***
“Delta Foxtrot One to Alpha Actual, we have them on the move now, sir!” Three reported to Frost, as he observed the two heat signatures on the gunship’s thermal tracking system.
“Do not lose them … again!” Frost snapped. “And please! Do not assist them in escaping … again! We’re inbound with an ETA of three minutes.”
“Yes sir! Be advised, there is heavy ZiP activity in this sector. I repeat, this sector is now highly active.”
“Copy that, Delta Foxtrot One,” Frost acknowledged. “Be advised, I want boots on the ground as soon as it is feasible.”
“Copy that! Scanning for Lima Zebra now!”
Frost felt the adrenaline flow through his veins, surging like a river. He could sense it. He was close. He always got this feeling when he sensed a capture would soon be in the bag. It wouldn’t be long now. And this one … this one now promised to be especially rewarding.
He turned to the command craft pilot and twirled his index finger in the air. “Let’s go! We got a fox on the run!”
***
Seven watched bitterly, as Frost’s craft soared off into the night.
“Feel like Daddy left you behind?” Six chided him, as he sat on the ground with his back against their craft, knees pulled up in front of him.
“I owe that bitch,” Seven replied. “She kicked my ass last time. Made me look bad.”
Six laughed and slapped Seven’s back. “Dude! You’re looking at this all wrong! First, don’t take it personal. She kicked all of our asses. Her and that damned redneck rocket rider. Ain’t no good and bad guys in this shit! Second, whoever said this fox chick was evil or a danger to the world? We ain’t some crusaders standing in the gap to save the world from the Apocalypse. Somebody wants this thing and they’re paying us to get her.” He gave a shrug of his shoulders. “Who? Doesn’t matter. Why? Matters even less. Hell, she may be the Virgin Mary with a tail and the person wanting her is Satan himself. It’s not for us to judge.”
Seven shook his head as he gave a final scowl to the disappearing nozzle blooms and then walked back over and squatted beside Six and Five. “Wow! You sure know how to get somebody fired up about their job.”
Six smiled in amusement, held up his pulse rifle and gave it a quick once-over. Using his shirtsleeve, he wiped at a smudge on the receiver. “How about this for a pep talk? There’s thirty-seven percent unemployment in this country among humans … there’s zero percent among robots and A.I.’s. So, until they figure out how to do more than build a hovercar and sew clothes, appreciate the fact you still got a job and drawing a decent paycheck.”
Well, since you put it that way …
Still, he wasn’t satisfied. “Don’t you want a little payback? It can’t all be about money. I mean, don’t you just wanna win?”
Six still had that amused smile on his face but Seven saw something in it now. It seemed more strained, less jovial. “I was a trooper in the Space Guard during the Luna Uprisings. I saw three weeks in the shit up there. We got payback … they got payback … we’d get payback again … plenty of payback going around. It took a year before I was able to sleep a full night without waking up screaming ‘cause of all the payback.’” He gave Seven a sideways look. “And we won!”
Seven wouldn’t have felt more awkward if he’d farted at a funeral. He decided there was no need to even reply. He just stood back up and walked away a few paces. Staring back off in the direction of Frost’s craft, he gritted his teeth. Maybe he doesn’t give a shit anymore, but I damned sure wanna win! I don’t want this to end knowing that bitch bettered me! He turned back to sneak a glance at Six and shook his head in a mix of pity and disgust.
God, I hope I never grow that cynical when I get older! Old people can really suck sometimes!
***
“Special Inspector Burlington!” Officer Stella Jones called out from her black-and-white, just as he was about to climb into his unmarked Rocket-Aire. “I think you need to see this!”
He sighed and turned slowly. “I see you still refuse to call me Matt.” He watched her climb out and saunter in his direction. He couldn’t help but admire her petite form as she did. The black, one-piece spandex duty suit she wore was skin-tight and complimented by knee-high trooper boots. With the investigation winding down and Frost and his cohorts expelled from the area, she’d shed her Kevlar and laser-reflective tac-vest, allowing him to fully appreciate those perky little girls she boasted.
He glanced around quickly to make sure none of the other officers on-scene were taking notice. It was probably one of the worst kept secrets in the Huntsville Precinct that Special Inspector Burlington and his Executive Officer had a thing for each other. Still, appearances meant everything.
“Just trying to keep things on a professional level, sir.” Even in the dark, he saw the twinkle in her gorgeous, green eyes. “Besides, kinda hot calling you sir. Bit of a turn-on.”
Normally, he would’ve enjoyed the flirt a lot more. But it’d been a long day, what with the dead body in the river earlier, the Tuttles being shot up, and now these murderous mercs in town causing mayhem. He really just wanted to get some shut-eye. He shrugged in capitulation. “Very well. What is it, Officer Jones?”
“An old Pegasus just went down a few miles from here. The officers on site said it was shot all to hell.”
“Seems we’ve found our wandering troublemaker.” Matt scratched his square, close-shaven
