Search for the Phoenix: Phoenix Series Book 2 (27 page)

“Where are we meeting Ronnie?” Nolan asked.

“She’s coming here, tomorrow morning. You haven’t been getting enough rest,” Megan said.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean… Becca died on this ship.”

“Yes, and so did John! Do you really think I’ve forgotten?”

Nolan looked away. “No… I know you haven’t. Wake me if you need me,” he said as he stood and walked to his cabin.

Megan watched him go, angry that he had questioned her judgment on bringing Ronnie here. At the same time, she regretted snapping at him. “I need sleep, too,” she said as she turned and walked to her cabin, closing the door as she entered.

Crossing to the bed, she sat and stared at nothing as a tear ran down her cheek. “Oh, John,” she whispered, “I miss you.” She pulled the pillow to her chest and hugged it as she lay down on her side and curled up into a ball.

Nolan rested his head on his pillow and looked at the ceiling. He hadn’t felt tired a moment ago, but now he was exhausted. Pains he had been ignoring were now reminding him of how broken his body still was. “Lights off,” he said. The room went dark.

* * * *

Ronnie Carr walked up the ramp into the Griffin. Reaching the corridor, she paused, having never been aboard the ship before. She could hear Megan and Nolan talking and followed the sound. The smell of food and coffee grew stronger as she went. Rounding a corner, she found them in the galley eating breakfast. “I’m sorry; I’m a bit early… Oh, Nolan, are you okay?”

“I’m getting better,” he said.

Megan stood. Rushing over, she pulled Ronnie into her arms. “You’re welcome to join us. What would you like?” she asked.

“Just some coffee. I already ate,” Ronnie said.

Nolan stood with some difficulty. A long night’s sleep had done wonders for his mind, but his muscles were now stiff from inactivity. He limped to the counter and filled a mug with steaming coffee. The ladies were just sitting down at the table when he set the cup in front of Ronnie. “Do you want anything for it?” he asked.

“No, I like it black,” she said.

Nolan nodded and sat.

“Did SACOM do this to you?” Ronnie asked.

Nolan nodded, but said nothing.

“They nearly beat him to death. You’re just seeing the fading of the bruises,” Megan said.

Ronnie reached over and squeezed Nolan’s hand gently. “You shouldn’t be here. You should leave Caldon and get far away from here.”

“I’m not going to run away,” he said. Then, changing the subject, he said, “Here, I have something for you.” Reaching inside his shirt, he pulled the necklace out and over his head. “This was Rebecca’s. She always wore it, except when we worked in micro-gravity. She said it kept her safe.”

Ronnie gasped when she saw it. “I gave her that for her sixteenth birthday. How did you get it?”

“Our last job… it was a micro-gravity job. I found it in her cabin when I was cleaning the ship,” Nolan said.

“So she wasn’t wearing it when she died,” Ronnie said.

Nolan looked at Megan, and then back at Ronnie. “It wouldn’t have changed anything.”

To his surprise, Ronnie smiled faintly. “I know. We used to joke about it being a protective talisman. It was just a bit of silliness between us.”

Nolan held out the necklace. Taking it, Ronnie slipped the chain over her head. She rubbed the silver
Rebecca
between her fingers for a moment, and then tucked it inside her shirt. “Thank you for returning it to me. I wanted something of hers to keep… something that was special to her. This was special to both of us. I couldn’t ask for a better remembrance.”

Megan reached over and rubbed Ronnie’s back.

“You’re welcome,” Nolan said.

“Would you like to look around the ship?” Megan asked.

“Can I? I’d love to see it. Becca spent a lot of time here with people she loved, and I’ve never seen it,” Ronnie said.

“You can show her around,” Nolan said to Megan.

Megan smiled and nodded. Standing, she held out a hand to Ronnie. Nolan sipped his coffee as he watched the ladies walk out of the galley.

* * * *

Major Anderson rushed into the infirmary, crossed the waiting room, and entered the exam and treatment area.

“Hello! Where is General Nelson?” he called.

A woman stepped into the corridor. “Come this way, Major.”

Eric followed her into an examination room, where General Nelson was resting in a bed, wires connected to his chest and tubes to both arms.

“How is he?” Eric asked.

“He’ll be fine. If that corporal hadn’t been quick to inject him with the epinephrine, we probably would have lost him,” the woman said.

“Really? From a tranquilizer dart?” Eric asked.

“The general is extremely allergic. I don’t know why he was involved in a situation where the darts were likely to be used.”

Eric shook his head. “You and me both.”

“He isn’t likely to wake up for some time. Between the tranquilizer and the drugs I’ve given him, I’d say he’ll be out until morning, at least. Why don’t you come back then? We’ll take good care of him, Major,” the woman said.

“Thank you, Doctor. I’ll come back in the morning,” Eric said before turning and stepping out of the room. He walked down the corridor and turned right, stopping at the service elevator. One floor below was the morgue. The door was open, and a gurney stood by the back wall of the elevator. He stepped in and pressed the down button. The inner mesh door rattled as it came down, and then the large outer doors rumbled as they closed, meeting with a bang, and the elevator began its descent.

When it stopped, the outer doors opened, followed by the inner mesh door. Eric stepped out and looked around. He’d only been to the morgue once, and that was more than ten years ago. Straight off the elevator was the hall leading to autopsy and cold storage. To the left was an office, the door ajar and the lights on. He walked to the door and knocked.

“Come in,” called a man from within.

Eric pushed the door open and stepped into the office. “I would like to examine Lieutenant Stevens’ effects.”

The man seated behind the desk nodded and stood. He crossed the room, unlocked a large cabinet, and removed a box. Setting it on a table in the corner, he said, “Here you are, Major. Everything the lieutenant had on him is in here, except for his bloody clothes. Those went into the biohazard waste bin. Any objects that had blood or body tissue on them were bagged and sealed. Do not open any bags, sir.”

“Thank you. I’m mainly interested in his data unit. Did he have one on him?”

The man consulted a list on the top of the box. “Yes, sir. One data unit, standard SACOM issue.”

“Was it bagged?” Eric asked.

“No, sir. It was not contaminated,” the man said.

“Good. I’d like to take it with me for examination.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll make out a transfer form, and I’ll sign out any of the items you need for your investigation.”

Eric read the list, and then lifted the lid off the box. He didn’t see anything that might be significant in any way, aside from the data unit. Picking it up, he said, “This will be all I need for now.”

The man nodded and returned to his desk. Flicking through screens on his data unit, he opened a document, recorded the transfer, and nodded to the major.

Eric pulled out his own data unit and found a document awaiting his approval. With a click, the transfer was official. Eric thanked the man and then left, turning right and heading along the corridor that led to the passenger elevators that would take him to the Security Branch’s floor. With the general unconscious in the infirmary, he needed to take charge and maintain order.

* * * *

General Nelson was sitting up in bed when Major Anderson entered his room. “You nearly died last night. What the hell were you doing down there if you knew you were allergic to the damn darts?”

Nelson looked up from his data unit and said, “The best part about being a general is that I don’t have to explain myself to majors.”

Eric smiled. “It’s good to have you back. I have something for you to look at—Steven’s data unit. The messages are particularly interesting.”

Nelson put down his own data unit and took the one from Eric. Opening the messages window, he began reading. After a moment, he chuckled and looked at Eric. “Justin Case… the man has no imagination whatsoever.”

“I thought you would find that amusing. I had our cyber unit working all night back tracing those messages as evidence for the official inquiry. They all came from a data unit purchased on Cordanth approximately two years ago. Senator Kase was visiting Cordanth at the time,” Eric said.

“That’s interesting, but not conclusive evidence,” Nelson said.

“Oh, it gets better, sir. From the time Justin Case registered his new data unit, he went everywhere the senator went. They returned to Caldon on the same starliner and, you’re going to love this, they went everywhere together for two days after returning!”

The general shook his head. “No imagination, and careless as well. He forgot to turn off Justin’s data unit after he registered it.”

“He apparently realized his mistake, eventually, and turned it off. It remained off the grid, except for brief periods that coincide with the messages sent. And now we come to the truly amazing part—almost every time the Justin unit was turned on, it was located in Kase’s senate office,” Eric said.

“Then we’ve got him. Good work, Eric.” The general put the data unit down and stretched. “You know, things have gone well so far. We’ve rounded up almost the entire ring. Once we get Kase, I think we can turn this over to the Senate Ethics and Proprieties unit for investigation and prosecution. We’ll let them decide what to do about Marlow Freight and the senator’s daughter.”

“Speaking of getting Kase, we need to plan that carefully. You said he is nervous. We should do our best to put him at ease, to get him off guard,” Eric said.

“What do you have in mind?”

Eric smiled. “You died last night, sir.”

“Did I?” Nelson said with a chuckle. “That would certainly be a load off the senator’s mind.”

“I’ll inform the senator of your passing right away. Maybe I can persuade him to transmit his appointment of Captain Jiorgenson as temporary commander of SACOM today. With the First Admiral dead, Vice Admiral Tompkins dead, and now your unfortunate demise, things could spiral into chaos around here without someone in undisputed authority.”

The general smiled. “I like it. Then, when he arrives, we can arrest him without having to wait for him to complete that formality.”

“Exactly. We’ll lead him directly into the trap before he knows what’s happening.”

“I want to see the look on his face when he discovers he’s been duped,” Nelson said.

“Should I go back to my office to contact Kase, or would you like to listen?” Eric asked with a grin.

“Actually, I’ve been cleared to return to duty. I’ll go with you and watch the show from your office. You had better seem distraught, Eric. You’re really going to miss me, you know.”

“I’m beside myself with grief, sir,” the major said with a laugh.

Nelson laughed and shook his head as he climbed out of bed.

* * * *

“Senator Kase, I’m afraid I have some unpleasant news to deliver,” Eric said.

“Oh? And where is Lance? Shouldn’t he be briefing me?”

“I’m sorry, sir, but General Nelson is dead. Several of our security forces members who were loyal to First Admiral Bennett attacked General Nelson and his personal squad last night. Lieutenant Stevens was also killed,” Eric said.

“I see. Well, I’m sorry to hear that. Lance was a good man. He’ll be missed. Too bad about Stevens. If he was loyal to Georgia, he might have been able to shed some light on her activities,” Kase said.

“Yes, sir. He might have been valuable to our investigation. As it stands now, everyone we know who was involved in the conspiracy is dead. With your permission, I’ll close out the case file and we’ll move forward from here.”

“Yes, of course. By all means, close the file. A fresh start—that’s what we need. Now, if you will excuse me, I have some business to attend to,” the senator said.

“Before you go, if I might make a suggestion, sir. It might be a good idea for you to transmit the orders naming Captain Jiorgenson acting head of SACOM.”

“I plan to meet with the captain and give him his orders personally,” Kase said.

“Yes, sir, I know that was the plan. However, with Bennett and Tompkins gone, and now General Nelson… gone, things might get unsettled around here without any clear, legitimate authority.”

The senator looked thoughtful for a moment. “Yes, I see your point, Major. Very well. I’ll transmit the captain’s orders immediately. Carry on.” The connection closed.