by C. R. Daems
He nodded and directed the pilot to land two hundred meters away from the hill and a hundred from the two sitting women. I got out, as did Paul and the six men he brought in the shuttle that carried me. Overhead were two more shuttles carrying another eight marines each.
I walked to within thirty meters and stopped. Alexa's wrists were tied with police restraints in front of her, she had a gag in her mouth, and each foot was tied to one of the back legs of the bench. Her shirt was off, showing the letters carved there. The wound had stopped bleeding and was beginning to scab in some areas. The sister called Yanira sat behind Alexa, obscuring most of her body and head.
"You disobeyed my directions," Yanira said as she placed a knife to Alexa's throat.
"I don't take orders from you and certainly don't trust you. Maybe if you manage to kill me, your sisters will consider you a martyr to the cause rather than inept," I said with my heart in my mouth. "Before my mother's blood hits her shoulder, you and the eight men on the hill will look like hamburger meat and your two shuttles will be junk metal," I said, hoping she wasn't looking to be a martyr because I was betting my mother's life on it. "Because of my illness I only expect ten more years to live; my mother is old, so she can't expect more than thirty years; but you're young and could reasonably expect seventy or eighty years. You can see, therefore, why it’s a reasonable gambit from my standpoint. Not so good for you."
"You think you're very clever," Yanira said.
"No, just not stupid. I'm willing to fight you, but it's obvious you can't be trusted."
She smiled. "Obviously neither of us can be trusted. What are you proposing?"
"I would propose to let you leave unharmed, but since you wouldn't consider honoring such a proposal if you were in my shoes, you wouldn't trust me to honor it," I said, and she nodded almost imperceptibly. "That leaves us with the fight option."
"The Circle of Truth," Yanira said, barely able to contain a grin. I nodded.
"With guns. I couldn't peel an apple with a knife without cutting myself while I'd bet you could peel one in midair before it hit the ground."
This time Yanira laughed. "You believe you can hit an apple in the air?" she said.
"No, but I can hit a human," I said. We spent the next hour agreeing on the terms and conditions. In the end it was decided that one of Yanira's shuttles would be left with Alexa inside for the winner to leave the area. Her other shuttle with her support team and the military shuttles would leave together. When they were fifteen minutes out, they would part ways unmolested. I doubted Yanira cared what happened to them, but they guaranteed the military shuttle couldn't return in time to stop her from leaving the area—she knew she would win. I knew she would kill Alexa if I lost, but I couldn't stop that. In a way, that would be a kindness, as Alexa would blame herself for my death and have a miserable life. When the shuttles rose, Yanira and I stepped into the circle she had etched into the soft ground. We stood twenty meters apart—a distance that I was sure Yanira felt gave her an advantage. Although the sisters' weapon of choice was the knife, I was sure she had been trained in the use of an Mfw and was an excellent shot. I was counting on my ability to shoot from the hip with sufficient accuracy to win, as I thought she would need to raise the weapon to eye level. A margin of less than a second.
"Welcome to the Circle of Truth, Admiral Paulus," Yanira said while the shuttles were still rising into the sky. We had agreed not to fire before the signal that the shuttles were ten minutes out. Of course, it was to my advantage to fire immediately. If she killed me, Paul may be able to get back soon enough to kill the sister before she could kill Alexa. It was unlikely, but at least the sister wouldn't get away. I decided not to on the chance I could learn something useful given I won.
"Interesting theory," I said. "Truth. The guilty party is nervous because she knows the…gods…or departed sisters…knew her lies and because she is nervous she's slow and tentative and loses to the honest one," I said, groping for the concept.
"More or less. With all the sisters watching, the guilty one suspects they know she's guilty and results in her being more distracted," she said, never taking her eyes off me.
"And what truth are we seeking? Neither you nor the sister who called for your help has any honor, but I doubt that will make you nervous or slow."
"We have honor to the sisterhood, not toward others. I would never dishonor my sisters."
"Even Tashia the coward?" I asked.
"Sister Tashia could face you and your Mfw with only her knives," Yanira said, louder than before, indicating I had hit a sore spot.
"If she could, why did she send you? No, she's a coward. Her only honor is to herself."
"Jamar, the man who failed three times to kill you, died in the Circle of Truth. Tashia gave him Death from a Hundred Cuts without receiving a single cut herself," Yanira said defensively. Her anger almost prompted her to reach for her Mfw.
"Probably drugged the poor idiot."
"No; that would violate the rules of the Circle."
"Wouldn't bother a coward like Tashia. One gets rusty threatening young, drugged, and unarmed women. Even then, she needs a man in the room for support." I laughed. "When I find her, I think I'll kill her in the Circle."
Yanira's face turned red but then broke into a smile. "Better stay off Shadows…" She stopped, realizing she had said too much. "Doesn't matter; you aren't leaving Eastar." Not waiting for the signal, she reached for her Mfw. It was not the smooth, practiced motion of a professional but in the grab of someone enraged and wanting to smash something, anything.
My hand touched the handle of the Mfw about the same time as she did, but her mad grab didn't produce a clean grip, which slowed bringing the weapon up and out as the nozzle of my weapon cleared the holster slightly faster. As her weapon rose toward eye level, my weapon twisted up as it cleared the holster. While her arm was beginning to push her weapon into firing position, I fired, hitting her in the lower intestines. She bent from the pain, reflexively firing into the ground a few meters in front of her. My second shot hit her in the chest, driving her stumbling backward. My third shot hit her in the forehead, sending her crashing onto her back. I stood there relieved but drained—brain dead, as if my brains had drained out with the energy.
At some point, I realized Alexa was in the shuttle. She had heard the weapons fire but wouldn't know who had won, sitting there sick with worry. When I entered the shuttle, she had tears running down her face and her face brightened. I took off the gag, cut the restraints, and grabbed her in a hug so tight the Grim Reaper couldn't have separated us. Neither of us moved or spoke until much later, when the sound of shuttles could be heard approaching.
"I think maybe Paul is returning with his fingers, toes, and eyes crossed, hoping you somehow pulled off another miracle. Actually, I'm curious," Alexa said as she wiped her hand across her wet face.
"Thanks to my mother for her foresight and having me trained in weapons, criminals wanting to kill me, which forced me to practice, and Paul's help with shoot-from-the-hip lessons. Ironically, she probably could have hit me in the kill area while I was moving, but I was faster…and being shot in the intestines does throw your aim off," I said with a grin. Alexa roared with laughter and was still laughing when Paul came lunging into the shuttle, weapon out, and ready to engage. He stood shaking his head then looked to Alexa.
"She's in their minds, Paul."
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Star System: Eastar – The Search Continues
"I've assigned your mother a full-time security detail," Lulltrel said when we had assembled for her weekly staff meeting, which appeared to occur several times a week when I was in Eastar. "Judging from Colonel Pannell's report, you are getting smarter. Must be the promotion to admiral."
"Thank you, ma'am. It's hard to get past Colonel Pannell's security, so they look for ways around it."
"Anything new?"
"Yes, the Kaliam sister they sent let it slip that Tashia resides on Sh
adows Rest. She may be the head of the kidnapping ring. And that she killed Jamar with a Death of a Hundred Cuts. I think she meant it literally."
"She doesn't tolerate failure well," Lulltrel said with a snort.
"I hear you had another…session with General Guzman on Fire Rock."
"I can understand why the police don't like to share information with civilians about the cases they are working on." I paused to think about how much to say. "I think we got the rules straight."
Everyone around the table leaned forward, looking interested and I sensed amused..
"Rules?" Lulltrel asked.
"Yes, ma'am. That I understand his concern for his daughter's welfare, but my duty is to free all of the missing women."
* * *
"Well what's new, Damon?" I asked at my staff meeting, thinking I was beginning to sound like Lulltrel and that was scary.
"We are building a comprehensive list of UAS brothels—legal and illegal—thanks to Tamatha, the new names of the recently abducted women, and the names of those we believe are significant members of the kidnapping ring. So far, they all appear to reside on Shadows Rest. In addition, the names of the merchant ships that transport the kidnapping ring leaders and kidnapped women. We know of three to date: Merry Dee, Lady Luck, and Dolphin Two—"
"Yes, that's it. The women have to be moved from system to system," I said, thinking the merchants may give us the answer. "Damon, you said you had a good programmer."
"Yes, ma'am. Lieutenant Commander Abbott."
"Give him access to the Magic Act database. Have him assign each woman a unique number. Then for each woman, determine the system and the day she was reported missing and create an abduction window twelve days long—five days before and seven days after that date. He will then have a unique identifier package for each woman, for example: Black Water, 5, 2/10–20/425—a woman from Black Water with an abduction window from the fourth month tenth day through the twentieth, identified by the number five, abducted in the four hundred twenty-fifth year by the official Eastar calendar."
"What will that tell us?" Damon asked, frowning at the note she had just made on her tablet.
"Nothing. It's an interesting question for which we must seek an answer. I will let you ponder the question while Commander Abbott works on the program. Let me know when he finishes."
* * *
Two days later, Damon called to tell me Commander Abbott had created the list I had requested. I arranged for a meeting in the afternoon after calling Admiral Hadley.
"Hi, Teresa. How would you like to run a search for me?" I asked when she answered.
"Hi, Anna. I assume it has something to do with the missing women," she said. When I said it did, she continued. "But only if you explain what you are after."
"Deal. Join me in my office after lunch and I'll explain."
* * *
"Well, Commander Damon, what's your sneaky boss up to now?" Hadley asked as she entered my office.
"Ma'am, I have no idea. She asked me to have one of my computer wizards scan the Magic Act database for the missing women we've identified and to create a window of minus five and plus seven around the date each woman went missing. She said it was a question that needed answering," Damon said, looking at Hadley. She nodded after gazing off into space for several minutes, then looked at me.
"You want to know what merchant ships were in port during each window you've created around the time each woman went missing," Teresa said. "What will that give you?"
"From what we know, it's a reasonable conjecture that the women were transported to another system after their abduction. The only way to go between systems is by spacecraft. I'm hoping that window is the time period during which the merchant ship arrived to transport the woman. If you can get me the merchant ships that fit in each window, Commander Damon can determine the merchants working with the kidnappers." I smiled at Damon, who looked back in open-mouthed horror.
"What if they are using random merchants?" Damon asked weakly.
"Unlikely. From the two women I talked with, they didn't remember being kidnapped, transported, or delivered to the room where they gained consciousness. The conclusion is they were drugged. If true, I doubt the average merchant is going to take a drugged woman as a passenger. Therefore, we can conjecture that a woman is selected, a merchant contacted, and when he arrives, the woman is abducted."
"Then we'll know the merchants working with the kidnappers." Teresa grinned. "And we can send them to Stonewall."
"Then we can determine where they take the women for indoctrination...and maybe how the women are selected," I said, considering that the merchants were only paid help. The goal was to find the kidnapping ring leaders.
"If our first conjecture is right, the merchant either isn't contacted until a woman is selected or he comes with the name of someone the kidnapping ring has selected. Since the women are scattered around the UAS, I would think the ring does the selection based on their needs. If true, they must have profiles sent to them for consideration," I said, thinking that appeared to fit the limited information we had accumulated.
"I think you're two steps ahead of me. Keep me in the loop; I'm interested," Teresa said, reaching a hand toward Damon, who dropped a small data chip into her outstretched hand.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Star System: Eastar – The Lists
Hadley, Damon, Abbot, Banner, Stamm, and I sat in the Condor Conference room staring at the monitor that contained the results of the search data I had requested. Red had wound into my hair and had his head looking at the monitor, as if he was reading or maybe analyzing the data.
"That's a lot of data," Hadley said, frowning at the screen. "My folks tell me there are currently four hundred thirty-three active merchants, although some are more active than others. Commander Abbott's windows captured two hundred sixty-two merchants, although only one hundred thirty-one were unique." She laughed. "But those one hundred thirty-one merchants had over fifteen hundred occurrences over the five years you asked me to cover."
"Excellent. We've eliminated one hundred seventy-one merchants," I said, maintaining a serious expression. Everyone except Hadley gave me an incredulous look.
"All right, girl prodigy, what do you know that we don't?" Hadley asked, staring at the monitor like it had some hidden data.
"Commander Abbott is going to reduce that number to something Commander Damon can use to find the merchants we are looking for." This time I had trouble keeping from laughing, as Damon and Abbott's eyes went from me to the monitor to each other and back to me as if looking for a signal they missed or hoped to find. Their looks of horror finally locked on me. Banner and Stamm were trying to look expressionless, although it was a strain. Hadley frowned in thought.
"All right, I'll give you a hint," I said, turning my attention on Abbott. "Commander Abbott, I'm not a programmer, so I won't try to tell you how to do what I want. I'll just tell you what I want." I paused. Abbott nodded, and his look of horror relaxed. "I would like all ninety windows visible on the monitor with the identified merchant ship or ships' names that were present during the dates in the window." I looked to Abbott, who nodded. "I want one switch to manipulate the window's time period—to shorten the number of days before the abduction date and the number of days after that date." I looked to Abbott. He was silent for a minute, then nodded. "When you decrease either of those dates, only ships arriving during the new window dates will remain."
"So, if you have a ship, A, arriving four days before the abduction date, another ship, B, two days afterward, and the third ship, C, six days afterward, decreasing the number of days arriving before from five to two, it would cause ship A to disappear. Conversely, decreasing the number of days arriving after the abduction from seven to five would cause ship C to disappear," Abbott said, and a small grin appeared.
"Correct, Commander. Then a second control to identify the number of occurrences; that is the number of times a particular merchant ship was ident
ified within a missing woman's abduction window. Therefore, I can ask for all merchant ships with any specific number of occurrences in a given window." I looked to Abbott. He nodded slowly, his eyes downcast in thought. "And a third control to vary the year or years we are looking at. For example, a single year—four hundred twenty-five—would show only the ships with occurrences in that year. But I'd also like to be able to ask for multiple years." I paused and Abbott nodded, then grinned.
"And you would like all three controls to work together?"
"Perfect," I said, smiling my approval.
* * *
"Commander Abbott and I have been playing with MAC over the past twenty-four hours. MAC is what Commander Abbott has named the new application—Magic Act Centrifuge, since it separates the good information from the bad. It's fantastic. We think we have isolated six merchant ships that are supporting the kidnappers' operation," Damon said, looking around the room. The same group was present. "First, if you look at either the merchant ships with ten or more occurrences or you look at ships that arrived two to three days prior to the abduction, they are the ones that stand out. And if you put the two conditions together, they are the only ships displayed: Mary Dee, Dolphin Two, Wind Jammer, Benjamin, Lady Luck, and the Dependable."
I sat playing with MAC, watching the merchant ships disappear and return as I isolated a year or combined several together and narrowed the window's time frame. It would have taken anyone weeks to look at the raw data Hadley had provided and to do the analysis MAC provided visually in seconds. Just moving the number of occurrences to ten or more instantly reduced the list from over a hundred to just eleven.