The jane colt trilogy, p.26
The Jane Colt Trilogy, page 26
Jane’s eyelids fluttered. “Adam?” They fell shut, as though she didn’t have the strength to keep them open. “Where’s Devin?”
Devin took her hand in his. “I’m right here, Pony.”
The corner of her mouth flickered, as if she was trying to smile. “Devin, don’t be sad. You’ll always have me.”
“I know.” He picked her up. Her body hung limply in his arms, and he felt no warmth in her skin.
“I’m fine.” Her voice was faint. “I need some sleep, that’s all.”
Devin placed her in the hammock. “I’m getting you help.”
Jane’s eyes popped open. “Don’t you dare!” She barely lifted her head before sinking back. “You know we can’t… What about justice, Devin? What about…”
Her eyes closed, and her head lolled to the side. She looked like her own ghost, and she suddenly seemed so fragile.
I should never have listened to her protests. I only did because it meant I could keep looking for Sarah.
Devin backed away, feeling as though his very presence endangered her. “This is my fault.”
Adam approached the hammock. “I didn’t know she was sick either.”
Devin started to leave the room. He knew what he had to do. “Take care of her. I’ll figure something out.”
Concern crossed Adam’s face. “She wouldn’t want you doing anything that would put you in harm’s way. She loves you too much for that. You have no reason to blame yourself. You haven’t done anything wrong.”
Devin stopped. “How could you know that? You barely know me. In fact, why did you believe me in the first place, when I said I was framed?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
Devin recognized the idealistic nonsense filling the kid’s head and wanted to shake the blind faith out of him. He left in silence.
He entered the cockpit and looked down at the useless control screen. The ship was dead in space, floating aimlessly through the void. Even if he could pilot it, less than a day’s worth of power remained. Where would he go? No Name had infiltrated two of the IC’s most powerful companies and attacked their big shots, the ones with the best security. They’d hacked an entire float and destroyed a building full of soldiers under the nose of a Megatooth warship.
And Jane had been poisoned.
Fuck.
A thought entered his mind as he recalled something Kron had said, the possibility that… I’m probably wrong. Even if Devin were right, there was nothing he could do about it—nothing that wouldn’t make things worse. When it came to the Pandora Project, knowledge was lethal. Perhaps it was best to dismiss the notion.
He returned to the living quarters and stood in the doorway. Adam wrapped a blanket around Jane and kissed her softly on the forehead. Damn, he really loves her. Poor kid.
The look in Adam’s eyes said he would be there for her, no matter what, looking out for her even if she didn’t think she needed him. Devin hoped the kid truly was who he appeared to be. As long as he was, Jane would be all right. If he wasn’t… Well, she’d still be better off with him than on the run with her fugitive brother.
The brother whose carelessness nearly killed her.
That’s it. Time to end this.
Chapter 16
The Interrogation
An abrupt lurch woke Jane. Her hammock swayed. The ship must have bumped into something. She pushed through the crushing weariness and sat up.
Adam leaned against the wall, asleep on the floor beside her.
Must’ve been out a while. “Adam? Adam!”
Adam blinked. “Sorry, didn’t mean to fall asleep.”
“What’s happening?”
“I don’t know.”
Devin entered and looked at Jane with a strange sadness.
What’s wrong?
“Hey, Pony.” His voice was quiet. “I’m glad you’re awake. Everything’s going to be fine.”
Rhythmic marching boots pounded the decking. Jane bolted from the hammock and stumbled out of the living quarters. Her vision blacked out, and she fell.
Devin caught her. When her eyesight returned, she saw the open door of the Stargazer and the airtight tunnel attached to a larger ship. The boots belonged to four crimson-clad soldiers, led by a regal-looking woman in a red commander’s uniform: Commander Vega of the Granite Flame.
“Devin, what did you do? What did you do?” She tried to run, but Devin held her back. “Let me go! I’ll get us outta here! I’ll make us disappear!”
“Jane, stop! It’s no use!”
“They’ll kill you! We’ve gotta go! We’ve gotta…” Jane felt herself sink. Darkness covered her vision.
When she came to, she found that Adam held her. Devin waited by the ship’s door.
Jane tried to escape. “Let me go! I’ve gotta get to the cockpit! I’ve gotta get us outta here!”
The soldiers entered, and one of them handcuffed Devin.
Commander Vega clasped her hands behind her back and lifted her chin. “Devin Colt, you are under arrest for the attempted murder of your father and for the murder of Dr. Revelin Kron. You have been sentenced to death, and you are to be taken back to Kydera Major for processing.”
Jane couldn’t find the strength to say aloud the cries in her head: You can’t! He’s innocent! No Name’s still out there! You’ve gotta to let him go!
Devin looked at Commander Vega. “My sister’s very ill. Please see that she receives medical attention.”
Commander Vega nodded and waved a hand at the soldiers.
Jane wanted to cry out, to fight, but her body sank again. She could barely see through the black veil before her vision.
Devin glanced over his shoulder as they led him away. “It’s fine, Pony. They’ll take care of you.”
A heavy cold consumed Jane, and the darkness returned.
Commander Vega usually left interrogations to her subordinates, but she wanted to handle Devin Colt’s interrogation herself. After ensuring that her cybernetics team rigorously monitored the Granite Flame’s central computer for potential hacks, she left the bridge in the hands of her second-in-command and went down to the brig.
She entered the small interrogation room and sat down at the steel-gray table across from her prisoner, whose hands were chained before him. High-tech heart rate monitors and movement-scanning machines surrounded him. Behind him, a large screen displayed the results. Commander Vega had only ordered them to be employed due to protocol; her intuition was the only lie detector she’d ever needed.
Colt stared blankly at the wall. “Is Jane all right?”
“She’s unconscious but stable.” Commander Vega sensed an unusual melancholy about him, and he suddenly looked very young—too young to die. Something about the situation felt off, but she wouldn’t let that keep her from objectivity. He’s a murderer. “Your sister was poisoned by a toxic chemical. If my medical team hadn’t reached her when they did, she would have died within a day, and you would have been responsible for her death, as well.”
“I didn’t even know she was sick. She was so strong…” Colt shook his head. “And so stubborn.”
Commander Vega clasped her hands and placed them on the table. “Why was she with you?”
“I kidnapped her. Needed a human shield, remember?” He was clearly lying, sarcastic even.
“I want the truth.”
“That’s the only truth there is.” His stare seemed to challenge her, daring her to elicit a different answer.
I shouldn’t waste my time on the matter. “What about Adam Palmer? Why was he with you?”
Colt broke his stare. “Found him on Travan Float. Jane wasn’t having a mental breakdown when she said he’d been kidnapped.”
Travan Float… Commander Vega mentally ran through the facts. “A recent report from one of the Fringe patrols stated that Travan Float lost control of its internal defenses and robotic units. A space battle followed, between various unrelated mercenary and pirate ships that appeared to have no motive. Were you involved with that?”
Colt nodded. “They were after us. It started after we broke into a storage unit and found Adam drugged in there.”
“Adam Palmer has been on Dalarune since the day before you shot your father.” From the records, Commander Vega knew he had to be lying again. The lie detectors told her he was not. People had been known to overcome the machines before. Given his past as an ISARK informant, he might have training in that area.
Nevertheless, she pursued her questions. “Your father was a great man. He gave you everything—life, opportunities, even cleaned up after your indiscretions. Why did you want to kill him?”
Colt looked her in the eye. “I didn’t.”
Commander Vega felt her jaw tighten. “You have already been convicted, and there is no use in lying. But I am the one who has been pursuing you, and I want to know what would drive you commit such an atrocity.”
“I didn’t. I swear. I went to talk to him, and he lowered the shades in his office. Anything that was seen from the outside was a computer-generated video.” Colt lifted the corner of his mouth into a humorless smile. “They can make fakes very convincing these days.”
How far will you go? “Your gun was found at the scene.”
“Someone installed it in the internal defense system.”
“The forensics report said the blast’s trajectory was consistent with being fired point-blank at Victor Colt’s forehead.”
“It was forged.”
You have an answer for everything, don’t you? Irate frustration chipped Commander Vega’s composure. The lies were as insulting as they were blatant. Yet that off feeling prevented her from being sure they were lies. For the first time since she’d been given command of the Granite Flame, she felt uncertain.
She looked past Devin Colt at the screen showing the lie detectors’ results. According to his heart rate and eye movements, he told the truth, but again, the machines had been outwitted in the past.
Stubborn bastard. Next topic, then. Commander Vega unclasped her hands and rested her back against her chair. “What about Dr. Kron? Why did you murder him?”
Colt leaned toward her. “I haven’t murdered anyone. I’ve only killed when I had to.”
Commander Vega stiffened. “I read your ISARK file. You hunted that man like an animal, and you killed him in cold blood.”
“That’s not what I did.”
She realized she digressed and returned to her intended subject. “You were seen in BD Tech’s Fragan facility carrying a weapon, the same weapon we confiscated upon your arrest. The security team was alerted to your presence by an anonymous tip and found you fleeing the scene of Dr. Kron’s murder. What were you doing there?”
“I went to get answers. I wanted to know—” Colt broke off and examined her face, as though trying to read her. “Have you heard of an entity called No Name?”
“I will be asking the questions,” Commander Vega snapped. “To what are you referring?”
“The IC cyberpolice have been tracking them for years. Kron was tracking them too. They’re like phantoms in the Net. No one knows who they are or how much they’ve done, but they’re powerful.’”
“How is this relevant?”
“I thought Kron was behind No Name. I tried to make him tell me what he knew. He was about to tell me, and they shot him. Just like they shot my father.”
Commander Vega bristled. “How dare you. Isn’t it bad enough your sister almost died because of what you’ve done? Why can’t you take responsibility instead of blaming a fantasy?”
Colt didn’t blink. “It’s no fantasy. This is their way of getting rid of me because I found out what they’re doing. I know you won’t believe me, but you asked for the truth, and I’m giving it to you.”
Commander Vega had much more to say, but she’d come with a purpose and couldn’t allow her personal irritation to get in the way. “Dr. Kron had ties to several amateur programmers ten years ago.” She kept her words objective. “They were talented hackers who had previously refused BD Tech’s attempts to recruit them, and they all died or vanished under mysterious circumstances. Do you know anything about that?”
Colt nodded. “Some think they were working on artificial intelligence. The Collective believes No Name is involved in something similar.”
“The murdered programmers were members of the Collective. They were also involved with a well-known cybercriminal with the alias ‘Mastermind.’”
“That was Kron. That’s why I thought he was No Name.” Colt looked down and knit his dark eyebrows in thought. “He was using them for the Pandora Project… He was mining the Collective for talent.”
“What are you talking about?”
Colt met Commander Vega’s gaze. “Right before he died, Kron mentioned something called the ‘Pandora Project.’ Someone tracked No Name’s origins to the BD Tech facility on Fragan. Kron may not have been No Name, but he must’ve been involved in its origins, and they killed him and those programmers to cover it up.”
Commander Vega’s frustration grew to a dangerous level. “Your conspiracy theories will do you no good.”
“I have no reason to lie.”
“You have no reason to tell the truth either.”
“Yes, I do.” Colt spoke intensely. “Whatever happens to me, I want No Name stopped. You should too. They’re the ones who sent those Barracudas to Viate-5.”
“That’s enough!” Commander Vega stood. “Seventeen good men and women died that day because of you!”
“How could I have been behind it? I was in that building too. My kid sister was in there!”
Commander Vega scowled. “You didn’t care when you used her as a human shield and let her slowly die right in front of you.”
Colt looked as though he’d been punched. He opened his mouth, then closed it, as though he had something he wanted to tell her, but couldn’t. “I didn’t send those Barracudas.”
Commander Vega slammed her hands on the table. “You must have been involved. How else could you have escaped when my people were massacred?”
“We barely made it. It was No Name, the same ones who have been behind everything. They were covering their tracks. Why else would they have attacked right when your troops went in? That building stood abandoned for five years!”
Commander Vega glared at him. It made sense. A little too much sense.
“And what about Travan Float?” he pressed. “Do you really think Madam Wrath would care enough about one person to kill her own thugs in an attempt to gun me down?”
Commander Vega strode for the exit. “This is a waste of time. I will find the truth, with or without your cooperation.”
The door closed behind her. Her mind filled with doubts that, try as she might, she couldn’t dismiss. Records and evidence told her that Devin Colt was a mentally unstable liar. The lie detectors’ results meant nothing. He had once spent almost a year living a deception, as part of an undercover operation.
The intuition that had never failed her before told Commander Vega he’d been honest and that she was missing something. All the same, facts were facts. Disputing them was irrational.
She made her way into the medical sector. Jane Colt lay unconscious on a hospital bed. The girl had been so desperate for her brother to escape. She must have gone with him willingly, volunteered to be his human shield on Viate-5. Foolish girl. Loyalty can be a fault.
She could have had Jane Colt arrested for aiding and abetting a fugitive, but as far as she was concerned, the girl’s only crime was loving her brother. Commander Vega was prepared to argue vehemently against anyone who suggested she be considered an accomplice.
Adam Palmer sat in a chair beside the hospital bed. He held the girl’s hand and watched over her as she slept. He seemed to glow with sweet innocence. Commander Vega approached. Even if her prisoner had thrown her intuition, the boy would be an easy read. “Palmer.”
Palmer stood quickly. “Yes, Commander?”
“What were you doing on that Stargazer with Jane Colt and her brother? When did you leave Dalarune?”
“Commander, I was never on Dalarune. The last thing I remember before waking up on Travan Float is entering my dorm room at the seminary. That was almost a week ago. Jane and her brother found me, and I went with them because I wanted to know who took me and why.”
He was telling the truth—she was certain of it. There was no more to say. Commander Vega started to leave.
Palmer caught up to her. “Commander?”
Commander Vega stopped. “Yes?”
“Devin’s innocent.” Palmer’s gaze pleaded. “I know the evidence is against him, but… He didn’t murder anyone. He’s only here because he wants Jane to be safe. He’s a good man, and he doesn’t deserve to die.”
Ordinarily, Commander Vega would have responded by sharply telling him that he was a fool. Something felt different that time. She continued on her way without a word.
An alarm blared. Her second-in-command shouted over the comm, “Commander! There is an unidentified spacecraft approaching the ship. It is armed, and I believe it is hostile. It has not responded to attempts to communicate. I have deployed Betta Unit S.”
“Very good.” Commander Vega entered the elevator. A hostile in such a remote area was likely a lone mercenary or another lost fugitive.
She pressed an icon on the elevator’s touchscreen. An external view appeared. The hostile was a small, triangular ship. It easily evaded the Bettas, heading straight toward the Granite Flame.
The hostile crashed into the Stargazer docked at the warship’s side. A disproportionately large explosion ensued. By the end of it, nothing remained of either vehicle.
Commander Vega entered the bridge and listened to the second-in-command’s brief report. Apparently, the sole purpose of the hostile had been to destroy the junker.
