TORMENT (12 page)

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“You said, ‘Noah.’ I might be agnostic, but I know the story. You think God is cleansing the Earth of man’s wickedness?”

Mia smiled. The idea felt ridiculous. “Please don’t lump me in with Mark. Besides, if that was the plan, God screwed up this time. I don’t see any animals on board.”

Mia’s smile faded as she saw Austin’s brow furrow. “What?”

“The genetic material for a massive amount of life on Earth is stored on board.
Seeds for plants, eggs and sperm of animals and the equipment to artificially bring them all back.”

As the blood drained from Mia’s head she became light-headed. The similarities to the Ark story were hard to shake. Mia’s intellect swiftly ruled out the possibility. “Noah was saved because he was a good man.
Holy or whatever.
That certainly doesn’t describe me and I doubt it describes anyone else on board.”

“What about the priest?”

“When you find a holy priest, I’ll become a believer.” Mia said with a smirk.

“Elizabeth,” Austin said.

Mia frowned. “Yeah...”

“And the priest did save the Bible,” Austin said. “He might have us all converted by the time we—”

“Earth Escape Pod Alpha, Earth Escape Pod Alpha, come in.” The male voice broke through the conversation and repeated like a scratched CD. “This is Earth Escape Pod Beta. We have you in sight. Do you read? Earth Escape Pod Alpha...”

Tom flipped on the clearly labeled microphone and spoke. “Earth Escape Pod Alpha, we read you loud and clear.”

“Austin, is that you? It’s Reggie.”

Austin smiled.
“Reggie you son-of-a-bitch.
You made it.”

“Barely, but we’re alive.”

Austin covered the microphone with his hand and turned to Mia. “Reggie is...was the head of the president’s nighttime guard. He’s a good guy.” He uncovered the microphone and asked, “How many made it on your end?”

“Thirty-one.
Most of them are pretty wigged out.
Secretaries and general staffers mostly.
So I took charge. How about you?
How many on board?”

Austin let out a slow breath before speaking. “Ten.
Including the president, Garbarino, White, Vanderwarf and Chang.”

“The gang’s all there, huh? What about the civies you were babysitting?”

“They’re all here,” Austin said.

“Hello,” Mia said.

“Who’s that?”

“Mia Durante, one of the civies,” Mia said.
“And the one in charge, so you can talk to me now.”
She smiled at Austin as he made a face that showed he was impressed by her forward approach. He began flicking on the security monitors.

After a moment of silence, Reggie spoke again. “Austin?”

“You heard her, Reg,” Austin said, looking away from the monitors. “She’s the bo—shit.”

Mia turned to the security screen that held Austin’s attention. She could see Garbarino aiming his gun at Paul, who had his arms raised. Elizabeth stood between the two men.

“Looks like you were right,” Austin said. “We’re far from holy.”

 Mia unstrapped from the chair and pushed off toward the exit, moving for the hatch. Austin followed close on her heels.

As they exited the control room and entered the long tubular hallway, Reggie’s voice faded behind them. “Austin? Durante? Hey, hello? What the hell is happening over there?”

15

Austin had no idea what to expect as he pulled himself through the hallway. Having not witnessed the event that caused Garbarino to draw his weapon, he wanted to believe that Paul might be just as much at fault as Garbarino, but at his core he knew the truth—Garbarino had crossed the line. Whatever Paul had done to aggravate him, however grievous, he should not be pointing his weapon toward Elizabeth. Even more disconcerting was that in the snippet of video he got a peek at, neither White or Vanderwarf did anything to stop Garbarino. They fell in line without a second thought.

Mia reached the white octagonal hatch and took hold of the large metal handle.

“Hold on,” Austin said.

Mia glared back at him, arguing with those deep brown eyes. He reached her side and said, “You need to stay calm. No shouting. No quick movements.”

Mia looked down at his hands. “Where’s your gun?”

Austin opened his jacket revealing his 9mm holstered under his left arm.

“You don’t want to...”

“If someone comes unhinged, the last thing you want to do is upset them. A gun tends to do that,” Austin said.

Mia pursed her lips nervously. Austin took her hand. “Just stay cool. Take charge. I’ll back you up.”

“And if he loses control?”

“I’m a quick draw.”

Mia nodded, pulled the handle and yanked open the door. As they floated into the room side by side, Garbarino glanced in their direction, but never took the gun off Paul. “Hey Tom,” Garbarino said.
“Nice of you to finally join us.
You been
screwing your new girlfriend?”

“I’m not his girlfriend,” Mia said. “And he’d be smiling if I screwed him.”

Garbarino glanced at Austin, saw his frown and smirked.

Atta girl
, Austin thought,
disarm him with humor
. He drifted toward Elizabeth and Paul with two intentions: taking a bullet if need be—a concept he’d grown accustomed to—and reaching a good position to return fire. Though his job no longer required him to protect anyone, his instincts still commanded him to do so.

Since his childhood experience in the desert, surrounded by death, he’d had an overwhelming desire to protect people. Some law enforcement types enjoyed solving cases, catching criminals or pouring over evidence. Austin just wanted to save people, directly, at the source. He’d stand in front of the next sandstorm if it meant saving a life. That was his purpose in life. He always wondered when the reaper would come to make the final trade. He’d kept his distance thus far, but maybe this would be it? As Austin reached Elizabeth and stood in front of her, he hoped not. It would be an awful thing for her to see—a man shot in zero gravity. And Mia—he looked forward to getting to know her better.

“I’m not going to shoot the girl,” Garbarino said as he watched Austin stand between them.

“You’re not going to shoot anyone,” Mia replied, getting his full attention again. Three of the reclining chairs stood between them.
A mere fifteen feet.
She moved around the closest.
Ten feet away.

“That’s close enough, lady,” Garbarino said.

“Okay,” Mia said. She held on to the chair in front of her and pushed herself down into a standing position. “Here’s what’s going to happen...”

Garbarino cocked an eyebrow and snickered.

“You’re going to put the gun away.”

“You think you’re taking my gun?”

“I said put it away. You can keep it.” Mia gripped the chair, expelling her nervousness and fear into the cushion. “Then we’re going to find the crew quarters, clean up, have something to eat and get coordinated. We have a lot to do.”

Garbarino laughed loudly and let his aim lower some. He turned his full attention to Mia. “And who the hell put you in charge?”

“I did,” Austin said, hoping Garbarino wouldn’t react negatively to his voice and the authority it carried. Garbarino had been under his command for only six months and they’d had two arguments in that time. Neither required writing a report, but Austin always knew Garbarino held some resentment toward him.

“Oh really,” Garbarino said.
“How noble of you.”
He turned back to Mia, this time moving the gun toward her. “Well I’ve got news for you. I’m in charge, now. What I say goes.”

“You think because you have a gun, that makes you the best leader?” Mia asked, slowly moving toward Garbarino.

Austin knew she was pushing Garbarino on purpose, trusting that he really wouldn’t shoot her without good reason. But she couldn’t have picked a more dangerous game. The man wasn’t in his right mind. With Garbarino’s attention diverted, Austin decided to take action. He slowly ducked behind the nearest chair. Using them for cover, he drew his gun and glided over the floor, moving effortlessly and silently toward Garbarino.

“That and the fact that the rest of these fruit loops are out of their gourds,” Garbarino said.

“They’re not the ones waving a gun around in a space station. What happens if you blow out one of the windows?” Mia let it sink in for a moment. “You’d kill us all. Just put the gun away and we can all figure things out together.”

“We can still have a democracy,” Collins said from the opposite side of the room where he had moved when the confrontation first began.

“Shut up,” Garbarino said. “No one cares what you think now.”

Austin paused between chairs. He caught Mia’s eye and showed her his weapon.

“Garbarino,” Mia said loudly, keeping his attention on her, “Just put the gun down and we can work this out. Please.”

He turned and faced her. “You think because you went to some fancy college that you can tell me what to do? You think you’re smarter than me?”

“I went to community college,” Mia said. “I’m a journalist for a small-town paper. That’s all.”

Garbarino slid over the chair between them and got in her face. “Then what the hell makes you think you’d be a better leader than me?”

C’mon, Mia
, Austin thought as he slid into position behind Garbarino. The others, who had all seen him by now hadn’t raised the alarm, which was good. It meant that White and Vanderwarf were neutral at the least, on his side at best. But that might also mean they were too shook up to be useful.
Just keep his attention for a few more seconds
, he willed her.

“I’m motivated,” Mia said. “I want my niece to live. I’m fighting for more than myself.”

“Gonna have to do better than that,” Garbarino replied.

“I made contact with another EEP,” Mia said. Garbarino’s face softened. He thought they were it.
The only ones.
“I spoke to your friend, Reggie. He’s alive too. He has thirty-one people on board. We would have searched for the other two EEPs if you hadn’t pulled us away.”

Garbarino leaned away from Mia, his muscles relaxing.

“We’re still here,” Mia said. “The human race still exists. But we can’t keep killing each other. Maybe it will be a month.
Maybe a year.
I have no idea. But we’ll get back to the surface. We’ll start again. You know we can.”

“Not too bad,” Garbarino said as he began to holster his weapon. “You might have a future in politics.”

Austin rose up behind Garbarino, stopped himself silently by grabbing the chair and reached around Garbarino’s waist, grabbing the gun. He simultaneously placed his gun against the side of the man’s head. “Sorry, buddy. I’m still going to need the gun.”

Garbarino sneered and tightened his grip on the weapon. Austin knew this was a major risk, but the man could not keep the gun. How could they trust he wouldn’t snap again? Next time he might kill someone. Better he die now than to let him kill an innocent.