Nobody had.
When he was at the far end of the depot, far enough away from the unloading stations and main activity, he drew a relieved breath. Heavy equipment and giant cranes loomed over him, tractors with lift loaders equipped at their fronts with interchangeable scoops, forks and tool grips on the ends, arching out of the cold fluorescent light, looking like prehistoric stalking insects. There was a bustle of movement behind, as knots of workers moved to and fro. The activity caused Yul’s heart to leap, but he was safe for the moment in his anonymity.
He pulled Cloye’s crate into the shadows of a dim exitway. He was about to remove the tape from the top before he hesitated. A voice in his head debated whether to keep her in the box, let her cool her heels.
She’d just try to break herself out. Make a lot of noise and tip off the workers. He might need her in the near future.
With annoyance he ripped at the tape and pulled her out. She was flustered, hair askew, cheeks and brow bathed with sweat.
“Took your sweet time, didn’t you?” she grumbled.
“I could have waited longer.”
Stumbling out of her hidey-hole, she refused his help, scratching at her left arm. “Damn sawdust must have dripped down. Itches like the devil.”
Yul grunted. “My heart bleeds. Let’s move away from the cargo hold. If our boys are diligent, they’ll be dragging some crates down one of these service corridors any minute.” He looked about, searching for some place to stash the evidence. “First we need to conceal this crate. We can’t leave it in the middle of the hall.”
“Let’s hope they don’t miss it.”
“One measly container, I doubt it.” Yul poked up ahead, looking for a side room. “We’ll sneak back later to jump a ship on one of the terraformers when the heat’s died down. For now, we stay out of harm’s way.”
Cloye roamed with sharp eyes down around the immaculate corridor, both sides granting glimpses through small windows of what looked like laboratories, a combo of med bays and robot assembly research manufacture stations. “A covert research warehouse is my guess. See those macroscopes and state-of-the-art scanners?”
“I do. And heavy tools. Both fine and coarse wares. I’m guessing a lot of intense work is done here. But where is everybody?”
She rubbed her itchy arm. “We’re in Hresh’s base. They could be anywhere. Bonus points if we can glean some information about his research and that Biogron of his. Let’s do a quick recon while we have the chance.” She hurried up the hall, lit with dim fluorescent bulbs, before he could object.
Yul scowled. He had expected another zap from Mathias for neglecting to re-engage the circle-vision and was puzzled by the absence of any shock. As much as he disliked giving Mathias what he wanted, he could see no harm in nosing around a bit until they could get back to the landing bay and hop a ship out of here. After dumping the crate and trolley in one of the empty lab rooms, he took wary steps after her.
A portal of steel showed at the end of a cross-hall. Red bars banded across it, denying access.
“There,” she pointed. “Looks promising.”
Trying to pull the bars up, she grunted, to no avail. The mechanism was jammed. Without warning, she blasted it.
Yul gaped. “What the hell are you doing?”
The bars melted and Cloye kicked it with her foot, scratching at her forearm, as if some shrapnel had rebounded back at her.
“You want to alert everybody?”
“Got to take some risks, Vrean. We’ve living on borrowed time as it is.”
Yul shook his head, questioning her rashness. He pushed through what was left of the smoking door before plunging after her down the corridor.
Chapter 6
In Mathias’s private quarters aboard his N-Juen, he enjoyed the plush luxury of leather divans, rich carpet, imported mahogany, the exotic views of space, easy access to liquor, gourmet food, female company, anything he desired. A signal came up on Vrean’s homing device, one that brought distinct pleasure to Mathias’s face.
Better yet, Vrean had come through faster than expected. The beeper traced an image on the console to a world just within the Dim Zone. If Vrean could lead him to Hresh’s secret headquarters then he could control the Biogron... He called in Goss.
“Set a course for Remus in the Dim Zone.”
Goss hesitated. “Remus? Why Remus? Is that wise, sir?”
Mathias’s fingers hovered over the button that would zap Vrean with more pain. No, let Vrean have his reprieve. There would be other occasions more timely to administer pain whenever the man erred or double-crossed him in any way. For now, he would give him the benefit of doubt, that the man was doing his job.
Mathias frowned. Why no visual? Damn, Vrean was jerking him around. Bastard! A sudden surge of anger had his fingers pressing hard on the control and not releasing for several seconds while a vindictive smirk crawled across his face.
A momentary blip came back on the mercenary’s circlevision 360 receiver as if, in a moment of lucidity, Vrean had turned the device on. An image showed him staggering in the corridor of some space station, or base or starship with the female assassin Cloye beside him, steadying him with her soothing hands.
Mathias’s cheeks crinkled in anger. “There, you see that,
