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

people imprisoned here are not responsible for what happened to you.  I won’t let you kill them.  Give me the drive now.”

“You’ll have to take it from me,” Kepler said.  And then he grinned.

“I am so sorry,” Mackay said, looking Kepler right in the eyes.  Then she shot him.

Chapter 53

Lu Tang hadn’t hit the floor before Mackay was sprinting forward.  There were yells of horror all around her, but she ignored them and did what a ‘tec does best.  She ran.  She grabbed the portal drive out of his lap and she dodged the arms of the Augments that crowded around her.

“Stop or I’ll shoot!” Chief Campbell called out from behind her.  Biddy felt her shoulders itch as she moved, waiting for the fatal shot.

“No you won’t!” A familiar voice said, and she half-turned to see Elvis fling himself on the Scotclan Chief.  Campbell went down like the proverbial sack of tatties.  Biddy would have let out a whoop if she hadn’t been running for her life, carrying the galaxy’s most potent bomb.

She dodged and weaved around the beeping hibernation pods, making her way to the back of the chamber.

“Stop!” Some newly awakened Augment with clammy skin tried to grab her on the way past, but she wrenched her arm out of its damp fingers.

Another few steps and she was at the door of the furnace, the Augments scattering before her as she raised her stungun.  She balanced the portal drive on her hip and opened the door, feeling the heat singe the hairs on her arm.

“Are you mad?” Campbell screamed from the floor. “You’ll kill us all.”

“I really hope not,” Biddy said as she closed her eyes and threw the portal drive into the furnace.  Lu Tang had assured her a thousand times that the drive was completely harmless when not running.  It should burn up with no more trouble than an old hovercar engine.

Of course, throw any engine into a furnace and it’ll still make a hell of a mess.

The blast ripped the metal front of the furnace to pieces.  Biddy was blown backwards by the force of the explosion, her body limp like a doll’s as it flew through the air.  She landed hard on her back, then instinctively curled into the fetal position to protect herself from the falling debris.

The world became a roar of heat and sharpness.  She shut her eyes but she could still see the fire that threatened to consume the room billow into curtains of smoke.

“Ow,” Biddy said in a tiny voice.  She felt a drop of water hit her singed face, then another.  The sprinkler system had kicked in, as well as a fan that whooshed the smoky air out of the chamber.  The hibernation pods had been well protected by someone, that’s for sure.

There were screams and whimpers of pain, but they were coming from somewhere far away.  Biddy felt a buzzing from an arm that she was pleased to notice was still attached to the rest of her.

“Hello?” she said, her voice sounding like it had been put through a mangle.

“It’s the Geek here.  You okay?”

“No.”

“But not dead?”

“Not dead.”

“Our readings showed a surge of power in the hibernation chamber.  Does that mean that the plan worked?”

“Never in doubt,” Biddy whispered, closing her eyes and begging for the peace and quiet of unconsciousness.  Unfortunately, someone poked her in the ribs.

“You alive, ‘tec?”

Biddy looked into the warm brown eyes of the most handsome man in the galaxy.

“Stop staring and help me up, will you,” she said, reaching out for his hand. She decided she would pretend not to notice the worry etched across his face. “And tell me quickly if you think Campbell is going to shoot us both.”

“Not sure.  Looks like we’re about to find out though.”

With a lot of help from Elvis and several heartful groans, Biddy made it to her feet.  She looked over and saw that Campbell was kneeling down next to Lu Tang.  After a second the Chief stood up and shook his head.

“He’s dead,” Campbell called out, the words echoing across the chamber.

“Biddy, the murder clause!” Elvis looked genuinely devastated.

“He wasn’t an Augment,” Biddy replied, pretending that it hadn’t worried her in the slightest.  She just had to hope she could convince the Chief. She raised her voice. “No murder clause applies.  He was a fake, created by Scotclan.  Isn’t that right, Campbell?”

The Chief gave her a glare. “It is open to interpretation.  But what is very clear is that I can charge you for treason.  That portal drive was meant for the Clans!  It would have changed our lives, all of our lives for the better!”

“And we could have reclaimed Tir nan Og, right?” Biddy said.

“That miserable rock?  Who wants Tir nan Og when we could have the galaxy!” Campbell said, “We could have revolutionized space travel.  Everyone would have had to buy the engines from us, even the Knights.”

“And if they didn’t, well the portal drive was a threat in itself, wasn’t it?”

“The greatest weapon ever made!  No one would dare cross us.”

“I think that’s enough, Campbell.” Macleod emerged from the doorway like a vengeful ghost. Well, if the spirit of vengeance would ever appear with grey hair and a cozy scarf. “Looks like it won’t be Detective Mackay that’s charged with treason.”

“Oh, Gods in the galaxies above us what is that woman doing here,” Biddy said, instinctively reaching for her stungun but not finding it: it must have fallen somewhere during the explosion.  Damn.

Macleod seemed to have entirely recovered from her concussion.  She strode over to the Scotclan members and took in the prone body of Lu Tang with a single glance.

“Portal drive?” she barked at Campbell.

“Your pet Detective destroyed it,” the man spat out.

Macleod narrowed her eyes. “That true,