Loyalty to the Cause (TCOTU, Book 4) (This Corner of the Universe) (13 page)

The
agent began to reach for the container door controls but Neal stopped him.  “As
long as the gate is secured, there’s no need to seal the container.  You can
keep a better eye on them this way.”

Heskan
watched as the ten agents took positions near the containers. 
This is going
to be a problem
, he thought.  The plan called for most, if not all, of the
agents to go back to fruitlessly searching for Truesworth after completion of
the transfer.  Failing that, Heskan gruesomely decided that he could always
retreat from the cargo bay to its control room and just decompress the bay. 
That
won’t work if the container doors remain open.  Can I remotely close the doors
from the control room?

“Mr.
Secretary, shall we retire to the control room?”  Heskan walked casually to the
adjunct compartment without waiting for an answer.

The duo
entered the small control room and Neal immediately contacted Brewer to update
the status of the prisoners.  Heskan watched over Neal’s shoulder as he
exchanged news of the Hollarans’ relocation for the status of the hunt for
Truesworth.  As the conversation concluded, Heskan interjected, “Sir, the
prisoners aren’t going anywhere.  They’re safely locked up.  Would it be more
productive to have your agents assisting the search rather than twiddling their
thumbs here?”

Brewer
shook his head.  “Commander, my concern isn’t that the Hollarans will escape
but that Truesworth’s renegades will somehow find you.  I want those containers
protected at all costs.”

Heskan acquiesced
sullenly and the connection was closed.

*  *  *

The organized
hunt for Truesworth had been ongoing for forty-three minutes.  Seated next to
Neal, Heskan waited patiently for the chirp of his datapad. 
We have
liftoff,
Heskan thought as he acknowledged the comm request.

“Commander,”
the panicked voice of Lieutenant Welch carried over the speakers clearly.  “We’ve
got a fire detection warning inside Kite!  It’s coming from Lieutenant
Truesworth’s quarters!”

“What?”
Heskan exclaimed convincingly.  Off to his right, Neal stood immediately and closed
the distance between them.

“You
asked to be alerted in the event of anything unusual, Commander.  Kite’s
internal systems picked up a fire warning in Jack Truesworth’s living quarters a
minute ago.  What should I do?”

Heskan
and Neal exchanged glances.  Before Neal had time to react, Heskan issued his
well-prepared orders.  “Keep the quarters on lockout, Lieutenant… and vent the
room.  That should extinguish the fire.  You need to conduct a search of the
surrounding area for any intruders and make sure you have armed guards in
Kite’s critical compartments.  I’ll contact Secretary Brewer and see if we can
send you some help.”

“Thank
you, Commander,” a relieved voice replied.

Heskan
terminated the connection and immediately connected to Brewer’s private line.

Brewer
answered on the first chirp.  “What is it now, Garrett?”

“Mr.
Secretary, I just received word from Kite’s captain that an intruder set a fire
in Truesworth’s quarters.”

Brewer’s
face wrinkled.  “He could never hope to take the ship,” he judged.

Heskan
tried his best to appear earnest.  “Sir, somehow Jack Truesworth shuttled to
the orbital and boarded undetected.  He also got his traitors on board Kite at
the same time.  He must have had help on Kite to do that.  There’s no other
explanation.  The question is, how many more traitors are
still
on
Kite?”

“It
can’t be enough to take control of a destroyer,” Neal said in support of Brewer.

Heskan
let his voice grow loud with frustration.  “He doesn’t need control of the entire
ship!  Think about what just a single quad AMS laser turret could do to this
station.”  Heskan paused for effect before adding, “Or your ship, Mr.
Secretary.”

Heskan
watched Brewer’s jaw drop.

“My
God,” uttered Neal.

“Garrett,
I need your agents,” Brewer informed.  “Jackson, get those men moving to Kite. 
I’m recalling all the agents on Pallene and directing them toward that
destroyer.  We must not let it fall into rebel hands.  I’m leaving Envoy-Three
and shuttling down to the surface.”

“Mr.
Secretary, should we start evacuating the orbital?” Heskan asked, hoping to add
to the confusion.

“No. 
I can’t spare the manpower for an orderly evacuation and this security breach
can never be allowed to reach the public anyway.”  Brewer looked direly at
Neal.  “Your career hinges on these next hours, Jackson.  See to Kite’s
situation personally.  Remember, heroes do what must be done when common men
lack the will to act.”

Neal
nodded determinedly.  “I’ll contact you once I am on Kite.  I’ll need help, Mr.
Secretary.”

“And
I need assistants capable of more than stating the obvious, Jackson,” Brewer countered. 
“As I said, the agents have already been recalled.”

Neal
bolted from Heskan’s side, leaving him alone in the compartment.  Brewer
observed Heskan.  “Garrett, evaluate Truesworth’s chance of success.”

“There
are some significant hurdles to clear, sir.”  Heskan looked upward as he
thought.  “Every turret compartment is locked out and the AMSs themselves are
cold.  They can’t even operate unless the traitors can secure power from Engineering.” 
Heskan looked at Brewer.  “That’s the key, sir.  Make sure the agents have
control over the power and who owns the turrets is moot.  I’d move your agents
to Engineering first.”

Brewer
exhaled loudly.  “I need to get moving, myself.  I’ll try to send you some help
to look after the Hollarans.”

Brewer’s image on the
datapad blinked out.  Heskan watched through the observation window as the ten
agents quickly followed Neal out of the cargo bay.  Seconds later, he swiveled
his chair toward the console’s communications panel.

*  *  *

“That’s
the signal,” Vernay confirmed from
Hussy’s
bridge.  She moved away from
Truesworth’s sensor station back to her captain’s console.  “Diane, move us to
Bay Forty-four.”

Selvaggio’s
hands played over her controls and
Hussy
pushed forward gently under her
thrusters.  Halfway through the maneuver, Truesworth cautioned, “Stacy, orbital
control wants to know why we are entering a cargo bay approach zone without
proper authorization.”

“Tell
them we have authorization and to contact the controller in Bay Forty-four.”  Vernay
looked over at the auxiliary station to her left.  “Denise, open the doors to
the middle and aft holds and let the chief know that he’ll be up soon.”

Ensign
Gables acknowledged and Vernay saw her status board shift to red, indicating a
no atmosphere environment in the corresponding holds.  She heard Gables talking
with Brown and looked out the bridge’s “windowed” wall screens.  The dizzying
perspective flipped Vernay’s stomach.  After
Hussy
completed her move to
the cargo bay, she began a slow rotation to align with the orbital’s large, retracting
cargo doors.  Only the opaque, reddish hue of containment fields separated the
cargo bay’s atmosphere from the icy vacuum of space.  High above
Hussy’s
bridge
from Vernay’s point of view, the freighter’s forward cargo crane came to life
. 
It’s a good thing the chief isn’t afraid of heights,
Vernay thought.

“We’re
moored to the cargo bay,” Selvaggio said.

Gables waved a hand
and relayed, “Chief says he’s ready, ma’am.”

*  *  *

“Give
me a minute, Stacy.  I’ve got to close the FEUS doors.  Stand by.”  Heskan
raced out the control room’s door and into the cargo bay.  Spinning red lights
were angrily complaining about the open bay doors.  Heskan ran to the first
container and, without word to its occupants, closed the door.  He checked the
panel to ensure a secure seal and then jogged toward the second container.  As
he crossed the front of the container, focused squarely on his job, a familiar soprano
voice shattered his concentration.

“Garrett,
what are you doing?”

He
felt his throat catch but answered roughly, “Keeping my promise, Isabella.” 
Before she could respond, he quickly sealed the container.  Heskan checked for seal
integrity and then sprinted back toward the bay control room with his head down.

The
door slid open, and Agent Jennings leered, multi-rifle leveled at Heskan’s
chest.  “What promise is that, Commander?”

“I
knew you were a traitor the moment I first saw you,” Jennings said with a malicious
grin.

Heskan
felt his knees nearly buckle as he stared at the barrel of the multi-rifle. 
Mustering every ounce of courage, he waved Jennings away irritably and resumed walking
toward the console.  “Get over yourself, you idiot.  You think I’d be stupid
enough to try something like that?”

Jennings
thumbed the safety off and threatened, “Keep moving toward that panel and I’ll
cut you to pieces.”

Heskan
stopped and glared defiantly. “You halfwit,” he reprimanded and pointed toward
the communications panel.  “Brewer is holding right there.  He ordered me to
move the containers on board a freighter because he knew you’d never be able to
keep Truesworth off this station.”  Heskan studied Jennings’ expression and
added, “Go ask him yourself.”

Doubt
flickered through Jennings’ eyes before they dropped to the panel.  The
blinking console light beckoned him and he reached an uncertain hand toward the
controls.

Heskan
launched himself at Jennings the instant his primary hand moved off the rifle. 
He crashed into the I.S. agent and batted the rifle out of the man’s grip
before Jennings knew what had hit him.  The rifle clattered to the deck, away
from both men.  Heskan followed up with a roundhouse that Jennings easily
deflected with a lightning reaction.

My
God, this man is fast,
Heskan
thought
. 
His spirits plummeted as he realized,
I’m not going to beat
him in a fight.
 In the next heartbeat, Jennings continued the circular
motion of his parry to slip his left arm outside and wrap it firmly around Heskan,
pinning his right arm to his side.  Simultaneously, Jennings’ right hand fought
to grab Heskan’s left.  Heskan involuntarily tried to step away but the martial
artist had already hooked a foot around Heskan’s calf, forcing the pair to
tumble to the deck.  Jennings landed hard on Heskan, lying on top of him.  He
began to twist Heskan’s left hand awkwardly, causing a jet of pain to wash up
Heskan’s wrist toward his elbow as pressure points were abused.

Jennings
hissed triumphantly, “You forgot who you’re dealing with, Garrett.”  His smile darkened
as he twisted Heskan’s left wrist to near the breaking point.

Heskan
wheezed through the pain, “You forgot I was armed, Aaron.”  Although pinned, Heskan’s
right hand had reached his holster.  He angled the pistol and pressed savagely
into Jennings’ waist.  Between both men’s gasps for air, the unmistakable sound
of a cocking hammer filled the room.  All resistance stopped and Heskan spat, “Now,
get off me.”

Jennings
released his grip and rolled to one side.  Heskan kept the pistol pointed at
the man and rose, painfully, to a knee. 
Shoot him, Garrett,
he told
himself. 
You have to do it.  You have no way to tie him up and he’ll alert
Brewer the second you leave.  Shoot him, you don’t have a choice.
  Jennings
stared, as if captivated, at the opening of the barrel.

Heskan
felt sweat bead on his upper lip. 
Heroes do what must be done when common
men lack the will to act. 
He decocked the pistol.

Jennings
met Heskan’s gaze, confounded.  “You’re not going to shoot me?”

“Shut
up,” Heskan answered dryly.  He pointed toward the cargo bay.  “This way, Agent
Jennings.”

Jennings
led Heskan out the door and to one of the cargo containers.  At Heskan’s instruction,
he opened the container and the alloy gate.  The crowd inside looked on with
profound curiosity.

Lombardi
furrowed her eyebrows and spoke for the Hollarans.   “Garrett, what is going
on?  Who is this man?”

Heskan
fished a small multi-tool from his pocket and, using the knife, severed
Lombardi’s synthetic bonds.  He handed her both the tool and pistol while
saying, “This is the person you’ll shoot twice in the chest if he makes even the
slightest move against you.”

Lombardi
opened her mouth again but Heskan cut her off apologetically.  “Isabella, I’m
sorry but I’m on a bit of a schedule here.  I promise we’ll talk in twenty
minutes.”  He rolled the gate down and once again secured the container.

Heskan
entered the cargo bay control room, this time cautiously.  The compartment was
empty and, after pocketing Jennings’ datapad, Heskan sent a final message to
Brewer declaring the situation stable in the cargo bay.  He then scrambled over
to the far wall to lift one of four cargoman’s pressure suits off its anchors. 
He spent five minutes struggling into the suit and then activated the suit’s
comm controls.  “Stacy, you there?”