Prodigal Son (Rise of the Peacemakers Book 5) by Matt Novotny & Mark Stallings

Author:Matt Novotny & Mark Stallings [Novotny, Matt]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Seventh Seal Press
Published: 2021-02-08T22:00:00+00:00

* * *

Kleve

Remmy turned sharply down an alley. Rains was right on his back bumper. They came to a stop, killed power to the bikes, and backed up behind a dumpster. His heart hammered in his chest, and he flashed a grin to Rains in the dark alley. He noticed Rains was breathing heavily from the adrenaline surge of being chased.

A bright light stabbed through the dark alley, and both men hunched over their bikes, making themselves as small as possible. After a tense, terrible moment that seemed to stretch forever, the light finally moved on, accompanied by the whine of an accelerating hover car.

The two men stayed where they were for a couple of minutes. Then Rains broke the silence.

“That was bold. I can’t believe you did that.”

“What could I do? That wasn’t a real security force. Oberon told us things were getting worse ever since the Peacemakers pulled out. Minor warlords setting themselves up to be petty dictators. No better than what happened in Galveston after Peepo broke the world.” Remmy glanced over the dumpster, then looked back at Rains. “You sayin’ I shoulda done anything different? Did you want me to let them shoot you?”

Rains shook his head. “No. I’m glad to be in one piece.” He stood up so he could peek down the alley. “You think they’re gone?”

“Oh, they’ll be back,” Remmy said. He powered up his bike. “Let’s go misbehave.” He rode to the mouth of the alley, looked both ways, and turned back the way they had come.

Rains hurried after him.

It took about half an hour of dodging down side streets and alleys before they broke out of the sprawl around the starport. The streets were mostly deserted. There were only a few beings out, and none that they saw seemed to care about them zipping across their territory.

The pair sped down the main thoroughfare to the Peacemaker data facility. There were several broken-down transports scattered along the street. The closer they got to the facility, the more sporadic the distribution of derelict vehicles. Remmy pulled alongside an Altarian rumbler and pointed at some carbon scoring along the flanks of the wreck.

“One of the warlords must have hijacked it,” Remmy speculated.

“Enforcers,” Rains said matter-of-factly. “Only Enforcers are so precise with their fire.” He pointed at several of the spots. “These are all cosmetic. They avoided anything vital. I bet you could still drive this rumbler.”

Remmy squinted, then nodded. He should have noticed that before. The marks on the bright paint drew his eyes…as it was intended to do. “Why put on the show?”

“It blocks access to the side street.” Rains pointed at the blocked offramp. Their bikes could easily navigate around, but the rumbler prevented anything larger from getting off the street. “And that’s where we want to go.”

Remmy glanced down the road they were on and pointed. “Not down here?”

“Only if you want to get detained or shot, or—in your case—both.” Jackson grinned. “Everyone tries the obvious entrance. So, the Peacemakers gave them what they expect.

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