The younger man’s face started off blank with surprise but shifted into a more guarded look as he glanced over Hugo’s shoulders and kneaded the gun he had in his hand. “You’re alone?”
“Yes.”
“What in the name of hell are you doing here?”
“Can I come in?”
Webb narrowed his eyes slightly. “Am I under arrest?”
“No.”
Webb examined him a moment longer then stepped back to allow Hugo in. The boarding pod was barely big enough for the two men, the bunk and the work bench bolted to the wall. There was a consumables dispenser with a dirty cup balanced in the slot installed behind the door, a computer panel with a locked screen on the bench and a single bag, open with a spill of clothes, computer panel casings and wires sprawling onto the bed.
“I suppose you know what time it is?”
“You're up, aren't you?”
“I guess,” Webb replied. “You look like shit, by the way.”
Hugo rubbed the growth on his jaw and frowned. “I’ve had a long trip.”
“You want a coffee or something? At least, I think it's supposed to be coffee.”
“No.”
Silence stretched for a second or two until Webb laughed. It wasn’t a nice sound and his smile had a hardness to it that Hugo had forgotten about.
“I know you were never the greatest one for small-talk, Hugo. But as you're the one that's turned up in the ass-end of nowhere in the middle of the night-cycle...the conversational ball is kind of in your court.”
Hugo straightened, fumbling for where to start. “I need your help,” Hugo finally managed.
Webb's eyebrows lifted slightly. “You need my help?”
Hugo nodded. “I need someone with your experience. And expertise.”
“You mean Webb’s experience and expertise.”
“They're yours now.”
The clone snorted.
“You kept his name...” Hugo said quietly, watching the other's face.
“It’s not like he was using it.”
“You said -”
“I know what I said,” Webb snapped. “Do you want to get to the point?”
“I need you for something.”
“The charming Colonel Hudson has tried to rope me into Service shit before,” Webb said. “I told her -”
“I know what you told her. She wanted to bring you in to face threat charges.”
One corner of his mouth turned up in a sneer. “She should have known better than to ask. As should you.”
“This isn't for the Service, Webb. This is…personal.” The word was thick in his mouth.
Webb's eyes narrowed. Hugo watched him take in his lack of uniform or insignia. Their gazes met again, then the younger man sighed and looked away. “Look, Hugo. It's really late...”
“Will you at least hear what I have to say?”
“No.”
“Webb...”
“I said no. I have a deal to make. I don't have time.”
“Tomorrow then.”
Webb blinked at him. For the briefest moment Hugo saw all the hardness fall away from his face and he just looked surprised. Then he closed back up again with a slight frown. “It’s that important to you?”
“Yes. At least hear me out. If you do and say no, I'll leave.”
Webb frowned harder, then moved towards the door, shaking his head. “Fine. I'll meet you tomorrow.”
“When?”
“Mid-cycle,” Webb said, gesturing towards the door.
“Where?”
“Oh, Christ in heaven. Here.” Webb grabbed the panel Hugo had forgotten he was holding and typed in some numbers and handed it back. “This is my wrist-comm number. Find somewhere, anywhere, bring food, and message me. I'll meet you.”
“You will?”
Webb shrugged. “I'll try. Now please, get the hell out of here.”
*
Hugo knew there was little point but he booked himself into his own boarding pod for what remained of the night-cycle. He stared at the ceiling, lit by the dull glow of a colony streetlight bleeding in around the blind. It was just the right shade of orange to make his head ache. When he did sleep, his dreams were fractured and violent. He decided he preferred the headache.
He sent Webb a message the next day as soon as he'd found somewhere to meet. With nothing else to do, he sat down on the bench he’d chosen at the edge of civilian rec area to watch Lunar 3 life roll by. There were a couple of children playing on some playground equipment with watchful guardians nearby. Their shouts were loud and happy and the play area was well-lit, but the spread of metal and concrete beyond still showed scars of the Lunar Uprising. There were fenced-off piles of rubble, hastily-patched metal workings in the hull above their heads and chunks missing from megablocks that rose against the artificial horizon. Most of the damage had been repaired or built over on the moon, but credit clearly did not flow so freely on the colonies. Nevertheless, the adults watching their charges laughed and chatted and the children played on.
As the meeting time approached he went and fetched food and returned. He watched the chrono on his wrist panel as mid-cycle came and went. He stayed put on the bench, checking his wrist panel every few seconds. He was just beginning to think that his old crew-mate wasn’t coming when a hand clapped him on the back.
“What, is your commodore’s salary not enough to stretch to a restaurant?”
“We're less likely to be overheard here.”
“Oh yeah, sure,” Webb said with a crooked grin as he dropped his bag on the floor and sat sideways on the bench. “Two spacers hanging about in a kids’ play area eating Chinese food. Real discreet. You better have got kung po.”
Hugo passed the carton over and a pair of chopsticks. Webb dug in without looking up. Hugo thought the other man looked far better than he had a right to after so little sleep.
“Right,” Webb said around a mouthful of food. “I launch for the moon in an hour, Hugo. Whatever it is you want, make it quick.”
Hugo poked at his rice with his chopsticks, forcing his mind to be ordered and his voice to be steady.
“Four months ago an Eclipse Agent was kidnapped and tortured. She has undergone weeks of therapy, physical and mental, but can't remember enough of the encounter to produce much evidence.”
Webb chewed for a while. “Do you know who did it?”
“We have a good idea.”
“Ok…what’s this got to do with me?”
“I’ve come to you because the case has been reassigned to the Analysts. But I know they won’t follow the trail with what little evidence there is. The agent kept her written records to a minimum and she…” Hugo paused, hoping the blood he felt rushing to his head wasn’t showing in his cheeks. “She doesn’t remember much of her life before the attack.”
“What, she doesn’t remember anything?”
Hugo took a second to answer. “Some things. Not everything.”
“Did they drug her or something?”
“We're not sure. There was nothing detectable in her system, but the Analyst’s catalogue of substances isn’t exhaustive. Either way the...nature of what was done to her suggests a...professional.”
“You think someone hired a blade?”
Hugo nodded, watching the children chase each other around the climbing frame.
“Bummer,” Webb muttered.
Hugo took a breath and carried on. “If we find this blade, we'll find out who hired them. For this job...and others.”
“Ok,” Webb set aside his food carton and leant forward, resting elbows on knees. “As wonderfully bleak as this is, I'm almost afraid to ask again...where do I come in?”
“The Analysts can’t hunt this blade down,” Hugo continued. “If they’ve gone where we think, no one in the Service has the authority or the reach. But they need to be found. Only they will have enough evidence to bring whoever hired them to justice.”
“This is why you should have a Zero,”
Webb muttered. “Then you've got a paid team you can disavow easily to do your dirty work.”
“Eclipse is better funded, better resourced and better trained than the Zero was.”
“But?”
“I’ve been suspended from Eclipse and removed from my rank. Eclipse has been forbidden to pursue the matter.”
“Suspended, huh?” Webb said, eyeing him warily. “What for?”
Hugo clutched his hands together so they wouldn’t shake. “The agent’s capture happened under my command. They’ve held me responsible.”
Webb didn’t say anything for a while. When Hugo looked at him, he dared hope he saw some sympathy in the younger man’s face but he turned his attention back to his food before Hugo could be sure.
“So,’ he said. “Whilst you’re officially suspended, any rules you break, oh, I don’t know…say, running off, using any means you have to find this blade and drag them to trial by the seat of his pants, can’t come back and bite your pet Service team in the proverbial?”
Hugo swallowed and looked away as the adults across the play area started to gather the shouting children together. “This is something I need to do, with or without Eclipse. But I can’t do it on my own.”
Webb looked at him. His eyes were narrow and hard again. “And this noble and self-sacrificing partner in crime you’re hoping to recruit here. What do they get out of it?”
“I believe Colonel Hudson would be suitably generous to anyone who helped bring in such a dangerous perpetrator. So long as they were brought in in a fit state to testify.”
“How much are we talking?” Webb said, sounding careful and not looking at him. Hugo wondered what was going through the clone’s head but his face was unreadable.
“Whatever you think your contribution is worth. And…there’s one other thing in it for you.”
“Oh?”
Hugo turned to face the other man. He looked at him until the other man returned his gaze. “What was done to the agent…I’ve seen it before.”
Webb’s frown deepened.
“I believe the blade we're after may be the same one who...” Hugo faltered, gathered himself. “I believe he's the man who interrogated you on the Tide.”
Webb blinked slowly. “Ariel?”
Hugo nodded.
Webb’s jaw tightened. Then he leant back on the bench, dangerously slow. “Let me get this straight, Commodore. You need someone with Service-level skills, but who doesn't have a nice pressed uniform to get bloodied up or a position to threaten. But it’s ok, I should want to do it, because I'm helping track down the man that pumped me with neuro-enhancer and sliced off my skin, in order for you to buy his co-operation with protection?”
“He won't walk, Webb.”
“Bullshit,” Webb said, standing and shouldering his bag. “You forget I was in the Service. I know how it works.”
“Webb -”
“Screw you, Hugo,” he said, turning to go.
“Zeek,” Hugo stood, grabbed the other man’s sleeve.
Webb shook him off. “I've given you my time and I've given you my answer, which is all I agreed to. I'm leaving.”
Hugo watched him stalk across the play area and vanish through the gate without looking back. He slumped back against the bench and rubbed his aching temples. A distant rumble sounded as a shuttle pulled in at a platform above his head. He watched his wrist panel and waited five minutes before getting up and following Webb towards the docks.
*
The anger pulsed behind Webb's eyes. Damn Hugo for bringing all that back up. He punched the commands into his ship's control panel with more force than was necessary.
“Mark and countdown, Nod.”
“Mark, Control,” Webb muttered in response to his communicator. “Ready to begin launch in ten.”
“Roger.”
Webb continued his checks, pressuring the hatch, running systems diagnostics and scans. A changed reading on his interior temperature scan made him blink and then scowl in anger. He drew his gun.
“Show yourself, Hugo.” Hugo stepped into the small cockpit. He kept his hands behind his back and gazed impassively down the barrel of the weapon. “Get off my ship.”
“No.”
“You stubborn asshole. Get off my ship, or I'll shoot you, I swear.”
“With this thin little hull? You're many things, Webb, but stupid is not one of them.”
Webb snarled in frustration and lowered the gun. “I'm ten minutes from launch. Will you get out of my life, already?”
“I just want to talk to you.”
“Nod? Come in Nod. Send your final check results, please.”
Webb ground his teeth, trying to melt Hugo with his glare. When that didn't work, he holstered his weapon with a muttered curse and turned back to the comm.
“Incoming, Control. Er...I've got a last minute addition to the passenger manifest.”
“Way to go. You get lucky?”
“All due respect, fuck off Control.”
Webb thought he heard a snigger over the comm. “They better have their ID handy because you're five minutes to launch.”
Webb glanced over his shoulder and Hugo was nodding, producing a card from his jacket pocket.
“Transmitting now,” Webb said, snatching the card and swiping it over his control panel.
“Check. Cameron Bale added to the manifest. Easy trip, Nod.”
“Starting launch procedures now. Nod, out. Oi. Uninvited guest,” he said, gesturing at Hugo. “You might want to find something to strap into.”
“Where are we going?” the other man asked as he shut his pack in a locker, sat in the co-pilot chair and strapped himself in.
“I'm going to Pole-Aitken. You'll be lucky if I don't report you as a stowaway and have you arrested when we dock.”
“You've already registered me as a passenger,” Hugo pointed out smoothly. Webb wanted to hit him.
They sat in silence as Webb got the engines fired. The view out of the screen lurched and then stabilised as the ship broke gravity. The glowing numbers on the large panel above the port doors ran down to zero and the doors lumbered open to reveal a star-specked stretch of space. Nod eased out and Webb gunned the thrusters to pull them a safe distance from the colony before firing up to full power. The feeling of weightlessness rippled through his innards. His shoulders bumped against the harness and his hair floated about his face. He continued punching in commands and Nod steered into her course.
“A class three skiff?”
“I downsized. So?”
“Nothing. I’ve just not felt zero-g for a while.”
Hugo lapsed into silence as Webb concentrated on the controls and not his tangled emotions.
“It was Marilyn.”
“What?”
“It was Marilyn,” Hugo repeated, voice still low, pulling some dog-tags out from under his shirt and holding them up to the light. They had Harvey’s name and assignment number on. “The Eclipse agent they took. She was pregnant.”
Webb felt cold rise in place of the heat of anger. He looked over at Hugo, but he’d tucked the dog tags out of sight and was staring out the viewscreen. “I'm sorry.”
Hugo met his look. “They couldn't save the baby. But they saved her. Physically, at least.”
Webb looked away. Nod rounded the colony and soon the moon hove into view, a white crescent ahead.
“I meant it when I said I needed you,” Hugo continued quietly. “You were always better at undercover work than me. And I thought you deserved the chance to get even.”
“I deserve a chance to kill the bastard,” Webb said. “But that's not what you're offering me.”
“No, it's not. But it's the closest thing I can offer. I want to get him, Zeek. Never mind what he can give the Service. That's Hudson’s agenda. I want to make him answer for what he did. To Marilyn. And to you.”
Webb stared hard out towards the moon. He could see the blinking lights of the city of Tranquility in the shadow of its
crater. The cold was crawling under every inch of his skin.
“I tried to get the scars removed you know,” he said, not knowing why. “Twice. And damned expensive it was too. But my skin is weird...I don't know. The lasers didn't work like they should.” He looked up and Hugo was regarding him levelly. “I'm over it as much as you can be. But every time I look at the scars, I'm back there on that table. And it's not the pain I remember. It's the way he smiled.”
Hugo was quiet for a moment. Something was flickering deep in his eyes but whether it was shock, anger or gratification Webb couldn't tell. “So you'll help me?”
Webb looked back out the viewscreen. “Yes. I'll help you. But I can't promise I'll let you take him alive.”
“We'll work on that later,” Hugo said and there was no missing the grim satisfaction in his tone.
II
The remainder of the journey to the moon passed in near silence. Not exactly a strained one, but Hugo was aware there were things to say that weren’t quite ready to be said. He focused on the moon growing larger, occasionally sneaking glances at his former commander.
Webb seemed to have no trouble at all ignoring Hugo, but even with the seemingly effortless tweaks of controls and checks of readings, there was something in the set look on Webb’s face that made him wonder whether he was also chasing unwanted thoughts around his head.
The moon eventually filled the small viewscreen. The grid of lights that was Pole-Aitkin spread out ahead as their course brought them into orbit. Webb contacted Harbour Control with his manifests but there was no easy joking this time. He watched the grids widen and split into districts and blocks and soon could see the individual lights from the spacescraper windows as they broke through the atmosphere shield. His stomach lurched as the city’s gravity took hold of the ship and he dropped into the co-pilot chair. Webb didn’t seem to notice and he wondered how long he’d been driving this beat-up class three skiff…and what for.
“Well, Hugo,” Webb said, getting up from his chair after they’d docked, stretching until his joints cracked. “I have some business to complete before we can talk any further about this crazy plan. How about you find us some boarding?”
Haven (The Orbit Series Book 2) Page 2