by Terry Mixon
It was a brute force method that would take time to execute. It also required resources they might not be able to bring to bear without tipping their hand. Still, she couldn’t take chances.
She called Hale on the throwaway com before she packed the last of her gear. He answered on the first ring.
“We need to talk,” she said.
“I’ll meet you at—”
“Stop. They might be either monitoring this com or saving all signals for later searching. Give me an hour. I’ll tell you when you can ditch your tails, if you have any.”
“How will I find you then?”
“You’ll see.”
The line was silent for a moment. “I’m game.”
“See you in an hour.”
Rachel killed the com. Literally. She crushed it under her heel and pocketed the identifying chips. They’d know she’d used it once they found the hideout, but they wouldn’t be able to divine the number or her call history.
Locating Hale wouldn’t be a problem, since she’d given him his throwaway com. It had a tracking device that only she could trigger. She’d get out of here and locate him. And, if she were really lucky, she’d find his tails before they found her.
Chapter Seventeen
Adam fumed about the delay, but he really couldn’t blame Price for being careful. Some dangerous people wanted her dead, and security would probably hold her still for them to take a shot. He’d wander around the area near his shop while he waited.
He was almost certain at this point that they were dealing with two sets of enemies. One adversary seemed to have no problems killing people and making the bodies disappear. The other had gone to great lengths to make the sabotage look like an accident.
If anything, the latter was too subtle. An explosive device would’ve eliminated him as sure as a bullet to the head, and Jupiter would’ve eaten his bones. No one would’ve been the wiser.
Admittedly, explosives were hard to get here, but not impossible. Not if you knew the right people and the amount was small. It would’ve taken almost nothing to blow a panel off the side of the dive ship. Then he’d be dead.
It was as though they wanted him to have a fighting chance. Even before he’d known he needed to watch his six. It made no sense.
Adam was inclined to think he was facing a disgruntled diver. One with some kind of twisted need to give him a chance to escape death. To beat the odds.
The local community wasn’t that big, and he knew the other competitors in the games only by reputation. So, he’d focus on the ones closest to him first.
The hardcore divers numbered less than two dozen teams. Call it sixty people, tops. It had to come from them. No one else knew enough about the dive ships and the conditions down there to be so subtle.
That’s what Detective Quinn had thought, and he now suspected she was right. Her list of motives probably fit the bill, though he’d bet on jealousy.
Double Dick now stood at the top of his list. The man knew how to nurse a grudge until it died of old age and then mount it to admire later.
No one else stood out to him. If it weren’t Double Dick, he’d be at a loss how to figure this out. Especially with Jason in custody.
He had no doubt that Detective Quinn would detain his friend. The evidence was too straightforward. DNA where none should be.
That made him wonder how someone had gotten hold of Jason’s skin cells and blood. Surely, that had to be a clue.
He didn’t know if Quinn would follow up on that, but he sure as hell would. People left dead skin cells all over the place, but not in that kind of quantity. And blood was a totally different beast.
Someone had managed to nick his friend without it seeming odd. That wouldn’t be easy.
His com chimed. He pulled it out of his pocket and frowned. It wasn’t showing a call.
The chiming continued from his pocket.
Nonplussed, he reached in and found a second com. One that hadn’t been there earlier.
He answered the call. “That’s a neat trick. You’ve figured out how to teleport matter.”
Price’s voice had a hint of a smile to it. “That’s me, top-drawer scientist. But really, I’m more of a magician. I slipped it into your pocket a few minutes ago.”
“You’re good. I never felt a thing. You might have a future as a high-class pickpocket.”
“Your tails never saw me, either. You have at least two, by the way. One from security and the other probably works for the bad guys. You think you can ditch them?”
He smiled. “That’s my magic trick. I’m not sure how you found me, but can you do it again?”
“As long as you hang on to one of the coms, sure.”
“You bugged them?”
“I used a tracker. The kind the bad guys will have a lot of difficulty finding before we meet and you dump them. How long will it take you?”
Adam altered course, headed for the Janus docks. “Give me half an hour.”
“See you then.”
He pocketed the com and sped up. Once he made it through the security checkpoint, he ducked into one of the suiting rooms. It held all kinds of big extravehicular suits. They needed bulk to resist the intense radiation pouring out of Jupiter.
He opened one up. Then he triggered the lock on the other side of the room to cycle. While it went through the process, he climbed into the suit and buttoned up. He slid the shaded visor down over his face. No one would be able to see him without opening the suit up.
Five minutes later, a man stepped into the room. He checked the lock controls. It would show the last time it had opened.
The man cursed and ran back out of the room.
Now he’d be trying to figure out where Adam had gotten off to. That was just fine.
Adam waited fifteen minutes longer to be certain no one else came in. That turned out to be a good call. Just before he was about to open the suit, another man came into the room. It was the younger security guy he’d met at the club. Mason Saint James.
The man checked the lock controls, shook his head, and smiled. He left at a much more sedate pace.
The next five minutes trickled by at a glacial pace. Adam wasn’t sure he was safe, but he couldn’t wait forever.
A group of workers came in just as Adam finished exiting the suit. They knew him and spent a few minutes congratulating him on his survival.
He made nice, but slipped out as soon as he could. There was no sign of either tail as he exited the security area. Since Price could track him, he picked a random level on the elevator and headed off.
* * * * *
Rachel stepped up beside Hale. “Give me both of the throwaway coms.”
He handed them over, and she stripped out the chips from inside both of them before tossing them into a trash bin. She handed him a fresh one.
“This has my new number in the contacts list. I’ll use it for the rest of the day.”
He shook his head. “This is getting crazy. Someone planted DNA to frame Jason Chang. Security hauled him in.”
She frowned and pulled him into a random eatery. She took a booth at the back of the room with a good view of the door and access to the kitchen.
Once the server took their order, she leaned over and spoke softly. “That doesn’t make any sense. Why would they waste so much effort on a frame job?”
“I think there must be two sets of bad guys.”
“Wait. What?”
“Hear me out,” Hale said slowly. “The sabotage is too subtle. They framed Jason and made killing me harder than it had to be. Your guy would’ve just shot me down and burned my body.”
She leaned back and considered what he was saying. It made a twisted kind of sense, she supposed.
“If that’s true, it makes our jobs a lot harder. That means the motive for killing you isn’t your brother or the Mars incident.”
“That’s not certain,” he said. “All it means for sure is that two different groups of people are making moves. For all we
know, their motive is the same.”
Rachel shook her head. “I don’t believe in coincidences. How would someone else have found you way out here? Either we’re dealing with the same people or the reasons for what they’re doing have to be different.
“I think you’re interpreting this the wrong way. At the very least, you’re missing something. If they planted evidence, it wouldn’t have been before the dive that almost killed you. There was no need if you died. This sounds like a cover-up after the fact to me.”
“How did they even know I’d call security? I was ready to chalk this up to equipment failure until Jason found the sabotage.”
He snapped his fingers. “I need to tell Detective Quinn that. Why would Jason do something to implicate himself? He’s the one that decided to find the root cause of the failures.”
“It does sound convoluted,” she admitted. “Even spies aren’t that crazy.
“Speaking of spies, I followed up on the program you uploaded into the Janus comps and found that the two ex-RIS agents now work for Randy Evans in the FTL department. That’s a smoking gun.”
He smiled. “So, now you call in the cavalry to arrest them?”
“I wish. They have the com system tied up. No messages off the station without someone looking at them. They’ll find the report I tried to file and know I’m still alive. They’ll move Heaven and Earth to track me down now. We’ll have to stay separated or I’m afraid they’ll kill you just to play it safe.”
His smile turned shark-like. “I’m a lot harder to kill than I look. Besides, you took out one of their heavy hitters. They’ll be much more interested in you.”
“Thanks for that ray of sunshine. I’m going to work on setting a trap of my own to get someone to talk to me. You focus on your enemy in the shadows. When I find something, I’ll call you.
“I stashed more coms with your guns. They’re labeled by date. Pull the chips and destroy them when they expire.”
“Yes, Mother. I’ll also work with Cindy to get as much data as I can from the port. She has some access there. Unless you figure out how Zane slipped back out, I doubt you’ll get past the increased security. Especially since they’re looking for you.
“I mentioned that, didn’t I? Quinn went looking for you at the hotel, and they said you checked out. That has her very interested.”
Rachel snorted. “Then she doesn’t really believe that your friend was involved. He and I are not connected. She’s just leaning on him because she can’t leave a stone unturned.”
The server returned with their food. It was surprisingly good. Much better than the crap she’d had for breakfast.
They ate in silence, and she used the time to consider their situation from every angle she could think of.
The more she thought about it, the more his theory of two villains made sense. Solving one set of problems might be difficult with the second team meddling. She had to focus on the threat to her mission.
“Have you considered turning over the evidence you have to security?” Hale asked. “I’d say blowing your cover is the least of your worries right now.”
That was a good point. “How much do you trust Quinn? This is a pretty unbelievable story.”
He shrugged. “She seemed like a straightforward sort. The bad guys already know you suspect them. Getting the information out might give them more of a headache than it causes you.”
“I’m not going in,” she said. “That’s a death sentence. But I’ll think about what you’re saying. If I think this will work, I’ll have you give her a call and set up a meeting. I’m not putting classified information on an open com system.”
“I have to go back and talk to her anyway. If you like, I can give her this com. They already know I went off the grid, so I can tell them we met. She’ll be mad, but I’ll bet she gets over it pretty quick.”
Rachel considered her options and decided it was probably the best course of action. “Fine. But I won’t talk long enough for her to trace me.”
“That’s no skin off my nose. Meanwhile, I’ll start pushing on the people I know. One of the divers has to be involved in the sabotage. The frame-up was too technical to be an outsider. Especially if it was done on the fly.”
She stood. “We’ve been here long enough. Keep me in the loop. I’ll call you on the next com tomorrow morning. I suggest you take some time off from work to get your mystery taken care of. Besides, I might end up needing your help.”
He nodded and stood, tossing some cash on the table. “My boss suggested I take time off, so that’s not a problem. Good luck.”
She headed out through the kitchen. A few people gave her looks, but she walked as though she owned the place and no one stopped her.
The rear exit led into a service corridor. She picked a direction and started walking. There was no one in sight, so they’d lost all his tails. That probably pissed them off.
Once she’d cleared the area, she’d take the stolen van to a public spot with lots of potential exits and wait for the detective to call. She’d have to be very careful, or they’d catch her. And that meant death.
Chapter Eighteen
As expected, Adam’s reception at security was chilly. Detective Quinn confronted him as soon as the uniformed officer escorted him to her desk. “What the hell kind of game are you playing, Hale?”
He sat down across from her. “I suppose I could ask what you mean, but that seems silly. I ditched your tail. And the other guy following me.”
Quinn opened her mouth to respond hotly but shut it again. When she’d visibly counted to ten, she continued. “What other guy?”
“Part of that isn’t my story to tell, but he’s associated with the people that probably killed my brother.”
Her skepticism visibly doubled. “How did you deduce that, Detective Hale? What makes you think your situation has anything to do with your brother?”
“Honestly? I’m not sure that it does. I think there are two different groups at play. Ones with different goals. I misled you earlier.”
“I’m shocked. That never happens in my line of work.” She leaned forward abruptly. “Stop yanking my chain, Mister Hale. Stop playing at this like a cozy mystery. This is your life at stake.”
“Actually, I’m beginning to think there’s a lot more on the table.” He looked around to be sure no one was listening in. “My brother worked for the Republican Intelligence Service and so does Rachel Price.”
Quinn tapped her fingers on the desk. “You seriously expect me to believe that they’re spies? Come on, Mister Hale. You’ve got to tell me what you’re on so I can share it with my friends.”
“You laugh, but it’s true. I’ve known my brother all my life, and I worked with him in a professional capacity while I was in the Army. He really was in the RIS back then. As far as I know, he still is.”
“And Miss Price? You’ve worked with her, too?”
He shook his head. “No, but she was his partner.”
“How do you know that? Because she told you? Just how gullible are you, Mister Hale? Did you know I used to be a princess of Mars before I moved out here? I have a tiara and everything.”
“I believe her. I suspect you will too, once you talk to her. I met with her after I ditched my tails.”
She shook her head. “Let’s say I buy into this fairytale. Who abducted your brother, and why aren’t they connected with your attempted murder?”
“I’ll leave part one to Price. She wants to talk with you about that. The reason she’s not at the hotel is that someone tried to kill her. She’s on the run.”
Quinn stared at him without saying anything.
“I know this sounds even more contrived than before, but she has irrefutable proof that she is connected to my brother. Videos from my helmet cam on Mars. Unredacted military and RIS files. All locked under a code that my brother and I shared when we were kids. That can’t be faked.”
She sighed. “Let me tell you how I’d do it. I’d give you a c
hip with the files locked down and tell you to try old passwords. I’d have it set up to unlock on a certain try, no matter what you typed. Voila, it must’ve had something to do with your past.”
“There were multiple chips and they all opened to the same password.”
“Fine, the later chips just opened on the first try.” She threw up her hands. “That only proves that you’re easy to con.”
“I’ve met the ex-RIS agents that took my brother before,” he said hotly. “They were on the Mars mission as embedded RIS operatives. I remember it as if it happened yesterday. It was real.”
“Have you actually seen these supposed ex-RIS agents here on the station? You have only her word on the matter, don’t you?”
They stared at each other for a long moment before she slowly shook her head. “Fine. Say it’s all true. Why does that mean there are two groups?”
“Because group one tries to kill people in public places. This attack on me was too subtle. They left too much to chance. A small charge would’ve ended me. Even with the Disruptor paranoia, they could’ve gotten enough. Or the firmware set to a depth anyone would get to.
“Speaking of which, if you think Jason is guilty, why are you getting all bent out of shape about Price? If she’s behind this, Jason isn’t your guy. And vice versa.”
He held up a hand when she started to speak. “I think his DNA was planted after security came into the picture. Specifically to frame Jason so the real people wouldn’t be found.”
“This takes the cake,” Quinn said. “Seriously. It’s the most outrageous story I’ve ever heard, and that takes some doing. Have you considered a career in writing adventure fiction? The David Wood estate is always looking for new ghost writers.”
He dug the throwaway com from his pocket and slid it across the desk to her. “Call Price for yourself. She won’t send classified material over an unsecure channel, but she wants to prove this to you. You have no reason to hold her yet, so why not hear her out?”
“I should have my head examined,” Quinn muttered as she took the com. “I’ll do this because I want to meet this woman, but don’t think for a minute that I’m buying this crazy story.
