“My instinct tells me they have something to hide. Look for a ship that’s been hanging around, observing the dispute on New Atlantia, perhaps?”
“That would certainly make it look like they had an interest, and probably someone high-ranking on hand to make calls to the corporation…It’s a needle in a haystack, but I’ll give it a shot.”
Thomas’s sharp eyes scanned down the list, looking for anything that fit the description. He smiled and pointed. “Commander Grace, I have it! One of the Goliath cargo vessels has been in orbit for five days, and it’s been sitting only 200 clicks out for the last two days!”
“Excellent work, Thomas! That’s the one we’re looking for. I need a line to the Council right away. We need Federation permission to board this ship, and those politicians had better give it to me if they know what’s good for them!”
CHAPTER THIRTY
Perched up on a shelf intended for miscellaneous cargo storage, Neffy felt like a bird stuffed into an overly-large cage. The shelf was far from the most comfortable place he had ever sat, but he didn’t have enough energy left to do what his companion was doing. Brad paced endlessly back and forth on the floor down below. Every now and then, he glanced over at Neffy as if waiting for him to say something. Neffy had no intention of saying anything.
He was reaching the point of sheer exhaustion. Since the start of this mission, he had been tied up, shot at, caged, and ejected out an airlock into the void of space. He’d been betrayed at least once, and it was starting to look like more than once. If he couldn’t trust Brad, he was all alone here. And he had no reason to think he could trust Brad.
If Brad wasn’t a former Academy student with special forces training, then who was he and what was his real agenda? He had to know, and he didn’t think it could wait any longer. He would have to confront Brad about his suspicions, even if it ran the risk of provoking the man. He just felt so tired…
Brad stopped pacing suddenly and stared straight at Neffy, as if daring him to say something. Neffy didn’t oblige him, but Brad followed up by stating the obvious, “We can’t just sit here and wait for them to come torture us or something. We need a plan!”
No response from Neffy. Brad stared and Neffy stared straight back. Brad tried again.
“See if you can remember anything useful about those device schematics. That way if only one of us gets away we can still pass the info back to Trent. It might help the Federation track down the people who stole the device!”
Still no response. Neffy couldn’t help but notice that Brad had pressed him for information on the Zero Point device. It fit in with the suspicions he already harbored.
Brad’s face became angry. “Have you given up? Is this where you stop trying?”
Neffy still wouldn’t speak. He had no intention of giving up, but his reserves were low. Too low for any more game-playing.
Brad was starting to get agitated. “Come on, Neffy. Say something. Say anything!”
Here it was. “Okay, Brad, I’ll say something. Why did you surrender?”
“Are you still worrying about that? Come on, Neffy! I had that situation completely under control. Walking in with my hands up was just stage one.”
“Stage one of what? Your brilliant ploy? I don’t buy that, Brad. It doesn’t follow Federation protocol, and Federation protocol ought to be second nature. For an Academy man, it usually is.”
Brad’s face became guarded, or possibly just offended. “What exactly are you saying here, Neffy?”
“You know what I’m saying. I don’t believe you ever went to the Academy. I don’t believe your story.”
Brad stepped back a little and just looked at him, with no hint of his usual easy good cheer. He looked more like a snake, trying to decide whether to strike or not. His face was a mask, no trace of emotion at all. Whatever he said next would be a lie.
Brad’s voice was cool. “What makes you say that, Neffy?”
Neffy shrugged, keeping his body language intentionally casual. “Just a hunch. When I asked you about your experiences earlier, your answers were safe. A little bit too safe…generic, really. Everything you said could have been pulled from my holosystem and Trent’s briefing plus a little creative rearrangement.”
Brad’s grin returned, although his eyes retained their mask-like flatness. “This mission is getting to you, Neffy. You’re being paranoid.”
Neffy shook his head. “It’s not going to work, Brad. I may be impulsive, but I’m not stupid enough to fall for that.”
Brad threw his hands up and laughed, admitting defeat. “No one would ever accuse you of being stupid. Although it isn’t always an asset to be too smart in this world, and you should remember that. Okay, you’re right. I never went to the Academy. Now can we make a plan?”
“I’m not quite finished. Knowing you never went to the Academy is one thing. Knowing your real agenda is another.”
“My real agenda?”
“Yes, that’s right. You see, I know you’re actually working for one of the companies with a commercial interest in the device.”
Brad shook his head indignantly, but his usual confidence was clearly slipping. “I work for Trent!”
“On paper, you work for Trent. I’m sure of that. In reality you were only using Trent to get closer to me because I’ve seen the schematics for the Zero Point device.”
The mask disappeared, and Brad’s jaw was left hanging open. He obviously had never expected Neffy to figure him out. Neffy pressed his advantage, sensing that he would never have Brad in a more vulnerable position.
“There’s only one thing I still don’t know. Is Trent aware that you’re double-crossing him?”
Brad closed his mouth and tried to wipe the look of astonishment off his face. His expression went neutral and guarded again with surprising speed. It almost worked, but a Peacekeeper like Neffy was not so easily fooled. The micro-expression for fear flickered like summer lightning across Brad’s face. Trent didn’t know about Brad’s treachery – and Brad was scared.
Of course, to be scared of Trent was perfectly rational. Trent was a powerful man. So what could have motivated Brad to take such a risk? Neffy kept on pushing. “Which leaves us with at least one problem, Commander Brad Cramer. The same problem I’ve been asking about all along. Why did you surrender?”
“It’s not so mysterious. I didn’t want you to go in alone. I still had my orders from Trent to follow you.”
“Your orders from Trent? That only makes sense if you were still planning to string him along for a while, but we’ll leave that for now. The real question is this – who are you really working for?”
Brad laughed nervously. He was clearly uncomfortable with the entire conversation. In all likelihood no one had ever seen through his games before. “That’s a no-no. Top secret.”
“He works for Goliath Industries,” said a familiar voice. Neffy jumped off the cargo shelf in total astonishment as Sergeant Alice Montgomery walked into view. She looked a little worn-down emotionally, but otherwise the same Ally he had always known. The same Ally he wasn’t sure he’d ever known.
“Hello, Neffy.”
He ran up to the bars of the cage. “Ally! I never expected to see you again!”
Ally’s voice held a hint of irony. “I’m glad to see you’re still alive.”
Neffy’s voice was even more ironic, considering that Ally had probably tried to murder him. “Same to you.”
The memory of those first few seconds outside the airlock came rushing back. The limitless emptiness of outer space, the panic at his lack of oxygen…and the sense of abandonment, a betrayal as deep as when his mother left him. His stomach knotted, and he felt like vomiting. Oh, Ally. How could you do that to me?
Ally seemed to want to confess before he accused her. She opened her mouth, but the words wouldn’t come out for a few seconds. “I…I have to tell you something. It’s a long story, and I don’t have all the pieces yet, but that accident with the airlock…”
/>
Neffy filled in for her, and the words settled down like rocks in his stomach. “It was you.”
Ally nodded. Neffy had known – there was no other logical explanation for the accident – but he hadn’t known. Not like he knew now, with her confession. His best friend had really tried to kill him. That was a fact he would have to deal with, today and for all the days to come.
Ally continued, “I don’t deserve forgiveness. I know that, Neffy. But at least I do have an explanation. I’ll give you the facts as soon as I can, but for now we’d better focus on getting off this ship.”
Conflicting emotions surged through Neffy’s mind, each as strong as the other. If not for the cage bars, he would have hugged her. If he still had his gun, he might have shot her. He had never experienced such an intense combination of incompatible emotions at the same time before, and it must have shown. Brad was looking at him like he was about to start beating his head against the bars and shouting something incoherent.
Neffy struggled to get his thoughts in order. He needed to focus on one simple task at a time. He had to prioritize. “If you know how to get us out of here, you’d better do it. We need to hurry, Ally.”
Ally looked unsure. “What do you mean by us? Commander Cramer isn’t who he says he is.”
“Yeah, I know. He works for some corporation. Now, let’s go!”
“You don’t understand, Neffy! He works for this corporation. Goliath Industries. The corporation responsible for taking you prisoner, shipping Dr. Sacre off – and stealing the device in the first place.”
Neffy frowned. “That doesn’t make sense. They’ve taken him prisoner twice now.”
Brad laughed. “You’re a little naïve, Neffy. Don’t get me wrong, it’s kind of refreshing. But wow, you know? Look, do you really want to know why I surrendered? They were watching me the whole time from right up here. I walked in there and got myself captured so my handlers would know where to direct the beam. I wanted to make sure they captured everyone just in case Dunham’s people started to gain the upper hand.”
“So why didn’t those Delta Team guys recognize you?”
“Delta Team had no idea who I was, because I’m a deep cover operator. Same with the guys who locked me up in here. The chances of getting some useful info out of you without having to torture you first were a lot higher if you still thought I was Federation, so I decided to hang around in here for a while instead of giving the game away.”
Neffy was stunned. But that wasn’t all. Ally pointed at Brad with a shaking finger.
“Cramer has orders to kill you, Neffy!”
Neffy looked at Brad, trying to see if there was any truth in her words. “If he has orders to kill me, then why hasn’t he tried to kill me yet?”
Brad smiled. “That’s an easy one. They haven’t given me the final order yet because you might still be useful to them. They won’t get the chance now, though. Goliath is done.”
The casual smile on his face when he said this sent chills down Neffy’s spine. Brad Cramer was an experienced and unemotional killer, that much was certain. But he had not yet acted on his orders. Was it only because he had been told to hold off for now, or was there still a little bit more to the story?
The sound of the lift brought him back to the moment and the reality of their predicament.
Ally looked appalled. “Whatever you do, Neffy, don’t trust this man!”
Brad smirked and started to say something, but Ally talked right over him. “Dr. Sacre is still on this ship. They’re planning to send him somewhere; I don’t know where. But we still have a chance. We have to hurry, but we might be able to grab him on our way out. He’ll be guarded, I’m sure of that.”
Brad insisted on speaking. “If you’re hoping to grab Dr. Sacre out from under their noses, you’re going to need some help. You need to take me with you.”
Neffy scoffed. “Come on, Brad. You can’t be serious.”
Brad assumed an innocent expression and pretended to look around the room. “Correct me if I’m wrong here Neffy, but the only person in the room who hasn’t tried to kill you yet is me – and I’m including you in that assessment!”
“You’re a spy and a mercenary, Brad. I don’t need your kind of help.”
“Would you be better off with Ally’s kind of help? Helping you out an airlock, for example?”
Ally looked pained. “That was…that was different! You don’t know what happened!”
Neffy grimaced. He couldn’t trust either one of them, but it was a moot point. Right now the important thing was to focus on escaping – and any help was good help in that scenario. The lift had stopped, and he could already hear four sets of footsteps approaching down the corridor. “The keycode the guards used was 4563. No, 4536! Get us out of here!”
Ally punched it in, and the locker cage swung open. “There’s a ventilation grate just down the hallway. We can use that!”
Brad was right behind Neffy. “I’m not staying in here. So far, I’ve done nothing but protect you, and I intend to go on doing so.”
They ran down the corridor, but Neffy was perplexed by this sudden development. “Aren’t you forgetting the fact that you work for Goliath?”
“I’ve worked for a lot of different people. The truth is, I was only hired by Goliath recently. Now that the Federation is on to them I see no point in misguided loyalty. That’s what I meant when I said they were done.”
Brad was certainly not the “misguided loyalty” type. Neffy had no doubt that the man would turn on him again with just as much ease if the need arose. On the other hand, other than killing or incapacitating Brad there was nothing he could do to keep the man from running after him. As Ally yanked the ventilation grate off the corridor wall, Neffy sighed and turned to look at Brad – who was once again smiling.
Neffy sighed. “Fine, you can come. But any trouble from you and you’ll be the one going out the airlock.”
+++
Moments later, four Goliath Industries security guards ran up to the locker cages, alerted by the sound of footsteps running.
The cage was empty and the door hung open. One of the men punched the side of the cage in frustration and worry. “Goddamn it! How did they do that?”
Another spoke into his holo. “Red alert – the guests are loose. Repeat, guests loose, top priority. All units, be on guard.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Commander Grace stared into her holoscreen on the FFS Troy, fixing the Flight Sergeant of the Goliath cargo vessel with her most intimidating facial expression. “I don’t care what your superiors say, I have a Federation-signed order to board and search your vessel.”
The Flight Sergeant looked like a man who had been ordered to stand beside a suspicious package and wait for the explosives experts. He swallowed uncomfortably. “I understand, but…hold on a moment.”
He turned in his seat and began to talk with someone. She couldn’t quite hear all the words, but the theme of the conversation seemed to be whether anyone of higher rank would even agree to speak with her. Grace could feel herself losing patience. Getting permission from the Council had taken hours, and now she had to deal with this corporate lackey. Did he not understand that she was from the Federation?
“Young man, if I am not put through immediately to whoever is in command of this vessel, I will send over a boarding team with orders to arrest everyone on board for obstruction.”
That got his attention, but not much else. He just stared at her miserably and then repeated his mantra, “I have my orders, ma’am. There’s nothing I can do.”
“Then you leave me no choice. Your ship will be boarded by an armed team. If you don’t want to make a bad situation much worse, do not resist them.”
Grace killed the call. Flight Sergeant Thomas stood right behind her, waiting for her orders. He looked much calmer than in some of their recent conversations, perhaps because he was back on familiar ground. Cargo vessels that refused inspection were not as uncommon an occ
urrence as they ought to be. Usually they turned out to be pirates or smugglers. In this case, it was probably something much worse.
“Thomas, prepare a boarding party. Take that ship by any means necessary. I want open line, blow-by-blow reports of the action.”
“Right away, sir.”
Thomas left, and Commander Grace closed her eyes and rested her head against her upraised hand. The last thing she needed was another team in danger, but the Goliath ship had left her no other choice. She didn’t expect the mission to be particularly deadly, but she wouldn’t have expected Captain Dunham’s team to get ambushed and captured by corporate mercenaries either – however briefly. Whatever was really going on with this vessel, they had already resisted Federation orders and might do so again. She had no way of knowing what weapons they had or how far they were willing to go. Better to go in hot and make sure this time.
+++
The flight deck of the Goliath vessel was deathly quiet, an unusual scenario for a ship of this size. Brad leaned in Ally’s general direction and whispered a question, “What’s the easiest vehicle for you to hack into?”
Neffy glared. “For a modern-day ninja, you have no idea what it means to be quiet!”
Brad looked slightly wounded. “I whispered.”
“You stage-whispered! And sound travels easily on metal decks!”
They were all feeling paranoid now that the alert had been sounded. Their grandiose plans to rescue Dr. Sacre were not looking too likely, with armed guards rushing back and forth everywhere other than the flight deck. It would take all their luck just to save themselves.
Ally’s whisper was much quieter. “The newer Eagle models are easy, or the Mirages. I’m fairly compatible with either system. The new Eagles, though…”
Neffy interrupted. “Look, we need to just go, the smaller the better because there’s less chance of smashing into anything coming in to dock.”
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