The Street Survivors (The Guild Wars Book 12) by Ian Malone (great books of all time TXT) 📕

the River Hawks, the aliens looked like they’d been there a while, as evidenced by the tattered shape of their skin and clothes.

“Haju?” Taylor’s jaw fell open.

Earth’s gate master stepped forward, sporting a vicious gash on his massive forehead, plus bruises on his trunks, and fresh whip marks on his back and shoulders. He looked like hell compared to the other species in his cell. All the Sumatozou did.

“That’s it. Let’s roll!” Jack called.

“Van Zant, please,” Haju said. “I know we have had our differences over the years, but I am begging you. Please…please take us with you.”

In all the years Taylor had known Haju, he’d never once known the elephant to say please for anything. On the contrary, Haju’s behavior had always epitomized Sumatozou arrogance. Yet there stood the massive alien, not just asking, but pleading for assistance.

The Goka’s gonna dime us out anyway, so what’s a few more faces in the crowd? Taylor signaled Jack over to Haju’s cage. “Do it.”

The cowboy’s lips formed a line, but he didn’t hesitate. He produced his tools and went to work on the cage lock. Half a minute later, the entryway swung open, and the captives inside joined the humans out in the open.

“We’ve got less than two minutes until those guards reach our position,” Stan said. “We need to go, now.”

“What’s the rush?” a familiar voice asked in a casual tone.

The hums of laser weapons charging spun the group in their tracks.

“You just got here,” Genovese said with two dozen armed KzSha behind him. “It’d be downright rude to leave the party now without meetin’ the host.”

* * * * *

Chapter 15: Caught in the Act

“What is this, Mike?” Torrio asked.

“What does it look like?” Genovese huffed. “This is me bein’ one step ahead of the game, just like always.”

“One step ah…” Torrio’s gaze widened then narrowed abruptly. “Wait…did you set us up on Emza?”

“No, you idiot,” Genovese snapped. “What I did was cut a deal with a superior fighting force to ease off our necks while I got 200 innocent people back to safety from the shitstorm your arrogance got us into.”

Torrio shook his head.

“I practically begged you not to take the Zuparti deal, remember?” Genovese continued. “I told you the Hawks weren’t ready and it was too big a job. But you wouldn’t listen. You were so hellbent on stickin’ it to the company who took away your path to Ron Carnegie’s chair that you couldn’t see straight. And how did that end? With a whole bunch of dead troopers lyin’ face-down in the sand while their buffoon CO slings rocks under a dome on this freezer of a planet called Droxis. That’s on you, pal. Not me. It’s all on you.”

Torrio opened his mouth to speak, but paused, silver eyebrows pulling together. “What the hell are you talkin’ about? Yeah, you had some objections at the start, and I noted those. When the Bills signed on for support, though, we both agreed the Zuparti contract was doable.”

“No, you agreed.” Genovese stabbed out a finger. “I told you Emza was a suicide mission. But you’re the boss, and the boss is always right, aye Paulie?”

Torrio glared at his XO with the heat of molten lava as four KzSha pushed a lone Buma in restraints toward the humans.

“Sorry, Chief,” Frank said on his way by. “I tried like hell to stay hidden, but the damn wasps found me anyway.”

“Don’t sweat it, brother.” Taylor patted the pilot’s shoulder. “We’ll figure this out. I promise.”

The Buma’s gloomy expression didn’t waver as he fell into line with the others.

“So.” Taylor shifted. “Now we know why you missed your magnet hookup with the truck convoy outside the dome.”

“Yeah, my apologies for that,” Genovese said. “I needed a way to get free of you hillbillies so I could alert the KzSha to our arrival. FYI, the original plan was to grab you topside in the warehouse, but the hotfoot through the snow back to the dome took me longer than anticipated.”

“Sorry to take a dump on your arrangements,” Jack muttered.

“Ah, it all worked out,” Genovese said with a wave. “After all, had I not been delayed outside, we might not have all gotten the chance to share in this wonderful little Earth reunion of ours.” He motioned to the River Hawks. “I mean, I don’t know about you all, but I’m touched. Am I right?”

No one answered.

“Tough crowd.” Genovese scratched his head, then faced the KzSha. “Lock up the elephants and the cockroach, but bring the humans with us. He wants to meet them.”

He who? Taylor caught matching looks from Jack and Stan. Apparently they were wondering the same thing.

“Understood,” the lead KzSha said in the synthetic voice of its translator. Afterward, it turned to its comrades and blinked out a series of flashes with its antenna lights. The other wasps responded in kind, then formed up into groups and began shoving the other aliens back into their cages.

“Proceed with caution, Van Zant,” Haju said. “If my suspicions are correct, you’ll soon learn—as we did—that nothing here is as it seems.”

“Shut it, Tubs,” Genovese snapped. “This don’t concern you.”

Haju answered the captain’s warning with a glower as the metal door to the cage slammed shut in front of his trunks with a clang.

“Right this way, rednecks.” Genovese waved.

The Eagles and River Hawks were fitted with restraints, then herded through the confinement area to the terminus, where they boarded one of the open-air train cars. From there, the group was transported via rail into the next cavern over. It was here that Taylor got his first real look at the actual mine. The place was 300 yards wide, and that was just the mouth. Lord only knew how deep the actual pit went.

Another truck