go . There
I will be invisible. I can survive. I can wait for this hellish
nightmare to end.
He felt his mobile vibrate. Instantly his
heart resumed its anxious pounding. He fumbled with shaky fingers
and pulled the mobile out of his pocket and pressed it to his ear.
As he did, he seriously considered not accepting the call. Recently
the mobile seemed only able to bring him bad news…
“Yes,” he said, accepting the call.
“I have news,” a familiar woman’s voice
sounded in his ear. Celeste Ortega-Gasset, she was one of the
Phoenix Ring’s best informers and among the very few still
breathing.
“Go ahead,” he said, keeping his voice hushed
so none of the passers-by would take notice of him.
“It’s about Tamara Whittaker,” said Celeste,
her voice grave. Guillermo knew what it meant before Celeste said
any more, Tamara was dead now too… “One of Miss Whittaker’s
colleagues sent an emergency message not long ago. Unfortunately,
the message was suddenly cut off before it finished and we’ve heard
nothing from them since, but before that happened we did get
something… the Polarians boarded their ship and attacked them. I
doubt any of our people survived.”
“I’m sure they didn’t,” said Guillermo
soberly. He shuddered at the thought of Polarian soldiers
butchering unarmed humans. He imagined the muscular aliens towering
over their frail victims as they ended their lives with brutal
efficiently. Tamara and the other scientists wouldn’t have stood
the slightest chance even if they’d had weapons.
“I don’t know why the Polarians would attack
them,” said Celeste. “They were supposed to protect them. But that
is the information that we have and I can vouch that it’s
credible.”
“It could have been for many reasons,” said
Guillermo. “The money wasn’t good enough, or someone else paid them
more. For all we know the Polarians at Titan Three planned to
betray our people the whole time.”
“Speaking of money… it’s fast disappearing,”
said Celeste.
Guillermo knew that was true. Zane had been
the primary source of income for the Phoenix Ring. He’d greased all
the wheels and made certain the right money, barely imaginable
sums, was always in the right hands at the right time, gluing
everything together. But now he was dead. His incomes belonged to
Caerwyn Martel now, and to some extent Brinton, his father, and
neither of them were members of the Phoenix Ring, nor was either
likely to keep funding them. Zane had money in place, a lot of
money, he’d set aside certain funds, but those were swiftly
depleting. It was probably only a matter of days, if not hours,
before the last remaining q that held their associates together
dried up. And then the Phoenix Ring truly would have no more
friends left in the galaxy…
“I take it by your silence that Zane didn’t
leave you in charge of another even more secret emergency fund or
something? Something that could keep certain interests happy?” asked Celeste.
“I’m sad to say no. When the funds you know
of are gone, then everything is gone. There won’t ever be any
more.”
“That’s too bad,” said Celeste. “I was hoping
you’d say something else.”
“I wish I could.”
“You know what this means, don’t you?”
“That we’ll have to start cutting people
off,” said Guillermo. “Although someone has been doing a good job
helping us with that.”
“The biggest expense left is the Compound,”
said Celeste.
Yes that is true , thought Guillermo. Something will have to be done about that. And before the money
dries up. Because, once it does, the guards will no longer obey us.
And who knows what they will do with the prisoners, possibly
they’ll ransom them to the Empire or let them go or something else
unfortunate.
“Celeste,” said Guillermo. “I’m starting to
think it’s past time we eliminate the evidence. We’d better do it
now, while there’s still time.”
“You mean while the guards are
I will be invisible. I can survive. I can wait for this hellish
nightmare to end.
He felt his mobile vibrate. Instantly his
heart resumed its anxious pounding. He fumbled with shaky fingers
and pulled the mobile out of his pocket and pressed it to his ear.
As he did, he seriously considered not accepting the call. Recently
the mobile seemed only able to bring him bad news…
“Yes,” he said, accepting the call.
“I have news,” a familiar woman’s voice
sounded in his ear. Celeste Ortega-Gasset, she was one of the
Phoenix Ring’s best informers and among the very few still
breathing.
“Go ahead,” he said, keeping his voice hushed
so none of the passers-by would take notice of him.
“It’s about Tamara Whittaker,” said Celeste,
her voice grave. Guillermo knew what it meant before Celeste said
any more, Tamara was dead now too… “One of Miss Whittaker’s
colleagues sent an emergency message not long ago. Unfortunately,
the message was suddenly cut off before it finished and we’ve heard
nothing from them since, but before that happened we did get
something… the Polarians boarded their ship and attacked them. I
doubt any of our people survived.”
“I’m sure they didn’t,” said Guillermo
soberly. He shuddered at the thought of Polarian soldiers
butchering unarmed humans. He imagined the muscular aliens towering
over their frail victims as they ended their lives with brutal
efficiently. Tamara and the other scientists wouldn’t have stood
the slightest chance even if they’d had weapons.
“I don’t know why the Polarians would attack
them,” said Celeste. “They were supposed to protect them. But that
is the information that we have and I can vouch that it’s
credible.”
“It could have been for many reasons,” said
Guillermo. “The money wasn’t good enough, or someone else paid them
more. For all we know the Polarians at Titan Three planned to
betray our people the whole time.”
“Speaking of money… it’s fast disappearing,”
said Celeste.
Guillermo knew that was true. Zane had been
the primary source of income for the Phoenix Ring. He’d greased all
the wheels and made certain the right money, barely imaginable
sums, was always in the right hands at the right time, gluing
everything together. But now he was dead. His incomes belonged to
Caerwyn Martel now, and to some extent Brinton, his father, and
neither of them were members of the Phoenix Ring, nor was either
likely to keep funding them. Zane had money in place, a lot of
money, he’d set aside certain funds, but those were swiftly
depleting. It was probably only a matter of days, if not hours,
before the last remaining q that held their associates together
dried up. And then the Phoenix Ring truly would have no more
friends left in the galaxy…
“I take it by your silence that Zane didn’t
leave you in charge of another even more secret emergency fund or
something? Something that could keep certain interests happy?” asked Celeste.
“I’m sad to say no. When the funds you know
of are gone, then everything is gone. There won’t ever be any
more.”
“That’s too bad,” said Celeste. “I was hoping
you’d say something else.”
“I wish I could.”
“You know what this means, don’t you?”
“That we’ll have to start cutting people
off,” said Guillermo. “Although someone has been doing a good job
helping us with that.”
“The biggest expense left is the Compound,”
said Celeste.
Yes that is true , thought Guillermo. Something will have to be done about that. And before the money
dries up. Because, once it does, the guards will no longer obey us.
And who knows what they will do with the prisoners, possibly
they’ll ransom them to the Empire or let them go or something else
unfortunate.
“Celeste,” said Guillermo. “I’m starting to
think it’s past time we eliminate the evidence. We’d better do it
now, while there’s still time.”
“You mean while the guards are
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