God's Bounty Hunter (Biddy Mackay Space Detective Book 1) by T Olivant (reading in the dark .txt) 📕

find what had been lost.  No, what had been ripped from him with a violence that left a decade’s worth of scars.

“Yes.” He said once more, but the caller had already clicked off.  Lu Tang turned to stare out at the stars.  It would all be over soon, he thought.  One way or the other.

Chapter 19

Biddy had never really believed people when they said that things had moved in slow motion.  But when Macleod had raised her weapon and shot Tibo in the chest it had been like time was in a fog.  The big man toppled backwards like someone had given him a hard shove.  Just a split second after the woman fired Biddy aimed for Macleod with her stungun.

The old woman dropped like a stone.

“Shit!” Phil said, pushing Biddy out of the way and reaching for a lethal firearm from his side.

“Don’t shoot her!  She’s already down!” Biddy shouted at him, while at the same time running over to the starglider pilot.

Blood was oozing out of a wound on his chest even as Elvis’s large hand pushed down on it.

“The medical pack is on my back,” Elvis grunted to her, trying to put more pressure on the wound.

“Hold on Tibo,” Biddy said, reaching into the bag and pulling out anything she could find.

“It missed his heart,” Phil said.  He had left Macleod and come to join them. “But she used a big bullet.  It’s the size of the hole that’ll kill him.”

“He’s not going to die,” Biddy muttered, grabbing an insta-bandage.

“Liquid plastic first,” Phil said and Biddy grabbed the pack.  She trusted that her bodyguard knew what to do with bullet wounds, having been both victim and cause of a few in his time.

Phil grabbed a dressing and Biddy sprayed on the liquid plastic.  Tibo’s mouth made a horrible watery sound.

“His lung’s collapsed,” Elvis said.  The big engineer’s hands were dripping red.

“I saw something here, hang on… Yes, an insta-breathe.  Out of the way Elvis.”

It was a nasty looking bit of kit, with a covered needle at one end.  She pulled off the plastic covering.

“Hands away guys.” Elvis and Phil stepped back and she slammed the insta-breathe downwards.  The needle impaled the man’s lung and the oxygen mask closed neatly over his face.  Biddy watched anxiously but after a few seconds there was a little color in his cheeks again.

“Should we be worried about the bullet?” Biddy asked.

Elvis took a look at the big guy’s back. “No exit wound.  So it’s in there somewhere, probably not doing him any good.  But we can’t get it out here.  I think we’ve done everything we can for now.  We need to get him back on board our ship.”

“Just one minute,” Biddy said, going over to the command console.

“He hasn’t got many left,” Elvis said, his voice harsh.  Biddy tried not to look at the gore that covered his arms and clothing.

“I know.  I just want to check there are no more nasty surprises.” She pressed a few buttons. “Looks like some sort of life-raft left the ship an hour before we turned up.  The Augment is definitely long gone.”

“Then we should get his friend home.”

“Yes.” Biddy placed a call to the Black Maria. “I need Kenzie and Hastings down here with a stretcher.” She took a look at the Scotclan woman who was now snoring happily. “Make that two stretchers.  It’s been a busy day.”

Francesca and Hastings got Tibo stabilized while Biddy and the rest of the crew cleaned up.  By the time Biddy had washed the last of the blood from her hands, Tibo was under plastic wrap in the cruiser’s medical pod.

“He’ll need to see a proper Doctor,” Francesca told Biddy. “I can keep him stable, but no more.  The bullet is too close to his heart for me to risk doing anything about it.  This pod will stop it from moving about, but he’s still at risk.  Will you be taking him to Eritree?”

Biddy nodded. “There’s not much choice.  I won’t have his death on my hands and he needs to go to a hospital.”

“From what I hear it’s Macleod’s hands that are bloody, not yours.”

Biddy shrugged.  News travelled fast on a spacecraft, and bad news travelled quickest of all. “She just went for him.  I should never have allowed her onboard.”

“What are you going to do with her?”

“Lock her up for the moment.  She’s still out cold.  Then I’m going to call Scotclan and tell them just what I think of their Observer.”

“And what about the Augment?” Phil said from the doorway.  He was staring at Tibo with one hand on his stungun, as if the guy was suddenly going to get up and attack someone.

“I’ve sent the logs of the starglider over to the Geek.  If anyone can find the Augment, he can.”

Biddy turned away from Tibo’s blank face and gestured to Phil. “Can I have a word?”

Biddy made sure they were out of earshot before she spoke again. “Any idea what the hell Macleod was doing shooting that guy?”

Phil frowned. “Why would I know?”

“You’re the bodyguard.  Weapons expert and all around badass.  Do you think she was trying to kill him or not?”

“Oh, you mean like a warning shot?  No, I think she wanted him dead.  She aimed for his chest.”

Biddy chewed her lip. “That’s what I thought.  Shit.  I almost let someone commit murder right in front of me.”

“It was me that should have moved faster,” Phil said, his shoulders hitched upward in embarrassment. “I should have stopped her.”

“You were there to protect me, not Tibo.  It wasn’t like any of us were expecting it.”

“You managed to stun her though.”

“I had my gun trained on her all along.  I never trusted the old witch.”

Phil allowed himself a wry