His heart skipped a beat as the realization hit him. Hans must have been the shooter!
He needed to find Alisha, and fast. For one thing, she needed to know that there really was another shooter.
For another, they needed to find out why Hans was in position, and they weren’t told.
Something certainly wasn’t right.
His eyes surveyed the scene, looking for any signs of Alisha returning from the van. It took a few minutes but eventually he spotted her and made his way through the chaos.
They needed to talk.
Special Task Force Offices, Undisclosed location, Estaria
Joshua arrived back at his desk to collect his street jacket. Alisha was already there working on her report. Her hair was still wet from the post-op shower she’d taken in the locker room. All the other consoles were empty, and even the lights in the conference room and director’s office were off.
“You gonna finish that tonight?” he asked.
She glanced around to make sure they were alone. “Yeah, I said I would.”
“When you talked to Bates?”
“Yeah.”
Joshua slumped down in his console chair. “You know, I’ve been churning this in my mind. Why on Estaria would they put Hans onto it?”
Alisha’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Right? And then why lie about it in the official report?” she added nodding at her screen.
“Maybe it looks better that it was a shot from the team that engaged?”
“Wasn’t it inevitable, though?”
“Well, maybe that’s the point. Perhaps it wasn’t. I mean, if he weren’t a threat, we might have ended up bringing him in. He was ready to talk after all.”
Alisha cocked her head. “So, then someone didn’t want him talking?”
“Maybe. I wonder what he knew…”
Alisha leaned back rocking in her console chair now. “Carol had history with him.”
“Well, she told us as much herself,” Joshua countered, also leaning back in his console chair as they mulled the situation.
After several moments of silence Alisha leaned up again and reactivated her screen that had dimmed out. “I wonder if this is just one of those things we’ll never know the full story about.”
“Maybe,” Joshua added, leaning forward conspiratorially. “But we have one more play.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Hans,” he said simply. “He’s one of us. We just need to get him drunk and ask him!”
Alisha sniggered, not really taking it seriously. “Sounds like a doable plan,” she told him. “But in the meantime, I’m going to get this finished and handed in.”
Joshua pushed himself off from his console chair. “Right you are then. But don’t stay too late. Make sure you get some proper rest.”
“I will,” she promised.
Joshua grabbed the jacket he had come back down for, and then ambled out of the darkened office, leaving Alisha on her own.
Bates Residence, Spire, Estaria
Carol arrived home to find Philip taking off his atmojacket. “You just got in?”
“Just now. Ordered up dinner, though.”
“Great. I’m starving!” She placed her gear on the hallway floor and took off her atmojacket.
Philip disappeared into the kitchen, calling back to her. “How about I get a bottle of something open and we can regroup and assess our next move.”
Carol paused. “Next move?”
“Yeah,” he called. “You don’t think this is over, do you?”
She sighed. “No. You’re right. Let me go change. I’ll be right there.”
She heard the cork pop out of the bottle. Just the sound of it lifted her spirits. She peeled her boots off and placed them on the boot rack before padding up the stairs.
When she re-emerged, she found Philip flicking through his holo messages in the sitting area. The bottle of wine stood invitingly on the mocha table, a glass already poured for her next to it. She took her place and picked up the glass, pushing her nose into it.
Philip looked up from his work, and glass in hand raised it to her. “To an operation well done, and a foe finally caught.”
She smiled. He understood what a big deal this was for her. She raised her glass back to him and then took a sip. She felt his eyes on her.
“What is it?” He asked.
She sighed, placing the glass back down, contemplating her response. She took a moment before she answered. “I heard over the comm that he was willing to tell us everything. He was going to give up the whole network. Everyone he’d ever worked for.”
Philip nodded, seemingly unaffected by her dilemma. “You think that we could have trusted any intel he gave us?”
She shrugged.
“At best, it would have been bogus. At worst it could have got agents killed.”
“You think he had traps in place?”
“A smart guy like that? Undoubtedly.”
“But if he was looking for a deal…”
Philip took another sip of wine and checked his holo. “I think it’s safe to say he was only trying to save his life. You made the right call. Did you handle the agent?”
She nodded. “Yes. She came to me afterward.”
“And she’s going to play ball?”
“I think so.”
“Good,” Philip concluded. He could see his wife wasn’t convinced. “Come on, we’ve been after him for decades. It’s far better he’s taken out of the picture than risk him getting out again.”
“You think he’d be able to escape?”
“I think the people he works for are powerful enough to disappear him and put him back on the streets.”
Carol took a deep breath, as if resigning herself to dropping the doubts she’d been battling with since the incident. “Well, probably for the best then. Though I would have liked to be able to trace this thing further up the chain.”
“Me too,” he agreed. “But we have agents sweeping his known safe houses and possessions for any shred of intel we can find. We might get lucky.”
“Here’s to getting lucky then,” she said, more brightly now. She winked at him. He grinned. Just then the doorbell buzzed.
“That will be the food!” he declared, jumping up and placing his glass carefully back on the mocha table. “You wanna eat here or at the kitchen counter?”
“Here!” she called after him. “I can’t move now…”
“Your wish is my command…” he called back, opening the front door.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Aboard Skipum Wharf Space Station, Agresh Quadrant
The gang stood around the main corridor of the Leath ship by the cockpit.
“Ok, that’s the last of them,” Nickie declared, glancing smugly around the Sanguine Squadron who had effectively been kicking their heels since they disembarked The Empress just under an hour earlier.
The last of her ‘house-bots’ as she called them carried the final crates of weapons from the Leath ship.
“Good. Leath authorities will be here shortly,” Molly told her.
Bang bang bang.
The door to the cockpit rattled and reverberated.
“Angry old buggers, these Leath,” Nickie commented, nodding at the cockpit door.
“Something tells me they don’t like being confined to their own ships,” Molly muttered. “I wonder if they were able to communicate with the others before we breached.”
Nickie shook her head. “Nah. Meredith shut down their comm long before I launched the first missile. They’ve no idea what’s going on, or what kind of trouble they’re in.”
Molly chuckled. “That’ll be a nice surprise for them then when the authorities show up to take them into custody.”
“Love to be a fly on this wall,” Nickie said, patting the door of the cockpit before heading out down the main walkway. “Anyway,” she added, “speaking of, authorities aren’t my cuppa tea. Mind if I disappear?”
“Sure. Lemme walk you to
your ship.” Molly clamped a hand down on Nickie’s shoulder.
Nickie glanced at the hand on her opposite shoulder and realized that this wasn’t a friendly escort. This was going to be a business conversation.
Sean and Karina watched from the docking bay as Nickie and Molly headed past them, following the last of Nickie’s crate-carrying house-bots.
Molly spoke into her holo. “Joel?”
“Yep?”
“I’m heading over to Nickie’s ship. Meet you back at The Empress in five. Have everyone ready to leave.”
“Acknowledged.”
She closed the holo connection and they kept walking. Molly waited until she’d put some distance between them and the crew before she spoke again.
“So, here’s the deal,” she said, in a serious but semi-friendly voice. “I’m putting my ass on the line letting you take these weapons. If these resurface anywhere and the Federation find out about them, and they will, I’m screwed.”
Nickie looked at her in protest, but Molly held up a hand silencing her.
“These weapons will not be seen again. Do you understand me?”
Nickie nodded.
“And if they are, and I get hauled over the coals, so-help-me-ancestors, I will hunt you down and rain hell on you. Understood?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Nickie assured her before breaking out into a grin. “You know, you’re not so bad after all,” she beamed. “You talk my language, lady. We should work together again some time.”
Molly chuckled, despite the inference. “Not any time soon, I hope.”
“Yeah, yeah. You had a great time,” Nickie argued. “I can tell.”
They arrived at the dock where Nickie’s ship was waiting for her.
“Bye, Nickie,” Molly said, the banter subsiding. “Stay safe. And maybe make an effort to call in on your family some time. I’m sure that no matter what happened they’ll be pleased to hear from you.”
“Yeah. I’m sure,” she responded, strutting off after her newly acquired cargo. “Laterz, alligators!” She waved her hand, then glanced back over her shoulder with all the cockiness of youth and her artificial enhancements.
Molly shook her head, watching her leave. “Kids,” she muttered.
Aboard The Empress, Agresh Quadrant
“So? Any problems?” the General asked, noticing the rather public setting of their call in the cockpit.
Pieter and Brock sat behind Molly pretending to be working. Joel looked absorbed with the mapping console, but he too was probably just eavesdropping.
“No problems at all, sir, Molly reported. “We left the Leath for their authorities to collect them. No serious injuries on either side and the weapons have been disposed of. Your friends are in the clear.”
Lance hesitated, about to correct her, but then thought better of it trying to explain himself in front of the others. “Very good,” he said instead, shoving the end of his cigar in his mouth.
He narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Anything else I should know?”
Molly seemed to falter for only a brief moment. Then she made a deliberate thinking face. “I don’t think so…?”
The General paused, waiting to see if she was going to change her mind. She didn’t. “Okay. Good job, Bates – and team,” he added, glancing around at the others visible on screen in the cockpit. “Carry on.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”
The call ended.
Joel immediately spun round in his console chair. “So, those weapons that you completely glossed over and gave to the girl who has some weird-ass relationship with the Federation. What is she going to do with them?”
Sean arrived in the cockpit just in time to answer the question, as if he’d been waiting for the conference call to finish. He plonked himself down in the console chair next to Joel. “Probably use them as bait. Lots more Skaines to clean up out in the western front.”
Molly and Joel looked at him.
“I’m guessing,” he said shrugging.
“You’re more than guessing,” Molly insisted this time. “What do you know?”
“Nothing. Specifically. She just reminds me of someone I used to know.”
Molly thought for a moment, replaying her long conversation with Nickie in the conference room back at the base. “Her Aunt Tabitha. You knew her.”
“Maybe,” he said, winking. Then, as if he’d only come to stir the pot of mystery and intrigue, and gloat that he knew more than they did, he stood up and strode back out of the cockpit leaving them wondering.
Molly shook her head and put her hands on her hips. She looked at Joel exasperated.
“I got nothing,” he confessed, chuckling.
Special Task Force Offices, Undisclosed location, Estaria
The following morning Director Bates strode into the meeting room from her office next door. As she entered the room her group of agents got to their feet. There were holoscreens out all over the table and presentation slides cued up on more than two agents’ holos.
“Greetings of the day, agents,” she addressed them, taking her seat at the head of the table and signaling they should sit too.
“We’ve had a win,” she started. “A very good win. Congratulations to all who were there. Every single one of you assisted in us taking this threat off the board, and you should all be very pleased with your performance.” Her eyes rested on Alisha. “All of you,” she reiterated.
“But the threat isn’t completely neutralized,” she continued. “This is a marathon, not a sprint. We still have the fixer out there somewhere, and Suedermann in custody. Our best intelligence tells us that they will still try and get to Suedermann.”
Joshua raised his hand. “Do we think that Sloth will try and come after him himself?”
Hans leaned forward and spoke up immediately. “Unlikely. We’ve never known him to do the killing himself. The clean-up, maybe.”
Carol flicked her holo and a slide showing various data arrays popped up on the presentation holo. “We’re running an analysis now. We’re going to find Sloth and bring him in. Alive if we can. He has intel on all the pieces of the puzzle and will be a great asset if we can turn him. There will be someone coming after Suedermann. We’re almost certain of that. So, for now he remains in a safe house known only to us.”
She paused looking around to see if anyone else had a comment on that piece of the briefing. “Ok. What else have we got?”
Soraya raised her hand, and then pulled up a presentation slide showing more data. “The system has come back online and has found some more data ties between Sneaky Steve and Sloth. We’re running them down for any possible location he might return to.”
Carol pointed to her. “Good. Good investigative work.” She looked around. ”Anything else we should all know about?”
There were no other hands. Clearly the agents were still scrambling to figure out what the next things were they needed to act on their threads of the investigations that were still open.
“Okay, one other point of business as we’re entering a transition stage between cases.” Her attention fell on Cleavon who had completely zoned out of the meeting. “Mr. Cleavon Baham.”
The Estarian jerked himself out of his daze, his eyes wide at being called upon unexpectedly. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Your activities haven’t gone unnoticed.” Carol’s voice was hard and commanding. Alisha stole a glance at Joshua to see if he knew what was coming. A pang of guilt rose within her. She’d been pulling Cleavon off the cases to help with their analysis. She’d put him in the cross-hairs. And here he was about to pay the price. She watched, like an observer being forced to watch a car accident.
Carol continued. “You did some excellent work back here at the base supporting your colleagues out in the field. No successful team is composed solely of superstars and front-runners. Effective teams have a range of talented people with different skills who know what they have to contribute and work like crazy to make sure that the team succeeds. Yo
u have been that person, Mr. Baham, and as a thank you I’d like to give you the opportunity to move over to Charlie team where you can continue to do the excellent work you’ve been doing without the obligations of field work.”
Alisha leaned over to Joshua. “They’re taking him out of the field?” she hissed. Joshua raised a finger from his hand resting on the table, telling her to hang on.
Cleavon’s face seemed to be a mix of emotions. After a moment he looked up at Carol and grinned. “Thank you, Director Bates. That’s fantastic news.” There was a sigh of relief in the meeting room and a small applause in congratulations. Rhodez who happened to be sitting to his left clamped him on the shoulder and congratulated him, and Cleavon managed to lock eyes with Alisha. He beamed at her and mouthed the word “thank you” with a thumbs-up.
Alisha felt her insides relax. It seemed he was genuinely pleased.
“Okay agents,” Carol called to them over the chatter. “You’ve done a good job. Spend the rest of today getting caught up with paperwork and plan your team’s next course of action. I want reports on my desk by the end of lunch, and we’ll debrief this evening with next steps. Dismissed.”
The agents in the room gathered up the various holoscreens they’d left out in case they needed them to justify what they had been doing. They folded away screens and notes on their holos, and with a clatter emptied out from the room.
Joshua caught up with Alisha at the bottom of the steps into the bullpen and pulled her to one side so they couldn’t be seen from the offices. “Hey,” he began, grabbing her gently by the elbow. “I take it from the fact that there were no other significant changes to our team that your report said exactly what she wanted it to say then?”
Alisha smiled, acknowledging the remark without saying anything. She noticed Cleavon walk past them down the aisle. “Hey, you know what? You still owe Cleavon drinks.”
Joshua started to roll his eyes.
“Hey, no,” she protested. “Fair is fair, we promised him. Now it looks like it’s a combined ‘welcome to the team’ deal.”
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