by Dietmar Wehr
He shook his head. “I ran into Skies The Limit and Captain Traeger, on Blue Horizon. I asked him if he or his crew killed Sara Fontaine. He said he had never killed anyone and Keko…told me he was lying, so I assumed that meant—”
“Keko has to be this thing, right?” Kasia held up the headband in her other hand. “We were warned that it has a lot of capabilities. Naturally I shut it off the second we took it from you. As for Traeger,”—she shrugged—“he was lying all right. I know for a fact that he’s killed people, just not Sara. Let me guess, his ship came after you, but not because he was her killer. I’ll bet you he came after you for your cargo. Did you tell him you had anything of value?”
Hoch was about to say no when he remembered mentioning the liquor from Dresden. So, he had killed Traeger and his crew for the wrong reasons, but he had no regrets. Traeger had attacked him first. He and his crew got what they deserved. That meant he had unfinished business regarding Sara’s killers, and he needed time to figure out how to turn the current situation to his advantage.
“I told him about the Dresden liquor,” he said, nodding in the direction of the cargo containers.
She turned to look at them as well. “Dresden liquor, you say. Well, well. That will make a nice bonus on top of the gold. Now tell me what I want to know.”
Hoch had an idea that was such a long shot he was sure he’d be dismayed by the low probability of success if Keko had been able to calculate it.
“Okay, first Claus. There’s a dead-end maintenance tunnel down on deck two, green section. That’s where his body is. He tried to stab me and I…shoved him off balance. He broke his neck when he fell.” Hoch could see Kasia’s trigger finger caress the pistol’s trigger.
“And the gold?” she said in a tightly-controlled voice that failed to hide her rage.
This is it, he thought. One final roll of the dice. “It’s hidden inside a secret compartment, here in the cargo bay, that will only open for me. If you want the gold, you’re going to have to untie me and let me up.”
She took a step back and looked around the room. “We searched this room, Hoch. I don’t see how there could be any secret compartment, but I’ll give you one chance to show me.” Turning to her accomplices, she said, “Get him on his feet, untie his right hand, but not the left.” Two of them did as she ordered. An opportunity to use the stunner that was on his left arm didn’t materialize, but his right hand was free, and the pistol he had taken from Honniger was still inside the compartment with the gold.
“It’s over here,” he said sheepishly as he slowly walked over to where the secret compartment was. He pressed his right hand on the spot that Franz had shown him, and the panel opened. Hoch was glad that he had put the pistol over on the left side and behind the gold because it wasn’t visible to anyone looking in.
“Hot damn!” said one of the two men who had followed him. Everyone looked at Kasia, who now had a small smile on her face. “How much is that, Hoch?” she asked.
“Half a million, less the four bars I took out to pay for the railgun ammo.” He pretended to look around for the gold.
“Never mind those four bars. We made sure the station got those so that no one would bother us while we waited for you to wake up. Let me guess, biometric sensors keyed to your DNA, and I’ll bet it will only open that up if your hand is still alive, right?”
Hoch had no idea if that was the case, but he liked the idea of not have his right hand cut off. “That’s right, Kasia, and the panel won’t stay open indefinitely either. If you leave the gold in there, you might not be able to get it out again, unless you keep me alive of course.”
Her smile got bigger. “Or we can just unload the gold now and then I can kill you. You three form a line. We’ll stack the gold over there,” she said, pointing with the hand that was still holding the headband. “Hoch, you take out one bar at a time and hand it to Fergens. If you try to hit him with it, I’ll gun you down from here. I don’t think you’re strong enough to throw gold bars that big all the way here with one hand, so don’t get any stupid ideas.”
Hoch tried to look disappointed. He began taking the gold out one bar at a time. It wasn’t long before the four men had gotten into a rhythm of passing a bar from Hoch to Fergins to the next man to the last man, who placed it on the deck next to the others. Hoch knew he could reach the gun now if he wanted to. He took a quick glance at Kasia, who seemed to be relaxed enough to take her eyes off the four men. It was now or never. If the opportunity to balance the scales of justice with you own hand should present itself, will you take it? He heard the echo of that question as he reached in as if he intended to grab another bar, but instead, he grabbed the pistol by its grip. As he pulled the pistol out, he thumbed the safety switch from ‘on’ to ‘off/auto-load’. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion now. By the time he had the gun pointed at Kasia, the mechanism had loaded a round into the chamber. He fired the gun just as Kasia turned back to look at him with the sudden recognition of what was happening. Her head jerked backwards as the bullet slammed into her forehead. With the gun reloaded from the recoil, he swept his arm to his right, pointed the gun at Fergens’s head and fired again. Fergens had been too shocked by the first shot to react quickly enough to save himself, but the other two behind him had enough time to react. The problem was that Fergens fell backwards into the man behind him, who was clawing at his own gun. Hoch used that distraction to fire at the guy at the end, who might have gotten his weapon into play if he’d had a second more. Three down, one to go. As Fergens and his buddy fell to the deck in a heap, Hoch stepped up to them, pinned the other man’s gun hand to the deck with his boot and fired one more shot at the man’s head.
“In a goddamn heartbeat,” he said in a whisper. He walked over to Kasia’s body, bent down and checked her pulse. She stared up at him with lifeless eyes. He looked around and saw the headband where she had dropped it. Putting his pistol down, he grabbed the headband, put it on and activated it.
[What happened, Hoch? You blacked out and then I was shut off.]
He told her.
[What will you do with the bodies?]
“I’ll have to wait until we’re heading out-system and then dump them into space.” He sat down on the deck and leaned back against one of the liquor containers. “I’ll start cleaning up the mess in a minute or so,” he said in a whisper as he closed his eyes. Adrenaline fatigue was setting in, and he was suddenly very tired.
Chapter Five:
It was almost fifteen hours later when Whirlwind undocked and lined itself up for a trip to Earth. Once beyond station radar range, Hoch put on a spacesuit, asked Keko to depressurize the cargo hold and open one of the hatches, and then he carefully shoved each of the four bodies out into space, along with Honniger’s pistol. Keeping it was just too dangerous. Honniger had probably used it to kill other people, and if the gun was ever examined by authorities, he, Hoch, might find himself tied to murders he hadn’t committed. If he was ever convicted of murder, at least he would make sure it was for something he’d actually done. So far though, he had only killed in self-defense. It was a fine line that he was drawing, but it was good enough for him. Once the ship was in hyperspace, he sat down and dictated a report to Keko that he would give to Mistress Fontaine when he saw her, assuming she was still alive. Had Kasia known something, or was she just trying to mess with his head? He hoped the Mistress was still alive.
As soon as the ship re-entered normal space and contacted Earth’s Traffic Control, he received a message, and it wasn’t from Mistress Fontaine.
TO CAPTAIN RACHEENGEL: LAUREN MIRANDA EVELYN FONTAINE WAS KILLED IN A FLYING CAR ACCIDENT. HER VACANCY AS CHAIRWOMAN OF THE URS BOARD HAS BEEN FILLED BY ME. URS WILL BE EXERCISING ITS OPTION TO TERMINATE OUR ARRANGEMENT WITH YOU REGARDING THE CONTINUED USE OF WHIRLWIND. YOU ARE REQUIRED TO BRING WHIRLWIND TO THE URS STATION IN EARTH ORBIT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. I WILL WANT TO DEBRIEF YOU WHEN YOU ARRIVE. FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THESE INSTRUCTIONS WILL RESULT
IN PURSUIT OF BOTH CIVIL AND CRIMINAL ACTIONS AGAINST YOU. I LOOK FORWARD TO MEETING WITH YOU. TAMERLANE ADENAUR, CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD AND CEO, UNIVERSAL RED SHIFT. END OF MESSAGE.
Hoch closed his eyes and shook his head in dismay. So Kasia had guessed right. Mistress Fontaine had been taken out.
[I can tell by your bios that you’re upset, Hoch. Were you close to Mistress Fontaine?]
He took a deep breath before answering. “I only met her once. She and I had…an understanding. We shared the same quest, and now she’s been killed too. I don’t believe her death was an accident, and this Adenaur has certainly benefited from her death. That makes him the prime suspect as far as I’m concerned.”
[Will you meet with him then?]
“Damn right, I will. I’ll ask him the right questions, and you’ll tell me if he’s lying.”
[And if he is, what will you do then? You’ll be on his turf, and it’ll be difficult to kill him and make it look like self-defense, Hoch.]
“If I can’t balance the scales immediately, I’ll just have to bide my time and wait for an opportunity. How along until we reach orbit?”
[Approximately 55 minutes.]
“Okay, let’s tell Mister Adenaur that we accept his invitation and give him our ETA.”
Hoch had seen the URS station before but only from a distance. Now, as Whirlwind drew closer, he gained a new appreciation for the size of it. There was a central structure connected by booms with three smaller structures. Whirlwind received further instructions to touch down on the landing platform of one of the smaller structures.
[The main complex is devoted to offices and living quarters for company executives,] said Keko when asked to give Hoch a general layout of the whole station. [Each of the smaller structures has a specialized function. The one we’ve been instructed to land on contains landing pads, docking stations, repairs bays and living quarters for the maintenance staff.]
“Mistress Fontaine lived on the ground. Can you find out if Adenaur is on the station?”
[I can, and he is. I’ve located his office-living quarters. It just happens to be visible from the landing pad that we’ve been instructed to use. There will be a clear line-of-sight between Whirlwind and Chairman Adenaur.]
“Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting, Keko?”
[Only as a possible option, not as a recommendation, Hoch.]
Hoch grinned. While there technically was a difference between the two, in this case, the difference wasn’t worth a damn as far as he was concerned. “What about accuracy?”
[That would depend upon what you wanted to shoot at. Knocking a cigar from his mouth would be very difficult, but shattering the plexiglass windows to cause an explosive decompression would be easy.]
“Wouldn’t the trajectory angle of the round lead investigators right back to Whirlwind?”
[Not if they can’t determine what angle that trajectory took. His windows curve around the structure. I can fire the round so that it hits the window at the curve. The impact will shatter a large section of the window, with no entry or exit holes remaining that could be used to determine the trajectory. This all assumes that he incriminates himself by lying. What if he doesn’t, or what if his security staff won’t allow you to wear me while you’re meeting with him?]
“Are his offices under surveillance, and if so, can you access that function?”
[Affirmative to both questions. If you have to remove me before entering his offices, I’ll still be able to watch and listen as long as I’m not turned off, but I won’t be able to communicate with you. We should set up some pre-arranged code words so that at least you can send me instructions.]
By the time the ship had carefully touched down on the open landing pad, they had agreed to a dozen code words and signals.
“Do I need a spacesuit?” asked Hoch.
[No. They’re lowering a docking boom. You won’t be able to sneak your stunner into the meeting. I suggest you leave it and the dart guns behind.]
Hoch reluctantly followed Keko’s suggestion. He had gotten used to having the stunner on his left arm and now felt naked without it. When the docking boom was in place, Keko opened the hatch and Hoch found himself looking at Franz and buddy. Franz had a self-satisfied expression that Hoch found extremely irritating.
“We’re here to escort you to the Chairman,” said Franz. Hoch said nothing and began walking. Franz and buddy got out of his way just in time. As they started walking inside the long structural boom connecting the main and secondary structures, Hoch turned his gaze to Franz.
“I see that losing Mistress Fontaine hasn’t hurt your careers with the company. You don’t look particularly sad over her death.” Keko, can you find out if either if these two received any unusual payments recently?
[Affirmative. Each of them received lump sum payments of a hundred thousand credits one day after Mistress Fontaine’s death.]
“We were loyal to our old boss, and now we’re loyal to our new boss, and if you keep talking about Fontaine, just remember this. The Chairman told us to deliver you in one piece. He never said anything about keeping you in one piece after he’s finished with you.”
[He lied about being loyal.]
Why am I not surprised.
Hoch decided to keep quiet for the rest of the trip. After reaching the main structure, they took an elevator down 34 floors and were met by a contingent of uniformed security guards who scanned Hoch with equipment.
“He’s clean, except for the headband unit,” said the younger guard. The older one pointed at his headband.
“You’ll have to take that off.” He held out his hand to take it from Hoch.
“Are you serious?” asked Hoch with as much indignation and scorn in his voice as he could muster. “It’s clearly not a weapon. You boss in there has one, and I’m sure he’s met with other people who were wearing headbands.” I have information stored on it that he’s going to want to see, and he’s going to be fracking pissed if he can’t see it. What’s your name so that I can tell him who’s responsible for the delay.”
The older guard’s face lost some of its color at the demand for his name.
“Don’t let this fucker intimidate you, Sanchez,” said Franz.
“I have my orders and there are no exceptions. Please hand me the device,” the guard repeated.
As Hoch slowly took the headband off, he said, “So, your name’s Sanchez. Thank you for that information, Franz. When I come back out, this unit had better not be tampered with. I’ll put it down here on your desk, and you two keep your goddamned hands off it, understand?”
“Yeah?” said the younger guard. “or else what?”
Hoch looked the younger guard in the eye. “I just came back from Ceridian station where I killed four people who were a lot more experienced than you are. Do you really want to test me?” Now it was the younger guard’s turn to go pale.
“We won’t touch your precious headband, mister,” said the older guard with just the right amount of contempt to be believable.
“Now that we’ve got those pleasantries over with, follow me. And if you’re smart, you’ll keep quiet until the Chairman asks you a question,” said Franz.
Hoch expected to be shown directly into Adenaur’s office, but instead he found himself following Franz through a veritable maze of corridors until they came to the end of a corridor where there were a set of double doors that looked like they were made from real wood. Just as the three of them stepped up to the entrance, both doors opened. Hoch could see a very luxurious room. It was clearly decorated for business with an impressive desk, faced by comfortable chairs. The far wall was completely transparent from floor to ceiling, and he could see how it curved around following the overall contour of the main structure. The view out into space was impressive even from where he was standing. There was, however, no sign of Adenaur.
“What’s the matter, Racheengel? You afraid to go in?” sneered Franz. Hoch ignored him and stepped inside. Franz
and buddy did not follow, and the doors closed as soon as Hoch was clear of them. He looked around and saw light coming from under another door. The sudden sound of running water made it clear that Adenaur was using his washroom. With the continuing water sound clearly indicating that the Chairman was busy, Hoch stepped over to the curving transparent wall and looked over to the secondary structure where Whirlwind was parked. He waited. If Keko was still tied in to the complex’s computer and surveillance network, she would see him looking at the ship. He saw one quick flash of light from one of Whirlwind’s exterior maneuvering lights. So she was watching, and even better, she was still tied in with the ship’s systems. He nodded to let her know he had seen the light. The running water sound stopped, and the washroom door opened.
