by Ron Francis
“Nina, you must remain out here. The doctor will let us know what’s going on as soon as he can.” Manny shook his head in agreement as Serge continued. “If you go in there now, you will only be a distraction. I know how much you love Ariel, we all do, just be patient.”
“That’s never been my strong suit, Serge. Do we know who did this yet?”
Manny looked confused, “I thought we had agreed it was the Enclave. Do you suspect someone else?”
“No, I meant do we know who the assassin is? If we find out who he is, we may be able to prove who hired him. I know it’s the Enclave, but I need proof to take them down legally. Either way they are going to pay for this. Manny, I need to get in touch with one of Jesse’s associates, she goes by Ladyhawk. Do you know how I might be able to get in touch with her?
“I’ll make some inquiries; what do you need her for?” Manny had a look of concern in his eyes as he asked. Nina may have already reached her breaking point and he wasn’t sure he should help her go over the edge.
“She knows who these people are, and we need to make them go away.”
As Nina was speaking, the door to the operating room opened, and the doctor approached with a weary look on his face. He looked at Nina and asked, “Are you family?”
“Yes, Doctor, is everything alright? How is my cousin?” The worry was so thick you could cut it, and every second was killing Nina. She looked hopeful as the doctor answered.
“You’re cousin is a fighter. She lost a lot of blood, and it didn’t look good for a while. We were able to get the internal bleeding under control. She’s out of the woods.”
As he said that last line, Nina embraced Serge and exhaled, “Oh, thank God.”
The doctor smiled and continued. “She’s actually in the recovery pod now, and it looks like she’ll be in there almost an hour. When she is finished, she will be asleep for a good long while, probably over thirty hours. She took quite a beating. She had deep lacerations on her arm and one on her face that the pod will not be able to fully heal. We have one of our best cosmetic surgeons standing by. She probably won’t even notice any scar. She had also broken seven bones in her hand, four broken ribs and two additional severely bruised ribs. She had a broken nose, broken cheekbone and broken eye socket. She also had a deep stab wound in her shoulder, a punctured lung and of course the internal bleeding.” As the doctor went through the litany of Ariel’s injuries, Nina felt herself getting madder and madder until she thought she might explode. The doctor concluded by saying, “The surgery was very intricate and she will be out of action for a while. Three full weeks of bed rest, followed by at least a month of light movement. No work for at least three months.”
Nina, still trying to hold it together, commented, “That’s going to be really hard for her. We’ll keep her here for three weeks, and then we’ll move her to a facility on Polisia. Thank you, Doctor, I don’t know what I would have done if she had died. If you ever need anything, you call me. Do you understand?”
“That’s very kind of you, Mrs. Romanov, but I was just doing my job. I am serious about the bed rest. If she reopens those internal injuries, she’s going to be in bad shape.”
“I’ll sedate her if need be, thank you again, Doctor.” As the doctor took his leave, Nina embraced Serge and Manny, thankful her cousin was still alive. She turned to Manny and said, “You saved my cousin’s life, Manny. I’m going to make sure both she and Jesse know it.”
“I’m just happy she made it. Now, it’s going to be a long road for her to get back to normal.” The relief in his eyes was evident and Nina realized that he had been blaming himself for not getting to her in time. She just hugged him with a mixture of relief and gratitude in her eyes.
“I’m serious, Manny, she’s gonna know it was you who saved her, and don’t you dare blame yourself for this. You had no control over when you received the information and you did your best, which, by the way, was good enough.” Serge patted him on the back as Nina spoke and he smiled slightly knowing that they didn’t blame him. Now, he only needed to stop blaming himself.
______
Jason was so angry, how could anyone want to kill Ariel? She had never even spoke out against any of these Enclave people. She was a good person, and she was Jesse’s kid cousin. That was probably it. The police had gotten nowhere with identifying the assassin, so he thought he might try to get an ID through other channels. He tried to hide his foul mood as a large Italian man answered his transmission. Carmine was a bear of a man. Even on the little screen he looked big. He was starting to show a little gut, but he still had the largest arms Jason had ever seen. “Carmine, how’s it going?” Jason greeted.
“What do you want, hacker?” Carmine smiled, he had been calling Jason that from the first moment they had ever met.
Thirteen years earlier…
Jason knew he was in trouble, how could I have been so stupid? Carmine Sangia had put a huge price on his head. He had ripped off the wrong man. He thought it was going to be an easy score, until he realized his mark was well connected in the underworld. Now, that well-connected man wanted him dead. There was only one person he could think of that might be able to help him. A guy that used to stick up for him in secondary school. He had just made it back to Earth from some Special Forces mission. Maybe he could defend him one last time. He sent a message off to Sergeant Jesse Marcos, hoping he would remember the kid he used to help out. He was surprised when Jesse agreed to meet up with him.
“So, you hacked this local gangster’s accounts and took some money from him. Now he wants you dead. Is that all that’s going on here?” Jesse asked with no judgment in his voice. “I need to know the whole scenario in order to help you work out a solution.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much it.” Jason agreed.
“Why him? Out of all the people you could have hacked, why this guy?”
“I don’t know, probably because he’s a muscle head like the guys that used to pick on me. Plus he had enough that I didn’t think he’d miss it.”
“You know you’re gonna have to give it all back, plus some if there’s any chance for you to survive this, right?”
“Yeah, I figured.”
“Alright, let me see what I can do. Go stay at my house until I call for you or get back home. No one will think to look for you there. I’m gonna go meet this Carmine fellow.”
Later that day, Jesse was standing inside Carmine’s restaurant. It was authentic, “old world” Italian cuisine, and it all smelled delicious. The smell of freshly made marinara sauce filled his nostrils as he waited to meet with the boss. He also noticed that they used fresh mozzarella on their pizza, which made his mouth water just a little bit. He had to remember the mission and remain on task. I hope things go well enough that I’ll be able to bring Rebecca here when it’s over, and Ariel. She would love this place. He was brought before a very large, very angry man. Carmine stood almost six foot six inches tall. He was barrel-chested with the largest arms Jesse had ever seen. “So what do you want, kid?”
“I’m here on behalf of a buddy who has made a terrible mistake.”
“The hacker that ripped me off? Yeah, I’d say that was a mistake, wouldn’t you, Paulie?” The other man, who was almost as large as he was, nodded and he continued. “There’s only one way this ends, and that’s with the hacker’s body in the ground.”
“Let’s not be hasty, Sir, he can provide you a much needed service.”
“Yeah, what’s that?”
“First, he apologizes and returns all of the money, plus ten percent. You can call it a short-term loan to save face if you need to. Second, he can shore up all of your accounts and your um… organizational databases so that no one, including the government will be able to hack them again. He’s very talented, and you seem like the type of man that wouldn’t want to waste that type of talent.”
“I’m afraid it doesn’t work that way, kid. He stol
e from me, and he needs to become a lesson for others to see what happens to people that steal from me. I’ve already got guys out looking for him.”
“Call them off, this is a good deal, Sir, and you don’t lose any face. Who’s gonna try to rip you off if they see that they have to pay you back with interest and work off their debt?” As Jesse was talking, two men walked into the restaurant that Jesse didn’t like the look of. Jesse picked up a knife off the table and pretended to be absently twirling it as the men approached.
The first man drew a blaster and began, “Your time leading this organization has come to an end, Carmine. Let’s go. Tony, bring the kid, too. We can’t leave any witnesses.”
“You’re making a big mistake, Mike,” Carmine replied with a healthy confidence.
“Never mind, Tony, I’m gonna do him here. He raised the blaster and Jesse spun with the knife, planting it into the killer’s shoulder. The man dropped his blaster as he cried out in pain. Jesse continued into a roundhouse kick that took Tony off his feet. A third man pulled a blaster and fired. Jesse dove in front of Carmine and took the hit in the shoulder. By that time, Carmine had his blaster out and he fired, killing the third man; while Paulie finished off Tony.
Carmine picked Jesse up off the floor and smiled. “Now, I can let the hacker live and still save face. I’ll expect him here tomorrow to begin building my new hacker-proof network. He should have my money with him. You have my word, no harm will come to him. You just saved my life, I owe you at least that much. And, kid, call me Carmine, enough of this military “Sir” nonsense.”
“Thank you, Carmine, Jason will be relieved to hear that,” Jesse grunted through the pain in his shoulder. “One more thing, could I get a slice to go?”
Carmine looked at him as if he had two heads. “What?”
“I’m gonna need to have some food in my stomach for the med-tech’s to analyze if my superiors are gonna believe I was innocently eating at this fine Italian establishment when a blaster fight broke out.” He looked up and a sly smile crossed his lips and Carmine knew he liked this kid.
When Jesse arrived back home from the base med-center he looked at Jason and said, “Here’s the deal, everything you borrowed, plus ten percent interest, and you set up a secure account for his organization.”
“Really, and then it’s over. I’m safe?”
“I saved his life, and he gave me his word. You’re safe as long as you do what we agreed on.”
“Thanks man, I don’t know how I can repay you. Now my little sister will have the opportunity to know her big brother. You took a blaster bolt for me, why?”
“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” He smiled and then added. “And, Jason, no backdoors into Carmine’s new system.”
Jason smiled, “You have my word, Jesse.”
“You should join the military when you’re done with Carmine. We could use a man with your skills.”
“Sorry, Jess, that life just isn’t for me.”
“Well, at least stay out of trouble then, I only get so much leave a year and I prefer to spend it with Rebecca and Ariel.”
“That I can do, and thanks again, Jess.” A smile of relief crossed his face and a huge weight was lifted from his shoulders as he left Jesse’s house.
The next morning, Jason walked into Carmine’s restaurant with his portable computer and a thick envelope. He handed the envelope to Carmine and said, “I’m sorry, Carmine. Thanks for this opportunity. I won’t let you down. Where can I work?”
Carmine looked at him and smiled, “You have some pretty dedicated friends, it’s the only reason you’re still alive. Come this way, Hacker.”
Present Day…
“It’s Ariel, someone tried to kill her tonight and I was wondering if you could help me with an ID?” His anger was apparent as he spoke.
“Someone took a shot at my favorite girl? Who is he, I’ll kill him myself. Is she alright?”
“I already killed him, and she’s just out of surgery. She almost didn’t make it. She had a dozen broken bones, a punctured lung, a deep stab wound in her chest and an ugly gash across her face. They’re calling in a cosmetic specialist to fix that up. She won’t be awake until tomorrow night or the next morning.”
“They cut her face? The people that hired this animal are going down. What can you tell me about the assassin?”
“Asian male, six feet tall, in top shape. There are no tattoos or other distinguishing marks that would indicate a particular gang. He obviously loves to kill. He killed eleven people just to get to her. She put up a great fight, but if Manny didn’t get there when he did, she would be dead. I’m sending you his image now.”
Carmine was really upset. Ariel had been coming to his restaurant with Jesse since she was fourteen. He loved her because she always saw the good in him, no matter what. If he found out who these people were that did this, he would be going back to a place he had long since abandoned. He looked up at Jason and said, “I got the image, I’ll get back to you as soon as I find something, Hacker. I hope you realize that if I find the person that hired him first, you might not get your revenge.”
“I understood that the moment I made the transmission, Carmine. Still, I knew you would want to know.”
“You were right, thanks.” As the transmission ended, Carmine called for his trusted second-in-command, Paulie. He wasn’t going to be letting whoever did this slide.
______
Admiral Bliney had some bad news for the President and he was surprised that the President wanted to hear it in person. He was to come back with sixteen ships, to be replaced at the outer colonies by Admiral Thomas and his ships. He was also to retake the reigns for the entire military from Admiral Natora. He savored the look on his rivals face when he arrived to take control. Upon reaching Earth, he was immediately brought to Prague, to meet with the elected leader of their entire thirty-two planet coalition.
“President Sandoval, It is great to see you again, Sir, and great to be back on Earth. To what to I owe the honor of this invitation?”
“Admiral Bliney,” he replied as he shook his hand and sat down. He turned on a jamming field before he continued. “I wish it were as simple as a social call. There are many forces at work right now conspiring against me, and conspiring against Earth. I wish I could give you all of the details. Let’s just say that I’m consolidating power and surrounding myself with people I trust.”
“It’s nice to know I’m on that list, Sir,” he laughed.
“It’s currently a rather short list, I’m afraid. I have scheduled a meeting with the Vice President, yourself, Nina and Serge Romanov, the Secretary of Defense and the Chief Justice. I’m afraid that’s the entire list at the moment.” He almost looked sad as he said that last line and Bliney almost felt sorry for him.
“I’m afraid I have news that could be rather upsetting, Mister President. Two of my long range, long-term, reconnaissance units have just returned with what may amount to troubling developments. I do not believe that either is an immediate threat, but they are both something we need to be aware of and ready for. Firstly, our old friends the Jarlevians have been making some new friends since we last saw them. They have allied themselves with four other alien races. Each of these races are pretty powerful, judging from the amount of ships they contain and the amount of worlds they rule. In their sector of space, they are known as the Human Suppression Syndicate.”
“The Human Suppression Syndicate?” Sandoval asked. “Seriously? And they’re coming here?” He couldn’t believe it. Why did all aliens seem to hate humanity? That thought actually gave rise to another question. “Am I to assume that we are not the only cluster of human worlds in the galaxy, Admiral?”
“No, we are not, Mister President. And no, the aliens are not heading here, at least not at first. They have been enslaving and annihilating dozens of human worlds in their own sector, as have the Jarlevians. It appears as th
ough Dr. Hightower was right when he originally theorized that we are not the galaxy’s only humans.
“Is there no one to stand against them? What has humanity done to them?”
“Unknown, Sir. At least we know it was nothing we have done. They just hate humans and I don’t know why. There is a small cluster of technologically advanced human worlds they have been unable to invade, but these worlds are also not strong enough to defeat them. The Syndicate apparently never attacks any non-human worlds. Besides the Pack and the five races of the Syndicate, we’ve been able to catalogue two other alien races in their sector. We have also catalogued seventeen other alien races in another sector of space. It is unknown how any of them feel about humanity. We felt it better not to try and ask.”
“So, we should prepare ourselves for another war, then.” Sandoval concluded angrily.
