Rift

by Heidi J. Leavitt

  “And if that still doesn’t convince you, do you think Mrs. Smitz would have gone with her? Leaving Jax to fend for himself? You don’t honestly think they convinced Jax to leave with them, do you?”

  Jimmy did snort at that. There was no way Jax would willingly leave his lab, even with Mrs. Smitz. Then he sighed deeply. Of course Marian was right.

  “Anyway, if it eases your mind at all, Richard did manage to have a contact at the shuttleport run a check. Jenna hasn’t left the city by shuttle,” she explained calmly. “No, it’s certain that Jenna didn’t leave you. It’s the Armada curse, rearing its ugly head again for certain.” Well, Jimmy was slightly comforted by that. At least he knew he wasn’t going completely crazy.

  But if Marian was right, and this was all due to that psychotic Roran’s curse, he would get Jax to invent a time machine, and then he would go back fifty years and strangle the guy personally.

  However, it was time to find out if his family had gotten tangled in something that involved his father’s business. Unhappy as that made him, he was going to have to send a deep-space comm. He couldn’t put it off much longer.

  In the end, the comm he sent to the interplanetary queue was short and accusatory: Jenna, Mrs. Smitz, and the kids are missing. Not sure about Jax. What are you up to, Father?

  ●●●

  In the morning, Jimmy saw Marian off on the early shuttle to Tarentino Bay and then spent the next few hours trying to wheedle the taxi company into letting him view the internal vid of the taxi that Jenna had apparently entered. No matter how many people he had tried to persuade, bribe, or threaten (always asking for the next boss), he hit a brick wall. They were inflexible. They didn’t have access to it, he was told. It would infringe the privacy of their clients, they replied. He needed a warrant, he was informed. One exasperated woman, with flashing eyes, finally said, “Look, do you know how many jealous husbands come in here wanting to know who their wives were traveling with? Or betrayed wives demanding proof of their philandering husbands? Every one of them tells me some kind of a sob story about how they need to know who was riding in the taxi, that it’s a matter of life or death. If it’s truly an emergency, go to the cops and come back with a warrant!” He wondered how the admiral’s contact had managed to get as much information as he did. Jimmy would have better luck attacking a fortress.

  When he retreated to the hotel room in defeat, he decided it was time to try Jax again. He at least needed to forewarn his twin of Marian’s imminent arrival at the house. He sent a short message letting Jax know that Jenna’s mother would be coming into Mrs. Smitz’s apartment, and she might even knock at his door to check on him.

  To his shock, he actually got a reply this time. It was only one word: NO!

  Jimmy sighed in exasperation and tried his brother again. Jax, Jenna’s mother is coming to help. She needs to find Mrs. Smitz and the kids. Where are they?

  Gone, Jax replied. Jimmy sucked in a shaky breath. He’d already guessed that. But at least his brother was responding.

  Gone where?

  I don’t know, Jax answered.

  That single phrase made Jimmy’s stomach plummet. He tried to pull himself together. He commed again, asking Jax about the last time he’d seen any of them or if there had been a breach of the security system, but he didn’t get a response. Apparently, Jax felt that he had communicated enough by flipcom. At least Jimmy knew that Jax was all right (most likely) and still at home. That was the one bright spot in all of this. Maybe when Marian arrived she’d be able to find out something more.

  Checking the time again, he tried to gauge if Marian would have arrived at his home yet. She should already be in Tarentino. But finding a way from the shuttleport to his house would take a little more effort. The shuttleport was on the far side of the town from Jimmy’s home—closer to the logging zones. Jimmy and Jenna had taken their dilapidated old transport to the shuttleport and left it parked there for their return trip, but Marian would have to find it. He’d commed her a picture of it, and hopefully there weren’t too many other waiting transports to confuse it with. There was also the slim chance that Mrs. Smitz had taken it herself. (Though if she had, someone would have had to give her a ride to it. There was no way she had walked nearly twenty kilometers with the three kids.)

  Of course, Marian would comm him if she had any problems. He’d given her the backup key that would get her through security and into the houses. He just needed to be patient and wait. In an attempt to distract himself, he decided it was time for a late breakfast. Down in the hotel cafe, he ordered a plate of eggs and bacon. His stomach was growling again, and he knew that he needed to eat, no matter what else was going on. How many times had he tried to persuade Jenna to eat, even when she was worried about Andie? The same applied to him.

  The return comm from his father arrived while he was waiting for his food. Stay calm, James. Everything will be all right. I need details. Has there been a ransom demand?

  Jimmy wanted to throw his flipcom against the wall. Stay calm? He was totally calm! As calm as any sane man could be when his entire family went missing! He took a deep breath. As irritating as his father could be, Jimmy needed his help. He sent a return comm explaining everything that had happened and everything he knew up to this point, including exactly what Jax’s responses had been. The amount of information he had was depressingly small. Practically nothing to work with. Sighing, he slumped in his chair. It would be a while before he heard back from his father. Deep-space comms had a significant transmission wait, even with his father’s dedicated, high-priority queue with monthly fees that cost a small fortune. He didn’t know what he expected from his father anyway. He was on blasted Terra, after all.

  When the eggs and bacon arrived, his fleeting appetite had already been replaced by churning anxiety roiling his stomach. He forced himself to scoop a mouthful of eggs, though. They were rubbery and tasteless, but he swallowed anyway.

  The live comm from Marian interrupted him before he could take a second bite.

  “Hello?” he answered, letting his fork drop back to his plate.

  “Jimmy, it’s Marian.” Her tone was somber.

  “What? What is it?” he demanded. “Did you find them?”

  “No, not a sign. The beds are all made, nothing looks slept in. Your house is a little messy, but nothing looks really out of place. Not like there was a struggle. No food out on the counter, nothing that looks like they might have been interrupted. There’s a full load of dishes in the steamer, but they are completely cold and dry, so it’s probably been a while since they were loaded.” She sighed, her voice weary. “There was a light on in Mrs. Smitz’s kitchen and a mixing bowl on the counter, but that was it over at her place. I knocked on Jax’s door, but he didn’t answer.”

  “Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me. He’s there, though. I got another couple comms from him while you were traveling. He just said that the others were gone,” Jimmy said, pressing a fist against his forehead. Where were they? Why would Mrs. Smitz have left? But if someone had kidnapped all of them, there would have been some signs of a struggle. Even he couldn’t round up all three children without a fair amount of resistance. No stranger could have gathered up Mrs. Smitz, Kendra, Berry, and Erik and spirited them away from the house without leaving a single sign behind them.

  “I’m going to comm the emergency line, Jimmy,” Marian informed him, her tone businesslike. “I’ll comm Richard too.”

  “OK.” His stomach churned. Hopefully the Tarentino Bay police would be more helpful than the ones in Omphalos. Tarentino was a much smaller town. Surely an elderly woman and three children couldn’t have disappeared without anyone noticing anything at all!

  8. Zane’s Assignment

  The comm demanding an urgent meeting with his father was completely unexpected. Zane read the summons in dread. He’d done everything his father had asked of him and more since he’
d returned from Kirtuth. He’d been the perfect host for every ghastly rich playboy or corpulent power player that had come to visit the QE resort. He’d gone out to Marah to deal with a labor dispute, he’d handled the sanitation crisis when the QE’s private facilities had gone down, and he’d done it all efficiently and without complaint. Whatever meaningless tasks his sister had foisted on him also.

  Yet still his father didn’t trust him. He could still see the reserve in his eyes, the fear that Zane would somehow go back to his nanospeed use and ruin them all.

  It wasn’t that the drug no longer tempted him; it still crossed his mind occasionally and probably would for the rest of his life. However, Zane had spent more than five years learning from the monks at the monastery to let go and meditate and focus and, most of all, give up his need for control. It was his ultimate desire to control and master everything in his life that had given such great power to his addiction.

  He never went near the racetrack now. It was a part of his life that was over, one that he wanted desperately to forget.

  Running into Jenna and Jimmy at the shuttleport had been a shock. It had forcibly reminded him of what his addiction had cost him besides the loss of his father’s confidence and his future as his father’s heir in the business. Once, Jenna had been his girlfriend. He’d hoped to marry her. Once, Jimmy had been a close friend, almost like a brother. Now Jenna and Jimmy had been married for years, living in some obscure town far away from the capital. They had three kids, and by all accounts they were still very happy together. They didn’t want anything to do with him.

  That much had been clear at the shuttleport.

  He shook off his thoughts of the past. The comm requesting his presence in his father’s private office immediately had been abrupt; it had contained no hint as to why they needed to meet. Zane wracked his memories for what he could possibly have done recently to upset his father, but nothing came to mind. He was just going to have to go into this meeting blind.

  When he presented himself at his father’s office, Moriel was already there. Obviously it wasn’t a personal problem then. It was a business one. Yet none of the other head managers was present nor any of his father’s business advisers.

  “Have a seat, Zane,” his father invited.

  Zane took a seat in front of his father and next to his sister, his spine straight. He tried to meet his father’s eyes confidently while inside he steeled himself for a severe reprimand.

  “We have a problem,” his father began without delay. He was never one to hesitate before plunging right in. “I just received a deep-space comm from Jay.”

  Zane raised an eyebrow. Apparently this was about business. Jay was James Forrest Junior, his father’s longtime business partner—and Jimmy’s dad.

  “A few days ago, Jenna Forrest disappeared from a restaurant in Omphalos. Now her children and the Forrests’ long-time housekeeper are apparently missing also.” Zane swallowed an exclamation. He had just seen Jenna a few days ago.

  Moriel grunted. “So Jenna finally got tired of Jimmy and walked out on him,” she said flatly. “It was bound to happen sooner or later.” Zane raised an eyebrow. That went against every gossipy account he’d heard. Plus, during his brief meeting with them on the street, they had seemed very much still together. Of course, people often kept their personal lives very private. Maybe the happy-Forrest-family-in-paradise report was just fiction.

  Their father did not seem to agree, though.

  “I think that is highly unlikely,” he said mildly.

  “Why?” asked Moriel skeptically.

  “Because Jay does not think so, and Jay keeps closer watch on his boys than I think they realize. Besides, I’ve already confirmed that Admiral Donnell is on the warpath. He is moving moons and planets trying to find his daughter. However, Jay feels we are more likely to be successful. He would like us to retrieve her, as well as the children and Mrs. Smitz.”

  “Has there been a ransom demand?” Zane asked. That would be the most straightforward explanation—and the easiest to address. The Quintans had access to a superb negotiator who regularly handled kidnappings for ransom.

  “There has not,” his father said grimly. “As I understand, she left James in the middle of dinner and has not been seen since. As for the children and Mrs. Smitz, nobody has been able to reach them at the Forrests’ home. Nor have neighbors been able to find any sign of them at the house.”

  Zane cocked his head thoughtfully. “What about Jaxon?”

  “James has had comms from him and believes him still to be in his home. Though with the housekeeper missing, he is probably greatly distressed.” Remembering Jaxon’s peculiarities when he was living in Quintan Tower, Zane thought that likely to be an understatement.

  “Well, this is all very unfortunate,” Moriel said, her indifferent tone making it clear she didn’t really find anything unfortunate about it at all, “but I don’t see why this is our problem. Jimmy and Jaxon walked away, choosing to forgo our protection.”

  “They did,” agreed their father. “James believed it would make their situation safer.” His father shook his head ruefully. “The arrogance of youth. He would not listen when I tried to warn him.”

  “Then let Jimmy suffer the consequences,” Moriel said with a shrug. “They left us first. It’s not like we didn’t offer them protection.” Zane couldn’t feel quite so blasé about it. This was Jenna they were talking about. What if something terrible had happened to her? What about her kids?

  His father looked at both of them, his lips pressed together.

  “Moriel, while James did leave our protection, you seem to forget that he is still a Forrest and still part of our family.”

  She folded her arms, her face stony. “Still, our realm of influence is in the Red Zone, Father. What are we supposed to do about it? They didn’t disappear here. Let the Donnells search for them. They have the Armada behind them!”

  Their father sighed.

  “Let me put it in business terms so that you may understand. Jay Forrest controls and administers the Terran half of our entire organization. I have little to no hand in it. But it is headquartered here, in the Red Zone, allied with our resort. The profits are therefore sheltered here from the significant taxes they would face otherwise. As part of our partnership, we share in those profits. The resorts are successful, but the profit margin is slim. They are nothing more than a cover for us to continue to operate in the Red Zone. Plus there is the matter of the gate. We only have the gate and all the potential that offers because of Jay.”

  Their father took a breath and continued, his voice firm and level, as if he were lecturing to a class. “Jay commed me personally to ask for help with this. These are his daughter-in-law, his long-term family servant, and his grandchildren—his only grandchildren—at risk. If I decline to assist him, what happens to my relationship with my partner? What happens to our business?”

  Moriel fidgeted in her seat. Zane suppressed a smirk. She liked to pretend she already knew everything about running the company, but it was clear she still had a lot to learn.

  “We are the face of the company on Zenith,” their father continued, “and that makes it appear that we are the true force behind its success. However, never forget that without Jay Forrest’s goodwill and hard work, we would be nothing more than an upstart entertainment company trying to expand. That is why the Forrests are our family. That is why we will do everything in our power to recover James’s family.”

  With that, Zane’s father stood and paced around the room. His brow furrowed; he was clearly deep in thought, probably trying to come up with a way to find the missing Forrests.

  Moriel stood and went to the dispenser on the far wall. She asked for a glass of water and walked back to the table. She still scowled fiercely, but obviously she had recognized that their father was right. Zane tapped his fingers thoughtfully on the chair arm
s. They had options for trying to track down someone who had disappeared, but many of them would be illegal outside of the Red Zone. This was going to be tricky.

  “Well, since we have no choice,” Moriel finally said, straightening her shoulders and facing them both. “What is it that you want us to do, Father?”

  “I think this assignment would be best handled by Zane,” their father decreed.

  Zane’s head shot up in surprise. “What?” he exclaimed.

  “This will be an opportunity for you to heal the breach with James, Zane. It is too good an opportunity to pass up,” his father said. Zane listened to his father’s continued instructions in growing dismay. This was never going to work. Jimmy would probably shoot him on sight.

  ●●●

  As it turned out, Zane never had to worry about Jimmy shooting him because Jimmy refused to see him at all.

  “Look, Zane,” he’d said when Zane had tried comming him for the third time. “This really isn’t a good time.

  “I know,” Zane responded hurriedly, afraid that Jimmy was going to switch off before he could speak to him at all. “But I know about your situation, and my father asked me to help.”

  There was silence on the other end. Jimmy’s holographic image wavered. Zane tried to read his expression, but it was impossible to tell what Jimmy was thinking.

  Finally, Jimmy spoke, his words coming out slowly. “I’m not sure I want your help.”

  Well, that was frank. But it was better than some shouted obscenities, which wouldn’t have surprised him one bit. Zane drew in a deep breath, knowing that he had to persuade Jimmy to work with him or this assignment was going to be nearly impossible. “You need my help,” he countered. “You need our help, Jimmy. Your family’s lives are on the line. Who better to help you get them back alive than the man who got his own kidnapped daughter back alive?” he argued.