Red Angel: Book II: Raiders (Red Angel Series 2) (26 page)

"That's illegal without a warrant," Holland said before anyone else could.

Two of the three smiled.

"What would be illegal and land one in jail would be to refuse to cooperate with a P1A request. You may if you wish complain to the courts afterward, but you must comply now," Kris said.

Holland didn't like it, but he left to comply, while Kris and I began examining the tablets. Feeling paranoid after one of our last visits, Pannell insisted the four remain sequestered.

Just as the home units were appearing, Kris and I had each finished examining the tablets. Also feeling paranoid, we decided to keep the tablets until we had finished. We didn't want anyone communicating with the outside.

"What did you find?" Kris asked, smiling.

"The Controller took a different approach, if I'm not mistaken," I said, reviewing the correspondence I had found on Mr. Graham's home tablet. "I think somehow they found Graham was involved in some minor illegal transactions and either through intimidation or greed got him to provide the information they needed. I'll bet we find ten million in the new bank account he opened on Shadow’s Rest."

Kris nodded. "What now?"

I sat back and closed my eyes. I doubted raiders cared if we caught the inside man or not. He didn't know anything that we didn't already know.

"Arrest him, but I would like to know the date he gave them the final information."

"Why? How will knowing the date help? We already know what the Controller does with the information."

"Not really sure, but we’re missing a critical piece to the puzzle, so I'm grasping at straws, as the saying goes."

Over the next hour, we returned the equipment and let everyone go except Graham, on the pretext of needing additional information. Within an hour we had the whole story. They had somehow found out he was illegally selling small quantities of processed gems and had used that to convince him it was jail or free with ten million credits.

The police chief was quiet as he took Graham into custody, and we proceeded out of the conference room and down the hallway to the elevator. I could feel Graham's nervousness increase as we entered the elevator and again downstairs as we approached the doors. When I looked back, his eyes were darting from side to side and he felt ready to explode.

"Kris." I grabbed her arm as we walked. "Something isn't right," I said, looking around.

Holland was directly behind us with Graham, with the two marines trailing them. Pannell was walking beside us, and two marines were in front of us. Red had wound around my neck, and he hissed as the two marines opened the doors for us. Outside, I could see the military shuttle about twenty-five meters to the side, and the four marines left to guard it. All four were close together talking.

When we reached the doors to go outside, Red hissed again. I drew by Mfw, thumbed a narrow spread, and fired as two of the marines stepped back opening the circle, their weapons rising. Shooting from the waist, I aimed chest high—in case I was mistakenly shooting at our marine security. One was thrown back against the shuttle and another dropped his weapon as my second shot was a bit wide, hitting him in his gun arm. At the same time, I pushed Kris back through the doors.

"Anna, those are your marine security—" Pannell began, but he stopped as the other two marines in the group by the shuttle began firing.

"Sir, those aren't our men," one of the lead marines shouted as he returned fire while trying to drag his wounded partner back into the building.

Red seemed to change direction and I spun in time to see four men in suits but with automatic rifles emerge from inside the reception booth. Our two trailing marines were looking toward the front doors, covering our retreat.

"Behind you!" I shouted while thumbing a wide spread and firing several shots from my waist, aiming chest high. My practice had paid off and each blast was close to where I aimed, tearing through arms, necks, and faces. The shards had the desired effect of alerting the marines to the danger behind them and temporarily disrupting the men's attack.

My shards had caused the lead man to stumble and crash face first onto the floor. As he attempted to push himself to his knees, Kris's laser pulsed and he was hit twice in the head.

The man just behind him to the left had been hit in his gun arm and shoulder and lost control of his weapon. Before he could recover, one of the marines shot him several times in the chest.

One man to the lead man's right kept charging even though his face and arm were bleeding. The blood must have been obscuring his view because his aim was high, tearing through the wall just above Kris and me.

Pannell, I think, shot him several times, including two to the head. His momentum carried him to within two steps of me.

The fourth man I missed, as he dove behind a couch.

At the same time, the chief spun, drawing his gun only to find it wasn't loaded. As he dove for cover, Graham bolted toward the back of the lobby. The man behind the couch shot him before he was halfway to the reception booth.

It was mayhem, with us caught in the open and taking fire from two directions. I pushed Kris to the right where tables and padded chairs provided some protection. When I looked around, Pannell and the one functional marine had managed to close the doors and had found partial cover. They were busy defending the doors from the thugs trying to enter.

Only one of the two tailing marines remained functional. He had found cover to the left and was exchanging periodic fire with the remaining gunman behind a couch.

"Cover me," Kris said with steel in her voice and began moving to the right.

I rose slightly, aimed toward the edge of the couch, rested my hand on the arm of the chair I was behind for support, and waited.

A few seconds later, Kris kicked one of the tables, which made a scraping sound on the floor.

The man behind the couch rose up with his weapon swiveling toward the noise.

I shot twice, missing because he had a cushion in front of him, and ducked down quickly after my first shot.

He surprised me by rising up almost immediately and firing in my direction, missing only because his first two shots were hurried. If I hadn't dropped at the sound of his first shot, he would have killed me as his third shot ripped through the top of the cushion where my head had been. A scream followed and then an eerie silence—as if everyone had left the building.

"I got him," Kris shouted. "You alright?"

"Yes, grab a couple of their weapons. The marines will need help holding the door."

The chief was quick to jump up and retrieve the weapon from the thug on his side of the room. Moments later Kris slid in behind me and handed me a marine-like Mfw. I switched it to projectiles and automatic. The next several minutes were deathly quiet like standing in the eye of a hurricane.

"Kris, watch the lobby. There's undoubtedly a back door into this place." I tried to think what I would do in similar circumstances. Red changed position just as I heard Kris fire.

Four men had entered from the back of the lobby. The chief, the marine, Kris, and I fired as they ran into the room shooting. Two went down before they reached the booth and the other two took cover. Simultaneously, several men burst in through the front doors. But without support from the men entering from the back, the entrance was relatively easy for Pannell and the marine to defend and three went down before the other two retreated.

I couldn't hear what was being said, but I could hear one of the men in the back talking on a communications device, as was the chief. The question was which group would get support first. I doubted Pannell or the two standing marines could last long based on the blood on their uniforms and the floor. Then I thought I heard a shuttle's engines and saw the two in the back of the lobby make a dash for the back door.

I thought it safe and ran to where Pannell and the marine lay. Surveying both, I decided the marine was in worse shape. The chief, Kris, and I spent the next half hour providing first aid to stop the bleeding. Chief Holland's troops arrived shortly afterward and the wounded were taken to the hospital. Kris and I were taken to the shuttle port, where twenty marines waited to escort us to the Vulcan.

"They really don't like you," MacLin said that night at dinner. "It's a miracle neither of you were injured. Paulus, I'm told you were the first to recognize it was a trap." It was more a question than a statement—how?

"I guess my paranoia is on high alert. Besides, I think Admiral Lultrel will court martial me if I get another Purple Heart," I added to change the subject. What could I say,
Red warned me?
I think even Doctor Renata would have trouble with that concept. "Kris saved me."

"Days and days at the firing range helped. When I joined the navy, I thought the sidearm was symbolic because I was an officer. Now I feel like a marine recruit." She snorted and took a drink of her wine.

"The marines I talked to have a new respect for the navy. They credit you two with saving their lives. What now?"

Kris shrugged. "I would like to find a husband and have a couple of kids. No offense, but no line officers. However, I suspect we have to destroy the raider organization first. Anna, what do you think?"

"I think we have the pieces to the puzzle of how to find the raider cruisers, we just have to put it together." I felt that we were close. I just needed time to sort through the information we had collected. "Back to Oxax. We need to put our heads together."

"To putting the puzzle together and sending the foreign cruisers to perdition." MacLin raised his glass to us.

Kris and I walked down to sickbay to see Pannell and the surviving marines and found them awake.

"How are you doing, Paul?" Kris asked.

"Better, thank you. How did you know, Anna? I thought you had gone crazy when you started shooting at the four men in marine uniforms," Pannell said.

"I think Graham warned me. He seemed increasingly nervous as we approached the door. And ... the marines didn't look right." I knew how strange that must sound but the truth would send me to the psych ward—forever.

"That was a gutsy move shooting on a ... hunch." Pannell gave me an appraising look.

"I did shoot toward their chests, since they had vests on, just in case I was wrong."

Pannell laughed and immediately winced with pain. I noticed the other two marines had a similar reaction.

To my relief, Renata entered. "Since you’re both here, I wonder if I could have a word with you?" She motioned toward the door.

Kris and I nodded and followed her to one of the offices.

Inside, she closed the door. "Sit. Now that you've had time to relax, I was wondering how you felt?"

"Thankful to be alive," Kris said and gave a small snort of a laugh. "And although I killed my first human ... it was an easy choice. He was trying to kill Anna." She reached over and squeezed my arm only centimeters from Red, whose tongue flicked in response but he made no attempt to move.

"Red doesn't bother you?"

"No. Anna says he's lazy, but I believe he knows friend from foe."

"Red has been an anomaly right from the beginning. It's like he adopted Anna." Renata sat staring at Red as if awaiting a response. "Anna, how do you feel?"

"Sad that people are being hurt because of me."

'It's not your fault, and they're after your teammates as well, not just you."

"True, but Kris is only here to look after me ..." I whined.

Renata looked to Kris.

"Not true. You, Red, and me are a team. Who else is going to care for Red when you’re in a bad mood?" Kris went on to explain to Renata the incident with Captain Sharat.

"That's unbelievable. He definitely demonstrates a level of intelligence." Renata laughed. "Even I think of Red as
he
rather than
it
. Every person who has attacked Anna or attempted to take him away from her, he's struck—even a man who had the Coaca virus. It's the reason I don't consider her strange for giving him a name and considering him ... more than just a medical dispenser."

"I don't know what to do with you people. You don't appear safe anywhere," Rawls said at an early morning briefing the day after we returned from Safe Harbor. "We would like to give you new identities and move you to other systems. But the realities are that we need you. So we're going to wrap each of you in a cocoon of marines, who I hear are quite impressed with you." She slowly sipped on her coffee while appearing to study each of us. "Where are we after your visit to Safe Harbor?"

"The raiders' system has been designed to ensure no merchant, whether UAS or FPU, nor any Controller can give away the location of the cruisers," Adrian said, assuming his unofficial role as leader. "As a consequence, Commanders Sinclair and Paulus believe after their Safe Harbor visit that the raiders made only minor changes to that system. They believe we're close to discovering the missing pieces." Adrian's comments summarized the group's earlier discussions.

"Right now there is no higher priority in the UAS. You've an unlimited credit account. What you want, you'll get," Rawls said, rising while waving for us to keep our seats.

"Anna, I have that request in to Master Puzzles. When I get it, I'll forward it to everyone. You think they're using another puzzle to designate the coordinates for what?" Adrian asked.

"I think the UAS merchant that gets a valid AU takes it to the designated coordinates and hands off the puzzle to a FPU merchant. That handoff contains the coordinates to meet a raider cruiser. I believe those coordinates are contained in one of the puzzles."

"What about the details?"

"I don't know. Even if I'm right, we again will have to wait for the raiders’ next target, which could be a couple of months off." I had ideas but nothing concrete.

"Let's keep each other informed and meet back here each week."

"Every time you return home you've more marine security," Alexa said when she arrived home. "Which I'm in favor of if it keeps you safe. I talked to Colonel Pannell. He claims you prevented a potential disaster. How, Daughter?"

"A warning from Red," I said, knowing she wouldn't think me crazy.

"I believe you, but I wouldn't tell anyone else. I'm not sure what Red is or isn't, but I love him for keeping you alive. If that includes warning you, so much the better." She gave me a hug. "Let me get changed and then you can tell me all the gory details."

I followed her upstairs and washed for dinner. I had just arrived downstairs when Alexa joined me.

"Getting any closer?" she asked.

"I think so. The raiders are not only vicious and greedy but also arrogant. I think that will be their downfall. They believe their system's so good they can just correct the part we discovered without changing the other parts."

"Maybe they're just lazy."

"I think if they were lazy, their system would be much simpler. It's designed to have few if any weak links. That's why I think they feel confident to just fix the link that broke."

"Let's hope that's leads to their destruction. I like you being home."

"Me too."

While I waited for the information from the Master Puzzle subsidiaries, I pondered the problem of how they had given the raiders the information about the SMC processing plant. I felt positive that the raiders were arrogant, which meant they were using the same system, so I spent hours with Red lying on my forehead examining the puzzle message from the Truth Star publication area.

Late that third night I saw it, a single word—Star—in old-Russian, the native language of the first settlers of the PRS. That caused me to spend the night reviewing my books on the language.

"Looks like you discovered something," Alexa said. I realized it must be morning, since she was dressed for work.

"Arrogant and lazy," I said. "They just changed the language from old-Latin to old-Russian."

"In a war, arrogance is an exploitable weakness. See you tonight, Daughter." She waved as she left.

I proceeded to remove the non-Russian letters, J, Q, and W, and then searched the resulting strings. They had changed the message position—from the upper half to the lower half—and distributed it on every other line:

Eight watch four hundred Star gems and metal. Must collect seven days from post at one at 25.2801 -44.0222.

Since the weekly meeting was tomorrow, I decided to wait to tell them I had managed to crack their new code and staggered off to bed.

When I arrived at work, everyone was there preparing for our meeting. I noticed no one locked their weapon in their desk drawer even though there was a roomful of marines.

"Good morning, Commander Paulus," Pannell said as he neared me. He had a slight limp and looked a bit thinner in the face.

"Colonel Pannell, how are you feeling?"

"Not bad, thanks to you. They were very clever putting on marine uniforms. It should have given them the element of surprise and several seconds’ advantage. That's the second time you helped prevent a disaster." He laughed. "Your security detail loves you."

"I just wish people didn't have to get hurt and ... killed protecting me. I would quit, but I'm afraid it wouldn't stop the raiders. I think it's personal now."

I was feeling sorry for Pannell, marine security, and me. As I walked toward the conference room, I opened my tablet and pressed
Send
, which sent the translation to the team, addressed Urgent. Adrian, Kris, and Rich stopped in midstride as I passed them into the room.

"Where did you find it?" Adrian asked as everyone got seated.

"As I told my mother, they're arrogant. They think their system's too well designed for us to find them, so when one part fails they just replace it. In this case they switched languages."

"In a way, it was clever. Except for you and Red, who would think they would continue to use the puzzle messages?" Kris grinned.

"What language?" Adrian asked.

"Old-Russian. It was the original language of the PRS when it was settled, and their current standard language is a derivation of it."

"We finally got the response from the third Master Puzzle subsidiary. Only someone using the name Archimedes pays to ensure his puzzle is included each month in each publication area. Master Puzzle long ago stopped charging the Checky Fools, as they have significantly increased sales," Rich said, obviously pleased judging by his smile.

"Thanks, I think that’s the missing piece. I believe his puzzles contain the coordinates for the foreign merchant to meet with the raiders and that the key is in the message: tell your mate it measures 11 by 31221."

"Then that's everyone's homework—find how they pass on the coordinates to meet with the raider cruiser," Adrian said.

Every month, each Master Puzzle publication had an Archimedes puzzle. It consisted of a twelve by eight matrix about a third filled with numbers and the remaining parts blank. The object was to fill in the blanks with a number so that the row with twelve equaled a given number, for example sixty-five, and the eight down equaled another given number, for example forty-two.

Ignoring all but the publication that contained the information on the raid at the Star Mining Company, I began solving the puzzle. It wasn't difficult, just time consuming, and I had it solved in less than two hours; however the number 11 by 31221 wasn't one of the twelve numbers solutions across or in the eight numbers down. Even Red seemed stumped, as he didn't leave my forehead. Even more puzzling was the fact that the number should be longer if it were an AU.

I pondered the problem for the next week, sure that I had the key and that one of the numbers was the rendezvous AU. Finally I zeroed in on the only one of the twelve numbers that began with 11. Then Red saw it, because he moved his head back and forth. Eventually, I saw it: the number 110251122461.

11 indicated the winning string and the first number, so 11 and a period.

3 indicated three numbers, so 11.025 degrees

1 indicated one number, 2 two numbers, and 2 two more numbers, so 1 hour 12 minutes 24 seconds.

And 1 indicated one number, so 6.1 astronomical units.

I sat back and reached up, and he wrapped around my arm. I kissed his head and got a flick of his tongue on my nose. "We did it, Red."

I then sent Adrian and the team a message:

To: Lieutenant Commander Shrader, Lieutenant Commander Sinclair, Lieutenant Gannon

The number is 110251122461 and the AU was 11.025 degrees, 1 hour, 12 minutes, and 24 seconds, and 6.1 astronomical units.

From: Lieutenant Commander Paulus

The next morning while having breakfast with Alexa, I had a call from Adrian, which I put on speaker.

"Good work, Anna. I told Commodore Stauffer, who briefed Admiral Rawls, and she wants a meeting at ten hundred hours. Unless of course you're otherwise engaged," he said sounding serious, but I would wager he had an ear-to-ear grin.

"Ten you say? I think I can squeeze it in if she doesn't talk too much," I said, and heard him choke on whatever he was drinking. "Tell her not to be late." I cut the connection.

"You and your team are very close," Alexa said, smiling. "And you sound like you’ve had your dessert and someone else's beside."

"I finally have all the pieces ... well nearly. I understand their system and know where their cruisers will be. And I maybe know who their leader is, but I'm not positive."

"No wonder Rawls wants a meeting. I'll bet she's told Lultrel and Bell."

"I hope not."

"Why?"

"If this information gets leaked, the raiders will be lost for years."

Adrian, Kris, and Rich were already there when I arrived and looked to be having an informal party.

"You did it, Anna." Kris gave me a hug. "Maybe I can find that father of my future children before he and I are gray and retired."

"You'll have a bigger pool of candidates to choose from then, since retired line officers will be eligible," I said, trying to look thoughtful.

She hit me on the shoulder. "Even Red agrees that's nasty." She laughed.

"I think we should go up. Given the news, Admiral Rawls will probably be early, and it wouldn't look good if we were on time." Adrian stood, smiling. We obviously all agreed, because we all started moving toward the elevators.

Sure enough, Rawls was coming out of her office as we entered her conference room.

"At ease," she said as she entered the room. "I understand you cracked their system and can locate their cruisers," Rawls said even before she sat.

"We've broken their communications system, but that doesn’t mean we know how many cruisers they have or where they park when not active. They're very cautious." Adrian looked to me. "Anna?"

"Here’s what we think we know. The merchant ship Gypsy is the one who drops off the Controllers and who ferries them to another system after a raid. We think the Gypsy probably is the one who arranges for criminal support prior to each Controller arriving. The Gypsy is also the one who determines the coordinates for the rendezvous with the foreign merchant and the cruiser," I said, deciding not to wonder out loud whether the Gypsy took orders from someone else. "The Controller's task is to find someone who will provide details about a business worth the raider's efforts. When he does, he codes his monthly puzzle in a special way, which lets one of three UAS merchants know that it's intended to be delivered and gives them the location. The UAS merchant takes it to the designated location along with a key he received via the WavCom and hands it over to a foreign merchant. The foreign merchant deciphers a second puzzle using the key and takes the information to that location, where he meets with a raider cruiser. The raider deciphers the puzzle and shows up at the time and place designated. The question is whether the cruiser or a foreign merchant takes the merchandise to the FPU or PRS for sale."

"That's a very careful operation. So if we wait for the next target, we can bag a cruiser, the Gypsy, three Controllers, a foreign merchant, and three UAS merchants and crush their current operation; however, we wouldn't know if we got all the cruisers. Is that an accurate assessment?"

"Yes, ma'am. Ma'am, I assume you'll be briefing Admirals Lultrel and Bell." I paused until she hesitantly nodded. "I wonder if you could ask them to restrict who they inform."

"Why, Paulus?"

"Maybe it's my paranoia, but if the raiders even thought we knew their system, I suspect they would disappear until they had a completely new system, new Controllers, and new merchants. They would also eliminate this team."

"Do you suspect anything you haven't told me?"

"No ma'am, but it's possible the Gypsy takes direction from someone or has a high-level information source."

"All right, I'll ask," she said and smiled. "Adrian, I would like this team’s recommendation soon ... actually I want it now, so you're already late."