Picking Up the Pieces

Chapter Thirty-Four

The sound of the door opening again brought us both back out of our private thoughts. I would have liked to talk to her, but I would have been astonished if the walls didn’t have ears. They might have left us alone in the hopes that one or both of us would say something they could use against us, but I had a nasty feeling that it was going to be the end of me. I felt dehydrated and utterly sick, barely able to move; they didn’t even need the restraints. I was going to die here, leaving Muna in their hands and Ed in command of the Legion. At least it wasn’t as if someone incompetent was going to take command.

“I brought you some water,” Suki said, as she entered. She wore a farmer’s outfit now, the conservative garb of those who lived outside the cities, but her face was downcast and pale. She flinched away from what she saw in my eyes, but managed to hold the water bottle to my lips anyway, allowing me to drink. I wanted to reject the water, to accept certain death, but my body overruled me. I drank deeply before finally allowing her to remove the bottle and give Muna a drink. “I’m sorry about everything.”

Refreshed, I felt the dull ache of my face and the pain at the back of my head. “You’re sorry,” Muna repeated. She, at least, could talk properly. “We took you in and made you one of us. You repaid us by treason. What are you sorry for?”

I tuned out the two women, trying to remember what I knew about the counter-interrogation drugs. The water would make it easier for my liver and kidneys to flush out the remaining drug, but I wouldn’t be in for a very good time over the following three days. The galloping shits would be the least of my problems. If they tried to inject me again, my body might not endure the injection so easier this time… and the reaction might well kill me. Without the drugs, what else could they do? The answer came quickly. They could hook me up to a lie detector and an electric shock machine, shocking me every time they caught me in a lie.

Suki touched the side of my face, brushing aside the matted hair. “I didn’t know they’d do this to you,” she said, softly. “I just thought that they wanted to talk to you without the President anywhere nearby.”

I frowned in puzzlement, before realising that she meant Frida. The President himself might recover in the following months, but somehow I doubted he’d be happy with the war, or even the new farms. It was the only solution that could save the planet from internal collapse and civil war — but we’d ended up with the civil war anyway. If nothing else, Suki’s betrayal had brought that home to me. Anyone could be an enemy.

“Why?” I asked, finally, remembering long hot nights in my quarters. I felt a hot flush that faded against the overwhelming pain spreading through my head. “Why did you join them?”

Suki’s eyes were very sad. “My mother was one of the lucky ones who married a farmer when she was dumped on the planet,” she said, softly. “She never fell into prostitution or any of the other fates that could happen to a young girl without family or protection. She didn’t know what she was getting into when she married my father, but it was better than the alternative. I ended up working for the resistance as a spy and… well, after the UN left I just carried on. I was ordered to meet up with you and you know the rest.”

“Then why don’t you tell them that we don’t want to fight this out to the bitter end either?” Muna demanded. “For Allah’s sake, child; we’re setting up the new farms to avoid having to crush and enslave the farmers. Instead of trying to come to terms, you’re just ensuring that the war will last longer and the death toll will be much higher.”

“I told them everything that you told me,” Suki said, as she put down the water and picked up a ration bar. Her fingernails opened it as she spoke directly to me. “They wanted to set up this meeting and… I didn’t know that it would go so badly.”

“I’m sure you didn’t,” Muna said. Oddly, I believed Suki. The Freedom League was very good at manipulating people. “Congratulations. Do you know how many of your people are going to get killed because of you?”

I tuned them out again, thinking as hard as I could. The woman — the Freedom League bitch — had mentioned a ship. They couldn’t have kept a ship in orbit without the William Tell detecting them and insisting on searching the starship, but they might have been able to slip a starship in and out of the system if they timed it perfectly. The Fleet destroyer couldn’t pick up a starship that came out of a wormhole on the other side of the system and unless it changed course radically, the Freedom League could get us up to the ship without being detected. It would be risky…

A swearword formed in my mind as I realised that it wasn’t quite as risky as I had assumed. They didn’t need active sensors; all they needed was a set of telescopes on the surface of the planet and a degree of luck. They could watch the destroyer without setting off any kind of alert and easily warn their starship if it changed course suddenly. It was simple, low-tech, and almost unbeatable. I’d have to warn Fleet… assuming, of course, that I got out of this alive.

I pushed my concern about hidden ears out of my mind and looked over at Suki. “You can’t trust the Freedom League,” I said, hoping that she’d believe me. “They’re not interested in anything, but beating Fleet. They regard you all as expendable towards that end. They threw your career away just to get at us; what do you think they’d do to get at Fleet?”

Suki looked downcast for a moment, but recovered swiftly. “Should we trust the government, which includes people who hate farmers and want to tax them out of existence, or a group that cannot actually impose itself on us?”

I shook my head slowly. The hell of it was that she had a point. The farmers had no reason to trust Svergie’s Government, even if the Progressives lost power altogether in the wake of the riot the farmers had started to get at us. Somehow, I doubted it; the real cause of the riot would be suppressed, or blamed on Frida’s political enemies. Why should the farmers trust them? The Freedom League might be composed of bastards — and they didn’t think of themselves as bastards; terrorist groups never did — but they couldn’t invade the planet. They could only gain influence and use it to worm their way towards power.

“No,” Suki said, as she held the ration bar to my mouth and allowed me to nibble at it slowly. My teeth felt weird and loose — the slaps had probably loosened a few teeth — but I was able to eat a little. My stomach heaved again and I coughed desperately, trying to prevent myself from retching. “What choice do we have?”

“I shouldn’t worry about the political debates,” a new voice said. I looked over to see the Heinlein woman as she came back into the room. “One way or another, you’re not getting out of this alive.”

The food had given me a little strength back and I managed to glare at her. “That’s true, isn’t it?” I asked, as calmly as I could. “You don’t really care what happens to the farmers or the miners as long as your aims are met.”

“The farmers meeting their aims meets our aims,” she said, calmly. “Why did you come to this planet?”

“That’s a matter of public record,” Suki said, surprised. “They were hired by the corrupt government to enforce their will on those who defied them.”

“I was asking him,” the woman said, calmly. “Well, mercenary; why are you here?”

I said nothing. “I wouldn’t try to hide anything,” the woman continued, dryly. “You may be immune to interrogation drugs, but we can keep hurting you until you are definitely willing to tell us everything. Why are you here on this planet?”

It took me a moment to remember the words, but I finally managed to launch into the fifth verse of the Grand Old Duke of York. It was officially banned in the UNPF, but everyone knew the words; the first original verse and the hundreds of others that various soldiers had added over the years. The Grand Old Duke had everything from a thousand whores to a pecker the size of Jupiter. It had always surprised me that the UNPF hadn’t tried to actually enforce the ban, but it was possible that a rare dose of common sense had prevailed and the song had been quietly ignored.

“Shut up,” the woman snapped, irritated. “We’ll leave you alone to think about it, shall we? Suki, come!”

She marched out, slamming the door behind them, and I couldn’t help it. I dissolved into laughter and tired to sing the sixth verse, but it was impossible through the giggles. Muna wasn’t any help; she’d started in the space force and didn’t know that particular song. The humour faded fast. Sooner or later, the woman would return with her goons and start working on us in earnest. Once that happened… how long could I hold out? How long would they respect the farmer’s injunction to leave Muna alone? Somehow, I doubted that it would be very long.

I looked over at Muna and saw the pain in her eyes. She knew, as well as I did, that if they came back without the farmer, she would probably be tortured as well. “Don’t worry,” she said, finally. “I’ve been though worse in my time.”

An hour passed slowly — at least, it felt like an hour. Without a timepiece of any kind, there was no way to know just how long it had been since we had been captured and my time sense was unreliable. If I hadn’t been knocked out… I shook my head, despite the pain. There was no point in worrying over what might have been, if only things had been different. I silently tried to test the strength of my bonds, but they held firm, despite my probing. The chair itself was strong enough that tipping it over wouldn’t break it — besides, that only worked in the movies anyway. I considered it anyway, but even if I did manage to break the chair, what next? I was secured so tightly that escape was impossible.

Damn you, I thought, bitterly. The plan to reform Svergie was going to fail; I was sure of that, now. Fleet — Admiral Walker — would either have to intervene openly or write Svergie off as a world that wouldn’t be able to claim a seat in the Federation. And if that happened, the civil war would devastate the entire planet and take it back to the stone age, leaving the system open for someone else to develop…

They know. The thought was crystal-clear. If the Freedom League knows — or suspects — that Fleet is intervening covertly to keep a planet stable, they kidnapped us to gain proof they could show to other planets, other supporters. If they convince other worlds that Fleet is breaking its own rules, whatever the intention, they can use it as a tool to break Fleet, perhaps even spark off a second mutiny and coup. Shit.

I wanted to discuss it with Muna, but I didn’t dare. God alone knew what she was thinking, but she knew almost as much as I knew about Fleet’s covert involvement. If I died, they could still try to break her and perhaps they would; hell, Muna had known John Walker personally, just like I had. Her word might be more incriminating than mine in the secret councils. Fleet might not be able to save itself from disaster…

The ground shook violently, sending plaster drifting down from the ceiling. I looked over at Muna and saw the hope in her eyes, as the distant sound of shooting echoed out in the distance. The newcomers were firing short precise bursts, but that didn’t prove anything, although I hoped that they were friendly. Was it possible that the farmers had turned on the Freedom League? Another explosion, and another, shook the building; I heard the noise of running feet in the outside, hunting for someone — us? Someone kicked at the door and shook it, before breaking it down, revealing someone wearing a farmer’s outfit. No, not someone; Jock.

“I found him,” Jock shouted, as he came over to me and started to fiddle with the handcuffs, using a lockpick to undo my cuffs. I felt my hands come free and pulled myself away from the chair as he undid the remaining cuffs. “Boss, are you all right?”

“Never better,” I managed. It was true; just seeing Jock had put a massive boost in my sprit. I was delighted to see him. “You tracked the transponder then?”

“No,” Jock said, darkly. “They blocked that quite effectively. We had a stroke of luck; the building they used was one we’d had under quiet observation for a few weeks. We spotted just a few oddities from the UAV and decided to take a chance on hitting it. Hang on.”

I stood up as he turned to release Muna and staggered as I placed weight on my feet again. The handcuffs had blocked my circulation and it was all I could do to remain upright. Jock helped Muna to her feet as the others of his team came in, allowing him to pass her over to Judy, the only female on his team. I silently commended him for his compassion; Muna wouldn’t want to touch a man if it could be avoided. He caught me and helped me stand up straight until I could limp outside, hearing the sound of a helicopter and shooting in the distance.

“I think we kicked over a hornet’s nest,” Jock said, as he helped me outside the cell and into a corridor that seemed to climb upwards to daylight. “There was at least a hundred fighters nearby and we didn’t even detect them until they started shooting. If we hadn’t called up help from Fort Galloway, we would have been caught and shot up by superior numbers. We’d have killed most of them, but the rest would have got us.”

I nodded as we climbed up the stairs and came into a living room. It had once been open and airy, but someone had covered all the windows and barricaded all the doors. The farmer who had owned it had clearly been preparing for a siege, although it hadn’t helped the Freedom League when Jock and his team had come in to hit them. A handful of prisoners, all farmers, lay on the floor, under heavy guard.

“Should just kill them now,” Jock said, seeing the wounds inflicted on Muna and I in the better light. “Sir?”

“Never mind that,” I snapped, remembering my duty. “There’s a redheaded woman around somewhere, and two thugs. Did you find them?”

A quick check of the prisoners revealed no sign of the women and one of his thugs. The other was lying in a pile of bodies waiting to be identified. “No women here at all, apart from the Captain and Judy,” Jock said. “She must have gotten away in the chaos.”

The sound of shooting grew louder. I tensed as I heard a helicopter firing rockets down towards the ground, followed by a hail of explosions. Ed had to have sent out both of his helicopters to back up the rescue mission, along with an entire Company of soldiers. They were Svergie Army soldiers, I realised with a smile; he’d trusted them enough to carry out a delicate mission. It made everything we’d suffered worthwhile.

“We’ll have to move the prisoners out with the helicopters,” Jock said. “I don’t think they’ll risk shooting down a helicopter with their own people onboard.”

“Good,” I said, tiredly. I wanted sleep and a drink, but I wasn’t going to get either — I knew — until the medics had checked us both out thoroughly. “Jock, Suki betrayed us and led us into a trap. Did you find her here?”

“No,” Jock said. “Robert — ah, Captain McClellan — put out an alert for her, but we didn’t find her here.”

I hoped, absently, that she’d returned to her parents’ farm, but it was much more likely that the Freedom League had simply eliminated her. They’d regard her as a loose end, one who had seen more of the interrogation process — and heard that I’d said — than they’d be comfortable with. I’d have to track down her farm and ask her father directly what had happened to her, or perhaps… her father was part of the farmer leadership council. I might be able to use her death to drive a wedge in between him and the Freedom League.

“Good,” I said, finally. A transport helicopter came in to land, armed soldiers surrounding it at once, guarding it from all possible attack. The noise of the rotor blades hurt my head, but it could be endured. “Let’s go home.”