She Bleeds for Us: The Galactic Consortium 3

Chapter 45

Gabriel hoisted his pack and started up into the city of Freetown. His smuggling operation was starting to feel routine now. He'd made several trips now, averaging three a week.

Grandma still worried, but after he'd arrived home with the first full pack she had had to recognise his logic, he could do it. And the police paid him little attention. Meanwhile his replacement, a man named Lee, had been captured and put in jail just running a message from one ghetto to another.

So they let him continue. And it was easy now that he had help. General Koroma was supposed to be guarding the northern border but Captain Sesay had told Gabriel that he was secretly helping the Consortium. He still held out for a peaceful solution, but he had helped Sesay, who was a consortium spy, and several others infiltrate most of his troops.

Gabriel would take the ferry across the bay and be picked up by a military jeep a few miles north. He would driven the entire way, and waved through all the checkpoints.

Devaki's helpers were closer now too. There was a big white guy named Jake and a white woman that reminded Gabriel of his old teacher Holly, except she had some strange sounding name he found hard to say. She laughed when he tried and fed him chocolate bars, so it was okay.

They were both relief workers and were stationed right across the border. They would deliver packs filled with food, first aid kits and force shields.

The trip home was just as easy. Captain Sesay's spies got him back to the ferry. For the price of a little bit of food for his own family, the ferryman would let him on and hide his bags even. He said that he had no stomach for revolution himself, but he was sympathetic to the protestor's cause and this was the least he could do.

His ghetto had plenty now but there were many others without. Gabriel would take his supplies and infiltrate those ghettoes, bringing them rations and supplies.

This drop was set to go to a ghetto in the hills that overlooked the east side of the city and the ocean, far from Gabriel's home. He hoisted the pack and set off.

It was slow going. He used his consortium spy tech to peer around corners and avoid police checkpoints. He avoid any street with a lot of traffic or people. He feared bandits and gangs as much as the police. A lot of people were feeling the pinch of martial law and the pack he carried would have been worth a lot even before.

Not that it was hard to avoid people today. The streets were almost entirely empty. Gabriel didn't know if this was typical for this section of the city, or if something was going on. The houses were closely placed and modest, a middle class neighbourhood. Perhaps the inhabitants were away at work.

A helicopter thrummed overhead, heading towards downtown. Gabriel paused and pulled his spy device out, pointing it down towards the next corner. There was no checkpoint to the east, toward the ocean but there was one on the west side of the intersection, blocking the road up into the hills that rose above Freetown. That would be the entrance to his destination, he decided and he would need to figure out a way past it.

A noise caused him to turn and then fear to spike through his veins. The thrumming of the helicopter had covered the sound of a police cruiser as it pulled up behind him. Now two men were climbing out, their doors had attracted his attention.

The driver was older and heavier. His partner was young man and slender. They wore regular uniforms, not riot gear, but they were still police.

Gabriel ran. He knew in a matter of steps that it was too late. He could hear them both gaining on him, their steps loud in his ears. The young man appeared in the corner of Gabriel's vision, pacing him and preparing to cut him off.

Then there was a sharp tug as the older man grabbed Gabriel's pack and yanked. The young man made his move, dashing in front of Gabriel and grabbing his arm.

Gabriel squirmed but couldn't escape the men. "Stop it, boy," the older man ordered and Gabriel stilled.

The young man reached down and unbuckled the pack and belt from Gabriel's waist. He kept a tight grip on Gabriel's arm and then snatched the spy device from Gabriel's over hand. "What do you make of this?" he asked his partner.

Gabriel began to tremble all over. He fought back tears.

"Calm down, kid," the man said. "We aren't going to hurt you."

Gabriel looked at the man's face and hoped it was true. But even if they didn't, they would surely turn him over to others that would torture him.

"Kid?" the old man snorted. "Spy is more like."

"This kid?"

The old man brandished the spy device. "I don't know what the hell this thing is but I can guess easy enough who made it." He turned on Gabriel. "Where did you get this? What do they want you to do with it."

"It's nothing," Gabriel lied. "Just a toy. I was just going home from..." He couldn't think of one place he could legitimately be going home from.

"Don't waste your time," the old man told him. "We know the protestors are getting help from the outsiders, don't we deputy Koroma?"

The young man nodded. "Captain said so," he agreed. "Just didn't know how they were getting them."

"And now we do. Using kids." The old man spat. "Cowards."

"They aren't using me!" Gabriel yelled, angry suddenly. "I am one of them. I'm a protestor, too. I will do anything to fight for my freedom."

The old man laughed crudely. "Is that what you think, boy? A lot of people said that back in the war. Fighting for their freedom. And where did that get them? Dead and in the grave. Ain't no such thing as freedom. Just serve the men that are best for you. Come'on."

They all three started back for the cruiser, young deputy Koroma dragging Gabriel and the old man carrying the pack.

"What do you think will happen to them?" the deputy asked the old man with a nod towards the hills.

"They'll come to their senses," the man opined. "Or they'll starve."

A pained looked crossed the young man's face at the thought of starvation.

"I was bringing them food," Gabriel said, hoping to play on his sympathy. "Not weapons or nothing. Just food. So they wouldn't starve. Is not starving a crime?"

"Even with the protests downtown?" Deputy Koroma continued.

"Bah," the old man replied. "They say they want the same thing. But mark my words, if the poor ghetto rats ever got loose downtown, the rich would come running to us to drive them back out. You know it and I know it."

Even Gabriel knew it. But then, thinking of the protests he'd seen, with the songs and the dancing, he wondered if it was possible that they were on the same side, wanted the same things.

The old man was throwing Gabriel's bag and his belt into the trunk of the police cruiser. "I'll just be glad when all this over and things go back to normal," he commented.

"And the kid?" the deputy asked.

The man shrugged. "It's martial law. We turn him over to the military captain."

The deputy gave Gabriel a concerned look. His grip loosened for a split second.

And it was enough. Gabriel twisted out and dashed down the street. Free of his pack he easily outpaced the men. The deputy was cussing a blue streak for most of a block. And then he was panting too hard. When Gabriel risked a look back, the deputy was standing with his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. Gabriel looked forward again and kept running.