A King's Ship (Empire Rising Book 2) (7 page)

“Sounds good to me,” Johnston said, “I’ll be happy to interrogate this Banik fellow.”

“I’m not sure,” Becket countered. “If we do this there will be no turning back. If we can’t get to Chang in time, Varun will be on to us and if they move him again we will be back to square one. This seems like an all or nothing plan.”

Johnston waved his had dismissively at Becket. “Of course it’s all or nothing Lieutenant. Our boarding of the Chinese destroyer, Admiral Cunningham’s battle with the Chinese fleet at Wi Xiang, they were both all or nothing plays. When we don’t have any other options that’s what we always do, we go for it.”

Becket made to respond but Gupta cut her off. She didn’t want Becket riling Johnston up; he had a short enough temper as it was. “What do you think Bell?” she asked, “ultimately it’s your decision.”

Bell didn’t reply immediately. Instead she carefully thought over a few different options. After almost a minute she looked up at the rest of the group. “I don’t see that we have any other choice. Whoever is pulling the strings at Varun already knows someone is poking around their operation. If they haven’t already they’ll soon decide they need to take more steps to protect Chang and cover their own tracks. We need to move fast and confronting Banik is the only option we have on the table that will let us accomplish that. Unless anyone has a plan to get us the information we need any faster I’m going to go with it.”

Everyone else remained silent as she eyed them, making her decision for her, “ok then, Major Johnston put together a number of operational plans to get us access to Banik. I’ll start working up the questions we need to ask him. Once we’re ready we’ll take another shuttle down to the surface and get into place.”

*

That evening Gupta stood down a darkened alley not unlike the one her and Bell had led the two Varun agents into. This time she was the one waiting. Banik was obviously a dedicated worker for it wasn’t until after 8pm local time that he appeared walking along one of the routes Bell had identified Banik would likely take home. The late hour suited their plan fine though for the sun had already set ensuring most of the streets in the financial district were deserted. When she saw him she keyed her COM unit, alerting the rest of the team.

After reviewing the security to Banik’s home Johnston had decided against breaking into it. Instead he had found a cheap hotel near the Varun headquarters that didn’t ask too many questions. He had booked a suite for the entire weekend and asked not to be disturbed. That way they could get what they wanted from Banik and leave him there to be found by the cleaning staff on Monday.

After Banik had travelled down the street for a while Gupta stepped out from the alleyway and began to head after him. The other marines had been spaced out watching a number of other routes Banik may have taken. A few minutes later two clicks from the COM channel informed her they were now ahead of Banik and in place.

Immediately she broke into a light jog. When she was sure she was in ear shot she called out, “Mr. Banik, Mr. Banik, excuse me Sir.”

Instinctively Banik turned around to see who was calling his name. As Gupta jogged up to him he looked confused. “Do I know you?” he asked.

Some impression I left
, Gupta thought to herself. Obviously Banik had gone away from their earlier meeting with Agent Bell engrained on his mind. The fact that she wasn’t in her trader uniform anymore probably threw him off too.

“It’s Neysa Avvari from earlier.” Gupta began after catching her breath. “I met you with a colleague of mine, Ms. Li Bai. I wanted to talk to you about my cargo.”

“Now listen here,” Banik began but before he could say anymore one of the marines who had been sneaking up on him jabbed him in the neck with an auto-injector filled with a potent tranquilizer. As he fell to the ground the other marine caught him and propped him up. The first sent two more clicks through his Com unit.

On cue Major Johnston brought the rented aircar he had been circling overhead in to land. As soon as it landed Bell and another marine opened the door and jumped out. Together the four of them and Gupta bundled Banik into the aircar and once Gupta was aboard Johnston lifted off. In all, it had taken less than a minute to abduct Banik.

“Good job everyone,” Bell encouraged. “Now, when you take him out of the aircar make sure it looks like two of you are supporting him on his feet. There should be no one around the back entrance to the hotel. Our Major picked one well out of the way. But just in case make it look like you are just helping your drunk mate back to his bed.”

“Aye, Aye Mam,” one of the marines acknowledged with a grin, “I think I have had enough practice with that to make it look believable,” he finished, eliciting some chuckles from the other two marines.

Turning back to look at the limp Banik, Bell gently kicked his rather large backside, “you better have something good for us when you come to!”

17
th
March 2466, Bhopal, New Delhi

Banik awoke with a start. With a throbbing head he groggily tried to open his eyes. Light pierced the slightly opened slits and he recoiled at the pain it caused. Suddenly it felt like one of the elephants that had been imported to New Delhi was rampaging around inside his head. W
here am I?
He struggled to think.
I don’t remember getting home last night, all I remember is... that woman!
In alarm he tried to open his eyes again and the shooting pain made him groan.

Alerted to the fact that her charge was waking up, Bell strolled across the hotel room into Banik’s field of view. “Good morning Mr. Banik, it’s good to see you again.”

“You,” he growled. “What have you done to me?”

“Done?” Bell asked innocently. “Why we haven’t done very much. We just thought you might be more talkative if we organized another meeting. We thought something more informal would allow us to come to better terms.”

As she finished she swiveled round the chair they had Banik tied to, to let him see the rest of the hotel room. The presence of four bulky men who looked less than pleased wasn’t lost on Banik.

“What do you plan to do with me?” he asked worriedly. “I already told you I don’t know this Minister of yours. There is nothing more I can do for you.”

“Now, now Mr. Banik. There is no point telling us any lies. We already know you know all about former Minister Chang,” Bell said. Holding up her datapad she began the recording of Banik’s conversation with his superior.

As the recording finished Banik’s head slumped in defeat. “Now that we have cleared the air,” Bell began, “you are going to tell us everything we need to know about the whereabouts of Chang Lei. If you cooperate we’ll leave you in this hotel room and come Monday morning the cleaning staff will find you none the worse for wear. If you refuse, I’m going to hand you over to these marine friends of mine.

“I’m not Chinese intelligence. We’re Royal Space Navy and we’re here to bring Chang to justice. Each of these men served in the war against the Chinese. They all lost friends. As I’m sure you can imagine, they are all highly motivated to locate and apprehend Chang. If you want to stand in their way you’re going to regret it.”

Once again Bell swung Banik’s chair around so he could see the marines. Major Johnston gave the Indian a small smile, fury radiating off him. It was so strong that Bell was taken aback; the Major was clearly a better actor than she thought.

“There now,” she said swinging him back so that he was facing her. “Do we understand each other?”

“Yes, I suppose we do,” Banik conceded. “What do you want?”

“That’s very simple. Tell me everything you know about where and how Varun smuggled Chang out of Chinese space,” Bell answered.

Banik spoke in short sentences but as Gupta listened on from the sidelines it all became clear. Whoever had organized the escape had been ballsy, that was for sure. Through contacts Varun had on Earth they had actually bribed a British freighter to take Chang out of Chinese space. As part of the peace settlement with China, Britain had enforced a strict free trade policy. A large portion of the Chinese freighter fleet had been destroyed in the war and many of the British freighters had rushed to fill the demand. It would have been easy for one to evade the patrols the RSN and the remnants of the Chinese navy had hastily tried to implement.

According to Banik, Chang had been kept well-hidden from the freighter crew so they didn’t know who they were transporting. Nevertheless, Gupta knew that whoever the luckless freighter Captain turned out to be there would be hell to pay. Once in the Sol system, Chang had been transferred to a Varun freighter and then taken to New Delhi. There he had been transferred to a local mining freighter that toured the outlying Indian mining colonies picking up their processed ore and taking it back to New Delhi for use in its ever expanding industries. Banik knew the first stop the freighter made on its journey was the colony of Kerala. However, as it was an independent freighter hired out of the Varun offices on Kerala, he didn’t have access to the rest of its route. 

After asking him about the freighter’s schedule for a third time and getting the same answer Bell cursed. “Another dead end!” she shouted in frustration.

“Let me have a few minutes alone with him,” Johnston asked, “I’m sure I can squeeze a few more details out of him.”

“No, no please. I’ve told you the truth. I can’t tell you anymore,” Banik pleaded. “I don’t know, I don’t,” he continued as Johnston stood up and approached him.

“That will be enough,” Bell said as she jumped in between Johnston and the Indian, noting the fury in Johnston’s eyes.
Maybe he wasn’t acting before
, she thought. “There will be no need for any squeezing, torture won’t get us anywhere, he’ll just tell us anything to get us to stop and then we’ll be running around on a wild goose chase.”

“This is our only source of information,” Johnston almost shouted. “If you’re not willing to do what is necessary I am! You don’t have to stay for this, I can contact you when we have what we need.”

Bell held her ground and Gupta was afraid things were about to come to blows. “Wait,” she shouted. “Maybe there is another option.”

“Banik?” she asked, “won’t the Varun offices on Kerala have information on the freighter’s schedule?”

“Well… yes,” he said after a moment’s hesitation, “but that won’t help you. There is no way to access them from New Delhi.”

“No,” Gupta agreed, “but you could access them if you were on Kerala couldn’t you?”

Banik looked horrified at Gupta’s suggestion. “Leave New Delhi? You promised to let me go if I cooperated. Varun will fire me for sure.”

Bell jumped on the idea. “We promised to let you go if you helped us locate Chang, you haven’t done that yet. But look,” she followed up before Banik could interrupt, “we are not unreasonable. We know that if we abduct you and take you to Kerala you’ll lose your job and your home. But we can compensate you. I have been given permission to be very generous to anyone we can persuade to help us find Chang. How does five million credits sound?”

At that Banik’s face lit up. Bell had done her research; she knew that even as a mid-level manager in the Varun shipping company it would take him twenty years to see five million credits pass through his accounts. “In addition, I can offer you a full pardon for any crimes my government may have deemed you to be a part of and we can offer you asylum within our colonies. We could give you a new identity and make sure Varun and the Indian government can’t track you.”

“What do you say?” Gupta asked.

Despite the generosity of the offer Banik hesitated. He had built a life on New Delhi, he had friends and a sister who had her own family.
But if I lose my job where would I be?
No one will want to see me; they will be ashamed of me
.

Sensing his dilemma Bell gave him her final ultimatum. “Listen, you have two choices before you. We’re taking you to Kerala, either we force you at gunpoint to do what we want and then leave you on Kerala or you cooperate and get a new life in British space. You need to decide now.”

“Ok,” Banik said reluctantly. “I’ll do it.”

“Right,” Bell said swinging into action. “Johnston, you and your marines gather up your things. Gupta and I will get Mr. Banik to the aircar. We should be able to take a shuttle back to the trade station in orbit. No one should suspect anything. Let’s get moving everyone. The sooner we get out of here the better chance we will have of getting to Chang before Varun move him because as soon as they realize Banik is missing, that’s the first thing they will do.”

*

25
th
March 2466,
HMS
Endeavour
, edge of the Kerala system.

A week later, after a mad dash to the Kerala system, James asked Gupta the same question for the third time, “are you sure you are up for this Commander? You’ll be without any back up.”

“I know Captain, but if it is what needs to be done then it is what I will do,” Gupta answered.

“We’ll have your back Commander.” Major Johnston assured her from his seat in
Endeavour’s
conference room. “We may not be going in with you but at the first sign of trouble we’ll have you out in no time.”

James nodded in agreement. “I want you to take a full squad of marines from
Endeavour
, you can shuttle them down in two loads from the freighter if you have to but I want a full squad ready to go at a moment’s notice.”

“Don’t worry Captain,” Bell said reassuringly. “I have debriefed Banik fully, we now have a fair idea of the security guarding the Varun offices on Kerala, I’ll be with Johnston and his men and we’ll be ready for any eventuality.”

“Very well,” James said, “the mission is a go. Just remember if any of you are caught you are on your own. Don’t take anything that can identify you and whatever you do, if you get the information we need make sure it is transmitted to
Endeavour
immediately. We can’t fail in this matter.”

“Yes Sir,” Bell said. “We’ll head back to
Innocence
now and prepare to jump on into the system with your permission?”

“You have it,” James said.

As the crew of
Innocence
filed out James was left with his First and Second Lieutenants. “This has been my hardest mission yet,” he confided in them. “All this waiting and watching. Knowing there is nothing we can do.”

“You’re right Sir of course,” Second Lieutenant Malory began, “but at least we have used the time wisely. All the drills with the crew have improved our efficiency ratings dramatically. That will please the Admiralty. And for our maiden voyage we have aptly demonstrated
Endeavour’s
stealth capabilities. We’ve been in unfriendly space for almost two months and no one has come close to spotting us.”

“That’s not the point,” First Lieutenant Ferguson said. “We could go anywhere and do as many drills as we wanted. It’s the fact that while we sit up here in safety others, even our fellow crewmembers, are risking their lives. Doesn’t it leave a sour taste in your mouth?”

“Well yes, I know what you mean, it isn’t easy for any of us,” Malory answered.

James rather suspected he didn’t, as far as he could tell all Malory was interested in was his own efficiency reports and whatever illicit activities he managed to get away with. James was now sure Malory had set up at least one gambling ring on
Endeavour
, all he needed was some proof.

Knowing he wasn’t going to get any today he switched the topic. “How are the crew holding up?” he asked.

“Their fine Sir, the extra drills and simulations have been helping everyone take their minds off the monotony. Plus the extra rec time you approved has helped a lot,” Malory answered.

“That’s correct Sir,” Ferguson added. “But I think they are still being affected by how surreal this feels. Everyone is extremely motivated to get Chang and bring him to justice. But as we’ve said, just sitting around while others take the risks sits uneasy with most of the crew. I think that’s why our efficiency ratings are so high, guilt is a strong motivator.”

“I see,” James said. “Well there is nothing else for it at the moment. Everyone will just have to keep going as is. Hopefully once we get a firm location on Chang we can play a more direct role in his apprehension.”

*

26
th
March 2466, Kerala.

Gupta stood in front of the main doors to the Varun offices on Kerala. The building wasn’t nearly as impressive as the lofty tower back on New Delhi but that reflected Kerala’s status. The planet had only been colonized eighty years ago and as it was a barren rocky world there wasn’t much there to attract new colonists. Nevertheless, its mineral deposits and strategic location meant the Indians had set up more than just a military outpost and now the planet’s single city boasted a population of more than one hundred thousand. Most of them served the military base or the growing mining industry.