Jay Budgett: The Indigo Thief

Phoenix fired a test shot from the gun, and the bullet hissed as it left the barrel. “What the hell are these?” He turned to Bertha. “Some sort of dart?”

She smiled. “Not darts—nails.”

“Nails?”

“Rusty ones,” she said with a twinkle in her eye. “Only thing they had in the basement.”

No wonder the guards had fallen so quickly—the nails had broken into shrapnel as they flew from the barrel.

Dove scrunched his nose. “God, did it stink down there! Worst smelling basement I’ve ever been in!”

I shook my head. “It wasn’t just a basement, Dove. There are catacombs down there.”

Bertha’s face looked queasy, but Dove nodded, unfazed. “Ah, cat acombs,” he said, knowingly. “I thought it had something to do with cats. Litter boxes smell terrible.”

Kindred patted his arm. “Bless your heart, dear.”

We ran toward the burning chaos, entering the fray as guards killed one another, too preoccupied with their own survival to pay any attention to us. Phoenix fired nails at any guard foolish enough to get in our way. We ran to the warehouse’s other end, toward an area where the ceiling slid back into pockets, revealing open sky.

Behind us, guards clawed at one another. Fingers gouged eyes, feet crushed ankles, and blood coated the floor like syrup. Phoenix pointed to the closest copter. Its engine was already humming, and its blades fired up. Guards swarmed it, attracted to the engine’s hum like bugs to light.

Bertha whacked a guard with her pink flip-flops, and then spun them in the air like a pair of nunchucks, knocking more guards to the ground. Phoenix and Mila fired their guns, and nails and bullets flew through the air.

Kindred rubbed the glass orb in my hands. “I’m so sorry, dear,” she said. “But it is a lovely vase.”

I shook my head. “Charlie’s in here.”

She smiled knowingly—like it made perfect sense. “How wonderful, dear!”

We pushed through to the revving copter, Phoenix and Mila taking out most of the guards with their guns. A young man in uniform, however, remained in the pilot’s seat. Bertha elbowed past him, and he pointed his gun in her direction. Her hair stuck out to the sides in patches and her eyes were wild.

The young man snickered. “A girl in the pilot’s seat? Just crash the copter now, why don’t you?”

Bertha beat the shit out of him with her flip-flops, then tossed his abused body to the ground and slammed the door shut behind him. She wiped snot and sweat from her face before settling into the pilot’s seat.

Dove threw up his hands. “WOO!” he shouted. “GIRL POWER!”

Mila rolled her eyes. The ground shook again. The floor below the copter was cracking into pieces.

“Get us in the air, Bertha!” shouted Phoenix. “Now, preferably!”

The landing skids lifted, and we hovered. The floor we’d rested on moments before crumbled into pieces like bread. Men threw themselves at our landing skids, a few successfully grabbing on, and the copter rocked from the extra weight. But Bertha flicked the controls, and the men fell into the growing abyss.

Another copter hovered near ours, and its rotor caught our skids, jerking us in the air.

Bertha sucked in a breath. “Fasten your seat belts, boys and girls.” She glanced back at the cabin. “And sloths. Tim—I’m looking at you… I can wait.”

“BERTHA!” Phoenix yelled. “The whole building is going down!”

“JUST LIKE THE LEVEL OF RESPECT IN THIS COCKPIT!”

She flicked the controls, and we sailed up and out of the warehouse. Rising copters crashed to the ground, falling into an abyss of fire and smashed rotor blades.

As our copter hovered in the air, a few others joined us. Below, I saw the supply shelves plummet through the floor as the Light House’s insides were consumed by fire.

At last, one final copter darted out the opening, billows of smoke erupting from the tumbling ruins behind it. It hovered near the others for a moment, then darted toward us. As it approached, its door swung open, and we were greeted by Chancellor Hackner’s twisted grin. Beyond him, an orb glowed green in the cabin.

He waved at me through the open door, his smile so white it burned through our fogged glass. There were other men in his copter I didn’t recognize—probably ministers, council members, or other corrupt politicians.

I glanced at Mila. “Pull the door open.”

She gave me a look. “You’re kidding me.”

Phoenix threw it open and tossed me his gun. I leaned out the door while he held my legs.

“Pity about the girl,” the chancellor shouted. “It was never my intention for you to have to live without her. If I had my way, you wouldn’t have lived at all. You will forgive me, though, won’t you, Bradbury?”

“GO TO HELL!”

I aimed at his throat and fired. A nail flew out in shards, bouncing off the side of his copter.

His lips twisted into another grin. “You can’t be serious, Bradbury,” he laughed. “This is too rich.” I fired again. The nails struck empty air. He laughed harder. “You’re killing me, Bradbury. God, this is good—your mother’s drool had better aim.”

“Aim high,” said Phoenix. “Just above his head, brace the butt of the gun against your shoulder, and lean with it when it kicks.”

I tightened my grip on the trigger. Hackner grabbed a gun from his cabin and aimed in my direction. I fired again.

A nail drove through the palm of his right hand. The gun fell from his grasp. He howled in pain, his eyes wild, and blood streamed down his arm.

“YOU LITTLE SHIT!” he snarled. “YOU’RE DEAD, BRADBURY! THAT I PROMISE YOU! I WON’T REST UNTIL YOU DIE WITH MY HANDS WRAPPED AROUND YOUR SKINNY LITTLE THROAT!”

A pink flip-flop flew from our copter and slapped him across the cheek. Mila gave me a wink. “Someone had to do it.”

Chancellor Hackner slammed closed his copter door. Through the tinted glass he mouthed: I will kill you, Bradbury . And then his copter tore off into the clouds.

Bertha pushed onward through the sky.

I turned to Phoenix. “We’re gonna let them get away? After all they’ve done?”

Phoenix shook his head. “Today is not our day.”

“The hell it’s not. We just brought down the Federation’s capital building.”

“What would you have us do?” he asked. “Kill them all right now? Maybe get a few of ourselves killed in the process?”

“Then why did you give me your gun?”

“It was too far for a kill shot, but he deserved to have someone to shut his mouth. And you deserved to taste vengeance,” he said. “They’re not getting away, Kai. We can always find them. They’re just people.”

I looked at the clouds the chancellor’s copter had cut through. “Some people are more than just people,” I said. “ Those people are more than just people.”

“And we’re more than people,” said Phoenix. “We’re the sun breaking after years of rain. We’re the revolution. But killing off a few government officials won’t make the Federation’s people realize that. It will make them hate us for telling them everything they know is wrong. Killing the chancellor will just make him a martyr, and the people don’t need a martyr just yet. They need the truth.”

I shook my head. “I don’t need the truth anymore. I just need Charlie. Mom and Charlie.” Kindred rubbed my back and squeezed my shoulder. “Mom had this dip in her nose,” I continued. “Like a dimple—you could really see it when she smiled.”

“I bet she smiled a lot,” said Kindred.

I nodded. “Yeah, she did.” A pit formed in my stomach again. “It’s strange to think I’ll never see her again.”