The Callisto Protocol

CH/\PTER 03: Boarded

Jacob Lee had fought many times in his life before.

He'd gotten into his first real fight in elementary school. At six foot three, he was a big guy, and even as a kid he'd been bigger than most of the rest of them. For a lot of people, that just meant 'stay away'. But for some idiots, it was like a target on his back. They all wanted to test themselves against him. They wanted the credit for being the one who kicked the big tough kid's ass.

Didn't happen often, though.

In the beginning he'd been figuring it out, but usually his sheer size won. That ran out somewhere in high school though, and he'd actually had to learn how to fight. So he had. He'd been in all kinds of fights, and he'd learned how to use a lot of weapons. And how to improvise if the situation called for it.

And it often did.

Like right now.

He didn't have a damn thing on him, just his fists.

Jacob got up against the door that would let him back into the cargo bay. He waited and listened, but it didn't tell him anything he wanted to know. After a moment, he hit the button. The door snapped open and he tensed. But there was nothing and no one in the little space beyond. For a moment, his stressed mind ran through the bay's rough layout and where he was in it. Dead ahead of him was some of the natural scaffolding that ran through the bay. The area was so stuffed full of crap that he realized he could use to sneak back to the catwalk.

If he could get up there to the main door fast enough, he could get to the front of the ship and lock them inside the cargo area. It wasn't ideal, but maybe it would give him enough time to run to his bunk and grab his pistol.

Jacob moved forward and dropped into a crouch, pushing himself into the tunnel of space beneath the metal scaffolding. There was a wall of crates and other materials in front of him, but there was a small window of space through it.

He froze as he saw a flashlight play across the wall out there, then he ducked lower and watched intently as he heard light footsteps. A figure appeared, walking slowly forward, carrying a rifle with a flashlight attached to the barrel. Then a second figure appeared behind the first, smaller, holding a pistol.

"Search the hold, it has to be here," he heard the smaller figure say. A woman who sounded pretty tough.

Just great. This was exactly what he needed right now.

They disappeared from view and his sense of urgency didn't just grow, but swelled to an enormous size. They were terrorists, they had broken into his ship, and they were here for his medical cargo. His one million credit shipment.

No way in hell were they getting it.

He'd see every last one of them dead before he let that happen.

Jacob began moving as quickly and quietly as he could through narrow space. Ducking under a girder, he saw that the space got even more tight up ahead. That was fine. He was a big guy, but he'd gotten good at moving in smaller spaces. Twisting sideways, he fit himself in between the crates and began shimmying along. He could hear them moving elsewhere in the bay.

Abruptly, a light suddenly shined down through the grating ahead of him and he heard someone walking around. He waited.

The radio crackled softly in his ear. "Jacob, what are you doing?" Max asked.

Jacob ignored it, waiting for the light to pass. When it did and the Outer Way member moved on, he responded. "I'm kind of busy right now," he whispered.

"Please don't do anything stupid, man. Come on, even if we completely botch this, it's still half pay. Five hundred thousand credits. We can do a lot with that."