“KIMLEE!” Jack shouted.
Kimlee looked up. Her eyes opened wide at seeing Jack falling after her.
“SPREAD OUT YOUR ARMS AND LEGS!” Jack yelled. “SLOW YOURSELF DOWN!”
Kimlee briefly hesitated before doing as she was told, the wind resistance against her outstretched body slightly slowing her descent.
Jack tried to make himself as thin as possible as he continued speeding toward her.
“JACK!” Kimlee screamed, her voice thick with fear.
The stratum below was getting large, fast. Jack could feel in his gut that there wasn’t much time left. He reached out his hand as he got closer.
“YOUR HAND!” Jack screamed. “GIVE ME YOUR HAND!”
Kimlee desperately reached upward, trying to grab onto Jack’s outstretched arm. Their fingertips danced briefly as they both fought to come together.
Jack could sense the Earthship as it quickly closed the distance, rocketing toward them as it lowered its approach. The buildings of the stratum began to rise up around them.
Finally, Jack was able to get a grip on her, Kimlee’s hand latching onto his in terror.
Jack abruptly pulled her toward him, Kimlee’s body pressing up against his as he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. For the briefest of moments, their eyes met, Kimlee’s hair dancing around Jack’s face as it whipped in the wind, their pounding hearts pressed against each other’s chest.
Jack looked at the ground as it raced forward to meet them. He felt Kimlee hug him close, burying her face into his neck, preparing for the inevitable…
“TELEPORT!!!” Jack screamed.
The Earthship zoomed by overhead, teleporting Jack and Kimlee away mere seconds before they hit the ground.
The two materialized on the bridge of the Earthship, still clinging to each other tightly. Kimlee gasped after opening her eyes and looking around, realizing she was still alive. Jack could feel her trembling in his arms as he gently pulled away from her. The look on her face was one of amazement and relief. She immediately wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. “You saved me!” she whispered. “I can’t believe it! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”
“You can thank me later,” said Jack, disengaging himself from her. “This isn’t over yet.”
“Jack! My boy!” said Green as he rushed up to him. “What happened?”
“Take care of her,” Jack said before running to the pilot’s seat and hopping into it. He immediately called up his long range sensors, scanning the area around them intensely.
Green looked at Kimlee, concerned. “Miss, are you alright?” Green asked.
“No,” Kimlee said. “We were attacked… they killed my parents…”
“Oh dear,” muttered Green. “Who killed your parents?”
“That’s what I’m going to find out,” Jack said as he found the ship that attacked the tower and turned the Earthship to intercept it.
Armonto casually stepped up beside the pilot’s chair, studying Jack closely as he operated the ship. “Seeing as how I have a number of my own people on this vessel, and you look rather upset, I feel it is my duty to ask if you’re intending to put us all into some type of dangerous situation, Earthman.”
“I’m intending on chasing down the people who tried to kill us and finding out who they’re working for,” Jack replied, his face the picture of determination.
“So… that would be a ‘yes,’ then,” said Armonto.
The assassin’s spaceship came into view as it was flying into the atmosphere to make a getaway. Jack boosted speed to the Earthship’s engines and began gaining on its tail. “Relax,” Jack said. “You’ll all be safe.”
Just then, a rear-mounted plasma turret on the assassin’s vessel began firing at the Earthship, rocking the vessel with each impact and setting off blaring alarms.
“You were saying?” responded Armonto wryly.
“Don’t worry, our shields can take it,” responded Jack. “Let’s see how well theirs hold up.”
Jack opened fire on the assassin’s ship. It only took a few well-placed shots before one of the blasts from the Earthship pierced the shields and hit an engine, causing smoke to billow from it. The ship veered off its trajectory, taking evasive maneuvers as it sped down toward the capitol once more.
“What are you waiting for?” asked Armonto. “Destroy them and let’s be on our way.”
“If I destroy them, I won’t be able to find out who sent them,” responded Jack.
“I doubt they’re going to be forthcoming with such information,” Armonto pointed out. “Besides, the Peacekeepers are sure to take them out before you even have a chance of getting close.”
Jack looked at Armonto curiously and then glanced at his sensor readings. Sure enough, three armed Peacekeeper Cruiser crafts were headed to intercept them. “Crap,” said Jack as he opened an audio channel to the ships. “Peacekeeper vessels,” Jack said. “This is Earthman Jack Finnegan, uh… Hero of the Empire. I am in pursuit of the bad guys! Do not kill them! Repeat – do not kill them! Over?”
“Negative, Earthman,” came a reply. “Suspects are wanted in regard to an attack on a Legacy. We have authorization to engage if resisted.”
“Negative!” insisted Jack. “Keep your distance and let me handle this!”
“You do not have authorization in this matter,” the Peacekeeper responded. “Return to your hangar immediately, or you will be charged with interfering with a Peacekeeper operation.”
“You want authorization?” Kimlee screeched, her tear-streaked face twisted into a scowl as she came up beside Jack. “This is Lady Kimlee Evenstar, Imperial Identification Code NCC-1701. This ship is now an official Redwater Peacekeeper vessel. If you value your careers, families, or anything else you might hold dear, you will do as this man says!”
There was a brief pause before the Peacekeeper responded. “IIC confirmed,” he said, his voice tone properly cowed. “You are cleared to proceed, Earthman Finnegan. Following your lead.”
Jack looked at Kimlee, her expression now resolute as she met his gaze. “Do what you do best, Jack,” Kimlee said. “Be a hero.”
Jack smiled. “Everyone, hang on!” he said as he took the Earthship into a dive, chasing after the assassins.
The killer’s ship descended into a low altitude, flying through the towering buildings of the stratums in an attempt to lose its pursuers, disrupting all manner of skylanes as hovercars swerved to avoid collisions. Jack attempted to follow, but the Earthship was too large to properly maneuver through the architectural maze of the city.
“Your prey is getting away,” commented Armonto as he monitored the ship’s systems from the readings on his datapad.
“It’s okay,” replied Jack. “We don’t have to be that close.”
“For what?” Armonto asked.
“For this.”
Jack hit the arm of the pilot’s chair, opening a compartment where he’d had his ship manifest a blaster pistol for him. He grabbed the gun, locked onto the assassin’s vessel with the ship’s sensors, and hopped out of his chair.
“TELEPORT!” he commanded.
In a flash, the bridge of the Earthship had disappeared, replaced with a much different cabin. It was cramped, dark, and constructed from hard metal plating. On one side, there was a door which led to the back of the ship, and on the other was the pilot, sitting next to an empty co-pilot seat. The narrow viewport of the cabin showed the tops of buildings whizzing by as the pilot weaved the ship evasively through the skylanes between the stratum’s structures.
Jack quietly approached the pilot, resting the muzzle of his blaster pistol against the back of his head. The pilot stiffened as the worm jutting from his neck turned and hissed at Jack.
“Don’t move,” said Jack.
“Or what?” growled the pilot, gazing at Jack defiantly, his nose and mouth guarded by an oxygen mask.
“Or I’ll shoot you,” replied Jack. “Duh.”
“
If you wanted to shoot me, I’d be dead already,” the pilot replied.
“I wanted to talk first,” Jack responded, trying his best to sound as menacing as the pilot did. “Who sent you to kill the Evenstars?”
“Do you even know how to use that thing, boy?” the pilot sneered.
“You willing to find out?” Jack asked, pressing the muzzle of his weapon harder against the man’s head. “Tell me what I want to know!”
“Go ahead and kill me,” the pilot said. “I’ll die before I talk.”
Jack frowned. This was not the way he thought this would go down. He should have guessed hardened killers wouldn’t be intimidated by a fifteen year old. “I don’t have to kill you,” Jack said, deciding to take a page from Scallywag’s book. “I can just shoot pieces off you until you feel like talking.”
“You really want to talk?” the pilot said as he pressed a button on the ship’s flight console. “You can talk to my friend. He’s the chatty one.”
“Your… friend?” asked Jack as a sinking feeling came over him.
Jack heard the hatch behind him open. He turned to see another man enter the flight cabin, marred with oil and soot from his hasty attempt to try to repair the engines. The man had a shaved head and weathered face, his large frame easily twice the size of Jack’s. Jack’s gaze locked with the man’s pale blue eyes briefly as they each stared at the other in surprise.
“Oh, crap,” muttered Jack. “There’s two of you.”
A worm reared its head from the back of the goon’s neck and hissed at Jack. The man reached for a blaster at his belt, more quickly than Jack had expected. Jack dove to the side as the man fired, his volley of plasma bolts striking his companion and the flight controls of the ship.
Jack felt the ship shudder as its pilot’s lifeless body hunched forward. Alarms blared as the ship began to drift slowly downward. Jack fired back at his assailant hitting him in the shoulder, causing the man to drop his blaster.
With a growl, the man rushed forward, kicking Jack’s hand so hard, his weapon flew from it. Jack cried out, but his attacker moved quickly. He grabbed Jack by the collar and yanked him to his feet, slamming him into the side of the cabin as the ship swayed beneath them. As the man tossed him about, Jack’s head knocked against the unforgiving metal frame of the tight compartment, disorienting him.
Jack had no leverage, unable to fight back as the man slammed him into the walls. So he did the first thing that came to his mind – he kicked the guy as hard as he could between the legs.
The man grunted in pain and fell over on top of Jack, pinning Jack to the floor beneath him. Jack struggled, but his assailant was too heavy. The man’s hands found their way to Jack’s throat, and before Jack knew it, he was being strangled to death by the vice-like grip of the assassin above him.
This was a bad idea! Jack thought as he tried futilely to get the man’s hands off his windpipe. What was I thinking coming over here by myself??? I’m totally gonna die!
Jack could feel the man’s hands press around his throat, cutting off his air. The man’s weight was offering him no room to maneuver or wiggle free, and his attacker was far too strong for Jack to break away. Jack looked up at the man’s murderous eyes, the worm from the back of his neck hissing with malice.
Desperate, Jack reached up and grabbed the worm.
No sooner did Jack wrap his hand around it than he felt an electric jolt run down his arm. The worm cried out, surprised, as Jack felt a part of himself connect to the creature. It was almost like sticking a plug into a socket, and suddenly, Jack could feel a sense of control over the man who was choking him.
The man’s eyes grew wide as soon as the connection had been established. His murderous rage had suddenly been paused, and he crouched atop Jack, frozen in place. Jack’s brain struggled to cope with what he was experiencing as the worm wriggled in his grasp. Jack could almost see his body’s energy seeping into his attacker through the worm and spreading throughout the man like puppet strings.
Help me…
Jack could almost hear the voice that was in his mind. But it wasn’t his voice. Somehow, he knew it was the man’s.
Please, the voice said again. Help me…
“How?” grunted Jack. “How do I help you?”
The man’s face went flush as one of his hands slowly raised up to wrap over the hand Jack held the worm in. Jack felt the man pull on it, the worm writhing and crying out as he did so.
Release me! the voice begged. Please!
Jack could feel the man’s struggle within himself to gain control of his body. So Jack followed his lead, granting him the control he wanted. The man pulled at the worm, which screamed like a dying beast as it was ripped from the man’s neck. The man’s body shuddered, Jack’s connection with him suddenly gone, and he collapsed to his side. Jack looked at the worm still in his hand as it shriveled up into a leathery corpse, and he threw it aside in disgust.
“Warning,” the ship’s system declared. “Collision imminent. Collision imminent.”
Jack pushed himself up and looked out the ship’s viewport. It was headed right toward the monolithic face of a supertower, its flight controls sparking and catching aflame.
“Oh, crap,” Jack muttered before attending to the man beside him. The man looked up at him, a grateful expression on his face.
“Thank… you…” he said, weakly.
“Please,” Jack said. “Tell me who sent you!”
The man’s eyes began to take on a faraway look. The alarms became more insistent as the front of the supertower began to fill the ship’s viewport. Jack shook the man’s shoulders.
“Who sent you to kill the Evenstars?” Jack asked forcefully.
“It was… it was…” the man rasped.
“Collision imminent,” the control panel said over the alarms as the ship sped closer to its destruction.
“WHO???” Jack yelled.
“Princess Glorianna…” the man wheezed as his last breath escaped him.
The man’s final words hit Jack as hard as a sledgehammer. He gazed at the dead man in his arms in disbelief, his brain unable to comprehend what he’d just heard… at least until the alarms made it clear this was not the time to try to process such information.
Jack turned and looked at the ship viewport, mere moments before impact.
“TELEPORT!” Jack screamed.
The cabin around him disintegrated, crushing in upon itself as it impacted the building, sparks and flames erupting all around him as he suddenly rematerialized, safe and sound, on the bridge of the Earthship.
Jack felt his heart pounding as he turned and looked at the Earthship’s viewscreen, showing the explosion from the crash he was almost just a part of.
“Jack?” Green said, kneeling at his side. “Jack, what happened? Are you okay?”
The look on the man’s face played out in Jack’s mind, his last words ringing in Jack’s ears. “I’m fine,” Jack lied. But the truth was that he was anything but fine. For some reason he could yet comprehend…
Anna had just tried to have all the Evenstars killed.
Chapter 35
Things were a blur for Jack after he’d returned to his ship. It hadn’t taken long for Kimlee to remember what had happened to her parents, causing her to descend into hysteria. Peacekeepers and Emergency Workers were all over the crash site, as well as the Evenstar penthouse. Meanwhile, the Maguffyn people were hurriedly trying to collect as much data as they could while the ship was cooperating with Jack. By the time he got back to the spaceport, the press was already starting to gather, and that was the last thing Jack was in the mood to deal with. He locked himself in his apartment and gave Dan strict instructions that he didn’t want to be disturbed. So much had happened – the strange clarity he’d experienced, saving Kimlee’s life, fighting assassins, but most of all, discovering Anna might have had something to do with sending the killers. He just needed some time to clear his head and gather his thoughts.
I
t only took a day for Agents sent by Chief Alabaster to physically escort Jack to the Chief’s office for a debriefing, overriding the locked door, ignoring Dan, and making it clear to Jack they weren’t giving him a choice. Once the debriefing was over, Alabaster seemed genuinely surprised when Jack told him what had happened. But that look of surprise quickly gave way to one of suspicion.
“He said Princess Glorianna sent him to kill the Evenstars?” Alabaster asked.
Jack nodded grimly.
“And you believe that?”
“I don’t think he was lying,” Jack said.
“And what makes you so sure?”
“He changed after I pulled out the worm,” Jack said. “It was like… he went from being a killer to a normal dude. He wasn’t fighting me anymore. I just don’t see why he would lie at that point.”
“And I don’t see what motive Princess Glorianna has to secretly try and kill the Evenstars,” said Alabaster. “The most likely culprits are the Skyborns. At least they have something to gain from such an attack. Not to mention it could be retaliation for the attempt on Mourdock Skyborn’s life.”
Jack shook his head. “No, you don’t understand,” said Jack. “These were the same types of guys that attacked Mourdock! They all had these worm things in their necks. Even the Evenstar guards who attacked had them.”
“Our autopsies of the bodies we recovered from the attack show no signs of any such worms, Jack,” said Alabaster. “And trust me, I had my people look for them. Extensively.”
“You don’t need to look that closely,” said Jack. “They’re pretty hard to miss.”
“Apparently they are,” Alabaster said as he tapped his datapad and called up the medical reports on the killers. “Read the coroner’s report yourself. There is absolutely no sign of anything resembling worms in any of their heads.”
Jack frowned. “They were there,” he replied. “I saw them. Clear as day.”
“Well, then, I’m afraid you’re the only one,” said Alabaster. “Amadeus Evenstar did not see any worms sticking out of the necks of any of his guards. We did not find any evidence of them in this instance, or with those who attacked you at Club Cristo. And there’s no video evidence of them either.”
Earthman Jack vs. The Secret Army (Earthman Jack Space Saga Book 2) Page 39