King Killer Read online

  “I have my drones at the doors. Four just came in through the hotel, they are equipped with light weapons. No branding. I’m pulling mine back, but I think they saw me. They are coming toward us!”

  “It’s gotta be Elaka Nota,” Zea said. “They must have left agents here for us.”

  “Or it could be one of the other numerous corps who want to kill us,” Paula whispered as she looked out toward the direction of the hallway that led from the casino to the hotel.

  “Or they are here for someone else,” Kasta said, “but they are heading in our direction. See them on the ceiling?”

  We all tilted our heads back, and I saw the group of drones floating toward us. The casino room was huge, probably some three hundred meters long, but my vision was sharp, and I could see they had guns mounted on the underbellies of the robots.

  “Time to go,” I said as I stood from the table. My friends got up a half second after me, and I nodded toward the double doors that went back into the kitchen.

  “Hey, you need to pay--” our waiter said as we approached the kitchen, but Kasta gave him an R-credit card after I pushed him away, and we continued through the double doors.

  The kitchen was made of stainless steel surfaces and filled with the scents of roasted meat. Each side was loaded with ovens and stoves, but the center contained a long island where the food was prepped. There were six workers back here, but they were focused on their tasks and didn’t notice us enter through the doors.

  “That back door looks like an exit,” I said as we stepped past the first chef.

  I was at the front of our procession, and I glanced over my shoulder to make sure the drones hadn’t somehow caught up to us and pushed through the doors.

  Adam!

  I spun back around to the exit door and saw three black armored figures push into the kitchen. They each carried stun batons, and their faces were concealed by thick helmets.

  Shit.

  I will paralyze the one on the right.

  I sprinted toward the group and saw the fucker on the right stiffen as if someone shoved a broomstick up his ass. The other two didn’t seem to know that Eve had manipulated their friend, and they rushed toward me with their batons ready.

  I parried the first attacker’s thrust with the palm of my hand and tried to push it aside while I twisted my torso out of the way. The tip of the weapon scraped across the armor around my stomach, and I felt a tingle of electricity flow through my skin.

  The second man jabbed his baton at my leg, and I backpedaled a bit to avoid his attack.

  I’ll paralyze the left one.

  I reached to my left and grabbed an empty cooking pot off the table there. It was large enough to cook a bunch of crabs in, and I chucked it at center man’s armored head. He tried to duck down, but he was too slow, and the pot made a cymbal-like crash when it collided with his forehead. He lurched backward as I reached for another pot to throw at the man.

  The cooks started shouting, but I ignored them, grabbed a second pot in both hands, raised it over my head, and then jumped at the stumbling man. I slammed the base down on his armored head twice, and then I kicked him in the chest. He bounced off the closed door, and I flipped the pot around in my hand so that I could bring it down on his shoulders.

  He tried to swing his baton at me, but all the hits with the pots had disoriented him, and his baton missed me by a laughable margin. As soon as I released the pot on his head, I reached my hands out to catch his flailing arm. A moment later I held him in a joint lock and easily took the baton from his fingers.

  I kicked the man with the pot on his head in the chest again, and he flew back into the door. As soon as he was clear of me, I jabbed my newly acquired baton into the neck joint of the first man Eve had stunned. His body twitched, and a satisfying scream left his mouth. He dropped to the ground an instant after I electrocuted him, and I spun around to do the same with the other man Eve paralyzed.

  The man I’d kicked into the door was pulling the pot off his head, and I jabbed the tip of my baton into his armored face the instant he removed it. His body spasmed as he screamed, and I pulled my weapon away as soon as he slumped to the floor.

  “Grab their batons,” I told my friends as I stepped over the unconscious bodies and prepared to open the exit door.

  I pondered opening it carefully, but I assumed two possibilities: there were either a bunch of other assholes waiting for us out in the alley, or there was no one. Either way, being cautious at this point was going to waste a lot of time. We needed to get the hell out of here.

  I kicked open the door with a grunt, and the swinging piece of metal smacked right into the armored face of the fucker standing behind it.

  I saw three more men in the alley, and I dove out with my baton swinging. I caught the group off guard a bit, and my first hit connected with the neck of the black armored man standing on the right of the group. He shouted with agony when the electricity coursed through his body, and I kicked out with my left leg with the hope that I could topple the man standing beside the fucker I’d just shocked.

  My foot connected with his stomach and the man flew back while doubled over. I probably hadn’t done any real damage through his armor, but it didn’t really matter, I just needed a few extra seconds so I could attack the other assholes with my baton.

  One of the men left standing was quick, and he sprung forward with a low baton swing. I tried to twist out of the way, but my left leg was still in motion from my kick, and I knew I wouldn’t get clear in time.

  Suddenly, the man froze, and he started to tip over off-balance.

  I paralyzed him.

  I already figured that Eve used her powers on him and had moved onto the last one. He swung his baton at my face, but I leaned away a moment before it could hit me. I felt a bit of the electricity tingle my nose when it whipped past, but then I drove my baton into his shoulder. He screamed in agony, and I yanked the baton away before I shoved it into his neck joint. He fell to the ground, and I turned to slam my baton into the spine of the man Eve had taken down.

  The man who took the door to the face rushed at me, and I was a bit too slow. His baton hit me in the arm, and agony shot up my shoulder and the left side of my body. My right arm still worked though, so I shoved my baton into his helmet. Getting electrocuted in the face was more effective than in the shoulder, and the armored man collapsed.

  The man I’d kicked was back on his feet, and he made a quick jab motion with his baton. As soon as his weapon thrust forward, his body stopped moving, and I saw the eyes under his helmet open wide. I tapped my baton against his temple, and he convulsed violently before he tumbled down.

  “Alley is clear,” I said to the women as I checked the street. They had been watching the fight from inside the kitchen.

  “Where do we go? Who are those fucks?” Zea asked as she shut the door behind.

  “I don’t know.” I looked at the armor the men wore. There were no markings anywhere I could see, but that didn’t mean they weren’t Elaka Nota.

  “They were hired to capture Adam and me,” Eve said.

  “Huh?” Zea asked her.

  “I read their minds. They are a mercenary group that calls themselves the Black Hearts. Their leader is named Warren Royzar. They infiltrated Queen’s Hat shortly after we saved them from Nebula Gammon. The mercenaries captured Juliette and the security stations in Districts A and C as well. They have been waiting for us to return. Their primary objective is Adam and I. Second is Persephone.”

  “Shit,” I cursed. “Okay. We have to get out of here and then return to Persephone for weapons. Then we are going to rescue Juliette. Kasta, where are your eyes?”

  “My drones will scout on the street,” Kasta replied, and I saw her dragonfly robots fly to both ends of the alley. They made it there in less than five seconds, and the android let out a sigh.

  “There are twenty armored figures by the front of the hotel. They are carrying riot shotguns and moving this way.” Ka
sta pointed to her left, and we started moving right.

  “Shit! Ten over there. They are coming this way as well.”

  “Door!” Paula shouted as we ran toward a metal door set in the building opposite the back part of the restaurant. The engineer grabbed the handle, but of course, it was locked.

  “It’s a pin tumbler,” she said as she reached into her belt. “I can pick it.”

  “Yeah, but hurry,” Zea begged as she checked over her shoulder toward the front of the building.

  “Madalena,” I said as I touched the button on my transponder.

  “I’m leaving Persephone and coming toward you,” the Prime Valkyrie said.

  “How did you-- never mind. Stay on Persephone. We are being targeted by a mercenary group named the Black Hearts, and they are probably coming your way,” I said.

  “She knows you are in trouble from this far away?” Zea whispered as she looked at me.

  “I would ask you to change your mind, Adam,” Madalena said. “I have heard of this group, and they have a violent reputation.”

  “No,” I said. “Keep your position. You won’t be able to get here in time. Keep guard over Persephone.

  “Yes, Adam,” Madalena replied through the transponder.

  Kasta had pulled out her power-screw looking tool and was gently inserting it into the keyhole of the door. She turned the device on, and I spun my head to keep an eye on each side of the alley.

  “Come on. Come on. Come On.” Zea repeated the words like a mantra.

  “That doesn’t help,” Paula groaned, but then she twisted the tool, and the door sprung open.

  “Go,” I said, but I didn’t really need to say anything. My friends were already rushing into the pitch black room beyond the door. I jumped in after them and then closed the door behind us.

  “The lock still works,” Paula whispered, and I twisted the handle on the lock closed as my eyes adjusted.

  “Kasta?” I whispered.

  “They just turned the corner. They definitely didn’t see us come in here, and I don’t see any other drones in the air.”

  “This is the back storage area of the Ace-E’s department store,” Paula said as she gestured to the dark room. There were pallets of boxes, a crowd of mannequins, and rows of display shelving. Most of what we saw was mixed together in the storage area by someone who cared little for organization, but I saw a pallet jack bot docked against the wall.

  “Paula or Kasta, can you use that drone to move a pallet in front of the door?” I asked

  “I probably can,” the android said as she moved toward the docking station. “I’m at about max with drones, so it would mean taking attention away from my babies up in the air.”

  “For how long?” I asked.

  “Thirty seconds,” she replied as she began to touch the sensor panel on the dock. “They are moving toward our door. They’ll probably figure out we went in here soon, I’m not sure if there will be enough time.”

  “Do it,” I said as I moved to one of the smaller pallets. It was stacked about a meter and a half high with boxes, and I crouched down to place my hands on the metal base. I pushed a bit to test the weight, but the thing didn’t move. I could probably muscle it over the four meters to the door, but then I’d make a shitload of noise.

  “Check the other door out of here,” I asked Eve and Zea. The two women nodded, and they ran into the darkness of the storage room. The lights on the exterior of their suits glowed shortly after they left my eyesight, and I could see them approaching a large roll up door.

  “Got it!” Kasta whispered as the pallet jack drone rolled away from the wall and moved toward the pallet I had tried to push. The robot slid into the metal base of the stack easily, and it quickly lifted the bulk a dozen centimeters. Then it rolled toward the door and set the stack down so that our pursuers could not follow us.

  “Good job,” I said.

  “Thanks,” Kasta whispered and gave me a smirk. “Can I get a reward?”

  “Kasta,” Paula hissed. “Now is not the--”

  “But Eve and Zea aren’t even around. Maybe a quick kiss? With tongue, of course, or it doesn’t count.”

  “Let’s go,” I said as I gestured for the twins to follow me.

  “Rain check. Got it,” Kasta said.

  There is a roll up door, and a smaller door that we believe leads to office space. Either might lead to the exit, and I sense no life within fifty meters besides us.

  Eve’s voice came into my mind as I led the twins through the dark warehouse. The ability to communicate with me telepathically was amazingly useful, and I hoped it would give us enough of an edge to escape whoever was coming after us.

  Eve and Zea were waiting, and I saw the smaller door a few feet away from the roll up. It was partially concealed behind more crates and stacked pallets, so I figured the door probably didn’t lead to an escape.

  “We’ll take the roll up door,” I said. “Kasta, what’s the story outside?”

  “They just reached the back door of the restaurant. One of them went inside, and a few of them are looking at the door.”

  “Alright,” I said as I moved to grab the roll up door.

  “Locked on the side,” Zea said as she turned her body, so her lights hit the lock.

  “I got it,” Paula said as she rushed over there. This lock took her a bit longer than the first door, but Zea was able to keep herself from chanting “come on.”

  “Done,” the engineer called as the lock fell away.

  I pulled up, and the roller door screeched loudly as it ascended. It wasn’t particularly heavy, but I only lifted it a meter before I told my friends to duck under. They did so, and then they grabbed onto the lip so I could let go and roll under without it coming down on me.

  The next room looked like a loading station. There were docking platforms for trucks, stations for pallet lift drones, and conveyor belts. The belts ran through storage shelving like veins, but I saw that most of the shelves were empty.

  “This place out of business?” I asked Paula as I looked around.

  “Nope,” she replied. “Or at least, it wasn’t when we joined you all on Persephone.

  “It’s one of my favorite places to shop,” Kasta said. “They have everything.”

  “Many of the stores on Queen’s Hat were built over the bones of Nebula Gammon’s rhodium mining and refining business. I believe Ace-E’s might not do more than store stuff down here. They might have another place for shipping and receiving.”

  “Some of the black armored men are trying the door,” Kasta said. “Others are moving back to the front. My guess is that they will try to enter the department store.”

  “How big is the store?” I had walked past the building numerous times, but I never paid attention to it.

  “It’s big,” the twins said in unison.

  “Let’s try that door,” I said as I pointed to an alcove at the far side of the shipping space. It looked like it could have been an exit, or it could have led to another unused storage chamber. Queen’s Hat was huge, and it seemed to hold all sorts of old secrets.

  We jogged to the far door, but a control panel on the side had a red “LOCKED” icon flashing.

  “My turn,” Zea said as she pulled her cable from her belt pouch. She plugged one end into her skull and then slid the other into the dataport of the panel. Almost as soon as she pushed it inside, the display changed to “OPEN” and the door popped off its seam.

  “Hallway,” I said as I peeked around the door. The place was lit with a single light bulb every ten or so meters, so I figured we would need to leave our suit lights on for a bit longer.

  “I sense no life,” Eve said.

  “Good enough for me,” I replied as I slid into the hallway. My friends followed me, and we jogged down the long tunnel.

  “How are we going to get out of here?” Paula asked. “It’s a long way back to Persephone.”

  “They will probably expect us to go back,” I said. �
�I’ll think about it as we run. The first objective is to get out of this building and lose them.”

  “Can’t we get a day off?” Zea sighed. “At least we got to eat.”

  “And we aren’t dead!” Kasta laughed.

  “What do your drones see?” I asked the android.

  “Ten have gone into the department store. There is a bit of a crowd gathered across the street. People look concerned. Still no sign of security. Oh, wait. Shit.”

  “What’s wrong?” Zea asked.

  “Their drones have exited the casino. I’m going to get some altitude and hope they don’t see me. Might have to take evasive action or park them somewhere so they don’t get shot down.”

  “Shit, this will be harder without eyes in the sky,” I said.

  “What do you want me to do?” she asked.

  “Hold up. Here is another door.” The door at the end of the hallway had another control panel on the side, and I motioned for Zea to do here thing before I turned to Kasta. “You have five drones?” I asked.

  “Yep.”

  “Do they see you yet? Can you hide four of them and just keep one in the air?”

  “I’ll try,” she said.

  “I’m surprised your signal can reach them through the building,” Zea said as the lock turned green.

  “We have relays installed all over Queen’s Hat,” Paula said. “We can fly a drone through the entire station without issue, even District H.”

  “Ahhh, right.” Zea stepped away from the door, but I looked at Eve.

  “I sense life in the distance, maybe sixty meters.” The red-eyed woman pointed in the direction of the door.

  “Okay,” I said as I pushed through the door. The next room was another set of hallways, but there were a lot more lights here, and the floor looked polished. I guessed these were the employee hallways, and there were double doors twenty meters to our right and forty meters to our left.

  “I feel life in that direction,” Eve said as she pointed left.

  “Probably the main part of the store,” Paula said. “It should be in that direction.”

  “Kasta, how are the drones?” I asked.

  “I’m parking four a few buildings down, and I’ve angled the cameras so I could see down the street. Doesn’t look good. There is a group out in front, another group moved toward the back, and a third group is trying to force their way into the side door we used. Ahhh damn!”