Red Angel (25 page)

"We can only do this two more times. Then we will
have to slug it out with them. But if we're lucky, they won't be in prime
condition," Maclin said.

I suspected he spoke more for our benefit than for the
Bridge personnel.

Several minutes later, both bogeys appeared and Maclin
chose bogey two. We scored two. After our last available skip, the Vulcan had
scored four hits on bogey two and five on bogey one.

"Tac, alternate, four and four. Wouldn't want one
to feel cheated," Maclin said, the light-hearted banter probably intended to
keep everyone relaxed like this was a training exercise. From what I could feel,
it seemed to be working. The exchange went on for the next hour, with the
Vulcan slowly pulling ahead and an estimate of fifteen minutes until we would
be out of their missile range.

"Bogey one lost power," Childs said with
excitement in his voice. "Bogey two slowing, changing course."

"Good job, everyone. Maintain this vector.
Nav?"

"Seven hours, twenty-two minutes to Oasis,"
Dowell said, and everyone visually relaxed. I had been watching the damage monitor,
because the captain didn't want Jimenez to announce the damage as it occurred.
He had asked for specific information a couple of times. The Vulcan had taken a
beating but was surprisingly functional, which didn't mean many hadn't died or
suffered injuries.

There had been one Alliance ship in port, but by the
time they recalled sufficient crew to help, the fight was over. After hearing
what happened, they did proceed out to investigate bogey one, which had lost
power.

* * *

"Where do you want to start?" Adrian asked
when we arrived planet-side. Major Pannell had brought four guards for Adrian
and six rather than eight for Kris and me, as we had indicated we would be
together. Pannell had insisted we wear protective gear under our uniforms. None
of us objected after our previous encounters.

"Port Communications Headquarters, I would
assume. That's were all the records, files, and logs should be," Kris
said.

"I'd like to go visit the banks," I said.

"Why?" Adrian asked.

"If you can find where each individual banks,
their accounts may help us trim the list."

"That's a good alternative approach which might help
us to focus our inquiries or discover something we might miss otherwise.
Kris?"

"I'm for it. I understand money." Kris
grinned. We spent time looking at the banks where the people assigned to the communications
unit deposited their checks. There were three banks. After setting up our
tablets with the Oasis Communications Center, Adrian left for the Port
Communications Headquarters, and Kris and I went to the Bank of Oasis, the
largest of the three banks. Major Pannell chose to accompany us.

"I see you switched weapons, Agent Paulus. Have
you shot one lately?" he asked conversationally, but I could feel his
nervousness. Probably concerned I'd be more dangerous to his guards than
helpful.

"My mother is very smart. She had me taught in
all the basic non-assault weapons, and she had me qualify all four years at the
academy. I can hit the target in the bull’s-eye when it's standing still, but
when it's moving I thought a shard gun with a bit of a spread would be
better," I said. He nodded, appearing to reappraise me before commenting.

"I imagine people underestimate you a lot,
because of your youth."

When we reached the bank, Kris led us to the manager's
office, with all eyes following our procession and us. At the manager's office,
his secretary, a well-dressed elderly woman looking the typical guard dog,
attempted to assert her authority.

"Can I help you, Lieutenant?" she said as
Kris approached.

"Yes. Please tell Mr. Saxton that Lieutenants
Sinclair and Paulus are here and require his assistance."

"He's a very busy man, Lieutenant. I can make you
an appointment for later—"

"Now!" Kris took out her P1A badge. "This
takes precedence over anything he's doing or planning on doing. Unless Oasis is
no longer in the Alliance."

After she got control of her rollercoaster emotions,
she announced our presence and the fact we had P1A badges, and we proceeded
into his office. Saxton was a short pudgy man with glasses and thinning hair.
He stayed sitting, his eyes wide as he surveyed our group. Kris marched up to
the desk and showed the P1A badge.

"Mr. Saxton, we need to look at some of your
customer accounts."

"They’re private," he protested.

"Major Pannell, arrest Mr. Saxton while I find
his assistant. I'm sure he'll prefer cooperation to prison."

"No, no, wait, I'll do it," he said as
perspiration formed on his forehead. Kris had him check every name that had
their paycheck deposited directly to the bank. Then I had him check the other
names. He found accounts for three of the other individuals on the list. I also
had him follow some money transfers and discovered two other accounts under a
different name.

We only managed to visit one other bank that day, but it produced
similar results. Afterward, we obtained rooms at the Army facility about twenty
klicks out of the city.

"An interesting day," Adrian said as we
settled down in a conference room the colonel in charge let us use. "There
has been a concerted effort to clean up. It would have passed a casual review,
but I went to the system logs and found the deletions—more than a hundred.
It's going to take a few days, but this is looking bigger that I expected. I
had thought one or two individuals, but it appears many more are
involved."

"The bank was a good idea and fun. P1A authority
is intoxicating," Kris said. "Anna had the manager check all the
names on the WavCom employee list, and we found several additional
accounts—big ones. And when we traced the bank transfers into and out of
these accounts, we found more accounts at other banks which look like they may
be aliases, again big amounts. We are talking millions of credits, and we've
only checked one bank.

* * *

For the next week, Kris and I hit all the banks, even
the small ones, and found every employee had two or more accounts and the
amounts far exceeded what these individuals could have saved on their current
salaries. Each day, Adrian identified the sender and receiver of each deleted
message. By the end of two weeks, we had a clear picture. The messages coming in
were predominately from people around the Alliance detailing the movements of
the UAS ships. The senders would have to be traced at some later date. The
outgoing messages were pickup and drop-off times with the names of real people
on Oasis but who were purported to be relatives of crew on merchant ships. When
checked, they had no relatives on merchant ships and had never sent any of
those messages.

"We have a problem," Adrian snorted.
"If we arrest all these people, the WavCom will be inoperative. The entire
unit is in on it."

"Ironically, we assumed the smugglers' operation
was run out of the FPU, when in fact it looks like it's an Alliance operation.
The FPU may provide contraband, but it’s the WavCom people on Oasis running the
operation," Kris said. "Anna was right thinking Oasis was a crucial
link."

"What if I contact the Army Colonel and have him
arrange to arrest the individuals we've identified? Meanwhile, you and Anna go
see Admiral Comstock, who is the head of Oasis's Port Authority, and let him
know what we've found and see if he has a temporary solution until he can get
permanent replacements. We can't wait too long. These people have to know we
are closing in on them and will disappear if we aren't careful."

I didn't say anything. Something was missing, but I
couldn't place my finger on it. Everything Adrian and Kris said was true, but a
piece of the puzzle was missing.

* * *

Kris and I left for the Port Authority Headquarters
building after a quick breakfast.

"You've been very quiet, Anna. Anything
wrong?"

"Red and I think that we are missing
something."

"What did he say or do?" Kris said, a bit
amused.

"Maybe I'm crazy, but I know when he's agitated.
Right or wrong, I trust the feeling." We arrived at the headquarters
building five minutes before our scheduled meeting with Admiral Comstock. His
secretary checked and told us to go in. Inside, the Admiral sat behind an
oversized wooden desk. He was well past middle age but looked fit, with wavy
dark brown hair and an equally thick brown mustache. His eyes assessed us like
a wildcat deciding whether we were prey, while his facial expression remained
relaxed. Kris and I saluted. He returned our salutes as he rose and came around
his desk. I almost didn't notice the armed naval lieutenant standing off to the
side against the wall.

"I understand you have important information for
me." His smile looked more like a grin. "Hopefully, it's
nothing—" he began, and then froze as Red made an impromptu
appearance with his head on my shoulder. "Get that damn snake out of here,
Lieutenant," he shouted. I could feel the anger and ... amusement. The
missing piece fell into place.

"Admiral, I'd like to examine your tablet and
office computer," I said as I approached him and heard Kris's gasp.

"How dare you? I'll have you court-martialed for
conduct—" He stopped when I held my P1A badge inches from his face.

"It's not a request, Admiral. It's an
order." I felt Red's head change position, and out of the corner of my
eye, I could see the lieutenant reaching for his gun and the Admiral beginning
to move away from me. I drew my gun and moved to put Comstock between the lieutenant
and me a second too late, and pain seared my side. Before he could shoot again,
I stepped behind Comstock and pointed my gun at his head. Given he was twice my
size, there was no way the lieutenant would chance a shot at me no matter how
good he was. But before I could say
drop
that gun
, he was beside Kris with his gun to her head.

"Drop the gun, or I'll kill your friend," he
sneered. I guess he thought that would frighten the young girl into
surrendering her weapon. He was right; it did frighten me. The thought of me
being responsible for Kris's death made bile rise into my throat, but I knew
with certainty this wasn't a guard protecting his admiral. He was here for a
purpose—and Kris and I were that purpose.

"Lieutenant, we are acting with Priority One
Access authority. You are facing prison time if you don't put down that weapon
immediately."

"I'll count to three, then she's dead," he
shouted this time. Kris didn't say a thing. She didn't have to. I could feel
her determination and amusement as she watched me like she was enjoying a stage
play. I thumbed the shard gun spread to the narrowest—about ten
centimeters at this range
—
and
grabbed Red from my shoulder. Like he understood, he didn't wrap himself around
my arm.

"One ... two ..."

"My friend will go to Heaven, and you and the
admiral will go to Hell a second later," I said, interrupting his count as
I placed my gun against the admiral's head. I had taken a huge risk, but I felt
he wasn't ready to face death.

"Not so easily intimidated. How about I cripple
her one piece at a time? How about we start at the knees?" His laser left her
head and began to move toward her leg. I steadied my breathing as Chief Ransom
had taught me and concentrated on my target.

"I'm sorry, Red," I whispered as my arm
circled down and then up. "Incoming," I shouted as Red’s wiggling
body arched high into the air heading for Kris and her attacker. The lieutenant's
eyes flew open, and his hand with his laser rose toward Red, who was beginning
his descent. Kris’s eyes went from me to Red to the lieutenant's laser as it
rose toward Red. She pushed her body backward as he and I shot simultaneously.
He screamed, his face twisted in pain as the shards tore his extended hand and
forearm to shreds. I prepared to shoot again, but it wasn't necessary. He had
dropped the laser and let go of Kris to clutch at his mangled hand and forearm.

 
"Oh,
my God, Anna," Kris said as she pulled out her laser and simultaneously
kicked the lieutenant's laser across the room, then raced to pick up Red.
"You'll die ..." She scooped up Red and examined him from head to
tail. I almost laughed with relief seeing Kris, who hated snakes, examining Red
like he was a cloth toy. "He missed. If he had killed Red..." Tears
filled her eyes as she handed Red back to me.

"I just hoped I could shoot before the lieutenant,
or that being Red’s nanny, you would jerk enough when you saw him trying to shoot
Red to screw up his aim. You did." Red slid around my neck, and his tongue
flicked against my cheek.

Just then, Major Pannell came through the door with
his multifunctional weapon at the ready.

"Arrest them, Major," Comstock shouted.
Pannell scanned the room and looked to me, then Kris.

"Major, that man needs a doctor and is under arrest
for failure to obey a lawful order by an officer with P1A authority. And
Admiral Comstock is under arrest for ... specific charges are yet to be
determined."

Pannell nodded and waved in the rest of his detail and
began giving orders to secure the lieutenant and the admiral and to see to his
injury. I walked behind his desk with Kris following. "What do you think,
Anna?"

"I think the admiral is the missing piece of the
puzzle. I didn't think the people in the WavCom unit were smart enough or had sufficient
authority to pull this off. I think we'll find the admiral is the head of the
smuggling organization."

"I hope so. Otherwise, we're never going to get
P1A authorization again," she quipped. "You're bleeding," she
screamed and pulled up my shirt to examine the blood-soaked area. "You're
lucky, sort of. That protective vest absorbed most of the laser's beam, but you
have a nasty cut where it ends."