Up Against It - M. J. Locke [82]
“Where are we?” Geoff asked.
Amaya shrugged, but Ian looked around.
“This way,” he rasped, and set out down a nearby spiral stair to the next level. Their kidnappers came around the corner, spotted them, and gave chase.
The stair led to an alley off the Promenade. They rushed out onto the thoroughfare. There were enough people around that those chasing them couldn’t be too obvious—but as the three of them wove through the pedestrians and carts and tents, Ian looked behind. “They’re still back there! They’re gaining.”
“Back to the spokeway,” Geoff said. “This way.”
They ran till his lungs felt like they would burst, dodging through the crowd … and ran headlong into Kam and old Moriarty from the warehouses, who were just emerging from the Suzee Spokeway … just as Blue Tattoo and White Mohawk shoved their way through the crowd toward them.
Kam said to Geoff, “What happened? You’re a mess!”
“I’ll explain later.” He turned to Moriarty, but Moriarty was already stalking over toward the black marketers. He wasn’t quite as big as Blue Tattoo, but there was something about him that was much scarier. He pulled his gun, and Blue Tattoo and Mohawk’s eyes widened. They turned and ran.
Moriarty disappeared after them.
“He knows about the ice,” Kam told them, gesturing after the old man.
“They kidnapped us!” Amaya said.
Moriarty reappeared then. “I lost them in the crowd.” He reholstered his gun. It was then Geoff noticed he was wearing a badge. “Do you know where they held you?”
Geoff shook his head and Amaya looked doubtful. “They blindfolded us on the way in, and on the way out we weren’t really paying attention to where we were.”
“I know where,” Ian said. He turned to Moriarty. “Those creeps kidnapped us, but this never would have happened if it weren’t for me. I want to help put them away.”
“All right. We need to move on those jokers now. Let me put in a call and see if we can get a nearby patrol to assist.”
Moriarty made a call. Then they went to a nearby coffee shop, where a pair of cops were waiting. Geoff’s bloody appearance made everyone stare. He excused himself and went to clean up in the bathroom. His nose hurt like shit when he touched it. I’m going to have a Cyrano schnoz tomorrow, he thought.
He tried his waveface and his icons bloomed all around. He sighed in relief. When he came out of the bathroom, Ian and the officers were gone. Geoff lifted his eyebrows, and Amaya said, “Ian is taking them to where the black marketers held us.”
“Is that safe?”
“They’ve called for backup,” Moriarty said. “And they’ll keep your friend out of harm’s way. Don’t worry.”
Geoff ordered himself a sundae and brought it back to the table. But when he went to take a bite, to his embarrassment, his hand holding the spoon shook. He set the spoon down.
Amaya and Geoff filled Moriarty in on what had happened. When they finished, Moriarty shook his head. “You four will have quite a story to tell your grandkids someday. Ten metric tons of ice, you say?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. We haven’t measured it.”
“Well, ten tons buys Phocaea almost another full day. Nothing to sneeze at! We’ll need to get someone out there. We’ll send a team and shuttle out to test it,” Moriarty said. “We’ll deal with all that later.”
A call came in while he was talking. He motioned for them to wait, and stepped away. Geoff turned to Amaya.
“You OK?” he asked. She was sipping at a shake and being awfully quiet. She looked up at him, pushed her hair back from her forehead.
“I thought they were going to kill us.”
“Jeez, not with you on the team! You were amazing.”
“What do you mean?” Kam asked.
Geoff filled him in. “You should have seen her,” he finished. “This hundred-fifty-kilo guy is moving on her. ‘Give me the gun,’ he goes, and she points it right at his groin and goes, ‘I’ll give you part of it.’”
They all laughed. Amaya laughed hardest.
When Moriarty returned to the table, Geoff said, “Is Ian OK?”
“He’s fine. They’ve got the kidnappers and are