Dimension Shift (Hammer's War Book 2) Read online

  He had never seen a species with six breasts before and if he didn’t have just seconds to find Tommy and get out, he would have sat down and watched the rest of her show. It took some effort to pull his gaze away, but he did it. He looked around and didn’t see Tommy so he went to the bar. The bartender was a female Torian. Torians were tall and had four arms which allowed them to be great warriors or in this case one hell of a bartender. Because Torians looked a bit like cattle, with the long face and horns, it was sometimes hard to tell the females from the males, but in this case, the bartender had breast implants to augment her female form. She also wore makeup and had ornate silver and gold rings on her horns.

  “What’s your poison sweet thing?” She asked ina gruff Torian voice.

  “I’m looking for Tommy Ten-Toes.” St. Claire said.

  She looked him up and down. “Owe him money, do you?”

  “What? No.” he looked at himself, and then it made sense to him why she asked. “No he owes me, so you wouldn’t happen to know where he is?”

  She was washing out a glass with her lower arms while her upper arms were shaking a mixer. “He is in the back sweetie, and when you are done with your business come and see me. I’m almost off shift.”

  Stunned at the thought of him with a Torian he stumbled over his words. “Ah, thanks.”

  St. Claire moved as quickly as he dared not wanting to draw any attention. He stepped through the door and entered a poorly lit hallway. Doors aligned both sides of the hallway every few feet. In the center of each door was a little window that was opaque. Curiosity got the better of him and he waved his hand over the scanner next to the door. The window turned transparent and St. Claire looked inside and instantly regretted it. Inside the tiny room was more that he wanted to see. He observed some kind of greenish blob with lots of tentacles thrashing about and sticking out from this thing was a pair of furry legs that he guessed belonged to a Lyrain female. “I think I have been scarred for life.” St. Claire mumbled as he waved his hand over the scanner again, cutting off his view, thankfully.

  St. Claire decided that he didn’t want to see any more alien sex so he looked forward and ran the rest of the way down the hall. He hit the back door harder than he thought. The door smashed opened with a bang. Inside the room, Tommy sat in a plush leather chair, his purple suit jacket draped over a matching chair, his hat on the seat of that chair. Tommy was in the midst of having his head rubbed by a Lyrain who jumped and hissed as St. Claire busted through the door.

  “What the hell man, you just can’t go busting into a private room.” Tommy yelled at the unwanted intruder.

  “Well hello to you, too, Tommy.” St. Claire snapped back at him.

  “Oh, hey, Sergeant St. Claire, I didn’t recognize you. What’s with the lime track suit?”

  “I could ask the same of you, when did you turn into a pimp?” St. Claire asked, to deflect him away from more questions about his attire.

  “Pimp? Oh, the suit, man that is all the new rage. Anyone who is anyone is sporting one of these.”

  “Look, that’s great. I’m glad you are top of the fashion world, but we need to leave now.”

  Tommy leaned back in his chair. “Nah man, stay, let the girls here give you a head rub. It is out of this world.”

  “Look, Tommy, I don’t have time to explain everything, but we need to leave now.” To stress the seriousness of the situation he grabbed Tommy by his sparkly purple vest and yanked him out of the chair and onto his feet.

  “Hey man, not so rough, watch the threads, these are not cheap.”

  Frustrated with Tommy, he pulled him so they were nose to nose. “Look, you don’t seem to understand, so let me make this extremely clear, we need to leave right now. I kind of had to smack down the doorman to get in here.”

  Tommy laughed. “You took down Bruits?”

  As if on cue, a loud crashing sound down came from down the hall. “Yeah and it sounds like he is back up.”

  “Well, it was nice to knowing ya.” Tommy chuckled.

  “God, you are thick, I told him I was a friend of yours, and I was here to see you.”

  Tommy’s eyes grew as wide as dinner plates and his mouth fell open. “You didn’t!”

  St. Claire smiled. “I did.”

  Seeing that Tommy now understood, St. Claire released him. “Damn it, St. Claire he will kill me just for knowing you.”

  St. Claire smiled. “Exactly.”

  The sound was growing louder and they could make out a few cuss words and something about smashing the human into jelly. “Well don’t just stand there, follow me!” Tommy yelled as he grabbed his suit coat and hat and started running to the back wall.

  St. Claire followed him. “Nice! Now we have no way out.”

  Tommy placed his right hand on the wall and a soft blue light flashed under his hand. The wall slid aside and revealed an opening to the alley behind the club. “Please, like I wouldn’t have a way out.” Tommy said, as he stepped through the wall. St. Claire wasted no time and followed him through. Just as he cleared the wall, Bruits burst into the room.

  The Orillia bellowed at the cat woman. “Where did they go?” scared to death she pointed to the opening in the wall.

  Tommy pushed the pad on the other side of the wall and the opening slid closed. Both Tommy and St. Claire broke into a full run down the back alley. They barely made it past the club’s dumpster when the wall behind them exploded, sending dust and chunks of the wall in all directions. They didn’t look back to see what caused it, they knew when they heard the growl of a really pissed Orillia.

  Orillia were big and strong, strong enough to smash through the medium walls of the club, but as strong as they were, they were not great runners. Tommy and St. Claire were easily able to beat him to the end of the alley. Seeing his quarry getting away, Bruits grabbed the nearest thing, which happened to be the dumpster. He lifted the several hundred pounds of dumpster with ease as if it was nothing more than a sack of feathers, and with a great primal howl, tossed it at St. Claire.

  St. Claire reached the end of the alley and rounded the corner just as the dumpster flew past him and into a passing vehicle. The dumpster smashed into the long black town car sending the car careening sidewise and into the building across the street.

  Watching the whole thing, Tommy stood there with his hands up. “Oh God no, that is the club’s owner. Damn it St. Claire, I will never be allowed back there and I love that club. The girls give the best head rubs!”

  “Oh shut up and run, you idiot.” St. Claire said, as he spun him around and pushed.

  Chapter 17

  Thad made his way down to the flight deck, found his grav-bike waiting, and on top of the bike sat Vergil. Thad gave him a warm smile. “You get everything I asked for?”

  Vergil hopped down off the bike and waddled up to Thad. “You bet, and I even fixed the screen on your armor, but…”

  “You didn’t try to open the control unit did you?”

  Vergil glanced at the ground. “Yeah I kind of did, and there was a flash of light then the whole insides were…”

  “Gone.” Thad said in a huff.

  “Yeah, it was weird, never seen anything like it.” Vergil said, still looking at the ground.

  “Great, just freaking great!” Thad shouted.

  “I’m sorry; I was just trying to…”

  “Put your nose in where it didn’t belong, but never mind that do you have the duffel I asked for?”

  Vergil held up the duffel bag. “Got it right here, but what is it for?”

  Thad took the bag and unfolded it. “It’s for you.”

  “What? That was not part of the plan!”

  Thad shook it open and pointed to it. “It is now, now please get in the bag.”

  Vergil shook his head. “I’m not getting in that stupid bag, you get in the bag.”

  “If the Ballers will kill you on sight then you have to be in the bag, got it.”

  “I don’t care. I’m
not getting in the bag, I’m claustrophobic.” Vergil said, as he put his hands up and backed up a step.

  Thad rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine you don’t have to get in the bag.”

  “Really?”

  “No, get in the bag, we are losing time.”

  “No freaking way buddy.” Vergil said.

  “Fine, I will think of something else then.” Thad said as he folded the bag over his arm.

  “Thank you, you have no idea how much I hate being in tight spaces and don’t even think about making small people-small space jokes or I will kick your knee cap off.”

  Thad couldn’t help laughing at the little engineer. “Hey Vergil, did you get the hand stunner I asked for?”

  Vergil pulled the hand stunner from his belt and handed to Thad. “Got it right here, but what is it for anyway? Are you going to stun your way in?”

  “Nope.” Thad said then he pointed at Vergil and fired. The telltale blue light and crack of a stun weapon filled the landing pad for a second. “It’s if for you.” Thad said as he caught the little guy before he hit the metal deck. He lifted the small man and placed him into the bag. “Sorry about this, but it is the only way.” He strapped the duffel down on the back of the grav-bike. Satisfied that the bag was securely tied down and wouldn’t come off mid-flight, Thad checked that the rest of the gear was securely attached to the bike.

  Everything in order, Thad mounted the bike and with a push of a button, the engines came online. He gave the thumbs up to the flight deck officer, who returned his thumbs up and moved the landing pad out of The Lightning’s bay and out into the cool morning air. Thad twisted the throttle while holding down the motion inhibitor (the brakes) until the bike’s gauges were red lining. He let go of the inhibitor, the bike jumped forward.

  The acceleration would have torn most riders right off the bike, however, Thad was ready for it and got quite the rush when the bike took off like a rifle shot. It was a little bumpy at first, but Thad smoothed out the flight. He looked down at the HUD and the tracker was working just fine. All of the convoys operating on Nueva Texas were required to broadcast their locations at all times. It was nothing more than an automated transponder. The government required this so that the cattle ranchers knew where they were. This allowed them to stay clear of the convoys. The last time one of the convoys got close to a herd it spooked them so badly that the cattle stampeded. The stampede killed hundreds of cows as well as half a dozen cowboys before it was over.

  The law was an unfortunate hassle for the convoys, but handy for Thad. He was happy to see that the Ballers convoy was not too far from him, no more than a three-hour ride. Thad set the cruise and hoped Vergil didn’t wake up. He left a comm in the bag with Vergil just in case he did wake up and it was a good thing he did. About an hour into the trip, the comm went active and Vergil was not happy.

  “You son of a bitch, you stunned me and put me in the bag! Get me the fuck out of here!”

  Thad was worried this might happen, but he was prepared for it. He spoke over the comm. “Calm down it won’t be much longer, just hang in there.”

  “Hang in there! Are you fucking kidding me? It's pitch black in here and I can’t see a thing.” Vergil was screaming.

  Thad couldn’t have Vergil kicking and screaming as he landed at the convoy so he spoke softly over the comm trying to calm him. “Look, I put a light in there with you. You just need to find it.”

  Vergil felt around until he found what felt like a flashlight. “I think I found it.”

  “Good now, find the round end and point it at yourself.”

  “Okay, I’m pointing it at my face, but I still can’t see anything.” Vergil said.

  “Good, do you feel the button on the top of the light?”

  “Yes.” Vergil said, with a little less panic in his voice.

  “Push it.” Thad said.

  There was a crack sound and flash of blue light and Vergil was out again. Thad couldn’t contain himself and burst out in a mad laughter. After a few seconds of hard laughter, he spoke to himself. “I’m so going to Hell.”

  Two blasts from a hand stunner did the trick. Vergil was out for the rest of the trip. Thad was watching the convoy fast approaching on his HUD when the comm crackled. “Attention approaching vessel, please identify yourself and why you are approaching our convoy so quickly. If you fail to reply then you will be blown out of the sky.”

  What is with these convoy people ready to shoot anyone a drop of a dime, he thought. He opened up the comm channel and replied. “Please don’t shoot, I’m transmitting my Ident now.” He pushed a button on the control pad below the HUD. He crossed his fingers and thought, okay here’s hoping Vergil is as good as he says he is. While waiting for a response to his ident code Thad began to worry that, he might just die in a white-hot beam of death before they respond.

  Finally, the comm crackled again. “Sorry for the delay Agent Hammer, you are welcome to board the command vehicle at the front of the convoy. The General Hammond is waiting to receive you.”

  The General Hammond, I wonder who he was, Thad thought. He came up on the convoy from behind. He flew past a variety of vehicles before coming alongside The General Hammond. Other than a different paint job and a few different attachments, it looked remarkably like The Lightning. He saw the landing pad extend and he brought his grav-bike down right in the center of it. The pad retracted and he shut down the engines.

  On the gangway stood two armed security officers and tall thin woman. She looked like she was in her early fifties. Her long black hair was pulled back tight and wrapped up into a bun on top of her head. He noticed strains of gray in her hair as well as the little wrinkles on her face which she was doing a good job of hiding. She was thin, but she still had a hint of womanly curves to her. Thad could tell even under the drab gray one piece jumpsuit she was wearing that she keep herself in good shape. Her high cheekbones and long nose made her look stern which was only accented by the round glasses she was wearing.

  She stepped forward and extended her hand. “Welcome to The General Hammond, I am Janis Case, the chief of security and safety for the Ballers.”

  Thad shook her hand. “Thanks, Agent Thaddeus Hammer.”

  “So Agent Hammer what brings you out to our convoy?”

  He could tell she was good at her job and was fishing for answers. “Nothing more than a routine inspection, nothing else.”

  The smile on her face melted away. “Okay, cut the crap, in the twenty years that I have been in charge of security I have never had a fed show up for a routine inspection.” She held up her fingers to make quotes in the air when she said routine.

  Shit, that would have been nice to know Vergil, he thought as he dropped the duffel on the deck. A muffled oof came from the duffel. Janis looked down at the bag. “What was that?”

  “That was nothing, look I don’t know why I’m here anymore that you do. The fact is that I’m new to this division. I used to have a cushy job with the cruise liner safety inspection team, but sleep with the boss’s wife just once and the next thing I know I’m in the middle of nowhere inspecting a pile of rolling crap. No offense intended.”

  “None taken.” she said.

  “The worst part was, that when I met her I didn’t have a clue who she was, not to mention she came on to me. I never could resist a powerful mature woman who knows what she wants.” Thad was doing his best to flirt.

  Janis Case was a tough no-nonsense, powerful, mature woman and she saw right through his vain attempt to flirt, but even her hard shell softened a little with each time he looked at her with those lovely steel gray eyes. “Look, I don’t care what bullshit that brought you here, however, I run a tight ship, and you can look all you want. You will not find a single safety violation on this convoy. I guarantee it.”

  “Great! Should make my job easy. Look, this is punishment duty for me and it makes me not really care, but I do have to at least I should make it look like I’m doing my duty. So tell you what,
you let me look around a bit. Ask a few questions, then I will write up a sterling report about how great a job you are doing here.”

  She leaned in close, so close that he could feel her breath on his ear. “You do whatever you have to, but if you are feeding me a line bull, I will burn you. Understand?”

  Thad couldn’t help but like her. She kind of reminded him of Eve. A wide smile broke out across his face. This time, he placed his mouth close to her ear. “Don’t get me all hot and bothered, if you are not going to keep your promises.”

  Who in the Hell does he think he is, Case thought, but she couldn’t help herself, she found him strangely attractive. “These officers will show you to your quarters. Once you have settled in you can start by reviewing my safety records.”

  Pouring on the charm now, Thad when for it. “I could do that, but I would much rather have lunch with you and get a more personal review.”

  Case rolled her eyes knowing she shouldn’t give in to this steely-eyed stranger, but it had been a long time scene she met someone who was not afraid of her. “Fine, lunch it is then.” She turned to her officers. “Escort our guest to his quarters and when he is ready you will escort him to my office.” They nodded in acknowledgment.

  “I’m looking forward to it.” Thad said as he picked up his duffel and slung it over his shoulder. He watched as Case wheeled around and marched off. After she was gone, he pointed to the other gear on his bike. “Well boys, don’t just stand there, grab the gear and show me the way.”

  * * *

  Back on The Lightning Quincy was doing well, really well. He was up and walking around the medical bay, his pacing was starting to drive the staff crazy, so they finally relented and let him leave to wander the ship. He hadn’t seen Doctor Hammer since last night when Thad came to tell them what was going on. He wondered where the good doctor had gone off to. He spent some time walking around the corridors before finding one of the four bars on board.