Malfunction, page 21
Logan got to his feet beside her. “Can we not just get off?”
He crossed to the door, pressed his hand to the panel. Nothing happened.
“Locked from outside,” Dylan said.
“They’re disembarking people shuttle by shuttle,” Layla said. She was still in her seat. “I remember from last time.”
“You’ve been to one of these things before?” Katia asked.
“Yes. The year I first woke up. Someone fell ill, and I was offered their place. It will be our turn soon.”
Katia unwrapped the bar, took a bite, paced the length of the shuttle, another bite.
“We’ve got company,” Adam said.
Katia swallowed the last of her protein bar and went to stand beside him where she could see the screen. Two men were walking across the docking bay floor, looking like they were heading straight for their shuttle.
She would have recognized the man in front even without his green shirt. Captain Callum Meridian. Hero fighter pilot. Tall and lean with close-cropped dark red hair, he moved with the purpose of a born leader, his hand resting on the pistol at his waist. Did he think someone was going to shoot him at his party? Slightly behind him was a man in a yellow shirt, which meant he was second in command. They were getting a welcome committee.
What made them special?
The two men disappeared from the screen as they got close to the shuttle, and a few seconds later, the door slid open.
Up close, Callum Meridian was stunning. He had a presence about him that was hard to define but instantly recognizable. He paused just inside, looked around, assessing the situation, then smiled at Layla, who had risen to her feet as the two men entered.
Logan had stood up straight but hadn’t actually saluted. He was picking up bad habits.
“I was expecting three of you,” the captain said. “Who are the other two?”
“That would be us.” Dylan waved a hand to include Adam. “We’ve been assigned as security to Sergeant Farrell and Detective Mendoza.”
“And do they need security?”
Katia decided it was time to introduce herself. She stepped forward and held out her hand. Callum looked at it and then slid his palm into hers. Did he hold it longer than strictly necessary? Maybe. She cast a sideways glance at Logan. He was watching her with narrowed eyes.
“I’m Detective Mendoza,” she said, tugging her hand free. “I was the lead detective on the investigation.”
“Callum Meridian. Call me Callum.”
“Katia,” she said. “And this is Sergeant Logan Farrell, who has been assisting me with my inquiries.” Dylan snorted at that. She ignored him. Logan saluted.
“At ease, sergeant.” He glanced between the two of them. “That still doesn’t explain why you need security, especially as I believe the investigation is now closed.”
“There have been a number of attempts on the life of Detective Mendoza,” Dylan said.
She shrugged. “A few systems malfunctions, nothing more.”
Dylan ignored her again. “The captain decided it would be a good idea if someone kept an eye on her until she can be tucked safely back in her cryotube.”
“Piss off, Dylan.”
Callum’s eyes widened at that. But he merely gave her a speculative look and turned to where Layla stood hovering. He held out his hand. “Layla, as beautiful as ever.” He lowered his head and kissed the back of her hand.
Katia glanced up, caught Logan’s gaze, and he rolled his eyes.
“It’s wonderful to be here,” Layla said.
He turned to the man at his side. “Layla, this is John Taylor, my second in command. He’s going to escort you to the party.”
“Oh, but I thought we could catch up on old times.”
“And we will. Later. Right now, I want to have a word with Detective Mendoza and Sergeant Farrell.”
Layla’s brows drew together. “Why? The investigation is closed.”
“It is. But I have some information for them to include in their report. It won’t take long.”
Layla opened her mouth then shut it again as John Taylor deftly maneuvered her from the shuttle. Very impressive. They must have arranged it beforehand.
“You could go with them, join the party,” Callum said to Dylan and Adam. “I’ll keep your charges safe.”
“It’s more than our lives are worth,” Dylan said with a shrug. “Sorry. But I’m more scared of our captain than I am of you.”
Callum’s brows rose. “I’d like to meet him. Is he coming to the party?”
“He’s not the party type.”
Callum blew out his breath, gave their small group a speculative look. “Okay, come along. We’ll go somewhere a little more comfortable.” He turned and exited the shuttle. She got the impression Callum wasn’t used to people not doing what he wanted. She remembered reading about him. He’d been the youngest of the captains. A war hero. He’d led a charmed life. The only discord was his breakup with President Beauchamp’s daughter, not long before they’d shipped out. They’d been a fairy-tale couple. Tamara Beauchamp was tall, blond, and skinny and always managed to look elegant and groomed. Everything Katia wasn’t. She was also asleep somewhere on the Trakis One.
She followed him out of the shuttle, and Logan fell in beside her, with Dylan and Adam behind. “What do you think he wants to talk about?” Logan asked.
“I have no clue, but no doubt we’ll find out soon.”
“I don’t like him,” Logan added.
She cast him a smile. “I think he seems very nice.”
“I noticed.”
They arrived at the door to exit the docking bay and came to a halt while Callum placed his hand on the panel. Nothing happened. He tried again then punched the panel. “Fucking ship is falling apart,” he said. When still nothing happened, he pulled his pistol from the holster at his waist and shot out the door lock. The door slid open. He pressed his comm unit. “Ian, can you send an engineer down to the docking bay? Door malfunction.”
“You mean you’ve shot another one.”
“Yeah. So?”
“Nothing, captain.”
She looked at Logan and raised a brow. She quite liked this guy. He got things done.
Finally, he stopped outside a door, pressed his hand to the panel. This time, it opened, revealing a meeting room similar to her operations room on the Trakis Two. “Would you mind waiting outside?” he said to Dylan.
Dylan peered into the room. It was clearly empty, and he nodded. Though he didn’t look particularly happy, but then, he was a nosy bastard. Callum gestured for her and Logan to enter and then waved them to sit down at the circular table in the center of the room.
He sat down with a sigh. “Fucking party,” he said. “The Trakis Three blew up and we have no clue who was responsible or why.” That was interesting. So Callum wasn’t buying into the whole terrorist theory. “The crappy piece of shit ship is falling apart, we’re running out of everything, and they decide to have a fucking party.” He ran a hand around the back of his neck. “Jesus, I could do with a drink.”
Strangely, that was something she could help with.
Reaching into her bag, she pulled out one of the bottles Rico had given her. “To help you get through the God-awful boring party,” were his words as he’d handed them over. She placed it on the table between them.
Callum viewed it suspiciously. “What’s that?”
“Whiskey.”
His eyes lit up. “You’re kidding me?”
“No, she’s not,” Logan replied. “We need glasses.” He looked at Callum. “Glasses?”
He scratched his head. “I’ve never actually needed glasses. Never had a drink. Not in the ten years I’ve been awake.”
“Try underneath the table,” she said. Maybe all the ships had them.
He looked and came up with a grin and a trio of glasses in his hand. “I might have to keep you people around.”
Maybe that was an option. They could stay here. Out of Rico’s way. But she didn’t want to be exiled from the Trakis Two. They were her people. Or as much her people as anyone was ever going to be.
Logan did the honors, unscrewing the top and pouring a hefty measure into each glass. He grinned at her. “Hair of the dog,” he said and lifted his glass. Katia picked hers up, raised it to Callum, who appeared a little wary, but then gave an almost imperceptible lift of his shoulders and picked up his own. He thought for a moment. “To making it home. Wherever that might be.” He swallowed the contents on one go.
Katia watched with interest as his eyes widened, he coughed, cleared his throat, and closed his eyes for a second, wheezing. “Jesus fucking Christ. Where the hell did you get this stuff?”
Katia took a sip of her own drink before answering. But she could see no reason to lie. “The captain of the Trakis Two makes it. He’s set up a still in the engine room.” Rico had shown her. “Uses anything they can grow in the agro-center.”
Callum reached across and topped off his glass. “The captain on the Trakis Two makes this stuff? I think I want a transfer.” He sipped the next glass, and Katia could see the tension draining out of him. He sat back. “I really must meet this guy.”
“Probably not a good idea,” Logan said. He’d emptied his own glass and refilled it. He looked better than he had all day as well. Maybe it was time to discover what the captain of the Trakis Seven wanted to talk about. They’d been delayed coming in; the party must be due to start or already underway. As the host, shouldn’t Callum be there? He didn’t seem to be in any rush.
“So what did you want to talk about?” Logan asked.
Callum sat up straight and put his glass on the table. “You were both assigned to the investigation.” They both nodded. “You’re not crew, and you were woken specially to take this duty?”
“Yeah,” Logan said. “We’re both qualified, and they needed someone. Why not?”
“I’ve just never heard of it happening before.”
“There’s never been a suspected murder case before.”
“Is that what you were told? That you would be investigating a murder case?”
Logan frowned. “Actually, I was told it was likely a malfunction, considering the age of the ships. But, for the sake of morale, we had to look like we were considering all possibilities.”
Callum turned his attention to her. “And you the same?”
What did she want to divulge? But she had a feeling that, unlike the crew of the Trakis One, Callum Meridian was not going along with the malfunction theory. Though she had no clue why. She shook her head slowly. Sometimes the truth was the best route forward. “No. I was told it was a murder investigation. If Rico had—”
“Rico?” Callum asked.
“The captain of the Trakis Two—he made the decision to wake me up. Before all this, back on Earth, I was a detective working homicide. If Rico had believed it was a malfunction, he would have woken up an engineer. He told me the Security Officer from the Trakis One had died mid-investigation”—she certainly wasn’t telling the truth about that particular death—“and they had no one qualified to continue. So I was the logical choice.”
“Hmm.” Callum leaned across and refilled all their glasses. “So Trakis One believed the deaths to be down to malfunctions, whereas—”
“Actually, I’m not sure they believe it,” Logan interrupted. “They just strongly intimated that they would like that to be the result I came up with.”
“Interesting. But the Trakis Two believe they were murders.”
“Rico’s a suspicious guy,” she said. “The investigation has been officially closed. The deaths were the work of the terrorist who destroyed the Trakis Three, conveniently blowing himself up and any evidence with it. So what’s your interest in all this?”
Callum slammed his glass on the table, spilling amber liquid onto the metal surface. “Because I don’t believe a fucking word of this terrorist crap, and I want to know what the fuck is going on before someone comes along and decides to blow up my fucking ship. With me on it.”
Well, she could see his point. She glanced at Logan, and he raised an eyebrow. They had to decide whether to trust him or keep up the pretense that the investigation was over. But they would certainly get the information they needed quicker and easier with Callum Meridian’s help. And she believed he was genuine. He seemed atypical of most military people she had met, not likely to toe the line. Logan was also atypical, but he went through the motions and pretended. She didn’t think Callum would pretend; there was an arrogance about him, a sort of fuck you, take me or leave me, arrogance that was inbred. He’d come from a wealthy background, never questioned who or what he was or his place in the world. She found she liked him despite that. Usually, privileged assholes were among her least favorite people, but there were always exceptions to every rule.
On balance, she decided that telling him the truth and getting some assistance was worth the risk. But it had to be Logan’s decision as well. He likely had more to lose if this all went tits-up. He was watching her, waiting for some signal, and she gave a small nod. He nodded in return.
“Well, that’s interesting,” he said. “Because we happen to think it’s a load of balls as well.”
“You’re continuing with the investigation?”
“We are. But under the radar. Rico knows—we couldn’t do this without some support to enable us to move around the fleet. But otherwise, to all intents and purposes, the investigation is closed and we’re tying up loose ends so we can submit our report.”
“What do you know so far?” Callum asked.
“Not enough,” Logan replied. “Unfortunately, someone keeps trying to kill us, which has interfered a little with our investigation.” He took them through what had happened since they’d woken.
Callum leaned forward in his seat, listening intently. When Logan finished, he sat back and thought for a moment. “No, you don’t have a lot. But what you do have is someone who doesn’t want you to get to the truth and is willing to blow up ten thousand innocent lives to stop you finding whatever evidence there was on the Trakis Three. And the attempt on your life clearly indicates that our murderer sees you as a threat, so you must have been on to something.”
“I just wish I knew what.”
“So how can I help?” Callum asked. “I presume you didn’t come here just for the party.”
“No, we were looking for some information.” She gathered her thoughts. “First, the names of the victims on the Trakis Seven.”
“You don’t have that? Why?”
“We have the numbers but not the corresponding data behind those numbers. Some glitch in the central database wiped out a whole load of information. It wasn’t seen as a major deal as the ships all have their own backups.”
“Except if the ships are destroyed then those backups are destroyed along with the ship.”
“Exactly. Very convenient, and we’re looking at things from that angle as well. Maybe someone tampered with the central database and left some sort of trail. So can you give us the names and details?”
“Of course.” He pressed a few buttons on his comm unit, and a screen flashed up in front of him. He swiped through it. “There you are,” he said, reaching out and turning the screen so she and Logan could read the information.
“Bingo,” Logan murmured.
“What is it?” Callum asked. “I take it you’ve seen something interesting.”
“So far, we only have information for the victims on the Trakis Two, and they were crew family.”
“Just like these,” Callum said. “Someone is killing the families of former crews? Some sort of grudge?”
Katia pulled out her file and wrote down the names on her report. Logan was inputting them onto his laptop.
Jason Brodie 28
Sarah Brodie 12
Susan Brodie 10
They were the family of Angela Brodie, the Second in Command, third rotation, of the Trakis Six.
So not a captain, then. She could cross off one possible motive. “Why attack this woman’s family now? What possible revenge can you have on a woman who’s not even awake and hasn’t been for centuries? God, none of this makes sense.” She searched her mind for some connection. Some pattern. Yes, both sets of victims were crew families, but different ships and different time scales. What the hell was the connection? Agh!
“Did you keep the bodies?” Logan asked.
“Of course. We made up a makeshift morgue.”
“Could we see them?”
“I don’t see why not. Though they’re not pretty. It’s only been a few weeks, but they’d started the decomposition process. If the units hadn’t been sealed, it would have stunk the place out and we would have picked it up without the audit. But it wasn’t a good death. They took time to die.”
She wasn’t squeamish; she’d seen a lot of murder victims in her time with the Metropolitan police. But these were children, and that was always harder. All the same, maybe seeing the bodies would trigger something—though she had no clue what.
“Let’s go.”
Callum looked at her for a moment and then nodded. “Come with me. We’ll have to be quick—I’m expected at the party, but the morgue is on the way.”
He led them out of the meeting room, along another identical gray corridor, through the sick bay, and out of a door at the back. The room was cold, and she shivered. Thankfully, this wouldn’t take long.
They already knew the cause of death, so she wasn’t sure what she expected to get out of this. They were wasting their time. This whole thing was a waste of time. What did it matter if they solved the stupid mystery? They would all still die on these great big disintegrating cans in space. She tried to shake off the negative thoughts and get her brain to function.
