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Teleport This Page 15

by Christopher M. Daniels


  “Anyway, at some point Tomas convinced me to run a data feed to his office,” continued Jon. “When the Feds had enough information, they came down on all of Macnair’s operations.”

  “I could see how that could make him a tad upset with you and I guess it’s just our bad luck to be guilty by association,” said Talia.

  “Yeah, sorry about that,” said Jon, “but let’s see what we can do to clear all this up. Buy the way, where are we?”

  “We’re still in sector C368. I’ve got us tucked away in a large, slow moving debris field,” said Talia.

  “Alright,” said Jon taking out his device and setting it at the far end of the table. “Let’s list everything we know and see if we can connect some dots.” His device immediately projected a large whiteboard-like screen above itself. “Do you recognize any of these people?” Images of all three players from the space station were now displayed.

  “The first guy on the left is PJ the pirate,” said Ellie. “It was his crew that hit us after we picked up our cargo.”

  “He’s also the guy that raided Earth and grabbed Alicia,” said Jon. “He was getting his orders from this guy next to him, who in turn was working for this next guy on the right and that guy was with Alicia when I arrived on her planet.”

  Holt looked up from his fingers. “Hey, I think they got too many guys. That’s good for us, right?”

  “So do you think Alicia is behind it all?” asked Franco, ignoring Holt.

  “I don’t think so,” Jon said. He saw Lyn’s left eyebrow raise and added, “Not that I don’t think she’s capable, I just can’t figure out what her motive would be. She has everything. She’s princess of her own planet.”

  “I’m sure it’s different out here,” began Gilbert, “but on Earth it’s the people that have the most that typically want more. Especially celebrities.”

  “No, it’s pretty much the same way here,” said Franco.

  “I’m still not convinced,” said Jon, “but let’s add her to the board. Let’s add Macnair as well. I think we can all agree that he wasn’t involved with the Nurridium before, but he is now.”

  “Don’t forget the person that put the Nurridium in the rock to begin with,” added Talia. “Maybe we should take another look at that mining camp.”

  “That’s not a bad thought. Let’s see what we can find out about it,” said Jon and the screen partitioned itself with notes from the discussion on one side and information about the mining camp began scrolling on the other. “Well look at that, your mining camp is a minimal security corrections facility.”

  “Most are,” said Ellie. “Nothing strange about that.”

  “But even minimal criminals have connections,” said Jon. “The first half of the puzzle is becoming clear.”

  “Really?” asked Simon.

  “Well, it’s becoming clearer,” said Jon. “Whoever found the Nurridium probably contacted this guy, the one from Alicia’s home world, though I’m still not sure why. And then somehow Alicia got involved.”

  “Now that’s all well and good, but what are we going to do next?” asked Talia. “We still got this big chunk of Nurridium kicking around and I’m afraid I’m beginning to lose interest. Interest that the bank should be paying me, but isn’t because I haven’t deposited my share because we haven’t collected the reward for the stupid thing. Let’s figure out how we’re going to get in touch with the Feds and negotiate a deal now that things went sour with Monti. We’re losing money here.”

  “I hesitate to mention this, but what about our old buddy Agent Tomas?” Lyn asked. “He’s a Fed. He must have some contacts in the organization. He seems like the type that would get along well with the other cops.”

  “He might not be very sympathetic to our cause,” began Talia. “Last we saw of him, he was heading off to pull the troops together and go after the Nurridium that wasn’t actually where we told him it was.”

  “I’m not sure if that will matter too much,” said Jon. “I checked on him while I was at the ICC and there’s no record of him leaving Monti’s.”

  “We saw him teleport out,” Gilbert said.

  “Monti seems like too slick a character to leave an open access teleport available for anyone to use,” said Jon.

  “Tomas had to jimmy it a bit first,” said Ellie.

  “Monti probably had a few safeguards set up just for show,” said Jon. “Tomas probably set off a ton of alerts playing around with it and went straight into the buffer.”

  “What’s this Monti guy like?” asked Simon. “How much danger is Tomas in?”

  “Monti’s not the violent type,” said Ellie. “He’s too worried about his carpet, but I bet he’s not opposed to calling in help when he needs it. We should go back and check on the situation.”

  “What?” said Talia.

  “Are you crazy?” said Franco.

  “They were going to cut off our arms,” reminded Holt.

  “I know what this is about,” said Talia.

  “Drop it, Talia,” said Ellie.

  “I saw the look.”

  “I said to drop it.”

  “Not the look,” groaned Jon.

  “What’s the look?” asked Gilbert.

  “You can always tell when Ellie falls for someone, she gets this look,” said Talia widening her eyes and opening her mouth in a crooked sort of way so her bottom jaw is out of alignment with the top. “And I saw the look when agent boy was removing her restraints and again when he was on the teleport saying good-bye to her.”

  “Look, the guy saved our lives, we owe him one,” said Ellie. “And Lyn makes a good point; we can trust him to deal with the Feds for us, especially if we help him out of this jam.”

  “I’m with you, sis,” said Jon.

  “Count me in,” said Talia.

  “Thank you, Talia,” said Ellie.

  “Well, I’m obligated on two fronts. First, this is pretty much what you pay me for and second, well, we’re girlfriends and it’s up to me to help you get some.”

  “I’m in,” said Gilbert, causing all heads to turn in his direction. “Hey, I did okay last time. I shot all the right people.”

  “You did real good last time,” said Talia. “Who knows, maybe you have a knack for this type of thing.”

  “I’ll go too,” said Lyn. “Gil’s mother is paying me to watch out for him.”

  “I know,” said Ellie looking at Simon. “She’s going, so you’re going. It would have been easier to ask for volunteers to remain behind.” Franco and Holt raised their hands.

  21.

  Ellie led her rescue team to one of the freighter’s cargo holds. Inside was a ship much smaller than the freighter, but a good deal larger than the shuttle. In addition to a control bridge, it had a galley and dining area, lounge, medical station and a handful of private sleeping cabins. The plan was to leave the freighter tucked away where it was and use this ship to travel back and forth to Monti’s hideaway.

  “Nice little ship,” said Jon as they entered the cargo bay.

  “I took it in trade from a business acquaintance,” said Ellie. “He was retiring and wanted to move his entire house to a different world. He and his wife didn’t want to leave it behind because it held too many memories for them, like their kids growing up or some crap like that. He didn’t need the ship anymore so he used it as part of the payment. It needed some work so I took the opportunity to upgrade the engines. It’ll get us there quicker than this thing,” Ellie said waving at the freighter that surrounded them. “And, Gilbert, you’ll be happy to know it even has shields and cannons.”

  They entered the ship and Talia piloted it out of the cargo bay and into open space.

  “Here’s the plan,” said Jon. “I’ve looked over the shuttle recordings from the previous visit and I’ve identified an out of the way landing area for the ship. We’ll come in from the north and follow this track in low and out of sight. After we land, Ellie, Talia, Gilbert and I will move on to Monti’s estate.
Simon and Lyn will remain here as backup and guard the ship.”

  Talia spent some time familiarizing Lyn and Simon with the ship’s flight systems, as well as its weapons and defensive systems.

  “I’ve preset a course back to the freighter,” said Talia, “just in case you need to make a quick getaway. Now there’s always the chance that you may have to move the ship to some other location instead of returning to the freighter. Do either of you have any flying experience?”

  “I have my pilot’s license for small aircraft,” said Lyn.

  “Great,” said Talia. “Manual control for this bird is pretty easy since the ship’s nav system handles all the vectoring. Show me the control configuration you’re use to and we’ll see if we can mimic it here.” Talia set up a flight control station for Lyn and then moved on to hand weapons.

  “These weapons automatically adjust their output,” said Talia, “so if your target doesn’t go down the first time you hit it, the gun will output more juice the next time you fire. Sometimes the bad guys are wearing armor or something that deflects the charge so if the weapon can’t stun them it will automatically switch from stun to blast.”

  Lyn noticed Simon’s troubled expression. “What’s wrong, big guy?”

  “I never really shot anything before. I don’t want to kill anyone.”

  Lyn thought for a second and then said, “Remember when Luke and Han went to the Death Star to rescue Leia? Luke had to shoot lots of guys and he probably killed a bunch of them. Do you think you can be like Luke?”

  “I guess,” said Simon, then his expression brightened. “So you like Star Wars?”

  “I baby sat my nephew a lot when I was younger and that was all he watched. He’s twenty-four now and still reads all the Star Wars books. I’ll introduce you to him when we get back, you guys will get along great.”

  “Aren’t you afraid that we’ll build critical mass?”

  “Maybe if he sees you with a girl it’ll show him that anything is possible and he’ll leave the basement.”

  The ship made its approach as Jon had outlined and Talia took the opportunity to provide Lyn with some basic flying lessons before landing in a small field.

  “It should take us about thirty minutes to reach Monti’s compound,” said Jon. “You two stay in the ship and no fooling around. The ship can monitor the compound from here and we’ll call if we need your help, but use your own judgment if you see smoke or anything that would indicate a firefight.”

  “Just be careful where you aim that cannon,” commented Talia.

  “That’s what I keep telling him,” said Lyn.

  “Hey, I’ve got to combat your bazookas somehow,” replied Simon.

  “Maybe we should split those two up,” Ellie said to Jon. “Five minutes after we leave they’ll have their artillery out and be playing war games.”

  “They’ll do fine,” said Jon. “Lyn jokes around, but she’s a professional.”

  “If you say so,” shrugged Ellie.

  The four left the ship and headed towards Monti’s compound. There were hardly any guards on the grounds which made gaining the building easier than expected. They stopped fifty yards from the patio.

  “Is it me or does this seem too easy?” asked Talia.

  “I’m not sure,” said Jon. “You were here only about what, eight hours ago. Maybe they figure that’s all the excitement for one day. You stunned a lot of guys and they’re probably recuperating somewhere else. No one is expecting you back so maybe this is it.”

  “Could be,” replied Talia, “but I’m one for always playing it safe. Let’s split up and approach from two different directions. Gil, you and I will head up first on the right, give us a couple minutes and then you two follow on the left. If we draw fire, you two will be in a flanking position and can counter their assault.”

  “Sounds good,” said Ellie.

  Talia took out the device Agent Tomas had given her and made sure it was working properly, then nodded to Jon and Ellie. Talia and Gilbert followed a small ridge across and then a tree line as they made their way up to the empty patio. A few minutes later they were joined by Ellie and Jon.

  “Well, that was anticlimactic,” noted Jon.

  “I know, I was all worked up what with the flanking and all,” said Ellie.

  “Hey, I had some excitement,” said Talia. “Every time I stopped, Gil bumped into my butt.”

  “I was focused on our surroundings and I didn’t expect you to stop so much.”

  “Shhh,” said Jon. “I hear talking coming from that hallway. Any idea what’s down there?”

  “No, we were held in the opposite wing,” said Ellie.

  “You were probably in the business side of the estate,” said Jon. “That way probably leads to Monti’s living quarters. Let’s get a bit closer and try to hear what’s being said.”

  “That sounds like Tomas,” Ellie commented as they moved further down the hallway.

  “And Monti,” said Gilbert.

  “It sounds like he’s being tortured,” said Ellie.

  “I think he’s laughing,” said Talia as they moved closer still.

  “Please come in and join us,” they heard Monti call out.

  “Yes, come along, Jon, and bring your friends,” Tomas called out.

  Jon and Ellie looked at Talia and Gilbert who shrugged in silent reply, then all four turned and entered the room only to find Monti and Tomas eating dinner together while watching a video of their assent onto Monti’s patio. They laughed every time Talia stopped and Gilbert bumped into her.

  “Come on in and pull up a chair,” said Tomas

  “Yes,” said Monti. “I ordered more food as soon as we detected you on the premises.”

  “How were you able to detect us?” asked Jon as he sat down at the table.

  “You’re still using the device I gave you earlier to cloak yourself from Monti’s surveillance system,” said Tomas. “It told me it was back and we used it to image your progress through the compound, moving the guards out of your way.”

  “So you’re working with Monti and Macnair after all?” asked Ellie.

  “Not at all, but Monti and I are acquaintances,” said Tomas. “We’ve traded information before and he invited me to stay for dinner. He wanted to discuss what was going on. Monti told me that Macnair came back empty handed, but he doesn’t believe that’s the end of it. Monti actually believes that big chunk of Nurridium really exists. We were just talking about different ways of trying to contact you when you arrived.”

  “Why did you return?” asked Monti.

  “Actually,” said Jon turning to Tomas, “we came back to check up on you. I was monitoring you at the ICC and it seemed that you got stuck here.”

  “And I wanted to repay you for helping us,” said Ellie. “I thought Monti would sell you out to Macnair as quickly as he did me.”

  “Let me take a moment and apologize for that,” said Monti. “Hindsight being what it is, I’m sorry I ever called the man.”

  “Yes, he put your carpets at great risk,” commented Gilbert.

  “I’m touched by your concern,” said Tomas, “And yes, I did get caught in Monti's teleport, but he and I seem to think that you came back to continue your negotiations to move the Nurridium now that Macnair is gone.”

  “Yes, there’s that as well,” said Jon, “but we were hoping to deal directly with you.”

  “We don’t see why we’d need to go through Monti now that you know what’s what,” said Ellie. “You represent the Feds, so we can work with you to set up a deal.”

  “No reason at all to give him a cut,” said Talia nodding at Monti. “We’d just prefer to pay cash for dinner and leave him here, out in the cold, as it is.”

  Monti smiled as his guards filed into the room, weapons at the ready.

  “I’m afraid it’s an awfully expensive dinner,” said Monti, “and you may not have enough on hand to cover it.”

  “Can we all just relax a bit?” asked T
omas. “Look, I’m not in whatever group handles these types of deals. I’m a field agent. I can’t help you with this so you’re stuck working with Monti.”

  “I don’t trust him,” said Ellie.

  “So what, I don’t trust you,” said Tomas.

  “You don’t trust me?” said Ellie, sounding hurt.

  “It’s nothing personal, I don’t trust anyone. Monti, what’s your usual cut on a deal like this?”

  “That depends on how the deal is structured,” said Monti. “As a show of good faith and to help foster trust between us, I’ll base my cut on the extra money I’m able to negotiate. Let’s say thirty percent of whatever I negotiate over the standard finder’s fee.”

  “Are you mad? Five percent,” said Ellie.

  “I don’t want to bicker, let’s say twenty,” said Monti.

  “I enjoy bickering. Ten.”

  “So we’ll settle on fifteen then?” replied Monti.

  Ellie glanced at the guns pointed in her general direction. “Done.”

  “Where is the Nurridium?” asked Monti.

  “It’s tucked away, safe and sound,” said Ellie.

  “Hopefully with people you trust explicitly,” commented Monti.

  Ellie thought about Holt and Franco. Holt could have left the Nurridium hidden in the locker and then made off with it in a couple of days when they made port and Franco’s too scared to do anything other than hide alongside the Nurridium. “We’re okay.”

  “Send me the specs on the item and a means to contact you. You’ll make delivery directly to the Feds and I will receive payment from them, not you.” Monti raised his glass and said, “Here’s to a successful and profitable arrangement.”

  Talia contacted Lyn and had her move the ship onto Monti’s landing area outside his patio while Ellie and Jon finalized plans with Monti.

  “How did it go?” asked Simon as they entered the ship.

  “Agent Tomas is fine and we’re back in business with Monti,” said Talia as she moved to the control panel and prepared for launch. Gilbert stayed up front with Talia as Simon and Lyn followed Ellie and Jon into the lounge.

 

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