by Gary Weston
Having talked to others, Tilly was coming to the conclusion that the disappearance of the young men was linked, but the victims were not friends or acquaintances. They were all drixolate victims dependant on state issued drixolate to stay alive. Were they in forced labour, like on Solaron? Not on Tryzon. Had they been rounded up and shipped off to some dull rock to work in a mine or something? Her instincts told her no. That didn’t ring true.
Tilly spent an hour talking to Agnes Wilson, assuring her that the the police and the D S I would do all that was humanly possible to find out what had happened to her Jason. As she walked back to her parents home, she allowed her subconscious full reign of her mind to explore the facts of the case.
Chapter 150
‘He’s still twitchy,’ said Corey.
‘A technical term, right?’ said Fritz.
Jason Wilson had a lot going on inside him. Organs being told to shut down, with conflicting instructions not to shut down. The quivering, pain racked body of Wilson was a coin toss away from living and dying. Corey sat on the only chair, folded his arms and watched Wilson doing interesting contortions on the bed.
‘The antidote almost worked, but for some reason it didn’t quite cure him.’
Fritz hadn’t shot anyone in hours and was feeling deprived. ‘Shall I get rid of him?’
‘Not just yet. I’m curious to see what happens. Park your backside and watch it with me.’
Feeling slightly cheated, Fritz sat on the floor, his back against the wall. Not a great thinker, he was happy to be guided by Corey. He had seen his share of people dying from drixolate, so knew what to expect.
‘Give me drixolate,’ groaned Wilson.
‘Sorry,’ said Corey. ‘That would just confuse everything.’
Wilson rolled around on the bed, but he was staring at the two men. Fritz had placed the rifle on the floor and had his arms folded. Wilson knew he had just one chance. Blocking out the pain, he dived for the rifle and had his hand on it, but Fritz was fast and snatched it away. Wilson kicked Fritz and caught him a solid blow to the side of his head, but Fritz swung the rifle and smashed it into Wilson’s face. Wilson fell backwards, landing on the bed, the back of his head smashing hard on the brick wall. Blood was gushing from his skull, and Corey went over to him.
‘His skulls all smashed up. He’s had it. Finish him off and get rid of the body.’
Fritz aimed the laser rifle at Wilson’s head and fired a single burst. The smell of burning bone and tissue filled the room and Wilson was dead.
Leaving his rifle on the bed, Fritz grabbed the dead man’s legs and dragged the body onto the floor, then along the corridor to the back security doors. The rear of the prison was a tar-sealed courtyard covering one half, with vegetable beds once tended by prisoners in the other half. Fritz had already dug several graves and three were ready to be filled. Unceremoniously he rolled the body into the nearest grave. Then he got the spade he’d left sticking out of the mound of soil and filled the grave. That done, he rammed the spade back in the dirt, ready for the next time, then he walked away.
Chapter 151
‘You wanted to see me?’ Raven asked.
Boss said, ‘I’ve been talking to General Millet. He’s off with his crew and ships on an interplanetary training exercise. It was arranged months ago. Can’t be helped.’
Raven said, ‘We couldn’t expect them to hang around indefinitely. We still haven’t heard anything from Agent Jordan as to where she is or what she’s looking into.’
‘She should be coming home soon, or at least she should if there’s nothing happening. I know we agreed she should only start work when she was completely ready but I’d like know what the hell is going on with her.’
‘Tilly will be sending for help if she needs it. Either the thing that she was looking into has been resolved, or she’s still investigating it. I don’t like the idea of not being ready with a ship or a squad of military officers to go if she needs us.’
Boss said, ‘We’re thin on the ground right now. I’ve had to send Agent Maxwell on an assignment. He’s taken our only other available D S I ship. Let’s hope Agent Jordan doesn’t need us in a hurry.’
‘I’m available,’ said Raven.
‘You, are desk-bound. Joy would give me a whole heap of grief if I sent you on a mission. Which reminds me. I’ve been getting encouraging reports from Commander Garfuncle. You’ve finally got the concept of creating structured notes for lecturing. There’s hope for you yet, Raven.’
Raven said, ‘Does that mean I can stop going to the R T D?’
‘Nice try. No. Commander Garfuncle is convinced the rookies are actually getting something out of it.’
‘Hmm. No need to sound so surprised, Boss.’
‘Admit it. You’re enjoying it.’
Raven shrugged. ‘Nice to think my field experience is being passed on.’
‘And Miss Saltoe. How’s that working out?’
Raven said, ‘As if you didn’t know. I’m sure she keeps you well informed.’
Boss smiled. ‘She lets me know if you’re behaving yourself. And between you and Miss Saltoe, I’m finally getting some useful, comprehensive reports from you. My only regret is not doing this sooner.’
‘Yeah. Ok. Look, Boss. I really am getting concerned about Tilly. I think we should send her a message.’
Boss said, ‘I know our communication equipment is pretty secure, but nothing is completely safe. Even with only a slim possibility of being intercepted, I’d rather not risk it.’ Boss stood up and paced the floor. ‘Change of plan, Raven. I want you on your way to help Agent Jordan.’
‘That would mean sending her a message directly requesting her position.’
‘I do realise that, Raven. I’ll ask the question myself. If we have no reply or a negative reply, we leave her alone. If she tells us where she is, you are going back in the field.’
‘And just how do I do that, Boss? All the D S I ships are on that interplanetary exercise.’
‘One moment, Raven.’ Boss made a call from his desk. ‘Commander Gordon, please. Felix. Boss. I need a ship. Yes. I realise that. I still need a ship. When? And what about a pilot?’ Boss grinned. ‘Perfect. She’ll love it. Yes, Agent Raven.’ Boss chuckled. ‘No, Felix. I’m the one in danger. When Joy Dainty finds out, I’m running for the hills. Ok. Thanks, Felix.’
‘Care to enlighten me, Boss?’
Boss leaned back in the green leather antique chair and locked his fingers behind his head. ‘Karma Casey. She’s due in on a freighter run in about three hours. She thinks she’s off to Varlindra, but if we can get a reply from Jordan, she’s your pilot.’
Raven said, ‘You’re right about you running for the hills, Boss. You sending me off with Karma will ruffle Joy’s feathers.’
‘She won’t mind so much knowing that if you go, you’ll have a chaperone. Miss Saltoe will be going with you. That way she’ll find out what it’s like to be an agent in the field.’
‘Oh, come on, Boss. Miss Saltoe? You’re winding me up.’ Boss’s face said otherwise. ‘Ok, fine. Just one problem. Do they have spacesuits in XXL?’
Chapter 152
‘This is getting too messy,’ said Corey.
Fritz stopped digging and leaned on the spade. ‘I thought I’d made quite a good job of it, myself.’
‘Not the graves. I mean all these dead bodies.’
Fritz said, ‘Growing a conscience all of a sudden?’
Corey shook his head. ‘You and I were responsible for many thousands of deaths. A few more is neither here nor there. No. I just hoped I’d have got the formula spot on from the beginning. The idea was, cure the test subjects, and they’d be so damn pleased about it, we could have just let them go and not have to kill them.’
‘We could quit while we’re ahead. Take off from this old rock, maybe find somewhere warmer.’ He cast his gaze around the grey skies. It looked like snow. Again. The best thing Fritz liked about this planet was that he could lea
ve it.
Corey said, ‘And live off what? Get proper jobs, you mean? You like digging holes, do you?’
‘Not a lot. So you do want to carry on, then?’
‘We’re in too deep. I don’t see any alternative. But to do so, will require more subjects.’
Fritz said, ‘How many? We still have three live ones to work with.’
‘We’ll use those, then depending on the results, look to get another ten subjects. If I can’t get the formula to work after that, we’ll call it a day and get the hell away from here.’
‘Maybe the formula is flawed,’ said Fritz. ‘Or incomplete. You only got it by accident when the Master was inside your mind. Maybe you didn’t get all of it.’
‘That is a possibility. But I remember when I first saw it in my mind. It was so clear. I feel sure it is all there. Even so, there are variables to consider. That and getting the concentrations right. We have to remember what this is all about. This will set you and I up for the rest of our lives.’
Fritz rammed the spade into the well-dug soil. ‘Be better than digging ditches, Corey.’
Chapter 153
Karma Casey wanted to hit somebody. She wasn’t D S I, but she knew thumping Commander Felix Gordon would not be good for her career.
‘Six months of living on a tin can, one damn quick turnaround after another. And you tell me D S I want me for their pilot?’
‘See? I knew you’d be pleased. You and your old pal Tagg Raven teaming up again. Like old times.’
Casey snapped, ‘Those old times almost killed me. I’m a pilot. I am not an agent. I am not D S I military. D S I may have Interplanetary Council authority to take any ship they damn well feel like taking, and, should a D S I pilot not be available, to temporarily recruit a civilian to be that pilot. But only if that pilot is not already on important work. I have one more load to take off this planet, then I’m due and taking a full months break.’
‘Boss has already contacted the contractor. They have agreed, D S I have first call on your services.’
‘In other words, I have no choice.’
Gordon grinned. ‘Finally. You get it. Hey. It still may not happen. For one thing, the mission hasn’t been authorised yet. The other thing is, our only fighter class ship is still being modified for your mission if it happens.’
‘Hold it right there, buster. Fighter class? I haul freight. Nothing else. Last time I flew a fighter class, I had drones shooting at me and we crashed on Foregone. Twice we nearly got killed.’
Gordon said, ‘And yet you didn’t. This mission may still not happen.’
‘If Tagg Raven’s involved, it’ll happen. Commander. You’d better introduce me to my new ship.’
Chapter 154
One test subject remained in the row of cells. He was the last one. The previous two had looked promising. Both had lived through the night without another drixolate dose. That had been promising. Both subjects had reported how well they had felt. Fritz and Corey had watched them into the small hours of the morning. And each time, when apparently on the verge of ground-breaking success, the men had had relapsed. Fritz and Corey had watched them die, seeing the internal struggles as the two drugs fought each other. The end result was the same. When the outcomes become obvious, Fritz had calmly despatched them.
More refining of the formula, and they were down to the last subject. It was unnecessary to take him to the solitary confinement cell. There was nobody else to witness him being taken, never to return. The man had been given his drixolate dose that morning. It was time for the injection of the clear liquid. At Fritz’s gunpoint, Corey administered the drug. The next morning, much to Corey’s and Fritz’s delight, the man was still alive.
Exhausted, Fritz said, ‘Finally. You cracked the formula.’
Corey shook his head. ‘That is not statistically scientific. Not based on one success.’
Fritz wasn’t a scientist like Corey. All he could see was a man who should be dead from drixolate deficiency. The drug Corey had created had kept him alive. Fritz raised the laser rifle and aimed it at the man, who moved away, his back against the wall of the cell. Corey stopped Fritz from shooting the man.
‘He is still a valuable part of the program. We can monitor his progress.’
‘So, he will be enough?’
‘No. Maybe he’s a breakthrough, maybe he isn’t. We need more test subjects. Tonight, we get more.’
Chapter 155
Obtaining a list of drixolate dependent locals on Tryzon had been relatively easy. Basic computer hacking. Isolating that list to single men, young and fit and without wives, partners or children to complicate things had taken longer. Establishing their routines used even more time. Tracking them through the mix of locals and tourists, waiting for the most propitious moment to drug them, get them on the hired hover-bus, sitting strapped in the seats, looking like regular passengers to anyone passing outside. All this without being seen took plenty of coordination and audacity. By one fifty three in the morning, with just a few revellers still in party mood, fresh victim number ten had been located, rendered unconscious, walked between Fritz and Corey as if intoxicated to the hover-bus half hidden in the shadows of the night. Then Fritz had driven them in a circuitous route to the supposedly disused prison facility thirty miles south of the city.
When the men had been locked safely in the cells, Corey checked on the man who had survived another night without drixolate. He was well enough to complain he was hungry and demand food. Poor Fritz was dead on his feet, but managed to throw food on a plate for him.
‘You’ll not get away with this,’ said the man, cramming food into his mouth.
Fritz said, ‘You just stay alive and I won’t have to kill you.’ He laughed wickedly. ‘At least not just yet. Sleep tight. I know I will.’
* * *
It was four thirty in the morning, when Ian Jordan opened his front door. He knew police when he saw them, even when in plain clothes.
‘I’m Detective Inspector Jett. This is Detective Sergeant Webster. We need to speak to Agent Tilly Jordan. Is she here?’
Ian said, ‘You’d better come in.’
The disturbance had already woken Tilly Jordan. Sally only slept with mild sleeping tablets, and she was still fast asleep.
‘Tilly. What’s going on?’ Ian asked.
‘I’m about to find out, Dad. Detectives?’
‘Several more men have gone missing in the last few hours.’
Ian said, ‘Tilly. Are you involved?’
Tilly nodded. ‘It looks that way. Inspector Jett. Give me a couple of minutes to get dressed and I’ll be right with you.’
Tilly returned to her bedroom, dressed hurriedly and opened the case with the communications equipment and typed in, NOW. TRYZON. ATJ. She pressed the send button, put the case away and joined Inspector Jett.
Chapter 156
Commander Gordon said, ‘Two laser cannon, one rear facing, one front. Completely equipped with small arms capability. Fully serviced twin plasma engines. Marsillium coated hull. All the bells and whistles you could hope for.’
‘And a very nice colour,’ said Karma Casey. ‘With a little luck, I won’t be needing it.’
‘Sorry,’ said Boss, entering the huge hanger, Joy Dainty and Tagg Raven and a pale looking Miss Saltoe at his side. ‘We just had the call from Agent Jordan. You’re flying Raven and his assistant to Tryzon.’
Miss Saltoe, her corpulence testing a spacesuit to the limits, carrying her helmet under her arm, a hastily packed travel bag in her free hand, had never flown in a ship before. She was still recovering from the shock of Boss summoning her in the small hours to join Agent Tagg Raven on some unspecified adventure. Joy Dainty, far from happy with Tagg going on another field mission, had accepted what Boss had told her about there being no alternatives.
‘Tryzon?’ Casey said. ‘Nothing ever happens on Tryzon.’
‘Always a first time,’ said Raven. ‘What would be the flight time to Tryzon,
Commander Gordon?’
‘Hmm. Let me see. We’re not far off our closest distance to that neck of the woods. The ship’s fully fuelled, so at top speed, I’d say, just under four days.’
Casey said, ‘Ok. The sooner we get going, the sooner we get there. I’ll go punch in the coordinates.’
Joy caught Casey’s arm. ‘Don’t lose him, Karma.’
Casey grinned. ‘I’ve not lost a passenger yet, Joy. All aboard. Time for this Raven to fly.’
Raven held Joy in his arms. ‘I’ll keep my head down, don’t you worry.’
Joy forced a smile, but the anxiety clearly showed in her eyes. ‘You remember we have responsibilities, Tagg Raven. You come home safe and in one piece.’
‘I will. Joy. If there was any other way…’
‘You’d still be going. Go. Before I change my mind.’
A final kiss and Raven went on board. The fighter was towed outside to the launch pad, and the blue plasma exhausts started their preheat sequence. Then with the familiar roar, the landing and take-off thrusters lifted it off the ground, and seconds later it was nothing but a shiny blip in space, on its way to Tryzon.
Boss said, ‘Joy. They’ll be…’
‘Don’t tell me they’ll be fine. You don’t know they’ll be fine.’
Boss watched Joy Dainty storm off. ‘I never do.’ He stood and watched the blue pinpoint vanish as it raced away into deep space.
Chapter 157
At the police H Q, Tilly asked, ‘CCTV footage?’
Inspector Jett said, ‘Detective Poacher is trawling through it. Don’t build your hopes up. CCTV is still limited in the city. We keep asking for more, but nothing seems to happen. We already spent hours going over it before when the others went missing and came up with precisely nothing. The ones doing this aren’t amateurs.’
Detective Webster said, ‘To take all these people needs planning. They have to be taken somewhere.’
