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

you’re not getting the hell out of the system.  I don’t understand it either.  You realize you’re a sitting duck?”

“I had noticed,” Biddy replied.  There were comets lurching through the dead cold of space that sounded more inviting than her current tone.

“Okay, okay, I deserve the attitude.  I never got a chance to talk it through with you, did I?  I just thought you might like a little insider knowledge on what Chief Campbell is planning.”

Biddy felt her eye begin to twitch. “You know, someone on the Black Maria gave Lu Tang a datapad.  Any idea how that happened.”

Elvis grimaced. “I had to get their trust somehow.  Look, I’m risking my whole career here.  I could have just forgotten all about you, taken any position I wanted in Scotclan, but I’m trying to help.”

Her finger hovered over the end call button, but something made Biddy pause.  Was it wrong that she wanted to trust Elvis?  She had enough plates spinning that it would be good for something to be simple, for once.

“I’m listening,” she said.

“Campbell knew about the Augments.  I’m certain of that.  He had a couple of hundred cells ready and waiting onboard his ship.”

“Bastard,” Biddy said, although there was more resignation in her voice than anger. “What is he going to do now that they’ve gone rogue?”

“He wants to negotiate with them, I think.  He’s been calling them since they went down to the maintenance plant but they’re not picking up.”

“Does he know about the portal drive?”

“Yeah, he’s after that as well.  But it’s the Augments he really wants.  He keeps… well, he keeps calling them the Gods.  He says it’s our duty to bring our Gods home.”

“Ugh.” Biddy ground her teeth.  Religious and political.  This was not her idea of a fun job.  If only she had never accepted the mission in the first place.  She could be sunning herself on a UV bed somewhere on a rest-Sat right about now.  Biddy shook her head to release the tempting image.  Elvis was still talking.

“He wants the Augments on his side.  I guess he thinks Scotclan will be pretty powerful with a couple of hundred Gods working for them.  Wipe out the Knights, reclaim the stars, all that sort of thing.  The knowledge alone that the Augments can provide, not to mention the technology that can wipe out a solar system… Well, you can see what he’s thinking.”

A noise behind Elvis made him start. “I’d better go.  But I’ll give you the direct number for my datapad if you need me.  I want to help Biddy, I swear.”

“Just one thing,” Biddy said quickly. “Did Campbell say anything about Lu Tang?  Or Kepler?”

“I don’t think so… but he did keep saying something about a cuckoo in the nest?  Could that be Lu Tang?  Honestly Biddy, I think the Chief might have lost his mind.”

“No, that makes perfect sense.” Biddy replied, her stomach churning in anger and disgust.

“Got to go,” Elvis said, glancing behind him and then the screen went black.

There was silence in the command room.

“Can we believe what Elvis was saying about Chief Campbell?” Kenzie asked. “He could be trying to trick us.”

Biddy bit her lip. “I think we have to.  It makes sense.  Scotclan have been playing us from the start, that much is obvious.  And they clearly knew about the Augments.  They just needed a dumbass detective to lead them to them.”

Not surprisingly, every else in the room suddenly became very busy doing general ‘space stuff’.  Biddy was so angry with herself she could taste bile.  What the hell had she led her crew into?  She should have questioned the motives of Scotclan from the start.  So stupid!  And Lu Tang, he had been used just as badly.  More so, in fact.  All so that people way above their pay grade could play their power games.

Well, enough was enough.

“Francesca, what’s the status of Macleod?”

“I’ve got her in the medical room.  She’s still unconscious.”

“Then give her whatever the hell it takes to wake her up!”

Francesca’s eyes narrowed.  She had a lump above one eye where the Augment had thumped her, but she seemed as bright as ever. “I’m not going to be responsible for killing someone just because you happen to be pissed off with them, Mackay.”

“All right, but there must be something you can try that won’t kill her?”

The Navigator eyed the ceiling for a moment.  Then she nodded slowly. “I can try a shot of something.  An adrenaline derivative.  It might wake her up, it might do nothing.  But at least it won’t kill her.”

“Thanks,” Biddy said, but Francesca still looked pissed as she walked out of the command room.

“What about Lu Tang?” Hastings asked.

“I’ve made my decision,” Biddy said, even though she didn’t feel at all certain. “In five minutes he won’t be our problem anymore.”

Chapter 48

Kepler was out of the airlock as soon as he had zipped up the spacesuit.  No point in hanging around when there were people to kill.

At first he had thought that the girl detective had imprisoned him with her story.  But now he realized that she had set him free.  He could be Kepler, if he wanted to.  More of a God than anyone had ever been.  And he would bring his fury down upon the others.

He’d turned off his augmented senses.  They had never really worked properly anyway.  He could see that now, could understand the pain that he’d been in since he left Widdershins 3.  Without the mechanical aids in his brain, he knew that Mackay had been right when she said he didn’t have long to live.  Well, time to make the most of those last few hours.

He stared at the maintenance compound.  He had never thought it would be possible to be so angry.  The detective had