The Navigator (The Apollo Stone Trilogy Book 1)

by P. M. Johnson

  “I took it after the SPD arrested you but before their search crew arrived,” she responded.

  “But how did you get into the apartment?” asked Cap. “You didn’t know the code.”

  Lena looked at him, raised an eyebrow and said, “I’m resourceful.”

  Attika’s PDD buzzed and she stepped into another room to answer the call.

  “I don’t get it,” said Logan, looking at the bust. “What is so special about this thing?” He leaned in and carefully examined the bust’s features. He looked for seams, unusual marks, hidden compartments, but there was nothing.

  “I have an idea,” said Cap. He disappeared into the shadows of the workshop and returned with a hammer. He handed it to Logan.

  Logan looked at the hammer and said, “Time to cut the Gordian Knot?”

  “I don’t know what that means,” said Cap. “But I think the bust is either a worthless piece of plaster or there’s something inside. Worst-case scenario, you broke a fake present to your mom.”

  Logan shrugged and raised the hammer. “She never cared much for history anyway.”

  When Lena saw Logan lift the hammer she raised a cautionary hand and started to say something, but Logan ignored her. He swiftly brought the hammer down. Plaster chips flew in all directions. He repeated the action again and again, shooting large and small chips around the room. On the fifth blow, he hit something hard. He brushed away the dust and debris and saw bronze-colored metal.

  Attika reentered the room with an alarmed expression on her face, still holding the phone to her ear. She watched Logan smash the bust. “Understood,” she said into the phone then hung up. “What the hell’s going on here?” she asked, but no one responded as they watched Logan continue to destroy the bust.

  After a half dozen more blows, Logan had exposed the top half of a small metal sphere about the size of a tennis ball. He worked to break away the remaining material until the sphere was freed of its plaster prison. He picked up the metal object and held it close to the lightbulb hanging from the ceiling, slowly rotating it in the dim light.

  “What is that?” asked Cap.

  “I don’t know,” said Logan. “But my grandfather thought it was important enough to smuggle out of a top-secret laboratory.”

  “And don’t forget Colonel Linsky is also interested in getting his hands on it,” said Lena.

  They heard a door in the hallway open. Logan quickly slipped the sphere into his coat pocket. A moment later, the forger appeared in the room carrying three documents in his hand. He laid them on the table.

  Attika looked at each travel visa and ID. She raised her brow. “They’ll probably do for a casual check,” she said. “But they won’t get past a scanner.”

  “I already told you that!” snapped the forger. “It’s the best I could do in forty-five minutes.”

  Attika eyed the forger. He tried to return her stare, but was soon compelled to look away. She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out an envelope of cash and handed it to him.

  “And a word of advice,” she said to the forger as she and the others headed down the narrow passage toward the alley door. “Keep your head down. The shit has hit the fan. They’ll be rounding up everyone they can think of, and I assume your name is on several lists.”

  “Thanks for the warning,” said the forger sarcastically. “Let’s never do business again.”

  The alley door slammed shut behind them. Logan heard the bolt slide into place. Attika took the car keys from Lena and told the others to get in. She started the engine and drove down the alley.

  “Now where are we going?” asked Logan.

  “We’re going to try and get you out of the Capitol District. There’s a train leaving for Pittsburgh in about twenty minutes.”

  “Why are we going to Pittsburgh?” asked Cap.

  “You’re not,” responded Attika. “You’re getting off at the first checkpoint, Frederick. From there, make your way to Point of Rocks, about fifty kilometers south of Frederick on the Potomac River. Stay there until you’re met by a man.”

  “Until we’re met by a man?” asked Cap. “What man? How will we know him?”

  Attika navigated the car down a dark residential street. “You’ll know he’s your contact by a scar around his wrist.”

  After several minutes, they came to an intersection. Logan saw the train station a few blocks away.

  “Good,” said Attika. “The SPD is shutting everything down, but it looks like they haven’t gotten here yet. Here’s some money.” She handed each one a buy card. “Buy round-trip tickets to avoid suspicion.”

  “But won’t they trace the buy card record?” asked Cap.

  “Yes, but we don’t have an option because train tickets are not cash-approved items. These are blind cards, so they won’t be able to trace them for a while.”

  She guided the car to a parking spot in the back of the station’s parking lot. It was ten p.m. and there was very little foot traffic. She pointed at the dimly lit ticket booth across the parking lot. “Remember,” she said. “Buy round-trip tickets.”

  Everyone got out of the car and started walking toward the ticket booth. Lena stopped and looked back at the car for a moment. She saw Attika’s smiling face looking at her through the windshield. Lena returned the smile then turned toward the station.

  The ticket booth stood next to the locked station gate. A weary-looking old woman behind a thick glass partition spoke through a microphone. “May I help you?”

  Lena stepped closer. “One ticket to Pittsburgh.”

  “One way or round trip?”

  “Round trip.”

  The woman opened a small slot under the protective glass and Lena pushed her buy card through it.

  “Your ID and travel visa, please,” said the woman in a flat tone.

  Lena slid her documents through the opening. The woman examined each. She looked at the photo on the visa and then at Lena. She scratched the visa foil’s surface with her thumbnail. Then she shrugged and handed it back to Lena. “Next.”

  Logan and Cap purchased their tickets in the same manner. Then, one by one, they inserted their tickets into a thin slot next to the gate. A scanner read the code embedded in each ticket and opened the gate, returning the ticket as it did so. The tall metal gate swung shut with a thud after each person passed through.

  Once inside the station, they looked at the large screen on the wall showing train arrival and departure information. The train for Pittsburgh was scheduled to depart from track one in five minutes. It was the last train scheduled to leave that night. They boarded together, but to reduce the chances of being discovered they decided to sit in separate compartments.

  Lena sat in the last car. Cap sat in the car in front of her, and Logan sat in the one immediately behind the big diesel engine. Logan was happy to see that the train was moderately full. He’d been concerned that they would be the only passengers on board, making them more conspicuous. He found a seat next to a window and slouched low. After five minutes, he looked at the large clock on the station wall. The train was supposed to have already left the station.

  As the minutes ticked by, Logan grew increasingly impatient. He looked down the aisle toward the back of the train and wondered what was causing the delay. Then he looked out his window and felt a shot of adrenalin suddenly surge through his heart. An SPD patrol car had screeched to a halt in front of the station gate and three men got out. Just behind it was an SPD van containing two K-9 units, each consisting of a German Shepherd and two officers. The officers and their dogs trotted to the ticket window. The booth attendant opened the gate and they entered the station. One of the SPD officers instructed a K-9 unit to search the train’s undercarriage while the other searched around the train station. He gave an order to the two remaining officers and pointed to the back of the train. They walked to the last car and boarded while he remained on the platform, pacing back and forth with an eye on the station gate.

  Logan swore under
his breath. Risking another look down the aisle, he could see movement several cars back. He saw Lena casually walking forward. She was looking at her ticket and the seat numbers as though she was searching for an assigned seat. Then Logan saw Cap stand up and follow her. Soon they were in his car and sitting in the seats across the aisle from him.

  “They’re doing a sweep, checking everyone’s visa,” said Cap in a hushed but terrified voice. “We’re cooked.”

  Logan glanced out the window and saw the lead SPD officer still pacing. He periodically turned his head to look around the station.

  “Well,” Logan whispered. “We’ve run out of train to hide in and we can’t get off without being spotted.” Then he looked at Cap and Lena. “They’re looking for two young men fitting my and Cap’s descriptions, but they might not be looking for a young woman.” Looking at Lena he said, “And I have noticed you have certain hidden qualities.”

  “Really,” she said, a hint of curiosity in her voice.

  A minute later the two SPD officers entered the railcar just behind the engine. They requested visas from the handful of passengers near the door through which they had entered. They carefully reviewed the documents, occasionally scanning the visas with a device that emitted a flashing red light. They arrived at the front of the railcar and opened the sliding door that led into the space between the railcar and the engine. The taller officer closed the sliding door and turned to see a woman exiting the bathroom. Though startled, he quickly regained his composure and said, “ID, travel visa, and ticket, please.”

  Lena retrieved the documents from her coat pocket and handed them to the officer. He gave them a cursory review and passed them to his partner, a stocky man with short thick fingers and no neck. The tall guard watched her with emotionless eyes while his partner closely reviewed the visa, exposing it to red scanner light.

  Lena did her best to return the tall SPD officer’s gaze even as she fought to calm her pounding heart. The second officer tapped the taller one on the arm and pointed to something in the corner of Lena’s ID. The tall one looked at it for a moment then his eyes widened.

  “Forgive us,” said the tall one as he stood a little straighter. “We didn’t expect to see a Special Investigator on the train. We’re looking for two young men, aged twenty-one. One is big, about one point nine meters tall with curly brown hair. The other is average height with short blond hair.” He showed Lena images of Logan and Cap on his PDD. “Have you seen them on the train?”

  Lena accepted her documents back from the stocky officer. “No. I haven’t seen them. Now how much longer will this take? I have urgent business in Pittsburgh.”

  “Just a few more minutes,” said the tall guard.

  They touched the visors of their hats and went on to search the engineering compartment. Moments later they joined the guard and the K-9 units standing on the platform. The lead SPD officer heard their reports. He turned and stood looking at the train for about ten seconds. As he considered his next move, the officer tapped the buckle of his pistol belt with his right thumb. Then he waved for the train engineer to pull out of the station.

  In the parked car outside, Attika placed the pistol back in her pocket as she watched the train slowly emerge from the station. She started the car and drove away, periodically checking her rearview mirror.

  Inside the train, Lena knocked on the restroom door. “All clear,” she said. Cap and Logan unlocked the door and happily stepped out from the cramped space.

  “We heard the whole thing,” said Cap admiringly. “I don’t know how you stayed so cool, but you did it. You saved our butts.”

  Logan smiled. “Like I said, you have hidden qualities.”

  “Piece of cake,” said Lena with a smile, though her voice was a little shaky.

  They returned to their separate seats, still wary of drawing unwanted attention to themselves. As the train passed through the District on its elevated tracks, Logan looked at the brightly illuminated monuments. The great dome of the Capitol building, Union Square with its towering statue of The People in Victory, the obelisk, and many other public works defied the night’s darkness with daggers of white light. Yet, as the train got farther from the heart of the District, the city seemed to grow lifeless, empty. There were very few cars on the streets, mostly due to fuel restrictions. Public transportation was readily available and buses ran until midnight, but few people wanted to be out after ten-thirty when the restaurants, theaters, and bars were required to close their doors.

  Soon, the train curved to the northeast, passing through residential neighborhoods of low cement apartment buildings and row upon row of small single-level homes. Then the train shot into a tunnel that passed through the Capitol District wall. When it emerged on the other side, Logan could see the searchlights of the safety towers on top of the barrier flashing back and forth both inside and outside the thick ten-meter-high wall. Within fifteen minutes of passing through the wall, the city lights were mere pinpricks in a black tapestry and the countryside a vast expanse of darkness.

  With nothing to see through his window, Logan’s mind began to drift. Not for the first time, he wondered what his grandfather had been working on that prompted him to steal the sphere, to commit treason. He thought about their last conversation, when he and his grandfather had met at Veterans Park. Logan knew then that his grandfather had changed. Gone was the strident supporter of expansion and reunification. That fire breather had been replaced by a sullen suspicious old man who spoke in vague terms about betrayals of trust and past sins in need of atonement. Logan had sensed then that his grandfather was on the brink of doing something unexpected. He was therefore not completely surprised when he received the medallion and the cryptic note instructing him to keep it safe.

  Logan drifted off to sleep, but was soon awakened by the feeling that the train was slowing down. After a few seconds he was sure the train was gradually decelerating as it approached the Frederick checkpoint. He pulled out his visa and looked at it. He was unsure if it was good enough to pass the imminent inspection and took several long deep breaths to suppress a wave of anxiety that coursed through him. Lena’s ID and visa had survived the SPD officer’s inspection, but hers had the Special Investigator symbol on it. Logan wondered if the SPD officers had given her documents less scrutiny out of respect or perhaps fear.

  Logan lurched forward as the engineer suddenly applied the brakes. The wheels screeched in protest but the conductor did not let up and soon the train came to a stop. Logan looked out the window, but he knew they were still far outside of the town of Frederick. The other passengers in his compartment looked around as well, curious about why they had stopped short of the train station. Logan looked back down the aisle and saw Lena and Cap standing in the railcar behind him. She waved for him to join them.

  When he got there, Lena closed the doors separating the two railcars and said, “I don’t like this. We’re not supposed to stop here. I think something’s wrong.”

  “Yeah,” agreed Logan. “It doesn’t feel right.”

  Cap looked through the window in the north-facing door and said, “Have a look at this.”

  The other two looked through the window and saw the headlights of several vehicles racing toward them.

  “Damn it!” said Lena. “We have to get off this train.” She stepped to the opposite side of the train and looked for a button or lever that would open the door on that side.

  “You need a key to open it,” said Cap. “Unless the engineer opens all of the doors, which he’s not going to do.”

  Lena looked through the north-facing window again. The lights of the approaching vehicles grew brighter and brighter as they closed the distance to the train. Reaching into her jacket, she pulled the pistol from its holster and quickly screwed a silencer onto to the end.

  “Cover your faces.”

  She pointed the barrel at the window of the south-facing door and blasted three holes through the thick glass. It didn’t shatter, but the bulle
ts caused it to crack into large pieces. Logan grabbed a fire extinguisher near the restroom door and smashed the cracked window, forcing the pieces out of the frame. He ran the extinguisher along the window seal to knock out any remaining shards of glass. Cap removed his jacket and laid it across the bottom of the frame to protect them as they climbed though the opening.

  Lena took one last look out the north-facing window as she removed the silencer and holstered the gun. There were four vehicles pulling up to the side of the track.

  “Let’s go!” she said.

  Cap was the last one through the opening. When he landed on the ground, he retrieved his jacket and joined the other two, who had quickly disappeared into the darkness. He found them crouched low behind some bushes about fifty meters south of the train. Looking back, they could see men with flashlights searching the area.

  “It won’t take them long to find the broken window,” said Logan. “We’ve got to move.” He started running. The others leapt up to follow.

  “Where to?” asked Cap as they jogged through the uneven terrain.

  “Point of Rocks, remember?” said Lena. “It’s about fifteen klicks south of here.”

  “Fifteen klicks?” Cap said, irritated. “Are we supposed to run the whole way?”

  “If necessary,” replied Lena.

  “Remember your training, cadet,” said Logan over his shoulder. “Adapt and overcome. Adapt and overcome.”

  “Is that what they were saying?” asked Cap. “They always told me Shut up and get it done! Shut up and get it done. Followed by drop and give me twenty!”

  “Some cadets require more encouragement than others,” said Lena as she jumped over a half-buried boulder.

  Behind them, they could hear the sound of shouting voices. Two vehicles drove over the train tracks and headed into the darkness after them. A spotlight shone on the ground to their right. They could hear powerful engines revving as the vehicles climbed over hills and rocks. Moments later, the light swept across the ground in front of them.

  “It’s just a matter of time before they spot us. We have to get out of this open country,” said Logan as he increased the pace.