by Gary Weston
Corey had thought of his best friend Fritz. He told the Masters, Fritz would also make a useful addition. After due consideration, the Masters agreed and Fritz, under Corey’s supervision, would enjoy the forthcoming privileges once the humans were subjugated.
And so, both Corey and Fritz were employed on several planets, supervising the production and despatch of the drixolate.
They had been a good team, he and Corey. They kept the eye on the ball, served their Masters well, and after years of working together, almost had their hands on the final prize. Damn, they had been so close. Then the D S I had ruined everything, even though several D S I employees had been enslaved and were helping the Masters achieve their ambitions.
Fritz stopped the bus, but kept the engine running. In the distance, the city of Manhatoff. There was a chance, a slight chance he could hide away in it. Then, maybe get on a flight somewhere. Ifs and maybes. Wasn’t that what he had left behind in the old prison? He had every reason to trust Corey. It had been Corey that had made it almost possible for both of them to be in the elite, the super-privileged and also not to end up as drixolate slaves.
Yet, what was he doing? After all they had been through, just when they were on the cusp of grasping the torch of victory, he had run out on Corey. He knew Corey. Knew how his mind worked. Corey would welcome him back to continue their work. Yeah, Corey would call him a few names, maybe even smack him in the face for being stupid, but they would shake hands and carry on. Fritz revved the engine, turned the old hover-bus around and headed back towards the prison.
Chapter 169
‘Buckle up. Buckle up. Two minutes to landing. Welcome to Tryzon. Weather report cold with heavy snow forecast.’
Raven buckled up and helped Miss Saltoe with her buckles. ‘Captain Casey added that bit about the cold for my benefit. She knows just how much I hate being cold.’
‘This is sort of exciting.’
‘But you’re a little nervous. That’s understandable. Deep breaths and relax. Casey’s one of the best there is.’
Saltoe closed her eyes and her knuckles went white. The plasma thrusters notes changed to the lower harmonics as the ship entered Tryzon’s atmosphere, and a low slow orbit had them over the west side of Manhatoff, to the landing terminals. D S I had a permanent landing pad and hanger there, as it did on all other planets. Casey set the ship down, the landing legs hissing into position.
‘We landed?’ Saltoe said.
‘We’re down,’ said Raven.
‘I never felt a thing.’
‘I said Casey was good. Oh. Casey. Nice one.’
Casey said, ‘You can unbuckle now, Miss Saltoe. I’ve post-landing check-lists and shut-down procedures to run through, but that won’t take more than a few minutes. You and Agent Raven are free to leave the ship and go through customs.’
‘We need to go through customs?’ Saltoe said.
Raven said, ‘Something of a routine, even for D S I agents. It just means we can declare our equipment and weapons without getting locked up for it.’
Casey said, ‘The option for you to stay on the ship still stands, Miss Saltoe. Leave Raven here to do his caveman thing.’
‘Thanks. But I’ve had enough of being cooped up on here. Agent Raven will look after me.’
Raven said, ‘And what about you, Karma? Are you coming with us?’
‘Yes. You have to look after Miss Saltoe. I’ll look after you.’
Raven rolled his eyes to the ceiling. ‘I feel safer already. Come on, Miss Saltoe. Grab your gear and follow me.’
As soon as they stepped off the ship, Raven realised things were moving up a notch. A police vehicle had pulled up on the landing pad and a young man who had been leaning with his back against it, his storm-coat collar pulled up around his ears, approached them.
‘Agent Raven?’
‘Yep.’ Raven flashed his D S I identification.
Detective John Poacher showed Raven his police I. D. ‘Customs have been bypassed. You’re to come with me.’
‘What’s going on?’ asked a nervous Saltoe, the sudden change in temperature outside from the constant warmth of the ship hitting her like a sledgehammer.
Poacher said, ‘I’ll explain as I drive. You have weapons?’
Raven lifted up his two equipment cases. ‘I never leave home without them.’
‘Good. We might need them.’
‘What’s going on?’ Casey had stepped off the ship, her checks completed, and the door hissed shut behind her.
Raven said, ‘Stuff going down. I’m not sure what, yet. Casey. Maybe you and Miss Saltoe should stay out of this, after all.’
‘No you don’t Raven,’ said Casey. ‘I’m going with you.’
Saltoe looked up at both Casey and Raven. ‘Me, too,’ she said, adamantly.
Poacher opened the passenger door. ‘Either way, we need to get going.’
Raven stowed his gear in the back and he and the women climbed in the vehicle. When the doors were shut, Poacher took off at speed.
Chapter 170
The armed police helicopter was heading north along the little used highway, flying towards Fritz and the bus heading back towards the prison. The old bus was close to top speed, considering the conditions. Thick swirling snow cut the visibility significantly, and the rubber skirt blew up the fresh powdery snow high into the air. The junction to the old prison was another few miles ahead, and assuming Corey had calmed down enough to let him inside the gates, he might just make it. With the roar of the bus engine complaining at being pushed to the maximum speed, Fritz hadn’t heard the police helicopter flying towards him. He didn’t miss the blast of laser fire from it that furrowed the road in front of him.
‘Crap.’
Fritz tried to see the chopper ahead of him but the near blizzard conditions made that impossible to get more than a glimpse of it. The traces of red laser fire were not hard to miss. Fritz wasn’t about to meekly pull over and allow himself to be arrested. Through the rear view screen, he could see three police vehicles chasing him, sirens and lights trying to tell him he had nowhere to go.
Fritz begged to differ. He yanked hard on the wheel, and did a complete three-sixty spin around, as he aimed for the short road to the prison. He was off the road, bouncing along the rough frozen ground, the skirts ploughing through course brush. He could see the prison gates ahead of him and they were open.
‘You beauty, Corey.’
Fighting the controls, he spun the bus back onto the road. The vehicles behind him were gaining on him, warning laser fire tracing along the road either side of him. Several shots pierced the sides of the bus, some uncomfortably too close for comfort. Something went bang behind him and the vehicle filled with choking black smoke. Fritz had to guess where the open gates were, and gave one of the pillars a glancing blow, the bus careening off it, bouncing across the prison courtyard, slamming hard into the prison walls. Something exploded and Fritz barely had time to dive out-of-the-way, landing on the hard cold ground as debris rained all about him. He looked up to see Corey closing the gates, then Corey casually walked over to him. For a moment, the two men stared at each other. Then Corey held out a hand to help Fritz to his feet.
‘You had a change of mind, I take it?’ said Corey with a grin.
Fritz slapped his old pal on the shoulders. ‘I knew you couldn’t manage without me, so I thought I’d give you another chance.’
‘Yeah, right.’
A blast of laser fire from the circling helicopter spit at the ground around their legs.
‘Maybe we should get inside, hey?’ said Fritz.
Chapter 171
Detective John Poacher pulled up behind the row of police vehicles.
Raven told Saltoe and Casey, ‘Stay put until I know the situation.’ He and Poacher got out of the vehicle and checked the top of the wall to see if anyone was likely to be shooting at them. The wall was unguarded.
‘Looks like they installed a couple of cameras,’ said Raven
.
‘They’re watching our every move,’ said Poacher. ‘Inspector Jett’s coming over.’
Inspector Jett and Agent Jordan were approaching them, unhurried, assured they had the bad guys trapped.
‘Tilly. Nice to see you again.’
‘Tagg. This is Inspector Jett. Inspector, this is D S I agent, Tagg Raven.’
Jett and Raven shook hands. ‘You are the senior D S I officer here,’ said Jett. ‘Are you assuming command?’
‘Not at this moment,’ said Raven. ‘You seem to have everything under control.’
‘Thank you. Detective Sergeant Webster is in the helicopter. I’ve had a report from him that thermal imaging reveals at least ten men in cells, two moving freely about in there.’
Raven said, ‘Only two? Pretty audacious of them. Are they too close to the incarcerated men to just blast the crap out of the prison with the helicopter laser?’
‘Not worth the risk of killing the innocent men,’ said Jett.
Raven looked around them. ‘Those two aren’t going anywhere in a hurry. Any chance of a coffee around here? I can’t stand being cold.’
Jett said, ‘I’ve a mobile command vehicle on its way. It should be here in about twenty minutes. Most of us can stay in there out of the weather and plan our strategy.’
Tilly Jordan said, ‘They know we daren’t go storming the prison with those captives in there. I’m pretty sure they’ll be making demands before long.’
‘As long as they don’t start shooting the hostages we’ll just wait and see,’ said Jett.
‘I agree,’ said Raven. ‘I suggest we all get back in the vehicles until the command centre gets here.’
‘Agreed,’ said Jett.
They returned to their vehicles, Raven only too happy to get back in the warmth. He explained the situation to Casey and Saltoe. There was nothing to do but wait until the command centre arrived which it did, fifteen minutes later. It was a squeeze, but all of the officers got inside it, leaving the wind and snow outside.
‘Not a bad set-up,’ said Raven.
The huge, armour plated, mobile police command centre had all the high-tech surveillance equipment installed, an impressive array of weaponry, sophisticated communications hardware, as well as a small kitchen to provide snacks and hot drinks from, and a compact toilet facility in one corner. It was perfect for the upcoming siege.
‘Thanks for coming, Tagg,’ said Tilly.
‘Joy’s not too pleased about it,’ said Raven. ‘But she understands. Ok. What do you know about this caper?’
Tilly said, ‘It has to be drixolate related, that’s for sure. All the men abducted are drixolate dependant. That has to be the link.’
Casey said, ‘That doesn’t make much sense? That ship has long sailed.’
‘They must have a new angle,’ said Raven. ‘No doubt they’ll enlighten us when they’re ready. Can we try contacting them in the meantime?’
Jett went to a man and a woman officer at the communications centre. ‘Have you tried an open frequency transmission?’ she asked them.
‘We’ve been doing that, Inspector,’ said the woman. ‘No response as yet.’
Jett said, ‘Keep trying.’ To Raven she said, ‘Nothing from the bad guys so far.’
Raven looked at Jordan. ‘Why do I get the feeling those two men in there have a few aces up their sleeves?’
‘Well, one did try to make a run for it,’ said Tilly. ‘Maybe all isn’t quite so peachy in there.’
Raven nodded. ‘Good point. Might as well make ourselves comfortable and see what happens.’
Chapter 172
Corey and Fritz inspected the men behind the bars.
‘They all seem ok so far,’ said Fritz.
‘The longer they stay alive, the better our bargaining position,’ said Corey. ‘Perhaps now that you are back in our little partnership you’ll be kind enough to feed them. Us too, when you’ve a mind to do so.’
Fritz nodded. He understood his place in the universe. ‘Ok. Look. About earlier…’
Corey shook his head. ‘You panicked. This is a nervous time for both of us. And you’re right. I need you as much as you need me.’
‘Glad we cleared that up. I’d like to have a talk with you while I make dinner.’
‘Yes. We need to talk.’
They left the men in the cells and went off into the massive prison kitchen. Fritz opened a bottle of wine, poured two beakers of it then set about cooking.
‘So, what’s the plan, exactly?’
Corey sipped the wine. ‘For now we do nothing. No contacting the police outside, nothing. We need to make sure our test subjects are truly cured before we do that. Only when we have established that, do we contact the police.’
‘And we tell them about the antidote.’
‘No. That’s our ace up our sleeves. Right now they’re trying to figure out our angle. We’ll let them chew on it for the time being. The cops will be thinking we have a straight forward hostage situation going on. We have some captives; they’ll need to cough up to get them out alive. That’s the obvious conclusion they’ll jump to.’
Fritz put two full plates of food on the table, something still simmering for the men in the cells for when he and Corey had eaten.
Fritz said, ‘We’re safe enough in here for now. They know we know they won’t go shooting at us in here, in case they hit the men. We have enough provisions for everybody for at least a month.’ He washed his food down with the wine. ‘This might last only another couple of weeks, though.’
Corey poured himself another beaker of wine. ‘It amuses me to think we are in relative comfort and the cops are all crammed together in that fancy command centre of theirs. Fritz. You need to be ready with that rifle of yours to threaten our prisoners with, in case the cops do decide to charge this place.’
‘I’ll be right outside the cells all night. The cops come barging in, I’ll shoot one of the men.’
‘Ok. Just the one, mind. We need them to bargain with.’
Fritz said, ‘I know that. I know what the game is.’
Corey smiled. ‘We’re a good team. I’m off to bed. Tomorrow is going to be a very long and interesting day.’
‘You got that right. I’ll feed the men and turn in myself. If I have to shoot anyone, I’ll try not to wake you up.’
Corey got up to go. ‘Most considerate of you. I’ll see you in the morning.’
Corey went off to his room to sleep, and Fritz filled plates with food for the men in the cells. ‘Yep. Tomorrow is going to be very interesting.’
Chapter 173
After two more hours attempting to contact the bad guys, Jett told the communications officers to stand down. A basic feed was prepared and consumed and everyone found a little space to bed down in, with four police officers taking three hour rotational shifts to keep an eye on the prison. Raven, Casey, Jordan and Saltoe, settled down at one end of the huge but crowded mobile command centre.
Raven said, ‘See, Miss Saltoe? Didn’t I say most of out field work is just routine and tedious?’
‘When are we going to raid the prison?’
‘We?’ said Casey. ‘Don’t give him ideas. You and me keep our heads down and let the pros dodge the bullets.’
‘Bullets?’
Tilly said, ‘Those old fashioned things before laser guns took over. Lasers are a much more sophisticated way of killing each other.’
‘Hey,’ said Raven, giving Tilly a “behave” look. ‘We can wait it out a whole lot longer than those two in there. We can trade places with a fresh crew every day if we have to. They’ll run out of food before we ever do. There’s nothing like going hungry to weaken a persons resolve.’
Casey said, ‘I’m thinking they won’t keep us waiting too long before we hear their demands. Maybe even tomorrow.’
‘Then what?’ asked Saltoe. ‘Give them what they want in exchange for the captives?’
Raven said, ‘Thankfully, that won’t be our call. D
epending on how high their demands are, and I got a feeling they’ll be damned high, depends on how high up the food-chain we go for a decision.’
Tilly said, ‘I have this feeling it will be more than just a trade for the captives. They’re just a means to an end.’
‘We’ll see,’ said Raven. ‘I suggest we do our best to sleep and deal with it when it happens.’
Lights were dimmed, the green and reds of the communication centre casting ethereal shadows throughout the vehicle’s interior. Soon, the only noise was Raven’s legendary snoring.
Chapter 174
‘Good morning world, it’s a brand new day.’
The voice woke everyone up, but it wasn’t anybody inside the vehicle who had spoken.
‘Wakey wakey, rise and shine.’
Raven said, ‘Will somebody shoot that annoying son of a bitch?’
‘I’ll take the call,’ said Jett.
‘No,’ said Raven. ‘Let them stew. We don’t go jumping through hoops just because they want us to. Play them at their own games and ignore them.’
It was a mad scramble for the one toilet, the men mostly standing patiently aside to let the females do their ablutions first. The trade-off was that when the women were done, they were putting a feed together for everybody. Raven actually turned the radio off so they could all eat without interruptions.
‘Ok. Now I’m feeling a little more communicative,’ said Raven. To the radio operator he gave the thumbs up.
