Operation Honey Trap vs The Emperor of the Apocalypse-Chapter 116: You Know How you can Repay Me

Delphi and Alton rode back in through the gates of the botanic gardens.

Feifei rushed up to Delphi. "I was getting so worried about you. What happened with Major Pittman? Are you okay?"

"I’m okay thanks Feifei, thanks for worrying about me," Alton called to her facetiously.

Feifei looked at him blankly.

"No sense of humour that girl..." he muttered.

Delphi leapt off Miro and gave her friend a hug. "Nothing to worry about Feif, we’re both fine. Pittman’s dead. It was a long ride out west chasing him down, so we holed up in a farmhouse overnight and rode out this morning."

"Was he hard to kill?"

"In the end, surprisingly not. The dragons chased him down before he could get to anywhere with decent cover. They have such a big advantage over a man on a horse. He was galloping towards Mount Arapiles, and he might have given us a run for our money if we’d been on horseback, but he had no hope of making it that far with the dragons on his heels, not with the short head start he had. He tried to get a pigeon away, but we got a lucky break with its flight path when it doubled back on him, and then an eagle swooped in and killed it anyway, so all-in-all it was pretty successful. What happened here?"

"All of the soldiers that were alive when you left died in swordfights, except for the one that Kai shot. We buried them all yesterday."

Feifei’s eyes flickered and Delphi caught the sadness behind them. She knew exactly how she felt...

"Delphi, Feifei, over here," called Alton.

The women joined him where he was huddled with Niko looking at something.

"Look at this," he said, unfolding a white rag.

There was a message written on the rag scratched in rough charcoal letters:

"Hello. Name’s William Rutherglen. Indigenous tracker. Forced to come here with Pittman. Seen you riding Dragons. No love for Emperor. Join your Rebellion. Meet on Anzac Centenary Bridge 10:00 AM. If you’re not interested don’t turn up & let’s go our separate ways - no hard feelings - won’t rat you out. Bill."

"I think we should meet with him," said Delphi immediately.

"He could just be fishing for information and still rat us out," said Niko.

"He already has all the information he needs, and he hung around to meet with us knowing it could get him killed. It’s a high-risk approach for not much gain," Delphi replied.

"I agree," said Alton. "Let’s meet with him and see what he has to say. It’s safer for us than letting him go without meeting him."

At the appointed hour, Delphi and Alton approached the bridge from the gardens side of the river, Bogden following closely on Delphi’s heels again. He wasn’t letting her out of his sight after she had left him behind yesterday.

A middle-aged man of indigenous descent already stood waiting for them in middle of the bridge.

Delphi supposed his plan was to jump off into the river if the talk didn’t go well...

He stuck out his hand to greet them. "G’day mate. Bill Rutherglen," he shook both their hands in greeting.

"Delphi Chastain and Alton Meyer. We’re the Generals for the fledgling Rebellion," she smiled at him.

"You’re that Prince Commander are you?" he asked Alton.

"Yep, that’s me. My reputation obviously precedes me."

"It’s good to see Empire men come across to get rid of that evil bastard. And you must be his runaway woman," he said to Delphi. "Don’t blame ya. I’d have been out of there lickety split too."

"I’m not sure the Emperor would have much interest in you," said Delphi. "Your boobs aren’t big enough."

Bill laughed, "maybe I could get me some of those implants he’s so keen on".

"That’d do it. Stitch some of those into your chest and you too can have a life of luxury on prison island. On a more serious note, we’re the lucky ones that managed to get off that stinking island. We had to leave other women behind, but I plan to go back for them all."

"Well listen, us Aboriginal people have been having a very hard time under this bastard. Lots of deaths, lots of good people locked up for no reason, taxing the shit out of us so no one can put bread on the table, keeping us out of the good jobs in the capital. We never joined the Meng Rebellion because we thought they had Buckley’s and none of getting rid of the dickhead, but this dragon riding is a game changer. I see you’ve got the dingos working for you too," he said with excitement, nodding at ’little’ Bogden. "I won’t ask how you did it. Once we’ve built up some trust, you can tell me then. If you want to," he amended.

"We’d be pleased to have you on our side," said Alton, drawing the man alongside him. "Let’s head back to the silo and we can work on some planning with you in more detail."

They took Bill back via the training ground at the gardens and introduced him to the team. Everyone flocked around him hitting him up for news, most especially what the news was about them and if it had leaked.

Delphi and Alton let the team have some time with the man, giving him a chance to eat his fill from the morning tea table. Delphi watched the girls fondly. They would barely let the man get his answers out before they hit him with the next question.

She saw Arrie standing a little off to the side on her own. It drew her attention because the girl was the most confident little social bunny known to man, and never one to be left out of anything interesting that was happening.

Araminta was looking wistful, she realised. Delphi followed her line of sight. The object of her wistfulness seemed to be Baer...

Delphi hoped that wasn’t what it looked like. She knew enough about the man to know he was bad news. Loveday was currently keeping him at arm’s length, only just...

As she watched her, Arrie walked over to sit next to the big man.

Baer looked down at the cute little woman and grinned, ruffling her hair.

"Have you recovered from yesterday shortcake?" he reached out and touched the bruise on her cheek. "That bastard got what he deserved," he growled.

"It hurt a lot, but that’s not what I wanted to say. I came over to say thank you very much for saving me."

Arrie looked sincerely into Baer’s eyes.

If he wasn’t wrong, he detected a change there. Was it hero worship? Knight-in-shining-armour stuff? Girls loved that shit didn’t they? Perhaps she would agree to marry him after all...

"I’m eternally grateful to you Baer. I owe you big time."

"Well you know how you can repay me, don’t you shortcake?"