Search for the Phoenix: Phoenix Series Book 2 (21 page)

When Clarice reached the main foyer, she looked through the windows in the entry doors and quickly ducked behind a pillar. Pierce and his thugs, the very group she and her coworkers had attacked, were talking with the soldiers on guard duty, and the other goons did not look happy. She guessed that they were being told that Stevens had been relieved of his duties here, and that they, too, were no longer assigned to this facility. Raised voices were muffled by the heavy doors, but the anger behind them was obvious. To her relief, the goons turned and left, climbing into their truck and driving off.

Clarice realized she was shaking, and she wished she had asked Lieutenant Fowler for a personal guard. Stepping out from her hiding place, she took a deep breath. The goons were gone, and Nelson’s people were in charge, now. She had a job to do and, quite possibly, the safety of everyone on Caldon depended on her doing it quickly and doing it well. That was a sobering thought. She turned and ran down the corridor that led to the workstation room.

When her workstation had finished booting, she inserted the data card and opened the only document it contained. It was a table of names, identification numbers, and instructions for handling their tracking data. Nolan Ethan Peters and Megan Joy Carson were never to appear on Caldon, and their positions since returning from Zebulon a few weeks ago were to be erased. Whoever they were, the general obviously wanted it to appear that they were permanently off world. Louis Zorbas was to permanently disappear, also. Ethan Vincent Peters was to have his true position reported, but Nelson wanted the ability to make him disappear instantly, if needed. Clarice continued down the list, and she suddenly smiled. First Admiral Georgia Bennett was to disappear instantly on Nelson’s command.
That will be my pleasure, General
, she thought.

She quickly went to work setting up the special processing routines for the people on the general’s list. Making people vanish was easy. Putting in the software hooks to make the others vanish on command would take a bit of work, but she was sure she could have it all done by the end of the day. If everything went according to plan, they would have the rest of the technicians back at their workstations in the morning, or the following day at the latest. She smiled at the thought that she could make Bennett vanish without a trace. Whatever General Nelson had in mind for her, she hoped it would happen soon.

* * * *

Lieutenant Fowler walked along the row of workstations toward Clarice. An empty juice bottle and a few empty food wrappers littered the desk next to her. She glanced at him briefly and continued her work. “You know, it’s nearly seven o’clock. You should go home,” he said.

Clarice shook her head. “This is too important. I’m going to finish this if it takes all night, and it probably will. We should bring the rest of the technicians back the day after tomorrow. I can’t run this place all by myself.”

“I assumed it ran itself, actually,” Fowler said.

“A system of this size takes a lot of work,” she said.

“Surely an AI could handle this.”

“An AI would use too much computing power. This system is all about speed of handling enormous amounts of data. When something goes wrong, or when minor bugs need to be repaired, humans can handle those tasks better.” She pointed to her head. “Our neural network doesn’t load down the system the way an AI would.”

“I see. Well, I’ll be glad to bring everyone back if you can tell me who they are,” the lieutenant said.

“The personnel database will be restored in the morning, after I test my modifications. General Nelson said that nothing was to be restored until these changes were functional,” she said.

“In the meantime, can I bring you something to eat? You’ve been at this for hours, and it’s past dinnertime.”

Clarice sighed and looked at the lieutenant. “Yes, that would be wonderful. There’s a sandwich shop up the street called Nero’s. I’ll have the number five with coffee, black.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a few credit chips.

“Put your credits away; this is on me. I’ll be back soon,” he said as he turned and headed for the door.

* * * *

“Got it!” Clarice yelled. Startled, Lieutenant Fowler nearly fell out of his chair. He looked at his watch, rubbed his eyes, and looked again.

“It’s six in the morning,” he said with a yawn. “When are you going home?”

“Me? I have work to do. What are you doing here?” she asked.

“I have an excuse—I fell asleep. Besides, I thought I should make a contribution by being available for an emergency sandwich run,” he said with a smile.

“Well, you didn’t make my work any easier. I’ve been fighting to stay awake all night while listening to you snore!”

“I don’t snore,” Fowler objected.

“Yes, you do. Loudly,” she said.

“Is it working?” he asked.

“Yes. I just fixed the last bug. We’re ready to restore the system.”

“Good. I’ll inform General Nelson,” he said.

“Then you can start contacting the other technicians. Tell them to report to work tomorrow.” She handed him a piece of paper. “I’ve made a list of three people I’d like to have in here this afternoon, if possible. Start with them.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Fowler said with a salute.

“Please,” Clarice added.

“I shall give it my full attention… after breakfast,” he said.

“Well, of course. It’s six in the morning; you can’t call them now,” she said. “Can you bring me some breakfast, too? There’s a diner down the street.”

Nolan tried to sit up. His face contorted in pain and he tried to yell, but nothing came out. He rested his head on the pillow again and tried to speak. After a few tries, he asked, “Where am I?”

Megan sat up and turned to him. His eyes were open part way as he stared at the ceiling. “You’re on a starliner,” she said. “You’re safe, now.”

“Megan? Did you rescue me from the depths of hell?” he asked.

“Some people from SACOM got you out of there and brought you to me. I got you aboard this ship to get you away from Caldon.”

“Where are we going?” he asked.

She climbed out of bed and walked to his side. “How do you feel?”

“I can open my eyes enough to see,” he said. “My chest hurts when I breathe. I tried to sit up, but that hurt like hell.”

“You have some broken ribs, among other things. The doctor had you on a painkiller, but she stopped it last night. She wants to assess your neurological condition before you leave the ship,” she said.

“Where are we going?” he asked again.

“We’re on our way to Harmony. We’ll be there in two days.”

He looked at her for a moment. “Two days? That means we left Caldon… at least four days ago.”

“You slept through most of the trip. When you were awake, it wasn’t for long and you weren’t very alert.”

“How bad am I?”

“We’ll know more after she runs the brain scan. The swelling in your face has gone down, though you’re badly bruised. You are lovely shades of green, blue, and black,” she said with a smile.

Nolan raised a hand and caressed her cheek. “Thank you for taking care of me.”

Her hand came up and gently stroked the back of his. “No need for thanks. We’re friends. We take care of each other.”

He stared into her eyes for a moment. “I love you,” he said.

She looked into his eyes, wondering if he really knew what he was saying.

Nolan broke the painful silence that followed. “I’m sorry. I guess I just crossed a boundary and made a fool of myself.”

“No!” she blurted. “No, you haven’t.” She looked away for a moment, and then turned back to him. “Nolan, you know I care about you. It’s just… it’s too soon. I still ache for John. I still miss him terribly.”

“I understand. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t need to feel sorry, Nolan. Never deny your heart.”

“Denying my heart has always worked in the past,” he said.

“I was scared when you disappeared,” she whispered. “I knew something was wrong. I’m glad Captain Jiorgenson found me.”

“So am I,” he said. “But they’ll come after me. They’ll come to Harmony to get me.”

“No,” she said. “There’s no record of us leaving. I left our data units on Caldon, and I still have connections in the starliner business. We’re not officially on this ship. Also, I went to your apartment and grabbed your other identity papers. If we need to go somewhere else, you have two false names to choose from.”

“What about my captain’s papers?” he asked.

“I got those, too,” she said.

“Good. I’ll need them to leave Harmony in the Griffin.”

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“I know a place where we can hide out for a while until I recover. Then I need to go back to Caldon,” he said.

“No, Nolan, you can’t go back!” she exclaimed.

“I need to find Carl. Whatever clues there are, they’re on Caldon. We can’t fly around the galaxy searching every inhabited world until we find him. I have to go back.”

“Then I’m going with you,” she insisted. “You’re not going to Caldon alone.”

“When we get to Harmony, remind me to pick up a new data unit in the name of Jonas Grumby. I’m going to need access to the grid,” he said.

“Now, since you are awake, I’ll find the doctor and we’ll run your neurological tests.”

* * * *

When they reached the commercial terminal at Sherman spaceport, Nolan bought a new data unit. Then he insisted on going directly to the Griffin, which was on the far side of the spaceport. Megan found a baggage handler who was eager to earn a ten-credit chip, and a few minutes later, they were speeding across the field riding in a baggage truck.

They pulled to a stop next to the Griffin, and Megan helped Nolan out and to his feet. She grabbed their bags and thanked the driver, who smiled, waved, and drove off. Nolan limped to the ship with one hand on Megan’s shoulder and entered the code to open the ramp.

As they walked toward the bridge, Nolan pointed to a doorway. “You can use this cabin.”

Megan stopped and looked into the room. It had been emptied of any personal items. “Was this John’s cabin?” she asked.

Nolan stopped and turned around. “Yes. I’m sorry; would you like to use another cabin?”

“No, I want John’s cabin. This will be fine,” she said as she put Nolan’s bag on the floor and carried hers into the room. Nolan winced as he picked up his bag and carried it to his cabin.

Megan remembered John saying he had the bed farthest from the corridor, and she quickly crossed the room and stood by the unmade bed. Setting her bag down, she looked around, and then opened a cabinet. Inside were sheets, blankets, and pillows. John had used some of these. Nolan must have laundered everything and stowed it when he cleaned the ship. Pulling out some linens, she made the bed, and then sat on the edge. She cried softly as she hugged the pillow to her chest and pressed her face into the soft fabric. “Oh, John, I miss you,” she whispered.

Nolan dropped his bag near the dresser and sat on the bed. He pulled out his new data unit, booted it, and then registered it to Jonas Grumby. He quickly entered a request for an immediate departure corridor, and then made his way slowly to the bridge where he began powering up all the ship’s major systems.

His data unit chimed, and he found a message with his departure authorization. He accepted the departure window, transferring the course to the ship’s navigation system. In thirty-seven minutes, they would be on their way. He initiated a pre-flight diagnostic scan and watched as the data scrolled down the screen.

Shortly before their scheduled departure, Nolan struggled down the corridor to Megan’s cabin. The door was open, and he found her asleep on John’s bed. He turned out the cabin light, closed the door gently, and then hobbled back to the bridge.

The Griffin rose from the pad and accelerated.

Vice Admiral Tompkins walked into Captain Jiorgenson’s office. “Don’t get up; just tell me what you know.”

“Very little. Aside from Forbes and Wilkins, Lansing didn’t regularly associate with anyone. There has been no data on him since he vanished. Same for Wilkins. He vanished from the Caldon grid on the day the Phoenix left. There’s been no record of him since.”

Tompkins scowled. “What about people who came onto the grid the day Lansing vanished?”

“It took three days to comb through the data, but we found five individuals who popped onto the Dawson grid on the afternoon that Lansing vanished. Three women and two men. Two of the women came to visit relatives, and then returned home. One came here for a new job. Both of the men came here for new jobs. We’ve checked them out, and neither can be Lansing. Their whereabouts have been verified for months prior to Lansing’s disappearance,” Jiorgenson said.

“Another dead end,” Tompkins said.

“I’m afraid so,” Jiorgenson said.

“What if Lansing didn’t acquire a new data unit before leaving?” Tompkins asked. “He could have taken a starliner out of here and acquired a new data unit elsewhere.”

“That’s entirely possible. Unfortunately, we don’t have access to starliner passenger data. It’s protected for privacy reasons,” Jiorgenson said.

“Can’t you hack into the database?” Tompkins asked.

“It would take some time, and we might get caught. Besides, what would we look for? There are two spaceports on Caldon with starliner service. One or two liners depart each day from each of those ports. One ship might pick up two thousand passengers before departure. We don’t have a physical description of Lansing, and we don’t know when he left or where he left from. Hell, we don’t even know for certain that he did leave. If he changed his identity, he might still be living here. Even if we compiled a list of all the men who left in the week following Lansing’s disappearance, we don’t have enough information to narrow down the list.”

“Process of elimination,” Tompkins said. “First, you compile a list of men who departed in the week after Lansing vanished. Then, check to see when they arrived here. Anyone who arrived after Lansing began working with Forbes and Segal gets crossed off the list. Then look for anyone who has no data unit tracking while they were here. We know Lansing used a data unit in that name, and took it everywhere he went. He couldn’t be two places at once, and he wouldn’t be stupid enough to carry around two data units in two names,” Tompkins said. “Anyone who has no tracking data is a possible suspect.

“Given enough time, we might converge on a short list of possible suspects if we had access to the passenger data. We could spend months mining data and get nothing. At best, we might come up with another false identity that would lead us no farther than the port where he disembarked the starliner he rode out of here,” objected Jiorgenson.

“You’re probably right,” Tompkins said. “Lansing is a pro. We aren’t likely to find much about him given what we know so far. Let’s scale back this line of investigation and look at another. Have half your team start looking into potential buyers for the plutonium. Forbes had a buyer. It had to be someone with a lot of credits to spend and some pressing need for the plutonium. The other half of your team can continue trying to track down Wilkins and Lansing.”

“Yes, sir. We’ll get right on it,” Jiorgenson said.

“I’m going to find Zorbas and find out what he’s learned from Peters,” Tompkins said. “I’ll let you know if he has anything useful.”

Jiorgenson watched the vice admiral as he walked up the hallway. When the man was out of sight, he quickly opened a comm link to General Nelson.

“Nelson here,” the general said.

“This is Jiorgenson. Vice Admiral Tompkins just left my office. He’s on his way to find out what information Zorbas was able to beat out of Nolan Peters.”

“I’m afraid you must be mistaken, Captain. Vice Admiral Tompkins told me he was taking some time off to relax,” Nelson said.

“But he was just here a minute ago,” Jiorgenson insisted.

“Captain, I assure you, Tompkins left the base a few minutes ago and won’t be back for a while. Goodbye, Captain.”

The link closed.

General Nelson opened a comm link to Major Anderson.

“Hello, General.”

“Eric, are you alone?” the general asked.

“Yes, Sir.”

“Good. Vice Admiral Tompkins is on his way down to interrogation to find out what Lieutenant Zorbas has learned from Peters. Please intercept him and give him the full room and board treatment. Make sure he remains there until further notice,” Nelson said.

“Yes, sir,” Anderson replied.

The general closed the link, then pulled out his personal data unit and began typing an encoded message.

Clarice,

Urgent—Vice Admiral Mark Tompkins’ tracking data needs to show that he left SACOM Central Command about ten minutes ago via the Water Street gate. Send him to an especially rough part of town and then make him vanish.

Nelson

A moment later, his comm unit chimed.

General,

I will see to it immediately. It will take a few minutes to make the changes. Hopefully, nobody will search for him in that time.

Clarice

Nelson picked up his SACOM data unit and opened a comm link to the Water Street gatehouse. He looked through his window at the overcast sky.

“Corporal Adams here.”

“Corporal Adams, this is General Nelson. Is the sky clear today?”

“Crystal clear, sir,” came the reply.

Nelson smiled. His people were well trained and alert to his signals. “I’m calling to verify that Vice Admiral Tompkins left through your gate about ten minutes ago. He was rather distraught. Said he had some urgent personal business to attend to,” Nelson said.

“Yes, Sir. Vice Admiral Tompkins left ten minutes ago. He looked like he had a lot on his mind, sir,” said Corporal Adams.

“Thank you, Corporal. Do make sure your record keeping is complete and accurate.”

“Yes, sir,” the corporal replied. “I fell about ten minutes behind, but I’m catching up as we speak.”

“Good man. Carry on,” the general said.

Twenty minutes later, there was a knock on General Nelson’s door.

“Come in,” called the general.

Major Anderson entered and closed the door. “Tompkins is put away in the cell next to Zorbas.”

“Did he give you any trouble?”

Eric smiled. “None. I told him I would take him directly to Lieutenant Zorbas. When we reached the cell on the high security level, I guess he assumed Zorbas was interrogating a prisoner. He walked right into the cell, and when he saw it was empty, he turned to look at me with a puzzled expression. That’s when I closed and locked the door.”

Nelson chuckled. “Well done. Let’s keep him there until this all shakes down.”

“If you don’t mind my asking, why are we locking him away?” Eric asked.

“Tompkins was about to blow everything wide open. He was going to look for Zorbas to find out what he had learned from Peters. The last thing we need is a vice admiral going around asking for Zorbas, reminding people he hasn’t been seen. And we sure don’t need anyone looking for Peters, either.”

“Is he loyal to Bennett?” Eric asked.

“He’s a sycophant. He thinks Bennett is going to take over the galaxy, and that she’ll give him a position of power to reward him for his loyalty. He’ll stick by her until it looks like she might lose, then he’ll want to join us. As far as I’m concerned, he can sit in that cell until SACOM has a new First Admiral. Then he can be loyal to whomever he chooses,” Nelson said.

“When do we begin our operation?” Eric asked.

“We need to finalize our plans and brief our people. We’ll need at least a week to be ready,” Nelson said.

“We might be able to keep Zorbas on ice for another couple of weeks, but not Tompkins. He’ll definitely be missed.”

“I’ve taken care of that. I have a feeling Bennett is going to send the goon squad on a mission to find Tompkins off base. That should keep them busy for a while.”

Eric smiled. “I won’t ask for details.”

Nelson shrugged. “Good, because I won’t tell you.”