Your Truth is Out There (Find Your Truth Book 1) (17 page)

“I wonder how long he’ll be out?” he said quietly to himself.

“About another ten ebyts,” said a deep voice behind him, “if that’s a standard, over-the-counter scrambler. I told him to watch out, but he said not to worry, you’re just an accountant. Now look at him. What an idiot. He’ll never live this one down.”

Without moving his body, and as gently as he could, Gsefx moved his hand so the scrambler was pointed back toward this new enemy and fired. Nothing seemed to happen.

“Don’t bother, it won’t work on me,” said the voice, “I’m protected. You’ll have to do better than that if you want to knock me out. Now, toss it over, then put your hands up. All four of ‘em.”

Gsefx did as he was told.

“Now, turn around very slowly, and face me.”

Gsefx turned around, wondering how, or if, he was going to be able to get out of this. When he was face-to-face with his captor, he found himself staring at a Jikian, a being from one of the inner worlds, who wasn’t particularly large or intimidating, but whose race had a reputation for being malicious, mean-spirited creatures. Perhaps it was because Jik was one of the more over-crowded and economically depressed worlds, or perhaps it was because the Jikians as a race were just nasty little beings. In any case, what Gsefx did know for sure was that Jikians were also notoriously big talkers, usually without much to back it up with. If this one hadn’t been pointing an obliterator at his head, Gsefx knew he could easily outmatch him. Without the weapon, all this inner world loudmouth had going for him was attitude and a deep voice. For now, since the obliterator kept things heavily in the Jikian’s favor, he would bide his time and wait for the right opportunity.

“Well,” said Gsefx, “I clearly only have a short time left to live, but I’m guessing you’re on some sort of schedule, so, shall we get on with it?”

“By all means, if you’re in that big of a hurry to die, I don’t mind obliging you. Lead the way. But don’t try anything … understand?”

He said the last by shoving Gsefx around and putting the obliterator against the back of Gsefx’s neck.

“Yes,” said Gsefx. “I understand.”

“Good. Now pick up my partner and let’s get the painting.”

Gsefx bent down and picked up the unconscious body. It was not particularly heavy, but its skin was very rough, prickly almost, and uncomfortable to the touch. He grimaced as he walked toward the front door.

“Don’t complain to me,” said the Jikian. “You’re the one who knocked him out.”

When they reached the door, Gsefx had to shift the body around a bit while he opened it, but it wasn’t enough to be able to get at his captor. Not yet.

They went down several corridors until they found his storage unit. Gsefx dropped his burden unceremoniously, then stepped over the body to the lock.

“Hey, no funny business,” said the Jikian.

“No funny business,” said Gsefx, hands raised. “I’m just opening the lock. It requires a DNA sample, just like almost any other lock in the galaxy.”

“Okay, just stay where I can see you.”

“Sure thing.”

As Gsefx put his hand up to the lock, his mind raced.

What in the galaxy am I going to do? Once the lock is open, the door will rise and the painting will be visible. As soon as that happens, this goon is going to kill me. Then Lhvunsa and Qilzar are next. Gods, what can I do?

He hesitated, but only for a moment before the deep voice behind him reminded him of the precariousness of his situation.

“What’s the hold up? Not trying to think of some way out of this are you?” he said. “Because you know there isn’t one. Now open the lock and let’s get on with it.”

Gsefx nodded his head, unable to speak with his heart stuck in his throat. Then, just before he activated the lock, just when he didn’t think it could get any worse, he heard the lump of unconscious flesh laying on the ground behind him begin to stir. His heart fell from his throat down through his stomach, broke into four equal parts and sank into all four of his knees.

“It’s about time you woke up, you useless pile of sludge,” said the Jikian to his waking partner in crime.

“Whoa, what in the galaxy …”

“You got hit with a scrambler, you idiot. Wait ‘till the boys hear about this—the great Klarnus getting taken out by an over-the-counter child’s toy.”

Gsefx remained with his hand above the lock, waiting to see what happened next, knowing his time was almost up, as was Lhvunsa’s.

“A scrambler? Why you little …”

Klarnus tried to get up, but finding his body uncooperative, fell immediately back to the floor. At this, the Jikian burst into laughter. Not just any laughter, but the kind usually reserved only for those who themselves have been the victim of someone else’s jokes for far too long.

“Quit laughing, Dilnch, you Jikian welt, and help me up,” said Klarnus, still trying to get to his feet.

As Dilnch laughed even harder and Klarnus continued his struggle to stand upright, Gsefx took a chance, reacting more on instinct than anything else. He activated the lock, sending the door to the storage unit sliding noisily upward, momentarily startling his preoccupied captors. In that split second of confusion, Gsefx whipped around and grabbed the still dazed Yelton by what passed for his shoulders and pulled him up, just in time to deflect the shot that came from Dilnch’s obliterator.

While Dilnch’s weapon recharged, Gsefx threw the limp body of Klarnus at what was now nothing more than a glass-jawed, inner world loudmouth, knocking him over and sprawling both of Ricnor’s thugs in a pile on the floor. Gsefx ran over and stepped on the arm that was still holding the obliterator.

“I figured you had it programmed with the entire gang’s DNA, so I didn’t think it would permanently damage you,” said Gsefx to the Yelton, who was still struggling to get up. “Klarnus, is it? But I was hoping you would make a good deflector. Thankfully, I was right.”

He reached down, pulled the obliterator away from the Jikian, and tossed it aside. Then he reached into Dilnch’s pocket and retrieved his scrambler.

“But, I am going to have to put you down again.”

“No! Wait!”

Gsefx pushed the button and Klarnus went completely limp for a second time.

“And you,” he said to the Jikian, “Dilnch, I believe I heard him call you, the one drawback to obliterators, or so I’ve heard, is the recycle time in-between firings. It can seem to take forever when you need to take more than one shot quickly.”

He leveled his scrambler at Dilnch. The Jikian sneered at him in a most unbecoming way.

“I told you, accountant, it won’t work on me. I’m protected.”

“So you did,” said Gsefx, grinding his foot on his captive’s wrist a bit harder as the deep voice turned into a high-pitched whine. “Too bad for you. I guess we’ll have to do this the hard way.”

Gsefx grabbed him by the collar of his jacket with one hand, then punched him three times in the face, once with each free hand, rendering the defenseless thug unconscious. Gsefx dropped him to the floor on top of his buddy, took a deep breath, and looked around for something to tie them up with. Fortunately, one of Gsefx’s ongoing hobbies involved electronic gadgets, so he had plenty of spare parts and extra wires lying around. He drug both limp bodies into the storage unit, found some wire strong enough to hold them, and tied them up tight. Reaching into Dilnch’s pockets, he found the controller to the Ricnor vehicle, grabbed the painting, and left. He watched the two unconscious criminals leaning against one another as the door closed just as noisily as it had opened. When it was about halfway down, Gsefx reached over and stopped the door. A thought entered his mind. He didn’t know exactly how, but he was quite certain that these two were going to be useful somewhere down the line. He raised the door again and for the first time in what seemed like forever, Gsefx smiled.

“General Alcorn, I wasn’t expecting you. Please come in.”

As Alcorn walked over and sat next to his bed, Henry tried to shape his thoughts so this fortuitous time alone with the General could be put to good use.

“What can I do for you, General?” he asked once Alcorn was seated.

“What? No small talk first?” Asked the General. “Fair enough. Let’s get to it then, shall we? Henry, the men who did this to you are in custody and have provided a full confession. All you have to do is press charges and we can proceed with their court martial.”

Henry paused for a moment, looking for something in the General’s expression, some hint at the game he was playing. In the limited time he’d interacted with Alcorn, he’d come to find that nothing was ever quite as it seemed with this man. This time, however, he couldn’t be sure. Alcorn had made his disapproval of what had happened to Henry quite clear. He supposed Alcorn could simply be looking to punish those responsible.

“They’re your men, General,” said Henry, looking away. “Discipline them as you see fit, but don’t involve me. I want no part of it.”

“So you’re not pressing charges?”

“No, sir, I’m not.”

“Somehow, I didn’t think you would,” said Alcorn, standing up and preparing to leave. “No matter, as you said, they’re my men. I will take care of the matter, even if you won’t stand up for yourself. That’s what the military has been doing for more than two hundred years, taking care of the dirty work so liberal, hippie, flower-children, peace-at-all-costs, hypocrites like you can sleep at night with clear consciences.”

“Well, now we’re finally getting somewhere, aren’t we?” said Henry, looking back at Alcorn and pulling himself up into a sitting position. “It’s about time we injected some honesty into our conversations, don’t you think? I’d say I’m surprised to hear that’s what you really think of me, but I don’t suppose I am. Just because I got in the way of you capturing your alien—pardon me, your non-terrestrial, as you call them—because I got in the way of you getting your prize, your trophy, now suddenly I’m a liberal, peace-at-all-costs hippie? Well, for the record, I do believe peace is preferable to war, as I believe you do as well, but you don’t know the first thing about me or my reason for not pressing charges.”

“Okay Backus, why don’t you explain your reasons to me,” said Alcorn, sitting back down and returning Henry’s smile with one of his own. “I can’t wait to hear this.”

“General, I’m not pressing charges, not because I’m some peace-loving hippie, but because those men don’t know any better. They are intellectual imbeciles, which is why they are in the jobs they are in. Even an elite force like yours has needs that can only be filled by a particular type of individual. They can’t be faulted too badly for acting in accordance with their instincts, training, and level of intelligence, can they?

“Those sound more like insults than reasons to me. Is that all you’ve got, Backus? If so, you’re not saying much to change my mind about you.”

“Not insults, General, facts. If it was you, or someone of your caliber who did this to me, I wouldn’t hesitate to prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law, because you would know better and would deserve the severest of punishments. The poor dumb bastards who did this are not of your caliber or mine, and their training revolves around finding, fighting, and destroying the enemy at all costs, with almost no critical thinking needed. They depend on their leaders for that part of their mission. No, I won’t hold them accountable for their actions, but rather the one who forced them into taking the action they did.”

“And who might that be?”

Henry closed his eyes and took a deep breath, attempting to calm his nerves over revealing this information. Alcorn would not accept it easily, nor should he.

“Major Wellston,” said Henry, opening his eyes and looking directly at the General.

“Wellston?” said Alcorn, his eyes showing clear surprise at the accusation. “What in the hell does Major Wellston have to do with this?”

“He was behind the beatings,” said Henry.

Alcorn stiffened and leaned in close to Henry.

“That’s quite an accusation, young man,” he said, his tone very dangerous. “I’ve known Ben Wellston for more than ten years. He’s one of the finest officers I’ve ever known, and is in line for promotion to Lieutenant Colonel. I hope you have some proof to back up your claim.”

“No solid proof, General, except for the bruises and broken bones you see before you. But, before you say anything else, I challenge you to think about this for a minute. This group of guards, all of them privates except for Hickam, ran a very delicate and rather sophisticated operation for a full week, without you or anyone else knowing about it. You say you’ve known Major Wellston for ten years. How long have you known Terrance Hickam, and more importantly, do you really think him capable of such an elaborate plan?”

Alcorn didn’t answer, but looked away.

“I knew from the very first night, that someone else was pulling the strings on Hickam’s little operation, but couldn’t get a fix on who it was. Then, the night they did this to me, the night they lost control and would have killed me, someone stopped them. I couldn’t see who it was, but I heard their voice. It was Major Wellston.”

Alcorn looked up, a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

“So Major Wellston discovered what was going on, stepped in and saved you. Seems to me that makes him a hero rather than a criminal.”

“Perhaps, but …” Henry looked away as he searched for the right words. “… I can’t explain how I know he’s behind it, I just do.”

Alcorn opened his mouth to speak, but Henry held him off with a wave of his hand.

“Look General,” he said, turning back to lock eyes with Alcorn, “it’s not even about pressing charges against Wellston. What happens to me is inconsequential. It’s about you protecting yourself. Whether you want to believe it or not, Wellston is not the man you think he is, and you need to watch your back.”

Alcorn held Henry’s look for a moment, then broke away.

“Why the sudden interest in my welfare?” he asked. “Don’t think that, just because I disapprove of what my men did to you, it changes anything. You’re still going to remain in custody, and you will eventually tell me everything that happened in the clearing that day. Have no illusions about that.”