap metal heaven. Glimmering bits and pieces flew everywhere.
Pan’s eyes widened. “You bastard!” His boots pulsed, and he collided into me with the force of a rocket. I wish I could say the short distance protected me from major harm, but I still felt like everything in my chest shattered with the impact. The Broad spun away, sliding across the lopsided deck. Something flashed in Pan’s hand, and I barely managed to turn my head from the dagger he wildly stabbed with. The razor edge grazed my cheek anyway, stinging like a sonovabitch.