by Ted Iverson
“No. You will be ready. There are reports of large solar flares hitting the Earth on Friday. It’s said that all communications here on Earth and all satellites will be effectively shut down for hours. I cannot believe that an event of this nature could happen. Perhaps a brief shut down is believable, but to be inoperative for that long a period? Impossible. My science advisors all agree: it’s those two Bindls we somehow haven’t found. They must be behind this.”
“I assure you, sir, that we’re doing everything in our power to capture them.” Thoma stood and faced Axion. For the first-time anger tinged his voice. “If you don’t believe that I’m capable of handling this situation then you should just say so.”
“No matter. You make sure that the men are ready to leave the airstrip at Space Tech on the twenty-second. I will join them that morning to lead the mission.”
“You? I was supposed to lead this mission.”
“You, Thoma? Never! You will stay back. I’ll call a special session of the Senate on Sunday where you will introduce a new piece of legislation: the formation of an OEC security force.
“You will also announce that we have already left to apprehend the last two Bindls. You will explain the need for this action: that the prototype has been located and the Bindls are going to sabotage it. Therefore, the creation of a security force was necessary in order to stop such criminals.
“The bill will pass because you will cast the first ‘yes’ vote. Won’t you?” Axion reached across the desk and jabbed Thoma in the ribs. “Space Tech will soon be mine. Don’t disappoint me. I have lost all tolerance for those who disappoint me. Friday!” He turned and stormed out of the room.
Thoma had to stop Axion at all cost. He would make his move when Axion left to go to Space Tech. Yes, he would reveal Axion’s plan at the special session and after he had convinced the Senate, there would still be time to interrupt Axion’s plan. Though sweating profusely, Thoma began to shiver. For the first time he realized that if Axion were to find out his plan he would not survive.
Joanne needed to contact Orion and Zach. She decided that that was the best place to do that from would be the Bindl home. Ty had previously given her a key in case he needed to send her there. She contacted Paul Spencer and convinced him to give her Orion and Zach’s private com code. Now she sat at one of the many holocoms located throughout the house and tapped a few plasma buttons. A figure surrounded by trees appeared.
“Joanne, is that you?”
“Yes. It’s so good to see you, Orion. Are you both all right?” Her voice quivered.
“Yeah, actually. We’re doing okay. What do you need?”
“I’ve found out where they’re keeping Ed and Alec. I can’t tell you how, but I have. After I’d been forced into getting Ty to Space Tech where they arrested him—well, I needed to find a way to get him out. I came up with a plan, but I have to get Ed and Alec out first.” Her voice had evened out and her expression was determined.
“You came up with a plan to free them? How can we help? Just tell us where to meet you and we’ll be there.”
“Yes, I came up with a plan. I can’t tell you where I am.”
“What do you mean you can’t tell us?”
“They’ll follow me, and you’d be apprehended on the spot. This is something I have to do alone.”
“Look, there is no way you can pull this off. You just can’t walk in and break them out. You’ll need our help.”
Zach entered the image. “Now just hold on.” He looked at his brother, “She may not be able to do it herself, but she may not need us to help either.”
“What do you mean by that?” Orion insisted.
“Do you remember what I gave to Thoma? If he was able to deliver it, Ed or Alec would know what to do with it. All they’d need is a diversion. Joanne, are you following me?”
“I think I am. What did you give him?”
“It doesn’t matter. Trust me. We have to come up with a diversion. Hey, I see you are at the house. That will help.”
Joanne’s brows rose in surprise. “Actually, I am.”
“First off, are you willing to do anything to help us?”
“Yes, you know I am.”
“Perfect, listen to me. Here’s the plan: in my mother’s closet...”
“I will put you through now,” the woman behind the desk answered.
Thoma’s holopad activated and a female form appeared. “Yes, what may I do for you?”
“Senator Thoma, thank you for taking my call. I’m Joanne Tillsen, Ty Bindl’s personal assistant. I understand you might have been in contact with some friends of mine.”
He sat there for a long moment then reached out and touched some keys. Her figure flickered and went blank.
“Senator, are you there?” She’d seen him reach out to the holopad. What if he’d cut her off and wouldn’t speak to her? Her heart sank. Maybe he hadn’t gone to see them, and he didn’t want to face her. If he hadn’t gotten the item—whatever it was—to Ed and Alec, this conversation would be useless and the plan would fail.
She was about to try to reconnect when his image reappeared. “I’m sorry for the short disconnect. I felt the need to move to a more secure channel for this conversation. What we are going to talk about cannot be shared. In any event, the answer to your question would be yes. I have been to see them.”
“I see. Did you happen to deliver a package to them?”
“Yes, I did. Your large friend found himself the recipient. Your other friend, however, no thanks to His Excellency, was ‘out of commission’ after the visit. Why so much interest on such matters?”
“Senator Thoma, I’m not at liberty to discuss everything. However, besides the friends that you visited, I have two others and we need a favor...”
Joanne drove her hover right up to the gate when she arrived at the Meteoric installation. She was nervous. Had Thoma held up his end of the deal? If he hadn’t... She shook the thought from her head, took a few deep breaths, and lowered the window.
“Your credentials, ma’am,” the guard ordered.
They were hanging from her neck, so she slid them off and gave them to him.
“Identification.”
She fumbled through her handbag and produced her picture ID. She tried not to look nervous. He left with the items and disappeared into the guard shack while two more guards stood in front of her vehicle, weapons at the ready. She smiled at the two men and pretended to fuss with her hair. The man returned from the shack and handed the items back to her, then motioned to the two guards in front. They dropped their weapons to their sides and stepped aside as the large steel gate opened.
Joanne placed the pass back around her neck and dropped the ID back into her bag, then drove her hover through. A few minutes later she was parked in front of a small building. She exited the hover and headed toward the entrance.
Upon entering the building, she was stopped by two more guards. She lifted the pass from around her neck and displayed it to them. They stepped aside and she headed down the staircase. When she came to a large steel door, she tapped a com button on the bulkhead next to it. A wicket door slid open and a pair of eyes peered through.
Again, she raised the pass. With a loud click, the door opened. Feeling more nervous than she’d ever felt, she walked into the small area. Two more guards met her. She identified herself, and they opened another heavy steel door. The filth and smells confronting her almost made her retch.
Composing herself, she entered the large dark room and the door shut behind her. She could make out three cells, but only two were occupied. A figure in each stirred as she made her way over to them.
She stopped short and called out softly, “Ed, Alec. It’s Joanne.”
Both men reached the front of their cells at the same time. Alec couldn’t believe his eyes. “Joanne, what are you doing here? Are you out of your mind?” He noticed she was dressed in a business suit and heels, not the best outfit for a place like this.
She heard the des
pair in his tone. “I wanted to check on you both and, when I heard you were being held at the same location, I thought I needed to make every effort to see you. Senator Thoma helped arrange my visit.” Her eyes were slowly adjusting to the lack of light and she could see that the two men had been abused, repeatedly. She wanted to cry, but restrained herself.
Ed reached out and she took his hand. “I am so sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but they have Ty too. I don’t know where he is.”
“Have you talked with Zach and Orion? We hear they’ve been captured as well.”
She squeezed his hand ever so slightly. “No, I haven’t seen them, nor have I even talked with them.” She squeezed again.
“Are they hurt? Do you at least know that?”
Again a squeeze. “No, I just don’t know anything about where they are or how they may be.”
The tone of her voice as she spoke and the slight squeezes finally got across to Ed that the two boys weren’t captive. Her being there could not be a coincidence.
“I am sorry, but I can’t stay any longer; it isn’t permitted. I’ll try to stay in touch as much as I can. If by any chance I see Zach or Orion, I’ll tell them you said hello.” With one last squeeze at the mention of their names, she let go of Ed’s hand.
She reached through Alec’s cell, and tenderly rubbing his hand, said, “It’ll be okay; it really will.” She turned one last time to Ed and gave him a sinister smile and a small, almost imperceptible nod.
Ed was taken aback for an instant. Then it hit: this was the moment. She was here to rescue them. Out of all the people it could have been, it was Joanne. His mind ran overtime now. There was no time to strategize. He’d have to go with whatever Joanne had planned.
He moved to the back of the cell and leaned against the wall, hands behind his back, and started to loosen the brick.
She made her way to the steel door. As she knocked, Alec and Ed noticed her pull her right foot back, then swing it forward, hitting the long heel on the ground. It broke, but hung precariously from the shoe. She glanced back and smiled mischievously. Then once more she turned to the door. The guard opened it to find Joanne standing on her left foot, with her right leg bent backward at the knee. She was hanging on to the door frame with her left hand.
“Can you believe it? I broke a heel.”
As the guard bent down to look, she reached down, broke off the heel, and pressed a small hidden button. A long thin blade emerged from the heel. With incredible speed and deadly precision, it found its way into the unsuspecting guard’s forehead with a sickening thud! He fell to the floor, blood trickling around the implanted knife blade.
While Joanne was disabling the guard, Ed had removed the device from its hiding place and placed it on the lock of the cell. It was one of Zach’s nanodevices. The nanobots had the cell unlocked by the time the guard hit the floor. With blinding speed Ed placed himself next to Joanne just as the next guard came through. Before the guard could take a breath, Ed enveloped him in a head lock. With a quick twist and a noticeable crack, Ed broke the guard’s neck. The body fell next to his partner’s.
Ed glanced at Joanne. She just shrugged sheepishly. He could only smile.
Alec watched in shocked silence. Coming around, he said, “Excuse me, but if you two are going on a killing spree, I’d like to get out of here first.”
Ed located the keys on one of the dead men and moved to unlock Alec’s cell. Alec exited. “What next?” he asked, looking directly at Joanne.
Ed removed the nanodevice from his cell lock and placed it into his pants pocket. He was the one to answer. “We escape, of course.” He walked over and gave Joanne a hug. Then, holding her away at a short distance, he grinned. “Incredible, just incredible.”
He let her go, bent down, and grabbed the weapons lying on the ground. He tossed one to Alec and kept one for himself. “Would I be wrong in guessing that you are packing?” he asked Joanne.
“Who me?” She opened her suit coat, undid a flap in the lining, and pulled out a small plasma pistol. She winked. “I don’t believe in violence.” She slipped the pistol into her waistband at the small of her back and let the coat close. Discarding her high heels, she dug out a pair of sneakers from her bag and slipped them on. “There are two more at the top of the staircase. I should go up there alone. I’ll get one of them to come down here and you can do whatever you need to. I’ll take care of the last one.” She was happy that the plan was working so far, but she was aware that much could still go wrong.
As she started up the staircase, Alec tugged at her coat. “I was just wondering: does Ty know that you do this on the side?”
“Unfortunately, there’s a lot he doesn’t know. Yet.”
Ed and Alec chuckled.
She slowed to a walk near the top of the stairs and caught the eye of one of the guards. “Excuse me,” she said. “They asked if one of you gentlemen could go down. Something about a lock not working, I think.”
One of the men shook his head in disgust, shouldered his weapon, and descended the stairs. The other watched her as she opened her bag and rooted around for something. She found her cosmetic case, fumbled with it, then dropped it and got to her knees to retrieve it.
Just then, there was a commotion from downstairs. The guard swung his weapon from his shoulders and turned toward the staircase. Before he hit the first step, she had her weapon out and had gotten off two shots. Each beam found its mark.
The man tumbled down the first flight and came to a stop on the landing, right at Ed’s feet. He bent over, grabbed the man’s weapon, and handed it to Alec, who slung it over his other shoulder. They looked up and saw Joanne peering down at them. “Well, come on. We’ve got a long way to go before we get out of here.”
At the top, the three stood for a moment and Alec asked, “So now what? I don’t see how three of us will get past so many men.”
“Relax,” Ed reassured him. “You managed to escape the last time you faced a plethora of men. Besides, I have to think that there’s more to this plan than just getting us to this point.” He eyed Joanne.
“Yes, there is, but you’ll have to do what I tell you. If it goes bad... well, Ed, I’ll just blame you.” The gleam in her eye was irrepressible.
“Heroic and funny, now that’s something you don’t see every day. Next?” Though in pain, Ed was getting his second wind.
“Okay, I’ve got another diversion. Hopefully it will draw most of the guards over. When it does, we’ll take advantage of their one big mistake.”
“And that is?” Alec asked.
“Bringing the Turtle here to impound it.” She was all business now.
“All right. I’m going out there. You two stay here. You’ll hear the confusion, wait for about forty-five seconds to a minute, wait till after you hear it, and then come out.” She straightened her outfit and dusted herself off. “One last thing, my guess is that you’ll need those.” She pointed to the weapons around their shoulders then left the building.
Reaching her hover, she opened the door and leaned in. She reached under the console and removed a small device, activated the small round charge, and set the timer for one minute and ten seconds.
That should give it enough time to crash into the guard house and draw a crowd before it explodes.
She attached the device to the holodash and started the vehicle. She was barely out of the way before the craft shot away toward the guard shack. She shouted, “My hover! Help! My hover!”
It was working. Throngs of men raced after the unmanned vehicle. As it neared the guard house, both men inside dove out. The crash of metal on metal was thunderous. Dozens of men surrounded the now motionless hover and the impaled shack and inspected the damage. As they did so, Joanne darted toward the unguarded Turtle. As she ran, she slipped out the device Zach had told her to get from the house. Even as she ran for her life, she managed to tap the necessary buttons.
Suddenly the hover exploded into a massive fireball, showering pieces o
f craft, shack, and men around the compound. Its intensity knocked Joanne to her knees. She recovered quickly and was up and running again.
The blast not only took out some of the guards. It also covered the sound of the Turtle’s dormant engines starting up. They shuddered then roared to life. The Turtle’s hatch opened and Joanne managed to reach it just before the Turtle rose from its moorings.
Finding herself in the pilot’s seat, Joanne took control of the ascending ship. The massive chains that had been holding the ship in place strained and broke, sending fragments flying like bullets toward the men racing to stop it. Several of them collapsed after being struck.
Alec and Ed huddled inside the building. Hearing the commotion, they swung the door open and jumped out, ready to begin the inevitable confrontation. They were crouched at the corner of the building, waiting with weapons drawn, when they noticed a shadow move over them. The Turtle! They scanned the area for Joanne, but she was nowhere to be seen.
At this point, Meteoric’s men realized what was happening and the firefight really began. Ed and Alec fired at anything that moved, mowing down Meteoric’s crew left and right. Even so, they were pushed back around the corner of the building. Just then the Turtle came down between them and the fight. The hatch opened and the ramp extended. Ed and Alec bounded for it at a dead run, still firing as the enemy came at them from all sides. They leaped onto the awaiting ramp and hurried up it and into the Turtle as the Turtle rose quickly. The ramp retracted and the hatch closed.
Now it was the plasma cannons that were firing at everything in sight. The ship was hit. It dipped and then stabilized as Joanne got the shields online. A few more large hits made it shake violently, but left no damage.
Alec and Ed made their way to the cockpit and strapped in as quickly as they could while the ship headed away from the skirmish. It was only after the plasmats ignited and they were a safe distance away from the enemy that Joanne relaxed. She turned and faced the men. “Wasn’t that exciting?”
“Exciting?” Alec exclaimed. “Wow.” Changing gears, he asked, “Hey, can we find someplace to shower? I feel terrible.”