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  Surprised that the Chippie would offer, Jordan nodded and then ran back to the rear gun turret, fearing the worst.

  ~ * ~

  Ruth looked at Ivan, slumped in his seat and rocking from side to side as the SRV constantly jigged left and right.

  He could move his eyes.

  And what she saw there—what she thought she saw there—made her reach out and place a hand gently on his wrist. She pressed her index and middle fingers down to feel his pulse. It was slow. Once every three or four seconds.

  No matter what anyone else thought about him, this Ivan Delgato, she sensed nothing but honesty and goodness coming from him.

  And she wouldn’t be where she was, traveling across space to find answers about not just the Road, but about the universe if she hadn’t learned to trust her feelings.

  The vehicle rocked again. Hard.

  Her hand tightened on his wrist.

  His head immobile, his eyes strayed left, looking directly at her.

  “Ivan,” she whispered. “I’m sorry you—”

  His lips opened.

  Also in slow motion as if it was torturously difficult, fighting the control of the neuro-collar.

  Open lips. A pause. Then: “I—”

  A word. His eyes wide.

  Then: “Can.”

  The next word took so much time, a tiny gust of air escaping through the narrow slit of his open mouth.

  “Shoot…”

  Ruth nodded and looked around.

  “He’s offering to help,” she said.

  And we need all the help we can get.

  She nodded at Ivan and stood up and said, louder, “He’s offering to help!”

  ~ * ~

  “Damn, Jordan. Look at this …”

  On the screen, the battle cruiser was behind them. And as they watched, a huge hatch opened up, and more speeders streamed out like angry hornets leaving a nest—two, four, six in formation at first, then dozens, splitting up, weaving... bobbing.

  Jordan had been blasting at the cruiser itself to no effect, but now he had targets he could take out.

  Which he did with typical efficiency.

  But for each speeder he nailed, another pair flew out of the cruiser.

  Only a matter of time before they wear us down.

  But then there came a sound.

  Unfamiliar.

  A heavy clanking noise to the right...just behind the cockpit housing.

  A whining noise, like—

  Drilling!

  She knew immediately what it was. A grappling hook of some kind. A drill, burrowing into the hull of the SRV’s metal plating—plating that could handle meteors, even direct blasts from pulse cannons—but could, with the right drill bit, be penetrated.

  If the drill didn’t cause the whole ship to depressurize, any rupture would force the ship into self-protective compartment-by-compartment shutdown.

  And the SRV would stop ... dead.

  Prime eating for the Road Bugs.

  “For fuck’s sake,” she said.

  “Annie?”

  Jordan, so close to his gun’s noisy blasts, might not have heard the drilling into the side of the hull.

  “We’ve been grappled, Jordan.”

  “Thought so,” he said. A pause. Then: “Only one thing to do.”

  “Yeah, only thing is ... I’ve never done it.”

  “Seriously?”

  “What can I say? I’m a cautious pilot.”

  They were both silent for a few seconds, the drilling growing louder, setting Annie’s teeth on edge.

  “No time like the present to learn a new trick,” Jordan said.

  Annie nodded. She grabbed the wheel tighter, checked her speed, and sucked in a breath.

  ~ * ~

  FOUR

  SECRETS AND LIES

  ~ * ~

  29

  BETRAYAL

  Annie let her breath out slowly.

  And then cut the wheel hard to port while hitting the retro-thrust.

  The SRV did what any other vehicle on any other “road” would do.

  It turned over, rolling as she increased her speed, gunning the engine, giving as much spin to the roll as she could.

  Annie held on tight to the controls, and everyone inside SRV-66 turned ninety degrees, then completely upside down, and then: a grinding, crashing sound ... the shriek of metal ripping apart.

  The speeder that had attached itself to the SRV was crushed into the surface of the Road.

  Not much left, not even for the Road Bugs.

  The explosive multicolored sparks from the screaming metal flew forward, nearly blinding Annie as glowing pieces of the speeder sprayed like golden raindrops across the cockpit window.

  The barrel roll continued even as the SRV dragged the remains of its attacker under it, pressing it harder against the Road.

  More sparks, exploding in vibrant showers of light, and then the SRV righted itself.

  Amid the crazed mayhem of the barrel roll, that annoying sound was gone.

  Now came the tricky part...

  Could Annie get the vehicle running straight again when it returned to a level position on the Road?

  Theoretically, she knew how to do this. She had to go slowly, play with the controls to keep the SRV from flying off into what looked on either side like the absolute void of space.

  Her pulse throbbed, the blood pounding in her skull.

  But she held steady, turning slowly. Don’t overreact. And the SRV came around level. She played the wheel to the right, then to the left. The SRV banged back and forth, trying to get some kind of traction on the Road.

  And then, with a gentle thump, it settled down on the Road and was running straight.

  It was quiet.

  No drilling sound.

  “Impressive,” Jordan said.

  A pause.

  And she had to agree.

  “Unbelievable.”

  “First time for everything.”

  On the screen, she could see that while Jordan was holding a number of speeders at bay, more were creeping up along both sides of the vehicle. The speeders were bristling with spiderlike arms—more drills.

  So that’s how the Runners take down their prey.

  With less mass, the speeders moved faster than the SRV on the Road. They steadily closed the gap, and the helpless waiting game continued.

  If one or more attached to her, could she pull off another barrel roll?

  Unbelievable or not, she would have to try.

  A light tap on her shoulder made her jump. Then a voice. And a single word.

  “Captain?”

  ~ * ~

  A quick look.

  Ruth Corso.

  “Back to your seat, Ms. Corso. We’re still—”

  “He spoke.” Annie shook her head. Confused.

  “Ivan ... he spoke.”

  With a neuro-collar on? Not possible.

  “He said, ‘I can shoot.’ “

  Annie grit her teeth and nodded.

  Thinking: What he’s really saying is “Set me free.”

  To help or... what?

  She looked at Jordan on the screen, overwhelmed by speeders slipping past him like a stream of running rats.

  The shields all over the ship were decreasing, nearly drained.

  Ivan can shoot, but can I trust him?

  He’s the reason we’re being attacked.

  She had to make a decision. Fast. And she was good at that.

  She took a key from her side pocket.

  “It releases the collar. He’s going to be weak, sluggish at first, but tell him to get the hell up here, pronto!”

  Gripping the key, Ruth returned to the one-time leader of the Runners, amazed to think he might be their only hope ... or quite possibly their destruction.

  ~ * ~

  Rodriguez winced and squinted into the mirror as he checked his wou
nds. The left side of his face was flecked with the electric burns that oozed blood and pus.

  “Looks pretty bad to me.”

  Sinjira swatted the mirror away and leaned forward, smiling as she daubed antiseptic on his wounds.

  “You’ll live. I’ve seen worse, umm after a bad night in SoHo.”

  Rodriguez looked as though he didn’t believe her.

  She raised a hand to his face. Touched his cheek. Not a bad-looking guy. Though she liked more man in her men.

  Lots more.

  “Just flecks. Superficial stuff.”

  “And what was wrong with the SRV? What was with that turn?”

  “Beats me, Doc. Just be glad we were both strapped in. Too bad I didn’t get it on a chip, though. That was... unique.”

  “I like my stomach under my ribs, thank you,” Rodriguez said.

  Sinjira dabbed a few more spots with ointment that immediately stopped any oozing from the burns.

  “And I think ... I need a new chip.”

  She reached into her side pocket pouch to grab a chip because she was sure this show wasn’t over yet... especially when Ruth Corso came down from the cockpit and unlocked Ivan Delgato from his neck collar.

  “Really? You’re freeing him?”

  “Captain’s orders.”

  The collar snapped free. Ruth helped Ivan stand up. He looked shaky, to say the least.

  Ivan blinked, turned his neck left and right as if making sure it still worked. Then he raised his arms and stretched, but he looked as weak as a baby.

  Sinjira heard Ruth say: “Captain wants you. Up front.”

  Ivan took a step forward and nearly collapsed into another seat. Then, stiffening his legs, he moved as fast as he could, weaving like a drunk as the SRV rocked left and right. He almost fell again as he started up the short flight of stairs.

  Sinjira looked at Rodriguez

  “Gotta say we are having ourselves quite the Road trip...”

  ~ * ~

  Annie glanced up as Ivan entered the cockpit.

  “Against my better judgment, Delgato, I’m giving you the gunner’s seat. Your head clear enough?”

  Ivan nodded, but he was clearly pained. Disoriented.

  “Start firing as soon as you can focus.”

  She tended to the controls but kept glancing back at him, not moving, just standing there.

  “You hear what I said? Sit your ass down and start—”

  Finally, he moved.

  Reaching smoothly down to his right leg, he quickly produced a small handgun. It wasn’t much bigger than a deck of cards.

  “What the hell?”

  Annie started to ease forward to un-holster her own sidearm.

  Ivan shook his head. “I wouldn’t if I were you. This is small, but it packs a good punch.”

  “Jordan will—”

  “Will do what he has to. I know. But for now, open a secure link to the battle cruiser commander.”

  Annie didn’t move. She listened to the quiet thumping in her ears.

  “Did I forget to say now?”

  ~ * ~

  Ivan kept the small gun pointed directly at the captain’s head. Leaning forward, he removed her sidearm and tucked it into the waistband of his pants.

  Finally, defeated, Annie heaved a sigh and then threw a switch. The ship’s channel lit up the screen, and the speakers chirped.

  “Battle cruiser Commander ... this is Captain Scott of the SRV-66.”

  The screen at the top of the cockpit flickered to life, and the battle cruiser commander’s holographic image appeared.

  “I’ll take it from here,” Ivan said to Annie. And then: “Commander, this is Ivan Delgato. I’ve taken charge of this SRV.”

  On the projection, the commander’s eyes widened. He looked confused.

  “Delgato? You don’t look like—”

  “A bit of reconstructive surgery, courtesy of the World Council.”

  The battle cruiser commander still didn’t look convinced.

  “I am Ivan Delgato ... and I have this SRV and its captain under my control.”

  “How am I supposed to—?”

  “Order your speeders to stand down. Now!” He glanced at Annie as he drew the word out. “Get them back into your bay. Tell me, is my brother aboard?”

  The commander turned away, barked an order, then turned to face the screen.

  “Kyros gave us orders to bring you to him. Alive if possible.”

  “Oh, I’m very much alive. What’s the next way station off-ramp?”

  “Bottes Six. Not far.”

  “Follow us there.” To Annie: “Program for an unscheduled stop at Bottes Six.” To the commander again: “You can take possession of this ship and its passengers and contents if you’d like.”

  “And what do you want us to do with them?”

  Ivan leaned back and laughed, then glared at Annie to make sure he had her undivided attention. The gun barrel was mere inches from her forehead.

  “With this vehicle? Its passengers and crew? Do whatever you want. Blow ‘em all to hell for all I care. Makes no difference to me.”

  After a short pause: “Yes, sir. We’re setting in a course to track you to Bottes Six.”

  “Good. We’ll talk more once we’re on the tarmac.”

  Then to Annie: “Cut the link.”

  Annie hit a switch.

  “Now what?” she said, not a trace of nervousness in her voice.

  The woman’s tough, Ivan thought.

  “You’re actually going to hand us over to those killers?”

  On the screen, Ivan saw Jordan watching as the speeders peeled away. Then he moved down to his screen that showed the cockpit and Annie.

  But not the gun.

  “Tell your gunner to come up here asap. And be careful. I’d hate to have to pull this trigger. At close range like this? It’d make quite a mess.”

  Annie took a quick breath. Leaning forward, she keyed the commlink.

  “Jordan, get your ass up here now.”

  ~ * ~

  By the time the gunner entered the cockpit, Ivan had taken to the wall beside the hatch, so at first the gunner would only see his captain sitting in her command seat.

  “What the hell happened? Where’s Delgato?”

  Jordan had his sidearm out as he entered.

  Good instincts, Ivan thought “Jordan,” Ivan said quietly.

  The gunner spun around, his gun aimed at Ivan ... who kept a steady bead on Annie’s head even as he looked at the gunner.

  “Captain?”

  Annie took a breath. “I think it’s best if you stand down, Jordan.”

  The gunner didn’t move. Didn’t flinch.

  “Jordan! I said ... stand down!”

  Finally, Jordan lowered his weapon.

  “Good,” Ivan said, reaching out and taking it from his hand. Jordan held his grip on it, not letting go for a tense second or two.

  “Nice to see you both can be reasonable. Now take your seat while we get off the Road.”

  “Off the Road?”

  “Bottes Six,” Annie said quietly. “They want Ivan.”

  “And us?”

  Annie lowered her eyes and said nothing.

  “Okay, Captain Scott,” Ivan said. “Get us to Bottes Six.”

  ~ * ~

  30

  THE TRUTH

  [PART TWO]

  Annie eased the power up as the SRV hit the off-ramp.

  Unlike the twisting maze of the station on Hydra Salim, this way station had a flat, straight plane converging on a small runway with a tiny control tower.