by Michael Rose
“Yes.”
“I’ll meet you there.” Sullivan put his hand on the tablet. “I’ll take first watch.”
Allen handed it over. “Thank you for agreeing to do this my way,” he said.
“One week. Then, if Zednik still has Kate, we go in.”
“Right.”
Sullivan began trekking through the forest, back to the main road. Allen waited for a moment then turned to walk back to his car at the jetty.
9
FRANK ALLEN AND Rick Sullivan had spent the week holed up in a hotel room, taking turns watching the feed from the camera. For the most part, it was an uneventful week, with one of Zednik’s men leaving only once, presumably to buy food and other supplies. Now that he knew someone was after him, it was likely that Zednik was worried about exposing his new hideout.
Along with the ransom notice, Zednik had sent Mr. Alexander a beacon. The instructions were these: Alexander’s man would check into a downtown hotel upon arriving on Damaris, activate the beacon and remain in the hotel until one of Zednik’s men arrived to collect the ransom and deliver Kate.
Mr. Alexander had had his people study the beacon, of course, to make sure it did only what it was supposed to do. But that investigation also revealed the frequency and pattern of the signal. He’d given this information to Allen, who had programmed his tablet to pick up that signal once it began broadcasting. Six and a half days after he’d followed Zednik to the house in the woods, an icon on Allen’s tablet began flashing, indicating that the beacon had been activated. A low beeping accompanied it.
Sullivan got up from the hotel room bed where he had been resting with his eyes closed. “Is that Alexander’s man?”
“Yes,” said Allen. “Pull up the feed from our camera on your tablet. I’m going to use mine to find the location of the signal.”
Sullivan took up his tablet. “Looks like some activity.”
Allen glanced over as Sullivan held up his tablet. The van had pulled out of the garage and was travelling away from the house. After a moment, it disappeared from the camera’s view.
“We don’t have a lot of time,” said Allen. “That van will be downtown in thirty minutes.”
“How far away is the signal from us?”
“Just a few blocks. Like we agreed, right Sullivan?”
“Right.”
The two gathered their gear and left the hotel room. The plan involved keeping track of the van once Alexander’s man delivered the ransom. If Zednik was going to go back on the deal, they didn’t want to lose the van, especially if Kate was inside.
Sullivan would park outside the hotel where the exchange was supposed to occur and wait for the van to depart. Allen would go to the house in the woods and look for signs that Kate was still there. If he didn’t find her, he would then take actions to capture or kill Zednik. Meanwhile, Sullivan would follow the van in case Kate was being taken elsewhere. If she wasn’t at the house and wasn’t in the van, they’d then check back at the hotel to see if Zednik had kept his word and delivered her. Either way, the day was going to end with either Sullivan or Allen confronting Zednik.
As Allen drove back toward the hills outside of Phoebe, he kept an eye on the other side of the road. He spotted the van traveling the opposite way and tapped his earpiece to activate it. He and Sullivan were keeping an open line so he was automatically connected.
“They’re fifteen minutes outside of town, Rick.”
“Copy that. I’m in place. The hotel’s parking garage entrance is on the same side of the street as the entrance to the lobby. I’ll be able to see Zednik’s man whichever way he goes in.”
“Good. Aside from Zednik, we’ve seen two other men around the house this past week. I’m thinking Zednik’s going to be careful and only send one man to pick up the ransom. He’ll keep the other with him for protection.”
“Right. But has he sent Kate in the van, or is she still at the house?”
“I hope to know soon. I’m going to try and get a look inside.”
ALLEN PULLED ONTO the side road leading to the lake and drove his car a short distance past Zednik’s hiding place. He found a gap between the trees and pulled off the road and into the woods. He got out and circled around behind the house on foot. With the feed from his camera, he could watch the front. He decided to check the back first.
Allen found the back door of the house and peered through the glass in the door. Zednik was seated in the living room. A moment later, a man brought him a plate of food from the kitchen.
Allen heard the sound of water running through pipes. It sounded like it was coming from the second floor. Kate was probably still inside.
Allen looked up at the window above him. He picked up a small rock and tossed it against the glass. He waited a minute then tossed another one. The curtains fluttered and a face looked out. It was Kate Alexander. As she caught sight of Allen, he put his finger up to his lips and retreated back into the woods.
“Sullivan,” he said, tapping his earpiece.
“Yeah.”
“Kate is still in the house.”
“Then Zednik doesn’t plan on returning her after collecting the ransom.”
“I’d say that’s a good guess. You need to get that man, Rick. We can use the van to get into the house.”
“I’m on it. He parked on the street and went into the hotel just a few minutes ago.”
Allen looked back up at the house. Kate was still at the window, watching him. He gave her a thumbs up then gestured for her to get back from the window. She smiled, returned the thumbs up and moved away.
Allen waited ten minutes before contacting Sullivan again. “What’s going on, Rick?”
“I’m in the van. Zednik’s man is in the back.”
“Good work. I’m guessing Zednik is expecting to hear some news. Send him a message using the man’s tablet, say your earpiece is on the fritz so you can’t call.”
“Copy that.”
Allen waited a few minutes before he heard Sullivan’s voice in his ear again. “Message back from Zednik. He says to stop off and get some brie before returning to the house.”
Allen smiled. “All right. Pull over for five minutes to make it seem like you stopped for the cheese. Let me know when you’re at the turnoff.”
“How do you want to do this?”
“Is there a garage remote in the van?”
Allen heard the sound of rummaging. “Yes.”
“Good. You pull into the garage like Zednik is expecting. I’ll wait for your signal then I’ll come in the back while you go in through the garage. There should just be Zednik and one man. Kate’s locked in an upstairs room, so she’ll be safe during the exchange.”
“All right. I’ll let you know when I’m near.”
After another twenty minutes, Allen heard Sullivan’s voice again. “Pulling onto the side road.” Another few minutes passed. “Pulling up to the house.”
Allen, keeping low, stepped up to the side of the house and flattened himself against the wall next to the back door. He heard the sound of the garage door open and tires on the gravel as Sullivan pulled the van into the garage.
“They’re coming into the garage!” said Sullivan. “Now, now, now!”
Allen heard the sound of gunshots. He kicked in the back door and cleared the living room. The door to the garage was through the kitchen to his left. He swung around into the kitchen and caught sight of a man aiming a gun at him. It only took him half a second to recognize Sullivan and lower his weapon. At Sullivan’s feet lay two men. One of them appeared to be dead. The other, Orion Zednik, was sputtering blood as he held his hand over the wound in his chest.
Allen took only a moment to take in this scene before turning away to clear the other room on the ground floor. Behind him, Sullivan dashed up the stairs. Allen followed him up a moment later and found him in one of the rooms. He was turned away from the door, locked in an embrace with Kate.
Allen let them have their moment and
returned to the kitchen. Zednik was still alive, breathing shallowly. Allen knelt down beside him.
“I know you scurried away as soon as we attacked your complex on Abilene,” he said, “so there’s something you might not know.”
Zednik rolled his eyes up at Allen but said nothing.
“Liz Wagner, my partner, the woman I loved, died in the firefight.”
Zednik tried to speak, but only blood and a groan escaped his lips.
“This is the end for you, Zednik. I could put a bullet in your head. I could put you out of your misery. But I won’t. For the next few minutes, I want you to think about all the people you’ve hurt, all those you’ve had killed. I want you to lie there feeling the pain they felt. I want you to suffer in agony. I want you to lie there knowing that you are going to die, that in a few minutes you’ll cease to exist, and there won’t be anyone who will miss you.”
Allen stood up and returned to the living room. He saw Sullivan and Kate descending the stairs and closed the kitchen door.
“Is he dead yet?” asked Sullivan.
“It won’t be long. We’ll let him lie in there alone until then.”
Sullivan took Kate to the couch and Allen took a seat in a chair across from them. “So this is it, Rick.”
Sullivan smiled. “You want to take me in now?”
Allen shook his head. “That was the deal, but I’m not with the Bureau anymore.”
“You quit?” asked Kate.
“I turned in my resignation before leaving Silvanus. I’ll go back with you on Mr. Alexander’s experimental ship to tie up the loose ends I no doubt left hanging.”
“I’m surprised my father let you fly on one of his hyper-hyperspace ships.”
“You know about that?”
“Of course. But he told me it was too dangerous.”
Allen nodded. “If you want to return via more conventional means, I understand. I’ll go ahead on your father’s ship and let him know that you’re safe.”
Kate shook her head. “No. I haven’t been home in over a year and a half. I want to get back as soon as I can.” She turned to Sullivan. “If it’s all right with you.”
Sullivan furrowed his brow. “You said it takes only four days to travel to Silvanus on this ship, Frank?”
“That’s right.”
He put his hand in Kate’s. “How does your father feel about social injustice?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, do you think he’d be willing to help out a freedom fighter?”
Kate grinned. “If that freedom fighter is the same man who brings me home safely, I think he’d do anything for him.”
Sullivan pulled her into an embrace and held her tight. From the kitchen, a single cry escaped Orion Zednik’s lips.
“That’s it,” said Sullivan. “We should go.”
Allen got up but paused. “What about the man in the back of the van?”
“Leave him there. Enough people have died today.”
Allen nodded. “All right. Let’s get back to Phoebe.”
EUGENE BRAIN WAS surprised to see his old friends again. “I had no idea you were here, Sullivan!” He shook the man’s hand and gave Kate a quick hug. He turned to Allen. “And you, Agent Allen. Still on the job, eh?”
Allen shook Brain’s hand. “No, I’ve gone rogue.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I have to file my final reports with the Bureau on Silvanus, turn in my badge. Then, I don’t know what.”
“I could use a good man on Abilene.”
Allen shook his head violently. “No offense, Brain, but you couldn’t get me to go back to that planet for all the credits on Silvanus.”
Brain nodded and smiled again. “I’m so glad you’re all safe. And the fact that Kate is here means that Zednik…?”
Sullivan nodded. “He’s dead.”
Brain took a deep, satisfied breath. “Good. Might I ask one favor?”
“Of course.”
“Can you tell me where the body is? I want to prove to my detractors on Abilene that he’s really dead.”
“Sure,” said Sullivan.
“And will you do something for us?” Kate added.
“Anything, my dear.”
“Make Abilene a better place. I have no illusions about the business you’re in, but I think it can be done. There’s no reason a person like Abraham Emerson should have died. I know there are other good people on that planet. They just need to be given the opportunity to show it.”
Brain nodded solemnly. “I understand the position I’m in now, Kate. I have thought about making changes.”
“Thank you.” Kate hugged Brain again.
Sullivan tapped on his tablet. “I sent you the coordinates of Zednik’s last hideout. His body’s in the kitchen, and one of his men is tied up in the van in the garage. Maybe you can convince him to go back to Abilene in your employ.”
Brain nodded and shook hands with them all one final time. “We’ll see. Be safe, all of you.”
III:
A CITY WITHOUT
WALLS
10
BENJAMIN ALEXANDER HAD instructed Dale Hammond to remain on Damaris until Frank Allen was ready to return. The hope was that they would return with Kate onboard. What Alexander didn’t know was that Richard Sullivan would also be along for the ride.
Four days aboard a ship was not a long time, considering. Kate was anxious to see her father but was happy to be spending the time with Sullivan. Allen was not as anxious to return to Silvanus and have to answer to the Bureau.
Sullivan and Kate had spent the better part of the first day together in one of the ship’s cabins. Allen had mostly stayed in the cockpit with Dale Hammond. Allen was thinking about heading aft to the galley to rehydrate some Instameals for the two of them when the reflections of Kate and Sullivan appeared in the cockpit window. Allen turned around to greet them.
“Feeling well-rested?”
Kate grinned then pecked Sullivan on the cheek. “Yes, thank you, Frank.”
Sullivan sat in one of the rear cockpit seats and pulled Kate into his lap. She put her arms around his neck and clung to him.
“Kate,” Allen said, “how much did you know about the work your father was funding? About these ships?”
“I knew it had something to do with hyperspace travel, with shortening the time between planets, but he kept the details vague. All he said was that it was too risky to put into widespread use.”
Allen nodded. “Then I think you need to know something about those possible risks. I know it’s only a four-day trip, but….”
“I know,” said Kate. “Dale told Rick and me about it when you were asleep earlier.”
“Good,” said Allen. “And what do you think of it?”
Kate pursed her lips. “I hope nothing happens. But if it does, I think the best thing would be to try and ignore it.”
“Ignore it? What if that angers whatever it is?”
“I don’t know. It’s just something my mother always told me. When I was a girl, I thought there was a monster in my closet. She told me that if I ignored it, it would get bored and go away.”
“But that was just your imagination. It was just a way of making you not think about it. If we encounter an actual entity out here….”
Hammond cleared his throat. “Who’s to say it was her imagination? Like I told you before, I’ve learned that anything is possible.”
Allen nodded. “Mr. Alexander did say something about a possible connection between these entities and what we would call ghosts or spirits. And the fact that another pilot saw his dead grandmother….”
Kate’s eyes widened. “You didn’t tell me that, Dale. You just said we might see some strange things.”
Hammond rapped his fingers on the console. “I didn’t want to alarm you. Besides, I’m not convinced it was his grandmother. These entities… there’s a possibility they could access our minds, take a form that we’d recognize.”
Sullivan, who had listened carefully to this exchange, now spoke. “I don’t really consider myself much of a philosopher or theologist or what-have-you, so I’m not going to speculate on what they may or may not be. But if we do encounter something, I don’t know that ignoring it would be the best option. Maybe we should think about what it wants. If another intelligence entered our space, what would we want to do? First, assess whether or not it was a threat, and second—providing it was not a threat—try to communicate with it. If these ‘entities’ are just a form of life that we cannot understand, or if they are, in fact, spirits of some kind, I think communication is important.”
Allen nodded. “I think you’re right. Unfortunately, no one has encountered another intelligent form of life before, so we don’t have any model to go on.”
“That’s not quite true, Frank. I have encountered something that I would call ‘intelligent.’”
Allen furrowed his brow. “Rick, it’s a known fact that humans haven’t encountered any other species that possess….”
“That fact is a lie.” Sullivan took a breath. “Have you heard of the Squamata?”
Kate put her head on Sullivan’s shoulder. “On your planet, right?”
“Yes. There’s a species on Edaline that have been named the Squamata. They could best be described as reptilian. They’re a little over a meter tall, scaly skin. But they walk on two legs and have opposable thumbs. Ever since Edaline was first colonized three centuries ago, the Squamata have been considered to be a semi-intelligent species, along the lines of a chimpanzee or a dolphin, but definitely not as intelligent as humans. Some years ago, Edaline’s military sent an expedition into the jungle to study them. All the men on that expedition, save one, were killed. The government said the Squamata had attacked and killed the men, but the survivor told a different story. He said the military had killed its own men and blamed the Squamata as an excuse to eradicate them.”
“I read about that when I was looking for you on Earth,” said Allen. “Wasn’t he discredited? Post-traumatic stress disorder?”