"No, no, that won't be necessary."
From a distance, it would be easy to mistake Dabir Armanty for just another elderly businessman. His well-groomed, white hair and expensive suit were all that most people saw when they looked at him. Even those that knew him well didn't know the full story of his life. Most people didn't know that under the suit lay the scars of many battles and the types of tattoos that you only get after a long time in prison. Whenever quizzed on the past, he would simply reply that it became more profitable to be on this side of the law. Then he would change the subject or just leave the room.
Dabir led the way from his office through the maze of desks and computer terminals where dozens of Armanty Security employees sifted through data and files for whichever case they were working on at the moment. Mixed in with the well-dressed office staff was the occasional field agent, their casual, or in some cases scruffy, clothes made them stand out in the office environment.
The front office was a small room with a long counter facing the front door. There were a couple of padded chairs against the left-hand wall separated by a small table with some brochures fanned out on top. The right wall was broken up by two doors: one locked security door that led to the main offices, and a standard door that led to a slightly larger room that contained an oval-shaped table surrounded by twelve chairs.
"They are waiting in the conference room."
Dabir glanced back at the security door as the latch clicked behind him, then pressed the small green button on the control panel for the second door. It silently slid open revealing the two men. One was a small, plain-looking man with thinning blond hair and a briefcase that he had placed on the end of the table where he sat. The second man was much younger. He stood with his arms folded next to the seated man. His muscular arms looked like they were about to burst the seams of his black, tailored suit.
"Mister Armanty, thank you for seeing me," he said as he stood and extended his hand.
Dabir stepped forward and shook his hand.
"I'm sure you're wondering what this is all about. My name is Eli Johansen."
Dabir looked back blankly for a second, wondering if he was supposed to know that name. Luckily, Eli continued speaking.
"First, my employer is concerned foremost with privacy in this matter. He does not want it known that you were even contacted, let alone the details of the matter."
"I assure you, Mr. Johansen, that every one of our clients is handled with the utmost secrecy."
"That is good to know," Eli replied in an almost dismissive tone as he popped open his briefcase.
"However, before I divulge who my client is, we would appreciate it if you would acknowledge this non-disclosure agreement." He handed Dabir a data pad with a legal form displayed on the screen.
The first thing Dabir noticed was that most of the names on the form were blacked out, including the logo in the top corner. He quickly read over the non-redacted parts; it was a fairly standard form, one that he had used himself on some occasions.
He held his thumb on a small rectangle area on the bottom of the form. A second later, a scan of his thumbprint appeared in the box along with his name underneath. All of the black bars that had been covering the names then disappeared. He recognised the logo at the top of the page immediately – the large bold letters K I D G with a small spaceship underneath. Further down the page read the full title, Kedan Interplanetary Development Group.
"Now I hope you understand why we have had to go to such lengths to keep this secret," Eli said, as he took the data pad back from Dabir, placed it in his briefcase, and then closed it.
"So, what’s all this about?" Dabir asked. He stepped forward and pulled back one of the side chairs to sit down. At the same time, Eli picked up his briefcase and headed to the door.
"Mr.Kedan would like to discuss the matter with you himself. If you would like to come with us, we will take you to him now."
"I at least want to know what this is about, before I go to the other side of the station," Dabir replied, folding his arms.
"I'm afraid that will be between you and Mr.Kedan. It's not my place to discuss the matter, though I assure you that your time will be well compensated."
Dabir rubbed his chin with his right hand and glanced down at the floor for a second before he replied, "Okay, lead the way."
He followed the short well-dressed man back into the front office. The large silent one followed closely behind.
"Jenifer, I will be out for the rest of the afternoon. Let Miles know I won't be available please."
The young woman behind the counter replied with a nod and immediately picked up the phone.
Armanty Security was the second building down a side alleyway. It was a short walk until they reached the main road. Parked just to the side of the alley entrance sat a sleek black limousine. The large man who had been following behind leaped ahead in a single bound once they were close to the vehicle. He pulled open the rear side door and stepped back. Eli gestured with one hand for Dabir to enter, before he stepped around to the other side of the vehicle.
After a few seconds of waiting for a gap in the traffic, the limousine silently moved sideways into the first lane then quickly accelerated forward. From the outside, the vehicle was all black with no windows, but on the inside it was completely different. From just above the bottom of the seats, then all the way across the roof it was lined with digital screens. It gave the impression that they were riding in a convertible, only without the wind or any sound from outside.
For a long period, Dabir stared up at the endless lines of small capsule-shaped pods that ran along the maze of overhead rails. Like most people, that was his normal mode of transport. The actual roadway was mainly used for cargo vehicles; very few people on the station had their own transport.
For most of the time Eli Johansen remained silent. He gave a couple of short dismissive answers to some of Dabir's questions, but wouldn't give out any more information than he already had.
Eventually the vehicle slowed, then once again shifted sideways at a ninety degree angle. It came to a halt right in front of the tallest building on Capital Station. It was so tall that there was a measurable difference in gravity between the top and bottom floors. Because of the way the cylindrical station rotated the closer you were to the centre the less gravity was generated.
Eli led the way through the Kedan headquarters building. For the entire way from the limousine to their final destination on the top floor, there had been someone on hand to open doors or press buttons for elevators. Dabir wasn't sure if he found the whole thing amusing or frustrating. I could get used to it; he finally decided.
Most of the building he passed through had been typical business offices although extravagantly decorated with paintings on the walls and statues or other artwork in large glass cases.
As the elevator stopped at the top floor, Dabir felt his stomach do a full somersault. The slight difference in gravity was going to take some time to get used to. The doors opened revealing a level of extravagance that Dabir had never seen before. There was a small entranceway followed by a long corridor all lined in wood panelling and gold fixtures. He stepped forward awkwardly, not quite accustomed to suddenly weighing several kilograms less.
"Is this real wood?" he asked, instantly answering his own question as he ran his hand down the grain.
"Mr.Kedan is waiting," Eli replied, stepping past him and continuing down the corridor.
Dabir followed closely behind, concentrating on placing one foot in front of the other. Their final destination was a large room decorated much the same as the entrance, only the walls were covered with more paintings and works of art, each one undoubtedly a priceless original. The room was filled with antique furniture. At the opposite side to the door was a large wooden desk facing the centre of the room where there was a collection of padded leather chairs, all ringed around a low wooden table.
Eli led Dabir to the centre of the room where two men were al
ready seated, both of whom he had met before, although a long time ago. The oldest one was Fredrik Kedan. Slightly overweight and completely bald, he acknowledged Dabir's presence with a slight head nod. The second man was his son, Malcolm. Dabir recognised him immediately despite only meeting him once about twenty years ago. Now middle-aged with greying hair and slightly slimmer, he still had a distinctive figure with his solid square jaw and sunken eyes. He stood up to shake Dabir's hand, then gestured for him to take a seat to his right, directly across from his father. Eli then sat opposite Malcolm completing the circle.
The four sat in silence for a second before Malcolm decided to speak.
"We have another job for you to do." He paused for a second, as if he was choosing his words carefully.
"It's a rather sensitive assignment."
"When is it not?" Dabir replied, almost too assertively.
The comment caused Malcolm to squirm in his chair. Meeting now with Dabir had brought back many unpleasant memories.
"You have a building full of security people. Surely there is someone you already employ that can fix this problem for you?"
Eli interrupted before Malcolm could answer.
"Certainly. It was our first intention to handle this internally, though it quickly became clear that it would require people with a different skill set than we could provide."
Malcolm then took the opportunity to add to what Eli Johansen had just said.
"We certainly appreciate the discretion that you have shown in the past and..."
"Enough of this bullshit, Malcolm, just tell him the bloody job," Fredrik Kedan's gruff voice brought silence to the room and caused Malcolm to take a long pause to regain his thoughts.
"My sister Selene, she would have been about five or so when you met her last."
Dabir nodded even though he didn't remember seeing a child the last time he had to clean up a Kedan family mess.
"She had never really shown much interest in any of the family companies until about a year ago, when she persuaded father to put her in charge of a small research station out near the edge of the system. We thought that it would teach her some responsibility, and that it was far enough in the middle of nowhere that she would stay out of trouble."
Malcolm paused and looked across at his father, who briefly stared back as if to say; hurry up and get on with it.
"Two months ago we lost contact with the station, a week later one of the regular supply ships reached the station and found this."
Malcolm took a data pad that had been tucked down the side of his chair and handed it to Dabir.
Dabir leaned forward to take it, then using his index finger on the touch screen, he began flicking through dozens of images. One after another, they showed station personnel, scientists, and people in casual clothes all shot dead. Some bodies were in the labs, shot dead at their workstations. Some were in their sleeping quarters and others showed groups of people that been gathered together then all shot at once.
Dabir lowered the data pad and leaned back into the padded leather chair.
"Is she alive? Was it a kidnapping? Have there been any demands?" Dabir asked, not sure what to make of the whole thing.
"Skip to the end" Malcolm added, slightly raising his index finger off the armrest.
Dabir quickly skipped through the last lot of images, not paying much attention to them. Finally, he got to what looked like a video from a security camera in one of the stations labs. He tapped the large green arrow in the middle of the screen and let it play.
The first few seconds were almost silent. It showed a high view of some people in white overalls and protective glasses working in a lab. A loud burst of automatic gunfire then erupted from somewhere out of sight causing the scientists to duck down behind their work stations. After about a minute, two figures walked into the sight of the camera. One was wearing all black with a mask covering their face. The second was clearly a woman with long blond hair tied in a ponytail at the back. She was wearing the same style of black pants but she had a red jacket and no mask.
Holding the weapon at waist height, the masked attacker sprayed a hail of bullets at the scientists hitting all of them, though not fatally. Then ran back out of the room.
The woman then followed up by slowly stepping between the wounded. Casually, she used her pistol and shot each one in the head. Just before she stepped out the door, she paused and looked up directly at the camera. That's where the video ended her crooked grin frozen in the last frame.
Dabir looked up from the screen at the three worried faces staring back at him.
"So who is this?"
No one said a word for the longest time. Finally Malcolm cleared his throat and replied, "That's Selene."
Chapter 4
It had taken almost two days, but finally Adam had reached the station high above Earth's moon. By using the moons limited gravity and burning off almost all of the small shuttle’s fuel, he managed to slow down enough to dock.
Originally named Luna Station when it was build, being the only station in orbit of Earth's moon or any other moon. Eventually, it was renamed Altir Station, after its first governor, Elisabeth Altir. Apart from some of the mining and military stations, Altir is the smallest station in the system with a population of just under one million.
Adam docked at the first of the four rotating rings that made up the station. Each ring rotated around the central tower giving gravity to those inside, and made the station look like four giant wagon wheels stacked on top of each other.
The shuttle hit the deck hard as the manoeuvring thrusters spluttered then died, sending a loud scraping noise throughout the docking bay. The battered yellow shuttle came to rest just meters from a row of several identical shuttles, though they looked in near perfect condition compared with Adam's.
"Nice landing."
Adam ignored the comment and began unbuckling his seat harness.
"I don't think you'll be getting your deposit back on this one." Eddy continued, grinning to himself.
Adam took a second to adjust to standing in gravity again, before he made his way to the back of the cabin.
"Lean forward, head between your knees and put your free arm behind your back."
"Come on, what am I going to do?" Eddy protested. He soon complied as Adam placed his hand on the handle of his gun, tucked in the front of his belt.
As quickly as he could, Adam released the handcuffs from the chair frame and refastened them to Eddy's free arm, then used both hands to pull him upright.
Eddy groaned as he leaned from side to side, trying to stretch the muscles that he hadn't used for hours.
"My fuckin’ legs have been asleep since yesterday," he muttered.
Adam responded by grabbing him by the forearm and pulling him over to the hatch. He stumbled the short distance and rested against the wall waiting for his captor to release the lock. A blast of noise filled the cabin as the hatch opened. A mixture of hundreds of people talking and the unloading of a cargo ship at the far end of the dock all combined into a single roar. Despite the obvious smell of exhaust fumes in the air, it still smelled fresher than the air from the shuttle.
Immediately after stepping out, Adam was confronted by a short, slightly overweight man with fading hair.
"What the hell have you done to my ship?" His voice sounded loud even compared to the rest of the noisy dock.
"One day. One day you said! It's been a week and you bring it back in this condition," he continued, shouting and waving his arms in every direction.
"You won't be seeing one dollar of your deposit back. In fact, I’ll be charging you extra for the damages."
Adam had remained silent until this point.
"No, you won't. Your insurance will cover the damages and the deposit will cover the extra time I had it for."
The man stared back at Adam his face fuming with rage. For a second it looked like he was going to reply, but the words never came. Instead, he stormed off towards a small bui
lding with a large yellow shuttle-shaped sign on the roof.
Not far from where Adam landed was a long row of security counters that all passengers had to go through before entering the rest of the station. They were small square buildings just big enough for the two staff that manned them.
Adam picked the only one that didn't have anyone waiting in line to pass through and guided his prisoner towards it.
"Please place your hand on the scanner and . . ." The young man at the counter stumbled mid-sentence at the sight of the scruffy, handcuffed man.
An older man sitting next to him looked up from the data pad he had been reading.
"Same procedure, we just use the portable scanner," he commented to the younger officer.
He casually tossed the pad onto the bench and picked up a small rectangular device. Slowly he walked around to the front of the counter.
"You need any extra security for him?" He asked Adam while holding the device to one of Eddy's thumbs to record his identification into the stations computer.
"No, I’ll be fine." Adam replied while placing his hand on the scanner built into the counter.
"You’re licensed for that cannon tucked in your belt I hope." The senior officer added.
"On every station in the system." Adam replied as he watched the junior officer scan through the new file that the computer just brought up.
"Level two weapons clearance." He relayed to his colleague.
"Good enough for me, just step through the imaging scanner and you can be on your way." The senior officer said as he returned to his station.
With a sudden shove, Eddy was forced through the scanner. It looked like a door frame just sitting out in the open. Adam quickly followed through so not to get too far behind his prisoner. The security office immediately lit up with a flashing red light, it was just as quickly dismissed by the senior officer who just casually waved his hand in the air for them to move on.
Adam steered his prisoner through the crowds of people that grew denser the further they got from the security station, until they finally reached a booking counter at the far end of the docks. After waiting several minutes at the crowded counter, Adam finally got to speak with one of the attendants.
Broken Hero: Part 1 (Broken Hero Series) Page 3
