Prodigal (Tales of the Acheron Book 1)

by Rick Partlow

  “It’s all been pretty damn close,” he agreed with a sigh that was half relief and half exhaustion. “I need a vacation.”

  “Someplace warm.” She shuddered. “I’m so sick of being cold.”

  “Hey, I don’t mean to interrupt,” Fontenot cleared her throat, “but did Kan-Ten make it?”

  “I am injured, but alive,” the Tahni proclaimed, answering the question as he slowly and carefully guided himself through the passage from the cockpit. “And curious. Now that we are all here, and now that we obviously would not be welcome back down on Tangier, where would you suggest we go?”

  “We need to drop Adam off first,” Sandi said, still holding onto Ash. She looked over and saw the kid slowly pulling off his stained jacket and using it to wipe his scraggly beard where flecks of his earlier nausea had been deposited. “Where do you want us to take you?”

  He frowned thoughtfully, considering it for a long moment.

  “I’d like to go somewhere I can send a message,” he decided, his face firming up with conviction. “I need to talk to Dad.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Remind me again why we have to be here?” Ash murmured close by Sandi’s ear, pitched low enough that Adam couldn’t hear it from a few meters away.

  Not that he was paying attention to them anyway. Ever since they’d arrived onplanet, he’d seemed distracted and anxious. Sandi thought about the prospect of confronting her mother at his age and couldn’t blame him. At least the park was nice.

  Dolabella was a beautiful city, the largest on Sylvanus, which meant the largest in all the Periphery worlds. It was spring on this part of the planet and the afternoon was pleasantly warm, the primary star Aurora bright and high in the cloudless sky. A gentle wind shook the leaves of the genetically-engineered oaks shading the paved walkways through the park at Dolabella’s center and Sandi watched the mothers pushing their children in strollers and the couples walking hand in hand, and resisted an urge to sigh with envy at the normality of their lives.

  “We’re here to make sure that Admiral Krieger doesn’t try to pull anything,” Sandi answered Ash’s question, probably for the third time since they’d landed. “Like trying to take Adam back against his will.”

  “And why couldn’t we watch from a distance like Fontenot and Kan-Ten?” He complained, and she noted he purposefully averted his eyes from where the cyborg and the Tahni were huddled together at one of the tables of a sidewalk café at the edge of the park, both wearing brimmed hats of a local style pulled low enough to disguise their differences.

  She tried not to be impatient; she knew Ash had been nervous ever since they’d Transitioned into the system forty hours ago. They were both still wanted for murder and he was the registered owner of the Acheron; Sylvanus didn’t have a wormhole jumpgate for Instell ComSat communications, but if a Patrol or Fleet vessel had made a run here and updated the locals on the latest warrants…

  “He needed us with him,” she insisted. She reached over and squeezed Ash’s hand comfortingly. Well, she hoped it comforted him; it definitely comforted her.

  The compact handgun holstered under her vest comforted her almost as much, although she hoped she wouldn’t need it.

  Adam paced impatiently in front of the central fountain and checked the time again on his ‘link. A sanitation worker, cheaper than a cleaning robot out here on the very edges of the Commonwealth and requiring fewer spare parts, pushed a collection bin by and spared Adam a curious glance. The kid looked like a cross between an expectant parent and a man waiting on his own execution.

  “Do you think he’ll really show in person?” Ash wondered, eyes dancing around to each new person entering the fountain courtyard. “He’d be taking a big risk.”

  Sandi counted silently to ten. They’d had this conversation before, too. She was trying to form an answer that wouldn’t sound snippy when she felt Ash tense, saw Adam’s head snap around and followed their eyes to the long-limbed, slender man walking down the main pathway towards the fountain. He wore civilian clothes, the simple, fabricated fashion of a local, with a broad-brimmed hat that didn’t quite hide his pale, soft-edged face.

  She felt the hair stand up on the back of her neck; the man had all the benefits of growing up in the Commonwealth’s core systems, which meant he still looked young despite his age, and he and Adam were virtually identical. Perhaps the younger man was a bit plumper and lacked the stress lines his father had collected in a decades-long career as a Fleet officer, but little else separated them from looking like duplicates.

  No, she decided, there was something else that differentiated them. There was something in the way Admiral Krieger held his eyes, the way he looked at the world, that showed a cynicism, a corruption, a paranoia that was the price of carrying a guilty conscience for so many years. His eyes showed the narrowed, suspicious slant even when he looked at his son, and Sandi wondered if she hadn’t made a mistake recommending that Adam come here.

  “Hello, Adam,” Krieger said quietly, stopping an arms-length away from the boy. “I’m glad you’re all right.” The Admiral’s eyes flickered toward Ash and Sandi, sizing them up.

  “You should thank them,” Adam said, gesturing towards the two pilots. His voice sounded strained, as if it was an effort not to yell at his father. “They risked a lot to get me out of there.”

  “I appreciate you taking care of my son,” Krieger said grudgingly, nodding to the couple. “I know you must have some expenses…if you’ll give me an account ID, I’ll transfer you some funds to cover them.”

  “We didn’t do it for the money…,” Ash began, outrage strong in his tone. Sandi elbowed him in the ribs surreptitiously and he grunted, his words trailing off.

  “I’ll get you the account details,” she interrupted. She glanced over at Ash and shrugged. “We can’t eat good intentions, and we can’t run the reactor without fuel.”

  Ash didn’t look happy about it, but he shut his mouth.

  “Dad,” Adam said, resolve in his expression, “the reason I called you way out here was that I can’t go into the core worlds anymore, not with the cartels looking for me. I’m going to have to stay under the radar, and I won’t get the chance to talk to you for a while.”

  “Adam,” Krieger protested, alarm battling with surprise on his face, “you have to come with me! I can protect you…”

  “You can protect me from Jordi? You’re not even going to be able to protect yourself. He’s got you by the balls and he can send you to a military prison if he wants.” Adam raised a hand to forestall Krieger’s protest. “I don’t want to argue with you, Dad. I came here to tell you that…” He swallowed hard before he continued. “I came here to tell you that I understand that you only wanted the best for me, that you wanted me to have everything you have. And I don’t blame you for that, I appreciate it. I’m sorry it’s taken me this long to understand.”

  The Admiral seemed taken aback by the words. He tried to say about three different things, but none of them would come. He reached out awkwardly and hesitantly and wrapped his son in a hug that was just as awkwardly returned.

  “I’m so sorry I got you mixed up in this,” Krieger said, the words seeming to wrench their way out of him against his will, as if they hurt to say. His head was against his son’s, his right hand grasping the back of Adam’s neck. “I guess I always figured that they’d be killing each other with whatever they had, so what did I care if it was stones and knives or proton cannons and fusion missiles? I’d been in the military for thirty years and in return for faithful service, they stuck me in a dead-end position and dared me to retire.” He shook his head. “All I could think about was getting what I thought I deserved; I lost sight of the consequences and I never once thought what it would mean for you.”

  “I understand,” Adam said, and Sandi could tell he was choosing his words carefully, probably thinking of past arguments. “But it’s not too late to make it right. You can go to the FleetCriminal Investigations Division
or the Patrol and work a deal with them.”

  Krieger closed his eyes, holding onto Adam’s shoulders, and a shudder went through him.

  “It’s too late. I’m in too deep, and I’ve dragged too many people down with me. They won’t let me make a deal. You were right about that; I can’t protect you, or myself. All I can do is dig in and wait for the hammer to fall.” He let his hands drop to his sides, sighing heavily. “I’ll get some money to you from one of my ghost accounts, enough for you to live on for a while. After that, you’re better off as far away from me as possible.”

  Sandi watched Krieger’s face, wondering how sincere the man was being. He sounded like he was finally being honest with his son and himself, but he was also an Admiral and she knew no one got to that rank without being able to bullshit artfully. She had a sense that his confession about why he’d begun selling weapons to the cartel was more truthful than his plea that he wouldn’t be allowed to quit.

  Adam was watching his father’s face as well, perhaps trying to make the same determination. In the end, it seemed less like he accepted that it was true and more that he figured it was the best he was going to get.

  “All right, Dad,” he said, finally. “If that’s how it has to be.” He stuck out a hand and his father shook it. “Try to take care of yourself.”

  “Nothing lasts forever, son,” Krieger said with a wan smile, “not even trouble. Maybe when this all ends...”

  “Maybe.” The boy’s words carried a tone of finality that Krieger couldn’t miss.

  “Goodbye, Adam.” He turned and headed back the way he’d come.

  Adam watched him until the path curved out of sight, then the air seemed to go out of him and the stoic façade gave way to a look of anger mixed with grief.

  “He was lying to me,” he muttered, half to Sandi and half to himself. “He was lying the way he always has.”

  “He’s lying to himself, too,” she agreed. “But it’s not your job to save him, Adam. You were here to make peace and move on. And the fact he came all the way out here says he wanted the same thing.”

  That sounded good, anyway, she reflected, and maybe it would help the kid deal.

  “Are you staying here, on Sylvanus?” Ash asked him.

  “For a while. Maybe if he does send me the money, I’ll head back to Earth. Not even the cartels can reach that far.” He smiled shyly at Sandi. “Thanks for everything you’ve done for me. You’re the first people I’ve met in a long time who actually gave a shit about me.”

  Sandi pulled him into a hug, then kissed him on the cheek before she let him go. “We won’t be the last.”

  Ash shook the boy’s hand and Sandi was sure she could still see a hint of jealousy in the way Adam regarded him.

  “If you need us again,” Ash told him, “leave a message on that dead drop account we gave you. We’ll see it.”

  Adam nodded and waved one last time, then headed down the sidewalk in the opposite direction of the way his father had gone.

  “Do you think he’s going to be okay?” Sandi asked, reluctantly turning away and following Ash back toward the café where Fontenot and Kan-Ten waited. A thin layer of clouds had moved in front of the primary and she felt a slight chill from the breeze that had seemed warm and pleasant only a few minutes ago.

  “He’s a tough kid,” Ash assured her. “He’ll be fine.”

  She snorted doubtfully. “And what about us?”

  He slipped an arm around her and the warmth of him banished the chill. “We’ll be fine, too.”

  It wasn’t until they were almost to the café that Sandi realized Fontenot and Kan-Ten weren’t alone at the table. Another chair was pulled up behind theirs; a man sat in it, as unassuming and nondescript as any other civilian you might see walking around the park, from his hair to his clothes to the casual way he slumped back in his seat. Sandi thought he might have just been a local trying to make small-talk…then she noticed the pulse pistol held low in his lap, the emitter trained on Fontenot.

  Ash must have seen it just as she did, because she felt him tense up and they both began reaching for their concealed handguns.

  “Please don’t,” the average-looking man said in an average-sounding voice, his tone pleasant and polite. “I’m far from alone here, and I just want to talk.”

  “Who are you?” Ash asked, his hand going back to his side. Sandi hooked her thumbs on her belt, keeping her hands close to her weapon, but purposefully relaxed her stance, trying to look unthreatening.

  “Did Jordi send you?” She demanded. If La Sombra had already tracked them here, then Adam was in danger…

  “I’m Captain Fox,” the man gave her the most unexpected answer she would have thought possible. “I’m with Fleet Intelligence. Why don’t the two of you have a seat and get comfortable.” He eyed Sandi with a hint of amusement. “And please don’t try to shoot me, Ms. Hollande. Getting shot hurts, and I’d be cross.”

  Looking into those brown, friendly eyes, Sandi felt a cold assurance that this Captain Fox was intentionally understating things and that he was not the one in danger of being shot if she went for her weapon. She let her hands come away from her body and carefully took a seat across from Fox, Fontenot and Kan-Ten. Ash hesitated a moment longer before he sat down beside her. The café had human servers and, seeing the two of them sit, a young woman in black work clothes started to make her way to their table, but Fox waved her off with a genial smile.

  “I’m sorry,” Fontenot said to Sandi and Ash. “He looked normal and harmless and then…” She shrugged.

  “Why is Intelligence following us?” Ash wondered, wheels meshing behind his eyes.

  “We weren’t following you,” Fox corrected him, turning his free hand upward demonstratively. “We were aware of you, but we’ve been following Admiral Krieger.”

  “You know about Krieger?” Sandi blurted in surprise. “Then why haven’t you arrested him?”

  “Because we’re not the CID, we don’t arrest people. We’re using what we know to gain intelligence on threats to the Commonwealth.”

  “And two fucking Planet-Killers in the hands of a Pirate World cartel aren’t a threat to the Commonwealth?” She realized she was raising her voice and brought it back down with the last half of the sentence, but a flare of anger was burning inside her gut. They’d known about this and done nothing?

  “Actually,” Fox related, unperturbed by her outburst, “had Jordi Abdullah got his hands on the missiles, we were prepared to intervene directly. Thanks to you, however, that didn’t happen…and we were fairly certain that Carlos Borges and the Rif wouldn’t use them on anyone outside the Pirate Worlds.”

  “And the people living there don’t matter,” Fontenot put in, some bitterness obvious in her tone.

  “The people living there aren’t the ones I’m paid to protect,” Fox corrected her. “But that may be changing. Things are happening, money moving around, forces at work…” He trailed off, his eyes looking not so normal and not so genial for just a moment. “My superiors believe these things may present an existential threat to the Commonwealth. But we’re faced with the challenge that we lack assets in place.” He looked apologetic, as if he personally had failed. “The war kept us too busy to develop any, and there’s been budget cuts and reorganizations and keeping an eye on the peacetime Tahni government…” He smiled at Kan-Ten as if the alien should understand his plight. “Well, it’s been an oversight, and we need to correct it.”

  “Hold on,” Ash said slowly. “What exactly are you asking here?”

  “Do you four intend to stay together?” Fox answered a question with a question. “To become a crew on your boat?”

  “It’s not like the two of us can go anywhere else,” Sandi pointed out. “Ash and I are still wanted for murder, unless you can fix that. And now, he’s AWOL, too.”

  “Which is kind of a minor offense compared to murdering a Patrol agent,” Ash interjected. “What about you two?” He asked the cyborg and the Tahni
.

  “I wouldn’t mind a little traveling,” Fontenot allowed, eyeing Fox knowingly.

  “I do not have so many friends,” Kan-Ten answered, “that I can afford to capriciously waste them.”

  “I could make the murder charges go away,” Fox mused. “I could make the AWOL charges go away, too. But I’d rather not. They provide a more plausible cover than any I could design in such a short period.”

  “Cover for what?” Sandi wanted to know, having a horrible idea that she could figure out the answer already.

  “It’s expensive running a boat in the Pirate Worlds,” the Intelligence agent told them, looking each in the eye. “Fuel, food, weapons…everything’s at a premium.” He slid his pulse pistol back inside a concealed holster under his jacket and spread his open hands.

  “Maybe I can offer you guys a job.”

  Epilogue

  “You’re a hard man to kill,” Jordi Abdullah said, raising a glass of imported whiskey in an impromptu toast, admiration in his voice.

  It was a cool night in Dominica, the heat of the day rushing away into the cloudless sky, and Jordi felt a welcome warmth in his chest as the whiskey burned its way down his throat. Out the open window of his study, he could see the stars in an arc over the city while the moon hovered just over the horizon. The valley where the Planet-Killer had struck was still a blackened scar, taunting him nightly with his own vulnerability.

  “Got things to do before I let anyone kill me,” Jagmeet Singh replied, nursing his own drink with only half his mouth.

  The other half was swallowed up in the matte-black metal of the bionics that had replaced nearly half his skull. The gleam of the cybernetic eye staring out from that metal mask was unnerving, Jordi thought, as if it showed more emotion than the man’s natural eye. The hand holding the drink was flesh, but the other, cradled awkwardly in his lap, was the same black metal as the left side of his face.

  “I understand your need for personal revenge,” Jordi assured him, formulating his words carefully. He wasn’t used to dealing with someone who most likely was beyond threatening. “But a man in my position can’t afford to let this sort of public disrespect go without equally public punishment. I assure you, however, if you could find it within yourself to deliver Hollande and Carpenter to me alive, I will make their deaths long, painful and public.”