The Chronicles of Benjamin Jamison: No More Lies (Book 3)

by Thomas Wright

“It’s going to get ugly, isn’t it?” she asked.

  “Yeah, I think it is,” I said. “But later, things will be a lot better. I’m hoping we won’t have to constantly be looking over our shoulders.”

  Ronnie wrapped her arms around my waist and leaned against my back. Her face felt cool against my warm back. “Don’t go getting yourself killed,” she said.

  “We’ve been through far rougher times than this.”

  “He’s going to be ready for you,” she told me. “There is no telling what he will throw at you. It’s Athena, remember, he can get access to cybernetic monsters, androids, soldiers — and all at the same time.”

  “How about clones? You think he has any of those up his sleeve?”

  “I would say at least one, unless you kill her before you get there.”

  “It’s a possibility,” I said. “I haven’t decided yet, I wanted to let her go have new life somewhere.”

  “Come on, let’s get you dressed before you see Aisling,” Ronnie told me. “She doesn’t need you in a towel right now. But I’m sure she would like a rain check.”

  “I’m not sure when the time will ever be right for anything anymore,” I said, ignoring the joke. “I like Taz and I think I’ll have a lot of freedom with her to pursue getting Reaper Inc. back on track.”

  “You mean that company you don’t own?”

  “You know that is only temporary,” I said. “I think she wants something else from me, though, so I’ll hold out for as long as it takes.”

  “You think?” Ronnie exclaimed. “That’s an understatement. She may get tired of your teasing someday.”

  “I think I don’t want to talk about it,” I said, poking her in the ribs under her arm. “Let me get dressed and see Aisling, then I want you to get Snake and Genius so we can discuss a plan of action for while I’m gone.”

  zzz

  Angel and Genius were in the hallway. She was smiling and he was doing his best to impress her. Angel was another problem I hadn’t considered yet. She only had two options for departure, or a third option, which was to stay with them. She would be an asset to the team with the upcoming events, relieving me of at least three people. It weighed heavy when I thought about it, though, and I had been trying not to. There were two different situations tied into one person, and once eliminated I wasn’t sure what I would do about the other.

  “What are you two up to?” I asked.

  “Talking about some past experiences and how close we came to buying the farm,” Genius said, turning to me. “She doesn’t believe you faced down those bugs on the Morningstar.”

  “Angel, Angel, Angel,” I said. “We are traveling with a giant spider, so please feel free to question her on the subject, since she was friends with those that parlayed. They also gave their lives for me, so I have a soft for them when the subject comes up. Imelda doesn’t know how to lie, and wouldn’t anyways, no matter what you ask her.”

  “He speaks the truth,” Blue eyes said. “About everything, except giving me a real name,” she added. “He has not done so yet, though he promised to.”

  They all looked at me as if I had done something wrong. I didn’t really need her making too many solid friends in the next couple days, although she had been around everyone for about two weeks, give or take. I had promised that before I learned more about her, but it really didn’t matter.

  “We will talk about that later. I haven’t made up my mind about you and need more time to think on it,” I said, looking directly at her and ignoring everyone else. “You will have to excuse me, I have someone waiting.” I left them standing there. Ronnie would handle getting the other two together. I had Lorelei monitoring and jamming all outgoing messages. If any happened, I wanted to know who the sender was.

  I waited at the door for a second and Natalia let me in. Aisling sounded a lot better, but didn’t look it just yet. It had only been an hour, so maybe in a couple more the purple bruising would be a few shades lighter.

  “I want to know what your plan is — or rather, we want to know what your plan is before you go off halfcocked and get yourself killed,” Aisling said while the others nodded in agreement.

  “Before we get to that, I need to ask you something,” I said. “Are you positive about what you were told and what you heard? Or do you think you were meant to overhear it?”

  “You think it was disinformation?” she asked. “No, Ben, I don’t think so. The things he told me face-to-face were said with plenty of hate backing it up, but the things I overheard, I think was because they didn’t care if I could hear them or not, since they were going to kill me in the end.”

  “Okay, so we don’t doubt the conversation. What about what you overheard, is there any chance you misinterpreted anything? Were you disoriented or hazy from the drugs?”

  “Maybe a little, but that didn’t matter. The little guy was a loud talker and he must not have understood the acoustics. The sound carried very clearly to where they had me sitting. He was talking to the simple-minded man, or more like yelling the conversation at him while he would just grunt in return.”

  “So what’s this all about, Dad, and why aren’t you telling me anything?” Natalia jumped in.

  “Yes, and what are you planning on doing about this situation you are keeping us in the dark about?” Taz added.

  I looked at Aisling. She looked sad and then looked down at the floor. I guess she knew I had to tell them something, and for Natalia it might be hard to get her head around. I decided to tell a little, but not all.

  “Sweetie,” I said, turning to her, “when I met Andrea it was the craziest thing. I had just been in a bar fight and was walking home. You remember how dark it was on the road from the farm to Gus’s? Well, I think you know some of the story. It was like love at first sight, and kind of madness in the beginning. I had been out of the Marines for about ten months and she shows up with this offer to come back on board. The truth is, it turns out that she was under orders to sleep with me and act or do whatever it took to get me to sign. You know it worked, of course, but in the end none of it worked out the way they planned. I was a loose cannon, not the calm and collected leader you see here today.” I took a breath and tried to collect my thoughts. My joke only got a half-smile.

  “I think their plan didn’t take chemistry and human nature into account, because I did grow on her and later it wasn’t pretending. The problem with that, though, is that there were people watching her and reporting back, and the person who they reported to loved her. Maybe it was a secret he kept, I don’t know, but it ate away at him. Long story short, he set the Allith on us at Hyson with the hope of killing her, me, Emily and you, although you were not a target, just collateral.”

  Natalia sat and stared at me. It was beginning to soak in. “He set it up,” I continued, “knowing I would stop to check out those damn beacons. None of us had any idea what was going on in the background, and at this point I don’t think Andrea did either. We didn’t look for transmissions that would have been sent to the Allith after we left in the shuttle to go investigate. Had we died on the planet, nothing would have happened, of course, but we didn’t, and they attacked. The clone Blue Eyes was made because of remorse and obsession, and she was also given a subliminal compulsion to kill me. Again, this was knowing that I survived through the information provided to him by someone or more than one. I had assumed it was the one we called the Master who made her, but he just did what he was paid to do.”

  My adopted daughter walked over and hugged me. I held her for a minute until she let go. “How bad is it going to get?” she asked.

  “There are people you have known for a while now and who I’m sure you like,” I said. “They have a part in this. I don’t know yet what I’m going to do with them. The first two on my agenda are Angel and Blue Eyes. Angel may be totally innocent in all of this, but right now she is under suspicion by association. Her little bit of drama came right at an opportune time when we were trying to leave, and she inserte
d herself among us with my help. You know I’m a sucker for a damsel in distress. Blue Eyes didn’t ask for any of this and was created as a result of all that’s gone on. Even knowing she is supposed to kill me if given the chance, I am still having a hard time blaming her, and she has nothing to do with my family being killed.”

  “You can’t let her live, Benjamin,” Taz said. “It would be like turning your back on an enemy.”

  “Could she be reprogrammed?” I asked. “Some sort of mind wipe, or new instructions?”

  “It would be better to kill her and use her genetic material to grow a new one, but I see no reason to do that either. Do you care for this clone?” Taz asked.

  “I go back and forth between wanting to end her and trying to figure out a way to let her go. Out of all of those involved, she had no choice in anything, and from the time I met her when I was kidnapped she had many opportunities to kill me and didn’t even try. I don’t know.”

  “Her master’s influence was very strong, so it may be he was able to give an order that overrode her compulsion.”

  “I vote we let her live,” Natalia said. “I don’t know why, but I like her.”

  Aisling just shrugged her shoulders, clearly not wanting to voice an opinion on the subject.

  “I believe we should be more cautious and discuss it further later,” she said finally. “If she does nothing in the meantime to warrant her life being ended, then maybe we can find a way to reprogram her without wiping her mind as Ben suggested.”

  “Now let me tell you the rest of it and what we are going to do,” I said, looking at the three of them.

  Chapter 29

  My crew, minus those I already had, were assembled in the hold under the impression we were going to discuss my plan. Lorelei locked herself on the bridge, and Aisling and Natalia were locked in Natalia’s room. I had them move after everyone had assembled, so no one would know.

  I stood facing everyone. They all seemed to be relaxed enough, and the four I needed to talk to hadn’t caught on yet that everyone was armed except for them. Nedra and Harry stood in the back behind Matt, Bill and Angel. I was counting on the three of them to stand together. Blue Eyes stood next to Ronnie, Snake and Shawna. I had Genius off to the side by himself with a data pad, looking up transmissions for me. No one had looked up at me yet, but I was sure they would when the subject of the meeting was revealed.

  “I have a couple of things to cover that relate to Angel and Blue Eyes and what their plans are,” I called out. “So, ladies, if you can tell me what it is you want to do with your lives now, I’ll drop you at the closest location to transportation along our path.”

  “I was hoping to stay with you,” Blue Eyes said.

  “So was I, for a little while at least,” Angel added. “It’s only been a day and I hadn’t planned this far out.”

  “I see,” I said calmly. “You essentially oversee the operations for one of the best private security firms on Athena, but you hadn’t planned any of yesterday’s little scene. How long have you known Matt, Bill and Andrea, Angel?”

  “The only one I’ve known for any period of time is Matt. I knew of Bill and Andrea, though, and had heard about Andrea’s death,” Angel answered.

  “Can you explain how you heard about her death?” I asked. “Did Matt tell you? And if so, why would he tell you?”

  “What’s this all about? Why are you questioning me?” Angel protested.

  “Angel, I’ll only ask once. Come over here and sit on the floor with your hands behind your head. You need to be moving, right now,” I said and nodded to Nedra. She pushed Angel in my direction and I grabbed her arm. “Now sit,” I told her, “hands behind your head. People think you’re dead, so don’t make me confirm the rumor.”

  She sat cross-legged on the floor, just as she was told. “I suppose you want me to do the same?” Blue Eyes said.

  “It would be nice if you cooperated,” I replied.

  “And if I don’t?”

  “Then I’ll be thinking of a name for a frozen piece of spider shit drifting in space instead of a blue-eyed clone. So how about you sit on this side and do what you’re told.” She moved quickly and sat down. This was just one more reminder that she wasn’t really Andrea, who never would have moved that fast.

  I nodded at everyone, and my crew all drew their weapons and backed away from Matt and Bill. Both looked around themselves at the faces of the people they had shared time and meals with, fought beside, and whose lives they had possibly helped save on occasion.

  “I’ve had all transmissions jammed and rerouted to that pad that Genius is holding,” I told them. “I did that when we left for Allond too, but then there was no need for you to report anything, since it was not news where we were off to. When I didn’t get any hits after a while, I shut it down. It was too bad it was before Hyson, or she might still be alive, and you wouldn’t exist.” I added this last part while looking down at Blue Eyes.

  Bill was beginning to freak out. “What are you talking about?” he asked, looking nervously at the people surrounding him.

  “Are you saying you don’t know what’s going on, Bill? I’m pretty sure you do,” I said. “Only you haven’t been reporting to the same person Matt does. When did you work the deal with Military Intelligence? Don’t worry, Matt already knows and doesn’t care. Right now, look around you — the people you see here are the only ones who care.”

  Bill and Matt were soldiers, and no matter the current circumstances, I knew they were going to follow orders. When self-preservation took over in their minds, it was every man for themselves. I wasn’t sure why they felt that, though, other than being out of their element. It wasn’t hard for me, on the other hand, to go from soldier to civilian, I was a bad apple to begin with.

  Matt still hadn’t opened his mouth.

  “I really wanted to find those responsible for killing my family,” I went on, “and I come to find out it’s the same people responsible for killing Andrea. You sent the message to the Allith, Matt. I thought she was your friend, but it seems her life was less important than following the orders of a murderer. You were alright with the Allith killing Andrea, Emily and Natalia, when all that was really required to appease them was to kill me. I can’t forgive you for that.”

  “I don’t need your forgiveness,” Matt replied finally, “and it doesn’t matter what you do to me. He will get you in the end. He has everything already worked out. He knows you’re coming sooner or later. I wanted to just kill you back on Anubis, but he wanted to let Andrea work, let her build a resume, and you were an easy target. Young and stupid somehow won over brains and beauty, and we’ve been on this long ride ever since.”

  “Well, you played your part perfectly. I never suspected you, and still wouldn’t, if your boss hadn’t given you up in conversation, thinking the person he told would be dead within a day. It always amazes me how they like to rub things in and gloat instead of just taking care of business.”

  “Matt, what have you done?” Angel said from the floor.

  “Doesn’t look good for either of you, does it, Angel?” I said, turning to her. “Let me spell it out for you. You’re already believed dead, so killing you doesn’t change a thing. Blue Eyes doesn’t even exist and never has on any system. She won’t be missed either. Matt here has a minute or two to draw a few more breaths, and Bill, you look lost. Is shit not turning out the way you hoped?”

  “What are you going to do?” Bill asked, looking up at Imelda as if anticipating the answer already.

  “I loved Andrea, and I liked you guys,” I said. “There was a time I would’ve died for you without a second thought, just as I would for any of my crew. They are the reason I can’t let this go. I can’t have even the slightest chance that how I deal with you comes back to harm any of them.”

  Angel was sobbing. I wanted to feel bad for her, but her ordeal wasn’t over yet. “Angel,” I said. “It’s my gut feeling that Matt knows more about your situation, if you want
to ask him. I’ll give him a minute to explain if he will.”

  “Andrea pushed your commander into the street,” Matt said. “It was her first assignment to prove her loyalty. Your commander was asked to join, but he declined as well as threatened to expose our organization. She was a first lieutenant at the time, and we had a camera set up to record the incident. Pushing him into the line of fire out of the view of the camera, they had hoped the rebels would shoot him, but as timing would have it, you fired at just the exact time and we had it recorded. He still has the chip it was recorded on, and even though you fooled them, he won’t destroy it right away.”

  “Blue Eyes,” I asked, “how did you know I was on Allond, and where to find me the day you kidnapped me?”

  “Our ship was cloaked, as you now know, and we followed the Warhammer and intercepted messages between your ship and it,” she answered. “Then we made our way to Allond after receiving instructions. We knew you were in the capital, so I was smuggled to the surface to wait. We gave your likeness to some of the merchants, and as soon as one of them recognized you I received a message with the information. You were not hard to find, Benjamin, and even easier to lure away.”

  “I know. It’s part of the reason you were made, Blue Eyes. The other part, of course, is so you can be with the man who had you created. How do you feel about warming his bed every night ‘til he tires of you and ends you?” I said to her. It was clear she wasn’t aware of this; the look on her face said as much.

  “If that is to be my fate, then kill me now,” she replied finally, a blankness in her eyes.

  “In due time,” I said.

  Lorelei informed me that she had brought the ship to a stop. I walked to the back and lowered the ramp. I stood there looking into the black of space for a moment. It always amazed me how vast space was. To say something was nearby, was also relative to the speed at which your ship could traverse time and space. To look at it like I was doing, words can’t express its vastness.

  I walked back and took the data pad from Genius.