“Of course,” Maddox said. “Someone is observing us. No. Don’t look around. This is a setup, and someone is thinking fast. I’m assuming Meyers or Meyers’ handler.”

  Maddox glanced around. “Ah, that should do,” he said, spotting a clump of bushes. “Sergeant, one more sprint and that should be it.”

  Riker groaned, but he broke into an old man’s sprint, following Maddox as they headed for a clump of bushes in the middle of the vast lawn.

  Maddox reached the bushes first, pushing through to the center. “Galyan,” he said. “Galyan—” and he told the holoimage where to meet them.

  Galyan appeared as Riker crashed through the bushes. The sergeant collapsed onto his butt on the center grass.

  “I have not found Doctor Meyers,” the holoimage said.

  “There’s been a change in plans,” Maddox said. “I want you to find the observers attempting to watch me.”

  “Do you mean in the general perimeter,” Galyan asked, “with this location as the locus?”

  “No. Go to the North Section side entrance. There is a marine lying unconscious there. Use her as the observed point and locate whoever was watching us. At all costs, remain unseen.”

  Galyan nodded before disappearing.

  “Why did they kill the Prime Minister?” Riker asked

  Maddox had been considering that. Whoever had killed Hampton must have decided that he had become a liability. It was possible his decision to keep the Sanders android had panicked the enemy. Had his action killed Hampton then?

  Maddox shook his head. He was not afflicted with false morality. He had not pulled the trigger. He had panicked the enemy as desired—

  Galyan reappeared.

  “There is a three-man unit located in a garden shed on a slight incline. If you peer west, you can see the shed from here.”

  “The unit is watching the bushes?”

  “Yes,” Galyan said.

  “What are the three men wearing?”

  “Executive Palace marine uniforms,” Galyan said.

  “I doubt they’re marines,” Maddox said.

  “I could run an analysis on that,” Galyan said.

  Maddox debated using Victory’s sniper ray to take them out from orbit. That would cause too many problems, though, as Star Watch Orbital Defense would pick that up. He was in trouble. He didn’t want to needlessly put his crew in jeopardy with him.

  “Galyan,” Maddox said. “Get back up into Victory. Watch the Executive Palace from there. See who leaves. Record everything and come down in stealth mode to get a visual of them.”

  “What about you, sir?” Galyan said. “How will you get away?”

  “Don’t worry about me. Get up there. Find Meyers leaving the palace. Find her as soon as you can.”

  “There has to be more enemy operatives than just Meyers,” Riker said.

  “Probably the entire staff,” Maddox said. “Either that, or they’ve been brain-scrubbed to obey her. I believe the latter more likely.”

  “You suspect Meyers above the Sanders android?” Galyan asked.

  “You have a task, Mister,” Maddox told the AI. “Now get started.”

  “Sir,” Galyan said, disappearing a second later.

  “What are we going to do?” Riker asked.

  “For starters, Sergeant, get off our fat asses.”

  Riker grumbled as he climbed to his feet.

  “That way,” Maddox said, pointing. He positioned his mouth in such a way that he could see the garden shed up an incline. “We’re going to use the foliage to work our way back to our car.”

  “Won’t they have aerial surveillance on us?”

  “Another reason to use the trees,” Maddox said.

  “They’re just going to arrest us later.”

  Maddox turned to his sergeant. “Haven’t you heard the old saw that possession is nine-tenths of the law?”

  “I have.”

  “Remaining a free agent is the nine-tenths rule of remaining free.”

  “What does that even mean?” Riker asked.

  “Come on, old man. I’ll show you.”

  -17-

  “This isn’t the way back to the car,” Riker said several minutes later. “We’re heading back to the palace.”

  “Your perceptions haven’t dimmed with age,” Maddox said. “I congratulate you.”

  “Sir,” Riker panted. “Might you let me in on your plan?”

  “We hid in the bushes to escape their detection, correct?”

  “I’m with you so far, sir.”

  “But we didn’t fully escape their detection. It’s possible they used a handheld sensor on me there at the end of our time in the bushes.”

  Riker blinked several times, maybe figuring it out. “Oh. They’re waiting for us at the car?”

  “Some of them are, or they’re watching the car. That was the idea. We have to keep a step or two ahead of them until we’re on safe ground.”

  “Back on Victory you mean?” asked Riker.

  “Let me help you,” Maddox said. The captain grabbed the sergeant’s flesh arm. Then he began to sprint.

  Riker cried out in dismay. The captain could move like a leopard when he really ran. The sergeant’s legs almost gave out at this speed. Maddox kept hold, however keeping the old man up by main force. They fairly flew across the grassy grounds, heading to a different entrance into the palace.

  “We’re going to grab the air car on the roof,” Maddox shouted at Riker.

  “But sir—”

  “Come on,” Maddox said. And he ran to the entrance, releasing Riker in order to open the door. It was locked.

  Maddox drew his regular gun and fired, opening the door afterward. They ran down carpeted halls, which were still empty in this area. Maddox moved confidently through the halls as he’d studied the layout before leaving today.

  “Aren’t we taking those stairs?” Riker asked, pointing.

  “No,” Maddox said.

  Soon, the two of them ran down steps into a basement area.

  “The air car can’t be this way,” Riker said.

  “It’s not.”

  Maddox took several more turns and finally reached a subway entrance. There was no subway car waiting for them, however.

  Riker looked peaked and had been gasping for some time. “I don’t get it, sir.”

  “I shouted about the air car, right?”

  “Yes. Oh,” Riker said several seconds later. “You were hoping they picked that up too.”

  “Are you ready for one last run?”

  “No,” Riker said. “Do you even know where this goes?”

  “I have an idea.”

  Riker wiped his moist mouth with a sleeve. “I’m beat, sir. You go ahead. I’ll wait here.”

  “I’ve already considered the idea, Sergeant. But I don’t want them to capture you, so you’re going to have to push one last time.”

  “Please,” Riker said. “This one is too much. They think we’ve killed the Prime Minister. This one is too hard, sir.”

  “An evil person is trying to set us up. We can’t let her get away with it.”

  Riker peered into the subterranean tunnel. “What if a train or whatever runs through there comes while we’re traveling underground?”

  “Then we’re dead. Do you have any other questions?”

  Riker eyed Maddox. “I suppose not.”

  “Excellent,” Maddox said. “Now, let me give you a hand down. Our margin for error is running out.”

  -18-

  From upon a metal ladder in an underground access tube, Maddox heaved, using considerable strength to attempt to lift a metal grate above his head. Usually, operators used a special machine to raise the metal seal. Maddox gritted his teeth and heaved again, glad that he did upright military presses as part of his weightlifting regimen.

  The grate rose fractionally as Maddox strained.

  “Harder, sir, push harder,” Riker said from a position lower on the ladder than the captain.

  Maddox did exactly that even as his arms shook. The grate was far too heavy for an ordinary man to lift.

  “You’re getting it,” Riker said.

  The back of Maddox’s head began to pound with pain. The strain was too much, the grate too heavy.

  Maddox roared with effort as his face turned purple, and he lifted the grate just enough so he could partially slide it to the right.

  The captain practically collapsed and might have slipped down the ladder. Riker used his flesh hand to grip a rung, while he used his bionic arm to hold up Maddox.

  A few seconds later, Maddox revived enough to wrap his arms around a rung. He looked up as spots danced before his eyes. The grate had shifted halfway off the opening.

  “Fine,” Maddox whispered. He climbed a little higher, braced his back and thrust out a leg against the opposing tube side. He raised his hands, gripping the edge of the grate. By jerking and pushing, he slid it farther off the access hole.

  “I can squeeze through that,” Riker said from below.

  An exhausted Maddox climbed up, sliding past the almost removed grate and crawled onto cement. He wanted to throw himself onto the cool surface and rest. Instead, he climbed to his feet, watching as Riker crawled through.

  “We’re in a shed,” Riker declared.

  “Not so loud,” Maddox said. “We don’t know who’s outside.”

  “They would have heard the clanging and your shouting, sir, if they were nearby.”

  “Right,” Maddox said, drawing his gun. He unlatched the door and peered outside, spying trees and bushes.

  Holstering the gun, Maddox opened the door all the way, breathing the fresh air and squinting at the brighter light.

  They had moved through the underground tunnel for twenty-some odd minutes. That was surely enough time for Meyers to have gotten away. Had someone found the Prime Minister’s body yet? Were Riker and he the key suspects for murder?

  Riker came out of the shed, closing the door behind him.

  “This must be a secured area,” Maddox said, “as it’s an access point into the Executive Palace.”

  “Maybe it’s time to call Galyan again.”

  Maddox nodded, but that made the back of his head spike with pain. He needed to take it easy for a bit and rest.

  “Galyan,” Maddox said.

  Nothing happened.

  “That can’t be good,” Riker said.

  “We’ll worry about it later,” Maddox said, although he worried about it now. What did it mean that Galyan did not respond?

  They walked past the nearest trees and pushed through nine-foot tall bushes to find a solid fence surrounding the premises. Maddox led the way as they followed the fence, finally coming to a locked and heavy steel door.

  “Now what?” Riker asked.

  “It’s time for your bionic strength,” Maddox said. “Open it.”

  Riker grinned, stepping forward and using the mechanical power of his bionic hand to twist open the handle, breaking the locking mechanism in the process. He pushed the door open and they found themselves on a hill, looking down into a plaza with various Stockholm government buildings surrounding it.

  “Let me see,” Maddox said, examining the plaza. “Ah, Galyan,” he said into the air, and he gave the Adok AI the coordinates to their location.

  Nothing happened. Galyan still did not appear.

  “Your communicator please, Sergeant,” Maddox said.

  Riker dug his out, handing it the captain.

  Maddox opened it, picked up a tiny power cell from his jacket pocket and inserted the cell into the comm unit. Until this point, no one could use the comm unit to track them.

  “Lieutenant Noonan,” Maddox said into the comm.

  “Sir,” Valerie said promptly. “There’s a worldwide manhunt for you. I’m supposed to report your location the instant you call.”

  “Ignore that for now, Lieutenant.”

  “I’m not sure that I can, sir,” Valerie said. “The order came from the Lord High Admiral. They’re saying you murdered the Prime Minster of the Commonwealth.”

  “Do you think I did?”

  “That’s not the point,” she said. “I have direct orders.”

  “Is Keith upstairs?”

  “Yes,” she said. “I ordered him to take the shuttle up as soon as Admiral Cook ordered me to report you as soon as I heard from you. I told the admiral that I’d taken away your method of escape.”

  “Good work, Lieutenant.”

  “Sir?” she asked. “I thought you’d be angry.”

  “Doctor Meyers engineered the Prime Minister’s death. We must catch her before she escapes the planet.”

  “I’m sorry,” Valerie said. “I have my orders, sir. I’m bound by my oath to Star Watch.”

  Maddox frowned at the communicator. Lieutenant Valerie Noonan was often a stickler for rules and regulations. Maybe he should have called someone else. The problem was that she ran Victory while he was away.

  “Can you patch me through to the Lord High Admiral?” he asked.

  “I can try. But I should tell you that I’m going to give him your location.”

  “Valerie,” Maddox said. “I want you to listen carefully. The Sanders android did something to the Lord High Admiral while they were alone in Cook’s office. The admiral is not himself. The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Planets was an alien plant or patsy. I am on the trail of the human agents of a new alien threat. These aliens are diabolically clever. I know you want to obey the lawfully given order. But if you do, the new alien threat wins.”

  “Please, Captain, don’t ask me to help you escape justice. I-I can’t break my oath to Star Watch.”

  “You’re an officer of Star Watch in order to protect it from all dangers. This is the danger today, Lieutenant. Do you have the courage to risk everything to protect humanity from a new alien threat?”

  “You killed the Prime Minister, sir. You’d say anything to avoid capture.”

  “If you truly believe that,” Maddox said, “hand me over to the authorities.”

  A few seconds passed in silence.

  “I don’t believe that,” Valerie said in an agonized voice. “But…but—what do you want me to do?” she asked in the quietest voice she’d ever used.

  “I want you to send Keith down in a fold-fighter to pick me up.”

  Valerie groaned. “This call is likely monitored.”

  Maddox had used a scrambler, but in this instance, that probably wouldn’t matter.

  “Send Keith,” Maddox said. “Do it immediately. Then patch me through to Major Stokes.”

  “Okay,” she said in a small voice.

  “By the way,” Maddox said. “Where is Galyan?”

  “Here, sir,” the little holoimage said from behind the captain.

  Maddox whirled around in surprise.

  “I have something to tell you, sir,” Galyan said.

  -19-

  “Just a second,” Maddox told the holoimage. “Valerie, are you sending Keith?”

  “We’ll all be court-martialed for this,” she said.

  “No,” Maddox said, “Because I know what’s going on.”

  “You think you know.”

  “Make your choice, Lieutenant.” Maddox kept the comm to his right ear but moved it so he wouldn’t be talking directly into it. He eyed Galyan, asking, “What do you have for me?”

  “I’ve followed Doctor Meyers,” Galyan said.

  “You spotted her leaving the palace,” Maddox said.

  “No, sir,” Galyan said. “I overheard a transmission as she spoke to the spaceport authorities.”

  “Stockholm Spaceport?” asked Maddox.

  “That is correct,” Galyan said.

  “The point, Galyan, get to the point.”

  “I moved to her location as she ran across the tarmac to a waiting ship.”

  “Skip the details and get to the point.”

  “I have to explain a few details, sir, or it’s not going to make sense.”

  “Fine, fine, just hurry up.”

  The holoimage nodded. “The ship was big as shuttles go. I’m not sure it was a shuttle exactly. It was box-shaped and definitely not aerodynamic. It did have several fins along the outer box.”

  “I have Major Stokes on the line,” Valerie said through the comm.

  “Tell him to listen to this,” Maddox said. “Galyan, speak up so Stokes can hear you.” The captain adjusted the comm speaker, aiming it at the holoimage.

  “Doctor Meyers jumped aboard the box-ship,” Galyan said loudly. “It was several times as large as a Victory shuttle. As soon as Doctor Meyers boarded, the box-ship began to hum in a strange manner. It received spaceport permission and began to rise straight up. At that point, I used Victory’s sensors. The box-ship used antigravity pods of a unique nature. It rose several hundred meters before it began lateral movement, heading for the Baltic Sea.”

  “Speed this up, Galyan,” the captain said.

  “The box-ship moved fast until it was out of sight of ordinary vision. At that point, it used a form of fold to disappear.”

  “Where did it go?” Maddox asked.

  “It took me several minutes to locate—”

  “Where did it go, Galyan?” Maddox asked, interrupting.

  “It appeared in orbit beside a smaller-than-average hauler.”

  “Not a Nerva hauler,” Maddox said.

  “The hauler is not registered to any company I’ve heard about before this,” Galyan said. “Why do you suspect a Nerva hauler?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Maddox said. “Finish the story.”

  “The box-ship entered the hauler, and the hauler has broken orbit, heading out-system. According to its present trajectory, it is headed for Jupiter.”

  “What are the nearest Laumer Points in that direction?” Maddox asked.

  “None,” Galyan said. “Is that not curious?”

  “Just a second,” Maddox told Galyan. “Major, did you hear all that.”

  “I did,” Stokes said over the comm. “Have Galyan give me the registry number of the hauler.”

  Galyan did so.

  “I’m relaying that to an aide,” Stokes said. “Now, Captain, I’m sending an air car to bring you in.”