The Lost Secret Read online

  “Is everything going smoothly up there?” he asked.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good. Maddox out.” The captain checked a number on the communicator, making a new call. It was time to start his plan, but without alerting the hidden enemy.

  ***

  A little over two hours later, a combat air-car landed at the military hospital on Hawaii. Maddox jumped out, telling Meta and Andros to start the timer.

  He’d summoned the air-car out to the ocean-traveling submersible, trading places with the people in the car who’d hovered in place over the mini-sub. Maddox had been in a hurry, certain that doing it this way would be safer for his grandmother.

  The captain now walked briskly to the military hospital complex, surrendering his sidearm to a gate guard and hurrying to the main building. He passed through several checkpoints before he reached a heavily guarded ward, with armed marines standing in the corridors.

  A doctor greeted Maddox, a small Asian woman with the darkest of eyes. After listening to him, the doctor took Maddox to see his grandmother.

  Mary was already sitting up in bed, watching a vid-show while eating a dish of chocolate ice cream. She looked tired, with circles around her eyes, but she smiled upon seeing him.

  “To what do I owe the pleasure?” Mary asked.

  “Just checking up on you,” Maddox said, crossing the room to take hold of her hands.

  Mary had set the dish of ice cream on a tray.

  The doctor seemed to approve and turned to go.

  “Oh,” Maddox said. “Is it possible for us to take a walk together?”

  “Where do you want to go?” the doctor asked suspiciously, which showed she must have spoken with someone in touch with the Lord High Admiral.

  “Uh…is through these upper halls acceptable?” asked Maddox.

  The doctor eyed him more closely, finally asking, “Do you mind if I have a marine escort you?”

  “Not at all,” Maddox said.

  “Fine,” the doctor said, heading out. “I’ll send the marine.”

  Maddox turned back to his grandmother, noticing that she watched him carefully.

  “What are you planning now?” Mary asked.

  “Can’t I spend some time with my grandmother without everyone becoming suspicious?”

  Mary thought about that. “You’re planning to break me out of here, aren’t you?”

  “Grandmother,” Maddox said, “please.”

  “I’m glad,” Mary said in a low voice. “I’m sick of this place. I’m sick of hearing voices in my head, and I’m really sick of being a cat’s-paw all the time. I want my old job back so I can start being useful again.”

  “Are you up to walking around?”

  Mary whipped the covers back, slid out of bed in her hospital gown and went to a closet. “Turn your head. I’m going to change into normal clothes.”

  The door opened then, and a short, heavyset, marine walked in. His high cheekbones and wide face suggested an Apache background. He also had a thick neck, stubby fingers and a holstered sidearm.

  “I’m Corporal Calian,” he said. “We’re taking a stroll in the halls?”

  Maddox nodded. “First, we have to turn around so my grandmother can change.”

  Calian eyed Mary and Maddox, shrugged and turned around.

  Maddox debated knocking him out here, but decided it was too soon. Corporal Calian looked tough, but Maddox didn’t doubt he could take the marine down fast when the moment came.

  Soon, the three of them exited the hospital room and began strolling down a hallway. Maddox and Mary spoke quietly as he guided them down the correct path.

  “Wait a minute,” Calian said, as they reached a junction. “We’re not going down that hall.”

  “What hall?” asked Maddox, turning around.

  Calian pointed with a blunt index finger at the proscribed corridor.

  “Why not that hall?” Maddox asked innocently.

  “Windows,” Calian said. “It’s not happening. Those are my orders.”

  At that moment, a siren began to blare.

  Calian looked at Maddox—who just stood there—and began to open the flap of his holster.

  Maddox struck, lashing out with his left foot. He disliked knocking the marine out, but he didn’t see a way around it. A quick hard blow to the jaw should do the trick, except—

  Calian released the holster flap and moved with lightning speed. With both hands, he caught Maddox’s lashing foot and twisted savagely.

  That caught the captain by surprise and might have torqued his foot badly, but Maddox leaped up with his other foot and did a crazy spin in midair. He used the other foot to strike Calian against the side of the head. Instead of falling, the Apache marine released Maddox’s foot as he stumbled back. The captain tried to catch himself, but thudded onto the floor, landing on his back.

  Calian didn’t bother pulling out his gun. He stepped toward Maddox and kicked him hard in the side with an iron-toed boot. That might have broken some ribs, but Maddox’s were resilient like a New Man’s. The kick did make Maddox grunt with pain.

  Mary shouted from behind the marine, karate chopping Calian in the neck.

  The stocky marine backhanded her, sending Mary flying against a wall. She grunted, slid down to her butt and shook her head, dazed. Blood trickled from her nose.

  Maddox was up on his feet, and he was pissed. Calian went for his gun—but it was too late. Maddox launched an assault, raining blows. Calian blocked them, his phenomenal hand-speed matching the captain’s.

  “You’re a Merovingian,” Maddox said with sudden realization. The fake Marine wasn’t here to protect Mary, but to—

  Calian snarled, his eyes gleaming with murder-lust.

  The siren blared louder than ever. Boots drummed in hallways as marines shouted to one another.

  Maddox’s face was bleeding, and his knuckles hurt. Corporal Calian was good, although not as good as Dag the Champion had been. It was time to end this if he could. Maddox feinted with a knee to the groin. Calian blocked with a thigh. Maddox tried a throat punch and took a solid shot to the gut for his efforts. Maddox expelled air—

  Two shots rang out.

  Maddox backpedaled, watching Calian turn toward Mary. The Merovingian stared at her in an accusing way. Blood began to seep from gaping exit wounds in his chest.

  “You—” Calian told Mary. Then, he thudded onto the floor as blood trickled from his mouth.

  Mary held Calian’s gun with two hands. She’d scooped up the weapon when it had fallen out of his opened holster as Maddox and he had fought. Her hands did not tremble. She’d been an Intelligence field agent before heading the organization. She did lower the smoking weapon to her lap.

  “I couldn’t watch him pulverize you,” she said. “Besides, aren’t we leaving?”

  “Yes,” Maddox said, striding to her, taking the gun and then her hand, lifting his grandmother to her feet.

  -8-

  They used a classic escape method, with Maddox leading the way down preselected corridors. The blazing gun caused two marines to duck back. Another volley punched through walls, hitting someone on the other side. Maddox hoped their body armor absorbed the shots.

  Soon, they reached a window. The combat air-car hovered outside. Maddox opened the window, grabbed his grandmother and pitched her to a waiting Meta at the air-car’s open hatch. Meta caught the Iron Lady and threw her farther within. Maddox leaped the distance, stumbling against Meta. The hatch shut, and the air-car shot up toward the heavens.

  By this time, the Hawaiian Sector Defense Net was on high alert. Other air-cars were converging on the rocketing escape vehicle.

  After making sure Mary was secured in a seat, Maddox called Victory. He requested Keith to pick them up in a tin can.

  “I’m sorry, Mate, I mean, sir,” Keith said over the comm. “The Lord High Admiral called two minutes before you did. He’s ordered us to ignore your commands. I think you’ve used this option one
too many times, sir.”

  “I’m not interested in what you—” Maddox caught himself. He wasn’t going to win by being testy. He had to revert to his oldest ways: icy self-control with complete self-assurance and always moving to the next plan.

  “Thank you, Lieutenant. Carry on.”

  “Sir,” Andros said in the air-car. “The Lord High Admiral is calling.”

  “Patch it through to my communicator,” Maddox said.

  Andros manipulated his panel.

  “Admiral Cook, sir,” Maddox said. “It’s good of you to call.”

  “Captain, you’ve broken your word—”

  “Sir,” Maddox said, interrupting. “I’ve kept my word. I’ve not attempted to follow Hans Steiner’s trail.”

  “Your word implied that you would follow normal procedures.”

  “I don’t mean to quibble, sir, but I believe we’re in the middle of an emergency. We’re up against someone as good as we are, maybe better.”

  “One of Lisa Meyers’s teams?” asked Cook.

  “I give that a ninety-eight percent probability, as Mary O’Hara just shot one of Meyer’s Merovingian operatives in the hospital. He was trying to kill me, or her—or both of us.”

  Cook sighed heavily. “Stokes knew about Corporal Calian. He’s the one O’Hara shot, isn’t he?”

  “You left a Merovingian in the hospital near my grandmother?”

  “No one left him anywhere,” Cook said. “We had people watching Calian, waiting to see where he would lead us. We also had people watching you. Frankly, I’ve been expecting a stunt like this. You simply can’t do it by the book, can you?”

  For once, Maddox was speechless.

  “Now, you listen here, young man,” Cook said. “This is how we’re going to do it. You’re going to surrender to my people. We can’t have you doing things like this and succeeding all the time.”

  Maddox stared at the communicator. He’d never heard Cook say “young man” before. It was off. It was odd. And it meant… Maddox’s eyes narrowed. So that was the game, was it?

  “Yes, Admiral,” Maddox said. “Should we land, then?”

  “No,” Cook said. “We’ll do a nifty airborne pickup.”

  “Right,” Maddox said. “Let me tell my people what to expect and warn Victory not to interfere.”

  There was a pause before Cook said, “Yes, by all means, tell them.”

  Maddox clicked off the communicator.

  Meta was flying again and looked back at him. “Cook’s people are gaining on us. Should I slow down?”

  “What?” Maddox asked. “No! They’re not Star Watch personnel.”

  “But the Lord High Admiral just told you—”

  “That was another impersonation,” Maddox said, interrupting. “I suspect the false Cook spoke to Keith, too”

  “But… You just agreed…”

  “I’m tempted to let them catch up,” Maddox said. “I wonder if they’re more of Meyers’s Merovingians.”

  “They can’t be Merovingians.”

  “Corporal Calian was,” Maddox said. “That doesn’t mean they’re Meyers’s troops, though. They could be used by independents working for themselves, someone who’s picked up stray Merovingians and added them to their team or Meyers’s people.”

  “Our communications are being jammed,” Andros said.

  “Galyan,” Maddox called. “Galyan—”

  “Here, sir,” the little holoimage said, standing near the captain. “Keith just discovered that someone is jamming your air-car. He told me to inform you, but I see you already know.”

  Maddox rubbed his chin. “Galyan, I want you to target each following air-car. Use the neutron beam to eliminate them. Then, watchdog our air-car until a Victory shuttle meets us in the stratosphere.”

  “Keith will not comply with those orders, sir. The Lord High Admiral—”

  “That wasn’t him,” Maddox said, interrupting. “It was an imposter Admiral Cook.”

  “How do you know that, sir?”

  “Tell Keith to act on my authority. If he doesn’t, Meta, Mary O’Hara and Andros Crank will die in the next few minutes. I doubt Keith wants that on his conscience.”

  “I would not want it on mine, sir,” Galyan said, who vanished an instant later.

  “How do you know?” Meta asked.

  “Sheer guesswork,” Maddox said. “That means I don’t know. I could be wrong, but for our sakes, it doesn’t matter. Cook would never call me ‘young man.’ The imposter admiral did so, giving himself away.”

  Meta eyed Maddox before studying her flight panel. “They’re catching up.”

  “Three of the enemy air-cars have target lock on us,” Andros said.

  Maddox smiled at his grandmother, who sat across the small cabin from him.

  At that point, a purple beam flashed before the air-car’s front window. It flashed three more times in quick succession.

  “I hope you’re right about your guesses,” Mary said. “Otherwise, you will have their deaths on your conscience.”

  Maddox didn’t like hearing that.

  “No more air-cars are trailing us,” Andros said.

  “Watch for further radar-lock from defense facilities,” Maddox said.

  Andros paled, but he started checking his sensors in earnest.

  In the end, the Chief Technician needn’t have worried. The enemy—if the enemy had been trailing them—appeared to make no further attempts against the air-car.

  Soon enough, the air-car reached its altitude limit in the stratosphere. A Victory shuttle was up there, and Maddox, Meta, Mary and Andros made the exchange. The shuttle continued climbing as the air-car descended to Earth. A short time later, the shuttle landed in a Victory hangar bay.

  The surprise was the Lord High Admiral. He was up there in the hangar bay, waiting with space marines, who arrested Maddox as he exited the shuttle. The marines marched Maddox to a darter, the main hatch shutting behind him as the marines escorted him to a tiny interrogation chamber.

  -9-

  Maddox sat in the room’s sole chair, the marines leaving the chamber as the hatch shut and locked behind them. The captain looked up at the ceiling. The room was tiny and soon began to feel cramped.

  Time passed slowly. Maddox began to wonder what the Lord High Admiral was up to, why the old man of Star Watch hadn’t seemed upset when he’d told the marines to take him to the darter.

  More time passed.

  Maddox closed his eyes, deciding that the admiral was secretly watching his reactions. Maybe this was some sort of test. Maddox hated small, enclosed spaces. He often found it difficult to sit still for extended periods. He shared that trait with most New Men.

  Finally, a lock snicked and the hatch opened. The Lord High Admiral peered into the chamber.

  “You can come out now,” Cook said.

  Maddox stood slowly, his mind awhirl. He entered a tight corridor, following Cook into the darter’s control chamber.

  Cook sat at the sensor seat. Maddox remained standing. “Sit down,” the admiral said. “You seem too much like a hunting larl standing there. I can’t concentrate if I think you’re going to pounce.”

  Maddox sat at the flight control, forcing himself to stretch his legs.

  “That’s better,” Cook said.

  Maddox remained silent, waiting.

  Cook laughed, shaking his head. “You don’t like the shoe being on the other foot, do you?”

  Maddox scowled.

  “Galyan predicted much of what happened,” Cook said. “Your Adok AI really is a remarkable entity.”

  “Galyan?” asked Maddox.

  “Don’t sound petulant, Captain. It doesn’t suit you.”

  “This has all been a set up?”

  “Oh, no, nothing like that,” Cook said. “I wish it were. That would really stick in your craw. It might even make you sick. Yes. I would appreciate that. Do you know how many times you’ve outsmarted me and been allowed to get away with it? Too m
any, far too many times. This isn’t going to be one of them.”

  “Did you play the imposter Cook?”

  “How I wish,” the Lord High Admiral said. “We almost cracked the enemy espionage unit. Your starship killed the main team, but there were links we could have exploited. They’re gone now.”

  “Did you approve their deaths?”

  “I’m up here, aren’t I? Galyan couldn’t have proceeded with the attack if I hadn’t approved.”

  “Then…” Maddox wasn’t sure.

  Cook smiled hugely, nodding with enjoyment. “It’s good to see you bamboozled, even if it means we’re going to have a hard time of it with you and your crew gone.”

  Maddox forced his irritation away. It was harder to do than it should have been, but he managed it at last.

  “I only learned part of their game several hours ago,” Cook said. “At Galyan’s suggestion, I came up here with a heavy escort. Galyan pinpointed their station, and we sent space marines along with Brigadier Stokes’s main action team. A nuke took everyone out, including the enemy.”

  “We nuked them?”

  “No. They nuked themselves, taking out the space marines and action team.”

  Hardball tactics, Maddox realized. Maybe they were dealing with New Men, as the originators anyway. Then, he thought of something else.

  “I didn’t detect any nuclear detonations or see any mushroom clouds.”

  “I should hope not,” Cook said. “It happened under water about fifty kilometers north of Hawaii. It was a neutron bomb, a clean detonation—if one can call it that. You wouldn’t have detected it, as you were already in the stratosphere making the exchange.”

  “Why arrest me in the hangar bay?”

  Cook smiled again as his blue eyes shined with delight. “One reason only: because it felt so damn good seeing that shocked look on your face. For years, I’ve wanted to give such an order and see you squirm. You have no idea how satisfying that was, none.” Cook inhaled and held it like a smoker. As he exhaled, he said, “Captain Maddox, you are the biggest pain in the ass in Star Watch. If I could, I would cashier you yesterday. But the dangers out there are too many for me to indulge my fondest wishes. I also happen to want to see Mary O’Hara back in the saddle, especially as I have a new assignment for Mike Stokes.”