Chapter 18
Spire Central Water Facility, Hlidargata
As the sun went down, Maya realized that hanging around the location was probably a waste of time. She’d seen the two ex-military-looking guys take the kidnapped scientist away - along with what she could only assume was the toxin. She’d heard his protests, that they were holding his family, and forcing him to poison the city… They had it in-hand.
Hanging around, watching super-soldier number two guard the location, wasn’t going to give her any more answers.
And heck knows how he isn’t exhausted, she wondered. She’d been staking out the place for a good eight hours before anyone even showed up. And she’d been sitting in her car. He’d been standing out in the dust and radiation for hours.
Nope, it was time to call it a day. She had pictures of the two guys and the scientist on her holo. She just needed to connect back up to the XtraNET, and she could find out who these people were.
She started the car and pulled away.
She didn’t notice the space marine turn his head and clock her car registration number as she drove off.
It didn’t take much driving to find a mocha shop that had XtraNET she could tap into. Reopening the port on her holo, she hijacked the signal to continue her investigation.
First the marines: who were they? she asked herself, clipping their faces and running the images through facial rec. She left it running; she needed to be sure. Full scan. And time for a mocha and some food.
She got out of the car and stretched her legs, then arched her back. Locking up the car, she ambled towards the mocha shop. Suddenly, she had a funny feeling she was being watched. She looked around her. There was no one there.
Keep your eyes peeled, Maya, she told herself. You’re onto something here. Can’t be too careful.
Her father had taught her how to recognize if someone was tailing her. Even as a child, she knew to take note of all the cars in a parking lot, and things like the number of people around a building like this.
She made her way into the mocha shop through the sliding atmos door. At the counter, she placed her order. Ten minutes later, she was sitting in the window, watching out for anything unusual while searching what she could access from a normal XtraNET connection.
At least I know who the good guys are, now, she mused to herself. They didn’t kill the scientist, but they stopped him from hurting anyone. She pulled up the pictures of the two men again. Something caused her to stop and look at them more closely.
One of them looked familiar. She couldn’t make the connection at first but then… Yes! She scrambled for her company’s newsfeed, and searched the video clips.
Yes! That was where she’d seen him.
It was way too grainy to do a facial rec match, but that was very likely the guy with Molly Bates on the Dewitt footage.
Great! she thought. Now we’re getting somewhere, baby.
Just as soon as the facial rec came back, she’d have an ID, and a break in the case.
It took another two mochas for the facial software to return a result.
Joel Dunham. Honorably discharged, but his file was sealed. Something fishy went down there. But that was several years ago.
She kept searching in the usual databases. Transport, housing, financial, and holo records. Nothing gave her any insight. But then… flight plans. He’d spent the last few months off-world. No fixed address.
Interesting.
She tried digging. All that would come up was his association with Molly Bates in the police records to do with Dewitt. Nothing about in what capacity.
Shit. If only I could get into those files.
She flicked up the facial rec software that was returning a result.
**NO MATCH**
That was for the guy with Dunham.
She went back to the original pictures of them. The second guy looked more heavily-built, especially for a human. She wondered… Maybe he’s off-grid. Working for the military. Which would explain the abilities I’ve seen; he moved faster than a human could.
She pulled up the footage and ran the high res image, taking the spectrum down to the infrared. Zooming in, she selected the images and then blew them up.
Was that-?
Just behind his ear, she could see an implant; but bigger than a normal auditory one.
She zoomed to another part of his body. There were low temperature lines, like cables, or implants, or something, running the length of his legs. She tried to get a better angle, but it was too fiddly on her device.
But it got her thinking. A few years ago there were rumors of cyborgs - half men, half machine, being created for a secret war. She’d dismissed it as conspiracy theory. Speculative fiction. But now, seeing this untraceable man, knee-deep in a conspiracy to wipe out half the city, she had to wonder.
She lifted her mocha cup, to take another comforting sip, only to find it empty. Feeling hollow and exhausted, her mind somewhat foggy now, she tried to refocus on Joel. He was traceable. And if he was living off-world, sooner or later she knew exactly where he’d show up.
She plunked the empty mug down on the table and gathered up her belongings. She looked at the counter, contemplating taking another mocha with her, but then decided against it.
She really needed sleep at some point.
She just had one more stop to make…
Ventus Research Facility, downtown Spire
Joel was on high alert.
Transporting a prisoner solo was one of the highest-risk operations a person could take on. And that was despite the low level threat the scientist physically posed.
He whipped through all the strategies he would teach his cadets.
Know your route.
Check your route.
Be aware of your enemies and know who might ambush you.
Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail.
He felt like he had held his breath the entire journey.
Every car was suspicious.
Every holo device active on the street from passersby was a potential weapon.
Not to mention the fact that he was carrying the deadly toxin.
He had no idea if it might explode right there in the car. Maybe it was on a timer. He couldn’t totally trust everything the scientist had been telling him as he drove, quizzing him incessantly.
After all, he was under duress from the kidnappers, and now from Joel himself.
Fuck!
At least when he got there, he’d be able to hand the scientist over to the police. Detective Indius had been most accommodating and grateful on the holo call, as he’d set off from the Hlidargata site.
Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime since leaving Sean at the drop point, he pulled up at Ventus. He got out of the car and went around to the other side. Carefully, he opened the door and helped the prisoner out.
He glanced towards the back pocket where the toxin was. Safer to leave it there and get the scientist inside and handed over, he decided. Even if it did mean that he was leaving it unattended.
Can’t be helped. He locked the car and frog-marched Rek into the facility.
Everything was quiet.
Since bringing Molly on board, the directors had concluded that she could do far more than all their scientists combined. Something about her attitude had persuaded them. That’s what he’d heard from Eugene, anyway.
Their footsteps resounded through the dark, empty corridors. Emergency, low-level lighting guided their way through the building, as if low light was a mark of shame. Joel’s boots were heavy on the ground. Ordered in a solid, regular beat. David’s were scattered. He stumbled every now and again, off-balance, despite Joel only lightly holding his arm now.
Eventually they arrived in the lab. Without acknowledging any of the many bodies standing around the main workstations, Joel grabbed a swivel chair and sat David into it. Then he tied his middle and legs to the chair, immobilizing him.
> Finally he looked up and acknowledged the people in the room.
“Mr. Dunham. Thank you for your call.” Detective Indius stepped away from the group, moving towards Joel, her hand outstretched. He shook her hand and then glanced over at the others. Eugene was at his station, and Pieter had been working away at something… the camera screens monitoring the three original sites still.
Joel nodded to the others before turning back to Indius. “You’re welcome. I’m glad to have him off my hands, if anything.”
He hesitated, not really knowing if he should hand over the toxin.
“We retrieved the toxin,” he told her. “Except, I don’t think that taking it to the precinct is a good idea.”
Eugene practically jumped out of his chair. “You’re kidding! It’s totally NOT a good idea! Do you have any idea-”
Pieter had stood up and was about to chime in too.
Detective Indius raised her hand. “It’s okay. Chillax, Dr. Eugene. You can keep the toxin here. As long as I get a full spec report on it for submitting to the DA.”
Eugene looked embarrassed about his outburst. He nodded, grunting something in agreement, and sat back down. Pieter backed off a little, too.
Joel turned to leave the lab. “Okay, let me go get it. Then you’ll probably want to know what we know.”
Indius smiled. “That sounds like an excellent idea, Mr. Dunham.”
* * *
It took a few hours of chatting and debriefing before all parties were satisfied they had the intel they needed. Joel strategically left out all the details about Sean. If he was using servers for them to communicate, and potentially double-crossing his employer - The Syndicate, and his ancestors knew whom else - he wouldn’t take kindly to being revealed to the police.
Fortunately, Pieter and Eugene had also been discreet, so it was easy to omit his part in it… although there had been a tense moment when Sean appeared on Pieter’s cameras just outside of Indius’s eyeline. He was still at the scene, but was signaling to them he was taking off. Joel had managed to keep Detective Indius’s attention on him by telling her the tale of how they had originally gotten off-world… semi-legally.
Thankfully, she wasn’t too caught up by the Air Traffic Control violation, mostly because that wasn’t her department, and there was nothing she could do. She did, however, urge him to get the penalty paid.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m sure it’s in-hand with the pilot in order for him to come through the port again,” Joel waved, agreeing that they would ‘fess up either way.
Finally she got up to leave.
“Thank you all,” she said, casting her eyes around the little team in the lab. “And please pass my thanks on to Ms. Bates, as well.”
Joel nodded. “Of course.”
He got up and walked her out of the building and into a waiting police car, with her new prisoner.
When he returned to the lab, the boys were chattering and laughing, relieved that their hard work had paid off.
“We saved the fucking world!!” Pieter hollered at the top of his voice.
Eugene laughed and high-fived him. “Yeah. Who’d have thought that a couple of geeks-”
He stopped mid-sentence, seeing Joel, the muscle of the op, walk back in, and take a seat next to him. Joel folded his arms, revealing his rippling muscles, and looked pointedly at Eugene’s biceps.
Eugene went quiet and put his attention back on his holo, pretending to work.
Pieter regained his decorum too. “Want me to message Sean and let him know we wrapped up?”
“Sure,” Joel responded. “Then contact Gaitune, and let them know we’re ready for extraction. It will take them a day or two to get here.
Pieter swiveled back to his temporary workstation. “You got it, boss!” he chirped.
Joel leaned back in his chair, and moved over to give Eugene some more space. “Then we go eat,” he said, finally allowing himself to relax.
“Something with a fuck ton of dead animal on it,” he added.
Hotel Erwin, downtown Spire
Joel woke up in the hotel room. Pieter was already up, working at the table in the main room. Natural sarklight spilled through the windows and cast patterns on the floor.
Rolling off the bed and putting his feet on the floor, Joel stretched out his calves, bringing himself around slowly.
He turned, looking for his water bottle. It was on the nightstand, empty. He picked it up and padded through to the living area, and over to the sink in the very basic kitchenette.
“Ummm,” he grunted to Pieter.
Pieter glanced up from his work. “Greetings of the morning,” he said, trying not to let his focus be broken.
Joel sat down at the table and drank from his bottle.
Eventually Pieter looked up again. “Sleep okay?” he asked.
Joel nodded, still trying to come to. Speaking was an effort he wasn’t prepared to make at this point.
Pieter started updating Joel anyway. “Okay, so I think I’ve got this device working as we need it to. I’ve tested it a few times, and I can’t break it…” he picked up the little pod device off the table, and waved it in the air in front of Joel’s eyes.
Joel reached out and took it from him, like a bear would swipe at a honeybee. He blinked his eyes again and gave up. Holding the device, he closed his eyes and put his head on his arms on the table.
He stayed like that for a few minutes.
Pieter continued working.
Eventually Joel revived and peeled his head up, eyes still closed. Then one eye opened. Followed a moment later by the other.
Joel tried again, holding the device up in front of his now-functioning eyes.
“Looks like a normal storage device,” he commented, forcing his mouth to work. His whole face was still crumpled up.
Pieter looked at him. “Yeah, that’s what it’s meant to look like.”
Joel’s eyes widened a little, as he mouthed an “Ohhh,” expression. “And it’s fully tested.”
Pieter nodded. “Yes, sir.”
Joel looked over at him, serious and awake now. “You’d stake your life on it?” He still held the device up at eye level between them.
Pieter swallowed. His eyes focused on the device for a moment, and then back on Joel. He paused. Then nodded. “I would.”
“Good enough for me,” smiled Joel. He put it back down on the table. “Leave a message for Sean. If he wants to avoid contact, we can leave it at a drop-off for him.”
That way I don’t have to see him.
Shit, stop Joel. He’s just a dude.
Yeah, that happens to be into Molly.
Pieter was back on his holo. “On it.”
Joel heaved himself out of the chair and walked over to the mocha machine. He shook his head, trying to shake the feelings he had about Sean.
Hitting the “on” switch, he remembered to ask about their pick up. “Hey, any word from Crash yet?”
Pieter looked up. “Yeah, about half hour ago he sent a download estimating an ETA of about 6 hours. That gives us five and a half to get packed up and over there.
Joel grunted again, and traipsed back through to the bedroom to hit the shower.
Chapter 19
Spaceport, Hangar 08771A, Outskirts of Uptarlung
Exhausted, her blue skin now dull from fatigue, Maya rolled up to the security checkpoint with her badge. It had been a long drive between Spire and Uptarlung, and sleep dep was already kicking in.
“Maya Johnstone, Newstainment, Investigative Division,” she told the young Estarian at the security post. He leaned out of his window to see the ID projection more closely on her holo.
He looked at the ID, then at her, and then back at the ID.
He pulled his mouth to one side, thinking. Or confused. “What does a journalist want with a spaceport?” he asked.
Maya sensed that this was an opportunity. After all, once she was in, she di
dn’t know where to start looking. She held up a finger telling him to hang on a second, and then turned off the engine and hopped out of the car. As she approached the window, he stepped out of the door on the other side of his little office, and came around to meet her.
“Don’t get many people interested in this place,” he said. His accent was slow and drawn. He was likely from one of the more southern towns on the planet.
Maya smiled at him. “Well, there’s someone I’m trying to trace. He’s been helping my friend, and I think he’s in trouble.” She bit her lip and looked away for a moment. “I know he’ll be leaving to go off-world soon, and I just wanted to speak to him before he goes.”
She looked down and fiddled with her holo. Pulling up his picture from before he had pulled his weapon, and before he had the scientist in shot; she showed him a zoomed in image of Joel.
“You seen him?” she asked.
The Estarian shook his head. “We get a lot of guys like him through this way: ex-military types, with commercial gigs, importing and exporting on these birds. Hard to tell them apart.”
Maya smiled. “Yeah, bet they all look the same.” She paused. “Say, you wouldn’t happen to have a sign-in would you… for people when they come on-site? The guy’s name is Joel Dunham. At least, that’s his real name.”
The security guard looked upward for a second, thinking. “Yeah… hang on.” He stepped out behind the security hut again. She followed him around to the doorway. He had pulled up the lodge holo device and was scrolling through sign-ins.
“No sign of your boy today,” he told her.
Maya frowned a little, and thought for a moment. “What about any other day?”
The security guard pulled up the search function and keyed in Joel’s name. “Yeah, he checked in one landing a few days ago.”
Maya put her finger to her bottom lip, thinking. “Okay. So if that was the last entry… if he’s still using his real name, he’s still here.”
The guard straightened up, suddenly looking more competent and confident. “Tell you what,” he said, “bump me that image and his name, and if anyone comes in looking like that, I’ll drop you a message.”
The Ascension Myth Box Set Page 43
