Hurt U Back by Tim C. Taylor

Author:Tim C. Taylor [Taylor, Tim C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

— CHAPTER 17 —

The Hades interrogator didn’t have my ass for his plaything just yet. After a breathy snarl that lacked menace – perhaps due to the minty evidence of good dental hygiene – he backed away a little to allow a new face to peer into my hazy vision. She was a former space rat, face marred with old burns and chiseled into a humorless demeanor. Yikes! She was to be my good cop?

“You can still prove yourself to us,” she said. “Convince me and you will be permitted to live. Under scrutiny, of course. Loyalty is a fluid commodity when the world changes, as I expect you already know.”

She peered at me as if I were a specimen in a jar. In fact, I pictured her quarters lined with shelves heavy with body parts in jars taken from people who had disappointed her. The image didn’t help my state of mind. I wanted evil cop from Hades to come back. I searched for him in the room but he was lost in the crowd of people pointing guns at my head.

“What happened to our observers monitoring the Revenge Squad base?” asked the specimen jar woman.

“Last I heard…” I paused to spit out a gobbet of blood. “Last I heard, they were enjoying some female attention.”

She frowned, but she looked so stern to begin with that her expression was rearranged rather than hardened. “Whose?”

I gave a manic laugh. I don’t think I was actually mad, but if I gave them that impression maybe they would leave me alone. “Police Captain Rachel Silverberg,” I said. Actually, the police captain wasn’t the female attention I was thinking about. That would be Silky tying her pretty ribbons around the Leveler observers.

Then the Hades trooper punched me in the mouth, and I was thinking instead about how many teeth I had left.

“Your laughter is unwarranted for someone with a gun to his head,” he said.

I glared at him “Look, pal. I’ve had a gun to my head for three hundred years. Laughing is how I keep sane-ish. The police shot me with stun rounds, roughed me up, and threatened me. Just Captain Rachel’s way of saying hello to a new guy in town. I think she was giving your boys the same treatment. They’ll live.”

“I hope for your sake that you’re telling the truth,” said the space rat. “There are many ways to die, and some much more uncomfortable than others.” From behind her shoulder, Mr. Hades grinned at me. “But you could still live. Like your friends that we lured here. Ah, yes! I see you were not sure they still lived. We could let you see them, but first prove your loyalty and tell us how to find your Revenge Squad handlers. Tell us the access codes for your Revenge Squad HQ. How do we get in and access your facilities without triggering your defenses?”

I squeezed my eyes shut. “One question at a time. Please! My head hurts. Where are my handlers? I imagine they aren’t far away.

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