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“I told you not to kill anyone!” Lucia did not even try to hide her exasperation.
“I didn’t,” Roland replied. “All I did was rough him up a bit and dislocate his elbow. He had some kind of seizure or something. If your dad is right about them, then the armor caused it, not me.” He sat down on the floor of their rented room. “I couldn’t afford to play nice, Lucy. He used a fucking gravity hammer. A big one. If anyone had been near us...”
“I don’t even know what a gravity hammer is, Roland.”
“Take anything with mass, and then add a graviton charge to that mass. Trigger the charge on impact, and gravity waves shatter whatever it is you hit. You can increase the energy delivery exponentially really fast.”
“And this is bad because?”
“If the thing you hit is too small, you end up with extra gravitons that just fuck off in a wave around the spot you hit. The tech is really only used in ship-to-ship and orbital weapons, and the power density of excess graviton waves drops sharply with range. Nobody panics much because there is nothing to get compressed in space. Down here?” Roland waved an angry palm hard enough to fan Lucia’s hair from across the room. She blinked in surprise, and Roland explained, “Even a weak graviton pulse compresses the air into a solid wall traveling at three times the speed of sound. That kind of shockwave turns soft tissue into pudding. We are goddamn lucky he hit the floor. At least that had some decent mass. If the corridor hadn’t cleared out when we started fighting, there’d be thirty dead civilians to clean off the walls.” Roland slapped his palm with a balled fist. “Why the hell would a Knight—” he spat the word “—be so fucking callous with the lives he’s supposed to protect?”
“Because they don’t actually care, Roland.” Lucia heaved a mighty sigh. “So this Knight tried to hit you with one of these things? Can they actually hurt you?”
“Not usually, but this one was fucking huge. I’m sure it could have killed me. A head shot would squish my brain pretty easy. Instead, it just blew the whole floor out from under us. I’ve never seen anything like it.” He waved a hand in frustration. “There is literally no practical purpose for a gravity hammer that big. It’s as dangerous to the wielder as it is the victim at that output. Not to mention anyone in the vicinity. They cost a fortune too. No serious soldier or military fields them because there are about a hundred more effective and safer ways to crack hard targets than building something absurd like that.”
“Does it look old-fashioned and cool?” Mindy asked.
Roland shrugged. “Can’t say it wasn’t cool-looking. Dammit.”
Mindy made a rude gesture. “Well, that is all the reason the Knights need to build anything. If it looks bad-ass and can hurt someone, they’ll do it.”
“And you,” Lucia said, pointing to Mindy. “The next time we’re in the vicinity of a vindictive and vastly powerful ex-betrothed of yours, can we get a little warning, please?”
Mindy frowned. “Unfair, boss. I didn’t think he’d even remember me. It’s been eighteen years at this point, and he’s got plenty of other underage girls to distract him.”
Lucia fixed the magenta stripe of hair dislodged by Roland’s demonstration. “I know. I’m sorry. I’m just freaking out a little here. We had a good plan off and running and it’s gone to shit faster than usual. Even by our standards.”
“The plan is still good,” Roland said. “This Knight is not dead, and the Inquisition having Grimes was always a possibility. Mindy’s situation could be helpful if we are careful with it.”
“Oh, I know, Roland. If this Polito jerk is that hell-bent for his blushing bride, then he is absolutely going to use Grimes as bait to draw us out. The only question is where he’ll do it and how he intends to trick us.”
“I’m going to assume he’ll drag me into some fight to pull me away,” said Roland. “How do you think he’ll separate the rest of you from her, though?”
“Grimes will show himself. They’ll probably have him try for Mindy while the Inquisitors and Knights handle me and Manny.”
“That’s a lot of coordination, boss,” said Mindy. “It’ll be hard to get us all into the spots they want us for a clean chance at me.”
“We’ll make it easy,” Lucia said. “You won’t even hide.”
“I hate being bait. What’s your idea?”
Lucia stood up and buckled her gun belt to her waist. “First, we have to move now. The Sword Brothers are going to be on the warpath, which, believe it or not, is a good thing. Martin wanted cover. Now he has it. Next, we need to keep Mindy in places where she can be baited to chase Grimes. He is going to try to lead her somewhere the Inquisition can make their grab for her. We are going to make that as convenient as we can.”
Roland stood as well. “And how do we move around without getting nabbed in the meantime?”
“They won’t do anything until you are busy. Manny says there is some ringer on his way to deal with you, so go ahead and draw him out.”
Roland smiled. “Jimmy said something similar. Should be fun. I know just how to handle that kind of thing.”
Lucia smiled back. “It ain’t rocket science. The Sword Jerks are going to descend on you as soon as some snitch reports your position. That’ll bring everyone running to you, which is going to clear the way for us. We can handle what comes as long as we don’t have to deal with gravity hammers and weird crap like that. Take the gun and the helmet, dear,” she admonished. “This is getting dangerous fast. Try not to kill, but also try not to die, okay?”
“I’ll be fine, Lucy,” Roland grumbled. He dragged his helmet from his bag and affixed it to his head. The faceplate swung closed and locked with a click. A small hiss followed as it sealed into place. His voice came through the silver-white skull motif filtered and tinny. “I know what I’m doing. Where will you be heading?”
“Purgatory first. From there, we’ll put out feelers for Grimes through Martin. We will hunker down there for as long as it feels secure and then move on if we have to. Hopefully the friar will signal before that happens.” She looked over to Mindy and Manny. “Full kit, team. Armor and guns.”
Mindy, in her blue armored jumpsuit, simply patted the pistol strapped to her left hip and rested her right hand on the pommel of her sasori dagger. “Already there, boss.”
Manny pursed his lips and shrugged into a ballistic vest. Once fastened, he grabbed a stubby old-fashioned chemical propellant shotgun and his green satchel. “Ready as I’ll ever be,” he said. “And thanks to your father,” he jostled his satchel, “I have some surprises ready for our armored friends out there.”
“Great,” Lucia said. “Okay, Roland. You get a twenty-minute head start. Go play.”
Roland grunted assent. “Stay on comms, everybody,” he rumbled as he left the room.
When he was gone, Lucia turned to Mindy and Manny. “Okay, now things get a little weird.”
“You got a plan for us, boss?” Mindy asked.
“Yes, but I didn’t want to argue with Roland about it for half the day. Just follow my lead.”
Lucia’s lead took them all to Purgatory, as planned. It was inside the bar that things took a turn. Brother Martin found them there almost immediately.
“You have well and truly kicked over a hornet’s nest, lady,” the man said by way of greeting. He ushered them to the back of the bar and into a semi-private booth. “Don’t bother ordering anything. We’ll be moving in a second.”
“What’s going on?”
“Sir Archibald is probably handicapped for life, the Inquisition is working with an Elder to kidnap her,” he pointed to Mindy. “Also, your assassin is helping them in exchange for a trip off-planet, and topping this little sundae off is the latest bit of scuttlebutt to hit the streets.”
“And that is?” Lucia sounded irritated.
“Elder Polito is on his way here, and they already sent Jericho.”
Mindy inhaled sharply. “Polito is coming here? Why?”
“Apparently, young lady, you have made an impression on him. His desire to save your soul has driven him from the Garden itself.”
“How bad is that?” Lucia asked.
Martin cast his eyes toward the ceiling. “How bad? He will be traveling with a bunch of Templars, I’m sure. Jericho alone is a huge problem, but a few Templars plus the thirty or so Sword Brothers down here is not a good thing. For safety, they’ll want to lock the whole place down and that is just not going to work. Every time the big fella punches a Knight, the people down here start to think about kicking them out altogether. If a famous Teuton and some Templars stroll in with a freaking Elder—” Martin pantomimed an explosion with both hands. “Boom! The people are going to go berserk, and I can’t figure out how we’re going to avoid a full-on riot.”
“Shit,” Mindy hissed.
Lucia seemed oddly thoughtful. She said nothing and stared at the tabletop while her brain parsed out probabilities. “They’re making a mistake.”
“Yes, they are! You can’t fight the Knights with—”
“Not the people. The Inquisition.”
“Huh?” was Martin’s eloquent reply.
“They don’t know Grimes. If this place goes crazy, he won’t play ball with them. He’ll use the chaos to slip out on his own.”
“You’re sure, boss?” Manny asked.
“Grimes doesn’t care about Mindy or the Elders. He just wants out. He won’t trust them to do the job right, so he’ll play along until it looks safe to slip away.” She snapped her fingers. “Then he’ll be gone.”
Martin wiped his face with the palm of one hand. “How does that help—or does it?”
“We don’t care about the Elders either, Friar,” Lucia said. “But Grimes will have that memory core on him. We need to force this issue before all of the Underworld goes crazy. How much time do we have?”
“No more than a couple of hours,” he replied. “The Knights will arrive first to make sure it’s safe. Then once the place is more or less pacified, he’ll come in.”
“They expect to have Mindy before then,” Lucia said. “Good. Roland is about to cause another ruckus. That’s going to be our moment, I think.”
“How’s that?” Mindy asked.
“The Inquisition will want this done before a riot breaks out, too. They are going to let us get a look at Grimes while Roland is otherwise occupied.”
“Because he is the biggest threat?” Martin seemed to be catching on.
“Exactly. Mindy was right. Getting us all where they want us is a tall order. Right now, we’re kind of doing the work for them. Normally, that’d be bad, but this time—” She shrugged. “We are going to make it work for us.”
Mindy sighed. “I hate it when you say stuff like that. What do we do next?”
“We wait here, and we let them see us do it.”
“Grimes will show up,” Manny said. “Just close enough to make us move out of Purgatory.”
“Clever boy,” Lucia said with a smile. “Then he’ll lead us on a merry chase to some place where we can get jumped without causing a scene.”
“The Inquisition might just try for us in here, you know,” Mindy said.
Martin killed that idea with a sharp shake of his head. “No way. Too public. And you guys are too popular right now. Lucia is right. They will want you below the main decks and somewhere quiet.”
Lucia added, “That’s where you come in, Friar.”
“And how is that?”
“I need most of those quiet places to become a bad idea, fast.”
Martin replied with a slow nod of comprehension. “You want to cut them off? Keep Grimes in transit?”
“Yes. I want his options limited, and I want Grimes to know it’s going to be that way.”
Mindy’s smile beamed bright and wide. “He’s gonna get nervous and cover his own ass first.”
“Exactly,” said Lucia.
“That just leaves a bunch of giant jerks in power armor to deal with,” Manny pointed out. “Do we have a plan for that?”
Lucia pursed her lips. “That’s a little dicier. But if they want us to follow the bait, then you better believe that they won’t have heavies in sight. They want to herd us to an ambush. If we avoid the ambush, then we don’t need to fight the Knights. In any event, I intend to skip the ambush altogether.”
“How?” Manny asked.
“By giving them exactly what they want on a silver platter.”
Mindy furrowed her brow at Lucia. “You’re talking about handing me over?”
Lucia nodded. “Why fight a running battle when we can skip that part and get to the main players?”
“Shit,” Mindy huffed. “I get it, now. This is gonna suck.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Martin said. “But I’m pretty sure you are glossing over a whole bunch of Knights here.”
Lucia waved a hand. “Most of them are going to have their hands full with Roland and the riots, anyway. Trust us.” She raised a finger to her ear and pinged Roland’s comm code.
“Wait,” said Martin. “You actually want the riots?”
“The rioting is non-negotiable at this point, Friar. You said it yourself. This Teuton and the Elder are going to light this place off, right?”
“Yes, but—”
“No buts about it.” She silenced Martin’s reply with a finger and touched her earpiece. “Breach!”
“Go,” Roland answered.
“Things are warming up, big guy. Going to need something noisy and distracting post-haste.”
“Ruffling feathers as we speak, boss. Breach out.”
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