Drop Zone

by Amanda Carlson

  “How slim are we talking?”

  “I’d say one in twenty,” Mina answered truthfully. “I have something big brewing, but there’s a chance we may not get approval for it for a day or two.” That would be unfortunate, but it could happen. “In that case, I’d be available. Or if we get approval in the next hour or two, I might be able to make it work, if things fall into place quickly.” Literally. “But I won’t be able to give you or Mom a for-sure until an hour prior. I’ll tell Mom yes or no first chance I get.” Mina hadn’t seen her parents in a while. She missed them. It would be nice to catch up.

  “I’ll tell her you’ll tag her later when I call about bringing Daphne,” Quinn replied.

  “Thanks.” Mina recognized the disappointment in his voice. “I’m sorry, little brother. I understand your frustration. But please know that what I’m involved with will help a lot of innocent people. It’s really important to me. That’s why I do this.”

  “I know,” he said. “I talked to Harri. He’s down in New Mexico. He had to leave the city without saying goodbye. But he explained it all. He told me what you did for him.”

  Mina held her breath. “Did he tell you everything?” It was Harri’s right—he was not under any gag order. But Quinn knowing all the key details about Bliss Corp and their dealings with Plush could prove dangerous for him.

  “No, but I understood for the most part. He said he couldn’t talk specifics. It was clear you helped him get away from serious trouble. He said he’ll likely be able to come back at some point. He offered to let Daphne and me use his residence. I mean, we have to pay the borrows, but it’s without a formal lease agreement with the bank. We said yes.” Her brother’s voice switched to upbeat. “It works great for us. We’re actually moving into it in a couple of hours.”

  “That’s so great, Quinn,” Mina said. “I’m glad to hear Harri’s keeping his residence and that you guys get to utilize it. He put a lot of effort into it over the years, and I know he loves it.”

  “Yeah, he’s pretty bummed he had to leave, but he’s pretty excited about the job down there. I guess it’s a win-win for now. Since Daphne and I are splitting the cost of his unit, we can start saving.” That ability to save borrows was a big deal.

  “Harri is very generous. He’s a great friend. Okay, I have to run,” Mina said. “Tell Mom what we talked about, and I’ll shoot her a message later this afternoon.”

  “Before you go, can I ask if you’ve been in touch with Vincent Kramer recently?” Quinn asked.

  Mina’s eyebrows shot upward. “No. Why would I be?”

  It was hard to lie to her brother, but she felt like it was necessary at this moment.

  “Oh, just thought maybe you’d been in contact. Mom said she ran into him and gave him your info. She said he was really happy that you two would be able to be in touch after all these years. Then all that stuff happened with Veritus. I know he’s been in town for a bit. He’s all over the news. You guys were so close growing up, I thought maybe he reached out. I really liked that guy. You always did your best to include me when you could, and I appreciated that. It would be nice to catch up with him. But now that he’s in such a fancy position, I bet it’s hard for him to slide around unrecognized.”

  Quinn was correct about that. So, so correct.

  “Now that you mention it,” Mina said in her most casual of casual tones, “he did leave me a message about a week ago. I’ve been too busy to hit him back. But I’ll reach out soon. It’ll be nice to hear what he’s been up to.”

  “Cool. If he’s around, invite him to dinner. Tell him we’ll keep our cool, and he can lie low and stuff.”

  Mina chuckled. “I’ll do that. I’ve got to run. Nice talking to you.”

  “You, too. Stay safe, sis.”

  She stood there for a moment.

  Vince would probably enjoy a dinner at her parents’ house catching up with everyone. A pang rang through her. Mina knew these kinds of feelings would rise up if she allowed herself to imagine a life with him. But he was in France, where he belonged. It was probably better he’d been called back now rather than later.

  Her lips tingled.

  The sensation was much less intense than it’d been this morning. The ghost-lip fixation would be short-lived. It was a shame, because he was an incredibly good kisser.

  Mina made her way back to the living area.

  “The cleaners just arrived at Waterbury’s,” Harmony called, waving her over. “These guys look a little less goony and more get-the-job-done-y. They’re carrying similar cases to the other guys, but one of them is clutching a hose. Kinda gives them away. They really should be more sneaky about it when they’re, you know, cleaning up a gruesome torture scene.”

  They watched as the Syndicate’s cleaning crew disembarked on level fifty and entered Waterbury’s residence.

  Things were moving fast.

  Mina hoped they would start to move just as quickly on her end.

  “Okay, time to get back to work,” Kaylee instructed. “We’ve got a complicated mission to plan. We’re bringing that flack-a-lacker down. And if anybody thinks different, you can kiss my queenly behind. Hey, try Queenly next time.” She flashed Harmony a big smile. “That’s even better.”

  “Yeah. I’ll get right on that.” Harmony giggled. “More like weenie.”

  “Not even a chuckle. Your sarcasm needs work. So much work.”

  “I’m keenly aware that you judge my wit. I will try to ree-deem myself next time. I bow down to your masterful level o’ ridicule, mockery, and cynicism. Please forgive my missteps. Do you prefer currency or coin as payment for my penance?”

  “Neither. I require a stable heart.”

  “That, I can deliver.”

  Chapter 10

  “Norm, it’s me again,” Mina said into her cuff. “I need you to hit me back as soon as possible.”

  Lee shot her a concerned look from his spot at the table. “He should be there. Why isn’t he answering?”

  “I wish I knew,” she replied. “If he doesn’t answer in the next five, I’m going to have to head over there and check on him myself.” She’d have no other choice.

  “I’ll go with you,” Kaylee said. “I’ve dug down as far as I can on figuring out how to break the stable heart open. We have to go military. No way around it. They have all the specialized tools and the muscle we need. Once McAllister hits us back, I’ll fill him in. Until then, I’m in limbo.”

  Mina nodded. “I found us space on a rocket shuttle, but the price is astronomical. We don’t have much of a choice, since we need to retrieve the heart as fast as possible wherever it lands. So I’m on hold until McAllister gets approval. Not that I want to spend that time hunting up Norm, but here we are.” She gestured toward their partners. “Since everything else rests on Lee’s and Harmony’s shoulders, we can spare an hour.” She grumbled, “As it seems we have no choice.”

  “No pressure over here,” Harmony snorted. “But honestly, we’ve got this. We’ve calculated the projected gravitational acceleration in centimeters per second squared, initial velocity, and targeted trajectory once the object starts its free fall. Now we just have to decide on what we’re going to use to bat it out of the sky and then calculate height in kilometers, time, and velocity per second to get an accurate read to get the timing exactly right. It’s a no-brainer, really. But first, I need a snack.”

  “Good idea. You guys break for lunch. Kaylee and I will go check on Norm,” Mina said. “Waterbury’s residence should stay quiet for the rest of the day, but hit my cuff if somebody shows up. I want to know who’s coming and going.”

  “Will do,” Lee answered, barely tearing his eyes away from his compucase.

  “Once we round up Webb,” Kaylee suggested as she made her way toward the door, “we should bring him closer so we can keep a better eye on him. If McAllister wran
gles a meeting with the magistrate, Webb needs to be there lickety-split. We can’t hunt him down again. There’s no more time.”

  “I hear you. Bringing him with us makes the most sense.” More grumbling crept in. “We barely have time to retrieve him right now. Unfortunately, he’s not amiable to what we want. He’s fiercely independent. He’s probably out running errands or something and doesn’t want me to know about it.”

  Mina tried to shake her frustration with the ex-marshal. He had just gone through a very tough time at the hands of Waterbury. She was cognizant of that. But she was trying to keep him safe, and he was adamantly resisting. And Kaylee was right. They’d need him to report immediately to the judge when it was time. Keeping him close would ensure that would happen.

  “I’ve summoned a craft. It’ll be at public transpo in three,” Kaylee said.

  Mina addressed Lee. “When we get back, we need to know what you’ve decided on to knock the satellite out of orbit. Nobody wants their expensive space equipment broken, so the government is going to have to pay a lot of currency to get this done. McAllister has to have that information.”

  Lee leaned back in his seat, eyes darting away from his screen as he crossed his arms. “Harmony and I have been talking about it. We think there might be a better way. It involves hacking into the main thruster of the satellite and reversing it at full speed to deplete all the fuel. Doing so would automatically deorbit it. Then we hiccup it into a complete system failure, and it drops like a one-ton boulder. It wouldn’t involve anyone else or cost us anything.”

  “They might catch the hack,” Harmony added, nodding along. “But I found a way to be even sneakier. We hack in as we simultaneously flip it into reverse. Its thrusters are attached to a separate signal feed, so it makes our hack almost phantomlike, and when it’s over, it looks like a blip. How’s that for sly? Once the satellite begins to reverse, they’re going to scramble to patch it up, but we will be right there making sure they don’t. Years and years of fuel reserves will be eaten up in three minutes at max speed. And the newer satellites accelerate quickly so they can bust out of one orbit to get into another, because things are crowded up there. Once the fuel is gone, we crash the system, and they’ll just think it dropped out of the sky due to an error. It gives us less time to recoup on the ground—more like eight or nine minutes—as they’ll get an alert sooner, like when it starts accelerating. But Karmaseeker and I have been reviewing all the options, and this one seems like the best by a lunar eclipse. The others were kinda farfetched. We don’t think some scientist is just going to give up their trillion-dollar spacescope so we can ram it into the mob’s pack mule.”

  That was one way to put it.

  “Yeah.” Lee nodded. “And anyone who allows us to use their stuff up there could face retribution, too. We don’t feel good about that.”

  “It sounds like a brilliant plan to me if you can pull it off. Ultimately, you guys are in charge,” Mina said. “Fine-tune it, and we’ll regroup once we have Norm. McAllister, and likely the higher-ups, will like a cost-nothing solution. It’s a strong selling point.”

  “Got it. I hope you locate Webb quickly,” Lee said.

  “You and me both,” she said, nodding to Kaylee. “Let’s go.”

  They made it to the hub and into their waiting craft in less than five.

  “What is your destination please?” the sim asked.

  “Dharma Hills high-rise,” Mina said. “Private hub, level fifty, verification through concierge Tyna Bristol.”

  “Completing verification. One moment,” the sim answered.

  “Human verification, huh?” Kaylee said. “That doesn’t happen very often.”

  “You’re telling me,” Mina replied as the craft rose into the air. “It’s a whole thing. The hub is completely private, and entry is monitored. I’m beginning to think most of the units in that high-rise are for people evading one thing or another.”

  “That could be both a good thing and a bad thing.” Kaylee pondered. “Good thing because security is beefed, bad thing because bad guys know stuff like that.”

  Bad thing especially now that Norm wasn’t answering.

  “Verification has been denied,” the sim said.

  “Connect me directly to the concierge,” Mina ordered. “Continue our flight to the Dharma. Hover in a safe zone if necessary.”

  A regular craft could hover in place for only three minutes max, but a government drone had more leeway. Not much, but a few minutes more. Any longer than that, and an idle drone was an accident waiting to happen.

  After a brief pause, the call picked up. “This is Ms. Bristol,” a prim voice announced.

  “Hello, this is Agent Kane,” Mina told the woman. “I was at the Dharma earlier today accompanying a guest who is occupying unit 107. That resident is currently unresponsive. I require access to the hub and to that unit, along with my partner, Agent Poston.”

  “Unless you’re a resident here, access is denied,” Ms. Bristol told them with no give in her tone. “But I will send one of my staff up to check on that unit. One moment please.” She snapped off without waiting for a rebuttal, the call replaced by soft background music.

  This was highly unusual.

  “What’s going on here?” Kaylee asked, a single eyebrow arched perfectly over one eye. “You were already in there, therefore approved by the resident. That should be enough to get you through the hub door at the very least.”

  “Looks like I made a mistake.” Mina shook her head. “I allowed Norm to set it all up. I didn’t question him. Lee and I just followed him in. We verified the security protocols in the unit, knew that you had to have human permission to land in the hub. We trusted Norm with the rest.”

  “He knew you’d be denied if you tried to get back in on your own.”

  “It’s looking that way.”

  “I don’t get it. You guys are like family. Trust moving forward is going to be a real issue. He has to know that he’s lasering holes in your relationship, not to mention your confidence in him.”

  “He does. There’s no question about it,” Mina lamented. “This is leading me to believe that Norm was holding back this morning and knows more than he was telling me. Otherwise, none of this makes any sense.”

  The music snapped off.

  “There is no one inside that unit at this time,” Ms. Bristol reported with as much prim as she had before, if not more.

  “Did someone from 107 leave via the hub in the last few hours?” Mina asked. “And if so, what was his destination?”

  Tyna could easily check with the transpo hub. If Norm ordered a ride out, it would be logged in the database.

  “I’m not at liberty to divulge that information. We protect all of our residents’ privacy to the utmost degree here at the Dharma.”

  “I understand, and it’s admirable.” Mina could get government permission to land and check on Norm, but it would take time. She didn’t want to waste that time if she didn’t have to. “As I’ve stated already, I’m a federal agent who is trying to track down an ex-marshal who is staying in your high-rise for his protection. I’m beginning to think you already know this. When I hang up from this call, I will report the situation to my director, who will immediately issue a warrant for me to investigate where said ex-marshal went. You will be forced to comply at that point. You can circumvent that and keep even more federal agents from coming onto the premises by immediately giving me that information, or allowing me access to that unit, instead of making us wait for the inevitable.”

  After a lengthy pause, Ms. Bristol answered crisply, “Send me your credentials. Airmeld them to the connection your craft has set up. I will review them and get back to you shortly.”

  Music began to play while they waited on hold for a second time.

  Mina ordered the sim, “Send Agent Kane and Agent Poston badge details, level on
e, through the secured connection to concierge Tyna Bristol.”

  “Sending level one badge details,” the sim confirmed.

  “She’s not even pretending to mess around,” Kaylee said. “If that entire high-rise is a safe house, then she’s going to be extremely careful about who she lets in. And I can guarantee she won’t want more than two federal agents snooping around. It would make her residents jumpy. It kind of makes me happy she’s checking us out.”

  “It definitely makes Norm safer, if he’d actually decided to stay put. We can’t exactly fault her for doing her job.” Even if Mina was antsy to get in.

  “Let’s hope badge credentials are enough for her,” Kaylee murmured. “We’ve got work to do.”

  “We do. Part of that is trying to figure out what’s going on with Norm. Why the runaround? Why the secrets? The conclusion I’m coming to is not a fun one. I think Norm has continued with his plan to take Waterbury out on his own. That way, he keeps all the attention of the Syndicate on himself, and we remain uninvolved, which is what he wanted in the first place.” Mina hadn’t shared with Kaylee the discussion she’d had with Norm this morning. “He was prepared to die the last time but didn’t have time to formulate all his plans.”

  “Die, as in actually dead? Or, ‘I’m going to pretend I’m dead so Waterbury thinks I am, and therefore I win, and he doesn’t come after me’ dead? Okay, so that’s not a thing, but I’m hoping it can be.”

  “He was scheduled to get an echo fib.”

  Kaylee made a face. “So he was prepared to die, but didn’t necessarily want to die die.” She waved a hand at Mina. “You know what I mean.”

  “Pretty much.”

  Kaylee whistled low. “Jeez. He really wanted to take this guy out. And himself. I watched a screencast documentary about a bunch of different people who tried to take somebody out with one of those. Only one guy survived. He had three heart attacks coming out of it. He was a mess. Those things are so illegal. And there’s a very good reason. They don’t discriminate who they kill. I mean, most alive people have a heartbeat.”