by Jan Domagala
“I doubt it. It’s not like you didn’t know anything about the place to begin with. I doubt you’ll go telling anyone about it either, after all you did keep the secret all these years,” Jake replied.
“I suppose, what are your plans now then?”
“We’ve all been given two weeks shore leave, so I thought I’d hang around by the lake, do some fishing, top up my tan, if that’s okay with you two,” Jake said.
Before Garvey could reply Natasha had him by the hand and was pulling him out of the room.
“Come on, I’ll show you to your room,” she said as she dragged him to the huge staircase that led to the upper two floors. She stopped at a door he recognised and she turned her back to the door looking up into his eyes.
“Here it is,” she said with a mischievous smile.
“But this is your room,” he said.
She put her arms around his neck, kissed him lightly on the lips and said, “I know,” then she pushed the door open with her foot and pulled him inside.
EPILOGUE
Paradisia
Tanya turned to see who was entering the room.
“What have you found out?” she asked Apollo as he walked inside the small room she had rented in the hotel.
“Tillic has been arrested and is being kept under close guard. The evidence against him is overwhelming; it’s an open and shut case. They won’t even bother with a trial, it would be too embarrassing for them to air their dirty laundry in the public domain so he’ll be sent away, or worse, executed,” Apollo said, his face expressionless.
Tanya made a quick decision, she said, “Right gather our things we’re leaving.”
Apollo did as he was told, gathering up what few belongings they had and followed her out of the door.
They left the hotel and went straight to where they had parked the shuttle. They were airborne within moments and leaving the planet’s atmosphere soon after that. They had logged a flight plan with Planetary Flight Control that would take them outside the system. As soon as they were free of the planetary sensor array she accessed a secure comm. channel to make a personal call.
“Who is this?” a voice said once the call was connected.
“My name is of no importance at this time but I know who you are sir and I have a proposition for you,” she said hoping to grab the person’s interest.
“You have nothing that could possibly interest me. This call is over,” the bored voice said. She knew she had to act fast before she lost him completely.
“How would you like to be the ruler of your planet?” she said. It was the few words she hoped would garner his interest.
“Go ahead, I’m listening,” Prince Aswan said.
So Tanya told him everything she had in mind, speaking rapidly, the words tumbling out so that he would not be able to terminate the contact.
When she had finished there was a pause as the Prince mulled over the ingenious idea; it was preposterous of course, she knew that. The whole thing hinged upon something she could not deliver, not yet anyway, but with the Prince’s help she hoped that in time she could. Until then she was willing to gambol on the young man’s arrogance and his need for power.
“I agree,” he said finally and the contact was broken just as suddenly.
“Where are we going?” Apollo asked as she turned to look at him.
“Tula Rhan,” she said. She smiled as she thought about what lay ahead. Col Sec thought they had defeated her by stripping her of her most powerful weapon, the Rover5 clones, but they were wrong. All the missions that had been delayed because her troops had fallen apart were a catastrophe and her customers would seek recompense. For those who would accept monetary reparation it would have to come out of the MaxCorp coffers. For those who sought other forms of recompense she would have to find new allies for protection. In that regard she was certain her first steps would be successful.
She was back in the game and soon Col Sec and the entire Confederation would learn to tremble at the mention of her name.
fin
The Wildfire Team will return soon…
