Part 2
Past Debts
Nikos was musing on the thought of the
Mandrake Leonne most of the way to Cleef.
It was said to be a metallic bouquet whose twisted handle ended in two
spikes, and whose top bloomed outward like leaves. Its value came from the combination of rare
precious metals, some of which could only be forged from elements in a star;
and whose craftsmanship was nearly unmatched in millions of years of
intelligent life. A glow was supposed to
emanate from deep inside, and it was believed that a perpetual power source
could be generated from within.
The relic was
originally crafted by the Abnani, a civilization that had existed along the
fringe of the Orion Nebula approximately 25 million years ago. Little had ever been studied about their race
as it was shrouded in mystery. They were
thought to have powers that seemed almost magical that other races only
attained through technology. They were
also the first of their epoch to be destroyed by the Siguerans.
The creation of
the Mandrake Leonne was said to be evidence of their powers. Ancient texts of other civilizations spoke of
the legendary item whose construction was believed to be impossible for any
other species to make. Its use was
unknown, and only a few were ever constructed; all being said to have perished
in the wars of the time but one. There
may have been updated information on the item's purpose, but Nikos couldn't
care less. He was interested in its modern
day monetary value.
Cleef was not
within the sphere of Abnani worlds, which was curious at best, and suspicious
at worst. Why it, or any clue of the
device, should be here, Nikos did not know.
But he supposed he would soon learn.
He was getting
close, so Nikos attended to his way onto the planet. Patchcon was the primary corporation, so he
brought up his forged credentials for their organization and plugged them into
the electronic signature of the ship.
Instead of the Avoca, his ship was now the Gold Stallion, and he was an
efficiencies director who made sure the workforce was lean and who recommended
layoffs. Most of his alternate IDs used
this position; it caused a lot of employees to stay away, and those he
approached always wanted to make him happy.
(Layoffs, of course, could be deadly, as a person’s employment was also
their home government.)
The chromatic
rip in space opened up and Nikos shot through.
He traded his grav-sails for solar sails and got his bearings. The planet was nearby to the right, so he
sent a hail with his accreditation.
Flight control responded by asking for his destination and work
assignment. Nikos recognized a small
amount of fear in the flight controller’s voice; the pauses before
speaking. Just the reason he chose the
pseudonym that he had. “I’m here to
blick an inspection at the Baulers operation,” he said in a polite, yet firm
voice.“However, I seem to have been given improper information as the
coordinates I have figures to be in the ocean.”
“Please stand
by,” the controller said. There was a
pause while Nikos scanned the planet. Just
as he had heard, Cleef was made up of a major hub where Patchcon’s primary
business was, and smaller organizations dotted other areas of the planet in
random intervals. All were connected by
some form of road or rail to the main hub except those separated by an ocean,
which were few in number.
At last the
flight controller emerged from hold. “We
are sending you the coordinates for Burgos.
That’s the Bauler Conglomerate’s community. You will be connected with their local
traffic control center.” Relief could be
detected in the man’s voice, just the way Nikos liked it. He wanted everyone to want to pass him on to
the next person in line.
Nikos followed
the coordinates toward the surface. As
the flames of re-entry enveloped his ship, he brought up everything his
computers had about Burgos. It didn’t
take long before his interest was piqued by something he found. Carolyn Hiser was the local administrator. A bemused smile grew across his lips as he
ran through recent information about her.
He remembered
with fondness more distant information.
Back then he knew more about her than any of her employees. Maybe even more than her husband, who, he
hoped, had never learned what the two of them had been up to when she was on
her “business trip.”
Going to Carolyn
would be a risk. She would likely see
through his disguise, but that was only going to last so long anyway. He would need access to information only
someone in authority could provide, so the gamble for her support would be
worth it.
After emerging
from reentry and once his communication worked again, he called the local
flight control station at Burgos. They
had already gotten word of his arrival and had a platform where he could land. As he neared, he spotted a small scar in the
ground just outside of town where signs of ancient ruins emerged as though
trying to escape from their muddy prison.
They looked to be Huto to Nikos’ trained eyes. Though not Abnani as he had expected, the
Huto people had combined with the Abnani when both were defending themselves
against the Siguerans. The alliance had
created an entirely new species scientists uncreatively called the
Huto-Abnani. As such, it made sense that
the Mandrake Leonne, or information about it, had once been here.
He did not ask
for his old friend. He wanted that to be
a surprise. He just requested a meeting
through the standard procedures under his assumed name, and then chuckled with
delight at how he imagined she would react.
After landing he
was reminded of another reason he liked this disguise; hangar personnel
immediately got to work refueling and cleaning his ship. He made sure to lock it up, however. He didn’t want them to see what was really in
there.
Administrator
Hiser straightened herself in the mirror, fussing with her collar to make sure
everything was perfectly even. Just to
make sure, she had a holoreflector scan done and she looked at herself from all
directions as a 3D image. No dust. No wrinkles.
Nothing to cause an inspector to dismiss her as expendable. Well, she thought, it was time to go. Best not to leave the man waiting.
Carolyn headed
down the hall and strode into the meeting room where the man in the white suit
was waiting. “Director Newburn, this is
an unexpected pleasure. If we had known
you were coming, we would have had…”
Administrator
Hiser was cut short as Nikos turned around to face her, his signature arrogant
grin permanently splashed across his face.
Carolyn’s jaw initially dropped, then she subsided, turning momentarily
to make sure the door had closed behind her.
“You view
lovely, my dear,” Nikos said.
“Administrator
Hiser, not dear, Nikos Kazakis,” she said.
Nikos tensed
inside, but made sure not to show it.
Her wall was up, and he would have to break through it or he could be in
some serious trouble. “You will always
be dear to me,” he said, stepping toward her.
Carolyn rolled
her eyes and said, “Perpetually the charmer, aren’t you?”
Still a wall,
but she was smiling, and she made a step toward him. Nikos stopped. The seminal rule in seduction was always to
get them to come to him. “It doesn’t
mean it’s not true.”
“Is that why you
left sans a goodbye?”
“What would your
husband register of that?”
“Figuring he’s
light years away now, I can’t imagine.”
“You separated?”
“He was
transferred. We didn’t have a say in it,
so… But no one transfers you, do they?”
Nikos shook his
head. “No one controls my fate.”
“I credit that’s
what I liked about you,” Carolyn said looking down at her hand stroking the
table. A sign of weakness, and an opening
Nikos could exploit.
“Your spirit is
no different,” he said. “Wild, like a
stallion.”
Nodding, Carolyn
said, “I should have ciphered the name of the ship. You always use that word.”
Nikos
blushed. Not on accident; providing a
moment of vulnerability was part of the seduction process. It worked.
Carolyn took a maternal step toward him.
“Why did you come?” she asked.
“Because I have
something that's going to bling your spirits.”
Carolyn shot him a glance of ‘get real.’
She was never one for clichés, and a line like that wouldn’t work at a
bar on her, let alone in an office. He
looked at her the same way in protest.
“Business before pleasure,” he said, and he walked away from her. “More on the note, I have something to show
you right beneath your nose.”
“Here in
Burgos?”
Nikos stopped
walking, as though her words had commanded him, and he turned to her with a
smile and a nod.
Carolyn took a
few more steps toward him and asked, “What do you know about this place? We just do some manufacturing and a little
mining.”
“Don’t sell
yourself short. You rule over a major
metropolis.”
Carolyn
chuckled. Nikos’ intent to both provide
humor and denigrate her accomplishments so as to undermine her self-confidence
were both working.
“I’m talking
about the ruins that your people found.”
“Yeah, but there
wasn’t anything of value there,” Carolyn said.
“Wasn’t there?”
Nikos asked.
Carolyn took
several more steps toward him until she was only a yard away. “What have you heard?”
Nikos was coy,
looking her in the eyes as if to ask if she really wanted to know. Then he took a step toward her and said,
“Someone under your employ may just have found something… shiny. Chances be, even something that would impress
your critical eye.”
Carolyn smiled
with pride and looked down. Again, part
of Nikos’ plan to undermine confidence so he could be the one to build it back
up. He touched her chin and lifted her
face toward his. “It’s worth
millions. And someone who works for you
took it. I’d like to know where they
went.”
The faint smell
of his cologne touched her nostrils the way his nose was nearly touching
hers. “We split the profits?” she asked.
Nikos nodded
slightly.
Carolyn drew in
a breath, then said. “I’ll find out
who’s been inside and have them all questioned.”
“And while
they’re being questioned…” he asked.
“What kind of
wine do you prefer?” she asked.
* * *
Carolyn’s fon
snapped her out of a numbing daze.
Between the wine, the cozy bed, and Nikos’s warm arm across her torso,
she was in a state of inanimate bliss.
But the noise was the alarm from her office, informing her that there
was something she had to attend to.
Nikos barely
moved, hoping that if he seemed to sleep, she would spare the reach and would
just tap the device to go to speaker.
She did; but she kept it low, not wanting to interrupt Nikos’ slumber.
“We’ve
categorized every employee that’s entered the ruins,” the voice on the other
end said.
“Great. Very good.
Send the list to me along with residences.”
“The list isn’t
very long, Administrator Hiser.”
“Okay then. Fine.
Send it to me please.”
“The problem is,
the hand of people who went were an appraisal team. After them it was locked down.”
“So were they
from another world?” Carolyn asked.
“No ma’am. They’re your employees.”
“Then send the
list. It shouldn’t be difficult to go
through.”
“The vanda is,
all of the appraisers were drafted into the Patchcon military. When they required a minimum number of
draftees, you said to send all non-essential personnel. Appraisers were non-essential since the ruins
had already been explored.”
“So they’re in
Cleef.”
“No, ma’am. Patchcon sent them on an invasion. They’re on their way to Wallach Upon Tuco to
attack Fencorp for a hostile takeover.”
Carolyn ran her hand through her hair in frustration. “I do have a little info that might help,”
the assistant said.
“Okay,” Carolyn
said.
“You said that
you wanted to know who chances could have left with something or some kind of
information, so we queried people who know those workers. One of them said that one of the appraisers,
a Mr. Ferguson, had bragged about having aprended evidence of the coordinates
of a valuable item. Some kind of
mandrake thing.”
“Evidence in the
ruins?” Carolyn asked.
“Yes. But it’s not there anymore because he
destroyed the room that had the information.
Apparently he didn’t want anyone else finding it.”
“So now this
Ferguson will be the only way to find out what that information was,” Carolyn
said.
“Yes,
ma’am. But as I said, he’s in a war zone
now.”
Carolyn heard
movement from the other side of the room and saw Nikos was already half
dressed. “Nice work,” she told the
assistant. “It will be noted in your
yearly bonus.” She hung up and turned to
Nikos. “So you’ll be packing up and
jondering off just like that once again, huh?”
“If that man is
killed, or worse, my path to the Mandrake Leonne is cut.” Nikos neither noticed nor cared about
Carolyn’s longing and lonely expression.
He just said, “I had a lovely time, though,” and he hurried out the
door.
* * *
The hotel was
nothing to write home about; but then again, Jude had no home to write to. It was in a dusty town called Wallach on a
dusty planet called Tuco. But this was
where Fencorp had their home offices, and where they’d pay top dollar for the
bounty on her prisoner. Or at least the
top dollar they could pay. Each
successive extradition had shallower pockets.
Her prisoner was
across the room, his feet and hands bound.
He was free enough to feed himself, but moving at any speed was
impossible. Jude would not be able to
sleep tonight as she would need to keep an eye and the end of her gun on
him. But the following morning should
prove it all worthwhile.
The prisoner
kept his eyes on her, as if in a staring contest. He willed her to go to sleep, but she
wouldn't. At one point her eyelids began
to lower, but the distant sound of a boom shot them back up.
Then Jude heard
footsteps in the hall. She had heard
others earlier; they weren’t the only ones in this hotel. But these footfalls were unique. They were slow, meticulous, trying not to be
noticed. Someone was sneaking up on
them. Jude could tell that the prisoner
heard them, too, but he was pretending not to.
Jude rose from
her chair and approached the door. She
stood with her feet planted firmly on the floor, spread out boldly and
confidently. She blinked and brought up
her infrared bionics. There were three
of them. None were disciplined or even
trained. They knew enough to keep their
heads down, but they were indecisive about where to position themselves, and
they weren’t in any sort of formation.
Jude readied her
pistol. Somewhere in the distance,
another faint boom sounded. Jude tuned
it out; not part of her immediate problem.
One of the
hallway thugs knocked on her door.
“Who’s there?” she asked, making her position within the room as clear
as she could. No sooner were the words
out of her mouth than she leaped with her cybernetic legs onto the door frame,
turning around 180 degrees to look down on the room.
She jumped just
in time, avoiding a barrage of laser fire that cut through the door and the
wall. Even the prisoner had to hop out
of the way of the blasts.
After the
volley, the attackers rushed into the room, two of them still firing. Jude shot one in the back as she dropped down
and kicked another in the head. The
third turned his gun at her and she ducked under it. Grabbing his hand, she forced him to shoot
the one she had kicked in the head, then she flipped him over and shot him in
the face.
A moment later,
a laser blast came out of seemingly nowhere, destroying Jude’s pistol. Her head jerked up in the direction of the
blast, and saw it had come from the window.
A man was there, crouched on the ledge, laser pistol in hand. He looked somehow familiar, but Jude wasn’t
sure from where. “Smart people use the
window,” he said.
Jude recognized
the voice. “Dillon!” she exclaimed,
building a smile on her face as she turned her whole body to face him. “You view… peachy neb.”
“However I look
it’s no thanks to you. Last time I vised
you, Ferdo, Carres, and you were leaving me and Dierdre to die on Dovan.”
“Dierdre! How is she?” Jude said, trying to buy time as
she figured out a way out of this.
Somewhere in the distance, she heard loud thudding, like oncoming
explosions.
“Same as you’re
gonna be in a moment,” Dillon said, hopping into the room. “I just wanted you to sav why you’re losing
your life before I take it.”
“This really
isn’t about me,” the prisoner said as he hobbled toward the door. “So I’ll be goi…” Dillon shot the man
dead. Jude leaped at Dillon, her bionic
legs kicking her ahead at incredible speed.
Dillon was equally fast to react, ducking under her and firing a wire
around her neck. She flew at the window
and he helped her out of it with a kick.
Caught in a
noose, Jude flipped over out the window and came to a sudden stop. The wire tightened around her neck, digging
into her throat and cutting off her breath.
Her hands grabbed for the wire but it only buried itself into her skin,
making it impossible to claw out. She
tried to grab for the ledge but he lowered her down. She was three stories up with no hope of
touching the ground.
Helpless, Jude’s
face was turning blue and she was beginning to lose consciousness.
To be continued...
