Red Angel: Book II: Raiders (Red Angel Series 2) (25 page)

"Are you making any progress on ferreting out the raider's methodology?" Alexa asked as we sat in the living room after dinner.

"I'm missing a key piece. How do they get their rendezvous location with the raider cruiser? Because I doubt it's a static location. I think it varies in case a merchant is arrested or decides to betray the raiders. That way the link is broken."

"Another puzzle—" Alexa began.

"Yes. You're a genius, Mother," I blurted, giving her a quick hug and opening my tablet to search the file containing the previous Master Puzzle publications. "I think they're using another puzzle to designate the location." For the rest of the evening, I sat scanning through the latest publications, looking at the answers for the previous month's puzzles. Early the next morning, I decided I was going about the search backward and sent Adrian a message.

To Lieutenant Commander Shrader

Can you query all three Master Puzzle subsidiaries? I would like to know all the puzzles individuals pay to put in the monthly publication.

From: Lieutenant Commander Paulus

The next morning I received a surprise call from Kris. "Pack your bags, we're headed for Safe Harbor. You were right. They raided the Star Mining Company processing plant and made off with rare gems and metals worth more than three hundred and fifty million credits."

"Kris, you don't have to go—"

"Stop! I don't like space submarines or space battles or being shot at, but I like working with you. We make a great team. Besides, are you going to trust Red with Adrian or Rich?"

"I would feel so bad ... if you got hurt, I would never forgive myself," I whined, feeling guilty and afraid. I did seem to attract trouble.

"I feel the same about you, so let's make sure we watch each other’s back. See you on the Vulcan by twenty-two hundred hours." She cut the connection, forestalling any further argument.

"Mother, I'm off to Safe Harbor," I shouted, as Alexa was upstairs dressing for work.

"When do you have to be at the space station?" she asked from the head of the stairs.

"Tonight. Twenty-two hundred hours."

"If you like, I'll take the day off and we can spend it together."

"I would love that."

The shuttle arrived at the space station at twenty hundred hours, and I was at the entrance to the Vulcan fifteen minutes later. A tall Lieutenant was at the bay checking IDs.

"Permission to come aboard, sir," I said as I reached him.

The poor man stood with his lips moving but no sound as he tried to reconcile me to my dress uniform with its lieutenant commander stripes, battle and award ribbons, and the two fully armed marines standing behind me. Finally, after checking my ID against me several times, he managed to speak.

"Permission granted, ma'am," he finally said, delivering a reasonably good salute. "Ma'am, petty officer Jackson will take you to your quarters."

Just then a short stocky man stepped forward. "Ma'am, if you'll follow me, I'll take you to your quarters. The captain would like to see you and Commander Sinclair when you are settled. She's in the room next to yours."

"We'll have to wait for my security to clear the OOD," I said, nodding to the two marines having their IDs checked. When they did, he led me to my quarters.

While I was putting my clothes away, I heard a knock at the door and opened it to find Kris smiling at me.

"About time you got here." She gave me a hug. "Hi, Red. Remember me?" she quipped when Red appeared from inside my jacket.

"Been here long?"

"About an hour. If you're ready, we should go see MacLin. He'll probably want to know if we’re chasing cruisers." She laughed.

We made our way to MacLin's office and were admitted immediately. Colonel Pannell was already there when we entered.

"Well commanders, what's the game plan?" MacLin asked after returning our salutes.

"As you probably know, the raiders hit the Star Mining Company. We're going to try and determine the inside person, whether their methodology has changed, and if so how."

"Any possibility of another surprise encounter?" he asked.

"You would certainly be a prime target, as you've two of NIA's raider-team members on board, and they could reasonably assume we would come to Safe Harbor to investigate the robbery. The question is whether they want to take on a UAS cruiser or wait for us to debark." I immediately regretted saying so, as Kris's face turned pale. Not that it wasn't true, but for the sake of Kris's feelings.

She shrugged. "Here or on Oxax. What's the difference? I know how to shoot, we've a marine squad tailing us, and we've Red for backup. I would say those are reasonable precautions." She gave a sharp nod for effect. "Too bad we can't send them a reply to their message—the raiders’ end-of-days is coming."

MacLin laughed. "I almost feel sorry for the raiders, having you two bloodhounds on their trail."

The three days to Safe Harbor seemed to drag with nothing to do, so Kris and I spent several hours at the marines’ firing range. Kris had improved over the months and could consistently hit the kill zone. I also felt good about my ability to shoot without having to take careful aim.

When we exited the Wave into Safe Harbor, I did query the WavCom for all the messages to and from the merchant Star Trader.

"What are you hoping to find?" Kris asked.

"Not sure, but unless my logic is wrong, we’re missing some form of communication between the raiders and the foreign merchants, because I don't think the cruisers would give away their location. Somehow it's arranged each time."

"Transfer what you have and I'll scan them. We have at least six hours before we dock at the space station," Kris said, opening her tablet.

"Ready?" I asked as I felt Red work himself into my hair and lay his head on my forehead.

"That's creepy." Kris shook her head. "More so now that Red lets me hold him when you’re in a bad mood."

"He could just be bored," I said, and we lapsed into silence. First, I eliminated all the messages prior to publication date in the month of the raid and twenty days after the publication date. That left only seven messages. One immediately jumped out at me.

To: Star Trader

Tell your mate it measures 11 by
31221.

From: Gypsy

"Damn, you were right—or was it Red." Kris's voice elevated with excitement. "Gypsy."

"I agree. Somehow that identifies the rendezvous location. One step closer to giving you time to find that elusive father of your children."

"I hope he's not gray—or worse, bald—by the time I find him."

"Commanders Sinclair and Paulus, this is Lieutenant Wheeler," Pannell said when he entered the conference room with a tall sandy-haired man in his early thirties. "He's in charge of the Safe Harbor NIA office. The commanders are from the Oxax office."

"Please to meet you, commanders. Lieutenant Clark was the primary interface with the Safe Harbor police investigating the robbery," Wheeler said, nodding toward an average looking man in his early twenties. "Colonel Pannell says you want to review our findings. You understand it was rightly the local police's jurisdiction, and they conducted the investigation. They allowed us access only because Admiral Rawls requested it."

"Please sit. Commander Paulus and I are part of the team assigned to investigate a series of robberies across the UAS. We've P1A authority, and this robbery is now part of that investigation." Kris waited for Wheeler to nod understanding. "After we review what you know, we would like you to set up a meeting with the senior person at the Star Mining Processing facility and the police chief in charge of the investigation."

"May I ask why? The police were very thorough."

"Did they identify the inside person?"

"There was no inside help. A group of six to eight men strong armed their way into the facility, killing the five guards."

"Unless this robbery isn't related to the other robberies, there was inside help. We're here to find him or her," Kris said. "If anyone gives you a hard time, the investigation of this robbery is being conducted under P1A authority."

Our subsequent review of the police report indicated the robbers had hit the facility a little after two in the morning and killed the five security guards and two other men who had been processing a special order before they could raise an alarm. The robbers then broke into several rooms which contained rare gems and metals and were gone before the morning shift arrived. The police concluded the thieves hadn't left the planet.

It was late when we finished, so Kris asked Wheeler to wait until morning to set up the meeting with the Police Chief and the person in charge. We didn't want to give either too much lead-time.

The Star Mining Processing facility had three large buildings: two processing buildings with metal exteriors and the main building, constructed of a blue-gray steel with narrow glass windows. We arrived early the next day thirteen strong: four marines stayed with the shuttle while Kris, Wheeler, Clark, Pannell, four marines, and I entered the main building. Inside the building was a modern lobby with comfortable chairs, couches, and tables, a metal and glass reception booth, and monitors running videos of various aspects of the mining and processing operations. A security guard, looking very attentive, stood near the elevators and another behind the reception booth.

"Hello, Susan. We've an appointment with Mr. Graham," Wheeler said as he reached the reception booth.

"Hi, Jerry. Go right up. He and Chief Holland are in his conference room." The petite redhead gave him an award winning smile.

We followed him into the elevator and then down a long hallway to a glassed-in room where two men stood talking: a broad shouldered man with close-cut brown hair in a police-chief uniform, and a short stocky gray-haired man in a dark-blue suit and white shirt open at the neck.

"Mr. Graham, Chief Holland, this is Commander Sinclair and Commander Paulus of the Oxax NIA office. Commanders, Mr. Graham is in charge of the SMC Processing operation, and Chief Holland is the Chief of Police of Star County, where this facility is located."

"Lieutenant Wheeler did explain the reason for this meeting and indicated you had P1A authorization. What do you expect to find that Chief Holland didn't?" Graham asked, sounding irritated.

"Commander Paulus and I are part of the team investigating a series of robberies perpetrated by foreign raiders. This appears to be their fifth raid. We're here to determine if it is and if it is, whether or not they used the same methodology."

"Their method was simple. They used brute force to enter, plundered, and then left. We'll catch them eventually when they try to leave the planet." Holland sneered.

Kris ignored his bravado and the sneer. "Mr. Graham, what was stolen that was worth more than three hundred million credits?"

"We don't normally accumulate that much at one time, but we hit a particularly rich vein of high quality industrial diamonds and also had a large special order for a metal used on war ships." He shook his head. "Just bad luck they hit when they did. Five more days, and both orders would have been shipped."

"Who would have had access to that information, Mr. Graham?" I asked.

"None of my staff would have helped the robbers."

"Humor us, Mr. Graham," Kris said with a smile. "Who?"

"Well ... the plant manager Mr. Byrd, the sales manager Mr. Wallace, and Ms. Weller the processing manager, and of course me."

"Can you call them here for a meeting, please?" Kris said.

"Is that necessary? They aren't criminals," Graham said.

"We aren't accusing anyone, just attempting to eliminate possible leaks. The raiders used software to get their information."

Graham shrugged and tapped on his tablet for several minutes. "They’ll be here shortly."

"A snake!" Holland shouted while drawing his gun.

But before it cleared his holster, Pannell and the two inside marines had their weapons pointing at him. Pannell walked over and removed the gun, ejected the pellet clip, and then handed the gun back to him.

"The snake's not dangerous. Commander Paulus has the Coaca virus, and the krait keeps it from becoming active. Their relationship is symbiotic. But the commanders already have a several Purple Hearts each on this assignment, so you can understand that guns make me nervous."

The chief looked indignant at first, which turned to open-mouthed shock. He nodded.

Just then a large woman entered, and with her eyes locked on Red, took a seat at the far end of the table from me. Minutes later two men entered, one a tall older man with dark skin and the other a middle-aged freckle-face redheaded man.

"If I could have your tablets and the passwords, please." I walked to where they sat.

"No!" Was the unanimous response.

"It's not a request. I'm invoking P1A authority." I held up my P1A badge. "We’re looking for software that may have infiltrated your devices," I said, continuing the subterfuge Kris used—adult speak. "Yours too, Mr. Graham. Chief Holland, I'll also need you to visit each of their homes and collect any devices that can be connected to the Internet."