Lazarus, p.5
Lazarus, page 5
part #3 of Interstellar Cargo Series
A vein bulged on Caliber’s forehead as he brandished a rigid index finger. The tip pointed in Cole’s direction, and he knew that the game had truly begun. Having endured the grip of the COA during their exhaustive investigation of him, he’d unknowingly committed to memory some of their interrogation practices. It was time to unleash those techniques on his former boss.
“This investigation has long since concluded,” Caliber barked at Cole. Some of his entourage cringed in fear at his tone and backed away. “Your agency is overstepping its bounds with this repossession of my vessel. There is no need for further involvement. My lawyers are in contact with your agency and will see the dissolution of this matter.”
“Mr. Caliber, if I might––”
Cole held up a firm, silencing hand to Gray, and he was pleased that the action was heeded. Once it was clear he would have the floor, Cole ran the palm of his hand across the smooth and perfectly coifed locks of his wig before interlocking both arms behind his back. He stared Caliber in the eyes as if he was a suspect about to be interrogated.
“The Order knows of no such dealings between your lawyers and our division,” Cole began in as slick a tone he could muster. “And if what you claim is true, we do not recognize your last minute ploy to deter us for your own gain. This investigation is far reaching and very much still active. So, Frederick, I suggest you allow me the proper––”
“Mister,” the CEO insisted. “You will refer to me as Mr. Caliber. I’ll not be demeaned by the likes of some soulless government agent. Respect is earned, and for you to address me by my first name is laughable.”
“And you will refer to me as Special Investigator Crowe,” Cole countered. “My years of dedication to the United System outweighs your petty business ventures.” He took an aggressive step toward Caliber. “Understand that there is no room for negotiation. This is not some lowly pissing match over which bragging rights are in order. The Cosmic Order Agency has come to claim this vessel as our own, as a matter our universal security. There is no reason you can conjure that would sway our investigation.”
Cole gestured all around him. “Multiple terroristic events are directly related to this vessel. Solar Systems Express has no need for an instrument of mass destruction.” He reclasped his hands behind his back. “That you pressure me to turn a blind eye to this investigation raises serious questions.”
Caliber’s furious scarlet face suddenly blanched and distorted to shock.
Cole took another step closer. “Tell me, Mr. Caliber, have you some vested interest with which the Order should be concerned?”
The palpable silence was music to Cole’s ears. He glimpsed the horror on Gray’s face, and it made him even more pleased. Not even Caliber’s heightened stench could foul his mood. It’s good to be back.
Caliber, much to Cole’s surprise, regained his full composure with one calming breath. “So it has come to threats. Has our government become so corrupt as to strong-arm its way into getting what it wants? Pathetic.
“I know my rights. As well as any of my lawyers. That you feel you can barge your way onto my station and abscond with what is rightfully mine is outrageous.” He took the next step, nearly bridging the gap between himself and Cole. “I refuse to kowtow to your base fear mongering. You are merely one man, bound by the restrictions of our governing laws. My clout carries across the entire System, and I will not be swayed. You will be escorted off the premises whilst I contact the proper authorities and take this issue to your superiors.” He turned to leave and gave a curt nod to his personal body guards. “For now, the matter between us is concluded.”
Cole glanced over at Gray and puckered his lips in a silent kiss and winked. The SolEx guard’s hand reached to claim Cole’s, but it never found its target. Cole sidestepped the advancing man, who had not anticipated resistance. Cole seized his opening. He drove his elbow into the base of guard’s neck and casually slipped the man’s sidearm as his body dropped like a felled tree.
In the moment it took Caliber’s entourage to turn and acknowledge the assault, Cole spun toward the other distracted guard and fired a well-aimed plastol stun blast to his face. He gurgled something unintelligible before he, too, dropped to the ground, unconscious. Cole collected a second sidearm, and just like that, the tables were firmly turned on SolEx’s CEO.
So many bulging eyes, Cole thought as he aimed both weapons at his gaping audience. “Anyone screams bloody murder, considers mouthing off, or even stares at me cross-eyed, I go Wild West on you. You get me?”
No one moved, met Cole’s gaze, or appeared to be breathing. Only Gray had the nerve to approach. “Security will have been triggered upon your use of the plastol. They undoubtedly have a front row view of this debacle of yours through Caliber’s Ocunet lenses.”
“You’re welcome,” Cole said. “This ‘debacle’ is rectifying a major oversight on your part.” He gestured both sidearms at an enraged, yet obediently silent Caliber. “We weren’t going anywhere with Freddy, here, calling the shots. And you obviously didn’t have a backup plan, so I did what I do best. Wing it.”
Gray breathed a heavy, agitated sigh, but said nothing.
Cole grinned. “Relax. We’re even now.” He tilted one ear toward the blaring klaxons. “You hear that? My song’s playing. I think it’s time we left the roost.”
“What do you propose you’ll accomplish––”
Cole shot Caliber in his thigh. The CEO collapsed in an agonized heap, both his hands clutching at the cauterized wound. His grunts and gasps barely carried overtop the noise. “I told you not to mouth off.” Cole raised the sidearm back toward the dwindled entourage. “Ladies and gentlemen! If you would be so kind as to assist these two fine individuals,” he gestured to the two indisposed guards, “and help carry them off the ICV-71.”
After a moment’s hesitation, the confused and terrified group cautiously heeded the command. One of them reached down to assist Caliber.
“Nah ah aaahh!” Cole dissuaded. “Not that one. He stays.” He forced as dark a scowl as he could muster. “Do not try it again.”
Frederick Caliber’s entourage abandoned him, wasting no time in halfcarrying, half-dragging the large men to the lift. Once they were inside, Cole had a message for them.
“Make sure to tell your approaching security to stay off this ship if they want their fearless leader to live. Mr. Caliber’s going for a little ride with us to see just how difficult it is to deliver to ‘The Milky Way in a Day.’” He winked. “Black Dwarf sends its kind regards.”
The lift door closed.
Cole turned to find Gray working furiously at the console controls. Caliber was struggling to stand. Cole tucked one of the two sidearms into his waistband and assisted the slightly overweight, middle-aged man to his feet. He was surprised that Caliber did not fight him. He was even more amazed that he remained silent. Well, I did shoot him for disobeying me....
The CEO was unceremoniously plopped into the co-pilot’s chair, where Cole proceeded to lean heavily upon his limp shoulder for support. He glanced at the illuminated viewport screen, which was displaying all of the ship’s exterior camera angles. It was difficult to locate one that didn’t have some form of security moving in. All that mattered to him was that the loading ramp be sealed when the SolEx management team finally exited.
“Doesn’t look like anyone crept aboard,” Cole said. The only movement came from Caliber’s entourage, struggling to maneuver two unconscious men down the ramp.
“Not yet,” Gray said, ominously. “Locking all the doors won’t help us escape. Especially with him in here.” He nodded toward the CEO.
Cole glanced down at a dour Caliber. He patted him on the shoulder. “Clearly you didn’t have a plan B.”
“Plan A was impossible enough,” Gray replied, still working through what Cole assumed was an AR interface with the Icarus. “My employer and I don’t have the luxury of flying by the seat of our pants and hoping for the best.”
“Hey,” Cole said, feigning insult. “Most of my infamy was born out of desperation.”
“It’s also what got you caught,” Gray reminded.
“And eventually freed,” Cole added. “Potayto, Potahto. What matters is that we most certainly do have a means of escape.” He clapped Caliber’s shoulder much harder this time. “We just need to need to shove him into the lock and give him a turn.”
Gray finally tore his attention from the Ocunet, and gazed down at the CEO as if seeing him for the first time. “And if blackmail doesn’t work?”
Cole smirked and stepped in front of Caliber. He lifted his leg and leaned his shoe and body weight directly upon the CEO’s wound. Through the screaming, he withdrew the second sidearm and pointed one on each side of the man’s head. The screaming abruptly stopped.
“Freddie-boy here eats it, and the two of us go down in a blaze of glory.”
5
GHOSTING
To the absolute astonishment of the crew of three, SolEx did indeed comply with demands and allow the Icarus to take off. Whether or not they would be permitted to depart without being secretly followed or tracked was another story altogether. Caliber may have been coerced into ordering the deactivation of any locating devices aboard the ship, but anything short of spacing the CEO and his highly trackable eyes, they would be vulnerable. Cole knew of no other way to evade SolEx’s pursuit for justice, though he was going to do everything in his power to make the best use of his borrowed time and try.
For now, I’m gonna enjoy the shit outta piloting the Icarus, he thought. He hadn’t the slightest clue as to where he and Gray were headed––or what they were to do with their valuable human cargo––but he planned on enjoying every minute of this second chance at whatever it was he was doing. He only wished he had access to the Ocunet so he could push the ship to her furthest potential.
“Coordinates for the jump point are loaded into the system,” Gray said to Cole from behind his flight chair.
“Excellent. Can’t wait to arrive at our mystery location,” Cole said in a mocking tone. “I’m sure your ‘employer’ will be as amiable and welcoming as you.”
Gray leaned in between the two flight chairs and made a quick pass over Caliber’s eyes with the spray solution he’d used on Cole. The CEO hunched forward in agony, allowing Gray the opportunity to drive a fist into the man’s temple. Caliber fell slack, head bouncing off the control panel before he rolled awkwardly out of his chair and onto the floor.
Cole laughed in spite of his shock over the violence. “Shit, man! Did he mutter some ugly slur under his breath about your mother I didn’t hear?”
Gray dragged Caliber’s limp body behind the co-pilot’s chair and left him facedown. “He is a liability. His mere presence jeopardizes this mission.” He took the CEO’s place next to Cole. “Killing him is not an option, but he cannot be allowed to see what we are about, or to where we are headed.”
“Hence the acid eye spray. Whatever it does,” Cole surmised, hoping for some insight.
Gray nodded but did not elaborate. “For now, we should be in the clear.”
“Until we jump,” Cole said, realizing another roadblock to freedom. “Whether or not Freddie, here, actually managed to order SolEx to clear this ship of all tracking, there are other ways they can find us. UniSys keeps tabs on the comings and goings of all interstellar jumps. I highly doubt the Icarus is flying under the radar as an undocumented prototype these days. SolEx will immediately contact UniSys and gladly use their clout to jump through all the systematic hoops necessary to uncover our classified exit point. They might not know our exact location by then, but they’ll have a good idea where we’re headed.” He hated to be right.
Gray was shaking his head. “The virus will obscure our location once were enter the wormhole.”
“I’m sorry, but did you say ‘virus’?” Cole asked, not liking what he was hearing. “In our system or SolEx’s?”
“Ours,” Gray said as though such things were commonplace. He flicked his hand toward the viewport screen, and the coordinates enlarged. “What you say is correct, but while UniSys may gather the collected data from all recorded jumps, they don’t have eyes all over the System.”
This was better music to Cole’s ears. “And you and your employers managed to discover a means of interstellar misdirection?”
“Precisely.” Gray gestured toward the coordinates. “The virus I’ve uploaded into this ship’s computer system will transmit a corrupt signal, indicating we have jumped elsewhere, once we come out the other side of the wormhole.”
Damn. I can’t wait to meet his employers. Cole nodded, impressed. “Seems you did have most everything thought through. Your master plan just needed a little tender loving Cole.”
Gray sighed, his scowl softening just a bit. “As much as I hate to admit it, your actions––while callous and absurdly reckless––were necessary to our escape.”
“Hey, reckless is my middle name.”
“Hm.”
Oh, no you don’t! I’m not letting you resort back to being silent and calculating. “What’ll happen to Caliber and his melted eyes? And to mine, for that matter?”
Brooding seconds passed before Gray replied. “My employer will take care of him. More than likely he’ll be united with the real Crowe and Paulson. As for his eyes, that’s a different matter altogether. For a time, he’ll continue to be a Ghost, like you.”
Cole tore his attention away from the console and viewport screen. He wasn’t sure he’d heard Gray correctly. “I’m sorry, but did you say ‘be a Ghost’? As in Ghosting?”
“That’s correct.”
Ghosting. The term was familiar to Cole, having been far enough up the Military ladder to learn of such things, but he had never actually been witness to its existence. That he might join the elite ranks of those whose eyes were permanently free of retinal branding was both relieving and terrifying. Aside from being considered dead, Ghosting also meant being unable to ever again establish a NuFi connection via the Ocunet due to the permanent scarring of the entire eye. Any attempt to heal or replace lenses would immediately alert authorities of said Ghost’s location and his or her return from the grave. At least that was the theory—a theory that appeared to be real.
Gray gestured for Cole to refocus his attention on the screen.
Cole ignored the silent command. “In all honesty, I couldn’t care less if you shoved Caliber into a trash compactor and filmed his crushing defeat for your viewing pleasure on repeat. What concerns me is that you added me in that sentence. That I’m a Ghost.”
“An unfortunate necessity.”
All thrust power was lowered to zero, and the Icarus slowed to a crawl. Cole sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. “I’m done pulling your teeth, asshole. Either you start spilling your guts about this farce––sans constant solicitation, mind you––or SolEx might decide to get brave and investigate why we’re no longer heading to our jump point.”
That murderous glint had returned to Gray’s eyes, though it was Cole who was currently wielding the weapons this time.
“I suggest you take us to our destination,” Gray said in a quiet fury.
“No.”
“I will kill you where you sit.”
“Then your mission will have failed,” Cole said, undaunted. “I have no doubt you want to end me, but I’ve got a funny feeling you’ll have to find a new line of work if you do so.” He leaned close to Gray, almost invitingly. “Do you really want to live out the rest of your days on the run?”
Time passed, no words spoken, though eye contact was never broken. Cole’s hands were gripped around both handles of his new plastols. He was fairly confident he could draw at least one of them in time to shoot Gray. But it was Gray who would have to signal the first strike, and the longer the mysterious man stared without speaking, the more the tension on his face eased. Eventually, Gray’s expression resumed its normal, blank slate.
Cole nearly drew both sidearms when Gray reached toward his own throat and peeled off the clear voice strip. The “wig” came off next––rather, altered––followed by a remarkable transformation. Cole had expected Gray to peel off the faux skin that was molded onto his real face, but this was not the case. His hands dropped back to his sides, sans facial putty. The transformation was subtle, yet entirely not so. The flesh hues softened, along with the slight––yet very bizarre––repositioning of features. This was the literal morphing of ones living face.
The entire process had taken less than five seconds, but the effect staggering. Gray was an entirely new person. Well, new in the sense that he no longer looked liked one of the two prison guards he had been impersonating. Whether or not this face was his true identity was a different matter altogether. It was his current identity that had Cole’s full attention. Suddenly his harrowing escape was the furthest thought from his mind.
“Arthur?”
~
“Arthur” was not Arthur at all. Arthur T. Forester had never existed. The man sitting beside Cole was the former SolEx director of operations, only he had been playing make believe all along. Triston Gray was his true name––according to him, at least––and his role as government assassin seemed to have broadened.
That Gray was alive was not a surprise, as Cole was the lone member of the Icarus who had decided to give him a second chance, despite his questionable actions and ultimate betrayal. What was surprising was that Gray’s mission was a rescue and not quest for vengeance. It also meant that Research was in charge of this ridiculous mission, their interests yet unknown.
Those two revelations convinced Cole to continue their course to the given coordinates. He was infinitely curious about Gray’s magic face and hair and how it was possible to change as it did, but the assassin equated it to little more than a form of Ghosting. Cole knew there was more to that story, but he filed his intrigue back in his mind; he had a feeling most everything would be disclosed soon enough—at least in terms of whatever job was awaiting him.
