by Randal Sloan
Finally the two simultaneously came to a stop, standing there facing each other without moving and looking into one another’s eyes. “Absolutely exhilarating!” they both said at the same time. Grasping hands, they went to look for the Sarge.
“Thanks for letting me see,” Sergeant Orick told them. “I also felt there at the last that it was something very personal between the two of you, so I wanted to give you your privacy. You obviously love each other very much and it shows. But the way the two of you moved, I have never seen anyone anywhere that could come close to it.” Smiling, he went on, “Don’t worry. I would never tell anyone what I just saw, because, who would believe me anyway?”
Turning to Julie, he said, “You give us that month, and we will fix this school. It will be the best there is.”
“I know. It was mostly my fear and the anger that came through last night. But the changes have to be made, and that takes time. I expect you’ll be pretty busy for the next month.”
Zeke thanked the Sarge, collected his things from the barracks, and a few minutes later they were on the X-plane headed back to Space Tech. Zeke had some work to do on his AI and Julie had a corvette to finish up.
CHAPTER TWENTY
A Little Distraction
The next day, Julie tried to get back to work on her prototype spaceship design, but something was bothering her to the point of total distraction. She kept thinking about Emily and worried that something was wrong. It was actually a relief when she got a VR call from Emily, because as soon as she saw Emily, she knew whatever was bothering her was definitely connected to Emily. “Em, I’ve been thinking about you. What’s up?”
Emily looked scared. “Sis, I know you are busy, but do you have time to talk? Something has come up with the band and they need your help.” Seeing the affirmative in Julie’s eyes, before she responded, Emily went on. “Can you come to the venue where the band plays and meet Thomas, Jason and me backstage?”
“Of course. Should I come as Julie or as Miranda?” Julie was already shutting her work down as she spoke.
“Miranda, but we are going to need Julie. Jason already knows and I think we’re going to have to tell Thomas now.”
Julie had already started the change to Miranda, heading for the door. “I will be there in a few minutes. You guys going to be alright until then?”
“Yeah. I will explain when you get here.”
Julie had arranged for a rental car to be paid for by Space Tech for Miranda, and had the car parked at the Space Tech garage. Space Tech was officially employing the seldom seen Miranda as a consultant. The story she had put out was that Miranda was a friend from school and Julie occasionally used her as a special resource. She felt they needed something to explain why Miranda was seen so often in the Space Tech offices.
Before she left, she stopped to get her knives. She had a strong feeling that she was going to need them. Even more strange, she picked up her sniper rifle, the case nondescript enough that she would be able to carry it without suspicion. Only because both it and the knives were approved by Space Tech Security would she be able to get them in and out of the building. A non-replicable, almost undetectable indicator was attached to both items. As almost an afterthought, she sent a VR message to Zeke, telling him she was going to see Emily.
#
Miranda drove rather quickly to the venue where Emily had called her from. She remembered that it was called the Black Tavern. Speculation ran through her head, but she had no real idea what was going on. She drove fast, but not fast enough to risk a policeman stopping her. Arriving, she quickly rushed inside. Of course, since it was the middle of the day, they were not open for business, although the building was open for workers. A couple of those workers were visible, but they ignored Miranda, so she went straight to the backstage area.
There Miranda found a still shaken Emily, along with a pacing Thomas, and a very worried-looking Jason. Seeing Miranda, Emily rushed to give her a hug. Emily was shaking enough that Miranda could feel it, although she gradually relaxed as Miranda squeezed her tightly. Finally, Emily pulled back enough to speak. “Thank you for coming. We really need your help.”
“Yeah, I got that over the VR. Tell me what’s going on.”
Thomas rushed over, putting his arm around Emily. Jason didn’t move, just looked at them with dull eyes. Thomas looked toward him a moment, almost overwhelmed by his feeling of guilt and sadness.
Finally, he gave Miranda his explanation. “I’m afraid it’s my fault. That investor that fell through the night you first met us, he is not your normal everyday investor. I knew he was shady, but I thought we could pull it off without getting our hands dirty.
“It turns out he’s not only shady, he’s a lot worse than we thought. It appears he has ties to a local chapter of the Organization. When he left that night, it was because I had refused to do what he wanted us to do for the money. He wanted us to smuggle things into the Space Academy’s unofficial mid term party, which is taking place tomorrow night at this venue. Because of our deal with this establishment, we are playing here for the party.”
Pausing a moment when he saw recognition in Miranda’s eyes of the significance of that statement, he went on. “He made promises to the leader of the Organization that we would deliver us before he spoke to me, thinking we would go along with him. Since then he’s been trying more and more desperate things to get me to agree to his demands. The robbery attempt that night was probably tied into this, although I’m not entirely sure of the motivation. Perhaps he thought I would be considered responsible for the money and would be desperate enough to give in to him. Needless to say, thanks to you, that plan didn’t work out.
“At any rate, the local Organization leader went ballistic when he heard what had happened. He told the man to deliver us or else, but then beat him so badly he wound up in the hospital. As a result, I went several days blissfully thinking the man had gone away. Plus, we got that investment from Julie Randolph and we didn’t need his help anymore, not that I would have ever agreed to his terms.
“But, then he showed up a few days ago, first just trying to persuade me to go along with it. ‘Just a practical joke,’ he tried to tell me. ‘No one would be harmed.’ His muscle was in jail because of the attack on us, so I still just flatly told him no. Well, he was desperate, so he borrowed muscle from the local Organization, again threatening me outside. He didn’t want me killed, so they didn’t have any weapons, thinking me an easy target. You know I’ve had training, so I was able to handle them, no problem. Really they were just a couple of dumb brutes. I should have called the police, and I should have told the guys then, but I didn’t. I was worried about what it would do to the band if it got out.
“Then last night, Jason’s sister disappeared, and we got this VR this morning from an untraceable VR.” Tapping his VR band, he played a VR message, enlarging it so everyone could see. In the VR call Miranda saw the teenage girl she remembered from the night she had visited backstage, having learned that the girl was Jason’s sister. The girl was tied to a chair and looking very afraid. An electronically disguised voice spoke, “If you ever want to see this girl alive, you will do exactly as we tell you. You will get further instructions this evening. Do not go to the police or she will die. We’ll know if you even contact them. This is your only warning.” The call ended abruptly.
Thomas finished his story, his voice sounding defeated. “As you can tell, nothing can be used to identify her location, not that we could do anything about it if there was without putting her at risk. You know the rest. I called Em and she called you as soon as she got here. I’m not sure what you can do to help but we’re desperate.”
Jason spoke for the first time, his normally smooth voice rough with emotion. There were tears in his eyes. “She knows why. She just hasn’t told you. Please, if you can help us, will you do it?”
Miranda nodded silently, not yet trusting her voice to speak. Finally, she was able to gasp out, “It’s best just to
show you. I will need to borrow your restroom back here.” She didn’t wait for a response, just rushed in, closing the door. She was so upset it took her a moment to settle down enough to make the change, something that surprised her just a little bit. But she pulled it off, rather quickly once she got started. It was actually a little painful because she went so fast, but she ignored the pain. After all, that poor girl was probably terrified, hungry, thirsty, and in pain from being tied up. They’d better hope they didn’t do anything to her.
Julie opened the door, stepping out to the wide-eyed expression of Thomas, who hadn’t had any idea what was coming, and a somewhat smug Jason who knew that he had been right. Although Jason’s expression quickly went back to looking worried.
“Yes, Thomas, I am actually Julie Randolph. I use my Miranda disguise so that I can be able to go places without worrying about security. So now you know the secret that is only known by a handful of people. Emily knows because she is the sister I never had. Jason knows because I was stupid enough to get lost playing my song in front of him, someone who knew that only Julie could play that song the way I played it. But I don’t have time to go into the details right now. We have to find a solution to our problem, one that doesn’t get Jason’s sister killed.”
“Allison,” Jason said. “We all call her Allie.”
Julie smiled. “Allie. A beautiful name for a beautiful girl. We have to find Allie and get her away from them. Then we have to put these guys out of business. And I mean permanently.” She looked at Jason and Thomas, who both nodded. But she saw the doubt in Jason’s eyes, so she went to stand in front of him. “Jason, I know you’re thinking that maybe, if we just do what they ask, they’ll simply let her go. I know you want to believe that, but you don’t really. There’s no way they will do that. You know they don’t operate that way. What we have to do is string them along, so that they think we’ll do what they want as long as we have proof she’s ok. Right now that’s all that’s keeping her alive.”
She looked around the room. “But here is my promise. I will do everything that is in my power, including making use of any resource that we have at Space Tech, to do this.” She looked around the room again and was just about to say something else when she got a VR call. “Speaking of resources,” she told them. “It’s Zeke.” She added for Jason’s benefit, “Zeke Caldwell, my fiancé and Emily’s brother.”
Julie was surprised it had taken him that long to pick up on her state of mind. She had been ignoring his mental probes, trying to stay focused on the information Thomas had given her. “Zeke, I was just about to call you. We need your help.” She panned her VR camera around the room so he could see everyone. “Jason, is the only one you don’t know. He is the ‘fiddle’ player for the band Thomas is part of. They’re in a bit of trouble.” She quickly explained the problem, giving him a slightly shortened version.
“In a way, this is my fault,” she told everyone. “If I could have just moved faster against the Organization, they wouldn’t be around to do this.”
Zeke answered quickly. “No way, Jules. You are moving as fast as you can. You know no one can blame you for this.”
Julie sighed. “I know you’re right, but I also expect they are planning revenge for the time we thwarted their attack against the Space Academy a few months ago. That one is also partly my fault, not that we had any choice there.”
“I knew it,” Emily exclaimed. “You never told me what happened, but I knew you did something. Something to do with shooting out lasers, you couldn’t stop that rumor, even if Homeland squashed the rest.”
Julie couldn’t help but smile at Emily’s reaction. “The only thing harder than not being able to tell you what happened was convincing Uncle Ted to let me stay in school. Although it was a close second. Which does bring up a good point. If we assume that this is a response to that, it can’t be good. This means whatever they are planning, it’s really bad. Some kind of bomb. Not like the last time, because I don’t think they have the assets their sponsors sent the last time or their resources. But bad enough that a lot of people would get hurt or killed, including a lot of our friends from school.” She didn’t mention that would also include the band members which she and Emily had come to care about.
“Not only can we not do what they ask, if it gets down to it, we have to make sure we stop whatever they have as their backup plan. Most importantly for now, though, we have to rescue Allie.”
“I need to come there, now!” Zeke said, his worry for Julie now paramount.
“But you can’t, love,” Julie answered. “They are probably watching this building. I came as Miranda, who all they know about is that she is Emily’s friend. If you come, they’ll probably get suspicious. Plus they know your connection with Space Tech by now, I’m sure. They shouldn’t have a clue with Miranda.”
Zeke gave a growl of frustration. “You’re right, but I don’t have to like it. What can I do then?”
“You can get things moving at Space Tech until I get back. I need you to get Uncle Ted and Carla to help us. We can’t go to the local police, because it looks like they have a mole in there, but we can make covert use of our resources at Space Tech. We also need you to get Carla to contact Homeland for us. Make sure you tell Carla that we want Homeland to assign us Jimmy Cooper. I understand he received a well-deserved promotion after the previous incident with the Organization at the Space Academy. We want him because I know we can work with him. The last thing we want is someone coming in and putting everything at risk because of his ego or because he doesn’t know us.”
Julie looked around the room and to Zeke on the VR. “This is our plan then as I see it. Miranda and Emily will have to leave in a little while, or it will start to look suspicious. Probably is already, but I figure they won’t worry about a couple of girls if we don’t do anything stupid. You guys have to play tonight, just like always. I know it will be hard, but you have to do it. That’s probably when they will contact you again, and we still need that contact. Remember, we have to string them along, pretending that we are going to do what they ask. Miranda and Emily will come back tonight, along with any agents that Homeland will be able to insert covertly.
“As soon as we are safely away, I will follow up with Space Tech Intelligence as well as Homeland. Whenever we have more information, we can plan accordingly. Does anyone have any additional suggestions?”
They all thought a minute. Thomas piped up. “What about that policewoman that came the night of the attack here? There’s no way she’s on the Organization’s payroll. We could use the help of someone who knows the area. I’m betting that they are holding Allie somewhere close, so we could really use her help.”
Julie groaned internally when she saw Zeke’s response to the mention of the attack. She hadn’t gotten around to telling Zeke about that incident. She knew she would be filling him in on it very soon. “You’re right. I was very impressed with her. She did her job thoroughly, but yet she treated Miranda very well, showing kindness and discretion. Ok, I’ll see if Homeland can covertly contact her. I have a suspicion that you are right about the location being nearby, so she could be invaluable. She introduced herself as Officer McAvoy. I didn’t get her first name, but they should be able to find her.
“Guys, we’re going to work this out. We’ll talk again soon.” She reached into her pocket, pulling out a second secure VR and handed it to Thomas. She had taken to heart the motto, “Always have more than you think you will need.” Zeke would be proud of her, if he got past the little incident he had just found out about. “If you need to contact me, use this. It’s a Space Tech certified secure VR, and they won’t be able to intercept it or trace it. You need to keep it on you at all times.” She smiled at them. “Make sure you invite Miranda and Emily backstage tonight. Gonna have to keep an eye on that Miranda. People are going to start thinking something is going on with her and Jason.” She smiled at the expression on the faces of both Jason and Zeke. She was not going to enjoy her next
talk with Zeke.
“Zeke, I will see you in a few minutes. Please start things moving with Uncle Ted and Carla.” As she disconnected the call, Zeke sent her a mental image of a frying pan over a fire. No, she was not going to find an easy way out of that discussion.
#
Julie changed back to Miranda in the restroom, although she went a little slower this time. Miranda was soon back on the road with Emily, headed to the Space Tech offices. She made sure she wasn’t being followed. She didn’t tell Emily, but she had been a little worried that Emily might become a target. She knew Emily had been out of town at her parents’ house over the midterm break, and Julie suspected that may have kept them from going after her first.
Since the rental belonged to Miranda, she didn’t change back to Julie until the car was safely parked back at the Space Tech parking garage and she was out of sight of the security cameras. She led a still shaken Emily into the high-rise elevator, quickly completing the retina scan to get them moving. Julie knew Zeke was waiting for her in her conference room, so she headed straight there.
Zeke rushed over to his sister, giving her a hug. On the way there, Julie had communicated to him just how upset his sister was. Ted and Carla were already there too, so Zeke didn’t get to have his little discussion with Julie. He just sent her a quick “Don’t think I’ve forgotten!” mental message.
Speaking aloud, Zeke summarized the current status of their efforts. “I very quickly briefed Ted and Carla on the situation. Ted has lined up all our resources in Space Tech Intelligence. They are already at work scanning everything we have on the local Organization people. They are also poring over all our recent satellite data for the last two days, looking for the location of our kidnap victim. Carla has had considerable dialogue with Homeland. We are awaiting the arrival of Jimmy Cooper in the next half hour. He knows to come covertly, just in case they are watching us. I think that summarizes where we are now.”
