Darklanding Omnibus Books 10-12: Hunter, Diver Down, Empire (Darklanding Omnis Book 4)

by Scott Moon

  She still wasn't excited the sheriff had fallen for the Company Man, but there wasn't much she could do about it now. Her best attempts had done little more than titillate the Ground Forces officer turned sheriff. This meant that Dixie and Shaunte would always be rivals to a certain extent.

  "What can I do for you, Dixie?" Shaunte said, folding her hands in her lap and sitting up straight as though giving Dixie her full attention but not wanting to spend all day on the interview.

  "I think it's time for you and I to work together," Dixie said.

  "You work for the Mother Lode, and SagCon owns the place. That makes me your boss," Shaunte said. “We are already working together.”

  Dixie rolled her eyes and gave her a ‘whatever’ expression. "I'm not here to talk about small potatoes. You once told me you knew I had more business ventures than anyone suspected. You're not wrong. I also know you have a few side hustles going."

  Shaunte laughed. "Is that what you call them? A side hustle?"

  "What would happen if the TerroCom soldier kickback ended? You and I both know that once Interstellar Enterprises moves in, that will be an iffy proposition at best.”

  "There is no TerroCom Soldier contingent on Darklanding," Shaunte said.

  "So you say," Dixie said. "I guess I'm wasting my time. You're not about to be crushed by Judy Ortega during her grab for all the A99 on Darklanding."

  "There's never been A99 found on Darklanding.”

  Dixie sighed. "Please, Shaunte. That's a secret that was never a secret. The moment P.C. Dickles and Thaddeus opened their submarine and paid off ShadEcon, the existence of A99 became the hottest rumor in town."

  "It is not the policy of SagCon or its officers to confirm such rumors," Shaunte said. "Having said that, I think maybe we can work together. What can you bring to the table?"

  "Knowledge."

  Shaunte stood and walked to the corner of her table, crossing her arms and trying to appear taller than she was. "Everyone loves knowledge. They say it's power. Personally, I think its value is overstated. Knowledge and execution is the key."

  "I have proof Judy Ortega is a murdering psychopath.”

  Shaunte laughed out loud. "That's a bit melodramatic, even for you."

  "You're playing a life-and-death game, Shaunte. What do I have to do to make you understand?"

  "Don't tell me about risk versus reward. I was raised to this life from an early age. I know all about corporate espionage and power takeovers. I'm the daughter of Tiberius Plastes, after all.” She moved back to her computer and placed one hand on her desk. "What kind of proof do you have?"

  “I’ll share it with you if we come to terms."

  "Of course," Shaunte said. "What else do you have?"

  Dixie handed her a data chip. "This has verifiable documentation of my financial net worth. I have resources."

  Shaunte held up the chip. "You're going to show me your entire investment portfolio?"

  "That data chip contains enough proof of funds for this venture," Dixie said. "I may or may not have other financial assets."

  Shaunte nodded. "Good, because if you told me this was everything, I was going to call you a liar. Not a good way to start off a partnership."

  "We have a common interest. If Darklanding fails or falls under the control of a hostile corporation, we lose everything," Dixie said. "Well, actually, I lose everything. You can always run home to daddy."

  Shaunte's expression went ice cold. "I've worked with people I don't like before. Sometimes those are the most profitable arrangements. I understand the danger, but let's not blow things out of proportion. Judy Ortega is here to establish business dominance and create a financial empire. If she makes a proposal and will back it up with a legally binding contract, I'll take it."

  "You haven't heard a word I said," Dixie spat.

  "I have. I said if she makes a proposal with a legally-binding contract. So far, she's been evasive on the details and I suspect this is going to be a nasty fight."

  A horrible sound came through the closed window, something like Maximus wailing in pain or perhaps mauling a kill.

  Dixie stood, sweat beading near her hair line and in her cleavage.

  “What’s that horrible sound?” Shaunte asked.

  “Well, that brings up one other thing I needed to talk to you about.”

  “Dixie, what’d you do?”

  “Me! I didn’t do anything. Some monster thing bit Thad’s arm. He almost died, but he’s okay now.”

  “What!” Shaunte shouted. “Where the hell is he and why hasn’t he called me!”

  “He’s at the jail,” Dixie said.

  Shaunte grabbed her hand bag and sprinted out of the room.

  “Oops,” Dixie said, leaning into the doorway to watch Shaunte’s progress down the stairs. She turned to the desk. “It looks like you forgot to log off. I better just do that for you. Network security and all that. But since I’m here…we’ll just have a tiny little look at what Miss Shaunte Plastes has planned for Darklanding. Since we’re partners now and all that.”

  CHAPTER TEN: Proof of Loyalty

  Carter thought about Leslie Stargazer more than he should. His emotions were as confused as hers seemed to be. Did she see him as a potential lover or little brother who needed to be protected? The fact that she had removed the handcuffs and put on her clothes suggested whatever had happened was about something other than lust or intrigue.

  They were too alike to be adversaries and lacked the spark of soon-to-be lovers. He’d never stepped into such a powerful friendship, if that’s what it was. His captivity in the Mother Lode had thoroughly confused him. He doubted he would ever untangle his emotions.

  It didn’t matter. He had a job to do and fresh reasons for doing it. I’m not a double agent, he thought. I’m an agent for Kenneth Carter and no one else. Ortega hadn’t sent a rescue team. That suggested she’d already written him off or had never trusted him in the first place.

  Getting back into her good graces was going to be difficult.

  He proceeded past three checkpoints without a problem. Dressed as out of work dockworkers, they were more like lookouts than guards—with guns concealed under coats or behind garbage cans. They nodded to him. No words were needed.

  The prodigal son was coming home. He only hoped the outcome would be as fortuitous.

  No one loitered near the Interstellar Enterprises apartment building. Private security—his private security team—patrolled this area. That meant no warming fires, no camp sites, and no hanging about.

  Reddish light painted the top level of the two-story building. Sunset was a beautiful time of day in Darklanding, despite the industrial skyline of the town and the columns of barely-filtered pollution from powerplants and refineries. Carter loved the rawness of the place. It seemed like anyone could claw their way to a fortune. He knew better, saw evidence of broken dreams all around him, but it felt possible.

  Maybe he only believed it was because he was about to be out of work and homeless.

  He stepped to the front door and pressed his thumb to a reader. The access panel glowed yellow, not green as he had hoped, but at least it wasn’t red. At least no one had sounded an alarm.

  Inside, a man he didn’t know escorted him to the boardroom where Judy Ortega waited with her over-sized bodyguards.

  “You used to brief me in your office,” Carter said.

  “I no longer trust you,” Ortega said. “What took you so long to return? Why didn’t you take care of the matter we discussed?”

  “I was handcuffed to a bed. How I got there is another story just as strange.” He told the entire tale without omitting anything, emphasizing his observations of Proletan’s parole to Michael “Sledge” Hammer.

  “Interesting,” Ortega said. “While you were gone, I initiated negotiations with ShadEcon to bring Proletan over to our team for a long-term assignment. The sheriff’s refusal to allow a real bondsman to bond him out of custody is frustrating. Tell me, is the as
sassin worth the trouble?”

  “He’s strange. I heard some of his conversation with the sheriff and Sledge. The man has a death wish only kept at bay by his honor and some ancient code of warrior conduct,” Carter said.

  “He kills for money. I can count on him to do what he is told. That’s all I need to know,” Ortega said. “Get yourself cleaned up.”

  “That’s it. No interrogation? I thought you didn’t trust me,” Carter said.

  “I don’t, but your replacement isn’t here yet. Consider yourself on probation. My analysts will review your report tonight. Which is to say, I will most likely kill you in the morning.”

  Carter smiled.

  “Do you think I am making a joke?”

  “My apologies, Mrs. Ortega. I thought you were referring to a piece of ancient literature,” Carter said, realizing he had no place in Ortega’s organization. Nothing he did would earn her trust and he didn’t respect her, never had. When there was time, he would be angry and bitter about the years he’d already given her.

  “You have fifteen minutes before we leave for the build site. Remi has been doing your job. He’s even younger than you, but solid. For now, consider him your boss. That could change tomorrow,” Ortega said.

  ***

  Ortega walked behind her former security chief, studying him carefully. Nothing seemed different, but she knew something was wrong. He was quieter, if that was even possible. A sense of serene acceptance resonated from him. In her opinion, he was entirely too relaxed for a man that had just spent several nights among the enemy.

  Handling legal contracts and spending long days in high-stakes negotiations was easy compared to the mess she found herself in now. Her fascination with handling field operatives had started a decade ago when she stumbled upon a spy who had broken into her office. The man had tried to turn her into a double agent to save his own skin. She played him and won.

  Once she tasted the thrill of espionage, she couldn't get enough. Now it was an addiction that demanded more and more of her soul. Deep down, she knew she wasn't well suited for this type of work. She doubted herself constantly. Why had she sent Carter to kill Dixie? Had it been an emotional decision?

  Backing down now would make her weak in front of her team, especially in front of Carter, who was her single best asset on Darklanding. Proletan was famous, Sheriff Thaddeus Fry was infamous, but Kenneth Carter was every bit as good as they were at half their age. If she could keep him under control, he would be a priceless asset in the years to come.

  She was about to start a war between Interstellar Enterprises and the Sagittarian Conglomerate. She needed people to do her dirty work.

  Her security detail, with Carter out ahead as the point man, arrived at the build site. In true frontier style, the place was primed for an overnight transformation. It looked like a flat lot of mostly concrete and steel.

  She pulled out her data tablet and waved her engineers closer. They went over the nondescript foundation point by point, ensuring that prefabricated structures could be placed down to erect a spaceport virtually overnight. It would take another week of testing and evaluation, but when complete, it would be far superior to the SagCon spaceport that was already several years out of date.

  SagCon had moved forward with the minimum viable product needed to transport minerals and precious gases off the planet and bring in equipment and supplies to get the job done. Interstellar Enterprises didn't cut corners. Or more accurately, planned further ahead. The new facility would be bigger, more efficient, and capable of accepting military-class ships.

  Private security was about to reach a whole new level on Darklanding.

  “Carter, walk with me." She strode away from the rest of the group until they faced Transport Canyon from the edge of the mesa. She couldn't fail to notice how much it had changed. There was a huge river, almost a lake, stretching from one end of the canyon to the other. As far as she could tell, the water was still rising. If it damaged the monorails, IE would have to rebuild them, which would be annoying. And expensive. She would have to make SagCon pay if that happened.

  She jotted a note on her data tablet: convince Shaunte to make arrangements for any and all repairs to the monorails to and from the mines needed as a result of flooding.

  Carter arrived at her side and stood patiently.

  Ortega spoke without looking up from her work. "I told you to take care of Dixie."

  He took longer than most men would have to answer, seemingly considering his words and weighing the consequences before speaking—a rare quality in men. “She’s smarter than you think, and a better tactician than I assumed.”

  “She led you into a trap,” Ortega said, her words dripping with disgust.

  “Yes. I followed her half the night. Looking back, I realize she was wearing me down until Michael Hammer could get the jump on me. He put me in restraints and next thing you know, I was handcuffed to that psychopath’s bed.”

  “At the Mother Lode? What was her name?”

  “Doesn’t matter. Some prostitute with a bad attitude.”

  “Did Dixie go anyplace else when you were following her?”

  “No.”

  Too quick, Ortega thought. She didn’t like the way he answered that question. “Find Dixie. Kill her. Is that clear enough? Do you need me to write the order down this time?”

  “No. I know what I have to do,” he said.

  Carter’s radio chirped a warning. He lifted it to listen. “Boss, this is Remi. We’ve got trouble.”

  “Why is he calling you the boss? I said he was in charge?” Ortega asked, looking toward Remi and several security officers standing guard at the perimeter of the spaceport foundation.

  “Probably just a habit,” Carter muttered. Keying the radio, he answered Remi. “Give me details.”

  “Something attacked Peter and Suzan. No details, just screaming," Remi said. “Oh shit!”

  Remi and the perimeter security team opened fire at a cluster of running shadows. The shape loped along the ground like a cross between dogs and many-legged insects.

  Carter drew his new blaster. "Stay close to me. We’re going to have to move fast."

  "What's happening?" Ortega asked.

  "I'll write you up a full report later. Right now, we need to move." He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away from the edge of the mesa. "We can't keep our backs to this cliff. If I go down, run to the apartments and don't look back."

  “SagCon is going to pay for this," Ortega said.

  "Come on! Move your ass!" Carter flinched mentally at the way he had yelled at his boss. He was already on bad terms with her and this was the type of disrespect that could send her into a violent rage. "This isn't a SagCon attack. This is something else. Probably a native species of Ungwilook.”

  He knew that assumption was incorrect even as he rushed Ortega down one street and the next, seeking an escape path that led to the Interstellar Enterprises apartments. These monsters were aliens out of a nightmare, nothing like any survey of the planet’s inhabitants had ever reported.

  “They waited until we were away from the rest of the team. These things look like mindless mutants, but they’re smart,” he panted as they ran. Watching where he was going while guarding Ortega took twice the energy of running alone.

  “Or their leader is smart,” Ortega said.

  Something clicked for Carter when she said this. He spoke without thinking, which, as was with all such utterances, a mistake. “Not a leader. These things have some kind of hive queen.”

  Ortega stopped running, staggered a few steps, and vomited in fear. Seconds later, she vented her anger at being humiliated on Carter. “This is your fault! You think I’m like that hive queen monster? Is that what you’re saying? If you get me killed out here, you’re fired! You’ll never work in this town again!”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN: When Shaunte Goes Missing

  Thad felt his blood run cold as Dixie’s sweet, almost melodic voice answered his first question
. “That’s what I said, Thad. She’s on the way.”

  He made a fist with the hand that wasn’t holding the data phone. “Why aren’t you with her!”

  “I’m trying to catch up,” Dixie said, her voice bouncing as she ran. “She’s on the way and I am trying to find her. Are we done playing twenty questions?”

  Thad ended the call more abruptly than intended but didn’t have time to worry about it. “Sledge, I have to look for her."

  "Then why are you still here?" Sledge asked. "We'll work on a plan to destroy these creatures. I still say nukes are our best option, but maybe I've watched too many action vids."

  "There are several well-documented incidents during which nuclear weapons were effectively used to contain dangerous alien species," Proletan said. "Generally, they were on worlds or asteroid mines already hostile to human life.”

  "Fascinating." Thad leaned close to Sledge. "Can you keep him from destroying the planet?"

  "No promises. Go find Shaunte, and while you're at it, get Mast and Maximus back here. We’re going to need them."

  Thaddeus nodded as he grabbed his coat and headed for the door. He tried to call Shaunte several times as he hurried through the streets of Darklanding. The place was a ghost town, doors and shutters closed as though a sandstorm was coming. He didn't like the eerie silence. Gone were the noises of human and Unglok children causing mischief. Loading cranes and transport freighters were silent. Not even wind dared the streets.

  He wished the global positioning system had been properly set up in the early days of Darklanding. He also wished he hadn't talked himself out of getting it fixed so that he could keep track of Shaunte. At the time, it had felt like stalking or at least the actions of an insecure boyfriend with control issues. Now his lack of follow-through was going to get her killed.

  He knew she had some kind of limited locator system, but he lacked access to it.

  Maximus howled in the distance and was answered by whistling shrieks. Thad plotted a course to the Mother Lode and searched for Shaunte street by street. The Glakridozian killing spree came close several times, but he never saw the pig-dog or the creatures he was hunting. His gut told him there were too many monsters and not enough pig-dogs, but his four-legged friend seemed to know what he was doing.