Kidnapped

by Nathan Pedde

  “Sorry?” Sheemo asked.

  “No, I’m sorry for interrupting,” the waitress said. “Your book pulled you in. What book is it?”

  “Oh,” Sheemo said, placing the tablet on its front. “It’s a book I have to read for class.”

  “Oh. Literature.”

  “Something like that.”

  “Would you like dessert or just the bill?”

  “The bill, please. No dessert for me.”

  “Sounds good,” the waitress said. “Normally I’d tell you to stay as long as you want, but it is Monday, and we close early tonight.”

  “Right,” Sheemo said. “Monday.”

  He looked at his watch. It was just after eleven o’clock. He had things he needed to do before he could call it a night.

  He paid the bill, packed up his schoolwork, and left the diner. Sheemo hoped on a blue hover-scooter, taking off down the road. The vehicle was a luxury he was happy to have. Especially this time at night. Usually, he wouldn’t have a scooter. With his work for Paul and Ryder, he needed to get one to make it places on time.

  Ten minutes later, he reached the warehouse in the Teal Sector he worked in underneath the freeway. Unseen and unused by most people. The perfect place for him to conduct secret research.

  Still sitting on his hover-scooter, he tapped on the metal door.

  It slid up, revealing Paul, with his crooked nose and close-cropped hair.

  “You’re late,” Paul said.

  “Sorry,” Sheemo said. “I got distracted by a book.”

  “Right,” Paul said. “We’ve work to do and little time to do it.”

  Des regained his balance on the ledge of the apartment building. He cursed himself for being too slow. If he had been smarter and faster, he could have gotten the critical card switched out in time. Des made his way back along the ledge. Going back was going to be harder than getting up.

  After ten minutes of shimmying along the ledge, he made it back to the tree. The branch scraped along the side of the building. While being an excellent path to get up to the ledge, going back the other way was a different story.

  This is such a bad idea,Des thought.Elsie would have never done this.

  Des looked at the way he had to go. Getting onto the tree branch was going to be as hard as getting onto the ledge. He grabbed hold of the tree branches and climbed on. The tree branch, being narrow and skinny, bent and flexed to his weight.

  Another five minutes passed, and he managed to climb from the ledge to the tree branch and to the ground. He walked down the street along the rows of apartments to where he left his bag and jacket tucked behind a mailbox. Des put his coat on and threw his bag over his shoulder.

  “Hey, Des,” Elsie called over the Neuronet.

  The Neuronet was the network that Elsie, Cooley, Cryslis, and himself all shared. They were the counter-intelligence cell he was a part of, allowing them to talk to each other in either direct connections by a small earpiece the size of a fingernail.

  “Go for Des,” he replied, not moving his lips.

  His voice would be transmitted and projected, no matter how quiet. He was getting skilled at talking in a mouse-like voice. Elsie could hear everything he said.

  “Have you studied for tomorrow’s test?” Elsie said.

  Panic filled him for a moment. He had many things on his mind.

  “What test?” Des asked.

  “The history one.”

  “I studied,” Des said. “I’m not bad. But I’m not going to do great. My twenty-fourth-century dates are a little sketchy. The United Terran Federation was founded in either 345 BTC or 349BTC.”

  “343 BTC,” Elsie said. “What are those dates in Terra?”

  “I can never remember that.”

  “Take a guess.”

  “I think you add two thousand to the number.”

  “No,” Elsie said. “you add 2024 to the number. You need to study.”

  “I’ll read the textbook when I get home,” Des said.

  “It is after 11,” Elsie said. “What are you doing out so late?”

  “Things.”

  “For Cryslis?”

  “Not important,” Des said. “I gotta run. I’ll see you in class tomorrow.”

  Des disconnected with Elsie. She meant well except she was very nosy in the last few weeks. He wasn’t authorized by Cryslis to steal the key card. However, it was a task given to him by Mr. Smith, and he would do it.

  He walked down the road to where a single white hover-scooter sat chained to a light pole. He drove down the street through the station, heading for home.

  Twenty minutes later and he reached his uncle’s home. Even after living with him since he was ten, he still didn’t consider it his home. It was a fact he often thought about.

  Before he became a spy, it wouldn’t have taken him twenty minutes to get home, not after 11 o’clock at night. However, he was paranoid and had to be sure he wasn’t being followed.

  Des entered the three-story townhouse, taking his shoes off. The place was new for them to live in as they had just moved. It was annoying to pack up all his uncle’s things, but after the threats he received, it was necessary. Captain Kusheeno did send help to do it, though. Des was confident moving to a new house wouldn’t work as it wouldn’t be hard to follow a moving truck.

  Des walked into the kitchen, trying not to make much noise. He had no interest in talking to his older brother, Sheemo. He needed to take a quick shower and to open his textbook. He walked around the townhouse and saw no one home. His uncle wasn’t back as he was still at the Trojans, the Terrans blockaded. Susan, the family friend who kept an eye on him and Sheemo, who was not at home.

  After his shower, he curled up on his bed and started reading the textbook file. He would have to cram for a few hours before going to bed. He was unsure when he fell asleep, but he slept on the tablet.

  Early the next day, he got up at four in the morning. Not that he liked getting up at the time. However, he had two different schools to attend. His first was his spy class, then his regular school.

  After he got dressed in black clothes, he left his bedroom sleepy-eyed and drowsy. The door to his brother’s bedroom was open. Loud snoring, which would wake the neighborhood echoed from the room.

  Des grinned jogging downstairs, leaving the house. He would eat breakfast at some point on his way to his regular school.

  His first stop was to the safehouse. After he completed the checks for being followed, he parked his scooter and entered the apartment tower, which housed the safehouse. It was an apartment situated on the seventh floor of the run-down building. The elevator didn’t work, and he had to climb the stairs to the top. He needed to change into his uniform and return the scooter to Cooley.

  He rapped on the door, and Cooley opened it with dark circles under his eyes.

  “You’re running late,” Cooley said.

  “By five minutes,” Des said. “I should be fine.”

  Cooley let Des into the safehouse and locked the door behind him. The flat was a two bedroom with a living room and a kitchen. It was where both Cooley and Cryslis spent most of their time while not at their day jobs. It was decorated simply and cheaply, much like college students would. Old used couches, a card table with cheap plastic chairs.

  “Did you get what you were looking for?” Cooley said.

  Des looked down the hall to the room where Cryslis usually slept.

  “She’s not here,” Cooley said. “She’s making appearances in her cover life.”

  “I didn’t,” Des said. “The guy woke up to take a piss and stare out at the station in his underwear.”

  “Cryslis is going to notice these excursions,” Cooley said. “I can’t keep covering for you.”

  “Understood,” Des said. “I’ll have to try again.”

  “Maybe the apartment is not the right target.”

  “Take it at school?” Des asked.

  “No,” Cooley said, picking his tablet off the t
able and showed him the screen. “I hacked him, he has a gym membership where he goes every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. I think today, around four o’clock, you need to go to the gym.”

  “How do I get the key?”

  “His bought locker is 218,” Cooley said. “He arrives every day around 3:45 and exercises for an hour.”

  “Thank you,” Des said. “You know this is an assignment, right?”

  “Did he label it an assignment?” Cooley asked.

  “Not exactly,” Des said. “He made it seem like this was a task for me.”

  “He does that,” Cooley said. “He’ll give random tasks to other students. To follow people. To gather intel. Whatever their strength is. He likes doing that, playing on strengths.”

  “And does he like having the students get help?”

  “He doesn’t mind if it’s minor in nature and kept on the down-low.”

  “I don’t know what I would do without you,” Des said.

  Des changed into his Jovian Armed Forces Cadet Uniform for the Jov 1-H Military Academy — white pants with blue stripes down the legs, a white button-up shirt with a simple blue tie and blue jacket was flung over his shoulder. A brown backpack sat at his feet. The white star glistened on the front of his blue box-style hat. Its visor sat low above his eyes.

  Des put the disguise necklace around his neck. He pressed the medallion, and the holo-disguise appeared on his face. The necklace work by using nanites to change his face to look like whatever face it was programmed for. If someone were to touch him, it would be like touching flesh. It would stay on if the necklace were in a six-meter radius of him.

  He checked himself in the mirror, the hooked nose and blond hair of Ryder shown underneath the cap. He was ready to go. He looked down at his watch. He was running behind. He wasn’t going to be late, but he wouldn’t be there as soon as he wanted.

  Chapter Three

  Des walked through the spartan corridors of the Jov 1-H Military Academy. Being five in the morning, the halls were empty of students and teachers. The first classes of the day wouldn’t start until six, and the corridors would be packed full of cadets by then.

  He got to his espionage class with only five minutes to spare before it started. In a standard class, it wouldn’t be a problem. In this class, he had five minutes to write the notes on what was lectured about on Friday.

  Des sat on the chair, with his back straight like a proper Jovian Cadet. However, he wrote like mad. He was sure he was going to miss things. However, he had to try his best.

  “Are you going to make it?” Veer Robert asked.

  Veer was the student who sat in the chair next to him. Des was sure his tiny scrunched face wasn’t his real and that it wasn’t his real name either. Like Des, he was a sponsored student, except he was sponsored by a different agency. If Des were to guess, he would put him in the Jovian Intelligence Agency, but he had no evidence. The only thing he did know was he had tried to kill him multiple times.

  “So, Ryder?” Veer asked. “Are you going to make it? Are you going to get your notes done on time?”

  Des ignored him and paid attention to what he was doing.

  A moment later, Mr. Smith marched into the classroom and in his hands was a small metal briefcase. He set it down in the front of the room as he gathered up the student’s notes. Mr. Smith gave Des a sideways look as he grabbed the notes. He made his way back to the front of the classroom.

  Mr. Smith was dressed in a Jovian Military Uniform of the Jovian Aeronautical Force with the insignia of a Major with a line of colored ribbons.

  Des examined the classroom. When he joined the class, there were twenty-eight students. Over the few months he had been there, a constant stream of students came and went. It was as if two or three students failed each class only to be replaced by two or three new students.

  “All right, kiddies,” Mr. Smith said. “I have said all I have to say. Assignment time. We are going to play a little game. I’m going to hand out an earpiece, and you all are going to wear it.”

  Mr. Smith pulled out a small briefcase. In the case was over two dozen earpieces. They were smaller and more sophisticated than the one from Cryslis.

  “And don’t worry,” Mr. Smith said. “These little things won’t conflict with your other earpiece.”

  Each student walked up, taking an earpiece. When Des received his, Mr. Smith recorded which device he had. When he got to his seat, he put the earpiece in his other ear.

  “Testing,” Mr. Smith said in Des’s other ear.

  Mr. Smith closed the case with a slam.

  “This is how this is going to work,” Mr. Smith said. “You’re going to get instructions when I tell you. When you do, I expect you to follow them. I’ll be watching it. Class dismissed.”

  A dozen hands raised in the air, except Mr. Smith didn’t answer them. He turned on his heels, marching out of the room, the metal case in his hand.

  Des followed the rest of the students out of the classroom. The class lasted no more than ten minutes. When he got out into the hallway, he discovered the corridor empty.

  In the past, he had to sneak and disappear out of the school. Now, he left the building out of the front door. In the corner of his eye, he saw Veer straggle behind, stuck behind a couple other students.

  Des walked out of the school grounds and down the street. Veer follow behind, but he was easy to lose. Up and down a set of alleys behind a cluster of small buildings of florists and shoe stores. He had time to be patient, his next class wasn’t until eight-thirty.

  With Veer lost, he made his way back to the safehouse. Cooley and Cryslis were waiting for him.

  Des told them about the new earpiece. Cryslis, his supervisor in both his job with Station Security and Courier One. She was two years older than Des with long red hair, which tended to frazzle unless she braided it into a single strand. Her soft, pretty face was something pleasant to look at unless Des pissed her off, then he couldn’t think of anything scarier.

  “You aren’t going to like this,” Cooley said. “When I did it, it was following the leader.”

  “Mine was a treasure hunt,” Cryslis said.

  “I’m lucky to get off class early,” Des said. “I expected to get instructions right away.”

  “It could happen anytime.” Cooley said.

  “Then I’m going to school.” Des said.

  “School?” Cryslis asked.

  “I’ve a major history test today. I could use a few more hours of study,” Des said.

  “Now you have them,” Cooley said.

  “I indeed do.”

  Des changed into his regular school uniform and deactivated his Ryder disguise. He still wore the necklace as it calmed him. The presence of it gave him strength when he found himself lacking.

  He hoisted his heavy backpack onto his shoulders and left for school.

  The walk to school was shorter than he expected. The constant work by station maintenance in the middle of the Teal Sector switched to a new street, making the route to his school direct and cut his time in half.

  Des soon found himself sitting on the floor underneath his locker, reading his textbook. His backpack stuffed inside, only the schoolwork that he needed was kept out. A pair of legs appeared in front of him, and he looked up.

  Standing above him was his friend, Jeremy Frittiner. He was a shorter kid and chubbier than Des, wearing a thick pair of glasses.

  “Hi Des,” Jeremy said. “Studying for the test?”

  “I couldn’t sleep, so here I am,” Des said. “Studying like a nerd.”

  Des felt ashamed he was able to lie so comfortably. It was becoming second nature for him to slip out a fib to help his cover story. It was a side effect of living two lives.

  “Being a nerd is fine. Aren’t you a nerd?”

  Des laughed. “Perhaps, but my grades aren’t in the nerd realm anymore.”

  “How about I help you study.”

  Des and Jeremy sat on the floor, goin
g over the textbook. He didn’t feel better about the test. However, he was sure it helped.

  “What happened to Alix?” Jeremy asked.

  “I have heard rumors,” Des said. “But nothing official.”

  “What are the rumors?”

  “That he joined the marines. And is out fighting on Mars.”

  “Who did you hear that from?” Jeremy asked.

  “I listened,” Des lied. “It’s what other students had been saying.”

  “I never heard that—”

  “Well, I did.”

  “I hope he is alright,” Jeremy said. “I’ve heard he was the saboteur who was attacking the station.”

  “Who said that?” Des asked.

  “Other students.”

  “The classroom is open,” Des said, as he checking his watch. “I better go in and get this over with.”

  The school day slipped by as the history testing came and went. He was unsure how well he did. However, the time studying before class helped him.

  At the end of the school day, he found himself in the washroom, washing his face. He needed a moment to figure things out.

  He had thirty minutes to travel the twenty-minute journey to Courier One to do a shift handing out packages. An easy hour or two of work before he got to go home. There was nothing on his schedule with Cryslis as nothing stirred on the station.

  “Des O’Neal,” Mr. Smith’s voice said in his ear.

  Des fought the urge to turn and look behind him like a noob. He was in the bathroom and looking at himself in the mirror.

  “What can I do for you, Mr. Smith?” Des asked.

  The voice was silent for a moment.

  “I’m glad you saw through my guise.”

  “Anything for you, Mr. Smith.”

  “Well. You aren’t going to like me.”

  “Who said I like you now?”

  “Such harsh words to your professor,” Mr. Smith said.

  “Too much banter?” Des said.

  “No, no. It’s hilarious.”