Tritium Gambit (Max and Miranda Book 1) (3 page)

I examined the ring on my middle finger. My parents had given it to me when I was young, and I wore it on a gold chain around my neck until I was big enough to put it on a finger. The inscription was comprised of two elegant symbols from the Rigenerare language that translate as: “Always Together.” My mother knew the risks of being an agent and wanted to make sure we were never completely separated.

I touched the ring and my mother and father sprang into being near me, holograms that I couldn’t touch but that looked real enough to be them, so real that I sometimes forgot they were memories.

“
Maximus!” my mother said. Her arms opened to embrace me, but then she gave me a small smile and let her insubstantial arms fall to her sides.

My father beamed at me. “You’re looking good. We haven’t seen you for some time.”

“
I’ve been busy,” I said. I kept my voice even so I didn’t play up the news. “I have my first solo mission.”

“
That’s great, son! Soon you’ll be a great agent, just like your mother,” my father said.

“
Harold!” my mother gave him a light slug on the arm. “We’re a team! I only made it this far because you were at my side.”

I couldn’t bear to mention that they hadn’t really made it this far, that they were only holograms. I looked back at the wall that held their pictures. They had double golden stars on either side of their names, the distinction of being Special Agents, the élite group that took on the toughest investigations and dealt with the greatest threats. I didn’t know how they died, and I wondered, if they were the best, why weren’t they still with me in flesh and blood? Unfortunately, their holograms were made before their final mission and had as little idea as I did how their lives ended. The only information I received was a condolence letter from the Service explaining that they died bravely and on duty.

I turned back to them. “Anyway, I’m about to leave, and I thought you’d like to hear the news.”

“
Great work,” my mother said. “Make us proud!”

“
I will, Mom,” I said. I reached for my ring to turn them off.

“
Don’t wait so long to talk to us, son,” my dad said.

“
We love you,” my mother said.

“
I love you, too.” I tapped the ring and they were gone.

When I walked into the hangar, Wendy was inspecting the engine on an old prop plane. She was slender with straight blond hair she wore perpetually in a ponytail. I noted that her jumpsuit had grease smudges on the front when she turned toward me as I approached. I met Wendy my first day in the Service and had learned to respect her—if for no other reason than she was part-Teslian and could run a strong electrical current through her hand capable of knocking out most people for an hour. She had given me a personal demonstration that first day. I woke up twenty minutes later, but I’m a quick healer. Now that I think of it, maybe that’s the reason that, in the past four years, I was the last person to mention how pleasant her curves are. It wasn’t that she didn’t deserve the compliment, but I don’t think anybody else was brave enough to note her exceptional shape out loud.

I was a little distracted by said curves when I heard the feminine clearing of a throat behind me. I turned and found a woman with a glowing smile, bright blue eyes, and dark hair in tight waves held in a bun. Strands of hair escaped the bun, but it only made her look more attractive. Her skin was fair with traces of freckles.

I held out my hand, hoping she wasn’t Teslian. She shook my hand firmly without, fortunately, shocking me to death.

“
Agent Maximus?” she asked.

Her smile was so powerful that it was contagious. “Please call me Max, and you are?”

“
Agent Miranda. I’m your partner on the Minnesota assignment.”

“
Partner?” My smile faltered, and not just because I felt Wendy’s hand on my shoulder.

“
I have your credentials here,” Wendy said. “Max Anderson, 24, and your girlfriend Miranda Smith, 22.” She handed us each an envelope.

Miranda opened her envelope immediately, but I simply stared at Wendy and frowned. “Johnson didn’t say anything about a partner.”

“
Captain
Johnson,” Wendy corrected me, “might not have thought to mention it. However, I’m sure you two will do great.”

I cleared my throat. “But…”

“
There’s been a ping in northern Minnesota near the town of Ely. There is an old iron mine there, and we think the source of that ping might be near the mine or perhaps from inside it.”

“
Excellent! I love exploring caves,” Miranda said enthusiastically.

Wendy smirked. “Well, it’s a mine, not a cave, and you’ll need a wetsuit because it is under fifty feet of water.” She cleared her throat. “I should probably warn you…” She looked absently at the plane. “Never mind.”

“
It sounds like a vacation getaway,” I murmured.

“
Exactly,” Wendy replied. “You two are on your first couple’s getaway and have booked a stay at the Great Rapids Inn.”

“
How are we getting there?” I glanced around for an obvious source of transportation. “Space Curve Rail or do we get a ride in a Falcon II?” Then I realized that I didn’t see a Falcon II.

“
Neither, actually.” Wendy gestured to the plane that she had been working on when I arrived at the hangar. “A Cherokee 140.”

The vintage was at best 1960s. I fought to find words. “Umm...”

The plane’s paint was faded blue and white, and there were small dents across the skin of the wings. The windshield looked like it had a permanent fog etched into it. The tail had 8609E in large bold lettering across the back.

Wendy clapped me on the shoulder and sent a pleasant tingle through me. She could do more than cause pain, I knew. At her lowest setting, she could make you tingle in ways one could not imagine. I remembered that first night together behind closed doors. It turns out there is not an inch of her body that she can’t run electric current over, which is certainly interesting, but when her passion peaks, she can lose control. No matter how pleasant the tingling feels at first, I learned the hard way that you must never put your most important body part in the equivalent of an electric socket. The shock was worse than the time I peed on an electric fence.

Wendy’s hand trailed down my chest, sending tingles through me as she went. “Well, that’s what I have for you guys. Time is of the essence. I need to help prepare the others for the Texas departure using the SCR. That mission is top priority, and Captain Johnson is already going to be upset that I’ve wasted
this
much time talking to you. As your mission coordinator, you can call me if you need anything. I’m sure you’ll be fine.” I watched her as she walked to the other side of the hangar to where the Space Curve Rail cab waited. Agents carrying Wolverine two-eighties were walking into the hangar toward her. Lucky bastards, I thought.

Miranda took two quick steps and then leaped with blinding speed to the plane. She must have crossed the thirty-odd feet in a fraction of a second—and not by running but with a lightning fast jump. She was in the cockpit with the engine running before I took my first step.

When I climbed in the plane and put on my headset, I asked, “What’s the rush?”

“
If they activate the SCR before we leave, the gravitational disturbance won’t allow us to take off for an hour. So, if you don’t want to wait around, we should go now,” she replied.

Before I was buckled in, the plane accelerated away from the hangar. We taxied out onto the runway, and then she cranked up the throttle. We were in the air in only a few moments.

When we were less than a mile away, there was a loud pop back at the base that sounded like a gunshot, but it was a cue the gravitational flux would hit us in a few seconds. We swayed and rocked, but Miranda kept the plane going parallel to the ground.

“
So, are you and Wendy dating?” she asked.

“
No.”

She kept her eyes straight ahead. “But you used to date?”

I suppressed a groan. “Sort of—it was more of a failed science experiment.”

She glanced over at me and then back out of the cockpit. After a few moments’ pause, she said, “You look ill. Do you need an airsick bag?”

“
No. I’m good.”

She smiled broadly. “Don’t worry; I have hours of flight time.”

“
Hours?” I asked, suddenly feeling a little worse.

A mad giggle escaped her lips. “How hard can it be, right?”

“
Where are the airsick bags?”

She must have thought I was joking because she didn’t tell me. She began sniffing the air. “What’s that smell?” she asked.

“
Very funny. Did Johnson tell you about the Krylian boars? I did actually take a shower when I returned from that mission.”

“
No, this smell is delicious.”

“
Thanks,” I muttered. My face felt unnecessarily warm.

“
Thank you,” said a voice in our headset.

Miranda and I both glanced over our shoulders at a man sitting in the backseat. A moment ago only our luggage had been there. Miranda’s light complexion blazed red.

I felt the plane lose a few hundred feet. I pointed to the front of the aircraft. “Miranda!”

“
Oh! Right,” she said. She was all business again as she pulled us out of a dive and brought us to a safer altitude.

“
Who are you?” she asked the man behind us.

“
His name is Tyler,” I responded, keeping my voice as even as I could. “He and I did a mission together once.” I didn’t bother to mention that Tyler had saved my life
and
saved the mission. Let the arrogant jerk say that himself, I thought.

“
Oh, so you two are friends?” Miranda asked.

I studied Tyler. I hadn’t seen him in months. His dark hair appeared to have a few more gray streaks, and it looked as if he hadn’t shaved in two days. He still looked physically fit, however, and he wore a fashionable custom-made blue shirt over a green T-shirt. His hair had that mussed look, as if he might have just fought off a dozen Virrean Wolves and looked fabulous doing it.

Before I could give a resounding “No!” Tyler cut me off. “Max and I are best mates. When you’ve been through life and death situations together, a certain bond is formed. Your fates are locked together.”

I rolled my eyes. Locked like a ball and chain, I almost said aloud.

“
Why are you here?” I asked bluntly.

“
I thought you’d be so happy to see me,” he said. He rubbed his shoulder, the one I knew he had injured to save my life. The lack of subtlety wasn’t lost on me. Apparently, I was about to repay the debt.

“
Captain Johnson suggested you might need a hand, and he said I was the man for the job.”

Yeah, and that’s why he had to sneak on to the plane, I thought. I noticed he was rolling up a Visicloak, which shows people what’s behind it but not what’s inside it, which meant he had been hiding. The Visicloak folded into a handkerchief-sized bundle that he put into his pocket.

“
I wasn’t briefed on the change of plan,” Miranda said.

“
It was a last minute change,” Tyler explained.

“
Sort of breaks protocol, if you think about it,” I said. “Most missions are assigned to only two agents, and two are less conspicuous than three.”

“
The Texas mission has ten agents on it,” Tyler pointed out.