“Yes, Sir.”
“Travis, I want you to contact the police authorities on Titan.”
“You aren’t submitting him on to the colonies’ most wanted list?” asked Barski.
“No, at this stage he has no idea that we are closing in on him. The minute we start going public with information he will vanish.”
“Wouldn’t that be a good thing?” asked Denver.
“No, he’d quickly be back to his old game. Or one of his own team would kill him and dispose of the body, either way our leads go cold and we’re left with nothing. No, I want this man tracked. Give his photo and credentials to police and border agencies on Titan, I want him identified and tracked from the moment he’s spotted.”
“Why don’t we let their locals bring him in?” asked Lin.
“You’ve seen what this gang are capable of, I neither want to trust it to the locals, nor endanger them.”
Kaufman turned and walked several paces away from the table and paused, standing in deep thought. It felt good to be relying ever more on facts and real information rather than speculation and guesswork. The organised gangs had remained several steps ahead of the authorities all along, but finally he could feel that they were making headway. He could hear steps approaching to his side and knew it would be Barski.
“How long till we reach Titan?”
“A couple of hours.”
Kaufman turned to look at his oldest and closest friend.
“If you were going to rob banks across the System, where would you setup base?” he asked.
“Somewhere with a lot of industry.”
“Why, Max?”
“Lots of traffic, little security, plenty of new faces and few questions asked. The industrial moons and districts are an ideal place to go unnoticed, as long as you don’t mind the surroundings.”
“But they wouldn’t do jobs in their own back garden?”
“No, but the district of Saturn is so vast that they could viably get away with it.”
“Mm, I am still not convinced.”
“Sir, I have everything we currently have on Maric.”
“Send them over to my station,” he replied.
Kaufman quickly sat down at the chair he had spent so many boring and fruitless hours at. Barski and Nowak leaned in behind him, staring at the screen of data. He got to the end of the short file quicker than he would have liked, quickly looking up at Davis.
“We have nothing on the guy for the last eight years?”
“No, Sir. After a year on Mars following his service, he simply vanished.”
“No warrants? Nothing on him at all?”
“No, Sir.”
“Christ, I thought we’d do better than that. No wonder he has evaded us this long, he’s good.”
“The year he was on Mars, do we have any address or employment info?”
“He worked private security, I have an address in the suburbs of Marsau.”
“Fine, good work. Nowak, can you contact your former colleagues in the city and have detectives sent to his old place of business and residential address?” asked Kaufman.
“Sir, not a good idea. The Chief and I never got on too well, he didn’t take my transfer to this unit well, especially when he learnt that the pay was more than his.”
“Sir, I’ll get on it, I made a few friends while we were there,” said Travers.
“It’ll have to do, get on it. Tell them to proceed with caution, we have no idea what they’ll be walking into.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Kaufman looked around the table of agents. They had stopped for only a minute to listen to the new information but were now back with their heads buried in their work. He could not help but feel that they were far from best suited to the task they had been appointed. It was without a doubt as much a publicity stunt as much as a practical application. Employing Earth police forces to become an interplanetary force made a statement in itself, one which was staunchly in favour of Earth voters.
Despite been born and bred on Earth, Kaufman had never considered humans to be any different across the colonies. To him, decent people were the same throughout the universe, and scum would always be equally scum. He did not appreciate being used as a political hammer. The Presidential election was due in just a few months. It was quite obvious to Kaufman that they were as much a part of the political campaign as they were a police force.
* * *
Putting down on yet another colony was not an especially welcoming idea. The crew of the Intrepid were feeling the strain of exhaustion, having done little but work and travel for days on end. Titan had been colonised early on in the days of space travel, having a thick atmosphere and substantial water deposits. To Kaufman, Titan just looked like a faded and hazier version of Mars, an ugly and harsh landscape with no re-deeming features in his eyes.
Titan was an incredibly cold environment, with a heavy atmosphere resembling the smog that Kaufman had become so familiar with in his home city. As they landed they could see the party that had come to meet them. The police officers wore a uniform that looked so antiquated it was more like a military dress uniform than the typical modern outfits. At their centre was a man, who seemed to be a city official, with rich and decadent jewels resting around his shoulders.
“Right, men, let’s do this,” said Kaufman.
He made his was down to the belly of the ship and out onto the ramp leading to the docking bay, followed by his agents. The city official stepped forwards, his arm outstretched to greet Kaufman and his team.
“Welcome to Titan, Lieutenant Kaufman, I am Nilson, Mayor of Titan 1, the capitol of the colony and district.”
“Thank you, Sir.”
“Listen up, Lieutenant. I am happy to lend assistance to you in bringing any criminals to justice, but I will not have my colony and my people treated like dirt in the name of justice. Do what you have to do and leave us in peace.”
“Yes, Sir, you have my word.”
“Good, now what can I do for you?”
“We are pursuing a criminal gang who we believe to be the Gadson Gang. Early today we forwarded a photo and description of one of their crew to your security staff, have you received any information in regard to sightings?”
“At this time we have not had any indicator that this man is on our moon, nor the ship he was last reported as travelling aboard.”
“Yes, Sir, I understand that, but he has almost certainly ditched it and moved onto a new ship by now. If he is here then it is for one thing only, to steal vast sums of money or valuables.”
“What do you want from me?”
“You have far greater manpower than our team. I need you to put police teams and analysts on the case of finding him. This is best achieved by distributing his photograph to all banks in the city, but only to managers and security chiefs. Whatever close circuit cameras your banks have, we need analysts and officers going over them to look for any leads.”
“Your suspect, he will already be involved in a crime?”
“Yes, Sir, these men work fast and are efficient.”
“Very well, I’ll pass this information on to our Chief of Police immediately, please have your people forward all of the appropriate data to my secretary and I will see that it gets to the right people. I am heading for the Police HQ to oversee this personally if you would like to accompany my motorcade.”
“Thank you, Sir, we will.”
* * *
Kaufman sat in the passenger seat of one of their cruisers outside the docking bay, waiting for the motorcade to get moving. He had taken two cruisers with seven officers with him, leaving the rest to work on board the ship and at the dock.
The buildings of Titan all had their own oxygen supply and heat sources, just as the police cruisers did, but travelling on foot on the surface of the vast moon was a rather different story. The field agents all wore a thermo suit under their clothes, it was a skin-tight body suit to maintain body heat and covered all but their heads.
The suits had a hood that sealed around the rim of the face when exposed to the elements. All who travelled on Titan carried breathing masks on their belts sealed into the hood of the thermo suits, completely sealing the human body from the elements.
On their backs they wore a form fitting slim-line oxygen tank that allowed them to go about normal business and breathe for six hours in the open atmosphere. The low gravity of the moon made it feel as if they were not carrying any weight at all, making them check regularly they still carried their weapons.
The engines of their cruisers fired up as they saw the Mayor’s motorcade pass them by. His personal vehicle was an armoured vehicle based on a Ford utility truck but designed to look as civilian as possible. A lighter car rode in front and behind. Kaufman’s two cruisers rolled on out of the docking bay behind the motorcade and into the open grounds of Titan.
Breaking out into the natural light of the colony, they were struck by how alien the world was to what they were used to. They were in the lightest part of the day, but Titan was far from the sun and had an incredibly dense atmosphere. It was a dim and muddy lighting, far from a warm welcome. Everyone who walked on the streets was covered from head to toe and in breathing apparatus. The low gravity meant that people bounced and floated along the streets.
“Why in the hell would anyone want to live here?” asked Barski.
“You got me, but then why would we understand it? We chose to stay on Earth.”
“Look at the place though, it’s dull, ugly, imagine never being able to walk out the door and breath the fresh air.”
“We signed up to work on places like this, is it so surprising that others would too?”
Barski nodded in a partial agreement, but he still looked around in surprise at what an ugly colony they had landed on. The buildings and vehicles they passed were for the most part no different to what they had become so familiar with in their home city, with only a few noticeable differences. All buildings had enclosed entrances in order to maintain a sealed environment, and not much took place on the streets. Gone were the hot dog stands on street corners and people sat reading newspapers.
Titan was not a particularly hostile planet compared to many environments that man had set foot upon in the last few hundred years, but to Earth dwellers it could only be described as alien.
“What the hell is that?” asked Barski.
Kaufman looked down along the line of vehicles where he could see a hive of movement up ahead. Even though he was not familiar with the world, he knew that such a gathering of people in the streets would be an unusual sight. As they rolled on a little further he could make out the familiar shape of banners. It was a protest, just as he had seen so many times back home.
The Mayor’s motorcade was heading straight for the wall of protesters. Surrounded by tall commercial buildings, there was no way they could get around it. The line of vehicles came to a halt. The vehicles were sealed from the environment, but all had speakers that let in the sounds of the outside. They could already hear the increasing volume of the angry crowd.
“Are protests typical for Titan, Max?”
“Not that I’ve heard of.”
Kaufman hit the intercom linking him back to the ship.
“This is Kaufman. We’ve just hit a wall of protesters. I want to know everything you have on protests, riots, civil disturbances, the lot.”
“Sir, I’ve never heard of protests in the cities of Titan,” said Denver.
“Neither has Barski, but the Mayor is stuck in the thick of it and we’re right in there with him.”
“I’m looking through our records now, there’s nothing serious of note.”
“Then check the city police files.”
“We don’t have access or the authority to do that, Sir.”
“I don’t care, do whatever you have to!”
Kaufman waited impatiently for the information he needed. Some of the crowd up ahead had begun to swarm around the Mayor’s vehicle. Denver’s voice came back over the radio.
“Sir, I have got city reports of disturbances, riots and protests over the last month.”
“Why is this the first we have heard of them?”
“The reports downplay the incidents as much as possible, and from what I can see the media has been kept quiet on a lot of it.”
“You mean the Mayor has been covering up these incidents?”
“It would appear so, Sir.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Kaufman noticed a man walk out on a protruding ledge of one of the buildings. Before he could make sense of the situation the man lifted a handheld rocket launcher to his shoulder and fired.
The device was a primitive launcher using some kind of explosive propellant, leaving a large puff of smoke and flame pouring from the tube. The device flew at high speed towards the rear escort car, exploding on impact. The explosion was an immense shock, not just to see, but to their eardrums. The vehicle vanished into a ball of smoke and flame, the tailgate of the car smashing into the front of their Ford as it flew from the vehicle. Kaufman shook his head, trying to regain some hearing.
“This is Kaufman, the Mayor is under attack, I repeat, the Mayor is under attack, I need all units on the ground immediately!” shouted Kaufman.
He reached for the door of the car but Barski grabbed his arm and stopped him.
“The masks!” he shouted.
They pulled the hoods of the thermo suits over their heads before lifting the breathing masks to their faces. The masks sealed with a magnetic rim to the brim of their hoods. The completely clear masks covered from their chins to their forehead, giving them unrestricted vision, a small nozzle attached at the side piped in oxygen from the tanks hidden beneath their coats.
“Ok. Go, go, go!” shouted Kaufman.
The eight IBI officers leapt from their vehicles and ran as quickly as they could towards the Mayor’s car, gliding and skipping along in the low gravity of Titan. The crowd was already panicking, many were throwing down their banners and fleeing the scene, several lay wounded from the blast, their bodysuits pierced by shrapnel.
Kaufman could see the shooter on the roof ledge preparing the launcher for another shot. Lifting his pistol, Eric fired three shots into the suspect’s chest, dropping him immediately. As he turned to continue onwards, the street flashed again in another explosion as the lead escort vehicle erupted into flames. The guards that were trying to get out were blown clear and incapacitated or dead.
“Secure the Mayor, anyone approaches with a weapon, you shoot them!” shouted Kaufman.
Doors on either side of the street burst open as armed men flooded onto the street. They had dark shaded breathing masks covering their faces. Gunfire rang out as the masked men brought their assault weapons to bear. A single shot hit the side of Kaufman’s armour near his ribs, causing his body to jolt. The strike hit him like a heavy punch, but he stayed on his feet, stumbling over a support wall of a nearby building.
The IBI agents all dived for cover as bullets landed all around them. Kaufman peeked around the corner to see the Mayor’s armoured vehicle being breached and the Mayor being dragged from it. Two bullets impact next to his face, spraying dust particles over his mask. They were utterly pinned down and helpless as the Mayor was being kidnapped. The guns finally went silent as engines roared to life and the kidnappers made their getaway.
“Into the cars! Get after them!” Kaufman ordered.
They leapt into their cruiser. It had taken numerous hits from small arms fire, the armour brushing them off. Barski fired the engines up and raced forwards, rising over the burning wrecks of the escort vehicles and the abandoned Mayor’s car.
“This isn’t our problem you know!”
“It happened on our watch, Max, and we are the only people able to pursue them. Clearly crime and anarchy is getting out of control on this colony, and that is exactly what we were employed for to fight.”
“Yes, Sir!”
“Those attackers were well organise
d and armed, but they also had the element of surprise. Weber, pass the weapons forward.”
The two agents in the back of the cruiser nodded and reached back to prepare their shotguns and submachine guns.
“Lin, get your team armed and ready for a fight. I am authorising a shoot to kill policy, it is vital that we get the Mayor back alive!”
“Affirmative, Sir,” she replied.
The two police cruisers darted in and out of traffic, desperately trying to keep up with the three vehicles the suspects were escaping in. Kaufman looked at a map, trying to draw some conclusion as to where they were heading, until it finally struck him. District 11 was marked as a no-go zone for authorities. It was a hive of lawlessness and criminals. It was the site of the first space dock on Titan, and a refuge from the authorities.
“Come in Intrepid!”
“This is Denver.”
“Get airborne now! The Mayor has been kidnapped and we are in pursuit of three vehicles. They are heading for District 11, you must cut them off before they reach it!”
“Sir, we aren’t allowed to fly across the city!”
“I don’t give a crap, you do whatever you have to!”
It was a vast city, the oldest and largest on the colony, huge sprawling industrial sectors dispersed by ugly and vast residential estates. They were just about able to keep the fleeing vehicles in sight, but not close the distance. The vehicles they were pursuing were highly modified and very fast cars that had been intended for this purpose.
“Denver, are you in the air yet?”
“Yes, Sir, we’re en route.”
“They’ll be in District 11 in less than fifteen minutes, it is imperative that you make it. Where are the city cops?”
“They have been notified of the situation and are on their way, Sir.”
“Sergeant, do what you can, Kaufman out!”
“This ain’t the kind of response from the locals I’d expect.”
“No, Max, my thoughts exactly.”
“What are you thinking?”
“Could be corruption, or maybe many of them support the cause.”
Starforce Ganymede Page 13