Trampship Wars 2 Read online

  Mark headed for Pops shack that had been placed on the far right front corner of Tramptown with a large expanse of open decking around his half container for him and his cat to have plenty of room and some privacy to rock peaceably overlooking the hold. Pop’s back side grating formed a long wide open notch between his decking that ran straight back along the overhead support rails and the curved ship’s hull with plenty of room to slide the truck up alongside and dock with the open grating without worrying about hitting something or someone. Pop usually had a weapon as well he could borrow.

  Then Mark’s glasses showed Jolleen getting her blouse ripped off and then her bra as her attacker threatened to rape and cut her throat if she did not put the container numbers on and sign the blank deed transfer papers screen .

  Kicking the rudder pedals, banking over hard with a burst of throttle to sideslip over to the middle of the hold before leveling back out barely missing a 4 high stack of containers . , Mark brought the trucks nose in over the rail onto the main three container wide boulevard leading up the center of Tramp Town with the top of the truck only inches below the cargo holds overhead. “Take the truck down to the hold’s hatch ramp when it finishes opening and park it and meet me in the Clubhouse.” Mark opened his side hatch and jumped down onto the decking before Tom could even say anything let alone grab the controls.

  The loss of even the little Mark weighed, was enough for the truck to rise up and scrap e the overhead as it started to drift to the side before Tom could grab the controls. The squeal of the metal cab hitting the overhead metal support rail deafening everyone around as they ran for cover at the sudden intrusion of the big fan growling monster. Tom finally got control and backed the truck up off the grating and dropped down out of sight. Cursing Mark up one side and down the other as his heart raced. Trying not to hit anything , Tom slowly threaded the big long truck through the maze of stacked containers toward the still opening hatch /platform.

  Mark ran down the Boulevard dodging around people that were much slower than him as they ran away from the monster suddenly hanging over the rail at the end making its ear splitting metal on metal squeal as its fan’s growled. Not even noticing the fool racing past them except as a fool running for his life as they became even more desperate to follow. The trucks bright marker and flashing strobe lights adding to the confusion.

  It only took a few seconds running for Mark to ma ke it to the end of the boulevard to make the run before dashing through the hatch with the smashed and not just broken lock they had been using since he was 8 years old and into the box . Running back through past the workshop and down the short passageway into the Clubhouse . .

  Only to come to a sudden stop just past the opening as one of the thugs held a knife to Jolleen’s neck . Jolleen as she laid on the deck with her blouse and pants now half ripped off and bar breasted , exposing her . The knife at Jolleen’s neck forcing Mark to stop his head long dive to tackle the thug.

  The thug turned to growl at the intruder but then smi led ling up at Jack. “Yes even better yet. Just in time. With both your names on the transfer deed, Boss Greedly we will have no problems transferring the tittle s .” Turning back to Jolleen as the other thug with a gun pointed it at Mark, motioning him to get away from the passageway. “Now put the box numbers down and sign the damn papers Bitch. Make sure you mark the section that says you are not doing this under duress.” He added with a smile.

  The other thug grabbed Mark before as he could get walked away back down from the narrow side passageway opening . Dragging the now somewhat shocked Mark around and p P ushing him into the corner against the heads partition as he held the pistol to his neck pointed up through his hea d head . “Don’t move or I will blow your stinking head off Commander before I take you to see some old friends you owe a lot of money to.”

  Mark suddenly heard a noise from one of the Simm’s “Mickey, is Banacheck still here?” Mark said sub vocally so only Mickey could hear.

  “Yes Mark, I am keeping him busy since he can’t be seen by the thugs while masking most sounds he makes. If they discover him here, they will kill him outright as a witness. As they will do to Jolleen when they get the back dated transfer deed signed. Though it seems they want to take you someplace else for some reason. They have a bag that contains much evidence traces of someone’s DNA they probably plan on framing for the murder of Jolleen after she signs the deed . The thousands of credits in cash they have thrown around will give them an alibi since they did pay almost twice the cargo boxes junk value. They do not realize that with the new analyzing equipment the English have given the Doctor , analysis of her last dying breath will point directly to them as her murderers. ”

  The thug with Jolleen finished ripping off her panties. “Now sign bitch or I will rape you then slit your throat. Sign and I will let you go unharmed.” The thug lit up with a red yellow halo for a second telling Mark that he was lying big time about letting her go unharmed. He was going to rape her no matter what. Slapping her across the face he rolled her over giving her a bio pen and placed the sheet paper on the deck in front of her. “Sign it now.” Then stuck his fingers up between her legs from the back making her scream for a second as tears started streaming from her eyes as she started crying. Grabbing for the pen she tried to find the paper.

  “Mark, you have your torch in your thigh pocket. You can use it as a weapon.”

  Mark mouthed more than whispered. “No, even if I knew how to rework it into a laser gun Mickey, I don’t have time. That is unless you know how and really think these ass holes are going to sit around playing cards while I tear it apart and make the changes.”

  “No Mark. This guy has you pinned to the bulkhead. All you have to do is take it out of your pocket that he has his back to and point it at the back of his head and pull the trigger. Once his brain is dead , he cannot pull the trigger. ”

  “Ya sure. He will surrender as soon as I get the d rop on him right. No problem and then the other ass hole will cut Jolle e e n ’ s throat.”

  Jolleen scribbled something on the sheet paper then tried to crawl away but the thug kept her pinned to the deck. He took his hand out from between her legs, grabbed the sheet paper and threw it to one side and then took grabbed another off the low coffee table beside him and slapped it back down in front of her. “Now try again bitch and do it right or I will finish rap p ing you.”

  “ No Mark! I f you try taking him prisoner he will pull the trigger and kill you before you can m ove even with the torch pointed at his head and then Jolleen and Banacheck are both dead. Mark , you have to kill this thug at the first opportunity so you can concentrate on saving Jolleen. R , r emember how fast you were able to react and moved during the hold battle and then the other times when Chet and his friends attacked you? I will help you do that again. As soon as you kill take care of this guy before he kills you , you will have plenty of time to grab the pistol and shoot the other thug in the head before he can harm Jolleen. You simply need to overcome your fear of failing Jolleen. Which by the way , you love much more deeply than you ever did or could Dian. Your only emotional connection to Dian was that she was screwing your brains out for a few days. If you do nothing and let Jolleen her get raped and killed without at least trying, you will never forgive yourself. Remember how you blamed yourself even though you could have done nothing more to stop your friend Criss that died falling down the ladder. Or the little girl that died in the vacuum of the air lock when the officer refused to listen to you about her torn suit just because you were only 6 years old. You can stop this from happening. You just have to concentrate and follow my instructions and my help and your own instincts from your years of self-defense training as a Cadet.”

  “Hey I tried to stop the lock from cycling but the damn Officer would not listen. I tried and failed to save the little girl.”

  “NO you did not fail. The officer failed. You did your best and everyone is proud of you for that now. Even though the child died. Even you are proud t
hat you at least tried.”

  With Jolleen bawling, her eyes barely able to see it took several minutes for her to even grasp the pen right with the man brow beating her trying to make her hurry and then even longer to find the right place to sign.

  Mark looked at the thug holding him pinned. The thugs hand not holding the pistol to Mark’s head was clamped around Mark’s left arm as he watched his buddy demanding Jolleen sign the paper with painful pinches on her small breasts and hits across her head . Mark’s right hand was already down his side not quite low enough to get into his thigh pocket and the torch at the bottom of it.

  Taking a deep breath. Mark said. “Jolleen No!” and tried to act like he was moving toward Jolleen as he slid his hand farther down his side.

  The thug holding him , slapped him across the head with the pistol, jerking him back into the corner. “Don’t move or I will shoot your fucking brains out.” The thug demanded as he lit up bright red to Mark’s surprise.

  “Mickey. He is was lying ? . ”

  “Yes, they must have orders to take you someplace without harming you. That gives you a tremendous amount of leverage. Their full attention is on Jolleen and the entrance to the clubroom. You need to act now before Jolleen runs out of time.”

  Jolleen started writing her name on the paper on the designated line.

  Mark slipped his hand into his thigh pocket and grabbed the torch. “No Jolleen.” He whined as he wiggle a little to mask his movements. “Don’t sign.” He raised the torch out of his pocket and up the side of his body behind the thug holding him . Thumbing up the power slide as he slid the safety off.

  With the torch half way up across his chest his elbow hit the bulkhead making him stop before he had to touch the thug’s back chest with the weapon, giving his movements away.

  Jolleen completed signing and then the thug on top of her rolled her over and forced her legs apart. “Goddamn you are flat chested bitch. Hardly worth raping.”

  Mark tried moving toward Jolleen as he shouted, “NO!” Giving him room to move the torch higher up the side of the thugs back chest .

  The thug with his concentration on the suddenly exposed pussy and his buddy with his pants down around his ankles getting ready to penetrate h ave fun with Jolleen , was a little late reacting. Jerking Mark back jabbing the torch into the side of his back his chest as he slapped Mark him across the head with the barrel of the laser gun . again while not taking his eyes off Jolleen with her legs spread wide apart .

  Mark winced at the blow to his head, pulling the trigger reflexively without thinking.

  Suddenly in slow motion as Mark’s brain finally kicked into high speed, the thugs side of his chest chest in front of the torch received 6 ultra-high temperature laser beams focused onto a single spot 6 inches inside his chest. The 6 beams charcoaling the surrounding edges creating a long narrow hard cylind cone er . The 12,000 degree spot then vaporized the blood and tissue superheating the fluids into a high speed stream of steam that jetted out over under Marks arm propelling the thug away from Mark and across the clubhouse to crash into Banacheck’s Sim m still clutching the pistol.

  Mark watched helpless as the pistol he needed flew away with the thug even as he reached for it. Starting to go after it Mark realized he did not have time as he stared after the already dead thug hitting Banacheck’s the Sim m , caving in the back and knocking Banacheck out to roll across the deck in plain sight.

  Mark turned toward Jolleen as the surprised thug with his pants half down around his ankles kneeling hovering over Jolleen, turned to watch his partner crash into the Simm and a witness appear out of nowhere.

  Holding up the torch to point it at the remaining thug Mark ’ s fast time deserted him before he could take the needed steps to close with the thug.

  The thug whipped around as he tried to pick up Jolleen as a hostage . Pausing as he tried to make up his mind whether to pick up his pants or keep the knife against Jolleen ’ s throat. His pants won as he d d ropp ed ing the knife while pulling up his pants . His pants won as Jolleen slumped back down out of his grip covering the knife with Mark pointing the torch at the thug.

  They looked at each other for a few seconds as Banacheck moved around trying to get the blood and gore dripping dead thug off of him.

  Finally the thug staring at Mark’s torch got a funny look of disbelief on his face. “Hell! It is only a torch.”

  Swallowing as Jolleen started crawling away on her belly. Mark brandished the torch at the thug still picking up and fastening his pants. “You sure about that. You better ask your friend there.” Mark jerking his head in that direction. “He might argue with that assumption if he could.” Then Mark tried to smile d at the thug making more of a grimace than smile . “You make one move toward Jolleen again and I will kill you before you can touch her.” Mark took a step closer toward the thug.

  Banacheck stopped moving around after crawling out from under the dead thug , and finally seeing what was going on. His jaw going up and down as he stared around at al l of them one at a time until he saw a blanket on the couch next to him. Grabbing the blanket and a long sharp section of destroyed Simm, he started walking on his knees toward Jolleen keeping an eye on the thug.

  The thug started backing up away from both Mark and Jolleen as Banacheck approached brandishing the makeshift sward . The thugs until his hand hit the screen paper on the coffee table Jolleen had signed. Grabbing it up. “That is just a damn Torch boy.” Then jumped up and lunged for the entry way and disappeared as he fastened up his pants .

  Turning to Banacheck as he looked around for the pistol for a second but not finding it. “Take care of Jolleen. And find that pistol in case I lose him or someone else comes back.” Then took off after the thug.

  Running out the workshop ’ s hatch , Mark froze looking around.

  “I locked the elevator hatch to keep him from leaving that way down Mark and the hull crew is still installing the hatch to the upper deck . He could not leave that way without the crew identifying him later even if he could g et through the hatch at the moment . Your perpetrator is running down the Broadway.”

  Mark turned as she was speaking and saw the highlighted person walking rapidly away trying to blend in with the local pedestrians. Tom came running out of the elevator heading for the Workshop/Clubhouse until he spotted Mark. Before Tom could say anything. “Jolleen’s hurt. Go in and help Banacheck take care of her until the medics and Ship’s Patrol get here. I am going after the son of a bitch that did it to her.”

  Mark started jogging after the still walking thug who was already starting to relax, thinking he had put enough distance from the crime scene to be safe. That was until he heard someone jogging up behind him. Though it had him baffled at first since most people chasing a criminal were usually in more of a hurry. That is until he looked around to see Mark jogging through the crowd. Then he took off running.

  Mark followed him down the wide boulevard lined with businesses, letting him run out ahead knowing he had nowhere to run to. When the thug disappeared around the corner at the very end of the boulevard Mark stopped and smiled. Turning around , Mark he walked back a few container store fronts to an alley and turned down it. Stopping just short of the corner as he watch ed the corner of his glasses. The little map showing where the thug was as he ran up down the other walkway between containers toward Mark. Mark could hear as as the thugs footsteps kept pausing for a second or two each time as he turned around to look behind him for pursuit. The steps getting more relaxed the longer he found no one chasing him.

  Finally Mark stepped out from behind the corner to face the thug only feet away. “Freeze scumbag!” Mark yelled trying to keep his hand from shaking as he point ed ing the torch at him.

  The thug stopped, starring cross eyed at the torch touching his nose.

  “Now turn around so I can bind your fucking hands.” Mark pulled out a plastic tie from his pocket.

  Someone opened the hatch Mark and the Thug were standing in fro
nt of, pushing Mark back away for a second. The Thug took off back down the passageway the way he had just came.

  Mark took off jogging again after him ignoring the surprised questions exclamation of the man coming out of the container. At the end of the passageway the thug turned away from the main B oalevard boulevard toward Pop ’ s place , making Mark frown as he started running. Pops little place was at a dead end and since Pop did not know what was going on, the damn ass hole could hurt Pop, even kill him trying to use him as a hostage or worse, find popes weapon.

  Mark ran around the corner at the end and came face to face with the Thug now running back out of the dead end and at him o o nly a dozen feet down along the grated walkway along the outer edge of Tramp Town after finding it a dead end . Old number 9 truck was sitting down in the middle of the now open ramp hatch now opened .

  The Thug stopped and turned back around and started running. Though his labored breathing by this time was slowing him down.

  Mark started jogging again as the Thug started checking every nook and cranny including the short dead end alley of container boxes half way to Pop’s box and his clear open grated area around it , for someplace else to run to or something he could use. Mark looking past him trying to see if Pop was home with the closed hatch on his cabin box. W w hile not seeing him anywhere around, Mark was starting to breathe easier. With no Pop for the guy to take hostage. All Mark had to do was wait for the Ship’s Partrol Patrol to show up.