The last holdout stood in front of the door and emptied every bullet he had left into Jason’s chest. He slowly walked up to the henchman and reached for his rifle. He dropped it and stared at Jason like a deer in the headlights. The edge of his mouth quivered, and he put his hands in the air.
Jason raised his sidearm and shot him. He kicked the prone body aside and pressed the panel near the door. It was locked. He adjusted his gun to its highest setting and fired.
It blew a hole in the bulkhead the size of a football, and the door slid open. He hurried through the haze of shrapnel in the air and found Kione lying on a bed surrounded by medical scanners.
He was unconscious and strapped down with restraints. “Kione!”
He didn’t respond. Jason removed his helmet and slapped his face. “Kione!”
The alien stirred and groaned. “Jason Cassidy?”
Jason took his shackles off. “Are you with us in the land of the living?”
“Barely.” Kione’s eyes opened, and he hauled himself upright. “We’ve got to stop meeting like this.”
“You’ve got to stop getting yourself in so much trouble.” He helped him from the bed. “Can you walk?”
Kione planted his feet down but was very wobbly. “I’ll be fine.”
Jason propped him up and heaved him toward the door. “Let’s get out of here.”
*
Marissa did everything she could to keep the smug satisfaction from her face. While she wasn’t one of those reporters who enjoyed gotcha moments, this was different. She’d read all the statements on this guy, and if there was anyone who deserved what was coming to him, it was Whitlowe.
The doctor put the data tablet down and stared across at her. “You realize if this gets out, there could be serious ramifications for you.”
“Is that a threat, Doctor Whitlowe? Or should I say Mister Ramsey?”
The door creaked open behind him. Jason entered with Kione at his side and his gun raised. “Stand up, Marissa.”
She did so carefully and stood back from the table.
“You, too, Ramsey. Put your hands where I can see them.”
Whitlowe stood and glared at him. “Your partner in crime, Miss Caldwell?”
“The only criminal here is you.” Jason stepped toward him, but Kione beat him to it.
He stared at the man with a fury so hostile, Marissa was afraid of what might happen.
Kione put out an open hand. “Your gun, Mister Cassidy.”
Jason hesitated before checking his sidearm and handing it to him. Kione looked at the gun and altered the settings back and forth a few times.
Sweat beaded down Whitlowe’s forehead. “Kione, I—”
He fired point blank into his stomach, and the doctor launched across the room into a heap. Kione gave the gun back to Jason and stumbled out of the room.
Marissa walked up beside Jason and glanced at the weapon. “Did he kill—?”
“No.” He showed her the setting. “He just shocked him.”
She breathed a sigh of relief, though wondered if justice would’ve been better served if he'd killed him instead.
Chapter 14
Cargo Ship Argo
The ride back to the Argo was the easiest part of the mission. Jason had left the cargo ship in a geostationary orbit above Scotland with Doctor Tai at the controls, remembering she was a qualified pilot.
On the Julieanne’s arrival, Jason ever so gently helped Kione through the airlock into Tai’s capable hands.
“I’m so relieved to see you, Kione.” She ran her medical scanner up and down him. “How are you feeling?”
“I’ve been better.” He chuckled. “I want to thank you.”
“Thank me?”
“You got my message.”
She frowned. “I’m sorry it took so long to come and get you.”
Marissa came out of the pod, and Tai looked at her in shock. “She’s coming with us?”
Jason frowned. “She wanted to see this through.”
“I hope you understand what you’re getting yourself into if you stay aboard, Miss Caldwell.”
Marissa smiled. “A story even bigger than my last.”
Jason wondered if he should’ve just thanked her for her role in rescuing Kione and sent her on her way. From their relationship many years earlier, he remembered how stubborn she could be and likely wouldn’t have taken no for an answer regardless. He just hoped she was built as tough as he remembered.
“Come on, let’s get you to the infirmary,” Tai said to Kione.
Jason and Marissa followed them onto the elevator. “Has Professor Petit sent a message yet?”
Tai shook her head. “No.”
Jason bit his lower lip. He’d hoped to have all his ducks in a row by now. “This’ll be tight.”
When they came to the top of the elevator shaft, Tai took Kione to the infirmary while Marissa went with Jason to the bridge.
Jason made a beeline for the helm and plugged in their new coordinates. “Next stop: Luna.”
*
Serenity Science Station – Luna
Javier had skipped his meals all day. He never ate when he was nervous, and his grumbling stomach was letting him know about it. I’m no espionage agent.
He’d noticed how easy it was for people like Jason Cassidy in these situations. He was trained for it. Javier wasn’t. Cambridge hadn’t given him the skills.
It hadn’t helped matters organizing a dinner with Doctor Song Ji-min before everything was about to go down. With the Vladivostok Project on hold indefinitely and Nora handed over to him, he’d asked her to join his team. With the Ministry of Defense’s blessing, she’d begrudgingly accepted, and Javier had done everything he could to smooth things over with his noted rival.
“You keep checking your watch. Did you make other plans?” she said.
Javier glanced up from his commband across the table at Song apologetically. “I told a friend I’d send them a commlink.”
“You double-booked.” She crossed her arms sarcastically. “That’s unlike you.”
“It’s Doctor Tai. I guess with everything happening at the moment, I didn’t schedule it—”
She smiled. Something Javier wasn’t used to. “If you need to go, please don’t stay on my account. I’ve got paperwork back home to look over.” She gazed at the surroundings of the station’s French restaurant. “And to be fair, the food here isn’t that good.”
Javier chuckled at her taunt to his mother nation. “Are you sure?”
She nodded. “Go.”
“Thank you.” Javier jogged off, sicker than he already felt. Even though Song was an adversary, lying to her made him ill. He kept telling himself it was for a good cause.
Back through the facility, he made his way to his lab and opened the door with his thumbprint. The room was bathed in the same darkness he’d left it in when he’d shut up shop earlier in the evening.
He flicked the lights on and gazed through the observation screen beyond the bank of computers at his prized possession. “Hello, Nora.”
The trans-space actuator as it was now officially known sat on its pedestal at the heart of the laboratory. Little did anyone know that it was soon to be gone for good. He’d filled Jason in on all its intricacies and instructed him how to install it on his ship.
Javier ran his hands over the main console and turned off all the alarm systems. He activated the scanners by tapping into the station’s operations center. Sure enough, the Argo was on course and right on time.
He smiled, realizing they’d been successful in rescuing Kione. He tapped his fingers over the adjacent station and initiated a secure commlink. “Petit to Argo. Come in.”
“This is the Argo. It’s good to hear you, Professor.” The voice was unmistakably Jason Cassidy’s. “I was getting worried.”
“Everything is under control.” Petit once again checked the scanners. “Now, once I launch Nora, I’ll direct her to your ship’s cargo bay. You sho
uld be clear of all Luna security patrols.”
“Thank you.”
“Are you sure you understand everything I’ve told you about the actuator? She—”
“Piece of cake.”
Petit rolled his eyes. Typical Cassidy. “I want to see it and you back in one piece.”
“That’s the plan.” There was a pause on the other end. “I hope you realize what this means for you when—”
Javier’s stomach grumbled again. “You leave that with me.” He pressed at his console. “Are you ready?”
“Ready.”
Chapter 15
Cargo Ship Argo
After everything they’d gone through, the Argo reached the coordinates for their rendezvous early. Jason yawned, looking over the scanners.
“Don’t fall asleep.”
Jason glanced at Marissa entering the hatchway onto the bridge. “I doubt I’ll be sleeping for a while.”
She approached him and put her hand on the back of his chair. She checked over his readings on the operations station. “Any contact yet?”
He shook his head.
“Doesn’t that seem strange to you? From everything we’ve seen so far, I can’t imagine they’re likely to be tardy.”
She was right. Something was up. But what?
Marissa sat at the helm and stared off into the distance.
“Are you having second thoughts?” Jason asked, noticing her discomfort.
She snapped out of her trancelike state. “No. Why?”
“I’m not sure. Since coming aboard, you’ve just seemed different. I can’t read you.”
“Were you ever able to?”
Jason chuckled. She’d made a good point. “I guess not.” He wondered if that was what attracted him to her the most.
“There is actually something I’ve got to tell you.”
“Oh?”
An alert rang out on his console, and he rolled his eyes. Great timing…
“Someone’s opening a commlink.” He checked the scanners. The board was still clear. “From where, I can’t say.” He prodded at the station to activate it.
“Mister Cassidy, nice of you to make it on time.”
It was the voice that’d haunted him since finding the Argo at Ganymede Station. He peered down at the scanners, once again making sure he wasn’t going crazy.
“Umm, where are you?”
“Turn around.”
Jason furrowed his brow and shooed Marissa from the helm. He fired the Argo’s maneuvering thrusters and rotated the ship one hundred and eighty degrees.
He turned to Marissa whose eyes widened. There staring them in the face was a ghost from the past. He deactivated the commlink. “That’s a Centauri vessel.”
“How’s that possible?” Marissa asked. “All their vessels were destroyed after the war and their defense forces disbanded.”
“I’m not sure, but I could pick those ships out of a lineup ten light-years away.”
Though he’d never seen one of its design. It was more modern and sleeker than the clunkers they’d used in the war. “What’s more worrying is why our scanners can’t detect it.”
“Stealth technology?”
“It doesn’t exist.”
“This would seem to prove otherwise.”
Jason couldn’t argue with that, and he reactivated the commlink.
“Do you have Kione, Mister Cassidy?”
“I do.”
“Are you ready for the transfer?”
“I am.”
“Good. Standby to come aboard our ship. We’ll—”
“If it’s all the same to you, the Argo will stay right here. You can dock with one of our airlocks. The transfer will take place in our cargo bay.”
“Mister Cassidy, we—”
“You’ve dictated all the terms to this point. Kione’s obviously very valuable to you, so in this instance, you’ll do as I say.” It was the only thing he imagined stopping her from boarding his ship by complete surprise with her stealth tech as she’d no doubt done to Aly and the others in the Jovian system
There was silence on the other end.
“I’m waiting,” Jason reiterated.
“Very well, Mister Cassidy, the transfer can take place on your ship.”
“Oh, and let’s keep it civil. No more than one gun.”
“One gun it is.”
“See you soon.” Jason deactivated the commlink. “Now it begins.”
*
Serenity Science Station – Luna
Song hated playing catchup. Ever since the Vladivostok Project had been put on hold and she’d accepted to join Javier’s team, she found her evenings bogged down in paperwork, doing everything possible to become an expert on transient space.
In between, Song also continued her work on the automated defense system for the day her team could return to it. If they ever let us…
She placed the last of her data tablets down on her bedside table and threw her head back on her pillow. The ceiling blurred. She’d overdone it, as always.
Her mind was so full, she felt like her brain might open a trans-space vortex all on its own. She switched off the lights and closed her eyes. After thirty minutes of trying to get to sleep, she pulled herself up and put on a change of clothes.
Something was gnawing at her about the delivery system on Nora, and she wouldn’t be made to look like an idiot by Javier in the morning if she didn’t understand it.
Song left her room and roamed the station’s empty corridors until she reached the laboratory. She put her thumbprint on the panel and walked inside.
The lights were out. She half expected to see Javier there, considering how hard he worked. But instead, the room was empty. Just how I like it.
She activated the lighting and turned from the banks of computers to make a coffee. She took a sip and gathered a data tablet from the desk.
When she spun back around, she stopped dead in her tracks. Her coffee cup fell from her hands, shattering all over the floor.
What the hell!
She found the closest intercom and slammed her hand down on it hard. “Professor Ji-Min to Security. Nora is gone!”
*
UECS Sabre
“Bridge to Captain Shila.”
Shila opened her eyes and reached for the intercom, slapping it, not too impressed with being woken. “This better be good.”
“It’s a commlink from Admiral Foster.”
“At this time?” She threw her legs out of bed and made herself presentable by putting on the crinkled uniform jacket she’d worn the day before. “Pipe it through down here.”
Foster’s face appeared on her wall monitor. He looked as tired as she felt.
“I didn’t take you for a night owl, Admiral.”
“I’m sorry to wake you, Captain, but we’ve just received word from the Serenity Station on Luna. Nora’s been stolen.”
“The trans-space actuator? How—”
“It appears Professor Petit broke in this evening and launched the device without authority.”
While she didn’t know the professor personally, she couldn’t imagine someone of his standing doing such a thing.
An image appeared on the monitor beside Foster. “Luna Security sent us this.” It was a video of Nora flying away from the moon’s surface and entering the rear bay of a small cargo ship. But it wasn’t just any cargo ship.
“Cassidy...” She rubbed her temples, wishing it was a surprise.
“This was also given to us from the Ministry of Defense.”
Another video played of Jason, dressed neck to toe in black armor, with Marissa Caldwell fleeing from a building helping someone into a limousine. He looked unlike anyone she’d ever seen before.
“Cassidy broke out with the extraterrestrial known as Kione from a secure scientific facility in Edinburgh not long before his jaunt to Luna,” Foster informed her. “It seems he has every intention of planning to free his crew.”
Shila hardly bla
med him. Command had royally stuffed up their handling of the situation telling him to accept that his friends may end up being collateral damage.
“It makes little sense, Admiral. We have the coordinates and we have the time of the rendezvous. It’s still a day away. We’ll catch him before they can make any transfer.” Then she realized. “That’s if he gave us the right information in the first place…”
The cunning bastard. “He never gave us the real time and coordinates. He knew all along Command wouldn’t play ball with him.”
Foster nodded. “That would be my guess as well.”
“What are my orders, Admiral?”
He frowned. “Set course for the coordinates. If you find Cassidy, seize his ship and bring him in. Kione must be returned at all costs.”
“Aye, sir.”
The monitor went blank, and her room reverted to darkness. She would’ve loved to go back to sleep but knew she’d need all her wits about her when she caught up with her soon-to-be-ex first officer.
Chapter 16
Cargo Ship Argo
An amber light on the panel near the Maybelle’s airlock flicked on, confirming the seal with the Centauri ship.
Jason clenched his Seeker sidearm with a tight grip, waiting for the walkway between the two ships to pressurize. When the green light appeared, the door promptly opened.
Althaus and Kevin walked onto the Argo first. Aly followed not far behind with her hand, or lack thereof, wrapped in a bloody bandage.
The final person through the airlock was a short woman in stature with a large rifle and a determined stare. She and Jason glared at each other like two rivals in an old, one-horse town from the Wild West. All that was missing was the tumbleweed.
“It’s good to see you, Mister Cassidy.” It was the voice of the same person he’d dealt with since all this mess had started. “And you brought my prize with you.”
Jason glanced at Kione beside him. “That was the agreement, wasn’t it?”
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