Teleport This (20 page)

“These weapons automatically adjust their output,” said Talia, “so if your target doesn’t go down the first time you hit it, the gun will output more juice the next time you fire. Sometimes the bad guys are wearing armor or something that deflects the charge so if the weapon can’t stun them it will automatically switch from stun to blast.”

Lyn noticed Simon’s troubled expression. “What’s wrong, big guy?”

“I never really shot anything before. I don’t want to kill anyone.”

Lyn thought for a second and then said, “Remember when Luke and Han went to the Death Star to rescue Leia? Luke had to shoot lots of guys and he probably killed a bunch of them. Do you think you can be like Luke?”

“I guess,” said Simon, then his expression brightened. “So you like Star Wars?”

“I baby sat my nephew a lot when I was younger and that was all he watched. He’s twenty-four now and still reads all the Star Wars books. I’ll introduce you to him when we get back, you guys will get along great.”

“Aren’t you afraid that we’ll build critical mass?”

“Maybe if he sees you with a girl it’ll show him that anything is possible and he’ll leave the basement.”

The ship made its approach as Jon had outlined and Talia took the opportunity to provide Lyn with some basic flying lessons before landing in a small field.

“It should take us about thirty minutes to reach Monti’s compound,” said Jon. “You two stay in the ship and no fooling around. The ship can monitor the compound from here and we’ll call if we need your help, but use your own judgment if you see smoke or anything that would indicate a firefight.”

“Just be careful where you aim that cannon,” commented Talia.

“That’s what I keep telling him,” said Lyn.

“Hey, I’ve got to combat your bazookas somehow,” replied Simon.

“Maybe we should split those two up,” Ellie said to Jon. “Five minutes after we leave they’ll have their artillery out and be playing war games.”

“They’ll do fine,” said Jon. “Lyn jokes around, but she’s a professional.”

“If you say so,” shrugged Ellie.

The four left the ship and headed towards Monti’s compound. There were hardly any guards on the grounds which made gaining the building easier than expected. They stopped fifty yards from the patio.

“Is it me or does this seem too easy?” asked Talia.

“I’m not sure,” said Jon. “You were here only about what, eight hours ago. Maybe they figure that’s all the excitement for one day. You stunned a lot of guys and they’re probably recuperating somewhere else. No one is expecting you back so maybe this is it.”

“Could be,” replied Talia, “but I’m one for always playing it safe. Let’s split up and approach from two different directions. Gil, you and I will head up first on the right, give us a couple minutes and then you two follow on the left. If we draw fire, you two will be in a flanking position and can counter their assault.”

“Sounds good,” said Ellie.

Talia took out the device Agent Tomas had given her and made sure it was working properly, then nodded to Jon and Ellie. Talia and Gilbert followed a small ridge across and then a tree line as they made their way up to the empty patio. A few minutes later they were joined by Ellie and Jon.

“Well, that was anticlimactic,” noted Jon.

“I know, I was all worked up what with the flanking and all,” said Ellie.

“Hey, I had some excitement,” said Talia. “Every time I stopped, Gil bumped into my butt.”

“I was focused on our surroundings and I didn’t expect you to stop so much.”

“Shhh,” said Jon. “I hear talking coming from that hallway. Any idea what’s down there?”

“No, we were held in the opposite wing,” said Ellie.

“You were probably in the business side of the estate,” said Jon. “That way probably leads to Monti’s living quarters. Let’s get a bit closer and try to hear what’s being said.”

“That sounds like Tomas,” Ellie commented as they moved further down the hallway.

“And Monti,” said Gilbert.

“It sounds like he’s being tortured,” said Ellie.

“I think he’s laughing,” said Talia as they moved closer still.

“Please come in and join us,” they heard Monti call out.

“Yes, come along, Jon, and bring your friends,” Tomas called out.

Jon and Ellie looked at Talia and Gilbert who shrugged in silent reply, then all four turned and entered the room only to find Monti and Tomas eating dinner together while watching a video of their assent onto Monti’s patio. They laughed every time Talia stopped and Gilbert bumped into her.

“Come on in and pull up a chair,” said Tomas

“Yes,” said Monti. “I ordered more food as soon as we detected you on the premises.”

“How were you able to detect us?” asked Jon as he sat down at the table.

“You’re still using the device I gave you earlier to cloak yourself from Monti’s surveillance system,” said Tomas. “It told me it was back and we used it to image your progress through the compound, moving the guards out of your way.”

“So you’re working with Monti and Macnair after all?” asked Ellie.

“Not at all, but Monti and I are acquaintances,” said Tomas. “We’ve traded information before and he invited me to stay for dinner. He wanted to discuss what was going on. Monti told me that Macnair came back empty handed, but he doesn’t believe that’s the end of it. Monti actually believes that big chunk of Nurridium really exists. We were just talking about different ways of trying to contact you when you arrived.”

“Why did you return?” asked Monti.

“Actually,” said Jon turning to Tomas, “we came back to check up on you. I was monitoring you at the ICC and it seemed that you got stuck here.”

“And I wanted to repay you for helping us,” said Ellie. “I thought Monti would sell you out to Macnair as quickly as he did me.”

“Let me take a moment and apologize for that,” said Monti. “Hindsight being what it is, I’m sorry I ever called the man.”

“Yes, he put your carpets at great risk,” commented Gilbert.

“I’m touched by your concern,” said Tomas, “And yes, I did get caught in Monti's teleport, but he and I seem to think that you came back to continue your negotiations to move the Nurridium now that Macnair is gone.”

“Yes, there’s that as well,” said Jon, “but we were hoping to deal directly with you.”

“We don’t see why we’d need to go through Monti now that you know what’s what,” said Ellie. “You represent the Feds, so we can work with you to set up a deal.”

“No reason at all to give him a cut,” said Talia nodding at Monti. “We’d just prefer to pay cash for dinner and leave him here, out in the cold, as it is.”

Monti smiled as his guards filed into the room, weapons at the ready.

“I’m afraid it’s an awfully expensive dinner,” said Monti, “and you may not have enough on hand to cover it.”

“Can we all just relax a bit?” asked Tomas. “Look, I’m not in whatever group handles these types of deals. I’m a field agent. I can’t help you with this so you’re stuck working with Monti.”

“I don’t trust him,” said Ellie.

“So what, I don’t trust you,” said Tomas.

“You don’t trust me?” said Ellie, sounding hurt.

“It’s nothing personal, I don’t trust anyone. Monti, what’s your usual cut on a deal like this?”

“That depends on how the deal is structured,” said Monti. “As a show of good faith and to help foster trust between us, I’ll base my cut on the extra money I’m able to negotiate. Let’s say thirty percent of whatever I negotiate over the standard finder’s fee.”

“Are you mad? Five percent,” said Ellie.

“I don’t want to bicker, let’s say twenty,” said Monti.

“I enjoy bickering. Ten.”

“So we’ll settle on fifteen then?” replied Monti.

Ellie glanced at the guns pointed in her general direction. “Done.”

“Where is the Nurridium?” asked Monti.

“It’s tucked away, safe and sound,” said Ellie.

“Hopefully with people you trust explicitly,” commented Monti.

Ellie thought about Holt and Franco. Holt could have left the Nurridium hidden in the locker and then made off with it in a couple of days when they made port and Franco’s too scared to do anything other than hide alongside the Nurridium. “We’re okay.”

“Send me the specs on the item and a means to contact you. You’ll make delivery directly to the Feds and I will receive payment from them, not you.” Monti raised his glass and said, “Here’s to a successful and profitable arrangement.”

Talia contacted Lyn and had her move the ship onto Monti’s landing area outside his patio while Ellie and Jon finalized plans with Monti.

“How did it go?” asked Simon as they entered the ship.

“Agent Tomas is fine and we’re back in business with Monti,” said Talia as she moved to the control panel and prepared for launch. Gilbert stayed up front with Talia as Simon and Lyn followed Ellie and Jon into the lounge.

“So what do we do next?” asked Lyn.

“We go back to the ship and sit tight while Monti does his thing. It might take more than twenty-four hours before we hear anything,” said Ellie.

“Did you get a chance to talk with Agent Tomas?” asked Lyn.

“We had a moment or two in private.”

“Did you offer to help remove that pole from his ass?” asked Lyn.

“I happen to like the pole,” said Ellie. “You have to understand that I’ve been dealing with people all my life,” pointing towards Jon, “without poles and I’ll tell you truthfully, they’ve been a pain in my ass. It’s as if they’ve managed to perform pole transplantation surgery. I am the recipient of multiple transplanted poles. I wanted multiple orgasms, I ended up with multiple poles.”

“Captain, we’ve got an incoming message,” Talia’s voice filled the lounge, interrupting Ellie.

“Is it from Franco or Holt?” replied Ellie.

“Neither,” said Talia. “I’ve just detected a ship approaching fast. The signal’s coming from them.”

“Can we out run them?” asked Ellie as she left the lounge and made her way to the bridge.

“We won’t know until we try,” said Talia.

“Punch it.”

Talia punched it while monitoring the other ship’s status. “They’ve picked up their pace as well.”

“Captain,” said the ship’s computer, “this ship’s configuration matches the one that Macnair’s men used last time we were here.”

“What is it with these guys? I mean this goes beyond persistence,” said Ellie sitting down next to Talia and strapping in. Jon and Gilbert joined them as well. “Okay, let’s hear what they have to say.”

A familiar face appeared on the view screen. “Hello again,” said Hal. “Surprised?”

“I really shouldn’t be,” said Ellie, “but I must admit that I am. What do you want?”

“I want to know why you went back to Monti’s. Macnair’s a very thorough person and even though he didn’t believe your Nurridium tale, he knew Monti did and Monti has a reputation for being right so he left us behind just in case.”

“Well, that’s a wonderful story and we appreciate you taking the time out of your busy day to tell it to us,” said Ellie, “but we really don’t have the availability to sit and chat. We’ll just say good-bye now. Oh and tell Macnair we all said hi.”

“I think you have plenty of time to chat,” said Hal. “Or you will in about ten minutes. That’s when I get within canon range and we take out your engines.”

Ellie broke transmission with Hal’s ship. Gilbert looked up expectantly. “Secret weapon time?” he asked. Ellie turned to Talia.

“Can’t use it without risking the engines,” said Talia “We’ll be within their canon’s range long before they’re within our range and this guy seems like the shoot first sort of jerk.”

“Time to run away and hide?” asked Ellie.

“Either that or sit and chat,” replied Talia.

“Do it, then make a series of course alterations that will put us onto a parallel course, but out of their sensor range,” said Ellie. Talia began making the necessary changes.

“I hope you know what you’re doing.” said Jon. “What are you doing?”

“Your old coworkers installed an anti-detection system that makes us unperceivable to conventional tracking systems,” explained Ellie. “It wouldn’t work on the freighter, too much mass, but it works real nice here. What are our buddies doing?”

“Holding course,” said Talia. “And probably wondering what the hell just happened. They’re beginning to slow down.”

“They’ll most likely double back to Monti’s and see what they can get out of him,” said Jon.

“I hope he enjoys the beach,” said Gilbert.

“But that’s bad news for us since he has all the info on the Nurridium. Soon Macnair will know that it exists and then he’ll really start hunting all of you,” said Jon. “We should contact Monti and give him the chance to teleport out of there. He probably has a safe location he could ditch to.”

“How long before we’re out of their sensor range?” asked Ellie.

“A few more minutes,” replied Talia.