Matt & Michelle 1: The Fugitive Heir (16 page)

Greg scratched his head, confused. “You ran off before giving your parents a chance to meet the love of your life?”

“No, I ran off
to
give my parents a chance to meet the love of my life.”

“You’ve lost me, Matt.”

Michelle took my hand. “Matt and I came here to find and rescue his parents.”

Greg looked back and forth between the two of us. “You’re serious?”

It was the moment of truth. “Greg, are you familiar with the names Richard and Angela Connaught?”

His eyes widened. “Anyone who’s worked for GenCo as long as I have knows who they are.”

“My real name is Matthew Connaught. I’m their son.”

“Can you prove any of that, Matt? Because the news says Matthew Connaught was kidnapped.”

“That’s a cover story planted by my father.”

“And your father would be?”

“Jonas Young, the man in charge of Matt’s security detail.”

Greg looked my way. “You rate an entire security detail?”

Michelle rolled her eyes. “Oh come on, Greg. Do you have any idea what Matt’s net worth is?”

“Assuming he really is the Connaught heir, I concede your point,” Greg said. “So where do you come into all of this, Michelle? Did you meet Matt at some Bring Your Daughter to Work day or something? I mean, I’m sure the head of Matt’s security detail is well paid, but not enough to travel in the same social circles as the Connaughts.”

“Have you ever heard of the Phillips School on Draconis?” I asked.

“My wife and I lived on Draconis for nearly twenty years. She’s buried there, in fact. Yeah, I’ve heard of the school—top notch education from preschool through college. And I’m not surprised
you
went there, Matt, but there’s more to getting into that school than having the money to pay the tuition. It takes connections of the kind well beyond even the best head of security.”

“You’re right, the Phillips School was completely out of Daddy’s reach.” Michelle took over the story. “Matt’s father got me into the school
and
paid my tuition.”

“That’s quite an employee benefit.” Greg sounded skeptical. “Why would he do something like that?”

“The school provides its own security staff, so bodyguards aren’t allowed in the school. Matt’s father believed someone was plotting against him and his family. He got me into the school to act as Matt’s bodyguard when he was away from his official bodyguards.”

“No offense, honey, but I’m supposed to believe a pretty little thing like you was Matt’s bodyguard in school?”

“Stop patronizing my wife, Greg.” Greg drew back at my angry retort. “Did Nora tell you about the big guy Michelle took down during orientation? Do you want me to tell you how she rescued me from a street gang just a few weeks ago?”

“Well, any doubts I had that you love this girl are gone. Only a man defending his woman gets that angry.” Greg held his hands up in mock surrender. “Michelle was your bodyguard in school. Got it.”

“Your first thought is not entirely wrong, Greg. I always carried an emergency beacon in school. Daddy trained me to set off the beacon and then get Matt into hiding while his bodyguards swarmed in from just outside the school.”

“Okay, there’s enough evidence that you know how to handle yourself in a fight that I’ll accept the bodyguard part of the story.” Now Greg turned his skeptical gaze on me. “But I’m still not convinced of your part of the story. Maybe you’re a rich kid, but Connaught rich? That’s hard to swallow.”

Who could blame him? I lived the story and found it far-fetched even to me. “On Draconis, I could call up the school on the net, show you lots of pictures, my grades, stuff like that. Out here? I have no idea. Can you think of anything that will convince you?”

“Yeah, there’s one really simple method you haven’t mentioned.” Greg steepled his fingers and looked back and forth between the two of us. “What I don’t know is whether you’re avoiding it like the plague or just haven’t thought of it.”

“Haven’t thought of
what
, Greg?” I threw my hands up in exasperation. “I’ve never had to prove my identity before, so tell me already.”

“He wants to do a DNA test, Matt. All corporate facilities must keep those records on file and up-to-date. As a dependent of employees, your DNA is on file.” Michelle turned to Greg. “That
is
your simple method, right?”

Greg nodded.

“Fine. Let’s do it and get on with rescuing my parents.”

Greg gave me a thoughtful look then stood. “HR has the equipment we need. Am I right in assuming you’re willing to trust Nora to do this?”

“I am. What do you think, Michelle?”

She nodded and the three of us filed out of the office. We took two steps down the hall toward the bar then Dawn scurried in from the bar.

“Get back in the office!” Her fierce whisper barely rose above the crowd noise. “Cummings just walked into the bar and brought all his officers with him.”

The three of us backtracked into the little office. Dawn crowded in behind us and turned a maternal look to Michelle.

“Is Cummings stalking you like Greg said?”

Greg spoke up before Michelle could answer. “We didn’t get to that part of their story yet. Why?”

“He’s asking for these two—says he knows they came into the bar just a few minutes ago.” Dawn pointed to the coveralls. “Those things hid you pretty well, but it won’t take Cummings long to find someone who remembers a couple of maintenance techs coming back here. He’ll put two and two together.”

“He won’t have to put anything together—he already knows about the coveralls.” Michelle ran a hand through her hair. “I’m sure Nancy told him all about it.”

“Who is Nancy?” Dawn looked perplexed.

Greg shook his head. “Worry about that later. What happens if Cummings gets his hands on you?”

I took Michelle’s hand. “He’ll smuggle us onto a ship and, if we’re lucky, throw us out an airlock.”

Greg stared at me, astonished. “Are you serious?”

“Absolutely. And if he finds out you’ve been shut up in here with us, he’ll add you to his list, Greg.”

Greg and Dawn both paled. “How is Cummings going to figure out I’ve been with you?”

“The same way he knows the two of us are here. Someone is using ID chips to track us.”

“Chip tracking is one of the most secure systems in the network. I don’t even have access to it.” Greg gave a firm shake of his head. “Matt, you keep talking about death threats and missing parents and secret identities. And now it’s Cummings cracking the ID tracking system? Son, you just sound like a crazy conspiracy theorist.”

I pointed to a pad sitting on the desk. “Dawn, is that thing hooked up to the network?”

“Of course.”

I spun the pad around and started tapping out commands. “Do you know anything about the chip tracking software, Greg?”

“Yeah, I maintain it. But the network director grants me temporary access every time I update it. There’s no way to get into it otherwise.”

With a flourish, I entered one last command and turned the pad to face Greg. “You’re in CompSec, Greg. You know there’s no such thing as a completely secure system.”

“Holy hell, boy, how did you get this level of access?”

“Worry about that later. How many active processes run in the chip tracking system?”

Greg answered without thinking or taking his eyes off the pad. “Six. But I see eight running right now.”

“The next to last process on the list is mine.” I held up a hand when Greg opened his mouth to speak. “Again, I’ll tell you all about it later. Can you learn anything about the eighth process?”

We all jumped a bit as the wall comm buzzed. Dawn waved us to be quiet. “That’s the comm to the bar. Let me see what Ronnie wants.”

Tapping the comm, she asked, “Yes, Ronnie?”

“Cummings.”

“Tell him I’m busy.”

“Did. Insists.”

“Fine. I’ll be right there.” She keyed off the comm. “I don’t know what this is all about, but why don’t we just call security? You’re one of them, Michelle. They’ll show up in force.”

“No!” Michelle and I said at once.

Michelle caught Dawn’s arm. “I trust the people in security and they’ll try to help, but it will be big and noisy and it will get people killed. Please keep them out of this—at least for now.”

Frowning, Dawn nodded and walked out. Through all of this, Greg tapped away on the pad. A few seconds later, Greg smiled and leaned back, though he kept entering commands on the pad.

“That will keep Cummings busy.”

“What did you do?” I craned my neck to see the screen.

“I just did a little mix-and-match with your ID signals. A couple of people wandering by the bar are now reporting as you two and you two are showing as those two people.” Greg stopped entering commands. “And now the signal will swap to random nearby people every minute. That will keep Cummings and his crew busy for a while.” He steepled his fingers and looked at Michelle and me. “While we wait for them to scatter, you have time to tell me everything.”

So we told him everything, only leaving out my psychic ability. I’ll say this for Greg, he listened carefully and asked intelligent questions for clarification.

“That’s quite a story. From the way the two of you took over the story from each other, it’s either true or very well-rehearsed.”

“Doesn’t the backdoor into the network lend credence to our story? You’ve used it, so you know it isn’t made up.”

“The best conmen build their lies around a solid core of truth. You could have stumbled across the backdoor or been friends with a child of someone familiar with it. Or you could be the best hacker I’ve ever met and installed it yourself.”

“But-”

Greg held up a hand to stop me. “
But
this is so simple to verify that I’m withholding judgement until that DNA match is complete. And mentioning that, the way to HR should be clear. Let’s go.”

Michelle and I donned the overalls and we set off.

Dawn came to us when we returned to the bar. “The strangest thing happened. Cummings ranted away at me about where I’d hidden you until he got a comm call. After the call, he and his men rushed out of here. You know anything about that?”

“A bit, Dawn,” Greg smiled. “Do yourself a favor and forget these two were here tonight.”

Greg hurried us along little-used corridors, scouting heavily trafficked ones before leading us through them. When we left the entertainment sector, avoiding people got easier. Fifteen minutes later, we entered the station HR offices and found Nora waiting for us.

“You’ve been awfully mysterious about all this, Greg. Is there a problem with the station’s cutest pair of newlyweds?”

“You could say that, Nora. One way or another, these two are in serious trouble. How much and what kind of trouble depends on what you discover.” Greg looked around at the small staff in the front offices. “I’ll say more in private.”

Nora nodded and led us deeper into the office. Being in HR, she must deal with privacy requests all the time. We ended up gathered around a small conference table in a comfortable office.

“Now, what can I do for you?”

“Run a DNA scan on Matt.”

Nora’s eyebrows climbed in surprise and she resolutely shook her head. “Absolutely not. I cannot do a scan without legal justification. By Federation law, that’s an unreasonable search.”

I only saw one way out of this. “I give you permission to perform the scan and will sign whatever forms you require to grant authorization.”

Nora cocked her head in thought. “You realize anything I discover is valid evidence in a court of law. In fact, the results of all scans forward to the Federation automatically.”

“I knew the first, not the second. Is there a Federation consulate on the station?”

“No, the nearest one is on Eridani station. Does this information change your mind?”

I looked at Michelle, who took my hand and shook her head. “No, but it changes my timetable. How much time have we got before the Feds descend on the station?”

Nora drew back and glanced nervously at Greg. “Is he a terrorist or something?”

Greg shook his head. “Not according to his story. Tell her, Matt.”

I took a deep breath. “Here’s the short version. I’m Matthew Connaught, supposedly kidnapped heir to the Connaught fortune and the single largest holder of GenCo stock. The Feds will come in force because of the kidnapping cover story and because I’m a billionaire. Michelle and I are here because my parents, missing and presumed dead by everyone else, are alive and being held on this station. We’re here to rescue them.”

Nora blew out her breath in exasperation. “For God’s sake, Greg, you’re getting too old for practical jokes.”

“I’m not joking, Nora. And the more I observe Matt, the more I believe he’s not joking, either.”

Michelle leaned forward. “Nora, just run the test for us. Please?”

“Michelle, did he feed this story to you to get you to marry him?”

Michelle leaned back and slid an arm through mine. “I’ve known Matt for years, Nora. I already know the truth.”

Nora looked at each of us in turn then went to her desk. Grabbing her pad and a stylus, she returned. She tapped through a menu then slid the pad in front of me and handed me the stylus. “Sign every highlighted field. You’re Matt Atwood until I say otherwise.”

I got busy signing while Nora waved her chip across the reader on a locked cabinet. She came back with a small device, inspected the forms, and then motioned for my left hand. She held the device to my finger and I felt a sharp prick. Heading back to her desk, Nora plugged the device into her pad and tapped away.

“Connaught. Matthew. Middle name?”

“Bernard,” Michelle answered.

Nora smiled. “I see she’s still answering questions for you, Matt.”

“She does a lot of other things for me, too.”

Nora glanced at Greg. “Why do young people always feel compelled to bring their sex lives into every conversation?”

Before anyone could respond, Nora’s pad beeped. She glanced at the pad and then gave me a hard look before smiling. “Would this be a bad time to ask for a raise, Mr. Connaught?”

Greg flashed a brief smile. “So the DNA scan is a match?”