“You damn well better, Drake, or you’re going to lose all the work you just did saving that little girl.”
“I let you on the team. And now you’re betraying me.”
“This isn’t a betrayal. I’ve done nothing to betray you. I just ask that you leave me here. I have business to attend to.”
“What? What could you possible want here?”
“That is something I won’t answer today. Maybe not ever.”
“You’re infuriating, you know that? I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you.”
“If you hadn’t, I would have been able to see the great Holly Drake in action. So, for myself at least, I’m glad that you did.”
“Don’t compliment me right now. I still don’t trust you one hundred percent, Voss. Maybe not even ninety percent. In fact, you’re losing percentage points as we speak.”
“Get lost, Drake. You’ve nearly missed your chance.”
She was right. Holly glanced toward the bay doors and saw that the thugs had closed half the distance.
“You’re the worst, Voss,” Holly said as she retreated up into the hatch of the ship.”
“Thank you. Oh and Drake?”
“Not another word, Voss.”
“Great job today, saving that little girl.”
“I’m not through, Voss. I’m coming for the others. Mark my words.”
“I hope you do!”
Inside the ship, Holly instructed Trip through the comms to get the hell off the base.
“Without Aimee Voss,” Shiro said.
“You heard the woman, Shiro. Not my fault. And she better turn off her comms. Darius, turn off Voss’s comms.”
Holly leaned against the wall in the corridor as she felt she ship begin to move. She muted her own mic and sighed heavily and sat down, right there on the floor. Ixion’s ghost.
35
“Got to admit it, Holly, I wasn’t sure you could pull it off,” Meg said.
“Thanks a whole hell of a lot, Meg,” Holly said. They were in Meg’s condo. Charm had gone home, much to her parents’ relief and pleasure. Lucy had been asleep for an hour and now the winding down began.
“Cheers,” Gabe said, lifting his beer toward the center of the table.
“Cheers,” Odeon agreed.
Holly copied them, and then sipped her beer.
“Hey kid, you know that I never doubted you for a second, right?” Gabe said. It had been a while since she’d seen her ex-brother-in-law smile. The light in his face seemed brighter than it had been in ages.
“Thanks Gabe. You know me better than my own sister.”
“That I do, kid. That I do.”
“Odeon helped, by the way,” Holly added. “It wasn’t much me. More my entire crew. But you don’t get to meet them. Sorry. I’ll totally tell them how grateful you are.”
“This shouldn’t be happening,” Odeon said, sobering the celebration with the truth. “No one should have to fear for their children.”
Meg nodded. “You’re right, Odeon.”
“I know,” Odeon answered with a grin.
Gabe sighed. “Meg and I can’t help, still. The mole.”
“Find the goddamn mole, Gabe,” Holly said, gritting her teeth.
“Give us time, Holly.”
“Come on, Gabe,” she said, smiling faintly. “How much more time can it require? What’s the point of having a police force when they’re crippled by their own corruption?”
Gabe avoided eye contact and cleared his throat. “Meg and I have been working on it.”
“Keep working. I’m not giving up on those kids. The Hands. The Heart. They’re all going down.”
* * *
“I should have never trusted Voss,” Holly said. The lights were low in the Bird’s Nest. Holly had just divided up the small sum of novas that Dave had paid them for the work, even though he hadn’t contracted with them for it. Holly had delivered more information to him about the Shadow Coalition, and for that he was glad.
“Lesson learned, eh, Drake?” Darius said from his desk. For once he wasn’t preoccupied with work. Instead he was slowly swirling a deep purple wine around a glass goblet, pausing only occasionally to sip it.
“I’m sorry I encouraged the team to trust her, Ms. Drake. I feel,” Shiro said, hesitating. He was positioned looking out the window down at the bar where someone performed on stage. He held a cocktail in one hand and had the other crossed behind his back. His lionhead cane dangled uselessly from his fingers. “I feel that I am somewhat to blame that we were nearly ruined at the last minute due to Ms. Voss’s unexpected actions.”
“How noble of you, Shiro, to take the blame,” Odeon observed. He sat in a chair near Darius. His gaze shifted between Holly and Darius repeatedly, as though he were trying to make a decision. Holly only noticed it vaguely. She was having another celebratory drink. Charly sat beside her and gave her another cheers, and they both drank.
“Thank you, Odeon, though I daresay that it isn’t noble at all,” Shiro continued. “If I hadn’t been selfish about wanting to work with Voss initially, we could have avoided that delay in the first place.”
Holly sighed. “Seriously, Shiro. Please, just . . . no more. It’s not your fault. I made the decision. And we needed Voss. She got us through the locks. But I can tell you all one thing, I’ll trust non-team-members even less. Who knows if I’ll ever even let any outside people help out.”
“You can’t just give up on everyone, always, girl,” Charly said. “That’s boring. Trip has been great so far. And we might need help from someone else. Right, guys?”
“She’s right, Ms. Drake. Indeed you cannot just stop trusting people altogether. Giving up on everyone, always, that is a terrible idea.” Shiro turned from the window and gazed at Holly from over the rim of his glass.
Holly caught the look, and held back what she was about to say to him—a retort, telling him to mind his own business. His look lit her gut on fire.
She tore her gaze away, searching for anywhere else to settle, and bumped into Odeon, watching her carefully, a measured look in his eyes.
Darius stood up suddenly. “What’s next, Drake?”
Holly sighed, thankful for the distraction from whatever the hell she’d just seen. “Good question. I think, in addition to everything else, we need to get the kids back. Then take down the Hands and the Heart.”
* * *
THE END
* * *
Heart of the Colossus continues the saga of Holly Drake against the Shadow Coalition.
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Heart of the Colossus
1
“I don’t know how you guys talked me into this, again,” Charly Stout said, her voice coming over the comms into Holly’s earpiece. “Last time was a bust. Nearly died. And yet, here I am, again, floating outside the ship in space, my life balanced on the brink.”
“You love danger, that’s how,” Holly Drake said from inside the ship. She was safe and snug, seated next to Trip Taurus, a Centau and the pilot of the Space Cruiser Olavia Apollo. Charly Stout, a human, and Odeon Starlight, a Druiviin, waited outside the ship, clipped in on the underside, out of sight of the Fuel Depot security cameras. There they waited for Shiro Oahu’s distraction to work.
“At least this time I am with you, Charly. You’re not alone.” Odeon said.
“Aw man, Odeon. You know you always pull through, for everyone, always,” Charly laughed. “Thanks bro.”
“If we weren’t parked for the fill, you’d be in here, Odeon, singing my anxiety away,” Holly joked. “I’m barely getting through this without you, my fix.” The panic attacks about b
eing in space still afflicted her. She could feel the darkness of fear creeping at the edge of her mind, clawing at her sanity. She glanced at Trip who sat silently beside her, watching the instruments on her control panels. The Centau’s head was tilted to the side, the pilot goggles balanced on her forehead, her beautiful pale brown skin contrasting with the white, blue, and orange of her pilot jumpsuit.
“He’s mine this time, Holly. Sorry girl!”
Trip interrupted their banter. “The tank is half full. I hope Shiro is almost ready.”
“Shiro, you in position?” Holly asked, touching her earpiece. The fueling station filled the viewscreen in front of them. Most of what they saw was the giant mechanical arm that pulled in Trip’s ship and kept it secure as the fueling umbilical connected with the ship and filled it with aether. But beyond that there was the central portion of the station where the workers stayed. Inside the station there were a bar, a restaurant, and the people to man those and a few other amenities for commercial ships like Trip’s.
“Nearly there, Ms. Drake,” Shiro said quietly over the comms.
“This is going to cost you, you know?” Trip said, turning to glance at Holly before looking back at the instrument panel.
“We’re going to pay for this fill up, yes,” Holly said. “This tiny amount of fuel is nothing compared to what the Shiro’s friend’s Really Big Ship will take. So don’t worry about it, Trip. You’re practically on the crew at this point.”
“Am I?” Trip asked, leaning back and studying Holly with her bright eyes.
“Don’t get too excited about it. You’re mostly in, maybe still enjoying your trial period.” Holly gave her a measuring glance.
Trip pulled her gaze away from Holly, a smirk touching the edge of her lips like she was disgusted with Holly’s antics. “Just a few minutes more, then she’s full.”
“Everyone be ready,” Holly said.
“In position,” Shiro whispered.
“Ready,” Charly said, followed by Odeon’s affirmation that he too was ready.
There was silence on the comms and in the bridge of the SC Olavia Apollo. Holly could hear the stifled breathing of her crew as everyone waited for the fueling to finish. There was a sound through the ship as the fuel delivery system finished and the umbilical disengaged.
“She’s done,” Trip said.
“Go.” Holly leaned forward, as though doing so would give her a better vantage point to see around the large arm holding their ship in place. Or she might somehow see inside the station to catch Shiro at work springing his distraction.
Shiro began speaking. “Excuse me, good man,” Shiro said. “Could you please help me? There’s been an issue on my ship with the fueler. It seems the ridiculous machinery has broken a piece of equipment, and now my ship isn’t working properly.”
“What? Are you serious?” The answer came from someone else through the comms. “That sounds like a load of bull-shit to me.”
“I assure you, sir, this is indeed true. Let me show you what I mean. You have security cameras fixed on my ship as it was fueling?”
Holly continued to hold her breath through this interchange. The key part of the exchange would be for Shiro to get into the area with the cameras, so that he could plant one of Darius’ devices that would loop the security footage. Then Odeon and Charly would be able to navigate closer to the depot and unclip several sealed containers of fuel and get them back to the Olavia Apollo.
“I do,” came the voice of the man.
“Wonderful. The damage should be showing up on there,” Shiro said.
There was silence as Shiro was presumably led to where the footage was. Then Shiro spoke again.
“Ah, see there.”
“Yeah,” the other man said.
“That’s the damage. It wasn’t there when my ship arrived.”
“How am I supposed to know that’s true?”
“I imagine you could check the older coverage?” Shiro said, sounding like he was just thinking of it.
“Maybe I could,” he said. There was a pause, and then the click-clack of buttons, followed by the sound of footsteps receding. “Give me a minute.”
There was silence for a moment, and only the quick breathing of Shiro as he tried to place the device that would force the security footage to continuously loop the past fifty seconds.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
“Oh, shit,” Charly said over the comms.
Holly felt herself tense. Please don’t be a misstep.
“Hey, what the hell?” This was a new voice.
“What?” Shiro said. “Oh, hello, you must work with Alejandro?”
“Yeah, I’m here to replace him. Sweep swaps.”
“He was just retrieving some footage from when my ship locked in.”
“Whatever the hell you were just doing, you won’t be doing anymore.”
“What’s the meaning—I assure you this is a misunderstanding,” Shiro said.
“Nice try.”
“Please, locking me up? I’m a harmless chap. This is is a mistake. I really don’t recommend locking me up.”
“Well, I got news for you, buddy, that’s exactly what’s happening. No idea who you are, or what you want here. The Inter-moon Police will find out, though, once they’ve got you.” There was the sound of a struggle and Shiro laughing as though to taunt the guard.
“Damn!” Charly cussed.
“Sounds like Shiro has been detained,” Odeon said.
“Charly, Odeon, get back into the ship. One of us has to go in to get Shiro.” Holly unclipped her restraints and stood up.
“You don’t mean to go after him, do you?” Trip asked.
Holly glanced at the Centau. “What else would I do?”
“Send someone else. Odeon. Charly?”
“I’m going now. It’ll be a thirty minutes before Odeon and Charly are ready. This seems a bit urgent.”
Trip nodded. “I’ll wait for you. But we won’t have long before they come check out the ship Shiro came in on, and then they won’t let us leave.”
She had to hurry. “I’m going for Shiro,” she said, intending this announcement for Odeon and Charly.
“Holly,” Odeon said. “Take my tools. They’re in the crew quarters.”
It was a good idea and she told him so as she ran through the small corridors of the ship to the crew area and found the bunk where Odeon had stowed his gear before suiting up. She rummaged through his possessions in a drawer set into the wall, until she found the lock-pick set.
“Got it,” she announced and then retraced her steps back through the ship, and then went to the hatch that let them into the station. Holly opened the door and plodded through the tunnel, which then opened into another sealed area. Inside that anteroom, there was another door. It opened and she went into the station. She followed the corridor into the main area. The floor vibrated slightly. The air hummed around her. There was a stale sense to it, like it had been recycled and processed numerous times and sent through filters intended to refresh it. Straight ahead was the restaurant. Some kind of fusion of Centau and human food, a logo with an olive on a toothpick and an umeo, a Centau nut. The bar was next to it, and seemed rather busy. A small corridor leading away from the area promised to be the way into the secure area, where she hoped Shiro had gone.
“Shiro,” she said quietly. “I’m coming for you.” The commotion had died down on the comms. Holly hoped that meant he was simply being quiet. Not something worse.
When he didn’t answer, her pace quickened until she was trotting through the corridor, passing under the bright lights.
If someone else had taken his earpiece, they were probably listening. So she couldn't speak to him to figure out his location.
“Everyone. Radio silence,” she ordered. The team had a contingency plan for something like that happening, but they’d never had to use it. She said it as much for herself as for them, hoping it wasn’t necessary. Holly paused briefly to pull out th
e communicator that was connected to the earpiece. She punched in a code that let her into a secure channel. From there she dialed in another code that let her choose which earpiece to exclude. She chose Shiro’s. He was now cut out of the conversation.
“Back on? You guys there? I just cut Shiro out in case they took his earpiece. Everyone check in.”
“Here,” Charly said. Trip and Odeon chimed in as well.
“Good. You guys back on the ship?”
“Yes, just getting out of our suits,” Charly said.
“Darius?” Holly asked.
“Drake, I’m here,” Darius said, finally.
She breathed a sigh. “Good. OK, then. Darius. Can you spot Shiro’s last known whereabouts? I’m flying blind here. Could use some direction if I’m going to break him out.”
“Let me get to the desk. I’ll be up in minute, Drake.”
“Fine.” Holly paused and wondered if she had time for a drink, glancing back at the bar.
Bad idea.
However, she moved back in that direction to avoid suspicion and went into the bar. A female Constie bartender manned the area, cleaning glasses, and pouring drinks as patrons milled around the bar. She nodded at Holly, and Holly returned the slight greeting as she reached the bar.
“Can I get you something?” she asked.
“No, thanks,” Holly said. “Just waiting and watching.”
“Sure, sweetheart. Let me know if you change your mind.”
“I will.” Holly looked around. Most of the guests wore pilot jumpsuits.
“Got it, Drake.” Darius said, suddenly. Holly jumped slightly. She turned and headed out of the bar.
“Tell me where.”
Darius guided her through the corridors, which wound around a central stationary hub. She finally came to a locked door. Nearby there was another door that read “Authorized Personnel Only.”
“This it?” she whispered, her heart racing. This business was getting too dangerous. How much longer was she going to find herself in these shitty situations?
The Colossus Collection : A Space Opera Adventure (Books 1-7 + Bonus Material) Page 50
