Noticing something was up, and only being able to hear Joel’s side of the conversation, Garet sat up.
“Something must be wrong. She messaged me hours ago. Are you sure you didn’t miss her?” Joel’s eyes darted left to right, as if searching the space in front of him for insight.
“No, we got here about ten minutes before we said we would. If she got to the hangar, we’d know about it. I can go check with the main gate, though. See if she signed in.”
“Yeah, if you could, that would be helpful. Call me back.”
Joel disconnected the call.
Shit, if only there was some way to trace her holo. That had been an Oz trick, though. He had no idea how to do that. He stood up, and started pacing, trying to figure out his next move.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Spaceport, Hangar 08771A, Outskirts of Uptarlung
Crash had told Brock about the conversation, and the two quickly got into Crash’s car to drive down to the gatehouse.
“I hope everything’s all right,” muttered Crash. “Joel sounded anxious. I think they’re mid-mission. Figured they had a client with them at the safe house when we interviewed.”
“If I had known you were going to be working this team, I would have worked much harder at the interview!” Brock said, rolling his head against the headrest to look at him and smiling. For a short moment their eyes locked, but Crash had to turn away to watch the road. Brock broke the moment further by commenting on the car.
“Man, you’ve got nothing personal in this car. No gear, nothing to make it comfortable. Just like something issued temporarily by the military.”
“You know me. Mission ready, and not much else to plan for.”
“Yeah. I remember.”
They pulled up by the gatehouse and they both got out. Crash tapped on the door, and then stepped into the little office. The gatehouse guard looked up from his holo. From the color of light coming off it, he was probably watching a movie.
“Yup?” he asked. “How can I help?”
“Sorry, we were just wondering, have you had a Molly Bates sign in yet?”
Brock stood in the doorway watching the exchange.
“Molly Bates?” The guard clicked to a different frame on his holo and scanned down a page. “No, not tonight. You expecting her?””
“Yeah, over at hangar 08771A.”
The guard looked down at his list again, and shook his head. “Sorry, nothing here. Tried calling her holo?”
“No, not yet. Thanks.” Crash stepped out of the office, and they headed back to the car.
“What you thinking?” asked Brock.
“I’m thinking that maybe Joel has reason to be worried. You don’t arrange to meet your new crew for an urgent mission and then just not show up….”
Then, having another thought, he popped his head around the door and spoke to the guard. “Hey, if you have her sign in, can you get her to call us straight away?”
The guard nodded. “Sure.”
“Oh, and we’re expecting to take receipt of some supplies too. So we’re around if they show up.”
“Yep, got your holo contact on your sign-in. I’ll let you know.”
Crash nodded his thanks, and then stepped outside again. He pulled up his holo and dialed Joel.
Joel answered. “Hi, Crash. Anything?”
“Hey, Joel, we’re at the gatehouse, and they haven’t had her check in at all. I guess we’ll just wait here, but let me know if there is anything we can do.”
“Okay, let me know if you need anything.”
Crash clicked off.
“Maybe we should wait back at the hangar?” Brock suggested.
“Good plan,” agreed Crash. They returned to the car, and set off back to the hangar, keeping their eyes peeled and taking in the lay of the port, just in case.
Unknown location
Molly started to regain consciousness. Trying to move, she realized she was still tied to the chair. Her head hurt something awful, but from the inside out, rather than from that bump she took earlier.
Shifting in her chair, she tried to get more comfortable and sit up a bit. The sick feeling from the beer was still with her, but amplified ten times with a different type of hangover.
Oz. Are you there?
She felt something shift in her neurology, like Oz was booting up or something. She wished she could reach around for her holo and run a diagnostic, but there was no way she was getting out of these bindings without some help.
Oz, she called to him more determinedly. Wake your fat arse up. We’re in trouble.
The stirring happened again.
Molly started scanning the room for something to help her get free. Anything. Something sharp, something she could leverage the ties free with. Just something…
How about I call Joel?
Oh, Oz, you’re awake. Thank goodness.
Relief flooded through their shared system, and even Oz seemed to buzz through her head a little more lucidly.
Yes, get out coordinates to Joel.
She thought for a moment.
Any ideas what that chemical bath bomb could have been?
Let me find out… Looks like it’s some kind of experimental sleep drug that was discontinued in stage two trials because it would bind with the blood and kill their test subjects.
You’re kidding?
I am not.
So how did I survive?
The alcohol in your system. It seems that the alcohol has a higher affinity with your blood than the toxin. This means that your liver has mostly been able to excrete the toxin before it could bind to the blood or build up in any of your organs to cause any significant damage. The fact that you also fell unconscious meant that you took in less of the toxin in before it dissipated.
Molly shifted in the chair again, trying to wiggle her hands free.
I’ve managed to get a message to Joel’s holo with our coordinates. If he’s still in the house with the jamming signal activated, he won’t get the message until he either switches off the jamming or leaves the property.
He must have noticed I’m missing. Mind, the way we left things, I’m not sure he still cares. He may have abandoned the mission entirely. Okay, let’s find a way to get me free…
Dewitt Residence, Spire
Dewitt opened the front door to what Paige could only guess was his mansion. It was enormous and beautiful, like something out of a fairytale in her books as a child.
Dewitt grabbed her by the arm and pushed her in. Henry followed, letting Erik take care of the car.
Inside the mansion, Paige noticed beautiful floors and rugs, and what looked like a grand piano in the foyer. She guessed it was a piano but she’d never seen one in real life. They were something of a relic from the human civilization. Why he liked it, she wasn’t sure.
Dewitt didn’t give her a chance to take in the environment. Distracted, he pulled her roughly toward the stairs and pushed her upwards.
“I’m going to make our guest more comfortable upstairs. Erik, come. You’ll need to guard her.”
“I’m Henry.”
“Henry, Erik…whatever.” Dewitt answered.
Henry followed him obediently.
At the top of the stairs, Dewitt guided her to what must have been a guest room and shoved her in. Rethinking this, he followed her in, grabbed her again, and then shoved her into the closet. He closed the closet and bound the handles together using a curtain tie.
“She’s your responsibility now. Under no circumstances does she leave that closet. Understood?” He stared at the Ogg.
Henry nodded, and Dewitt left, closing the bedroom door behind him.
Unprepared for taking care of a live prisoner he wasn’t to kill, Henry stood awkwardly looking at the closet. He went to cross his arms and hesitated. He cocked his hip and put on hand on it, then stood straight again. Finally, and self-consciously, he sat down on the bed and rested his hands in his lap.
This was not what he had i
n mind this morning when he was told to tail a traitor.
“Seems like we’re all going to transfer dimensions painfully.” he said out loud, forgetting that the girl was sentient, and alive.
Safe house, fifty kilometers west of Uptarlung
Joel had been pacing for a good ten minutes, and Garet didn’t know whether he should keep working to try and console Joel. He clearly cared for Molly, even if they had gone through an enormous bust-up.
He looked up, watching Joel, trying to decide what to do.
“Is there any way to track them at all?” he asked. “I remember my aunt put an app onto my cousin’s holo so she knew where he was if he ever got into trouble. Totally ruined his social life, though…”
“No. We hadn’t thought that far. This operation is brand new.” Joel was still pacing.
“You know, the best thing for us to do is get this stuff out according to plan. She might just have gone to a bar or something. They had a few drinks before they left.”
“You don’t seem that worried about Paige.”
“I’m sure they’re fine. I’ve seen you guys in action. There is no one I’d feel safer pairing Paige with. Molly knows how to handle herself, and I know she’s got Paige’s back. From what I could overhear, those girls were bonding.”
Joel paused for a moment, taking in the information. If he hadn’t been such a hothead, she never would have been drinking like that.
His holo beeped as a priority message came in. In the panic, he’d forgotten to reset the jammer.
Opening the message, he saw it was from Molly. Well, Oz. “We’ve been kidnapped, Paige is gone, here are our coordinates. Please hurry.”
Forgetting Garet, he grabbed his packed gear from the other room and headed out to the car. Garet was shouting, but it was background noise to Joel. Firing up the engine, he was ready to take off when Garet, barefoot on the gravel, appeared at his window.
Opening the car window, Joel remembered the bigger operation.
“Let me come with you. I can help.” His face was anxious, showing deep concern for Paige.
That made him a liability.
“No. You need to stay here and get that data out to those channels we talked about. That’s the only way you have of helping Paige right now. Go. Get it done. I’m on the holo. And be careful—the jamming isn’t active, so this safe house is a sitting duck.”
He realized that it had been ever since the girls were taken, but there was no time to explain that to Garet.
A moment later the car was halfway to the strato highway and Garet was left watching the condensate trail upwards into the inky night.
---
Staring up into the sky, Garet had been wondering about Paige. About where she might be, about what he’d pulled her into for his own selfish ambitions. If there were a way to go back and do things differently, he would jump at the chance.
He remembered her smile the other week when he’d met her at work to take her for lunch. This world, the anxiety, the politics—it had all seemed so far away. How could things turn so bad, so quickly?
Now, with the cold and atmosphere slipping into his shirt, beating gently against his skin, he suddenly became aware of himself. Stepping carefully over the gravel in his bare feet he made his way back into the not-so-safe house.
He wondered if he should reactivate the jamming signal, but he had no idea how to do it. If he did manage it, it would mean he couldn’t get his messages out, nor would he hear from Joel about Paige.
Joel was right. The best thing he could do now was get that intel out to the media channels. He debated in his mind which to do first: the pictures to the judge, or the bribery release to the news desks.
Judge first, he thought. It might take the judge longer to open the images, and the news desks were manned continuously.
Garet pulled up the kitchen holo Joel had been working on, and started uploading the images to a holo message.
“Send.” The judge was taken care of.
Ten minutes after that, he hit “send” on the release to all 411 news desks they’d selected. He sat back in the chair at the kitchen table, and waited for the effect to take hold.
Dewitt Residence, Spire
Dewitt was in the master bedroom changing his clothes. The last thing he needed was to be caught with forensic evidence linking him to the death of Molly Bates. He decided to save the shower for after he’d gotten rid of the other girl. He might end up getting messy interrogating her.
His holo rang.
Shit, this was the last thing he needed.
It was Andus.
He ran his fingers through his hair and wiped his face with his hands, getting his brain in gear to talk to the one man who might be able to make all this go away.
If he’d been a praying man, he might have said a few words requesting help. But he wasn’t.
He hit “accept”.
“Mr. Andus.”
“Have you seen the news?” the cold voice rattled through his bones. Andus was not happy. What glimmer of humanity he normally seemed to have was no longer present.
“Er, no. Not recently.” He moved towards the bedroom holo and flicked it on. There on the news channel was his face, and the reporter was talking about how he’d been taking bribes.
“What the…” He ran out of breath and watched open-mouthed.
“As you can see, it’s going to be very difficult to help you with this. Thankfully you’ve only incriminated yourself. You won’t be hearing from us again, but if you breathe even a word of our past dealings to anyone, you can be assured that we will neutralize any threat to us. I have friends in many high—and low—places. You are safe nowhere.”
The call was disconnected.
Dewitt tried to call Andus back, but the call wasn’t connecting.
He tried again and again. Then, distracted by the holoscreen and the carnage of his life disintegrating around him, he perched on the end of the bed, his body in shock.
---
“Mr. Andus, your chief of security is on the line for you.” His secretary’s voice piped through his desk holo.
Andus leaned back in his large office chair and rocked himself ever so slightly, the toes of his expensive shoes dragging in the plush gray carpet that covered the entire expanse of his lavish office.
“Patch him through,” he ordered coldly, still pissed about the whole Dewitt shitstorm.
“Yes?” he said, as he heard the line connect.
“Mr. Andus, we’re en route. We have a team of five plus myself. How would you like us to proceed when we get there?”
“I need this to be clean. The authorities are probably also on their way, and we don’t want to leave any evidence of our involvement. Bottom line: we cannot have him taken in. Not for anything. Your orders are to neutralize the target. Do you understand?”
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