Jason King: Agent to the Stars 1: The Enclaves of Sylox (20 page)

“So when did you get the idea to steal the Unity Stone?”

“That wasn’t my idea. I was approached before we left Earth and offered a sack full of money for the job.”

“Who approached you?”

“A couple of guys in expensive suits—”

“Humans?”

“That’s right.”

“You’re saying
Humans
wanted you to steal the Unity Stone? That doesn’t make any sense. And didn’t you say you were hired by aliens?”

“They were working for the aliens, which met when I arrived on Sylox. By then you had already been identified as the source of entry to Orn’s house.”

“And as a scapegoat for the theft.”

“That was never discussed. You were originally just a way to get into the house. All I was supposed to do was get close to you and get the lockbox code and some DNA.”

“So you screwed me – literally.”

Miranda’s eyes softened. “That wasn’t part of the plan, it just happened. But it did serve my purpose.”

My ego inflated to a level I refused to let Miranda see. So, she slept with me because she
wanted
to.
Well look at you, Jason King, you stud, you.

“So what happened next? Obviously you didn’t do everything according to plan.”

“I did most of it. I got you to make contact with the CIA chief. That was also part of my instructions, I guess to establish your ties with the Human spy network—”

“I meant about the diamond.”

Miranda smiled, coy and seductive. “C’mon, Jason, it’s a
twenty-nine thousand carat
diamond. That’s ten times larger than anything ever found on Earth. And they just wanted me to turn it over to them once I had it. By then they’d already paid me half the money, so with over three million dollars
and
the diamond, it didn’t take much for me to screw them, too, especially with aliens running the show.”

That comment sparked an incongruity I’d heard earlier. “You say it was Mark Wilson who put you and Jennifer together?”

“That’s right. I had no idea who the Wilson’s were before then.”

“And he’s the one who persuaded you to come to Sylox?”

“That’s right, and I didn’t want to go at first. It’s a pretty drastic change, as you know. But he said it would only be for six months.”

“And then after that others came to you with the plan to steal the statue while waving millions of dollars in your face.”

“That’s exactly it! I didn’t set out to steal anything, or to hurt you. That came later.”

I placed my head in my hands and shook it. Could it really be true?

When I lifted my head again I saw Miranda’s eyes wide and her mouth hanging open. “You can’t be thinking that?” she said. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

“What … that Mark Wilson is the mastermind behind the theft? But it makes perfect sense. He and his people figured out that the way to access the Velosian vault holding the Unity Stone was to get the codes off Orn’s computer at his house. Then they needed a sexy, down-on-her luck jewel thief to get the codes and execute the theft.”

“You think I’m sexy?”

“Knock it off; this is serious. To gain entry to Orn’s house, all Mark had to do was look in the Multiple Listing Service to see that I had the listing and then arrange to be shown the property. I suppose that was your idea?”

Miranda pursed her lips. “It’s what they wanted me to do. They provided all the equipment for me to get into the office and bug his computer.”

“And other than Mark Wilson, you can’t say for sure who
‘they’
are?”

“I probably met no more than four or five people face-to-face. It’s obvious you’ve never done this kind of work before, but the fewer people you have direct contact with the better. But Mark never steered me in any direction.”

“He didn’t have to; he had others to do that.”

I suddenly had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.
What about the kids?
If Mark Wilson was the bad guy here – and he’s eventually found out – then it would devastate the Wilson children. Jennifer said they’d only been married a year, so it wouldn’t be so bad for Heather. But the younger one – Jonathan and Melissa – children of that age usually cling to a father figure with all their hearts.

I also hoped Jennifer wasn’t involved in this; I seriously doubted she was. But now she would have to deal with a possible counterfeit cousin as well as a new husband who could turn out to be an evil mastermind of galactic proportions.

But the kids, that’s what really bothered me. I have to admit, I kinda liked the little munchkins.

“It still doesn’t make sense that a Human would be behind this, not with the possibility of the Earth being destroyed because of it,” Miranda said.

“So you’ve finally accepted that?”

“Your friend Bill kinda confirmed it.”

“Well, the part about the Earth being destroyed only came up after you decided to keep the statue, making a war all but a inevitable. But I could see Mark’s plan working, if you
had
given it to them. Then the worse that would have happened is that we – both of us – would have been accused of working with the
aliens
to smear the good name of the Humans. Mark could then claim that the aliens’ goal was to get the Earth expelled from the Union so we’d no longer be competition for their builders. Jonk Limbor and his Linoreans would be disgraced, having risked a galactic war just to get rid of some business competition. After that, Mark’s people would become the premier builders in the galaxy. And they’d be heroes – very rich heroes.”

“Who’s Jonk Limbor and Linoreans? They sound like an old ’50’s rock and roll band.”

That was actually pretty clever and brought a smile to my face. “Hardly; they’re the ones following us now. They’re group of galactic building contractors and industrialists powerful enough to have their own money. And more-than-likely, they’re the ones you’ve had contact with, which could all be part of Mark’s plan. And if he did want to get even more ambitious, he could let the war happen between the Velosians and the Simoreans.”

“Why would Mark – or even these Linorean characters – want to start a war? Who benefits from a war?”

I looked at her with a cockeyed expression.
Who benefits from a war? Was she kidding?

“A lot of people benefit from war, sweetheart, especially the contractors who’ll be there to help rebuild a ravaged galaxy.”

Were the ambitions of Mark Wilson that Hitler-esque? Would he go so far to start a war simply for the business he could siphon from it?

Whatever the initial goals were of Mark Wilson and the Linoreans, when Miranda absconded with the Unity Stone, all of them got turned upside down. Now it appeared everyone was just scrambling to make the best of things, while also trying to tie up any loose ends – such as me and Miranda Moore.

“So it’s about the money?” Miranda said.

“It’s
always
about the money.”

Chapter 28

As it turned out, I didn’t so much take the scenic route back to Sylox, just the long one. Space, for the most part, was just that – space – and with not a lot to look at. Sure, occasionally we would streak close enough by a star to express a few oohs and awes, but mostly it was bored-out-of-your-gourd tedium.

So it came as a great relief when sixty-four hours later I throttled back and began to drift in dark status within sight of the brilliant accretion disk I’d first witnessed about two months before.

Damn, had it only been two months ago since Miranda Moore first walked into my life? Of course, I knew now that there had been parties conspiring against me long before that – which made me feel both special and violated at the same time. I had less than a day to return the statue, so no matter how long this affair had been in the works, it was going to end – one way or another – in about nineteen hours.

I had given Bill my ETA, after adding seven hours to it. I wanted to make sure I could get in the area ahead of any traps that might be set. As it turned out, all was quiet, as far as I could tell.

Miranda was really getting used to this zero-g thing. In fact, I believed that if she had her choice, she would prefer to live out her life this way. I let her have her moment, flying around the cabin like a bird and laughing.

Seeing her happy like this also created a pang of sorrow in the pit of my stomach, because no matter how I looked at it, I couldn’t see this thing ending well for her. She had been a willing participant in the theft, and simply giving back the statue wouldn’t get her off the hook that easy. She was destined for some serious jail time.

So as she did ball-rolls in mid-air, drifting across the cabin until kicking off the bulkhead at the rear and then soaring over me like Superman, I let her play. In our hectic, responsibility-filled adult lives, we get so few opportunities just to play.

But playtime ended about five hours later, when a proximity alarm began to clang, sending both our hearts racing. By then, Miranda had tired of playing bird and was instead drifting near the ceiling, half-dozing – at least until she would gently bump into something and wake up, startled. When the alarm sounded she looked like one of those cartoon characters with every limb shooting out in all directions in an exaggerated fashion.

I was in the pilotseat, with it spun around and facing into the cabin, while absent-mindedly admiring Miranda’s floating body. When the alarm sounded I spun the seat back around, as Miranda flailed away for a moment until her hands found something to grab onto. Then she propelled herself into the copilot seat.

“Is it your friend … or someone else?”

Unless Bill had brought company along, this wasn’t him. “Three ships, as far as I can tell. There may be more out of range.”

Even as I watched, the contacts maneuvered to a stop, and then winked out as they each went into dark status. My computer marked their last known locations.

“So they know about the meeting,” Miranda said. Her voice conveyed resignation and gone was her playful demeanor. “Do you think Bill told them?”

“I hope not. He’s a friend, and I was really counting on him to help us.”

“He may not have had a choice.”

“We’ll see – look, there’s another one.”

There were now four hostiles in the area, all dark and lying-in-wait for yours truly.

**********

The next two hours went by like molasses in January, or whatever month that saying referred to. I’d never actually seen molasses – let alone in any month of the year – but the saying conveyed my frustration with the wait.

But finally it was over.

A larger ship – evidenced by the gravity signature of its drive – appeared on the scene. It came to a relative stop, yet maintained a charge on the gravity drive, as well as its internal generators. This had to be Bill; he wasn’t trying to hide. I thought how those in the dark ships must be chomping at the bit, anticipating my arrival at any moment.

I didn’t disappoint them.

Fourteen minutes after Bill’s arrival, a small starship zipped through the region, carrying with it the energy signature of a Noreen II. However, rather than rendezvousing with Bill’s ship, the tiny contact bolted right through towards the accretion disk a half light-year away. Within seconds of the small craft’s passing, the four silent predators activated their gravity generators and shot out after it.

I watched for a breathless moment to see if Bill would follow. Luckily, he didn’t. He wasn’t in the mood to go looking for trouble, not after having already expressed concern about the bad guys coming after him once he had the statue.

A moment later I initiated a very small gravity-well and moved in closer to Bill’s ship.

“What just happened?” Miranda asked. She was not only confused, but I could also tell she was pissed.

“You’ll see.”

That was not the answer she was looking for, and I tried my best to tune-out Miranda’s latest tirade as I slipped the
Enterprise
into the gaping cargo hold at the rear of Bill’s ship. I shook my head, thinking that this woman either had a real anger management problem, or else she really loved the sound of her own voice.

Once the cargo bay was sealed and pressurized, I opened the side door to the
Enterprise
and stepped out. Unfortunately, Miranda followed, still chattering after me.

Bill was on the deck waiting for us.

“I suppose that play was part of your plan, my Captain?”

“I figured they would have your line tapped, so I had to come up with something to draw the hounds away from the fox.”

“What?”

“Never mind; any chatter?”

“Oh yes, quite a lot. Apparently your pursuers have followed the other Noreen into an area of restricted space. There’s a lot of confusion going on now, as military vessels are chasing your hunters deeper into the forbidden zone, while the Noreen has joined up with one of the military vessels.”

“What other Noreen?”

Bill looked hard at Miranda as she stepped between the two of us to ask her question. I could tell he was somewhat angry at her; it was just a guess, but probably because she had started this whole mess in the first place. I did a little dance and worked my way back between the two of them before Bill had a chance to react.

It seemed like an explanation was in order.

“I had Quint ask for his own a test drive of a Noreen II, with instructions to blast right through our meeting place and into the restricted area.”

“But he could have been killed, blasted by one of those ships out there,” Miranda said.

“I don’t think so. He came through too fast for ships sitting in dark status to get an accurate shot. And as Bill now reports, he’s cozied up to the nearest battlecruiser, screaming bloody murder about the pirates chasing him.” I smiled, thinking that if the salesbeing with Quint was the same Zorphin who worked with me – Vol’ox was his name – he would have been pitching a fit as Quint steered them right into a place he knew to be a forbidden zone.

Bill had passed his anger stage with Miranda by now and was instead shuffling nervously on the metal deck. “Perhaps we should get this transfer underway, before anyone decides to come back.”

I had grabbed the container holding the Unity Statue on the way out of the
Enterprise
, and now I handed it over to the alien.

“Will you be staying aboard as we enter the system?” Bill asked.

“Seems like a safe way to get in undetected. And you’re right, we should get moving. Full speed ahead …
Captain
Billork!”

The green-skinned alien was too nervous to appreciate his promotion. Instead he literally hopped away with the case containing the Unity Stone, heading for the bridge.

**********

After watching Bill leave the cargo bay, Miranda turned to me with a fiery stare. “That’s it? He just takes the statue and we remain here, trapped on this ship, completely at his mercy, or the mercy of whoever wants to stop us?”

“Why do you ask so many questions? Can’t you just relax and let things play out?”

“Because it looks you’ve just given away the only bargaining chip we may have had. Your alien friend will just hand the statue back to its owners and then ask them to be nice to us.”

“It was your idea to call someone.”

“Yeah, but we should’ve got something in return
before
turning over the statue. What guarantees do we have that he can cut us a deal? And not only that, but I think I’d feel more secure out in space in your souped-up motorhome, rather than locked in this flying storage locker.”

“That last part I can’t argue with, but Mark and his people are still going to be looking for us, especially when they find out they’ve been chasing Quint and not us. Someone’s going to make a call, and with a Noreen’s unique gravity signature, they’ll have the hounds out once again. Staying aboard means no one will see us coming.”

“So why
did
you give him the statue? Why not just hitch a ride to Sylox and let
us
broker the deal ourselves?”

“Stop with all the questions, and just let Bill handle his part. He’ll have a lot more credibility with the authorities than would the
Human
who stole it. And you notice I used the singular
Human
and not the plural, as it should be. Now follow me. We need to get all the names, locations and any other details you can remember about this operation down on paper. If Bill is going to save us, he’s going to need something more than just the statue to bargain with.”