He stopped pacing and turned as the door opened.
“Yes, Adriana?”
“Mr Brown is here, Captain. He is waiting in your private quarters.” The titanium skin of the droid gleamed more than usual. She must’ve had her weekly cleaning and polishing today, he mused, his mind momentarily glad of the distraction. “I have sent him some refreshment,” prompted Adriana, her nearly sentient AI brain detecting a reason for the Captain’s pause. “Shall I order some for you?”
“In my private quarters? Yes, yes, thank you, that will do. Tea, please.” He smiled. Having Adriana was still a novelty, especially because she needed a uniform, but for some reason he kept forgetting to order one for her.
“Thanks, Adriana. Make sure that Mr Brown and I are not interrupted.”
“As you wish, Captain.”
Watching her leave, he wondered again about these autonomous androids. How sentient were they? Were they capable of emotion? More than once he’d thought this particular one displayed something very like emotions. He made a mental note to take this up with his very capable Communications Commander, Fritz Dieffenbach, who had complete oversight of the ship’s AI network, communications, and all the autonomous systems.
When James entered the living area of his private quarters, the Admiral, aka Mr Brown, stood to shake hands with him. After their greeting, they settled into two comfortable chairs pulled up to a low table.
“Thank you for meeting with me, sir,” said James. “What news of Felicity? Have your people found her?”
“Not yet, but we will.” The Admiral waited while the steward droid placed two cups of tea on the table for the Captain and himself, then a plate of small cakes and two plates, and withdrew. “I won’t beat about the bush, this is bad, and it’s getting worse.”
James Heron handed the plate of small cakes to the Head of Fleet Security.
“Thank you, those look delicious. Angel cakes? I haven’t seen these in years.”
“Neither had I, sir. Used to be a favourite of mine—a reward my sister and I enjoyed. My mother made them as a special treat for us when we were children.” He frowned as a thought occurred to him. “I’m not sure why, but whenever there’s a bit of pressure on. my steward turns up with them and tells me that Adriana ordered them, but how she knows to do this is beyond my comprehension.”
He selected his own two cakes and relished a few bites then sipped his tea. When they were both sufficiently relaxed and sated, James began. “Sir, can you tell me what the blazes is going on here, on a number of issues? We’ve found several small installation problems, and some that can only be termed deliberate sabotage. I have my people checking all the critical stuff, but we can’t watch everything and everyone.”
“I know. Look, James, we knew there was a double game being played here, and we were getting close to identifying who the other side’s people are—but then they brought in an outside team. First they hit Theresa Hollister, and we think they’ve taken Felicity Rowanberg as well. We know what they were after with Theresa, but we’re not sure why they’ve taken Felicity.”
The Captain sipped his tea to collect his thoughts as his mind went back to his wife’s death. He had an idea of who this subversive group might be. “Do you know who these outsiders are? More important, why can’t we clear out the bastards sabotaging this ship?”
“We intend to, but we need to do it thoroughly. I want to nab the people giving the orders and the bastards behind them.” Pausing, he helped himself to another of the small cakes. “There are some very big fish behind this, James, and we’re going to get them, or at the very least frighten the living daylights out of them. Have you heard of the Pantheon?”
Frowning, James Heron sat back. “Yes, I have, unfortunately, a very dark and mysterious organisation, that took my wife from me, and now they have Felicity.” James Heron felt a chill in his heart, and then his anger began to build. “Do you know which of their so-called gods or goddesses is responsible?”
“Not for certain, but we think it’s the one they call Bast. She’s like a chameleon, incredibly good at disguise, and she even fools the DNA checks. She generally kills a selected victim then assumes their identity. We’ve figured out how she disguises the DNA, but we haven’t figured out how to detect it reliably.”
James Heron sat very still, his expression hard. “If this Bast is planning to use Felicity in one of their hunts….”
“We think they have a different target.” The Admiral leaned forward in his chair with his hands clasped and his elbows on his knees. “We think Bast is after you.”
James Heron sat up straighter. “Me? Why? Why send a bunch of expensive assassins after a mere Captain in the Fleet?
“Could be a number of reasons.” The Admiral paused, watching the Captain. “I’m sure you can think of several. Your brother-in-law holds a very senior position in the government in Ireland, and is a bit of a thorn in some people’s ambitions. You’ve upset a few plans since you took command of the build team, and you’re not easily accessible now that you live aboard the Vanguard.”
“So you think they kidnapped Felicity to get at me? That doesn’t make sense. I mean, yes, she’s important to me, but I don’t see the connection.”
“Well, you’re a gentleman, James, and you’ve already shown that you’re prepared to defend Felicity against any threat. Not every man jumps into action for another person like that, risking his own life in the process, even if she is a kind and beautiful woman. You’ve proved that you can and you will.” Mr Brown stopped when he saw a slight flush suffuse James’ features. “Here’s what you need to understand, James: these Pantheon people are psychopaths. Someone like you presents them with a challenge. You’re entertainment to them, an exciting target to hunt down and snuff out.” He paused. “So I’m assigning some of my top ghosts to you. Any contact not directly to do with the ship or the build, we’ll vet it first. And just so you know, there are contracts out on five people on Mars, and on this Dock. Theresa was one, and your Mr Ribble was another. They got him and a sidekick of his, but we were too quick for them to kill Theresa. Now it looks like they’ve changed tactics.”
Yelendi Dysson indicated a chair. “Make yourself comfortable, Ms Cardington. Oh, by the way, I had a visit from your brother while I was on the surface. Is he still there?”
Taking the indicated seat, Bast smiled. “Selwyn has taken the company yacht to Pangaea. What a performance in Security, though—anyone would think there was a war on!” Bast felt pleased. Her plan had worked to perfection. The little double bluff with ‘Selwyn’ Cardington being seen to depart and her ‘arrival’ afterward had been easy. Now she could pursue her target and indulge in her favourite sport. It would be tricky, especially as she had no doubt the Fleet was monitoring her prey in an attempt to catch her. It added an exciting edge to her plan. Even better, from her perspective, her team would do the hunting, and if the target survived, she would take him once he thought he was safe.
“Not a war just yet, but there might as well be,” Yelendi retorted bitterly. “Fleet seems to think there’s an active terror cell on the Dock, and they’re really antsy now that one of their people has been attacked and something important stolen, and now an administrator has been abducted.”
“Someone’s been abducted?” Bast feigned surprise. “Oh dear. Anyone important?”
About to answer in the affirmative, Yelendi’s senses prickled. Something about the woman was off. She decided to maintain a casual tone. “Depends on who you consider important, I suppose. From the Fleet’s perspective, yes, she’s a key member of their liaison team overseeing weapons engineering for the Vanguard. From our perspective, she’s a bit of a problem because she’s uncovered several little discrepancies that are causing problems for our managers.” She smiled and shrugged as if it was no concern of hers. “Nothing serious enough to jeopardise the project, but her abduction means everything is under more intense scrutiny—and that is generating a lot of unnecessary work.”
Bast pouted and sighed. “All this business with security has really spoiled things here. You can’t even enjoy a nice evening in a restaurant without someone wanting to see your ID, and I’ve had to cancel plans for a cocktail evening because of it.”
Yelendi sympathised, but couldn’t shake the feeling she was being played. Ms Cardington sounded sincere, and presented the very image of a socialite representing her family business, but for several minutes after she left, Yelendi sat still, thinking furiously. Her intuition was seldom off—she couldn’t afford to ignore it in her own dual role—and something was definitely triggering her alarm signals. Automatically she ran a scan of the room for any surveillance devices. She found nothing.
Unable to shake the unsettled feeling, she tried to focus on her official work.
Settled into a transport pod, Bast smiled. The Dysson woman would be useful, but was obviously wary. And she wasn’t just another administrator. Bast had done her homework—in her profession you got killed by what you didn’t know—and she knew exactly what Ms Yelendi Dysson’s role in this game was. She fingered her necklace, her smile widening. In a few hours she would activate the device she’d planted in Dysson’s office.
“We’ve traced Felicity’s comlink, sir.” Commander Brandeis placed it on Mr Brown’s desk.
“Where was it?”
“In the tool kit of a maintenance tech on Mars Base. He denies ever having seen it before, of course.”
“Of course. You’ve verified his story?”
“Yes, sir. It can’t have been him. He’s in a med-unit in the Base hospital, and lucky to be alive. We’ve put him under a security watch. We’ll move him as soon as he can withstand the move to a safe location. He wasn’t supposed to survive, and we hope he’ll be able to describe his attacker. They stole his ID and equipment and left him in a vent shaft. Lucky he was found, and even luckier that the medics could revive him.”
Mr Brown stared at the bracelet com link. It resembled a simple piece of jewellery. Only someone with a very sophisticated scanner would have been able to identify its true function. Keyed as it was to the wearer’s genetic code, it would be useless to anyone else. “I want Felicity found. Have you tried her cyber implants? They’re only short range, but they might give us something.”
“Yes, sir. We’re pretty sure she isn’t on the Dock any longer. That leaves us only two options.”
“I know. But we also know she hasn’t gone aboard any of the Earth shuttles, so she has to be on one of the ships in build or in a facility somewhere on the planet. I want the settlement areas subject to a deep scan. Any anomalies—take the place apart.”
The Admiral watched the door close. Felicity was safe enough for the moment, as his ghost squad were closing in on the people who’d taken her and would track them and intervene as soon as they knew her location. His agents were like family to him, and Felicity was one of his rising stars, but taking down a member of the Pantheon required some risks. He thought of James Heron and frowned. Heron was very sharp, and could pose a risk by going after the kidnappers—or worse, by exposing the Fleet security operation. Heron was a disciplined man, but the Admiral sensed a raging temper roiling beneath the surface of the calm, controlled demeanour. He’d have to take steps to keep Heron in check. It would be difficult, but he didn’t want that temper to burst forth and cause a chain of events they would all regret.
Chapter 18
Close Call
The data chip arrived in a small jewellery box. Next to the chip were the earrings Felicity had been wearing when she was taken, though, of course, James Heron didn’t immediately recognise them.
“I’ve a data chip and what I think are Felicity’s earrings. They’ve been delivered to the ship with a normal requisitions delivery.”
“Don’t attempt to read the chip until I get there!” said the Admiral. “It is probably programmed to self destruct once it’s read. Get Commander Dieffenbach to run a check for any oddities to the nanostructure while I’m on my way.”
It took effort for James to keep his impatience in check. “I’ll do that, sir. I’ll get Fritz in immediately.”
“Good. I’ll be with you in ten minutes. One more thing, don’t insert it into any reader linked to the ship’s AI. I’ll bring a special reader unit. Warn Dieffenbach as well.”
“Very well, sir. Understood.” James glared at the small unit on his desk. He’d heard of such devices, and had no intention of letting anyone into the ship’s systems.
Yelendi Dysson didn’t like not knowing who she was up against, especially if they were opposition or, even worse, a competitor. Her regular check for any eavesdropping devices had turned up one, which, after some consideration, she’d left in place—but with a small device planted nearby that interfered with it. Whoever had installed it would be able to hear conversations in her office, but only when she allowed it. She didn’t like the idea that her employers—Consortium Directorate of Security, not the DockCorp Group she was publicly representing—did not think she was able to get the information they wanted on the new weapon. Not knowing the identity of the other player or players could get her killed. Activating her hidden device, she used her link.
“Yes, Ms Dysson?”
“I’ve got an urgent task for you, Dylan. Come to my office please, and bring all the files we have on the Mars settlements.”
“The Mars settlements?” The surprise in his voice was obvious, but he hastened to add, “Right. I’m on it.”
“One more thing.” She hesitated. “Can you bring me a list of hires, fires, and resignations for the last three months? I need to check something.”
“On my way in five. I’ll need to find the settlements data.”
“Probably in the Mars archives. Plans, maps and occupancy as well, please—everything, including everything that has been shut down and abandoned.” Shutting off the link, she hesitated, considering her next move. Anyone coming to the Dock—the assassins had to have been able to legitimately arrive here—could be part of the Pantheon team. They would need a legitimate reason and cover to do so. Politicians apart, no ordinary people landed here. Everyone on the Dock was employed by some part of the huge operation or was a subcontractor or supplier. You simply didn’t get visitors unless they represented suppliers or contractors.
She signed in to her secure access to the system and entered a set of searches, then had to use a second password to gain access to the visitor logs. Somewhere in these were the people she was looking for, a person or group that could very easily bring her entire carefully built network of informers, saboteurs and agents to exposure.
“Here’s the archive data on the settlements, Ms Dysson.” Dylan Raddeck placed a wallet with the data chips on the desk. “I’ve got the hires and fires as well. Since security got so tight—and those idiots got the thrashing they deserved from the Captain—we’ve had to replace quite a few.”
“Sit down, Dylan.” She checked her anti-eavesdropping screen to make sure it was active. “We’ve a problem. The Chairman hired a specialist team, and they’ve gone rogue. We need to find out who they are, and where the hell they’re hiding Ms Rowanberg before they blow apart everything we’ve built, and preferably before Fleet Security get to them.”
“There’s absolutely no way I will allow this, James.” The Admiral paced the conference room. He’d expected James to come up with a plan of his own, but not this blatant demand that the Captain give himself up to be hunted in exchange for Felicity. “No way. This is sheer bloody madness. A survival challenge? Where? Not here or on Mars, as we’d be able to intervene.”
“Except they are clear on that, sir. If I show up with any support, or anything other than what they specify and where, Felicity dies, and, if they’re to be believed, so do I.”
“If it was anyone other than the Pantheon, I’d say they were bluffing.” He fumed in anger as he stared at a view screen that depicted the Mars Base set against the bleak rocky landscape. What a right mess this was!
His ghost team had been caught off guard, and he was damned furious about it. They’d not been expecting their opponents to grab Felicity, but they should’ve been prepared for anything, and his own oversight annoyed him.
“No!” he barked, turning to face James. “We’ll stall them. Felicity can cope. I know she can. I trained her.” He held up a hand, silencing James Heron’s protest. “I know what you think. Just remember, she’s an agent first and last. She chose this career, and she’s one of my best. The cream of the cream. We’ll stall them, and in the meantime my people will take this dock and the damned planet apart to find her. You,” his finger stabbed toward the Captain, “are our most important card. You are going to have my people around you twenty-four-seven from now on until we resolve this. Clear?”
“Clear, sir, but under protest. My wife died because someone slipped up on the precautions when examining and handling venomous alien species. The barriers that should have prevented her being hit by the venom failed. I’ve always had my suspicions that the failure was no random accident. I’m damned if I’m going to have the same happen to Felicity—Ms Rowanberg—because some damned assassin wants a crack at me!”
“I understand your feelings, James, but I can’t allow it. If it helps, I’m not finding it easy either.” The Admiral paused, considering his words. He wanted to take out these Pantheon agents, every last one of them, and he knew what he was up against, but the price would be high. “Mars is like a rabbit warren. The early settlements tunnelled all over the place looking for water, mineral deposits, and, of course, to create habitats for themselves. They didn’t have the equipment to create the shields we have there now. Most of them gave up when habitable planets became available and the attempts at greening fell through—and now we have squatters in some of the abandoned areas, and all sorts of questionable activities turning up.”
“So she could be anywhere, and there’re no indication of where.” James shook his head at the utter frustration of it all.
Captain James Heron: First into the Fray: Prequel to Harry Heron: Into the Unknown of the Harry Heron Series Page 20