For several minutes they watched the video as several troopers, men and women, walked in and out of the latrine. None of them were faces that Colin, Diane, or Kelly recognized. Then, after several more minutes, one person emerged that caught their attention. “Cyndi Corby,” said Colin.
“Keep the video trained on the latrine,” Brant told the trooper. “Then give me a quick replay going back to two hours.”
Several more minutes passed as they watched the fast moving video showing people going in and out of the latrine entrance.
“The video shows her coming out. But no sign of her going in,” said Colin.
“We can go back a couple more hours,” the trooper told Brant.
“No. We’ve watched that latrine for nearly two hours of video time. If she entered beyond that time, then that would be one hell of a bowl movement. I want to bring her in for questioning.”
It took only ten minutes for Cyndi, escorted by two troopers, to appear on the bridge. She stood at rigid attention before Brant as he sat in his chair, with Colin, Diane, and Kelly standing beside him.
“Lieutenant Corby, a serious matter has come up. Someone tried to kill our guests with a fusion grenade,” Brant explained.
“That’s horrible,” was Cyndi’s only response.
“We have footage of the culprit on the security cameras. It was somebody who wore a cap and kept their head down so that the camera couldn’t get a good shot at their face. We watched this person enter room eighteen where our guests were staying. Then they ran out just before the grenade went off. We followed them to the latrine on that floor. We kept watching the latrine, but that person never came out. Many other troopers exited the latrine, including you. We played back the video, but never saw you enter the latrine.”
“I don’t know what to say about that, sir,” was Cyndi’s reply.
“Where were you between 0500 and 0600 hours?”
“I was in my quarters, sir,” Cyndi replied in an unwavering voice. “My husband will vouch for me.”
“No doubt,” said Brant. “But that doesn’t hide the fact that we don’t have footage of you going into that latrine, just footage of you coming out a little while after our mysterious assassin went in. That looks highly suspicious, lieutenant.”
Cyndi said nothing as she remained standing at attention.
Brant continued. “The perpetrator wore gloves, so we can’t run a DNA scan on the door’s keypad to see if you’ve touched it. However, this video footage creates pretty strong circumstantial evidence implicating you as the culprit in this attempted murder. Do you have anything to say for yourself?” Brant sat and stared at Cyndi, but she looked straight ahead, not meeting anyone’s eyes, and said nothing. “Very well. You’re confined to quarters until we arrive at Starbase Roosevelt in another hour. After that, you will be handed over to the military police, along with whatever evidence we can gather. I’m not about to let an incident like this intrude on our mission. And inform your husband that I’d like to speak to him. Dismissed.”
We’ll be at the Roosevelt in another hour? Thought Colin. I lost track of time.
Cyndi raised her hand to salute. Then she turned and left the bridge with her two-trooper escort.
Colin approached Brant. “Excuse us, please, commander.” He turned and exited the bridge, almost breaking into a trot. Diane and Kelly had to run in order to catch up to him in the corridor, just as he reached Cyndi. “Wait up. I want to talk to you,” he said.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Cyndi replied over her shoulder as she continued walking with a security trooper on either side of her. “Commander Brant might have objections to you speaking to a murder suspect.”
“We’re not accusing you of anything,” Colin assured her.
“We’re not?” said Diane.
Colin ignored Diane. “In fact, we’d like to offer our help if you need it. We might be the only ones you can turn to.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cyndi challenged.
Colin rushed in front of Cyndi and her security entourage, flashing his CID badge. “Gentlemen, we’ll take custody of Lieutenant Corby. If you have any questions, see Commander Brant.” The troopers eyed him for a moment, then turned and headed back down the corridor toward the command center.
Colin gripped Cyndi’s shoulders firmly. “Look, I’ve got a feeling that you know who Eddie Driscoll is. Just like you know Shrapnel, Poltergeist, Inferno, and Vosh. And what happened to John Mertz.”
He looked deep into her wide, fearful eyes. She looked like a person trapped inside a deep hole, trying to claw her way out ... reaching for a helping hand. Then her eyes dulled as she straightened and said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I have nothing to say to you. Now please let me go.”
The lights in the corridor went black, and a long row of dim white lights came on along the ceiling. A few seconds later a loud shrill of an alarm sounded twice through the corridor, followed by a male voice shouting over the public address system. “Attention, all hands. This is the commander speaking. Condition yellow. I repeat. Condition yellow. All hands, report to your stations.”
“Oh God, it’s started,” Cyndi said in a soft voice.
“What’s starting?” Colin asked.
“The plan,” Cyndi exclaimed. “They’re starting the plan. Let me go. I’ve got to get to my daughter.”
“Not until you tell us about this plan,” Colin ordered.
“If you’re in some kind of trouble, please let us help,” Diane pleaded.
Colin released his hold on Cyndi. “Please tell us what’s going on. People may die if you don’t.”
Brant’s crisp voice came blaring through the public address system again. “Lieutenant Ron Corby. Please report to the bridge at once. I repeat. Lieutenant Ron Corby. Please report to the bridge.”
“We’ve got to get to my quarters,” Cyndi urged, sounding desperate.
Colin, Diane, and Kelly followed Cyndi as she hurried to reach her quarters. During that time, her husband Ron was paged a second time over the public address.
When they arrived at Cyndi’s quarters, she called out Audrey’s name. There was no answer. She ran into the bedroom and bathroom to search for the girl, but Audrey was nowhere to be found. Cyndi confronted Colin, tears welling in her eyes. “She’s not here. She’s not here! They took my daughter!”
“Who took her?” Diane demanded in a stern tone.
“Those monsters. Poltergeist and his gang of freaks,” Cyndi replied as she wiped the tears from her eyes. “And Ron is with them.”
“We know all about the Enforcers,” Colin told her. “How did you get involved with them?”
Cyndi took a quick breath. “It all happened a few months ago, after Ron and I joined Vendetta. That guy you mentioned, Eddie Driscoll, spoke to a few of us officers and made a bunch of wild promises. It was me, Ron, Mertz, and a few others. He told us about how Vendetta was going to end the war and make life better for everybody. He told us that if we didn’t help Vendetta, then nothing would stop the Brelac from destroying us all. I had my doubts at first. But then I had Audrey to think about. I wanted her to grow up without a war hanging over her head. So we all went along with him.”
“Now you realize you made a mistake,” Colin told her.
“You don’t have to remind me about that. Then a few days later Driscoll comes to us with this crazy plan to kill President Drennan. I didn’t like it. But Ron and Mertz said that they would go along. Then Mertz changed his mind and backed out. Or at least he tried to. That was when Driscoll showed up with these monsters. The Enforcers. Their leader, Poltergeist, said that their big boss of the operation wasn’t going to let any of us run out on him. So they hunted Mertz down and killed him.”
Colin took in all the information that Cyndi revealed. He looked at Diane and Kelly’s grim faces. “So just who is this big boss of the operation?”
“Poltergeist didn’t give a name. He just made it clear t
hat we weren’t to disobey him.”
“So what’s this plan, and how does your husband fit in?” asked Kelly.
“They’re taking over the ship. The first step is to hack the ship’s main computer and seal off sections of the ship so that the crew can’t interfere, then pilot the ship to Starbase Roosevelt where President Drennan is waiting.”
“And then use the Maelstrom’s weapons to blow Drennan out of space,” Colin added. “It’s a simple yet perfect plan. Nobody would suspect an attack on Drennan by one of the ships that she’s going to give a farewell speech to.”
Kelly added his theory to the plan. “And they needed Mertz and her husband to serve as pilots.”
Cyndi gave a quick nod.
“Any Idea why Mertz backed out?” Diane asked.
“Because the plan was too horrific,” explained Cyndi. “They want to open fire on Drennan when she’s giving a speech to all the expedition’s children. Mertz would have any part of it. I didn’t like it either. After all, I’m a parent myself. So Mertz ran. But he didn’t run far. I wanted Ron to back out too. I begged him to. Then Poltergeist made threats against us. So now we’re trapped.”
“So now Ron is the sole pilot of this insane plan,” said Colin.
“No. To pilot a ship as large as a battle carrier, you’d need the help of a copilot. That was Mertz’s job.”
“But he’s dead,” Colin pointed out. “So, what are they going to do now?”
“I don’t know. Ron only told me that they made other arrangements.”
“Then Ron is the key,” said Diane. “We have to find him.”
“We have to find my daughter,” Cyndi corrected in a forceful tone. “And we’re wasting time here talking.”
“Calm down. We’ll find her and deal with the Enforcers,” Colin promised.
“How are you going to do that?” asked Cyndi. “You don’t know what the Enforcers are like and what they can do. Especially Poltergeist. He’s unstoppable.”
Don’t remind me, Colin thought, recalling their narrow escape in the subway tunnel. “We’re going to need a plan of our own. The first thing we should do is head up to the bridge and warn Brant.”
“Warn Brant? What about my daughter?” Cyndi protested.
“If we had a clue as to where she is, then we would be half way there already,” Colin told her. “Maybe if we find Ron, we’ll find Audrey.”
Without further discussion the group headed for the bridge. When they arrived they found Brant standing over a trooper who was seated at one of the consoles at the right. Brant turned when he saw Colin and the others approach. Colin was not surprised to see that Ron was not on the bridge as requested.
“Commander, there’s a serious matter that we have to tell you about,” Colin informed him.
“It’s going to have to wait,” Brant’s stern reply. “I’m dealing with a more serious situation right here.”
“What’s the problem?”
“Several minutes ago most of out major systems stopped responding. Communications, helm, main computer. It’s like the bridge is completely cut off. And to make matters worse, our engines are offline. We’re just drifting through space.”
“That’s what we want to tell you. This is no accident. This is all part of a plot to take over the ship.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” asked a skeptical Brand. He then pointed at Cyndi. “And what the hell is she doing here? I thought I ordered you to be confined to quarters. And where in the hell is your damn husband? I’ve paged him several times, but he hasn’t shown up.”
“Sir. We heave reason to think that Ron is a part of this plot to hijack the ship,” said Colin.
“This is insane,” Brant shouted.
The lights in the bridge flickered twice, followed by a moment of complete darkness. Then a single row of dim lights along the ceiling began to glow.
“Anything?” Brant cried to the trooper seated at the front console.
“Still no response from controls,” he answered.
“Still nothing here,” the trooper at the right console reported.
Colin turned to Kelly. “How can they do this?”
“It would be easy if you were able to rip out all the bridge’s wiring and connections to every affected system. But to do so in the space of a few minutes would be one hell of a feat.”
“It would be easy if you had telekinetic power to rip everything out,” Colin amended. “And I imagine that if they want to control the ship, then they would have to access its systems from a different location.”
“An auxiliary control station,” Kelly answered.
Colin turned to Brant. “Where is it?”
“Deck Two. Corridor E.”
A trooper at the left console called out to Brant. “Commander, scanners have picked up an incoming ship.”
Brant rushed over to the trooper. Colin and the others followed.
“What type of ship?” Brant asked the trooper.
“It’s broadcasting an identification signature as a mining vessel. It’s making no attempt to hail us. It appears to be heading for our number three starboard emergency docking port.”
“We still have access to the ships scanners. Unfortunately all we can do is watch,” said Brant. “Lieutenant, since we can’t contact security, I want you go out and gather a team of armed troopers and head down to auxiliary control. Find out what’s going on and kick somebody’s ass.”
Colin held up his hands. “Wait. I don’t think it will be a good idea. The people that Ron is working with are ... unique. They might be more than your people can handle. That’s why the CID sent us. You’d better let us handle this ourselves.”
“This whole thing is part of a plot to kill the President,” Diane told Brant. “And these people are extremely dangerous. We’ve dealt with them before. You’d only be sending your people to their deaths.”
Brant gazed down to the floor, pondering what to do. Then he gave a nod. “Alright. I just hope you people know what you’re doing. But if it appears to me that you can’t handle the situation, I’m sending my own troops in. Lieutenant Jones here will show you the way to the auxiliary control station.”
Jones rose from his seat at the console and headed out of the bridge.
“Understood,” Colin said as he turned and led the group to follow Jones.
They managed to travel only a few feet from the bridge before they ran across their first obstacle. A massive metal door slid down with a loud boom to seal off the corridor.
“What the hell is this?” asked Kelly.
“Somebody has activated the emergency blast door,” Jones explained.
“I guess this is how they’re going to seal off the crew to keep them out of the way,” said Colin. “No doubt the rest of these doors through the ship have been shut.”
Colin stepped toward the door. His hand took on a blue glow and sparks leaped out as he touched the door’s metal surface. With a hiss, an opening began to form at the spot that he touched. The opening grew larger until it became a rough oval large enough to allow the group to pass through.
Cyndi’s mouth gaped open in amazement, as did Jones’s. “How did you do that?” she asked Colin. Then she looked at Diane and Kelly. “You’re just like Poltergeist and the others.”
“No,” replied Colin. “They’re evil. We’re not.”
Then they heard Brant’s voice booming over the public address system. “Attention, all hands. We are experiencing technical difficulties. All crew members are to remain at their stations until further notice. I repeat, remain at your stations.”
Colin gave no thought to Brant’s announcement as he led the way through the opening. They advanced down the corridor and came upon the second obstacle. Jones pressed a key on the elevator’s keypad. The elevator did not respond.
This came as no surprise to Colin. “They shut off the elevators. We’ll have to find another way down.”
Jones had the solution. “The emergency access lad
der to Deck Two. It’s over here.”
A few feet away from the elevator, Jones led the group to a six-foot-high oval-shaped hatch on the wall. It was marked ‘Access 01’ in white letters. He placed his fingers into a small handhold at the left side of the hatch and pulled it open. Inside was a metal ladder within a tube.
“This will take us down to Deck Two,” Jones said.
Colin started climbing down first. “I hope they’re not waiting for us.” A few moments later, he reached the bottom and pushed open a hatch in the floor. He hesitated for a moment, then sucked in a deep breath and climbed out into the corridor.
He looked to his left and right. There were several troopers lying dead on the floor. He saw no one alive. He stayed put as the rest of the group entered the corridor, then they followed Jones down the left corridor. It was a disturbing scene as they walked past a few more bodies. Some of them were dismembered and lying in pools of blood. Blood was splattered across the walls and floor. There were even two bodies that appeared to be frozen solid.
“Driscoll,” Colin whispered.
Jones drew out his laser pistol from its holster at his side. “What the hell did this?”
“You’ll find out soon enough,” Colin told him. Colin remained tense. He was ready for a disaster to drop down on their heads at any moment. The disaster revealed itself as a thick cloud of debris exploded out from the corridor’s walls, floor, and ceiling. Large and small fragments of metal and plastic and metal beams and pipes all swirled around the group as if propelled by a hurricane. Colin was struck in the face twice by large metal fragments and knocked on his back. Through this chaos he saw that the rest of the group also knocked to the floor. Holding up his forearms to guard his face, he got back to his feet. He was at a loss as to what to do next, but he knew who’s power he and the others were facing. Poltergeist, he told himself.
Two large metal fragments slammed into Colin head on. He stepped back, turning his head to the left. That was when he caught sight of the tall, dark image of Poltergeist at the corner of his right eye. The huge monster was floating in the air several feet away, his black hooded cape flowing under a strong gust of air. When Colin turned to look straight ahead, Poltergeist was gone. Colin looked to his left. Diane and Kelly were trying to rise up. Cyndi and Lieutenant Jones were still laying face down on the floor in front of them. Colin knew that they had no chance of fighting an enemy who could turn invisible at will and create cyclones of destruction. At least, not from this distance. They might have a chance if they could get closer.
Assassination Anxiety (The McKenzie Files) Page 18