by Gary Weston
Tilly said, ‘Out of the city, I’m guessing. Maybe even off the planet. Any scheduled landings or take-offs in the last twenty-four hours?’
‘Nothing. We already checked,’ said Jett. ‘I’ve all take off facilities, commercial and private, notified and to be on the lookout.’
‘This isn’t just a murder spree,’ said Tilly. ‘These people were taken for a reason.’
Webster suggested, ‘Black market organ harvesting? That is still a big trade on several planets.’
Tilly had worked cases on two planets for just that. ‘No. Not with drixolate dependent donors. A simple blood test would show drixolate in their system. It has to be something else.’
Jett said, ‘There has to be a connection with the drixolate.’
‘What’s the percentage of the population dependent on it?’
Webster said, ‘About nineteen percent. Below average for affected planets.’
‘Nearly one in five is still a lot of people,’ said Tilly. ‘Not far off two hundred thousand on Tryzon.’
Jett said, ‘I keep asking myself, why Tryzon? Why not some other planet?’
Tilly said, ‘I think Tryzon must tick all the boxes. Most of the population is situated in one location. Manhatoff. Enough for strangers to go about their business unnoticed. They’d just be taken for tourists.’
‘Why from elsewhere?’ asked Webster. ‘They could be from Tryzon.’
Tilly agreed. ‘Yes, they could be. I have a feeling not, though. They selected this planet and came here. Blended in and set about their business.’
‘But where?’ said Jett. ‘For a start, there are nearly twenty abandoned mining settlements within a hundred miles radius.’
‘Have you searched them?’ Tilly asked.
‘Not by sending anyone in,’ said Jett. ‘If they’re as professional as we think they are, they would see us coming for miles and clear out before we got to them. We tried a satellite scan of all of them, though.’
Tilly said, ‘You found nothing?’
‘Not the slightest sign of anyone.’
‘Run it again,’ said Tilly. ‘We might get lucky this time.’
Jett said, ‘That will take a little time to sanction. Bill. Get onto that, will you? Let me know when we’re up and running. In the meantime, Agent Jordan and I will see how Poacher’s getting on.’
Chapter 158
‘I haven’t shot anybody.’
Raven said, ‘You poor thing, Miss Saltoe. How you have got on so far in life without shooting anyone I can’t imagine.’
‘Agent Raven. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mock me.’
‘Me?’ said Raven, feigning innocence. ‘As if I would do a thing like that.’
‘Agent Raven. I have no training whatsoever in any fighting skills and that concerns me.’
Raven grinned. ‘Miss Saltoe. You turn me into a quivering jelly with just your steely gaze. Any bad guys will be running for the hills in dread of you telling them how naughty they’ve been.’
‘There you go again, Agent Raven. Mocking me.’
Raven said, ‘All I was trying to do was to put you at ease and making a poor job of it. I’m sorry. What makes you think you will have to shoot anybody?’
‘Because we are on a dangerous mission, aren’t we?’
‘We are?’
‘Logically, yes. If Agent Jordan needs assistance, it must be serious.’
Raven nodded. ‘Serious, but not necessarily dangerous. Miss Saltoe. How many people do you imagine I’ve shot?’
‘Twenty seven. It’s on your file.’
Raven said, ‘That many, hey? On average, that’s about two for each year I’ve been on active service. See? Not many at all when you look at it like that.’
‘Well, it seems an awful lot to me. I just don’t think I could do it.’
Raven said, ‘I feel that strangely reassuring. Honestly. It happens far less than you imagine. I only shoot anyone in self-defence. Or occasionally to execute them. When you’re in that kind of situation, you tend to just react. But you know, most of the work of an agent is just legwork. Boring investigation. It doesn’t often turn into a shoot-out.’
‘I shouldn’t be here.’
Raven was thinking exactly that, but didn’t voice that opinion. The woman was feeling bad enough as it was, without thinking she was a liability.
‘Boss was of the opinion you would benefit from seeing how an actual mission was handled. I’ll look after you, don’t worry.’
‘All the same…’
‘Just look at it as a little adventure with pay. You’ll be able to dine out on it for years.’
Saltoe managed a nervous smile. ‘I suppose it is exciting.’
‘There you go. We’ll make a D S I agent out of you yet.’
‘Agent Raven. Thank you.’
Raven winked. ‘You are most welcome.’
Chapter 159
Detective Poacher rubbed his eyes. He had been running the city’s CCTV footage, over and over, second by second.
‘Nothing so far, Inspector,’ Poacher said.
Jett said, ‘This is infuriating. How can they abduct twenty men and we don’t get even a glimpse on CCTV. The number of times I have badgered the city officials to install more cameras. Maybe now they’ll listen to me.’
Tilly said, ‘That doesn’t help us right now, though. They obviously noted where each camera is located and put that into the equation. Detective Poacher. Keep going over it and call us if you come up with anything, no matter how tenuous.’
‘Ok.’
‘Let’s see if Detective Webster has the satellite surveillance up and running,’ said Jett.
As they joined Webster, the portly detective said, ‘Just got it started. Here’s the first location coming up now.’
The image on the screen was reasonably clear. There were about thirty ramshackle buildings, mostly in a bad state of neglect. Apart from a few birds nesting in the eaves of a couple of buildings, there was no sign of life or recent activity.
‘We can rule that one out,’ said Webster.
‘Cross it off the list and locate the next settlement,’ said Tilly.
It took a few minutes but the next settlement appeared, even smaller than the first.
‘Nothing,’ said Jett. ‘There was talk, once upon a time, in trying to turn them into cheapo tourist spots. For some reason, it didn’t take off. I can’t imagine why.’
One by one, they checked out the remains of the mining settlements, finding no evidence of activity. A few were out of the flight path of the satellite, and a list of these was made with the intention of driving over to each in turn, checking them out manually. They were about to set off, when a man walked in. He was an older man, grey haired and grim faced.
‘Inspector Jett.’
‘Commissioner Franks,’ said Jett. ‘Commissioner. This is Agent Tilly Jordan, D S I. She’s working on the missing people case, Sir.’
Franks looked Tilly up and down. ‘Why wasn’t I informed of this development, Inspector Jett?’
‘Well, Sir. We’ve been…’
‘My fault, Commissioner,’ said Tilly. ‘I asked that my presence wasn’t common knowledge. The less who know I’m here, the easier I can go about my business unnoticed.’
‘I am the commissioner, Agent Jordan. On a case like this, I expect to be kept in the loop at all times. Be that as it may, have you made any progress? I have a media meeting in half an hour. It would be good to have something positive to tell them.’
Jett said, ‘Sorry, Sir. We are still going over everything we have. We suspect those responsible have made a base outside the city. We are just checking out the old mining settlements by satellite.’
‘I see.’
‘Sir,’ said Tilly. ‘I’d appreciate if you kept that under your hat. Also, about the D S I involvement.’
‘Understood. In that case, not a lot I can tell the media. Just the corny old lines about doing all we can and that we are investigat
ing from every angle.’
‘Yes, Sir,’ said Jett. ‘That’s about the size of it.’
‘Right. Agent Jordan. Have you informed your D S I superiors?’
‘No comment, Sir.’
Franks smiled and nodded. ‘Very well. If you need more resources, just ask. Carry on.’
Franks went away to face the media, leaving the others to get on with the job.
Chapter 160
‘They’ll be combing the planet for us by now,’ said Corey.
‘I expect so,’ said Fritz. ‘Just a matter of time.’
Corey knew that. ‘Which means we need to hurry.’
Fritz gathered up the plates and passed Corey a beer. ‘We can only use one subject at a time, though. Test, evaluate the results, adjust the formula if it hasn’t worked, then do another one.’
‘Pretty much. I do feel that the formula is as close as I can make it. At least that last one is still alive and well.’
‘Gotta be a good sign. Are you ready for the next one?’
Corey stood up. ‘All of them apart from the survivor have been dosed with drixolate. Now we need to pick one and try the antidote. Come on.’
Fritz picked up the rifle and followed Corey along the corridor with the flaking green paint, their footsteps echoing like the human equivalent of the horses of the apocalypse.
Corey said, ‘We take this one to the solitary confinement cell. He’ll be more manageable there.’
When they reached the cells, they were greeted with bedlam. It was a barrage of noise, none of it making sense. Fritz blasted the ceiling with the laser rifle.
‘My next shot puts a hole through the one who opens his damn mouth. That’s better. You. Follow us.’
The man did as he was told, the others watching him go. The door to the solitary confinement cell was open, and the man got the message when Fritz poked him in the small of his back with the tip of the rifle. Corey injected the man in the back of his neck, ignoring the verbal abuse he got for doing so.
‘What the hell is this all about?’ The man asked, rubbing his neck.
Fritz snarled, ‘Maybe we have a bet on how much longer you’ll live. Keep making a noise, you’ll die sooner rather than later.’
Corey nodded at Fritz to leave the man alone and get out of the cell. He did that, and Corey locked the cell door.
‘We’ll check his progress every two hours. If he lives through the night, that’ll be two good results. If we get through them all and they all survive, that’ll conclude the testing.’
‘Then what? We kill them all?’
Corey said, ‘No need. We just leave them locked up and get the hell off this planet.’
‘If we don’t get caught in the meantime.’
Corey grinned. ‘In a way, it doesn’t really matter. If we’ve proved the formula works, we have something very valuable. Anyone tries to get the notes and formula off my computer, it is programmed to permanently destroy itself. Really, the only copy will be in my head.’
‘Then we’ll be able to name our own price,’ said Fritz. ‘And they won’t dare touch us.’
Two hours later, the man in the solitary confinement cell was still very much alive and demanding a dose of drixolate.
‘He looks pretty lively to me,’ said Fritz.
Corey nodded. ‘Indeed he does.’
It was the same through the night. The man, confused because he was expecting to die through lack of drixolate, and yet here he was, feeling like he could run a marathon. Eventually, he stopped trying to get answers out of his captors. After a few hours sleep, Corey had made up his mind about something.
‘We know by now the net will be closing in on us. We’ve been damned lucky so far. We have to take a chance on the formula being right. Here’s what we do. We treat all the others in one go. Leave them in their cells. If in two days they all survive as the others did, we’ll call it a result.’
‘Our luck could run out in those two days, Corey. We’re putting a whole lot of faith in this working. I’m guessing, they won’t bother locking us away for the rest of our lives. I think we’ll just be very dead.’
‘But if the antidote works, we’ll have nothing to worry about.’
‘And if it doesn’t work?’
Corey grinned. ‘Like you said. We’ll be very dead and still have nothing to worry about.’
‘Cheer me up, why don’t you?’ Fritz said. ‘I’d just be happier if we did our negotiations not locked up. If it works…’
‘It will, Fritz. Just trust me on that.’
‘Ok. It’ll work. I trust you, Corey. Let’s suppose it does work and we still haven’t been caught, then we get off this rock for good?’
Corey said, ‘No. If they track us this far, they’ll be shutting down all flights off the planet. We demand a full pardon, and anything else we want.’
Fritz wasn’t too happy about that. With the blood on his hands and no formula in his head, he had nothing to bargain with. Corey was holding all the aces.
Chapter 161
‘Only two more days,’ said Karma Casey. ‘Have you contacted Agent Jordan yet?’
Raven shook his head. He had joined Casey on the flight-deck. ‘The less communication the better. Tilly will contact me if and when she needs to do so.’
‘How’s Saltoe doing?’
‘Getting more nervous by the hour. Boss usually makes good sense, but not on this occasion. The last thing we need is a nervous civilian to watch over every minute. She keeps insisting I give her some kind of weapon to take with her.’
Casey said, ‘She could safely stay on the ship. She has everything she needs right here.’
‘Tempting. But if Boss hears I just dumped her in here, I’ll never hear the end of it. As long as she’s just an observer and keeps out of harm’s way, she can come along.’
‘Fine. And what about me? I could happily stay on the ship. I’m allergic to being shot at.’
‘Shush. Don’t let Saltoe hear things like that. Karma. You are not D S I. You have fulfilled your part of the deal by getting us there and taking us back. I know how resourceful you are. You, I don’t mind giving a gun too.’
Casey said, ‘I guess it all depends. Perhaps by the time we land we’ll have more of an idea what Jordan is up against. I’ll decide what I do when the time comes.’
‘You do what you feel comfortable with. I’ll be quite happy knowing you’re safe in the ship and I have a ride home.’
Casey grinned. ‘We did have a lot of fun on that last adventure.’
‘I knew it. You’re an out and out adrenalin junky. But like I said. When the time comes, you decide what you want to do. I’d better go see if Saltoe is ok.’
Saltoe was sitting in regulation one-piece blue undies. Raven had seen a few women who could carry that look off. Saltoe unfortunately wasn’t one of them. This woman had curves on her curves.
‘So. Not long now, hey?’
Saltoe said, ‘I heard more people die on landing than in any other time during space flights.’
‘No? I never knew that,’ lied Raven. He always dreaded landings, also. The one on Foregone with Karma Casey had almost had them adding to the statistics. To be fair though, the ship had been brought down by a lucky shot from a drixolate runner. He thought, what were the chances of something like that happening again? Almost never, he decided. ‘Miss Saltoe. Captain Casey did suggest you could stay on the ship if you wanted. All the comforts of home. Sort of.’
‘I could?’
‘It is an option. But think of all that fun you’d be missing out on. You wouldn’t want that now, would you?’
Large anxious eyes stared back at him. ‘Fun? Marching into danger? You have a strange idea of fun, Agent Raven.’
‘So I’ve been told. Trust me. We’ll be just fine. You know something? Blue is definitely your colour. You should wear it more often. ‘
Chapter 162
When Tilly finally returned to her parents home, she was tired. Having started
her day in the small hours, then spending hour after hour staring at CCTV and satellite images getting nowhere, ending up with nothing but a splitting headache, she’d had enough. But instead of a friendly welcome, she sensed an atmosphere as chilly as the weather outside. Sally and Ian were working together in the kitchen, preparing the evening meal. They did smile at her when she walked in, but Tilly could tell something was on their minds. She joined them in the kitchen, wrapped her arms about Sally and hugged her.
‘Did you get anywhere, Tilly?’ Sally asked.
‘We’re making some slow progress. Mom. Is everything ok?’
Ian said, ‘Your mom’s just…’
‘What, Dad?’
Sally turned to face Tilly. ‘I just…Your dad and I feel that if your real reason for coming here was this mission, it would have been better if you’d have been up front with us, that’s all.’
‘What?’
Ian said, ‘Come on, Tilly. Just a little bit too much of coincidence, isn’t it? We start having people disappearing here, and you turn up at the same time, after all these years? If you’d just have told us.’
‘I don’t believe you guys,’ said Tilly. ‘You know why I never came back here.’ Instinctively she touched her face, a part of her still expecting to find half of it missing. ‘I hardly left my apartment. I couldn’t face anybody. And you think…’
‘You really didn’t know something was happening here until you got here?’ Sally asked.
‘I swear I knew nothing until a couple of days ago. I came here to see you two. It could be my last chance for ages, once I start work again. Damn. I can’t believe…’
Sally looked at Ian. ‘I told you. I damn well told you. She came here to see me. Us. She didn’t know about this stuff.’
‘I just thought…’
‘Well, don’t. Tilly. I’m sorry. I should have known.’
Tilly took a deep breath. ‘Yes. Yes you should have. You too, Dad.’ She couldn’t stand the look in their eyes any longer. She pulled them both to her. ‘Mom. Dad. I know I said I came here just to be with you, and that’s true. But I’m working on a case now. I have to do this. It’s what I do. And right now, I need your trust and support.’