Project Charon 2 by Patty Jansen (brene brown rising strong .TXT) 📗

the guards tried to stop them, but they were too few.

“Let’s go.” She picked up a transport crate and waited for the others to do the same.

Hopefully the guards would be too busy to pay much attention to them.

Tina led the way back into the aisle, checking over her shoulder to see if the others followed. Evelle walked behind her, carrying a box, but several other women had to support the men who couldn’t walk unaided. Two men seemed to have recovered, which was a hopeful sign.

The large group of people was still at the checkpoint and the argument over whether they could proceed continued.

Tina led the group to the side, where a sign proclaimed, Authorised Entry.

“What are you up to?” a guard asked Tina.

“The boss asked us to bring this stuff for her.” Referring to the station director coming past.

The guard eyed her and her group suspiciously.

They didn’t exactly look like guard material. The men might be wearing lab overalls, but none of them were the correct size. Some of the men still had wet hair, and all of them retained that distant look in their eyes.

The women looked—and smelled—like they had spent time in prison.

Tina could see conflicting thoughts whirl in his eyes. Were she and her group worth creating more trouble, while his mates were already dealing with the other, much larger, group? All of those people were Freeranger pirates, supposedly allies, but one elderly man in the group had the guards holed up and was shouting at them.

Several of the younger men—the old man’s sons?—crowded around a guard.

The man nodded at Tina to proceed.

Chapter Thirty

Phew.

Tina was glad for the break and hoped they could get far enough away before the guards discovered that they’d let through their prize escapees.

But they were now in the docks area, close to the Manila.

This area still had power, but a sense of heightened vigilance hung in the air. Heavily armed pirates stood at intervals. People in station overalls sped through the passages. Their expressions were serious. No one was chatting.

Tina ducked into the first control niche she could find, typed the passcode Jens had given her into the computer and tried to contact the apartment.

We’ve escaped. In the docks. Contact Finn.

But Jens didn’t reply.

Tina waited, her heart thudding. What had happened?

“What is it?” Evelle asked.

“Your brother. I hoped he could come here.”

But the docks were still officially closed. Time was ticking for the Manila’s critical failure clock.

They needed to keep moving.

A few of the men were visibly weakening. It wouldn’t be possible to make a run for it with this group, or get involved in a fight.

“We need to go to the ship as soon as possible,” Aliz said, her voice rough with urgency. She held her hand to the side of her head, as if the feed she was getting from the ship was so noisy that she could barely hear what went on around her. “If it’s not too late already.”

“How about you go with a few crew members to help you?” Tina said.

“Once we’re at the ship, we’re going to leave with it immediately,” Aliz said. “I need to shed power and can’t do that while moored.”

“I know. I have to find my son and our friends. They haven’t responded to my messages.”

She had not received a confirmation, only one that the message had been read.

“I could really use you,” Aliz said. “I don’t have anyone else with flying experience, no matter how unrelated.”

“Mum, please?”

Tina met Evelle’s eyes.

She was strong, independent, and Tina saw a younger version of herself in her. Desperate to escape, and to be happy. Did Evelle have a partner? Did she think about her scattered family during her daily routines?

Out of the group of women, Aliz and Evelle were the most technically competent in terms of operating the ship. Evelle wasn’t even a pilot.

She couldn’t leave them alone.

But Rex needed her. Didn’t he?

Rex had been independent for the last few months, ever since getting his new harness. He was with Thor and Jens, and those two would be smart enough to keep their heads down. Besides, Rex had Finn and Rasa to collect the three of them off the station. Rex had good companions, his own quasi-family. Evelle needed her more than he did.

She nodded. “Let’s go.”

But while they made their way through the passages, Tina kept looking over her shoulders, just in case Thor, Rex and Jens turned up.

They didn’t.

It was surprisingly busy in the docks. She caught shards of conversations about the power outage that had brought down many of the systems the pirates used to guard the area.

Were the docks still closed to incoming or outgoing ships? It didn’t look like it. There were too many people around.

Aliz led the way, her expression haunted. Now that they were close to the ship, she could communicate with it again.

“The ship is in distress,” she said. “Systems are critical. We need to hurry. We have fifteen minutes to major failure.”

“Run ahead,” Tina said. “Start whatever procedure needs starting. We’ll catch up.”

They came into the lift foyer where Tina had first seen Evelle. The room was packed. What were all these people doing here?

They were all facing the lift doors. The station director stood there, dressed in ship overalls, wearing an earpiece microphone. Her voice carried through the hall but she spoke in Sinolese and Tina understood none of it.

Every now and then the people cheered and clapped.

“The selfish bitch,” Aliz said.

“What is she talking about?” Tina asked.

“She’s talking about how she’s going to ask her friends for help,” Evelle said and then frowned at Tina. “You don’t know Sinolese?”

“I hated learning it so much at school that I’ve forgotten all of it. I never used it anyway.”

“Screw asking friends for help,” Aliz said. “She knows the Federacy Force is underway and as a pirate supporter she has no chance of escape once they’re here.”

“Look over there,” Evelle said.

Tina looked where she was pointing. A couple of screens displayed the status