******
After Reece broke free of his grip to follow the hot singer, Eddie tried to follow his commander visually through the bustle of activity and cacophony of sounds and lights, but he lost sight of him.
“Where did he go?” Cronin asked.
“Maybe he wants to wet his palette,” Taffy mused with a grin.
“Not sure about that one, mate,” Eddie said.
The group continued to drink and tell the same old stories and jokes for the next hour. Eddie felt uneasy the whole time. He tried drinking the feeling away, but he could not shake it. He began looking at the crowd of patrons in the bar around him. The blaring noise and spectrum of lights pounded against his senses as he tried to distinguish between the faces within the constant movement of people who moved about the bar. He stood up abruptly to get a better view of the crowd. The dizziness from the drinking hit him and he had to steady himself by grabbing his chair.
As he scanned through the crowd, a sudden moment of paranoia gripped him and the haze from his drinking quickly disappeared. Without knowing why, he instinctively surveyed the entire bar, noting all the possible exits. It was at that moment that he noticed a conspicuous-looking figure standing near the main entrance, perhaps the subconscious source of his paranoia.
The man wore an oversized coat, one that telegraphed he was carrying firepower underneath it. He was flanked by two equally imposing figures who were also undoubtedly armed. Eddie instinctively felt for the comfort of his flicker pistol concealed within his jacket.
“What is it, lad?” Mac asked.
“I think we need to get out of here,” Eddie said. “Something’s awry.”
Mac followed his gaze. “Enforcers?”
Eddie squinted his eyes, not taking his gaze off the three. He watched as they began to casually move through the crowd, stopping at key positions near the exits.
“I don’t think so,” Eddie said.
“All right then,” Taffy said as he slammed his drink down. “Let’s get them!”
“No, this is trouble,” Eddie said. “We need to get out of here and warn the others.”
“Aww, c’mon! We can handle a few blokes!” Taffy protested.
“No, he’s right, lads,” Mac said. “We don’t need the attention; they catch any of us, then they got the whole of us. We should go.”
“What about, Reece?” Taffy said.
“We need to find him,” Mac said. “But we also need to warn the others.”
Cronin looked at his wrist-link, tapping a command into it. “I’ve sent a signal to the crew. It should be powerful enough to alert anyone who is stationside.”
“Will it reach the Sea Wolf?” Eddie asked.
Cronin shook his head. “It won’t reach the ship.”
“If there’s trouble, we have to tell the captain,” Mac said.
“How do we sneak out of here and find Reece at the same time?” Taffy said.
Cronin tapped his wrist-link, looking at its display. “He’s somewhere in this structure.”
“We can’t both sneak out and look for him,” Eddie said, his eyes transfixed on the figures. “You all need to get out of here. I’ll find Reece and catch up with you at the shuttle garage.”
“No,” Mac said. “We need to stick together, lad.”
Eddie noticed one of the figures staring in their direction.
“We’re too conspicuous together,” Eddie said. “We need to split up now before we’re made out.”
The others looked at each other with uncertain expressions.
“How you going to get behind that stage without being spotted?” Mac protested.
“I’ll need a diversion from you,” Eddie said.
Mac puffed on his cigar. “Like what?”
“I think I can handle that,” Cronin said.
“What are you thinking, laddy?” Mac asked.
“It’s easy,” Cronin said. “You’ll know it when it happens, Ed.”
Mac looked glum. “Fine, lads.” He put out his cigar with a sigh. “Get your ass back to the garage with Reece as soon as you can. Good luck.”
Eddie nodded. “Now go!” he barked.
The pilots all dispersed from the table in separate directions.
Eddie slipped behind a pillar and peeked to see the others disappear into the crowd. Satisfied, he focused his attention on the aggressors. One of them had moved to the center of the bar, eyes darting around at the patrons. The other two were still near the exits. It would be too telegraphing for him to run up on stage, so there was nothing for him to do now but wait for the diversion.
His attention was suddenly grabbed by a cocktail waitress walking by with a tray of drinks. She had long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She smiled at him as their eyes locked.
“Would you like a drink, dear?” she asked in a smooth, melodic voice.
He stumbled for a second and could not help but smile back. “Uh, yeah, sure.”
Eddie grabbed the drink and continued to stare at her, lost in the blue of her eyes. They seemed to glow despite the darkly lit atmosphere around them. He felt a strange sensation come over him. The room began to change, and time itself seemed to slow down around him. The blue in her eyes seemed to be the only thing he could see as everything else went dark and blurry. He felt himself get dizzy and began to lose his balance. He was about to fall.
At that moment, a sudden piercing sound emanated throughout the bar. He dropped his glass and covered his ears. The lights in the place began to dim low in conjunction with the sound. He looked for the waitress, but she was gone. Everyone in the bar was covering their ears in confusion. This was his cue.
He bullied himself through the crowd of stunned patrons and made his way up onto the stage and then behind the curtains. The noise had finally stopped and he uncupped his ears. He saw no sign of Reece and the back stage looked empty. With another step, he found a hallway that led off into a row of doors.
Eddie looked down at his wrist-link to find Reece’s location, which showed a marker that led down a hallway. He began following the display toward the location when he suddenly stopped at the sight of armed police.
He ducked behind the concealment of a wall of boxes just in time. He could hear a commotion and some yelling. He peeked his head out and could see them assault a room with rifles drawn. Two of them stood outside the entrance. They wore black uniforms and a helmet, with the insignia of Venusian Peacekeepers appearing on their sleeves. One of them turned his head in Eddie’s direction, so he ducked back out of sight and drew his flicker pistol out of his jacket.
He was ready—ready to die fighting if he had to, but he was not going to let himself be taken and incarcerated again. He had somehow survived years in the Martian mining penitentiary, and he was not going back there again. Ever.
Minutes passed as he looked down at the shadows being cast by the men across the floor, but none of them seemed to come for him. He dared to peek out and saw four of them accompanying someone that they held captive …
Reece.
Damn.
Eddie couldn’t let Reece be taken. He had to stop them. He ducked down low, readying himself for an attack. His grip on the flicker pistol was tight and he could feel the sweat from his palms against the metal. He was about to launch himself into the hallway when he heard a soft whisper.
“Don’t do it, Eddie,” the female voice said.
He whirled around with his flicker pistol to see the figure of the singer Reece had chased earlier.
She had her finger over her lips. “Shhhh,” she said.
He pushed the barrel of his pistol toward her face, but she casually cupped it with her hand. He felt a mild shock in his hands and he let it go. She grabbed the pistol by its barrel and held it to her side. He looked at his hands and then at her, dumbfounded.
“I need you to get back to the others and back to Julius. Tell him that you saw Chorus—tell him I am going to help the ship
escape.”
She handed the flicker pistol back to him.
“Now go! Before you’re caught too.”