Gold Rush Read online

“Yes?”

  “What are they doing here?”

  Brian looked at the side. He read the words written on the side. “Village in a box version one point two.”

  “I can read that.”

  “When you were given this land as a settlement did not the Emir promise substantial assistance?” Todd nodded his head. “It’s a little late in coming, but here it is.”

  Todd looked at it. “One of those would have taken care of his obligations.”

  “I told the emir that. He said to me. Brian, I feel bad for the lateness of the gift. Give them the whole series.”

  “The whole series?”

  “When I come back in a month, I expect to see a small town, and most of your test bed of inkfur completely planted.”

  “Yes, sir. Todd, here is your prisoner, thank you for allowing me to question him.”

  Denn Sengel scrunched his nose when he heard Todd Meyer’s name. He took out his slate. He made a few notations on it with a stylus. “Do you have the Bond?”

  Todd had a perplex look on his face. Scott bailed him out. “The bond is the card I gave you when I surrendered.”

  The perplexed look went away at once. “I have it here.” Todd reached into his pocket. He pulled out the card with the computer chip in it. Denn took the card and entered it into the reader. In a moment he had the information about Scott Wilkerson. He pointed his slate at Scott. When the number matched, Denn turned to Todd Meyer.

  “Do you have an account for the funds to be transferred?”

  Todd reached into his pocket. He pulled out the bank card and handed it to Denn. Denn took the information and ordered fifty thousand crowns deposited into the Children if the Wind’s account. When everything went through as requested, he smiled.

  “Thank you, sir, for accepting the surrender of my principal.” Denn turned to Brian. “Thank you for your sacrifice.” Denn laid a finger beside his nose ending any remonstrance from Brian.

  “I have a ticket here for your passage back to Lovat. What is your desire?”

  Brian looked at Scott who had a pleading look on his face. “I remove your parole. Here is your side arm. Go with Action Squad 3. They will see you to the right person. Make sure that you get Naturalized.” Brian looked at One who looked at Scott. She used to look at Brian like that. She was trying to herd him off. He wouldn’t go until he did what honor required. He shook Brian’s hand. Then they parted.

  oked to One who was drinking in the visual appeal of the sizable dusky man.

  “The Acting Director would like to talk with Scott.”

  Brian looked at Scott: “Well?”

  “Uhhhh. Yes.”

  Brian pulled Scott’s weapon from his belt. He handed the pistol back. “I release you from your parole. Get Naturalized for Eridani, but I suspect that will be expedited. An Honor, sir.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Brian and Kandi

  DEBRIEF

  The Acting director gave him a day to recover from the previous day’s excitement. In an unusual turn of events, Brian’s usual gaggle of women did not want to play with him. Apparently, they realized that Brian would not settle down until the days of operating as a Special Agent were over. They thought that Brian was a terrific lover. He was a great date. It was the fact that he had to keep secrets that his friends chose not to continue their relationship with him. In the space of a week, he went from having 5 fairly regular girlfriends to having 5 “Just Friends.”

  Brian did not like the direction his maudlin thoughts were taking him. He got up; took a shower; shaved the post-mission stubble. When Brian got out of the shower, his personal com was going off. He picked it up and accepted the call.

  “Brian - Carla. Director’s office at ten. We’ll have breakfast in the office. Bring the equipment that you want to return to Quartermaster. Thank you.” She cut him off in mid-sentence.

  Brian knew that it would be useless to dial back. She would not accept. Whatever she wanted to say she wanted to say in the director’s office. If old Director had died, Brian would have been ordered to wear the black armband. He was being retired, and Carla was taking his place. Brian liked Carla, but she had a streak of ruthlessness. He always thought that she would have been an excellent special agent.

  Brian filled his briefcase with everything he wanted to return to Quartermaster. Then he walked out of his apartment. Brian had given the Aponte to Todd for his upcoming meetings with the Emir and the Parliamentary Committee. Todd was near enough to Brian’s physique that he could wear Brian’s Grey Suit. It was a very subtle political theatre that told everyone who his benefactor was, a special agent. He walked over to the headquarters building.

  As he was walking along the sidewalk, he heard a short blast from a police siren. He turned to see Felicity Danforth driving a police car with Captain’s markings. Brian walked over to the car. She had shut off the engines and was resting on the car’s struts. She rolled down the passenger side.

  “Are you here to excoriate me?”

  “What are you talking about, Brian. I wanted to thank you. Those officers were not supposed to be there. We believe that they were some sort of cover if the operation was blown. We’re getting full information from the Secret Service. We had the information to bust 5 whole operations that moved things for the operations. You got the gold and let us get the small fry.”

  “Glad to have been of assistance.”

  “I just wanted to thank you personally.”

  “They let a captain drive around on her own?”

  Felicity chuckled. “You see that grav-van behind me?”

  “Babysitters.”

  “Worst kind. Goodbye.”

  Brian stepped away from her grav-car. He watched her drive into the large parking complex for the police headquarters. Then he walked towards the main entrance to the Secret Service building that announced it was the building for the Pendit Corporation. Brian entered the building walking past the guard post with a slim nod. Brian walked through the Atrium He walked to the one elevator reserved for the top floor.. Brian entered it and pressed for the top floor. He typed the passcode and rode the elevator up to the top floor. Brian walked to the entrance to the Director’s office. He opened, and the receptionist said to Brian: “Go right in, She is waiting for you.

  She kept the office the same. The dark wood paneling, the wood desk, and other wooden accouterments. Her chair was more substantial in the back. Next to her desk was a covered trolley.

  “Let’s have Breakfast first,” she said pulling off the silver cover. On Brian's plate were two fried eggs and two rashers of bacon. The coffee was real and not the Adenine Tree substitute. He set down and ate the breakfast.

  Carla asked very penetrating questions as they ate. By the end of the breakfast, she had Brian’s complete report. Now Carla had to have the computer convert all those words into text. Brian liked what she was doing and allowed it because it saved him a step. When the breakfast was over a waiter retrieved the dishes and the trolley. He was escorted from the outer office into the inner office by one of the guards. Brian stared at him because he looked familiar. Then he recognized Scott! He did get a job with the Secret Service Guard Service. Carla smiled when Brian remembered the mercenary turned friend.

  The waiter left the office, and Scott took his position at the door. Carla sent the guards out. She wanted Brian to see that Scott landed on his feet. He was mercenary no longer.

  When the soundproofed doors were closed, Carla returned to the large chair behind her desk. She indicated the chair in front of her desk.

  “There are a couple of company business items before we begin. It has been proposed that we issue all workers above the rank of an agent with an operating number. The first Special Agent chose Z01. I like his choice. You will be Z02. You’ll get a replacement badge with the number on it. Well?”

  “I like it, and I understand it.”

  “Good. I was expecting you to object. Now we need to discuss the Previous Director. He has not bee
n retired. He just can’t be in charge of the Secret Service, but I cannot do without that brain. He has an office on this floor called the office of strategic planning. That has already paid dividends. We are adding one female Special Agent. And two more Special Agents at the vernal equinox. And yes, her fox hunt is four men. She must have heard of you. I had to tell her no because you were on mission.”

  Brian chuckled out loud. “How do you ask men to run away from a women. If she catches you, well…” Carla chuckled.

  “Now for your debrief. You have been debriefed about the police segment. Now comes the part where we interrogate you on the Children of the Wind. Todd Meyer sends a thank-you to the service for sending you. He says you cleaned out a lot of dark spots. Well done. The Emir says thank you for rectifying something that he had to drop for political reasons. Your budget for the mission has been refunded the cost of the crate drop and crates. That brings your total cost for the mission to thirty-five hundred credits. When the Children of the wind discovered the hunting rifle and ammo they sent us the heirloom for our disposal. We put the Rifle up for Auction. It never made it to the auction. Someone paid the value placed on it. The rifle sold for four hundred thousand crowns. For this portion of the mission, you have made three hundred ninety-five thousand crowns. This is a new occurrence. You don’t have to bring the missions under budget, or even have a profit. We do like it though.

  “I want you to complete all of Gold Rush, so I am holding out for a piece of equipment. When it is in place, you will be briefed, and off you go.”

  “What piece of equipment?”

  “Why your runner.” Carla used the spacer’s tern for a starship that could be flown with only a single human. All it required was an exorbitantly powerful computer, AI, or a slave.

  “What model?”

  “New model. There were some glitches in the design. They promise it by the end of the week. This is a Cassaways Limited B14. This is what they call their playboy ship, whatever that means.”

  “A bed that does tricks. The best water reclamations and supply. Big radamite tankage, even bigger engines. Cassaways builds Starfighters for our Starfleet. I think this is going to be a dogfighter.”

  “Probably because. Dogfighting capability is in our specs for the ship. We are allowing them to develop the craft on our bill, and then they can sell as many as they can while we get the ships cheaply.”

  “Where do you think he is running too?”

  “My money is on Alphacent. He’s been buying tickets and cashing them into Alphacent.”

  “Not a trained Agent.”

  “We can’t even find his engineering degree anywhere. Or the certificate on Giesling.”

  “I’m not going to figure this out sitting on my ass here. When do I go?”

  “Not till the end of the week. You like golf right?”

  “Yes”

  “Play a round or two. Find Miss Right-Now. I have no idea how long you will be on Alphacent. Enjoy yourself without causing any problems. Also, there is a new Aponte in your spot in the parking lot.” She tossed him the virtual keys. He caught the black box.

  “Sure thing.”

  Brian had to work off some energy soon. He took his briefcase when he walked to the first level basement, where the technicians and troglodytes live. He walked up to a waist-high counter. A perfect looking girl in a lab coat gave him a sultry wink

  “Carol, who is that up there,” wheezed an older man behind her.

  “It’s that Z02. Probably returning equipment from the field.”

  The wheezing old man was the Quartermaster himself, Devon Bosch. He stood up and walked up to the counter. Doctor Bosch was white-haired and had a salt and pepper facial hair. Carol was quickly pushed into the further depths.

  “Returning are you?”

  Brian put his briefcase on the counter. He took out the sub-assault rifle He took out the unloaded compact assault rifle took out the cylindrical silencer. He set them both before the Quartermaster.

  “Was there anything wrong with them?”

  “Nothing wrong with them. Is there a way you can keep the silencer performance in a narrower format and an integral silencer.”

  The quartermaster wrote it down on a piece of paper. “Was there anything else?”

  “Nope. That was all that I was issued.”

  Brian went up to the sixth floor and entered his offices. Julie stood up as soon as Brian walked in. Brian pointed to the different agent office. “Z01 in?”

  “Left this morning for—oh, almost forgot.”

  “I’ll be at the golf course until summoned for my mission.”

  “That will be another one I have to worry about.”

  “You need not worry about me.”

  “That’s what you all say, and even the poor - poor director got hurt.”

  Brian embraced her in a supportive hug. She melted into his grasp. Then she pushed away wiping her nose.

  “You’re going to make a girl a nice husband some day.”

  Brian chuckled. “The question is when?”

  “When you least expect it, sir. Always when you least expect it.”

  He walked to his office. It opened for him. He sat back with his Slate out reading his secure queue. He downloaded the safe box to his slate. Then he checked his system alerts. There were no alerts. He took out his pistol and field strip it. He oiled and cleaned all the parts He rebuilt the pistol and slapped the magazine into the gun. He put the arm in his belt holster. Then he grabbed his personal com. He dialed up the starter at The Black Sands. He asked for a single but was rebuffed, no room for a singleton. He could pair him with a single member. Brian agreed.

  Brian Butler went home to put on his golf clothes and pick up his golf clubs.

  BRIAN /KANDI

  Brian flew into Black Sands Golf course and Resort. He parked a little way from the clubhouse door. It opened as if it were a wing on a mechanical insect. His new Aponte as the same model as the one he signed over to the Children of the Wind. It had all the accouterments of the Red grav-car, but the metallic gold car had to be some bureaucrats idea of a joke. Brian had seen so much gold he was sick of it. That was saying something for someone born and raised on Eridani.

  Brian reached into the further passenger seat and retrieved his new ball cap. He liked it. It fit, and it forwarded the cover organization. He switched shoes from the mirror polished, Hornbeast leather shoes to the golf shoe he loved because it fit like an athletic shoe. He closed the gull-wing door and walked to the trunk. He opened the trunk hood and took out his golf bag with his clubs. He flung the bag over his right shoulder. He walked straight for the starter’s shack. Harry was in the shed sending off a foursome. He turned around to see Brian walking up to the shed.

  “Well if it is not Brian Butler.”

  “Harry Kane.” As soon as he said it, he regretted saying it.

  Harry smiled. “I don’t know why but my family has a bunch of hurricanes, and candy canes in the family. I think some people think they are making an original joke. My wife gave Kandace’s name thinking it unique to the family. I had to disappoint her.

  “Sorry, Brian, all the groups are coming in not needing a singleton. Look I have a Singleton coming in about forty minutes from now. Why don’t you go to the driving range? Take this bucket of driving range balls.”

  Brian took them. Starters everywhere was giving him a bucket of range balls. He walked over to the club’s driving range he took the number 2 Tee. Brian leaned his bag against a railing. He made a practice ball. He set the ball in front of him and hit the ball with his one wood. With that swing, the rust came off. The next five balls carried the distance. Brian was about to swing on the sixth when he felt someone’s hand on his butt. He turned around.

  “Kandi!”

  She rushed into his arms. “Brian Butler!” Her aroma was of earth, wind, sun, and rainwater. She wore a visor with Pendit Corporation on it. She liked to wear yellow. Today was no different. She wore a pair of shorts that
had a flap simulating a skirt. Her shirt had a geometric pattern of increasing thick yellow lines.

  “Dad said you’d like a pair this afternoon. I’d like to play with you—too, that came out badly.” She bit her lip.

  “I’d love to golf with you. As for being played with, I’d like to do that with you as well.”

  Kandi looked at Brian for the first time. “You are different than you were when you came to me to learn how to cheat at golf. You’ve seen things.”

  “I’ve seen how badly people can treat other people. I’ve had to carry out an execution. I don’t feel as affected by the carnage as I used too.”

  “Oh, you’re affected. Otherwise, you would not have asked yourself that question. Now I need to knock some rust off. Three days in hyper can make you hyper.”

  She addressed the ball and knocked it sideways. She was determined to try it again. She got all of that ball. The ball ended up ten yards from Brian’s ball. Pleased with that performance, She checked her watch.

  “We got to hoof it to make our time.” She gathered up her things and put them in her bag. Brian was ready earlier than she. They jogged to the starter’s hut.

  “Well,” asked Harry.

  “He’ll do quite nicely, Poppa.” She kissed her father’s cheek. Then she walked up to the tee.

  Brian heard some tittering about the fact that Kandi Kane the Tour Pro was playing on The Black Sands. Brian went to the starter’s hut. He picked up four passes for a later date. Brian told other golfers to go giving the passes. Then he flashed his badge and handed out the passes. They left tittering about having met a Special Agent of the Secret Service.

  Brian joined Kandi at the Tee.

  “I wish you could do that on other worlds.”

  “I can. It’s just a little more violent.”

  She got on her tiptoes and gave him a peck on his lips. “Now I want you to watch my ass.”

  “Kandi…”

  “Nothing dirty. Okay, a little dirty. I’m developing a hitch in my giddy yap. I just don’t know what it is.”