DusktoDust_Final3 (10 page)

“
No need to become unpleasant,
”
Black said calmly.
“
As for what you will be piloting, the contract did say that.
”

“
All the contract said was that we would be flying a Canaveral class freighter.
”

“
And?
”

“
Well, it would be helpful to know what model.
”

“
You are both rated pilots in all Canaveral class ships, correct?
”

David hesitated.
“
Yes.
”

Mr. Black smiled.
“
Then I
’
m sorry, but that is all you need to know at this time.
”
Despite the man
’
s agreeable looks, David decided that it would be unwise to push the issue any further.

“
What about our destination?
”
Alana cut in.

“
You will be given astrological coordinates to take the ship to.
”

“
When?
”

“
When you need to know them.
”
Black
’
s demeanor remained welcoming.
“
And that brings us to the next matter of business.
”
He reached into his jacket pocket and handed David a pile of documents.
“
I have for you, first, reservations for a hotel tonight. Second, access cards for both of you to board a Windcorp ore train tomorrow morning.
”

“
You know we could have found our own accommodations for the night,
”
David interjected as he looked over the documents.

Black smiled.
“
Of course you could have, but they would not have been as nice as what we have for you. We treat those in our employ with the utmost respect.
”
Right
, David thought.
In other words, you want to keep an eye on us
.

Black continued.
“
Lastly, I have new identitities for both of you. I have a feeling you both could use them.
”

This comment stopped David cold. Windcorp knew they had had run ins with the PKs? He managed to keep his face neutral, but on the inside he was sure that a bullet was about to tear through his skull.

Alana wasn
’
t as successful at concealing her surprise. Black locked eyes with her.
“
Please, Ms. Ramirez. Did you really think that you could keep it from Windcorp that your identities have been flagged by UNEC? I
’
ll admit I
’
m a little insulted by your lack of faith in us.
”
Alana just stared back at him.
“
But don
’
t worry. With these new identities you should be invisible once again.
”
David and Alana continued to look at the man suspiciously. He simply smiled.
“
To put your minds at ease, I remind you that I am not the same as the clientele you usually deal with. Windcorp is not going to simply cut ties with you over one small set back. You are our valued employees now.
”

David kept his eyes on Black until he was reasonably sure that he wasn
’
t going to drop dead in the near future. Then he looked down at his new ID. He was now Simon Devereaux from Vancouver. He assumed Alana had documents saying she was his wife, with an equally Canadian name.

“
Looks like you covered everything,
”
David finally said.

Black smiled.
“
We at Windcorp strive for perfection.
”

Alana wasn
’
t amused.
“
So, Mister Perfectionist, what would you have us do next?
”
she said, with just a little too much sarcasm.

“
Please enjoy the accommodations we have reserved for you tonight. I apologize that they are not five star. You must understand that because of our need for discretion we could not put you up in a hotel in the city center.
”
Black sounded genuinely sorry when he made this admission.
“
You will be staying in Kentai, but I promise it is in the best room available. Other than that Windcorp will ask nothing more of you tonight. But please, whatever you do keep it low key. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow.
”

David nodded, stuffing the documents into his pocket.
“
What time should we be at the train station tomorrow?
”

“
The train departs promptly at nine. Please be on it. If you are not I will have to have a very awkward conversation with my superiors.
”

David doubted that it would be as awkward for Mr. Black as it would be painful for himself and Alana.
“
Don
’
t worry. We will be there.
”

“
Excellent,
”
Black said enthusiastically.
“
Well, then. That concludes our business for today. Mister Carpenter, Miss Ramirez, it has been a pleasure.
”
Alana forced a smile.
“
I apologize but for reasons of privacy I would appreciate it if you showed yourselves out.
”
He motioned towards the door.

David moved as fast as he felt he could without betraying his unease. A strange feeling of relief washed over him when he and Alana were finally out of the Twilight
’
s End and on the dirty street once again. That had been by far the strangest meet for a run that he had ever had. And Mr. Black had made him feel more vulnerable than any gang kingpin had in the past.

The studio apartment that Letsego rented near Mandell Square had always felt tiny to him, but now it felt like a prison. Staff Sergeant Holliday escorted him to the door after the quick shuttle flight back from the Skull Pit and made a point to reiterate the order Captain Burleigh had given. Letsego was to wait in his apartment until he was contacted personally by the Peacekeeper officer. The QRF team leader then left, but posted a sentry outside of the apartment door to make sure that Letsego didn
’
t go anywhere.

His head was spinning he was so mad. First, he had been personally bested and professionally embarrassed by a pair of no-name smugglers. Then he had been stripped of his responsibilities by his commander and placed essentially under house arrest. Letsego paced angrily around his spartan apartment as he ran through the events of the past twenty four hours in his head. Where had he gone wrong? What could he have done differently? After an hour of this worthless pacing and contemplation he concluded that it didn
’
t really matter and he slumped down on the sofa.

He pulled out his mobile and voiced a number.

“
Yeah,
”
Sergeant Conway said when the call finally went through.

“
It
’
s Lets. How are they doing?
”
Letsego knew that his sergeant would be at the aid station now, checking on their men. It pained the team leader that he couldn
’
t be there himself to support his men.

“
They
’
re taking it pretty hard, boss. Ski will be missed.
”
Conway paused, but when Letsego didn
’
t respond he filled in the silence.
“
Smith is gonna be okay. The broken leg will put him out of action for a little while.
”

“
Does Ski
’
s family know yet. He
’
s single, right? Family lives on New Angelos.
”

“
The notification team was on the first flight out today,
”
Conway replied.
“
It
’
s not your fault, Lets.
”

Letsego didn
’
t say anything. It was his fault. Everything that had happened to his men was his responsibility.

“
What
’
s command saying?
”

“
What do you mean?
”

“
I mean about the op. What
’
s going on with it? When is a team going back out?
”

Conway sounded confused.
“
Lets, they canned it. Didn
’
t you know that?
”

“
The captain pulled me out of the field.
”
His anger was starting to well up again.
“
You mean they didn
’
t put another team on the smugglers?
”

“
That
’
s what I
’
m trying to tell you, man. This mission is done, fini, kaput. Captain Burleigh wants nothing to do with it.
”

Letsego exploded.
“
Are you kidding me! Conway, we worked too hard on this thing to drop it now. Ski
’
s dead! We have to put another team on it.
”

“
You
’
re preaching to the choir. But Burleigh isn
’
t one to get back up when he
’
s hit. He doesn
’
t want to take any more risks. He
’
s a careerist, remember.
”

Letsego couldn
’
t believe this. He could understand the reasoning behind taking him out of the field. But to scrub the mission all together? That was ludicrous. Conway was right. Captain Burleigh was a careerist. He didn
’
t take any risks that would threaten his climbing to the top of the Peacekeeper officer hierarchy.

“
Lets, you still there?
”

Letsego snapped back to reality.
“
Yeah.
”

“
You okay, man?
”

“
I
’
m fine.
”
He didn
’
t feel fine. He felt defeated. But he wasn
’
t going to tell Conway that. The sergeant had enough to worry about at the aid station.

“
Okay, well I
’
ll keep you updated on Smith,
”
Conway said. Then his voice turned more serious.
“
Don
’
t beat yourself up too much. There wasn
’
t anything else you could do.
”

“
Thanks Conway. I told you, I
’
m fine. Keep me informed.
”
With that, Letsego terminated the call and threw his mobile on the floor. He then lay on the couch motionless. He had no motivation left in him. Captain Burleigh and the command had crushed it when they had decided that all of his team
’
s work over the past two days was worthless.

As he lay there he felt the bulge of the Dominguez
’
s tablet in his pocket. With nothing better to occupy his time, he pulled the device out and powered it on. The screen displayed the same lock screen that he had seen before. He was about to put it down and forget about it when he stopped himself.
Hell, I
’ve got nothing better to do right now.

In one corner of Letsego
’
s apartment was his data terminal. It wasn
’
t much compared to the computers that he’d had access to in the Skylift, but it was enough for what he wanted to do. He set the tablet down on the desktop and started searching for the correct cable adapter. When he had it he plugged it into the tablet and started logging onto the terminal.

Letsego was not a computer programmer or cyber operative, but after being in the intelligence field for many years he had picked up just enough knowledge on hacking to make him dangerous. Using the data terminal, he immediately went to work trying to break through the tablet
’
s password protection. It didn
’
t take him long.

The tablet
’
s home screen was cluttered with files and programs, some encrypted and some not. The device
’
s owner was clearly not a neat freak. Letsego quickly scanned through the titles of some of the files and then selected one. It opened to reveal a street map of Decham. He didn
’
t believe in coincidences.
This definitely belongs to one of our smugglers
, he thought.

He continued going through the device. A check of the tablet
’
s settings told him that it was registered to a man named David Carpenter. Letsego had no way of knowing if that was another alias or not, but he was sure it was the same man as Michael Dominguez. He moved on to the encrypted files. Selecting a penetration algorithm from the data terminal
’
s archive, he began the painstaking process of cracking the first file.

Three hours later Letsego had learned much more about the man named David Carpenter. He had decrypted files revealing where the man was from, the identification number for his ship, names of his contacts back on Earth, the list of trivia went on. But Letsego was still no closer to finding out anything about what Carpenter and his accomplice were doing on Prospect.

His interest in the now seemingly meaningless task was waning. Even so, he pulled up the next encrypted file from the desktop of the tablet and began running the penetration algorithm.

It took ten minutes, but eventually the symbols and digits which made up the document
’
s code transformed into text and graphics. Letsego
’
s tired eyes began reading the now comprehendible file.

It only took a couple seconds for the screen to have his undivided attention. This file was more than the routine receipts and memos that he had been reading through for hours. It was a message to Carpenter and from a man named Tyler Reece. The time stamp on it was only a couple of days before the Dominguez
’
s had departed Earth.

Letsego read the message quickly. It was short and to the point.

Twilight’
s End, K

4174 1630

To an untrained hacker or anyone else who might happen across this message, it would seem insignificant. There was no real information in it. But Letsego had a feeling it was the key to everything. It had to be the place and time of something. And he suspected it was the details for the rendezvous between Carpenter andhis employer.

Letsego copied the message carefully onto a sheet of paper and then opened up the Global Information Network on his terminal. The date and time of the meeting was clear. 4174 had to be the Julian date in regards to a Standard Earth Year, and 1630 was the time of day. The meet was happening at four thirty on the June twenty-fifth.
That’s today
.

The real question was where the meeting was happening. He accessed the public directory for Prospect and looked up Twilight
’
s End. It wasn
’
t surprising to find that there were hundreds of establishments with that name. He narrowed the results down by limiting to locations close to the Skull Pit. The list of names dropped to eighty, a far more manageable number.

The list contained every type of business, from bars to yoga studios. Letsego picked out only the ones with addresses that had a word beginning with K in them. The list was down to seven. He scanned the new list and it immediately became clear what he was looking for.

Twilight’
s End, Kentai

It was a bar. A bar in one of the less appealing suburbs of Windham City. The headquarters of Windcorp had been on the short list of where the smugglers were going, but there had been nothing to confirm this assumption. The Peacekeepers knew that affiliates of Windcorp operated all over Prospect. Narrowing the search down to Windham City would have been risky. But after Dominguez- or Carpenter- had led Letsego
’
s team through the Skull Pit, they had a much better idea of where he and his partner were headed. Kentai was only a few hundred miles from where Letsego had been left incapacitated at the mining facility. And knowing the time window that Carpenter was working with, Letsego was willing to bet that Kentai was where the man was headed.

He checked his watch. It was almost four. He had to act fast. He reached across the sofa and picked up his mobile.

“
Hello,
”
Captain Burleigh said when he answered the call.

“
Sir, it
’
s Staff Sergeant Letsego.
”

The captain was still pissed off.
“
Letsego, I thought I made it clear that you were to wait for me to contact you. I don
’
t have the time or patience to deal with you right now.
”

Letsego
’
s hatred for the man grew.
“
Sir, if you will just listen to me one second. I think I know where Carpenter is going.
”

“
Who?
”

“
Dominguez
’
s real name is Carpenter,
”
Letsego nearly screamed into the mobile.
“
They
’
re headed for a bar in Kentai called the Twilight
’
s End. They
’
ll be there within the hour.
”

“
Staff Sergeant, I told you to drop this. Now drop it! I don
’
t need any more screw ups right now.
”

Letsego was stunned by the man
’
s ignorance.
“
The screw up is letting those two get away!
”

“
Which you did!
”
Burleigh responded.
“
The mission is done. Now you
’
re going to shut up and wait until I have time to deal with you. Understood?
”

Instead of replying, Letsego ended the call. Captain Burleigh was clearly not going to hear him out, and he had better things to do.

He crossed the apartment to the front door and toggled the visitor camera on the controls. The screen showed a PK in body armor standing just outside in the hallway. Letsego quietly tested the door handle. It didn
’
t budge. The Peacekeepers must have had the building superintendent seal it. He wasn
’
t going to get out that way.

He went to his closet and pulled out a black backpack. He filled it up with various supplies and pieces of equipment. When he was satisfied that he had everything he would need he slung the pack onto his back. Then he grabbed a black rope from the top shelf and headed for the window.

Letsego
’
s apartment was below the level of Mandell Square but it was still far from the surface of Prospect. Outside of his window was an urban canyon where hovers flew by at astonishing speeds. If he had to guess it was at least fifty stories to the bottom of it. That didn
’
t matter though. He didn
’
t have to go down fifty stories, just four. That was where his personal hover was parked in the parking garage.

He approached the window and surveyed his options. The window panes were made of thick tinted glass. He
’
d never tried to open them before and a quick inspection revealed no easy way to do so. Breaking the glass would take a hell of a lot of force and almost certainly sound an alarm in the building. Once he was through he would have to move fast.