Page 58 of Hidden By the Convicts
“There’s a virus spreading in the fields. It could wipe out every last crop,” Gavin said as he stood beside Harlis.
Cragin paled. “Can you stop the virus?”
“If I wanted to.”
Cragin motioned his guards. Two pulled blasters and aimed them at Harlis.
“Why do you people always think I’m expendable?” Harlis said as he walked up to one of the guards until the blaster rested against his chest. “I’m tired of you assholes threatening me. But mostly I won’t forgive or forget about the hell you put Teagen through. So go ahead, kill me. I’ll be a dead man smiling when all the bombs I planted through East Side start going off.”
“Bombs?” Cragin said.
“Yeah. They’re set to go off at different times over the next few weeks. Sure, you might find them, but moving them will set them off. How many bomb experts do you have in West Side?”
“Go ahead, Cragin. Kill Harlis or Bowen. Kill me,” Gavin said. “See where that gets you when there’s no food for West Side. Do you think the miners will dig for zurlite without food? You’ll be lucky if you don’t end up with a war on your hands. Personally, I’d like to see them take all of your guards out. Sure, several hundred prisoners will die, but that’s no skin off my back, especially if I’m dead.”
“This is blackmail. Manager Dresden didn’t import a female just to reward prisoners for refusing to do their job.”
“Call it an exchange of benefits,” Bowen said. “But I can see where you might have trouble selling the idea to Dresden. Just tell him she fixed the harvesters, not Satterley. There’ll be no more delays or major issues with food production from any of us if we have our own mechanic over here. Let her fill her quota as a mechanic.”
“And let her live with you, so you have her to screw?”
“She’ll be part of my unit, under our protection. Or we don’t do our jobs. It’s simple. Decide what’s more important to you. Giving her to your guards who will survive without her, or giving her to us, the men who will keep this planet running so you and Dresden make your quotas.”
“You can’t beat me, Bowen? I’ll give her back to you, but once I find others to replace you, she’ll be back with the guards where she belongs.”
“Sure. You can replace us, but you’ll have to train the new guys yourself. I’m sure you have those skills, right, Manager? Because there aren’t no fucking instruction manuals for them.” Bowen tapped his head. “Everything we know, everything that we learned or were taught by our predecessors, is up here. We’ve destroyed the notebooks and computer files.”
“More blackmail. I’m surprised you don’t demand a pardon.”
“I’m getting to that.”
“The Company won’t allow it. No matter what Dresden puts in your prison records.”
“They will if they see we’ve fulfilled our full sentences. Ouroriginalsentences. That means we leave here in five years. The four of us. Harlis, Gavin, Teagen, and me. No more tacking on years. My and Harlis’s sentences will be finished by then, and you’ve already kept Gavin longer than he was supposed to be here. Five years and we all leave.”
“Why should we stick to that?”
“Because in our last year, we will train other prisoners to take over our jobs. All of us. Mechanics, horticulture, harvesters. Everything. We’ll even document if you’d like, but we’ll have a failsafe too. That virus will live in those fields and unless you know the correct chemicals to make them dormant each year, those fields will remain barren. We hand over the formula the day we are given Level 3 status and are off Narkos.”
“You’re a fucking bastard, Bowen.”
“Do we have a deal?”
“I’ll talk with Dresden. But he won’t be happy.”
“It’s all in the delivery, Cragin. Tell him to imagine what will happen when there’s no food on Narkos. What will happen to his little kingdom then?”
“Return Teagen,” Gavin spoke up. “By tonight. Or there’s no deal. No food. And a shitload of explosions that will create such havoc, you’ll be lucky if Dresden doesn’t send you to Veenith. As a prisoner.”
Chapter Fifteen
TEAGEN
Teagen couldn’t open her eyes. Mozely had taken out his anger on her with his fists. She was so battered and bruised, it hurt to breathe.
There had been times she’d thought about giving up so the pain would disappear, but then she thought of Bowen’s courage, Harlis’s defiance, and Gavin’s resilience, and she knew she had to survive.
One day she’d find her way back to them. She had to because there wasn’t anything else that mattered in the universe except her guys. She loved them. Why hadn’t she ever told them that?
