Repulsed, Taylor looked away to find a Human-sized CASPer on its way toward his position from the Tortantula ship. The CASPer used its jumpjets to close the gap quickly and arrived in front of the improvised barricade in just a couple of minutes.
The cockpit clamshell rose to reveal the smiling visage of Michael Genovese. “Looks like I almost missed the party.”
* * * * *
Chapter 24: Revenge
Taylor’s jaw hung open for a solid three seconds before he was able to form a rational thought.
Jack and his rifle were faster. “You’re dead, asshole.”
Before he could fire, though, a freakish blur of silver hair and tattered clothes flashed in front of his barrel and was up the ladder and into the cockpit. “I’ll kill you, you son of a bitch!” Torrio roared, his vice-grip hands clenched at the other’s throat. He threw Genovese from the cockpit. “I’ll fargin kill you for what you did to us!”
“Paulie, wait!” Genovese gasped as he tried to catch his breath.
Torrio jumped down next to him and, in that instant, unleashed every bit of rage he’d harbored toward his longtime friend and former XO in a hailstorm of brutal closed-fist punches. Torrio struck the captain again and again and again until soon it was Genovese who looked like he’d spent the last eight weeks being tortured.
“I’ll fargin kill you!” Torrio screamed again and again as he beat Genovese.
“That’s enough, Paulie.” Taylor grabbed the colonel’s arm, only to be thrown back with a snarl. “I said enough!” This time when Taylor pulled, he did so with the aid of House and two other troopers.
“What the hell is your problem, Van Zant?” Torrio pointed at Genovese. “You do remember he’s the one responsible for what happened to us, right? For what happened to Stan back in Akoya’s office?”
Jack took a step.
Not yet. Taylor stayed the cowboy with a look. “I know that’s how it looks, yeah. I also know Genovese had a free ticket to ride back to Earth with a fat payday that would’ve allowed him to vanish without a trace if he’d wanted. So why is back here now?”
“He’s right,” Genovese said past a fat lip. “I can explain.”
“Tell it to your undertaker, you prick.” Torrio stormed forward.
“Stand down, Colonel,” Taylor said firmly. “That’s an order.”
A fresh shade of red blistered across Torrio’s face as a stream of expletives flew from his mouth like gunfire.
“Talk,” Taylor said. “Why’d you turn on us?
Genovese rolled over on an elbow and spit a glob of crimson saliva into the snow. “I was in deep cover, that’s why. We needed to know the extent of Akoya’s operation here, and when it became clear on Emza that he wanted you specifically, I saw an opportunity to get the intel we needed.” A fresh round of fluids bubbled to the captain’s mouth, causing him to cough and then spit again. “I’m sorry about your man, by the way. I didn’t know Stan well, but from what little time I got to spend with him on the Osyrys, he seemed like good people.”
“He was,” Jack said. “A word of warning. Proceed with caution when speakin’ his name. One misstep, and I swear by everything holy in this universe I will cut your tongue from your fargin skull and feed it to you on a rusty butter knife. Ayew?”
Genovese swallowed. “Ayew.”
“A moment ago, you said we needed to know the extent of Akoya’s operation.” Taylor shifted his stance. “I presume the others you’re workin’ with are the ones who put you under?”
Genovese nodded.
“I need names,” Taylor said.
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Why?”
“Because I honestly don’t fargin know, all right?” Genovese rubbed his temples. “Listen, fellas. There are answers to all of these questions, and we’ll have time to find them—later. Right now, the real culprit responsible for all that’s happened is likely makin’ a break for two things: a gun and a ship. Are we gonna stop him, or aren’t we?”
Torrio snorted and crossed his arms. “Gimme one good reason why we should trust you.”
“How about I give you several hundred instead.” Genovese motioned to the black horde of Tortantulas at the entrance to the dome.
Jack tugged at his silvery whiskers, then shot a look at his CO that said, The guy’s got a point.
Taylor heaved a sigh. “Tell me your plan.”
“I always preferred show over tell.” Genovese crawled gingerly back into his CASPer. “If you’ll follow me back to the ship?”
The other troopers followed Jack to the Tortantula ship, while Taylor and Torrio raced ahead with the River Hawks’ captain.
“Why’d you really come back, Mikey?” the colonel asked.
Genovese stared the colonel straight in the eye as he answered. “Because we’re street survivors, Paulie. Me and you. We always have been…and street survivors don’t let go of shit without a fight.”
“What about all that stuff you said about Emza?” Torrio asked. “About me and all the people we lost?”
Genovese shook his head. “Saying those things sucked for both of us; believe me. Still, Akoya thought I’d turned, and I needed to keep him thinking that so I could get free of the dome to bring back help. Truth is, you were right to take the Zuparti gig on Emza. That contract would’ve made the Hawks. You had no way of knowing the KzSha would hit us in those kinds of numbers. Hell, even the Zuparti didn’t know. Otherwise, we’d have read that in their intel when we reviewed the contract.”
Torrio bowed his head.
“What happened on Emza was not your fault, Paulie.” Genovese pointed to the swarm of wasps that filled the snow between them and the dome. “It was theirs. Now are you gonna help me kick their bug asses for it or not?”
A flood of emotions raced across Paul Torrio’s
