Search for the Phoenix: Phoenix Series Book 2 (4 page)

“No, no, I mean stitches. You know, sewing shut a wound,” he said. He pulled the washcloth away and tilted his head so she could see the cut.

“Oh, that looks terrible, Nolan! Don’t worry; I’m an old pro at that. I should have earned an honorary medical degree for all the times I stitched up John,” she said. “I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Keep pressure on it.”

“Thanks,” he said and ended the call.

* * * *

Nolan awoke with a start. He looked around, trying to figure out where he was. The bloody washcloth was on the couch next to him, and blood had run down his face. There was a knock at his door. He got up and opened it.

“Oh, Nolan, I told you to keep pressure on it!” she said as she stepped in and set her medical bag by the couch.

“I fell asleep,” he said.

“With a head injury like that, you need to stay awake,” she said.

“I didn’t have a lot of choice in the matter.”

“What happened?” she asked.

“Don’t ask. Can you sew me up?”

“I can do better than that,” she said. “Come into the bathroom and let me wash the blood off.”

Several minutes later, Nolan returned to the couch holding a fresh washcloth to his head, and lay down. Megan knelt on the floor next him. Opening her medical bag, she pulled on some gloves and then took out a small bottle. Nolan’s eyes were closed, and he was trying to prepare himself for the needle stabs he was expecting.

“Keep your eyes closed and relax,” she said.

He felt a drop of some cool liquid fall into the gash, and then her fingers gently pushed the wound closed. After a few seconds, there was another drop of liquid.

“What is that?” he asked.

“Medical adhesive,” she said. “It’s a lot more pleasant than stitches.”

He opened his eyes, and they immediately started to burn. “Ow!”

“I told you to keep your eyes closed!” she said. “The fumes irritate your cornea.”

Tears were streaming from the corners of his eyes and running past his ears.

“Almost done,” she said, “and I didn’t glue my fingers to your forehead,” she added with a laugh.

“Can I open my eyes now?”

“Not yet. Let the glue finish curing,” she said. He listened as she put her supplies back into the bag and zipped it closed.

“Thanks, Megan. I couldn’t call anyone else. I would have had to explain what had happened,” he said.

“You’re welcome,” she said. “I won’t ask how it happened. Now, you just rest for a while. I want to make sure the bleeding has stopped. Otherwise, it may build up behind the glue, in which case it will either rip open the wound again or become a hematoma. I don’t want either to happen, so you’re going to need to take it easy for a few days. No strenuous activities or heavy lifting. Anything that increases your blood pressure is a risk right now.”

“I’m going to space in two days,” he said. “I have things to do to get ready.”

“Then I guess I am going to have to take care of things for you. You let me know what needs to be done, and I’ll do it,” she said.

“I can’t ask you to do it all,” he said.

“Someone has to, and you need to rest. If that doesn’t heal, you won’t be going to space,” she said with a finality that indicated there would be no further discussion. “I’m going home to pack some things, and then I’ll come back to stay with you for a few days. Do you want me to help you into bed before I go, or do you want to rest here until I get back?”

“You don’t need to stay, Megan. I’ll be fine. Besides, people will talk,” he said.

“Let them. You and I are supposedly going away together to visit your uncle in a few days. What will they say then? We might as well play this up a little now so the trip doesn’t seem like such a surprise. The more believable the trip is, the less likely anyone will be to question it.”

His mind raced as he tried to think of some valid reason for Megan not to stay with him. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy her company. He had always been something of a loner outside of work, and he had never had any serious, lasting relationships with women. Megan seemed so relaxed and comfortable around him that it was beginning to worry him. He was attracted to her, and that felt wrong on so many levels, the very first being the fact that she was John’s wife. Okay, John’s widow, but that just made it worse. He felt as though he was betraying a friend. She was standing there, looking at him expectantly, and he didn’t know what to say. “Um… why don’t I add you to my door scanner? That way, if I’m asleep when you come back, you can let yourself in.” He couldn’t believe the words that just came from his mouth.

“Okay,” she said with a smile.

After linking her data unit to his door scanner and transferring the access code that would allow her entry, he watched as she walked down the hallway to the stairs. He closed the door and then tried to make himself comfortable in a recliner. His head was still pounding even though the gash no longer hurt. He struggled to remain awake, not wanting to be asleep when Megan returned. It was a struggle he eventually lost.

Captain Niles Jiorgenson’s door opened and Vice Admiral Tompkins entered. The captain stood quickly, but the vice admiral waved his hands dismissively and said, “Sit down. What have you learned about Lansing?”

Jiorgenson sat and cleared his throat. “Not much, I’m afraid. We don’t have access to tracking data for civilian data units. I asked a favor of someone in the Dawson Police Department to check a few things.”

“Why don’t we have access to the tracking data? They’re using our satellites for GPS and data connections, aren’t they?” Tompkins asked.

“No, sir. They use an array of civilian satellites. We only control the positions of the satellites through our traffic control system,” Jiorgenson said.

“They’re geostationary satellites—what position control do they need?”

“If it’s in orbit around Caldon, we control its position, even if it is always in the same spot,” Jiorgenson replied.

“I see. So, what were you going to tell me about Lansing?” Tompkins asked.

“According to my contact at Dawson PD, Lansing appeared in Dawson seven months ago without any record of having traveled here. He may have arrived as a passenger in a personally owned vehicle, or he may have traveled under another name. We’re still looking into that. He had multiple encounters with Carl Wilkins—once in a bar downtown, once at Wilkins’ apartment, and twice at the Dawson spaceport. Lansing also had several encounters with Charles Forbes. After the Phoenix departed, Lansing traveled around the city to bars, restaurants, and shows, acting like a man on holiday. After Segal vanished, he suddenly became reclusive, spending most of his time in an apartment that was leased in the name of Carl Wilkins.”

“So Wilkins rented the apartment for him. They obviously knew each other before Lansing arrived here,” the vice admiral said.

“I don’t think so, sir. Lansing lived in various hotel rooms prior to moving into the apartment. According to Wilkins’ tracking data, he never went anywhere near the apartment complex, including the rental office. I doubt he was connected to the apartment in anything other than name.”

“So Lansing leased it in his name to throw us a curve if we came looking for him,” the vice admiral said.

“I believe so. If I may continue, sir, Lansing performed his hacking activities from that apartment when he was searching for the Phoenix. Tracking data shows that our team just missed apprehending him when they raided the place. Lansing was two blocks away and probably saw them arrive. He walked a few kilometers to the Dawson Diner. While he was there, his data unit vanished from the grid,” Jiorgenson said.

“Do you know where he went from there?”

“No, sir. We interviewed the diner’s staff, but none of them were able to help,” Jiorgenson replied.

“Useless trolls. They probably didn’t want to help us,” Tompkins said angrily.

“Well, sir, we don’t know what Lansing looks like, so we couldn’t even describe him to them,” Jiorgenson said.

“Yes, of course. Good point. A dead end, nevertheless,” Tompkins said.

“We’re still investigating, but his trail ends there.”

The vice admiral sat, looking at the ceiling for a while. Finally, he said, “Lansing appeared in Dawson without any record of arriving. I want you to search for anyone who suddenly appeared in Dawson on the day Lansing disappeared. If he knew we were on to him, he might have changed his identity.”

“I don’t know if I can do that, sir. I’ve already asked my contact in Dawson PD for a lot of information, and a search like that would take a lot of time and resources,” the captain said.

“I don’t care. I want to find Lansing. I’ll authorize unlimited overtime for the investigative branch to work on this.”

Jiorgenson said, “Yes, but I still don’t have access to the data.”

“Push your contact to give you the data. Step up the investigation and find out anything you can. In the meantime, I’ll see what I can do about getting you direct access to the tracking data,” Tompkins said as he turned and headed for the door.

Jiorgenson stood and said, “I’ll get my people working on this right away.”

Tompkins nodded. “Find Lansing.”

* * * *

Vice Admiral Tompkins walked into Space Traffic Command and went straight to the commander’s office. Lieutenant Commander Greg Eaton looked up, recognized Tompkins, and stood to attention. Tompkins sat across the desk from him. “I feel like I’m chasing ghosts, Greg.”

Eaton sat and asked, “Why is that, sir?”

“Lansing, Wilkins, and the Phoenix have all disappeared without a trace. It’s frustrating. Lansing vanished from downtown Dawson in the middle of the day. The Phoenix whipped around Caldon like a bat out of hell and vanished. Wilkins and our plutonium are presumed to have been aboard.”

“I checked all available data on the Phoenix when it shot past here. It continued on a straight course to the limits of our long-range sensors. However, I did find another interesting piece of data. Four of our hyperspace relays detected small Keyser fluctuations at a time shortly after the Phoenix left our sensors. Comparing the magnitude of the fluctuations from the relays and triangulating, the fluctuations appear to have started near the Phoenix’s last known location,” Eaton said.

“So the Phoenix made a jump from within the system,” Tompkins said. “That explains why none of our ships in the outer system detected her passing. She could be anywhere in the galaxy now. What I don’t understand is why she hasn’t turned up at any inhabited world. If Wilkins intended to sell the plutonium, he had to have a buyer. I can’t believe he stole it intending to jump around the galaxy, trying to stay one step ahead of us.”

“What if Forbes was lying? What if Wilkins was supposed to take the plutonium somewhere and deliver it as part of their grand scheme?” Eaton asked.

“Why would Forbes lie about that? We had him on Segal’s murder.”

“Yes, but he worked a deal to get that reduced to a lesser charge with a three-year sentence. Suppose he decided that waiting three years to get his credits was preferable to being executed?” Eaton asked.

“You’re suggesting that Wilkins was their salvage man and their delivery man, too. The story of Wilkins stealing it was to make it look like Forbes wasn’t going to get any of the credits,” Tompkins said.

“If Wilkins made the delivery and the credits exchanged hands, Forbes would have gotten his share in three years. His mistake was implicating himself in the conspiracy,” Eaton said.

“That’s where it all falls apart, Greg. Why would he tell us so much if he expected to collect his share later?”

“He needed something big to get the deal on his sentence. Maybe he was afraid that if he concocted some elaborate lie, he’d trip himself up and be found out. So, he told us most of the truth with a few small lies thrown in to make us think he was getting nothing from the deal,” Eaton said.

“That still doesn’t explain the fact that the Phoenix has not shown up anywhere to make the delivery,” the vice admiral said.

“If we assume the Phoenix’s departure from the system was part of the original plan, and not a case of Wilkins stealing the cargo from Forbes and the others, then why assume the delivery would be made to a controlled system? The Phoenix could have rendezvoused with another freighter at some predetermined point in deep space. Wilkins and the plutonium could have transferred to the other ship and returned to any system in the galaxy unnoticed,” Greg said. “Of course, it’s also possible that whoever collected the plutonium killed Wilkins to protect their identity. His dead body could be in the Phoenix floating around in deep space. The odds of anyone ever finding it are too small to calculate.”

Tompkins was silent for a while. Finally, he said, “If you’re right, then I’m back to my original statement. I’m chasing ghosts. Still, we’re talking about a medium freighter full of plutonium. A financial transaction of that magnitude couldn’t be hidden. Why haven’t we found it?”

“I don’t think Forbes would have arranged a transfer that big through established financial channels. Maybe the payment was made with a large number of smaller transactions over time, each one looking like a legitimate business transaction. Or maybe the payment never happened,” Eaton said.

“What do you mean, it never happened?” Tompkins asked.

“What if Wilkins was supposed to hand over the plutonium in exchange for the payment? Maybe the buyer took the plutonium and killed Wilkins instead of paying him,” Eaton said.

“According to Forbes, Wilkins was a hired hand, not a partner. I can’t imagine them allowing him to take the payment. What incentive would he have to return and hand over the credits just to get a small share of them?” Tompkins asked. “If Wilkins made the delivery, he would have to come back here to see Forbes or Lansing to get paid.”

“It was all over the Galactic News that Forbes was arrested. Wilkins must know that,” Eaton said.

“The Phoenix hasn’t been to any of our worlds. Unless he was able to hack into the hyperspace relay network to see the news, he wouldn’t know about Forbes. And he has no way of knowing that Lansing has disappeared. That hasn’t been mentioned in the news at all. I think he may have come back here to collect his payment. He would have found out about Forbes after getting here, so he’s probably looking for Lansing. In the meantime, our plutonium was moved to an unknown freighter that could enter any system in the galaxy, provided it didn’t get inspected. It could be anywhere, and we’ll never know until someone makes a bomb out of it and blows up a planet,” Tompkins said. “Our only hope of finding it is to find Wilkins or Lansing.”

“May I speak freely, sir?” Eaton asked.

“Of course. I value your input, Greg,”

“I think looking for Wilkins and the Phoenix is a waste of time and resources. We’ll never find them. Same goes for Lansing. I think our best bet is to look at who might want to buy that much plutonium, as well as who might have the financial resources for the transaction, and then begin investigating all such suspects,” Eaton said.

“Go at it from the other side of the deal,” Tompkins said. “You may be right. I’ve just given Captain Jiorgenson a new avenue of investigation. I’ll give his people a few days to see what they can find. If they don’t find Wilkins or Lansing, I’ll take your suggestion and start everyone looking into potential buyers.”

“Very good, sir,” Eaton said.

“You’ve been extremely helpful, Greg. You’ve remained levelheaded and thoughtful throughout this investigation. I can’t make any promises, but I’m going to put you in for promotion to captain,” Tompkins said.

“Thank you, sir!” Eaton said.

* * * *

Tompkins paused in the corridor looking at the engraved brass sign that read
Commander of SACOM, First Admiral Georgia Bennett
. His palms were sweating. In fact, he was sweating all over, he realized. He had been here countless times before, and it always made him nervous. Drying his hands, he opened the door and entered. The admiral’s secretary glanced up, then quickly stood to attention and saluted. Tompkins returned her salute.

“First Admiral Bennett will see you shortly, sir. If you would like to make yourself comfortable, I’ll let her know you’re here.”

Taking a seat, he closed his eyes and tried to calm himself. The clock on the wall ticked away seconds, and he found himself concentrating on the sound. Tick… tick… tick…

A chime sounded, and the admiral’s secretary picked up a handset. After listening for a moment, she said, “Yes, ma’am. I’ll see to it right away. Vice Admiral Tompkins has arrived.” After a brief pause, she added, “Yes, ma’am, I’ll send him in.” Putting down the handset, she looked at Tompkins and said, “First Admiral Bennett will see you, now.”

Tompkins stood and nodded. “Thank you,” he said before walking to the elaborately carved oak door at the back of the office and knocking softly.

Through the heavy door, he barely heard her say, “Come in.”

Tompkins dried his palms again, opened the door, and stepped into the office.

“Good afternoon, Tompkins. Please, be seated,” the admiral said.

“Thank you, ma’am,” he said with a sharp salute.

The first admiral saluted, and he quickly crossed the room and sat.

“You requested this meeting to discuss something urgent, I understand,” Bennett said.

“Yes, ma’am. As you know, I have been tasked with finding our missing plutonium. There is something that is impeding my investigation, and I was hoping you might be able to help.”

“Of course. This case is extremely important to SACOM. If there is anything I can do to help, you have only to ask.”

“Thank you, ma’am. I need… that is,
SACOM
needs access to the stored tracking data for civilian data units. We have to beg information from the Dawson Police Department for our investigation. They don’t appreciate the magnitude of the situation, and their continued cooperation is doubtful,” Tompkins said.

“Let me get this straight—the Dawson PD has access to tracking data, but we don’t?” the admiral asked.

“Yes, ma’am. It’s a civilian data system run by the Galactic government. SACOM is legally prohibited from having access.”