Peterwald had no respect for loyalty. None at all.
Jackie hotfooted it out of St. Pete with her best and most loyal troopers. And guns. Plenty of guns and explosives.
She’d realized the way the wind was blowing right after General Boyng failed to persuade Peterwald that he was more valuable to him alive than dead. Others had stayed to protest their loyalty. To point to years of service to the state.
Most of those fools were dead, as well they deserved to be.
Here, Jackie was making her own world. If Peterwald came calling, she’d turn it over to him from her very own hands. He’d know exactly what she was worth to him.
And if he didn’t bother coming to call? If he failed in his mad purge of his most loyal subordinates? Well, Jackie had friends there, too. They’d be glad to have her present them a world ready for the riding.
A commotion down on the lawn distracted Jackie from her thoughts. A hostage had broken loose from the chains that held her in place as live cover for Jackie’s machine-gun emplacements.
A dog handler quickly slipped the leash from his beast’s neck.
The dog was beautiful to watch. It was on the fleeing woman in four mighty bounds. First, it knocked her down. Then it ripped her throat out in one fluid motion.
The woman’s dying scream ended in a gurgle.
Which was more than could be said for the other hostages. Yells and bellyaching swept around the lawn as if it would do anything for the dead woman.
Jackie drew an automatic from the holster at her hip and fired one shot in the air. Other than a few sniffles from the kids, that got her the quiet she wanted.
“As you can see,” Jackie said loud enough for all to hear, “you cannot run away from your service to me. When you are told, stand up and keep your mouths shut. If you do as you are told, you may live. Defy me, and the dogs will eat you.”
“Your Terribleness,” one of the guard leaders called to her from below. She really liked that title. It let everyone know exactly where they stood before her.
“Yes, Sergeant.” She knew this one. He’d been a fresh-caught private back on St. Pete. He’d earned his sergeant’s stripes by catching one of the first assassins to come over the fence.
“Some of the hostages are digging up the lawn, trying to make foxholes or something. Should we shoot those who do?”
Now that he mentioned it, there were messy dents in the grass. Of course, where her guards had dug machine-gun nests, there were really big holes in her turf.
She had liked the look of her lovely lawn. The thought of killing anyone who messed it up worse than Jackie needed was tempting.
Still, there was no telling when that Longknife woman would show up . . . and it was possible that if she killed too many hostages, she might not be able to replace them in time.
She shook her head. “Just make sure they know. When we tell them to stand, anyone who doesn’t will be shot.”
“Are you at any risk of running out of hostages?” Captain Belou asked from where he stood inside the door, looking out.
“I’ve got rifles on every roof for the next three blocks. Machine pistols at every window. And where there are two or three of my henchmen, I’ve got five or six hostages in front of them. There are plenty more if I need them. You were on the ships that brought a lot of them here, weren’t you?”
“A couple. I’d still be on one if you hadn’t promised me my own ship, chasing down loot for you and your friends.”
“Yes,” Jackie said, turning back to the captain and marching for her desk. There wasn’t much on it. She hated to let things pile up unfinished. She was very good at finishing matters.
She picked up the printout on the Wardhaven Scout Ship Wasp that she’d made from Jane’s All the Worlds’ Warships. “It seems that our helpless merchant ship had claws.”
“And a Longknife to boot.”
“Yes, there is that matter. A Longknife that some news reports say is reluctant to kill.”
“She killed five thousand passengers on that liner without so much as a blink,” the captain pointed out, not at all reluctant to argue with Jackie.
Jackie could develop a taste for that in a man . . . provided it was in small quantities. A spice used sparingly. “Other stories say she was brokenhearted at the slaughter. I wonder which reporter got the story right.”
The captain shrugged—and glanced out the window. “I guess we’ll know pretty soon.”
“Yes, I will,” Jackie said. “Meanwhile, there’s the matter of getting you a ship.”
“None is available at the moment.”
“I’m not so sure the Wasp is beyond our reach,” Jackie said. “I understand that the shuttles that landed at the Annam plantation sucked water weeds into their intake valves.”
“I hadn’t heard.”
“Few have, but I have my eyes everywhere,” Jackie said with a smile designed to curdle blood, milk, or anything else she aimed it at.
The captain took a step back. “So, you want me to work for my ship.”
“I like it when a man knows what I want from him without all those messy explanations.” She changed her smile . . . to something a cobra might permit itself.
“What do you have in mind, Your Terribleness?”
“You can catch more flies with honey. And I bet you can catch more shuttles if you turn on a landing beacon for them.”
10
“That dog just keeps gnawing on that woman,” Kris said, her stomach in free fall. “She’s dead.”
“I hope so,” Penny said. “They’re letting the dog eat her.”
Kris and Penny watched a picture that their computers directed to their eyes. The chief looked at them, eyes wide with questions . . . but he did not ask his computer to give him the video feed that was so upsetting the two officers.
It took Kris most of a minute to recover. “Jack,” she finally said.
“Yes, Commander.”
“This Jackie is a very bad actor. She’s staking out hostages on the lawn of her mansion. One tried to run, and she set a dog on her.”
“Nasty gal, huh?” Jack said.
“No saving graces at all,” Kris answered.
“So she’s set to hide behind human walls,” Jack said slowly. “Does this change your orders, Your Highness?”
“No. This is barbarity. Nobody should have to suffer this, not when there are troopers around to do something about it. But it does mean we’ll have to work a lot harder to take down this witch. Chief, Nelly, would you please back search any sky-eye feed you have of the buildings around Tranquility Road. I need to know which buildings had hostages marched into them.”
“We’re on it,” both said.
The air was split by a sonic boom, soon followed by a second, third, and fourth. “The landing boats are on final approach,” Kris said.
“And our local warlord has to know it’s showtime,” Jack added.
“But to know the show is on and not know where it’s at must be maddening for a control freak like Jackie,” Kris said. It certainly would be maddening for her.
Kris turned to look at those who shared her truck. A sniper team, a rifle team, and a corporal with four privates whom Jack had detailed to slow Kris down. She’d have to take care of that.
They were coming upon the outskirts of Lander’s Rest. Ahead was a burned-out group of stores with a large parking lot. Just the place for Kris to take care of a few small problems.
“Driver, pull the convoy off the road over there.”
He turned right into the parking lot.
“You four,” she said, pointing at her guards, “follow me.”
The four followed Kris, with the corporal right behind them, as Kris dismounted the truck and headed back down the convoy line.
By the time she got to the fourth truck, Jack was already waiting for her. “What are you up to now, Princess?” he asked, eyeing those following her.