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  They were seated at a table near the window overlooking the bay of New San Francisco on Cordoba, a planet in the Praxima system forty-three lights years from Earth.

  Cordoba was the HQ of the Eisenhower Mega Corp. and it was home to Tanya Wilde. Their meal was over and they were drinking coffee.

  “I should be getting back soon, Miss,” Taylor said as he placed his cup back in the saucer in front of him. He was in his late twenties, six feet one tall with a good physique maintained by a daily ritual of hard exercise. His black hair was cut short as part of his job requirement to appear neat and tidy at all times, and he was clean-shaven. His deep brown eyes had never wavered from his lunch companion the whole time they had been together and although he was considered good looking he was certain Tanya Wilde didn’t know he existed.

  “Excuse me?” Tanya said, lost in her own thoughts and unaware of what her lunch companion had said. “Are you okay Miss, you seemed distracted throughout the entire lunch,” Taylor elaborated.

  “I’m sorry I’ve not been much company today. You must think I’m awful,” she said.

  “Not at all, Miss, I could never think that,” Taylor said, then immediately regretted it. He began to feel uncomfortable as the hot flush flooded his cheeks. She glanced up from her coffee cup and saw his expression and the colour in his cheeks and couldn’t help but smile, just a little, to herself.

  “I do apologise, I’ve been thinking about something and it’s made me neglect my charming companion. I will make it up to you I promise,” she said, her voice low, soft and full of promise. She was teasing him, something she liked to do and she smiled as she saw Taylor’s colour deepen.

  “It’s okay, Miss, there’s no need for you to do that,” Taylor replied.

  “Just give me one moment and I’ll be with you and we can leave,” she said rising from her seat. Taylor stumbled to his feet, forever the gentleman, as she walked away from the table. He put a finger down the collar of his shirt to let some of the steam out. He blew out his cheeks in relief, as he was beginning to feel rather uncomfortable with her flirting. She was the boss’s daughter and as much as he would love to get to know her better he knew that it was out of the question. Jonas Wilde would send him to the most remote location he could possibly think of if he even suspected anything had happened between Taylor and his daughter.

  He couldn’t help but like her though, more than like in fact, he had had a crush on her since the very first time he’d seen her walk into the building.

  The tingle in his NI told Taylor that a call was coming in.

  “I hope you have my daughter with you Taylor,” said Jonas Wilde.

  “She’s not been out of my sight the whole time, sir,” Taylor lied.

  “She’s there with you now then I presume.”

  Taylor hesitated before answering, “Erm... she’s just gone to the powder room, sir. I couldn’t possibly go in there with her, sir,” he stammered.

  “What part of ‘don’t let her out of your sight for even a second’ are you having trouble with?” Wilde said, the rebuke evident in his voice.

  “I’ll go find her straight away, sir,” Taylor said getting to his feet immediately, hoping to reduce the level of punishment he knew was coming his way as soon as they got back to the office.

  He was halfway to the powder room when he met Tanya on her way back to the table.

  “Miss me that much ’eh?” she said with a smile, yet she half expected that she knew the real reason, which was confirmed with Taylor’s next words.

  “Your father said not to let you out of my sight, Miss.”

  “Not even to go to the bathroom?” she said, already suspecting the answer.

  “You know your father better than most, Miss, if he says not for a second it includes going to the bathroom,” Taylor replied a little sheepishly.

  “Yes, you’d think so wouldn’t you,” Tanya said thoughtfully.

  “Excuse me Miss?”

  “You’d think I’d know my father, though I’m not so sure.”

  “You’ve lost me, shall we return to the table?” Taylor said, a little confused. Then, as he glanced around at the rest of the restaurant’s diners and realising they were garnering some attention, urged her to sit down. His boss and her father would not relish any unwanted publicity, for if the media got even one hint of a sniff of anything they considered newsworthy then they would be all over them like a school of piranhas over a fresh carcass.

  Once they were seated he picked up on what she had said, “Why are you unsure about your father, Miss?” he asked. He immediately regretted it, not wanting to pry into personal affairs.

  Never expecting a reply other than a rebuke he was surprised when she said, “I overheard something that I’d never thought possible from my father just before we came here.”

  “What did you hear?” he asked, wanting to help her. He was drawn to her; she had turned out to be someone he had not expected, warm, charming and friendly, not at all like the spoiled brat he had been warned about by some of the other security men.

  She looked at him appraising the man before her. Could she take him into her confidence? Possibly not, after all he worked for her father, it was he who signed his pay cheques so his affiliations would be clear. But what if she had got it wrong and there was some plausible reason, some excuse for those words she’d heard, perhaps this man could explain, he might even know the truth. As sad as it was to admit, she realised she did not know her father as well as she would like and perhaps this man did know him better than her and therefore would know if her suspicions were well founded or if she had simply misheard the conversation. Taking all that into consideration she decided to take a chance and confide in him.

  “I overheard my father issue orders for someone’s death,” she said. There it was, she’d said it, no taking it back now.

  Taylor didn’t know what to say, he suddenly realised that he was in a position that could get him in some serious trouble. He sat back in his chair and looked down at his plate while considering his next words very carefully.

  “You think I’m kidding or I misheard don’t you?” Tanya said when she saw his hesitation.

  “Did you?” Taylor asked carefully.

  “No, I didn’t. I wish I had but I know what I heard and I’m not prone to telling lies to get what I want either, before you even go there, besides what would I get out of this? What could I possibly gain from an accusation like this?” she replied calmly.

  “The attention of a father who possibly gives his daughter everything she wants other than what she really needs, his attention,” he suggested.

  “Oh thank you! So now I’m a spoiled brat who, just to get her father’s attention, accuses him of plotting the deaths of some people. I’m so glad you have such a high opinion of me,” Tanya replied and got to her feet. “You’d better take me home then,” she added.

  “You’ve got it wrong, I just meant that some people could think that,” Taylor said, gesturing to her to sit back down.

  “What do you think then?” she asked putting him on the spot to find out where he stood on her statement. She wanted to know whether he would back her up and help her get to the bottom of it or just take her father’s side without question.

  “Okay, let’s look at this logically,” he said as she sat back down. “Who was your father talking to and who was he talking about? Is there any possibility that you misheard any of it?” he added.

  “I only heard his half of the conversation but he talked about people being inside a chamber, about someone checking that whoever was trapped inside the chamber was dead, and that he was to make sure they were dead and not to return until he had proof they were dead. That to me was pretty conclusive, how’s it sound to you?” she replied with more than a trace of sarcasm.

  Taylor felt his blood run cold. What was he supposed to do with this? Who would believe this story if they could find anyone to listen? If this was true and she had heard correctly, then if they even tr
ied to take this any further their lives could be forfeit. If her father were responsible for ordering the deaths of those people, who’s to say that he would stop there. If Taylor got in Wilde’s way then surely he wouldn’t think twice about dealing with one security guard in the same way. Who could he call anyway, who would listen?

  “Oh shit,” Taylor said, not knowing what else to say.

  “Is that it? Is that all you’re gonna say?” asked Tanya getting a little uncomfortable. She started to think she had made the wrong decision in telling him.

  “What would you want me to do, without proof there’s not a soul on this planet who would believe your story,” he said finally once his thought processes began to return to normal after the shock of hearing her story.

  “Proof, you want proof?” she said as an idea formed in her head.

  “What you gonna do?” Taylor asked as he saw the look of determination in her eyes.

  “I’ve always been able to hack into my father’s files so if I can do that now and find anything pertaining to this chamber he mentioned, would that help convince you?” she asked.

  “You can do that from here?” Taylor asked. He knew all personnel in the Mega Corp. were fitted with better than average NIs but to be able to access a computer from this distance required the equivalent of a military grade one. He knew that the Corp. had many contracts with the military and were suppliers to Col Sec and the Alliance, but as far as he knew the top quality tec. was saved for the military.

  There were safeguards in place that prohibited manufacturers supplying the military grade tec. to civilian corporations, institutes or persons. This was to prevent criminal organisations or terrorists becoming a real threat to the military. If Tanya could access her father’s file from their present location, it meant that she had a military grade NI and that Wilde had total disregard for the law, which also gave credence to Tanya’s story.

  Taylor was suddenly afraid.

  “Of course,” was all she said, “hold on.” Her eyes took on the thousand-yard stare that Taylor was familiar with when anyone used their NIs to access a link to a computer.

  “I’m in,” she said and then added, “I’ve accessed his call log.”

  Taylor glanced around to see if anyone was paying them any attention and when he was certain that no one was even remotely interested he returned his gaze to the woman before him.

  “Do you know anyone named Tanis Rygar?” she asked, then said, “Hang on, I’ve got the call I overheard, I’ll link it over to you, get ready.”

  Before Taylor could say anything his NI had linked with hers. He was now in receipt of the call logs and he knew he was dead.

  “Oh shit!” he said as he replayed the call in the receiver in his brain. He looked across at Tanya and saw her expression change.

  “What?” he asked.

  “An alarm has just gone off. I don’t know why, it’s never gone off before. Dad knows I’ve taken his file,” she said and her face was a mixture of confusion and fear.

  “It was when you transferred the file to my NI, it triggered the alarm. Your NI must be authorised whereas once the data was transferred to me it was logged as an unauthorised transfer and set off an alarm. If what you say is true, and now I have no reason to doubt you as I have the proof, then they’ll come after us to prevent us passing it on to a third party,” he explained.

  “What do you mean?”

  “What do you think? Your father authorised the death of some Col Sec marines. Do you honestly think he’ll take the risk that we’ll talk to anyone about this? He’ll send someone after us,” Taylor said his face ashen as he knew his life was over.

  “We have only one choice then,” Tanya said.

  “And that is what?” he asked.

  “We have to get to someone in Col Sec. My father can’t get away with this,” she said, more determined than ever.

  Taylor looked at her and his training kicked in. Before working for Jonas Wilde he had been a Col Sec marine. He only took this job because the pay was better and his rotation was at an end. Now, at that moment, his old training took hold of him again and his mind raced with alternate scenarios for his situation. He had to get away and keep this data safe from the enemy; he also had to protect the young woman who had got him involved in all this.

  “Come on, we have to move,” he said and offered her his hand. He now knew what he had to do.

  10

  Tanis Rygar was in his quarters in the freighter on the way back to Cordoba. He’d delayed the call as long as he possibly could but he knew he had to make it and take the consequences. He took a deep breath and called Jonas Wilde via a secure sub space channel through his NI.

  “What is your status?” demanded Wilde when the call was received.

  “Sir, I have to report that the chamber was destroyed,” Rygar said, hesitantly.

  “And the Col Sec marines, are they dead?” Wilde had detected some reluctance to give a full report in his man’s voice.

  “I’m afraid that some escaped, sir,” Rygar said.

  “What!” Wilde was furious and Rygar could feel the venom in his simple exclamation.

  “We were unable to prevent three of the marines escaping despite our best efforts,” Rygar said. “I take full responsibility, sir.”

  “Damn right you take full responsibility....” his angry retort was cut short when the alarm sounded, set off by Tanya’s unauthorised incursion to her father’s files.

  “What the fuck?” he said as he searched for the cause of the alarm. When he realised what had triggered the alarm he was dumbfounded. How could his own daughter do this to him? What did she hope to gain from this and who else would she tell. She’d already involved the security man Taylor and, because of his involvement, caused his death. He would have to get her back and try to contain this. He knew his daughter, if he got her back he would make her see sense, he would just have to close off all loose ends en route to her. If, when he got her back, she refused to see sense he would just have to take the necessary steps to ensure what she knew went no further and if that meant ending her life, so be it. He would not be stopped in this by anyone and that included his own daughter.

  “Get back here as quickly as you can I want a full debrief ASAP,” he said to Rygar before closing the call. He had to take the necessary steps right away to contain this situation. Rygar had outlived his usefulness and Taylor had to be silenced. For this mission he would use one of the new Rover 5s. It was time for them to become the new team leaders and take their place in the hierarchy of the new OMEGA – his OMEGA. It was time to usurp Maxwell Eisenhower and take full control of the organisation that would propel him forward so he could fulfil his destiny as one of the most powerful men in the galaxy and, in time, the most powerful man in the galaxy.

  With that in mind he made the call.

  HAWK AND THE VALKYRIE arrived on Earth and the pilot took the disguised freighter into a docking approach with Research Station One, which was the planet’s first orbiting platform. It was a huge city-sized station that was positioned in geostationary high orbit around the planet and had been in use since the mid twenty-first century. It was the stopping off point for most missions and had a permanent crew of five hundred personnel on six-month rotation. The base also handled large numbers of visitors from a few hundred to almost a thousand. Col Sec kept a permanent office there for debriefs and other consultations, but for this debrief Hawk would have to go to Col Sec HQ, Intelligence Division, where General Sinclair would handle it personally.

  Once they had docked at Research Station One, Hawk got into a shuttle and piloted it straight down to Col Sec HQ leaving Colonel De Boer and the rest of the team to go their own separate ways, to their own debriefs.

  On the journey through hyperspace Hawk had taken the time to formulate his debrief, going over and over in his mind just what had happened in the chamber, trying to make some sense of it all.

  Why had OMEGA wanted the chamber destroyed if there was nothing of
value inside? Was it merely to waste time for Col Sec so that they wouldn’t learn what their real objective was? What was their real objective? He had so many questions and not enough answers. He wasn’t sure he would get the answers he needed any time soon either.

  Going over his report with Sinclair was his only solution. He hoped a new pair of eyes and ears would identify something that he’d missed.

  They had no time to lose; they had to get to the bottom of this riddle before OMEGA unleashed whatever fiendish plot they had planned. With that in mind he increased his pace through the corridors of Col Sec HQ towards Sinclair’s office.

  TAYLOR AND TANYA LEFT the restaurant, got into the nearest sky-cab and left the area as quickly as they could.

  “Where are we going?” asked Tanya, looking out of the windows as the sky-cab soared into the flight lanes.

  “We just need to get away from that area because your father will look there first. As soon as we are away from there, I’ll contact someone I know in Col Sec and see if they can send an operative to help us. It’s imperative we keep on the move until they can reach us otherwise your father could track us through your NI and from what you’ve told me, we don’t want that to happen,” replied Taylor. The screen between the passenger compartment and the pilot of the sky-cab was down and locked. They could communicate via an intercom panel in the screen, which could be locked from the passenger side to ensure they had privacy during their journey.

  “We’re in real trouble aren’t we?” said Tanya, which was more of a statement than a question. “I’m so sorry to have dragged you into this,” she added sincerely.

  “I can think of better, much easier and safer ways of getting to know someone without endangering their lives,” replied Taylor concentrating on his next move. Then he glanced across at his travelling companion and smiled to let her know he was okay with it all. “But I wouldn’t miss this for anything,” he added and reached across to hold her hand, squeezing it gently to reassure her that they would be okay.