Maverick Stand

Chapter 2

To say Amalie was quiet would be an understatement. She sat in the corner of Perez’s office, glowering at the floor.

Knox shifted in his seat and focused on Perez instead. “How many were left in the building when it blew?”

“Twenty,” Perez said, her voice hard. “Mostly people who thought it was a fire drill.”

“Emergency pods don’t come for a fire drill,” Alex whispered loud enough for the room to hear.

“A few confused elderlies and one lost child.”

“Damn it,” Alex said under his breath.

“But if we hadn’t found the explosives, everyone in that building would have died,” she reminded him.

“But the explosives might have gone off because they detected our drone,” DeVaun said. “We might have been what set them off.”

“If we hadn’t set them off, someone would have,” Perez said. “At least if it was us, we got the building evacuated.”

“Frankenbug would have snuck in undetected.” Alex’s mutter was almost undetectable.

But Perez honed in on it like a hawk. “You and Ximena have invented something that would have worked better?”

Alex recovered quickly and waved off his comment. “Nah, I’m just upset that people died. That’s all. Nothing we could have done about it.”

Ximena didn’t like anyone getting a hold of her pet projects. Yes, at first it might go to someone she trusted, but the technology never stayed there. Other people found it, adapted it, and then something Ximena invented could be used to kill. So she guarded her inventions closely, even from IAS.

Alex shrugged and looked at his hands, waiting for Perez to move on with the meeting. She didn’t. She just kept smiling at Alex with that knowing stare of hers. He shifted in his seat a little and leaned over to Knox.

“Is she still staring at me?”

“Yes,” Brant said. “Yes, she is.”

Alex cut his eyes back at Perez. “Is there something I’m missing?”

“No,” she said. “There’s something I’m missing. Or have you forgotten?”

Awkward pause. “I guess I have?”

Perez leaned forward on her table with her elbows. A polite expression covered her face, but within those eyes gleamed a hunger. She may have achieved head councilor with her smarts but not that alone. Perez was after all a politician, with all that entails.

And Knox wouldn’t have any other politician as head of IAS.

“When the drones attacked this school over ten years ago, Brant threw these strange discs all over the floor that deactivated the drones.”

“Oh, yeah,” Brant said. “Ximena’s Sirens. I forgot about that.”

Alex’s pursed lips said clearly enough that he’d forgotten too.

“It was a lifesaver,” Perez said. “Without that tech, many students would have died. So our tech team gathered every single one of them for back engineering.”

“They were just EMPs,” Alex shrugged.

“Powerful EMPs in a small package,” Perez said. “And they’ve been very helpful with missions since then. If you two have other inventions that could help us, I would love to have their design.”

Alex turned to Knox. “Why aren’t you involved in this conversation?”

“It’s complicated,” Knox answered.

Perez now turned her layered gaze on Knox, but it didn’t have quite the effect it did on Alex. With a blink, she changed her strategy and leaned back in her chair, backing off.

“OK, if there’s a problem with sharing the inventions, I’m listening.”

“They’re Ximena’s. Not mine. Not TrysKa’s. Not even Alex’s.” Knox didn’t raise his voice or add an edge of anger to it. He wasn’t mad about Perez wanting to get her hands on his wife’s inventions. He understood her intentions perfectly.

But this was Ximena’s territory. Period.

“So, can I talk to her?” Perez said, then raised a finger. “On second thought, TrysKa, would you talk to her?”

“Damn, you’re good,” Alex whispered.

Perez pretended she didn’t hear that one, but the corner of her lip flicked up. TrysKa’s mouth fell open. With a swallow, she found her voice.

“There’s a reason Ximena keeps her inventions to herself.”

“I understand,” Perez said with a weight to those two simple words. She did indeed understand. Any tool that becomes widespread can be used for great good. Or great evil. “But these times—“

“I won’t do it.”

It was Perez’s turn to blink. Oh, sweet TrysKa. She was so compassionate and gentle that people always underestimated her resolve. Even Knox had, and that memory still shamed him.

TrysKa would give her life for anyone. But she would not lie. She would not break her word. And she would not betray her friend’s trust.

“Well then,” Perez straightened. “Let’s get back to the rest of the meeting then.”

“I’m sorry,” TrysKa said, writhing her hands.

Perez shook her head, “Don’t apologize for standing by your convictions.” Still there was an edge to her voice as she turned to Amalie. “I’ll let you take the floor now.”

Amalie smoothed her doctor’s white robe and sat up. So many emotions wrestled across her body. Shame hid in her hunched shoulders, disappointment tucked in her pursed lips, and anger flashed in her eyes. It wasn’t that she’d predicted incorrectly.

It’s that she’d been out-predicted.

Amalie placed the marble with her work on Perez’s desk. The lights dimmed without being told, and her calculations filled the room. With a quick swipe, Amalie erased the future everyone wanted—the one where IAS had already cornered psycho Shakespeare’s family. That branch and all its foliage swirled away like smoke. Amalie drew a circle around the branches available now and enlarged them.

Knox’s gut kicked even stronger than it had before. Somewhere buried in that prediction was the death of a loved one. Had Amalie already calculated that possibility? Was she hiding it from Knox?

“Since I didn’t properly account for psycho Shakespeare’s predictions,” Amalie said. “You weren’t able to get to him before he left.”

Amalie paused, almost daring someone to comfort her, to say it wasn’t her fault. No one took the bait, not even TrysKa. Knox checked over his shoulder to find Brant backed into the corner. He stared at the floor, arms tightly crossed over his chest, trying to look smaller. Hard for a man that tall. He’d probably had a rough night with a wife very angry at herself.

“So now we get to figure out how to infiltrate a heavily-guarded sanctuary and fight a space battle to boot,” Amalie said. “And, as of yet, we don’t know exactly where it is.”

Alex’s digiscroll buzzed. “Silence.” He said, giving it an irritated look. “Sorry, I set it so that it wouldn’t—what the hell?” It buzzed again. He slapped it silent this time. Then it buzzed again. “It’s not supposed to—oh. It’s TG.”

He pulled his scroll off his hip and whispered an I’m sorry to Amalie. The glare he got made him lift his scroll as a shield to block her eyes.

I’m sorry“Well, I think this is good news?”

“We’re all waiting,” Amalie said.

“So, TG’s spy has sent her the location of psycho Shakespeare’s fortress.” He paused. “Oh, and something interesting about stunning his students.”

“And that is?” Perez asked.

“Well, I’m not exactly sure,” Alex turned the digiscroll around so everyone could see the floating words. “She didn’t write any of it down.”

Sure enough, only these words were scrawled across the scroll’s surface:

I know the location of asshole Teacher’s school.

I know the location of asshole Teacher’s school.And there’s a problem with stunning his brainwashed kids.

And there’s a problem with stunning his brainwashed kids.The voice of the school’s AI came over Perez’s ceiling speaker. “I’ve detected an armed person exiting the hovertram that just landed. They’re wearing a facial distorter, so cameras cannot identify them. I’ve locked the doors and notified the students and staff to take shelter. What should be done about the intruder?”

“Put me over the speaker to her, please.”

The AI didn’t ask how Perez guessed it was a woman.

Perez sat up in her chair, straightened her shoulders, and wore the look of a mom protecting her little ones.

“Please identify yourself.”

“If Knox and his crew are with you, my voice is all you’ll need,” the familiar alto answered over the speaker. “And believe me, if I could avoid delivering this message in person, I would.”

“That’s TG,” Knox and Alex said at the same time.

Amalie collapsed her predictions and stowed her marble safely into her pocket. Perez ran her gaze over each person’s digiscrolls, and then she narrowed her eyes at the door. Knox could almost see her assessing the security of each of her student’s scrolls. With closed eyes she shook her head.

“Take me off speaker for a moment,” Perez said to the ceiling then cut her eyes at Knox. “I know my school’s information is safe from any outside attacks. But if TG is physically inside my school, can she gain access to any digiscroll’s near her?”

“I have no idea,” Knox said, “but it wouldn’t surprise me.”

“And I doubt she’ll surrender her weapons, though I can’t figure out how she got those past space station security onto the planet.”

“You’re assuming she came through space station security,” Alex said.

“She can land her ship planetside without being detected?”

Alex and Knox shrugged. That was enough for Perez. She looked back at the ceiling and made a swirling motion with her index finger, indicating that she would talk to TG again. Her voice changed back to protective.

“For obvious reasons, we’ll come out to see you.”

“So, my reputation proceeds me.”

“And we detected your weapons.”

“Ah, that too. Well this bench looks comfortable enough. It’s a hot day though.”

Perez made a slashing motion across her throat, and the transmission ended. She surveyed the room.

“Amalie, you stay here. I don’t want TG to even know you’re important to us.” To Brant and DeVaun. “I want you with us.”

“In case she gets twitchy with those weapons,” DeVaun said. “Yes, ma’am.”

“I’m going to join my students,” Brant cut in.

“The students are safe, Instructor Mallet,” Perez said.

“But they could use his presence as reassurance,” Amalie added firmly.

“Very well,” Perez said. “The students probably would stay calmer with you around.”

She turned to Knox. “As for your crew, TG already knows you. I want all of you there as common allies.”

Knox, Alex, and TrysKa nodded. They let Perez and DeVaun lead then followed to the lift. The lift opened on the first floor, the main hallway. Usually loud with yells and running students, it felt dead silent with all the doors shut and locked. Brant bolted straight for the locked gym doors. A scanner to the right of the double doors scanned his face, beeped, and let him pass. They slammed shut right behind him, echoing the boom down the empty hallways.

Perez turned the other direction to the foyer. Those double doors slid open to an eerily quiet entrance. Only the front desk occupied the space with a single person sitting behind it.

“Head councilor,” Becky said with a nod of her white-haired head, her hands on her lap under the desk.

Few students knew what the buttons under Becky’s desk did. There were rumors, of course. But any time a group of students had successfully lured her away from the desk and then snuck under to push one of them, all they’d come away with was a nasty shock to their fingertips.

“That’ll tingle for a day or two,” she’d always laugh at them.

But when her fingerprints pushed those buttons, the school locked down.

Perez’s loafers clipped across the tile flooring to the front entrance doors. Behind her, boots echoed like a marching army. The front doors of the school slid opened, and they all stepped out to stifling heat. Alex immediately fluffed his shirt. He was accustomed to the cold of space. Knox didn’t let it faze him. He’d have huge wet spots under his armpits, but oh well.

Perez strolled up to a woman lounging on one of the benches beside the school’s grand stairway. The woman wore clothes and boots that could have all been bought from a soldier surplus store. Her hair was close cropped, and her jaw squared. Lean muscled arms draped the bench, and the modified twin pistols looked well-used and maintained.

Perez took a seat next to the woman who smiled, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes.

“So, this is IAS?” TG looked over her shoulder. “Now I can say I’ve seen it.”

“Now you can say you’ve seen it,” Perez said kindly, waiting for TG to take the lead.

TG studied Perez, from her clean updo to her crisp suit to her polished pumps. “Well aren’t you the politician.”

“I guess so.”

TG’s lip curled a little. “Well, I guess it takes a clever one to protect this place from the rest of them.”

Perez didn’t comment, just let TG talk. That gave TG another pause. “But you’re smart. Fine. I guess Knox trusts you for a reason.” She nodded at Knox who nodded back. “So, the information. That asshole—what do you call him?”

“Psycho Shakespeare?” Alex offered.

TG smiled at Alex, and this one reached her eyes. “Hey-a, Alex.”

He smiled back with that dimple of his, and she couldn’t help but laugh.

“Damn, you’re even cuter in person.” To TrysKa, “Don’t wait too long to bag him. Other ladies will gladly offer.”

“I can decide for myself what I’ll do and when, thank you very much,” TrysKa said.

And then Knox witnessed a rare moment. TG actually looked ashamed, if only slightly.

“I overstepped.”

TrysKa shrugged and looked at the epoxycrete embarrassed. Too many people for too personal a conversation. That and she hated correcting people; it hurt her a little. TG turned away from TrysKa to pull the attention off of her and the awkward moment.

“So psycho Shakespeare’s location.” TG pulled a data crystal out of her pocket. With a tap of her thumb, it lit up a small dome with a field of swaying stalks and a shed. An energy tunnel connected it to the nearby city dome, also of modest size. Several larger domes, filled with fields, popped up around them, a farming community.

“That’s not a big place to stay,” Alex said. “I guess everything interesting will be underground?”

“And I couldn’t get access to scans under the house,” TG said. “Scatter field.”

Perez leaned in. “I’m going to need to make a copy of this.”

“It’s yours,” TG rolled the marble down her palm then held it between her thumb and forefinger. The hologram disappeared as she put out her hand. Perez accepted the marble, regarding it as one would a bright red apple offered by a known witch.

“I’m helping you, or have you forgotten?” TG said.

“I have neither forgotten your loyalties nor your renowned abilities,” Perez said. “And I’d prefer not to expose the school to the latter.”

“Wow,” TG said. “Complimenting me while you tell me to my face that you don’t trust me. Talented.”

“There was something else?” Perez asked. “About stunning.”

“Oh, right,” TG said. She leaned back against the bench, closed her eyes, and sunned her face. Without opening her eyes, she answered. “Stunning his kids now kills them.”

TrysKa gasped, and Alex’s brow descended.

“How?” Knox asked, his voice deep.

TG opened one eye to peek at him. “Yeah, that pissed me off too.” She sat up. “So psycho Shakespeare has all his slaves wear these tooth caps on their back tooth.”

“We’ve noticed,” Knox said. “But stunning shouldn’t make them clench their teeth hard enough to burst it.”

“Well, apparently the new caps have some sort of tiny blasting cap. Whenever the shock of a stun g*n touches it, it pops and releases the poison.”

“s**t,” DeVaun said.

“Yup,” TG said.

“So, if we break into that compound,” DeVaun pointed at the data crystal in Perez’s palm, “any of the kids we stun is dead.”

“Yup.”

“How did he convince those kids to wear that?”

“They change the things every few months apparently,” TG said. “And they don’t know these caps will do that. They think it’s only when they clench down.”

That bomb struck everyone silent. Those kids thought that stunning wouldn’t hurt them. They were going into battle assuming that IAS soldiers would stun them, and that would be OK. They had no clue a simple stun would cost their lives.

“But if they don’t know what the new caps will do, how do you know?” TrysKa asked.

“My spy just figured it out. One of her friends was stunned which obviously killed her. I’ve never seen Ophelia that angry. It was a hot, quiet fury.” TG nodded to herself, like she approved. “About time.”

“We could use your help,” Perez said. “A talented programmer like you—“

“I’m sorry,” TG said, waving at the data crystal in Perez’s hand. “Didn’t I just help you by giving you this information?”

“With your skills—“

TG snorted and stood, looking down at Perez. “I helped rescue kids because Ophelia asked me to. I sent information from her to Knox, again because she asked me to. The only reason I helped Alex a few months ago was to save Knox from his own stupidity.”

“Stubbornness,” Alex corrected.

Knox shrugged. He couldn’t argue there.

TG bowed her head slightly as a you’re welcome. “But I’ve never worked for IAS, and I don’t intend to start today. Kill Teacher. Save Ophelia. Everything else I don’t care about.”

you’re welcome.“But wouldn’t Ophelia want you—“

“Don’t use her to manipulate me,” TG lowered her voice. “You’ve got your own crew of tech people.“ She waved at the school’s tower behind Perez. “Take care of your own mission.”

“So how do you really feel about IAS?” Alex said, with an impish tone.

really“Smart aleck.”

“She knows my name!” Alex pointed at her and smiled at the group like he’d accomplished something important. That got a short chuckle from her.

“I’ve got to get back to work,” TG said and turned her back to them. As she walked away, she continued speaking. “I do actually have a job, you know. Spending time here does cost me.”

It wasn’t until TG had boarded the public tram and left the dome that Perez pulled a jet-black bag from her slack’s pocket. She slipped the data crystal inside and sealed the bag shut. No doubt it shielded the contents from access to the outside world and vise verse.

“I’ll check out her information more thoroughly when I can isolate this from the school,” she said.

“Smart,” Knox said.

“Yeah, letting TG into your ship’s AI isn’t good for your overall mental health,” Alex said. “Not that I would know or anything.”

Knox grunted. He should have trusted Alex in the first place, then that woman never would have been involved. Hopefully, the rest of this mission could be completed without further interference from TG.

“And thank you for smoothing things over for me, Mr. Mason,” Perez said to Alex with a kind smile. “You appear to be someone TG doesn’t hate.”

“Glad my charm could be of service.” Alex gave her a flourishing bow, big dimple and all.

Knox chuckled. “Come on, Romeo, let’s go.”

“Hey, Knox knows my middle name!”

Knox shook his head with a harrumph, but inwardly he was smiling. Alex was always good to lighten the mood.

harrumph“As long as we’re here…”

“Want to call Ximena to join us?” TrysKa asked. “And see Caedmon?”

“Seems like a really good idea to me.”

And they could grab Brant and Amalie on the way out. Going out to eat this often was going to get expensive. For once, Knox didn’t care.