“Everyone ready?” he asked, to excited nods. “Okay then, let’s get this show on the road.”
Their meal was excellent. And the conversation went uninterrupted by anyone from Lucius’ past. All in all, the crew was very happy with the progress they were making and it showed in their animated conversation.
This time, Lucius kept the ground crew entertained telling stories about some of the candidates for the colony he was forced to pass on. Some were disqualified for past transgressions that made them a poor risk, a few because of psychological instabilities that made them bad candidates for the early underground living. And a few just weren’t trustworthy enough to be assured they could keep Christopher’s plans confidential while they were still partially based on Earth.
Anyone whom Lucius had the least doubt about was passed over for inclusion in the group, but instead referred to other concerns who could utilize their skills where such risks were unimportant. By the time they returned to the motel, everyone was beat. They all immediately retired to get in a good night’s rest to meet the rigors of the next day.
* * *
“Attention Jove mission. This is Colonel Levkov of the Svoboda. Please respond, Attention Jove mission, this is Colonel Levkov of the Svoboda. Please respond,” the radio unexpectedly announced, startling the entire crew.
“Well, well, well. What have we here?” said Susan.
“Yes, yes! What indeed?” Bianca said, smiling.
Everyone gathered around the communications console, waiting to see what Susan was going to do. Looking at the rest of the assembled crew, she shrugged her shoulders and donned the headset.
“Colonel Levkov, this is Dr. Susan Roscoe responding, over.”
“Dr. Roscoe, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, congratulations on your mission completing its journey.”
“To you as well, colonel. I hope your travels were as uneventful as ours. To what do we owe this unexpected call?” she asked.
“We have had no success contacting the colony, I was wondering have they made contact with you since your arrival?” he inquired.
Susan looked at Bianca and raised her eyebrows, then chuckled.
“I must report that our attempts at making contact have been met with silence as well. Do your mission protocols cover this contingency, Colonel?” she asked, lightly pumping him for information.
“Unfortunately they do not, doctor. At best there’s little we can do but beg their indulgence; we lack the means for doing anything else. And after the debacle that was the landing of the US soldiers on the moon, we believe that any threat of invasion or violence would be foolish in the extreme.”
“You are very forthcoming over an open frequency, colonel.”
“And why not? We have nothing to hide, do you?” he asked, a hint of humor in his voice.
Gina, sitting next to Levkov in the copilot’s chair, pressed the override button on the console and said, “Why do you provoke them, colonel? This is not the time for ridiculous posturing!”
He slapped her hand away from the console and wagged a warning finger in her face as he said, “Apologies, Dr. Roscoe, I meant no disrespect nor was I accusing your mission of having a hidden agenda. It has been a long journey here, and to be met with silence is frustrating.”
Susan mouthed the word “bullshit,” making the others laugh.
“Of course not, colonel. Think nothing of it. I must beg off for now. There are many duties I must attend to. However, I would be honored if I could return your call in a few hours when time permits.”
“But of course. We are at your disposal, Levkov out.”
When Susan had removed the headset, and shut off the radio, several of the crew broke out into wild laughter.
Bianca said to her, “Wasn’t that special! Could he have been any more of an asshole?”
“That man is military through and through,” Chester offered up.
“No shit. He definitely doesn’t have much respect for you, Susan,” John observed.
“He worries me already. I don’t know if their bird is armed, but he seems like the exact wrong person to have been chosen to lead an expedition to the colony,” observed Harriet.
On Svoboda, once Levkov shut down the radio, he saw the disapproval in Gina’s eyes.
“What? What was I supposed to have said?” he asked.
“You know that’s not what upset me. It’s your insistence in dealing with every situation as a military matter. Are you going to be as big an asshole if the colonists contact you, knowing that they can swat us like a fly?” she said, rising from the seat and floating into the common area below.
As she passed Sophia on her way to her compartment, Gina muttered, “That asshole is going to get us killed,” and kept on going.
Sophia and Xavier shared a look. He just shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.
Chapter 28
TIME HAS COME TODAY
In order to complete the acquisition of the remaining items on the colony’s wish list, Neil took Lucius to the rental agency to get a second truck. Lucius was to take one truck out to Chicago’s western suburbs to pick up some specialized research equipment, including an electron microscope. Neil was off to the Fulton Market area west of downtown to do the bulk meat shopping, planning to make two trips.
Albert, Lena and Julius worked to complete the loading and sealing of the containers. Albert ran power to the refrigerated container, dropping the internal temperature in preparation for Neil’s return with, as he called it, the big ass load of meat.
The remaining crates and miscellaneous items were packed by early afternoon. Once finished, the three celebrated with ice-cold beer along with their lunch. Julius ate outside, talking to Sondra. Albert and Lena finished their food and then ambled out to the dock to test the crane. They found the power to the crane was disconnected, so they traced some power cables that led back to the warehouse, laughing at each other when they found that the power switch for the crane had been overlooked just inside the huge cargo door. Once the power was on, they found the crane to be in very good shape. Inspecting it closely, Lena decided that the works could use some additional lubrication, as it appeared the unit hadn’t been used for some time and rain had rinsed off much of the exposed gearing.
Once the unit was squared away, Lena started up the crane, somewhat surprised that it worked smoothly. While she was testing the controls, Albert inspected the barge, finding that it was in really good shape and that the iron hull was going to hold the propulsion units just fine.
Lena called Neil and asked that he pick up a dozen large locks for the container doors. Calling out to Albert, she let him know that Neil’s first load was due shortly.
At the warehouse, Julius was waiting just inside the door for Neil to arrive. Moments later Neil drove inside and backed up next to the refrigerated container. When they opened the doors on the truck, they found it packed floor to ceiling with beef halves. They all ran to get into overalls and then began unloading from the truck directly into the shipping container. Half an hour later they were done, and Neil immediately took off for the second load.
When Lucius arrived at the laboratory, he was directed to the loading dock. He presented the email containing the bill of lading and inventory he was picking up. The security guard recognized the name of the fictitious front company Genesis had set up and informed Lucius that all the equipment was inside, and called someone inside to come down to complete the paperwork.
An attractive woman arrived a few minutes later and introduced herself as Carol, thanking him for his purchase. Lucius was just as gracious and thanked her for providing working equipment that would benefit a new not-for-profit startup dedicated to teaching science, technology, engineering and math to urban high school students.
“When do you think you’ll be open for business, Mr. Walker?” she asked.
; “We’re shooting for the fall semester next year,” he said as several of the dock crew began to move the equipment into the truck.
“This is pretty advanced lab equipment for high school students. Are you developing advanced college placement courses as part of the curriculum?” Carol asked.
“Indeed we are. Why do you ask?”
“Because I have a certain amount of discretion in the disposition of surplus equipment. There may be opportunities for us to donate lab equipment to your school. I would like to keep in touch to keep you informed of other opportunities that I could send your way,” she offered.
“That would be most generous, Carol,” he said, pulling a plain card out of his wallet with his name, the warehouse phone number and an email address on it.
“Great. Now if you’ll follow me, let’s get the paperwork done and then they should be finished loading up so you can be on your way.”
Lucius waited in a small conference room while Carol made copies of his driver’s license and credit card. Lucius compared the manifest with the email he’d received, and when he confirmed that the two lists matched, he handed her a certified check from his investment company.
“Thank you very much, Mr. Walker. It’s been a pleasure doing business with you,” she said, shaking his hand.
When they returned to the loading dock one of the workers was just closing the door to the truck. Lucius shook hands all around and tried to tip them, which was declined with good-natured smiles and wishes of good luck.
The drive back to the south side took little time at all, and the truck was unloaded quickly. Julius and Lucius returned the truck to the rental agency, then stopped to picked up a lunch of chicken and sides for everyone. As they left the parking lot, a truck seriously clipped the rental car, almost tearing off one of its rear fenders. The truck driver immediately got out and started to apologize, telling Julius that he completely missed seeing them as he turned the corner.
Julius and Lucius both knew that any kind accident investigation would put the mission in jeopardy. Lucius went to speak to the truck driver, who was already on the phone. As he drew near, he could hear the driver informing someone he had an accident, admitting that he was completely at fault. When he looked back to check on Julius who was checking the extent of the damage, he saw Julius just shake his head indicating that there was no way they were going to be able to just drive away.
Lucius briefly considered just walking away from the accident, but the mishap had already drawn a crowd. Sure that any attempt to flee the scene wouldn’t be successful, he decided that they were just going to have to brazen it out.
When the truck driver was through with his phone call, he approached Julius to exchange license and insurance information. Lucius nodded out of sight of the driver and watched as the two recorded the other’s information. Just as they were finishing up, a Chicago police department cruiser pulled up, lights flashing.
A white police officer in his late forties got out of the car, waving traffic to proceed around the accident, and approached the three on the sidewalk.
“So, what have we here?” the officer inquired.
“It’s my fault, I didn’t see them when I made a right turn on red,” the truck driver confessed.
“May I have both your licenses and insurance cards please?” the officer asked.
“The car’s a rental, sir. I have the contract here showing liability insurance on the car,” Julius said, handing the documents over.
“And you, sir, were you a passenger in either of the vehicles?” the officer asked Lucius.
“I was in the car, officer. But I’m not injured in any way.”
“May I have your ID as well?”
Lucius handed the officer his license and the three watched as he returned to the squad car. Moments later a police SUV pulled up from the other direction. The officer got out and began to direct traffic around the two vehicles.
The first officer got out of the car, speaking on the radio as he approached the three.
“Would all of you get in the back seat of my car?” he requested. “I have some questions I need to ask for the report.”
Looking at each other in curiosity, they all moved toward the car to comply. The officer got in the front seat and asked Julius to describe what had happened. When Julius was finished, the officer asked the truck driver if he agreed with the event as described. The truck driver said that the description was accurate. The officer got out, opened the door for the truck driver, handed him his license and insurance papers, and told him to wait in his truck.
Once back in the car, he received an accident number over the radio and started to complete the accident form. Moments later he asked, “Mr. Walker, is the information on your license accurate?”
“It is. Is there something wrong, officer?” Lucius asked.
“It says here that you were born in 1915, is that correct? You don’t look just short of a hundred years old, Mr. Walker.”
“That is when I was born. I’m a World War II veteran, officer. I’ve been retired from my own law practice for the last decade,” Lucius explained as Julius was getting nervous at the line of questioning.
“Do you have any other identification, Mr. Walker?”
“I have two credit cards, will that do?”
“Nothing else?”
“I’m afraid not. What’s this all about, officer?” Lucius asked.
“Something about you two just isn’t right. Your driver here has a valid license, but there’s nothing in his file. No vehicle registrations, no tickets, it’s just too clean. And sorry to say, you just don’t look ninety-seven years old.”
“So, as an attorney, let me get this straight. You’re suspicious of the fact that my friend here has never gotten a speeding or parking ticket and never owned a car in the state of Illinois, and that I managed to retain my youthful good looks through constant moisturizing? Is this what we’re talking about here?” Lucius pressed, starting to get annoyed.
The officer laughed despite himself. “When you put it that way, it does sound a bit crazy. But with identity theft as rampant and serious as it is, a few extra questions are not out of line. Tell you what. I’ll get a wrecker to tow the car to the rental office on CPD’s dime, and we’ll stop by the station to clear up some things. Once we’re done, and if everything checks out, we’ll run you wherever you need to go.”
They knew that arguing would only make things worse, so they agreed. When the officer left the car to give the truck driver his copy of the accident report, Lucius contacted Neil and brought him up to date. G2 was going to keep the line open to their earpieces so the others could monitor.
Julius slipped his earpiece off of his ear and slid it into his shirt pocket.
On the way to the station, Julius began to panic, imagining all manners of disaster that could befall them should their identity be discovered. He could barely remember the name on his license, let alone the address.
Sensing the rising panic in Julius, Lucius touched the younger man’s hand and slightly shook his head in an effort to calm him. Julius took a deep breath and nodded.
At the station, Julius briefly considered running, taking the chance of getting away, but he immediately put the thought aside, unwilling to leave Lucius behind.
The officer lead the two inside and escorted them to an interrogation room. He offered them coffee and water, then informed them he’d return shortly. Lucius sat as Julius began to prowl the perimeter of the room.
“Sit down. You’re just working yourself up,” said Lucius.
Julius took the chair next to Lucius and sighed.
“What now?” he asked.
“We wait and see,” Lucius said.
“They didn’t search us, that’s something.”
“Metal detectors at the door. Now hush, you never know who might be listening,” L
ucius said, pointedly looking at the large mirror opposite the door.
After a few minutes had passed, Julius said, “I wonder if we’d be sitting here if we were white?”
Lucius chuckled and said, “Now that is an interesting question.”
In his earpiece, Chuck announced, “G2 is monitoring network and telephone communications from the station. A standard inquiry has gone out on both of your identities. G2 has already prepared and sent information that should pass muster. Lucius, yours was just a matter of filling in a couple of things to explain your being retired offshore. Is Julius listening? G2 said his earpiece is muffled.”
Lucius muttered, “No.”
“Tell him when you can that he should be covered as well,” said Chuck. “We’re standing by to assist. Neil and Lena are preparing to retrieve the propulsion units for the barge as soon as it’s dark, and Albert is sticking around the warehouse, keeping an eye on everything.”
Just then the officer returned, accompanied by another who was carrying a small case.
“I need to take your fingerprints,” he announced.
“Why?” Lucius asked. “Are we under arrest?”
“Not exactly. But I do have to establish your identities. I have sufficient probable cause to run background checks on the two of you,” he explained.
“Would you be treating us this way if we were white, officer?”
“Excuse me? Are you seriously trying to play the race card with me?” he said, getting a quick glance from the evidence technician taking Julius’ fingerprints.
“It’s just a question, officer. Do you have a problem with me asking it? I’ve spent enough time in the criminal justice system as a civil rights attorney to know how things work, or don’t, in many cases,” Lucius replied.
“I think the question is out of line. And furthermore, the very fact that you asked it makes things that much more suspicious. Are you trying to hide something, Mr. Walker? If that’s who you really are.”
Confrontation Page 45