by Francis, Ron
Josiah shook his head as he said, “Jesse was the only possibility for the exchange. It wouldn’t have worked with anyone else.”
“He’ll be fine, eventually, but he is not fine right now.” Cassie added as she steadied him.
They began to walk towards the corridor, but Jesse turned back to Josiah and said “Please tell Kimi to kill Topanar if the opportunity arises.”
Josiah was fairly certain he wouldn’t need to tell Kimi to kill Topanar, but it said a lot about Jesse’s state of mind that he would even mention it. He must have been truly angry.
Jesse then looked at Cassie and said, “You know I can’t sleep until Suzy is safely back aboard Endeavor. Let me just sit down somewhere and maybe bring me something to drink. I have to be ready for the transmission.”
She agreed, and they helped him to the couch in the common room where he waited for the transmission. Wennagal sat with him while Cassie checked on Enso, they were all anxious to see Suzy rescued.
______
Suzy woke up in a cage with a large, cruel looking man starring at her. She heard Commando bark and looked over. Commando was also in a cage, and the man and his friends were teasing him. “I wouldn't do that if I were you," She chided, which caused them to start laughing even more. The room looked as if it were meant for several people to sit at desks; it must have been an abandoned office. The walls were plain white and a little bit dingy in the glow of the artificial lighting. There were several large windows on two sides of the room letting in more light than the artificial lighting gave off and she wondered if Jesse could find them.
She was so scared, but she knew she couldn't show it. Suddenly, the large man grabbed a long stick with a glowing end and stuck it into the cage, sending energy coursing through Commando’s body. The wolf howled in pain, the men laughed, and she yelled, “Stop it,” over and over again. This continued for awhile before a man she recognized walked in the room. "Joldas Topanar," she began. "I should have known you were behind this."
He ignored her comment as he surveyed the scene, and his face lit up in evil delight. “We finally have Marcos right where we want him.” He grinned the satisfied grin of a man that had finally bested a troublesome opponent.
Topanar motioned for the large man to hit the wolf again. Then he smiled in delight as more energy coursed through Commando’s body, causing the wolf to howl in pain. Commando was thrashing about his cage so violently that it began to roll, knocking over one of the men and trapping his leg under the cage. Commando was trying everything he could to get at the man. He was scratching him with sharp claws and trying to bite him through steel bars. Two of the other men pulled their co-worker out from under the cage, and Suzy could tell the man was in pain, which made her smile.
“I told you that you shouldn’t do that,” she said. “Snow wolves have long memories, he won't forget that you hurt him, Good boy, Commando.”
Topanar’s smile turned to a look of annoyance as he muttered. “Even Marcos’ pet causes problems for me.” He motioned to one of his other men and yelled, “Call Colonel Marcos, now.” As he waited, he looked over at Suzy and smiled. “Jesse Marcos is going to watch you die.” He laughed a soulless laugh void of any mirth.
"Colonel Marcos will rescue me, and then he's going to kill you, Topanar." Suzy said as she looked defiantly into his eyes.
“You know that is not true, the Colonel cannot possibly even know where you are; let alone how to find you. I have brought you to an abandoned office building, and no one knows we are here. How will your friend find you? You and your beast are going to die all alone while he watches on the transmission, helpless to save you.”
Fear began to strike at her as she somehow knew Topanar was right. Jesse was still hurting, and he had no way of finding her. She was fighting back the fear when suddenly, Jesse’s face was on screen.
“Colonel Marcos,” Topanar opened with a smile. “It would seem I have something precious to you. What is it worth to you to get them back alive and relatively unharmed?”
While Topanar was speaking he motioned for the large man to hit Commando again. As the energy flowed through Commando’s body, the wolf howled in pain.
“Hurt either one of them again,” he started, anger boiling to the surface so quickly that he couldn’t stop it. “Hurt either one of them again, and there will not be a safe place for you anywhere in this galaxy. I will hunt you down and kill you, do you understand me?”
Topanar smiled his thin, soulless smile as he spoke. “All I hear are empty threats from a beaten man, not very becoming, Marcos. I would like everything you have on the treasure delivered to me in half an hour or your wolf, dies. Then I would like to see your ship explode within another half hour or your Doctor dies. Tell me, Colonel, how much does your friend mean to you?”
Commando continued to cry out in pain, while Suzy looked frightened and angry as one of Topanar's men pointed a blaster at her head. Jesse’s look of grief and anger turned to a smile as he saw three figures in black come crashing through the windows of Topanar’s hidden location. Topanar looked confused as Jesse looked into the vid screen, and said with anger in his voice. “Now you die!”
______
Collin thought it would be best to take them quickly. According to the life signs scanner, there were twelve beings in the large room. That meant that there were ten hostiles, along with Suzy and Commando. Collin, Kimi and Sandstorm fired their grappling guns onto the roof of the building. As they got ready to swing through the window, Kimi looked at Collin and Sandstorm and simply said, “Topanar is mine.” They waited for Collin’s signal and launched themselves towards battle. They knew they had to succeed. Saving Suzy wasn’t just a priority, it was a necessity, for all their sakes.
They burst through the window in unison. Sandstorm broke right and dropped the first two guards. Collin dove left and came up firing, taking out another. Kimiko did a double somersault after letting go of the grappling gun, unsheathing her sword in air and cutting down the first man before she even landed. Kimiko cut through two more while Collin shot another one and Sandstorm finished the last guard.
The man with the torture stick yelled. “Drop it, drop your weapons, or I kill your pet.” He motioned like he was going to hit Commando again.
Collin looked at the man, smiled, and fired a shot that destroyed the lock to Commando’s cage. Instantaneously, Commando was out and the cruel man was staggering backwards. He tripped over one of the fallen guards and began to move backwards slowly on the ground. Commando was coming slowly, and the cruel man was waving the torture stick and yelling at him to get back. Commando leapt, and the last thing the cruel man ever saw was a flurry of angry claws and teeth.
Topanar looked around, unable to fathom what had just happened. A moment ago, he had Colonel Marcos on the ropes. He was about to get everything he wanted. Now, he was alone in a room with three members of Marcos crew and a snow wolf, all of them very angry. He watched as the taller one opened the doctor's cage and gently helped the woman up. She apparently recognized them even with their masks. Then he realized he recognized one of them, too. “Sandstorm,” he called out, “If I die, the information I have been holding goes right to the Mayor. How do you think he’ll react when he finds out his favorite agent is working for his enemy?”
“I think I already know how he’ll react,” Sandstorm replied, mocking Topanar as he spoke. “I know since I told him a few days ago when I resigned.”
Topanar did not think he could possibly be more surprised, but then all of a sudden he was. “Well, that means you are no longer law enforcement, and you will be sent to prison for this raid.” He threatened.
“All I hear are empty threats from a beaten man,” Sandstorm laughed. “The Mayor wouldn’t take my resignation. I’m still working for him. You no longer have any power over me, Topanar. I know I didn’t kill that woman, and I know you did, even if I could never prove it. I know you did it.”
“Of course I did it, you fool. How else was
I going to own a special agent. But no one will ever believe you with me gone. Turn your weapon on your friends, or your reputation will be ruined forever.” He knew it was desperate, but it was all he had. Then he heard Jesse Marcos voice over the monitor behind him.
“They’ll believe him now that we have your confession on vid, you idiot. I don’t even need to watch you die now. Knowing you’ll be right next to your uncle enjoying a long and painful life in jail is good enough. How long do you think he’ll last, Sandstorm?”
“Oh, he’ll last a while. The other inmates are going to want to torture him because he was law enforcement. He’ll last a long time. That is, unless he takes his own life in prison.” He smiled as he spoke, knowing it would drive Topanar crazy.
Collin looked around at the carnage in the room, “We should get her out of here, now,” he added while moving towards the door.
Agent Sandstorm turned to leave, but Kimiko did not want to leave Topanar alive. She knew jail time would be a far worse punishment. But she just knew he would somehow find a way to try and hurt them again. Still, she couldn’t shoot an unarmed man, so she reluctantly turned to leave; silently praying he would try something.
Her prayers were almost instantly answered as she began walking out of the room, Topanar yelled from behind her. “I’ll teach you to turn your back on me.” As he spoke, he raised a blaster and yelled, “Never turn your back on Captain Joldas Top…”
A shot rang out from Kimiko’s blaster and hit Topanar right between the eyes. It dropped him before he could finish bringing his blaster to bear. Collin and Sandstorm just shook their head as Kimiko holstered her blaster. They all walked out together and ran to the aircar. They knew that Jesse would be anxious to see Suzy.
______
Topanar was dead, Suzy and Commando were safe, and Enso was recovering. It had been a hard day for Jesse Marcos. As he sat by the landing bay hatch, waiting for his friend's return, Cassie came and sat down beside him.
He looked into her blue eyes, and realized he could get lost in them if he allowed himself to. “How’s Enso doing?” He asked.
She just smiled at him and put her head on his shoulder. “He’s going to make a full recovery. You did it, Jesse. You saved my cousin. He’s all the family I have, and I was so afraid I was going to lose him. I’m sorry I yelled at you yesterday. I was just overwhelmed, and I couldn’t hold it in.”
Jesse gently took her hand in his and replied, “I know exactly how you feel. I don’t know what I would have done if anything happened to Suzy. I know that technically I’m not her family, but my family is all she has. Her parents died when she was sixteen, and she lived with my family from that point on until she graduated medical school. She really is as much a sister to me as my real sister and I just couldn’t lose her…” his voice trailed off.
She just turned his face towards her and said. “But you didn’t, your friends saved her. She is safe now, just like Enso is safe thanks to you."
He looked at her and added, “Enso isn’t your only family, Cass. You have a family on Endeavor if you want it.”
She smiled and kissed him gently as she replied, “I know, and I’ll see what my crew wants to do now.”
He smiled warmly and added, “You’re still coming with us to get the treasure, though, right?”
“What, and pass up the opportunity to see the look on Garrinoras' face when we beat him to it? Of course I am.” She held his hand as he sat there, awaiting Suzy's return.
______
When the aircar landed outside Endeavor’s landing bay, Kimi was the first to emerge, then Suzy. As soon as Jesse saw them, his face brightened, he quickly rose to his feet, lowered the hatch and ran over to Suzy. He held her in his arms, tight. She looked in his eyes and was not surprised to see how worried he had been. “Jesse, were you worried about me?”
“Of course I was. You should listen to yourself more often by the way. You knew they were targeting you and you said you weren't going to leave the ship." He joked, clearly relieved that she was back.
"I left the ship because I couldn't find you and wanted to check your condition. I was worried that explosion may have hurt you, I didn't think you were ready for action."
"It did, and I wasn't. You were right about that, too. I was in engineering making sure the ship didn't sustain any damage, we must have missed each other."
"We must have," she replied as she put her head on his shoulder.
Everyone left the landing bay to go to the common room for dinner. Suzy checked Enso’s progress on her way up. He had needed forty-one minutes in the recovery pod to heal what the pirates had done to him. He would be sleeping off the effects of the pod for approximately twenty hours. He had already been asleep about four, which meant he would wake up sometime around ten the next morning. Still, she diligently checked on him and she checked Reece as well. She was going to be releasing him from the medically induced coma in the morning, and was really hoping he was going to wake up.
______
Suzy arrived at dinner and was greeted by everyone standing behind their chairs waiting for her to be the first to be seated. She appreciated the gesture as she sat down, thankful for such a loyal crew. Jesse looked around the table and smiled at his crew thankful that they had all made it through this trying day in one piece.
After dinner, Agent Sandstorm stood to leave, and Kimi offered to walk him out. Jesse wondered if she was starting to like Ogen, and he also wondered why it bothered him so much. He couldn’t understand why. Agent Sandstorm was an outstanding man. Jesse liked him, as did everyone else. Surely he couldn’t be jealous, could he? He had a budding relationship going with the beautiful Cassyanna Reed, although, something did seem off. He just couldn't place it. He should be happy for Kimi and Sandstorm if they were getting together, but he wasn’t and he wondered why.
Kimiko smiled as she and Ogen walked towards the landing bay. While they were saying their goodbyes, she looked at him and said, “You did really well today. Jesse will never forget what you did today and neither will I. Thank you, Ogen."
______
Six years earlier………
It had been four weeks since Jesse had threatened Asian Dawn. He had immediately sent the proof of their crimes Nina's virus had downloaded to each planet's law enforcement and most of the organization had been arrested. There had been several bloody battles as military units were sent in to back up the local law enforcement on many of the takedowns. He had put two full teams of former Marine commandos on twenty-four hour protection for Nina and Serge. They protested, but he couldn’t take a chance. He also had two teams protecting Suzy. Jason had played a key role in tracking the likely locations of their targets, so Jesse had decided to leave a detail with him as well. Elsewhere, Josiah, Collin, Manny, Ariel and Kimi were with him searching for Kimi's former master. He wasn’t going to stop until the man that ordered the hit on him was dead or in prison. This man of course was Kimi's former master. He knew none of them would ever be safe until he was out of the picture. Prison might not even be enough, he could still order hits from there, but he wouldn't kill a man in cold blood. He could only hope the Master went down fighting.
“Jesse,” Ariel reminded, “You can still let this drop, let the government handle it. They have already taken down seventy-five percent of the organization."
“Ariel, I wish I could," he replied. “But none of us will be safe until that man is out of the picture.”
“We can take care of ourselves buddy, don't worry about us." Josiah added.
“I know my family and I will not be safe anywhere on Earth or the rest of the Coalition until my former master is dead. He has already sent assassins after Sun, twice.” Kimiko added.
Manny came up to Kimiko and put his arm around her. “I’ll keep your family safe, you and me, we'd be unstoppable together.” She just smiled and moved away from Manny. He stood there with a puzzled look. Women almost never walked away from him, and the fact that Kimiko always did only ma
de him want her more.
“Sorry, buddy, she only has eyes for Jesse,” Josiah consoled as he whispered to Manny. “She’s stuck on him, my friend. Don’t take it personally.”
Collin spoke so suddenly and excitedly that it startled most of the group. “I have a lead on Kimi’s former Master!” Collin exclaimed. “He was spotted in San Francisco an hour ago. We can be there in less than two hours.”
“He has a safe house there,” Kimiko added. “He doesn’t know I know about it. It will be heavily guarded, but he will likely be there.”
“Let’s move,” Jesse said as he ran for the shuttle. He knew they could move quickly and stealthily with a shuttle in stealth mode. As they boarded, he thought about how much better it would be to have cloaking technology that would make the craft invisible to both sensors and people. He would have to give that some more thought when the Asian Dawn organization was out of the picture. He knew this was a dangerous mission for his friends. But he also knew it wasn’t safe to take down that much of a criminal organization and not finish them off. If he left them with any power, they would only use it to strike back at him and those he loved. But if they could get the Master, they could end this quickly.
His strike team was about a mile away from the Master's safe house doing some recon before they made their move. Hopefully, this would be the day the Master paid for his crimes. Anyone left free in the Asian Dawn organization after this was wanted on every planet, probably in hiding and lacked the power to come after them. He knew that the police would be hunting them down, too. With the information he had provided them, they viewed this as an excellent opportunity to use the downfall of the Asian Dawn to send a message to any other criminal organizations that might try to take their place.
The safe house was anything but non-descript. In fact, it was a mansion. A large white three story house with a big open field leading up to the front and surrounded on three sides by trees. The house looked to be a few hundred years old and was adorned with red trim around the windows and doors. It looked as though the master had grown tired of life on the run and wanted to return to more comfortable and luxurious surroundings.