by Henry Vogel
Shouts echoed through the vast chamber, machinery whined and whirred, and gears ground together. Freight handlers and lift trucks and even a few men wearing heavy duty exoskeletons streamed past us toward the outer skin of the station. I glanced in that direction.
“It looks like a big cargo ship just docked.” I pointed to our right. “I’d expected this place to be pretty quiet at this time of night.”
“It’s always busy in the freight docks, Matt,” Greg said into the comm. “And you ought to be glad of it, since that’s how your family started building their fortune.”
“Busy is good for us,” Michelle added. “If everyone has something to do, they won’t have time to pay attention to a couple of maintenance techs. Let’s go, Matt.”
Michelle and I headed out, moving straight across all the freight handlers. We found ourselves dodging men and machines and men wearing machines so frequently our progress slowed to a crawl.
Halfway across the docking bay, Greg’s urgent voice intruded on our concentration. “Kids, I just noticed Cummings’ ID signal is closing in on that docking bay. He’ll be there in less than a minute.”
“Do you think he knows we’re in here?” I asked.
“I can’t see how, Matt. Your signal is still bouncing all over the entertainment sector. Besides, if he knew where you were, he’d bring his whole crew. It’s just him and Spitz coming your way.”
Michelle bit her lip. “Then why is he coming here?”
A thought came to me—one I did not like at all. I snatched the pad from Michelle and tapped the shoulder of a man passing in front of us. “I’m sorry to bother you, but is this the ship from Hippogriff Hauling?”
The man looked at me. “Hippogriff? Never heard of them. This here is an ore hauler from Redshift Mining.”
I groaned loudly and turned to Michelle. “See? I told you this was the wrong ship. Now we’re going to be late.” Turning back to the man, I added, “Thanks. Gotta run.”
Grabbing Michelle’s arm, I dragged her around behind the man, who shrugged and resumed walking toward the freighter.
“Damn, damn, dammit!”
“Don’t overreact, Matt.” Michelle peeled my hand off her arm. “We’re still swallowed up in a huge crowd.”
“Do either of you two want to let Nora and me in on the problem?”
“Sorry, Greg. Redshift Mining is Hector’s company.”
“Hector? The man whose son attacked you?”
“The same. And he wants me dead in the worst way.”
“Slow down, Matt.” Michelle caught my belt and pulled back on it. “You’re less noticeable if you walk at a normal pace. Besides, it’s possible Hector isn’t even on that ship.”
“Why else would Cummings come to this docking bay?” I wanted to break into a run but followed Michelle’s suggestion. “It’s certain he sent word to Hector that he’d found us. If you were Hector, wouldn’t you be on the next ship?”
Michelle sighed. “Yes, I’m sure you’re right. But surely Hector will also wait for Cummings before going anywhere. And he’ll wait at the ship, which is over two hundred meters away from us. Just relax.”
I took a deep breath and let it out. “You’re right. Sorry.”
Michelle smiled brightly. “I know you’re anxious and nervous and excited right now. Just try to keep everything in perspective.”
And for two whole minutes I did keep everything in perspective. Then we passed in front of a slow moving man wearing an exoskeleton. We glanced up before crossing to make sure we wouldn’t get in his way.
“I’ve finally found you, bitch!”
The man driving the exoskeleton was Crane, the freight handler Michelle took down in orientation. A feral grin spread across the man’s face as he lifted his right arm. Servos whined and the right freight-handling arm rose as well. With a sweep, he brought the exoskeleton’s arm down and around at Michelle and me. I reached out to grab Michelle and jump out of the way, but she beat me to it. Michelle’s shoulder drove into my chest and we fell away from the descending steel arm.
Around us, workers yelled and scrambled away from Crane. The exoskeleton towered over us, the left arm now raised. With an incoherent roar, Crane clumped forward and tried to smash us. Still holding onto Michelle, I rolled desperately toward the scattering crowd. The whole docking bay rang as the arm clanged into the deck mere centimeters behind us.
We clambered to our feet as Crane fought to bring the two arms back into position for an attack. With servos calibrated for the deliberate movement required to move freight, the exoskeleton wasn’t designed for fighting. Still, Crane only had to hit Michelle once and his wild gyrations showed he didn’t care who he knocked out of the way to get her.
“Can you distract him for a few seconds?” I asked as we backpedaled from Crane. “I’ve got an idea, but I have to get in close.”
“Go for it.”
Michelle dove, tucked, and rolled away from me. As I expected, Crane’s eyes tracked her. Against all my instincts to protect my wife, I ran in the opposite direction. Coming out of her roll, Michelle darted in toward Crane, keeping his attention riveted on her. Circling behind Crane, I ran at his back.
“That’s enough of that, Crane!” a voice cracked from behind me. “Stop this nonsense now.”
Crane looked over his shoulder at the speaker and caught sight of me closing in. Crane’s right arm, raised to attack Michelle, swung down at me. Diving to the deck, I rolled into Crane’s swing. The arm passed over me, no more than a hand’s width away. Sparks flew as the arm scraped along the deck after it missed me. I wasted no time, bounding to my feet and then springing onto the exoskeleton frame.
Spittle flew from Crane’s mouth as he snarled, “Stupid move, boy. Now I can get you without this suit.”
Crane pulled his hand from the glove controlling the right hand and started withdrawing his arm from the servo control rings. Grabbing a support bar, I swung behind Crane.
“Hiding behind me won’t help you none once I’m free.”
“Who said I was hiding?”
I let the stun stick drop out of my sleeve. Grabbing the collar of Crane’s control suit, I stretched it out from his neck. I thumbed on the stun stick and jammed it down the back of the control suit. A single swipe of a stun stick causes searing pain and brief paralysis. Crane had a stick in constant contact with his back. Pain ripped through him and his muscles locked, bringing his exoskeleton to a stop.
Ignoring Crane’s roar of agony, I jumped down and ran to Michelle. “Are you okay?”
Eyes shining with the excitement and adrenaline surging through her system, she nodded and pulled me in for a quick kiss. “That was a good idea, Matt.”
Greg’s voice shattered our moment. “Your little ruckus attracted a lot of attention. Several calls were placed to security. Worse, Cummings is in the docking bay and closing in on your position.”
“Hey, are you two okay?” It was the man who had shouted at Crane. “I had one of my guys call security. They ought to be here soon.” The man hooked a thumb at Crane. “What did you do to my moron freight guy? Not that he didn’t deserve whatever you did.”
“I shoved a stun stick down his back.”
Surprise lit the man’s face. “Since when do they let maintenance techs carry those?”
Michelle broke in and ignored the question. “I’m sorry, but we have to leave. We’ve got an emergency job.”
Michelle grabbed my arm and pulled me away. The man grabbed my other arm and held me in place.
“I don’t think so, lady. You don’t just walk away from something like this.”
Looking past the man holding my arm, I saw Cummings dodging through the crowd, Spitz right on his heels. Both of them peered through the crowd every chance they got, but I had no idea if they’d seen us yet.
I pried the man’s fingers from my arm. “You want answers, call HR and ask for Nora Ospin. She’ll answer all your questions. But now we have to go.”
Thi
s time, the man let me walk away.
“We’ve got to get lost in the crowd fast, Michelle. I just saw Cummings.”
As if on cue, Cummings shouted, “Stop those two maintenance techs! They stole valuable equipment from my ship.”
Heads swung from Cummings to us. As much as we hated playing to Cummings’ story, we broke into a run. A hand clutched at me in a half-hearted manner, then another. Ahead of me, Michelle pulled her stun stick from her sleeve and swiped it in an arc in front of her. People fell away from the stick and a path cleared before us.
Taking a cue from Cummings’ ploy, I shouted, “She’s got the stun stick because the ship guy is stalking her. You can’t let him get his hands on her.”
Whether from my story or the stun stick, a path through the crowd opened before us and we sprinted through it. Looking over my shoulder, I saw the path closing up behind us.
“Move! Let me through! I’ve got to catch those thieves!” Cummings and Spitz fought to follow us as the wall of humanity closed around them.
Seconds later, we broke through the outer edge of the crowd. Still running, we dodged in and out of the fringes of the workers heading to unload the ore carrier.
Greg’s voice came in from the comm. “Nice work with the cover stories. Nora’s on the comm with that foreman you talked to. She’s asked the crowd to hold Cummings and Spitz until security gets there. You should be home free.”
We dodged around a few more people and broke out into the open.
A harsh, familiar voice sounded from our right. “Yeah, that’s them, all right. Two year’s salary for each of you when you catch them.”
Hector stood ten meters away from us—and he’d brought at least a dozen of his crewmen. Without exchanging a word, Michelle and I turned and ran along the edge of the crowd.
“Go get ‘em, men!”
Hector’s command galvanized his crew to action. They sprinted after us, spreading out in the hopes of hemming us in.
“Greg? We need help. Hector did come with his ship and just he sicced a dozen of his men on us.” I risked a glance over my shoulder. “We’re holding even with them right now, but I don’t know how long we can keep it up.”
“How close are they?” Greg responded.
“Maybe ten meters.”
“Okay, so you don’t have time to wait for a door to open. I’m checking the map for- Hey!”
“Matt? Michelle?” Nora’s voice replaced Greg’s. “Sorry to grab the comm from Greg, but I know what to do. How far are you from the crowd of dock workers?”
“Thirty meters or so,” Michelle answered. “We’ve been avoiding them because dodging through the crowd will slow us down.”
“Run toward them right now. I suppose you’re still wearing that shapeless coverall, Michelle?”
“Of course. It’s supposed to be my disguise.”
“There’s nothing we can do about that, now,” Nora said. “But you can take off the hat and let that blond hair of yours fall free.”
Michelle looked as confused as I did, but she pulled off the cap and her long hair tumbled out. “She’s taken off the hat, Nora. Can you please explain what that does for us?”
“Matt, start shouting that the men behind you are after your wife. Claim they’re in league with Cummings and made a deal to buy her. Shout whatever you can think of along those lines. And Michelle, I’m sure it goes against the grain, but a little screaming and crying on your part will help sell this.”
I wasted no time following Nora’s suggestion. “Help us! Somebody help! They’re from that ship and they want to take my wife!”
A few heads turned our way, just in time for Michelle’s scream, “Please! Oh God, don’t let them get me!”
More heads turned and a few men turned and lumbered in our direction. Behind us, it appeared Hector’s men hadn’t heard our cries for help. More freight workers pointed and came to our aid. The first one to reach us, a hulk of a man, said, “You get that girl outta here, son. We got yer back.”
“Thank you so much!” Michelle cried to the men as we ran past them.
Behind us, the hulking man’s voice rang out, “That’s far enough, ship scum. We don’t take kindly to yer kind terrorizing our women.”
One of Hector’s men replied in kind. “This ain’t none of yer business, baggage boy.”
With an angry roar, the freight workers attacked and Hector’s men went down under a pile of massive men.
“Great idea, Nora. That worked like a charm. If there’s a video feed of that, identify as many of those men as possible. I’m going to reward them when this is over.”
“I’m glad I could help, Matt. But I suggest you and Michelle get out of the docking bay now. Hector is still out there and we don’t know how many men he has available. I’m giving the comm back to Greg, now.”
A second later, Greg spoke. “I agree with Nora’s assessment. While she talked to you, I found the closest exit out of the docking bay.”
Michelle donned her cap and tucked her hair up under it. “Just point us in the right direction, Greg.”
“Head directly away from the docked ship. The far wall has a hatch into the entertainment sector. Turn right and the warehouse sector is less than fifty meters away.”
Michelle caught my arm and led off toward the door. “How about Hector? Can you setup a trace on him?”
“No, lass, I can’t. Hector isn’t from Pegasus Station and won’t have an implant.” Greg’s voice grew thoughtful. “Then again, if Hector is mixed up with Cummings, he might also be involved in holding Matt’s parents. He might have a chip that isn’t part of the official record.”
Michelle glanced at me. “Say he has a chip. Have you got any idea how to find it, Matt?”
“Maybe. It depends on Greg’s skills.”
“Then you’re in luck, lad,” Greg exclaimed. “I’m as good as they get. On Pegasus Station, anyway. What’s your idea?”
“Is the other trace process running? The one tracking Michelle and me?”
“Yep, it’s still chugging away even though it can’t be of any use with your IDs hopping all over the sector.”
“Whoever setup that process works with Cummings or for him. It’s possible that hacker knows about stuff like unofficial ID chips. I mean, someone has to handle the database stuff.” Michelle and I reached the door in the far wall. The silence beyond that door was almost deafening. “So, if you can find out who’s controlling that process…”
“Now, why didn’t I think of that?” I heard Greg tapping enthusiastically on the pad. “Well, that was just too easy. Our hacker obviously thinks no one besides him will ever get this level of access.”
“You know who it is?”
“Yep. So do you, Matt.” Greg sighed. “It’s your friend and co-worker John.”
Joking, good-natured John? Seeing Michelle’s quizzical look, I said, “He’s the one member of the team who’s sort of close to my own age. Greg, isn’t John too young to be involved in this?”
“Not really. He started when he was about your age. Nora can check his start date, but I’m pretty sure it was a month or so before your parents disappeared.”
Nora called from somewhere away from the comm. “Greg’s got a good memory. You know, as HR director I can tell security we’ve had complaints and have him brought to me.”
“Have Nora do it,” Michelle told Greg. “But I can tell you a really simple way to find out just how deeply John is involved.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Do tell, my dear, because I’ve got nothing.”
“Greg, check the permissions assigned to John’s ID chip.” Michelle flashed a smug grin at me. “If he’s got the same special clearance Cummings has, we know he’s in deep.”
“That’s a clever girl you married, Matt.”
“She married me—of course she’s clever.”
Greg snorted and Michelle jabbed my side playfully. Then Greg sighed. “He’s got the permission, Matt. If he’s in that deep, I don’t know
if we can sweat anything useful out of him. We’re going to try, though. Nora says he’ll be here in a few minutes.”
Michelle and I left the entertainment sector behind and entered the warehouse sector. With a big ore carrier in dock, the place bustled with activity. Michelle and I just sauntered along, minding our own business and checking our pad every few minutes. Like last time, no one gave us a second glance.
Then we rounded a corner and, thirty meters ahead of us, saw Hector standing in the middle of an intersection and staring right at us. Worse, he wore a blaster at his hip.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Behind the Door
A couple of warehouse workers stood between Hector and me, chatting just outside an overhead door. The one facing Hector noticed his intense stare down the corridor and glanced over his shoulder. I guess I looked just as intense because the guy grabbed his friend’s arm and started hurrying toward Hector and the intersection.
In that instant I got sick and tired of this whole melodrama—tired of running, tired of laying low, tired of sneaking, and truly sick and tired of Hector and Cummings. I threw my arms wide and yelled, “Here I am, Hector. Are you here to shoot me? Huh? Is that it?”
“Matt, what are you doing?” Michelle grabbed my left arm and tried to drag me back the way we’d come.
I pulled my arm free and stalked toward Hector. “I’m not running from this guy again, Michelle.” I raised my voice, “Did you hear that, Hector? I’m not running. You want to shoot me, here’s your chance.”
Hector stared at me, his blaster still holstered and surprise written across his face.
“Why aren’t you shooting, Hector? Is it because you’ve seen the vids of the shootout on Rockville Station? Is it because you know Paco ambushed us and still couldn’t kill either one of us?” My voice took on a taunting edge and I didn’t care. “You’re not shooting because you’re scared you’ll end up in prison. Aren’t you? Huh?”
Michelle caught hold of the back of my coverall and tried to pull me back. “Stop taunting him before he really does kill you.”