Operation Phoenix

by Susan Hayes

  He directed the incoming call to a wall monitor, smoothed his hair as best he could with his fingers, and opened the line.

  The moment her face appeared, he came to full attention and saluted. “What can I do for you, Colonel?”

  The Colonel expression was stony and cold. “Commander Rossi, are you alone?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Good. I don’t imagine you’d want anyone else present for this discussion.” She made a flicking gesture with her hand, and the vid-screen filled with images. “Explain yourself, Commander. Is this the reason why your investigation is stalled? Have you let yourself get distracted from the mission?”

  He looked at the images and bit back a curse. They were all of him, wearing nothing more than a towel, kissing Trinity up against the wall of the changing area outside the vault.

  He had a thousand questions tearing through his mind, but he pushed them aside to answer the question asked of him. “No, ma’am. My personal relationship with Lieutenant West is not a distraction. In fact, she is the reason we’ve made as much progress as we have. The scientists have been much more willing to talk once we included her in the interviews.”

  “And yet, you still don’t have any answers. For all you know, the lieutenant is playing you, deliberately distracting you while making sure you don’t get the answers you need.”

  He gritted his teeth. “I do not believe that is the case, ma’am, and neither does my team.”

  Her brows raised. “These images were sent with your team’s comm ID embedded as the sender. At least one member of your team seems to feel otherwise.”

  He didn’t believe that. Not for a second. If someone on his team had any concerns, they’d have come to him, or they would have talked to Kurt. His friend would have let him know if there was a problem.

  “I do not believe that either. The images that were sent to you shouldn’t exist, Colonel. Lieutenant West deactivated surveillance in the vault while we were down there, at my request.”

  “That’s an odd request to make.”

  He was going to sound like an idiot, but the truth would at least explain his reasons. He squared his shoulders and met the Colonel’s gaze. “The specialized garments that had to be worn inside the vault were not designed to fit a man of my measurements, ma’am. They were skin-tight, and…well…” He sighed. “They were covered in flowers, ma’am.”

  Bahl cracked the barest hint of a smile. “I see.”

  “I think someone is trying to cause problems for the team. Sending you those images, making it seem like my team turned on me.”

  “Care to share your logic?”

  He gave a curt nod. “I believe there’s only one reason someone would do this. We’re closer than we thought.”

  The colonel pursed her lips, and he could hear her drumming her fingers on her desktop as she considered his suggestion. He waited in silence.

  “Maybe,” she finally conceded.

  “I’ll find you the proof you need. I just need a little more time.”

  She nodded.

  “Thank you, ma’am.”

  “Don’t thank me, yet. You have two days, Commander. If it were anyone but you, I’d be telling you to pack your bags and return to headquarters. If you can’t get this case closed in two days…”

  “I’ll make it happen.”

  “You had better. Heads are going to roll on this one, one way or another. I want you to put some distance between your team and Lieutenant West. You can’t be sure whose side she’s on.”

  He stiffened. “Yes, I can, ma’am. She’s on the side of the truth.”

  “You don’t know her well enough to be certain of that.”

  Divya Bahl had been with Nova Force since its inception. She had personally recruited the first members, including himself and Travis. Trinity’s link to Trav wasn’t his secret to tell, but he had to protect her as best he could. The IAF had taken enough from her already. It was time for a little more honesty. “Actually, ma’am, I do. I’ve known her most of her life. Trinity West is Lieutenant Travis Niko’s sister.”

  The colonel’s eyes widened. “I see.”

  “Permission to return to work, ma’am?”

  “You need to watch yourself, Commander. Given who the lieutenant is, I’ll grant you some leeway, but I’m still recommending you keep some distance. Our analysts have been working through the vast number of files handed over by the more cooperative corporations. They’ve found multiple references to a female go-between who arranged deliveries of the stolen material. The latest contact was only six months ago.”

  Six months? That didn’t make sense. The Resource Wars ended five years ago. “What was being offered? Do we have an ID or a name? Anything?”

  “The answer to all of those questions is the same. We don’t know. All we know is that the contact is female and the corporation she reached out to this time was Astek. They claim they weren’t interested and declined further contact.”

  “Of course they did.” Astek was cooperating, but only because they knew it was in their best interests. The corporations were constantly trying to position themselves to increase profit and undermine their competition. Greed was their main motivation, and they were more than willing to decimate any government, populace, or individual who got in the way of their profits. Nova Force existed to keep their ambitions in check and to keep them from starting another war.

  “I want reports from you every twelve hours, Commander.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He signed off and then slammed his fist into the nearest wall.

  Someone was trying to destroy everything he valued. His career, his team. Trinity. Whoever they were, they were going to regret that decision.

  He grabbed his comm device and put out a broadcast message to his entire team. “This is Commander Rossi. I want a full staff meeting, onboard the Malora, in five minutes.”

  Before he left, he took a few seconds to check his weapons. Things were heating up, and he wasn’t going to take chances. There was too much at stake.

  Dax sat at the head of the battered mess table and looked around at his team. Every one of them met his gaze. These were his friends. His family. He didn’t believe any of them would have sent those images to Colonel Bahl, but he needed to ask.

  “Erben, is the Malora secure?”

  “Yes, sir. I’ve activated all our encryption and counter-surveillance measures. No one can see or hear us right now.”

  “Thank you. From now on, we have to assume that everything we say and do is being recorded.”

  “What happened, sir?” Aria asked.

  “I had a face-to-face chat with Colonel Bahl. She informed me that compromising images of me had been sent to her. The ID of the sender indicated that it was someone on this team.”

  Shock. Anger. Astonishment. He read their reactions in an instant. He was certain none of them had known what he was going to say. He might have missed something in the investigation, but he hadn’t misread his team.

  “Embedded ID codes can be faked. Did she say which terminal it was sent from?” Eric asked, his usual smile replaced by a scowl.

  “No. Just that it was from my team. I told her I didn’t believe that. I think someone is trying to disrupt our focus, or worse, they’re trying to get us tossed off this case.”

  “Then we’re close.” Dante cracked his knuckles. “Finally.”

  “I agree. But we don’t have much time. In forty-eight hours we have to have this thing tied up with a bow.”

  “Fraxx.” Kurt thumped his hand down on the battered tabletop. “Do I need to ask what happens if we don’t make the deadline?”

  “We won’t fail. We’re the best at what we do. You’re the best. I believe in this team. We’re going to nail the son of a starbeast that’s messing with us.”

  There was a round of cheering.

  “Do we know for sure we’re looking for a son?” Blink asked. She was always the one to catch the subtle details.

  “Actually,
no. Once she agreed to let us stay on, the colonel informed me that they’ve determined that the go-between that contacted the corporations is a woman, and her last known contact was only six months ago.”

  “That’s recent. Why didn’t we know about this weeks ago?” Cris demanded.

  Kurt answered. “Because the corporations are more interested in covering their asses than in letting us get to the truth. None of this was ever supposed to get out. It was a secret so damned big they all agreed to bury it forever. These people can’t even be in the same sector of the galaxy without pissing each other off, yet they all managed to keep this secret for more than a decade. We still wouldn’t know if it wasn’t for the cyborgs on the Drift getting involved.”

  “The cyborgs, and my bloody sister.” Cris gave them all a cockeyed grin. “Yeah, I might not have mentioned that bit. Dr. Jefferies, the one who found the cure to cyborg infertility and was part of the group that released the truth about where the cyborg DNA came from to the world? She’s my little sister.”

  “Wait. The one whose wedding we’re going to? That sister?” Eric was laughing so hard he could barely get the words out. “When were you going to tell us who she was?”

  “At the last possible second, because I knew I’d hear about it for days otherwise. Alyson has always gone her own way, but she used to be subtle about it. Now she’s involved in corporate espionage, running with cyber-jockeys, and marrying three cyborgs.”

  Buttercup whistled. “No wonder your parents aren’t happy. Did any of their kids actually stick around and follow the family plan for power and glory, or is your dad ruling half a planet with no heir in sight?”

  Cris shrugged, his blue eyes full of shadows. “They picked power and fame over their children. We both chose happiness over our parents’ wishes.”

  “I cannot wait to meet your sister. She sounds like my kind of girl,” Aria declared.

  “If we make it there,” Cris reminded them.

  “Relax, Trip, we’ll get there. Right, sir?” Eric looked at Dax.

  “Yes, we are. But for that to happen, we need to focus. I want to take an even closer look at Sergeant Gottfried. She’s the only female on the base with access to the vault.”

  His team stared at him, and he waited to see which one of them was going to make the obvious point.

  It was Kurt. “You’re forgetting Lieutenant West.”

  “No, I’m not. She hasn’t been here long enough, and I checked her background myself, she’s clean. She hasn’t traveled anywhere unless it was an IAF assignment. Her finances are totally above board. She hasn’t had contact with anyone that could be remotely considered suspicious.”

  “And you’re sleeping with her, which means everything you just said doesn’t mean a damned thing, sir. Not to headquarters, anyway,” Cris pointed out.

  “Which is why you’re going to investigate her yourself and verify everything.” He hated doing that to Trinity, but Cris was right, and since he’d felt strongly enough about it to bring it up, he was the right man for the job.

  “I am?” Cris’ expression was a mix of surprise and dismay. “What about Aria?”

  “Jessop is going to be looking at someone else.”

  “The sergeant?” she asked.

  “No. Kurt can handle that. I need you to take another look at Dr. Clarke. Either V.I.D.A. was hacked, or someone overrode her programming. Clarke was here since the beginning, and if I remember the details right, Clarke’s mentor was Dr. Absalom, the one who created the program. Clarke may not be our thief, but he could be helping them, or he may be interfering for his own reasons.”

  He rapped his knuckles on the table. “In fact, I want you to take a look at Absalom, too. V.I.D.A and the Vault were his projects before they were Clarke’s. We dismissed him because he left before the thefts started. Now, I’m not so sure that was the right call.”

  “Yes, sir.” Aria nodded.

  “Those compromising images weren’t just of you, were they?” Kurt guessed.

  “No, they were not. Magi, I need you to interrogate V.I.D.A. Be thorough. Those pictures were taken after the AI was ordered to deactivate the cameras in the vault. They shouldn’t exist. Find out how, and who made it happen.”

  “On it,” Eric replied.

  “One more thing, Erben. I’m going to need you plugged in for this one.”

  Magi lit up like he’d been handed the keys to his own private kingdom. “You’re going to let me jack into their network directly? I’m finally going to get up close and personal with V.I.D.A. Hell yeah.” He paused. “Uh, I mean, yes sir. I can do that, sir.”

  “There is something very wrong with you. You know that, right?” Aria asked.

  “It’s part of my charm.” He pushed back his dark hair to expose the data port embedded behind his ear and grinned. “Sexy, no?”

  She shot him a look that could melt hull plating. “No.”

  Dante got to his feet. “What’s my assignment?”

  “You’ve got the tough job.”

  “You’re going to make me herd cats, aren’t you?” The big man folded his massive arms across his chest and gave a resigned sigh.

  “You and I are both on protection duty. We’re going to be scattered around the base for the next forty-eight hours, and the closer we get, the more likely our suspect is going to do something stupid.”

  “Understood. Standard split watches?” Dante asked.

  “Yes. I’ll cover the rest of today. You hit the rack, and I’ll wake you when it’s your turn.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Dax rapped his knuckles on the tabletop again. “Everyone knows what they’re doing for the next two days?”

  “Yes, sir!” They answered in one voice.

  “Then let’s get this done. I’ll be running things from the operations room on base. Stay sharp.”

  He didn’t linger on board. There was too much to do and not enough hours left in the day. The first thing he needed to do was to tell Trinity about the images in the colonel’s possession.

  Guilt sank needle-sharp claws into his heart. He’d initiated that encounter in the vault. His actions had put her in their target’s crosshairs. Maybe the Colonel was right about putting some distance between them for now. He had allowed himself to get distracted once, and it cost him his best friend. He wouldn’t let that happen again. Losing Travis had nearly killed him. If he lost Trinity? There’d be no coming back.

  11

  Trinity hadn’t been able to let go of her fury and embarrassment since Dax had told her what had been done. Someone had tried to torpedo her career and her reputation. Who would do that? She’d spent the hours since she talked to Dax trying to figure out who had the means or the motive. It wasn’t a long list, and every name on it was a friend of hers. Someone she trusted. It made her queasy to think that any of them could be involved, but it would be foolish to pretend it wasn’t possible.

  Was she really this bad a judge of character? If she was, there were other relationships she needed to re-evaluate.

  She slashed her old-fashioned pen across the paper she’d been writing on, and the paper bunched and tore with the abuse. Feeling like a child, she crumbled the paper into a ball and hurled it across her quarters. She hadn’t used paper in years, but working this way helped her think.

  Dax had promised that he’d drop by after he was done for the day, but she was starting to wonder if he would keep his word. It was late, and the base was as quiet as the empty expanse of tundra beyond her window.

  She turned away from the darkness outside and wandered over to the food dispenser. She pondered ordering something to keep her awake until Dax arrived but decided against it. Tomorrow would be another long day, and she needed at least a few hours of sleep. She opted for a soothing chamomile tea instead. It was something her mom used to brew for her and Travis when they were restless and couldn’t sleep.

  Her mother grew the plants herself in the family’s tiny hydroponic garden, along with a few other
herbs that helped her prepare edible meals from the synthesized proteins, fish, and algae cubes that made up much of their diet.

  Feeling nostalgic, she carried her mug of tea back to her desk and started typing out a quick note to her parents. It had been too long since she’d written them. Her choices had strained their relationship, but they were still her parents, and she knew they loved her. They’d want to know about Dax, too. She couldn’t tell them the details of why he was here or in what capacity, but she could tell them she’d seen him, and he was doing well.

  The note was almost finished when her comm device chirped, indicating she had an incoming message. It was from Dax, text only.

  “Still awake?”

  It was ridiculous how happy those two words made her. “Yes.” She sent back.

  Her door chime sounded a few seconds later.

  She crossed to the door and opened it with a wave of her hand over the inner panel. “You were standing out there this whole time?”

  “I didn’t want to wake you if you’d already gone to sleep.” He looked like his night had gone as well as hers. His uniform was rumpled, his jaw was shadowed with stubble, and he was leaning against the door jamb like it was the only thing holding him upright.

  “I was writing my parents and finishing a cup of tea. Come in and sit down before you collapse where you stand.”

  He walked into her room and took a deep breath. “Is that chamomile I smell?”

  “You want a cup? I was feeling a bit nostalgic tonight and found it programmed into the food dispenser.”

  “I’d love one. Your mom’s little garden room always smelled so good.”

  “Like green living things and fresh air. The first time I actually set foot outside, part of me was surprised it didn’t smell like chamomile and basil.”

  He chuckled and collapsed into the nearest chair. “It took me weeks to get used to real sunlight. My eyes hurt all the time, and they had to keep reminding us to cover up, so we didn’t get sunburned.”