by C. R. Daems
"The local merchants use the Trust to get an appraisal of their gems and as a depository. The Trust then acts like a broker and is paid a commission for selling the gems. Each merchant's gems are kept in a separate area, much like safety deposit boxes in a bank. Around one in the morning, the thieves disabled the alarm system and then forced their way in through an employee entrance." Hilman stood. "If you'll follow me, I'll show you."
We followed him through the first floor toward the back of the building to a steel door. "This door is unlocked during normal working hours. A security guard checks the IDs of those entering. The thieves proceeded down the hallway to the entrance to the basement, although they must have split up because they killed the guard patrolling the second floor and the one in the lobby. They also killed the guard at the entrance to the vaults, here." He stopped at the entrance to a small room. "You have to pass through this x-ray scanner to enter or leave the area."
We followed him through, one at a time, as the guard watched his monitor.
"The sensors can detect gems, weapons, and just about anything not flesh and bone. The thieves then disabled the locks and proceeded downstairs.
At the bottom were many small rooms, each with a filing cabinet, a table, and a chair. With the bars, they looked like jail cells.
"The door to each room can be controlled by the guard on duty after the merchant inserts his key in the lock."
"Did the thieves break into all of the rooms?" I asked as Red emerged from my jacket and lay along my shoulders. There appeared to be a very large number of rooms.
"No. There are more than a hundred rooms, so we think they didn't have enough time. They only opened twenty-three."
"How many were currently occupied?" Kris asked before I could.
"I'm not sure. I'm responsible only for the security of the area, not its contents."
"Mr. Gordon?" Adrian asked.
"I would have to check the records to be precise, maybe thirty-five, give or take a couple," he said after worrying his lower lip for a minute.
Adrian nodded his understanding. "Who has access to that information?"
"Only four people beside myself. That's confidential information."
"Can it be accessed from outside the Trust?" I knew Gannon would want to know but was reluctant to ask.
"No. Only from the computer here at the bank and only with the right clearance."
"Can you collect those individuals for us? We would like to ask them some questions," Adrian said.
While Gordon was talking on his communications device, I pulled Kris and Adrian aside. Gannon was already standing next to me.
"Adrian, we need their personal tablets and any they may have at home." I saw Gannon nod.
Adrian waved Captain Talbart over. "Captain, I'm going to need your support. We need to look at each individual's personal computing devices. To ensure we have them all, we'll need you to search each of their residences."
"I'll need a judge to issue—" she stopped when Adrian pulled out his P1A access card. "I'll call for additional manpower," she said, grinning.
"Adrian, let's send Gannon along with the captain. He'll know what we’re looking for," I said.
Gordon arranged for the four to meet us in the conference room on the first floor.
After introductions, Adrian got straight to the point. "We need to borrow each of your personal computing devices. Both those you may have on you and those where you live," he said to stunned faces, which soon turned hostile. Adrian continued before anyone could voice an objection. "We're only looking for information that relates to the recent robbery, nothing else."
"That's a violation of my rights," said a middle aged woman. "And I won't give you permission."
Several of the others nodded agreement. And although they didn't say anything, I could feel the flare of raw emotions: anger mostly but tinged with fear from more than one.
"I regret having to say it, but catching these thieves is more important than your rights. This investigation is being conducted under P1A authorization, which is equivalent to martial law. But I'll assure you that only the NIA team will examine your devices. We'll ignore everything except information relative to our investigation."
Captain Talbart kept the five individuals in the conference room while her detail and Gannon searched each residence. It was early evening before we finally returned to the Vulcan. With MacLin's permission, we had all the devices brought to his conference room, where Pannell posted a guard while we had dinner in the mess.
"Same procedure as before?" Adrian asked when we entered the conference room. Hearing no objections, he continued. "Gannon, you check for deletions and activity on the Dark Web while we review the emails."
I picked up the nearest tablet and began my review with Red perched on my head. After working my way through the five tablets and four home computers, it was obvious why the anger and fear. While I didn't follow up on the emails, I found hints of affairs, drugs, and even illegal money transfers and deposits. But there was one potentially interesting email, which I would have overlooked if Gannon hadn't stumbled across the use of the Dark Web on Stone Ring.
"Well, Gannon, what did you find?" Adrian asked early the next morning when everyone had finished reviewing each device.
"Ms. Simons's home computer has several visits to the Dark Web. Thanks to her Internet history, which she didn't erase, I have a specific site address and the site's cookie."
"Rich, can we access the site and make it look like it came from her computer?" I asked.
"With P1A authority, you bet ... Anna." He smiled and felt eager and itching to start.
"Anna, did you find anything?"
"Several emails on Ms. Simons's home computer may relate to the raiders. The activity on the Dark Web that Rich found confirms my initial suspicion. She recently set up a savings account with Blackwater Saving and Trust under her name and purchased a safety deposit box. And I found an email message which directs her to a suspicious website, user.sweeptakes.hsx"
"Yes, that's the site where the cookie I found originated." Rich smiled like he had won the lottery.
"I didn't see any messages to Blackwater." Kris frowned, looking around the table for Simons's home computer.
"That's because she deleted them and cleared her deleted files, but she didn't delete the messages in her Sent mailbox."
"And where did you find the message with the Dark Web site information?" Adrian asked.
"It was an entry form for a sweepstakes. That, combined with an inquiry into Certificates of Deposit from the Blackwater Saving and Trust, seemed too much of a coincidence to ignore."
Just then MacLin burst through the door. "Paulus! Five men just hijacked one of the Vulcan's shuttles on Holy Star and have entered Shuttle Bay N1. They're demanding you be handed over to them," he said between gasping breaths.
I stood frozen as my mind raced for solutions, but all I could envision was disasters. If they wanted me, it could only be because of Red. And if they were desperate enough to hijack a navy shuttle and force their way into a navy cruiser … they felt they had nothing to lose. I calmed as Red wound around my neck.
"Captain MacLin," I said, "I'm invoking my P1A authority. Notify all crew not to engage them. They have the Coaca Virus. The crew are to find places where they can lock or fortify themselves. That's an order," I said with a command presence that should have shocked me and normally would have at any other time. Just then Red's tongue brushed my neck, relieving me of any lingering doubts. I stood listening as MacLin spoke into his Personal Comm Devise, PCD.
"Bridge, connect me with all PCDs and the ship's loudspeakers." While he waited, his eyes never left mine. "Attention, this is Captain MacLin. Five men have hijacked a shuttle and have gained access to Bay N1. You are ordered not to engage them. They're infected with the Coaca Virus. Find secure shelter and stay there until further notice. I repeat, do not engage them."
"Captain, can you keep me up to date on their location ... I'l
l try and lead them to one of the shuttle bays, but I won't know which one until ... later. You're going to have to open it to space—"
Kris screamed.
I ignored her.
"Here, Anna." MacLin handed me a small ear device. "This will enable me to hear and talk to you."
I took it and put it in my ear. "If I ... if you must engage them, remember they’ll be contagious for two days after they die—and that flying blood or bodily fluids from wounds will infect you." I turned to face Adrian, Kris, and Gannon and pointed at Pannell. "Stay! You can't help and would just be in the way."
I turned and ran out of the conference room as I envisioned the layout of the cruiser. I was on the third level toward the front, whereas the intruders would be on the first level toward the rear. I needed to cut them off before they got too far—the farther they got, the more risk of encountering someone out to be a hero.
I raced down the forward steps three at a time, missed a step, and slammed head first into the second floor landing. I lay there dizzy and confused until Red wound himself into my hair. That seemed to jerk me back to my present dilemma, and I slowly rose onto my knees and then managed to stand.
Holding onto the railing, I continued down as fast as my dizziness would permit. I opened the door and looked out. The hallway was clear of human life—eerie, considering there were almost five hundred navy and marine personnel on board. The containment doors did prevent me seeing to the end of the ship, but … Then I realized bay N1 was on the port side and I was on the starboard.
"Captain, where are they?" I asked.
"They've exited Bay N1 and are heading up the hallway."
A tentative plan began to develop as I found the first connecting hallway to the port side and started running. I wanted to be the first person they saw. Their entire focus was on finding me –actually, Red—therefore they would ignore everyone else once they saw me. When I reached the Port hallway, I almost panicked when I didn't see them.
"Captain?"
"They just turned into the first connecting hallway to the starboard side."
I whistled several times and then shouted. "You looking for me?"
A minute later a man's head appeared and I could hear, "She's down at the end of the hallway." A minute after that, four other men appeared and started walking toward me, laughing and joking.
I idly wondered if Red would stay with one if I was killed or would kill one or all as he did last time—of course I wasn't dead last time. I walked fast toward them, hoping to reach the middle connecting hallway to the Port side before they did.
"Captain, I'm hoping to lead them to either Bay M1 or M2," I said as I watched the men's progress. So long as they didn't run, I would beat them.
I grabbed Red and he wrapped around my arm like it was the staff of Asclepius. That caused the men to begin running, which wasn't good because that meant they would reach the connecting hallway before me. I stopped and began backing up, which caused them to run faster. I didn't want to turn and run for fear they would shoot me, but I wasn't going to make the connecting hallway behind me before they caught me, so I stopped, which caused them to slow.
"Give us the snake, sweet thing, and we won't hurt you," said the one in the middle. His rugged unshaven face was filled with brown blisters, indicating stage three or maybe four Coaca. He was average height but broad and muscular. "If you’re sweet to us you don't have to die. We'll share the snake."
"Won't work," I said to stall while I considered a revised plan. "They tried that at the hospital. The krait can only support one person." I backed up as they began arguing.
Eventually, their speaker recovered. "She's lying—and getting away."
When they started running, I held my arm with Red to my chest, drew my laser, took aim, and shot the lead man in his right leg below the knee.
He collapsed, causing them all to get caught in the resulting flaying arms and feet.
I made the hallway just as the four regained their feet and started running again. I preferred not to shoot them, as their bodily fluids would make the area contagious. I had no choice, but I hoped to keep them mobile.
Waving Red in front of me, I backed down the hallway.
Several had drawn their weapons, shard guns.
"Nice weapons, shard guns. Hard to miss, but also hard to be precise." I waved my arm and Red across my body. "Those pellets will kill a snake as well as a human." I crouched as I backed up so I could also swing my arm across my legs.
This stalemate wasn't going to last forever. The five were pointing their guns in different directions, and sooner or later someone was going to take a shot.
I shot the one trying to get a headshot at me in the shoulder of his gun arm then ran sideways, crab-like, while shooting at the walls and floor around them and waving Red.
Someone fired at my feet.
Pain shot up through my calves.
I dropped to my knees and held Red to cover my head and chest and began firing, trying to avoid shots to the chest and head.
They staggered backward. Several tripped in the mad scramble, and they all went down.
I rose and hobbled backward to the starboard hallway and began a limping run toward the shuttle bays, leaving a trail of blood. My growing panic made the pain a secondary problem that I somehow all but ignored as I pushed myself, knowing I was in a life-or-death race.
"Captain, M2," I panted, "Tell me when they turn into the hallway."
"Understood," he said.
I continued hopping-limping-running as fast as my wobbly legs and light headiness would permit, expecting any moment to hear shots.
"Now!" MacLin shouted in my ear.
I turned sideways and fired several shots.
To my surprise, they fired back.
I realized my gun arm was pointing back toward them but Red was hidden from their view. I couldn't bring myself to turn Red toward them, for fear they would hit him in the heat of the moment. I ducked into the middle connecting hallway seconds after pellets from multiple shots hit me and a scorching pain exploded through my back and side.
I was going to die if I continued this silly game.
I took a deep breath, stuck my arm with Red on it out first, then swung out partially with my laser arm and began firing to kill. I hit one in the head and one in the chest before they retreated back into the connecting hallway. As soon as they did, I began a crab-like run holding Red in front of my head. One man lay dead in the hallway as I reached the door to shuttle bay M2. I felt weak as a baby and barely managed to get it open.
"Red, if you're hungry, you had better get it now before it all runs out," I think I said in jest. I felt dizzy and was having trouble concentrating, although I did manage to lock the door behind me. When I looked around the bay, a man in a spacesuit came toward me, holding another spacesuit.
"Anna, let me help you into the suit. We don't have much time," said a voice that sounded like Pannell’s.
I let him support me as he got my legs then arms into the suit. I knew we had to hurry, but I couldn't seem to help.
He finally zipped me up and locked the helmet in place. Then he dragged me backward. We were halfway to the shuttle when the three men broke through the door.
"Now!" Pannell said.
I heard the bay door open, and we were sucked out into space.
* * *
I felt Red lying between my still developing breasts, and a sense of wellbeing spread through me. I drifted back into the darkness. I felt hot and Red struck me in the neck, and I drifted back into the darkness. I felt Red curl around my neck and his tongue brush my cheek, and I became aware of the beeping machines, smell of antiseptics, and the feeling of wires attached to my chest and arms. I sighed in resignation.
"She's awake," Kris shouted. "That was the dumbest thing you've ever done. Don't pretend you can't hear me. The monitors show you're awake. Do you know Red got hit too?" She continued her rant, but I could feel her relief and affection.
My eye
s flew open and I reached up to touch Red, running my hand along his body. Halfway along, I felt the wrap.
"Yes, and you had eight," she said as she hugged me, tears running down her cheeks onto mine. When I winced in pain, she released me but continued to hold my hand.
Just then, Alexa and MacLin entered the room. She walked to the side of the bed, took my free hand in hers, and laid her head next to mine.
"Mother, why are you here?" I asked reflexively, feeling guilty as I did.
"I’m here because the love of my life was fighting for her life."
"Thank you, Mother. I guess I was a bit reckless." I hated that I had caused her to worry.
"Yes, I would like to scream at you and send you to your room, forever, but putting the safety of others above your own is one of the many things that make you special." Alexa gave me a weak smile. "I owe Chief Ransom big time."
"I agree with your mother." MacLin moved closer to Alexa so I could see him without having to move. "And I also owe you big time. I've had a long talk with Doctor Renata, and I understand the potential disaster had I followed my instincts and sent marines to subdue the intruders. If you hadn’t invoked P1A authority, I doubt I would have listened to you. As it was, I almost ignored you anyway. Only that incident at Shadow's Rest made me decide to trust you."
"Doctor Renata?"
"Hi, Anna, you don't think I would let just anyone work on you and Red," Renata said as she stepped up next to Kris. "No one wants to operate on a red-headed krait. And before you ask, Red's fine. Both pellets missed his vertebrae."
I noticed she had started calling him Red and using male pronouns. "Thank you for coming. Red and I appreciate it. We trust you. How long have I been ... here?"
"Going on six days. Red complicated your treatment because he needs your blood, so we've had to be careful what we gave you. That’s why they called me."
"Hi, Anna." Adrian sounded concerned. "Kris and I understand now why you felt you had to do it by yourself, but we have to work out a better solution, because we don't want to lose you." He moved next to Kris and patted my arm—very brave considering Red's head was lying on my shoulder. "We did some checking at the hospital were those Coaca patients were being treated. Apparently, someone came to the hospital and spread the rumor that a navy commander on the Vulcan had a red-headed krait that could cure the virus. So ten of the victims left the hospital, robbed a gun store, and attacked the navy shuttle on a supply run. They lost two at the gun store and three taking the shuttle, which is why only five made it to the Vulcan. Captain MacLin, Kris, and I believe it was the raiders’ first attempt at getting rid of us. They had no idea you would take them on alone, preventing the ship from being infected. It would have been a good plan if you had only cooperated." He laughed and leaned closer—maybe Kris's experience with Red had emboldened him. "I almost choked when you invoked P1A authority and ordered MacLin around and again when he listened."
