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Dallas, Texas (24 hours later)
Magnus sat in his rundown one bedroom apartment. He studied a city map he had spread out on the floor. Empty Chinese food and pizza boxes cluttered the small coffee table. Someone knocked at the door.
He turned his head sharply in the direction of the knock and frowned. To the best of his knowledge no one except his landlord knew he was there. He stood and pulled his 9mm from the back of his belt and eased toward the door.
“Magnus?” Boony asked from the hallway. “You in there?”
“Boony?” He tucked the gun behind his back.
“Yes.”
Magnus swung the door open. She beamed a wide smile, and rushed and jumped to hug his neck. He laughed and wrapped his arms around her narrow waist, holding her a couple of feet off the floor. “Why the hell are you back on Earth and how’d you ever locate me?”
After he lowered her and invited her inside, Boony explained the reasons why she and Jonas, along with the others had returned to Earth. “And as far as finding you? You know me and surveillance cameras.” She winked.
“Ah, you’ve been spying on me?”
“Not really, but I thought you might need some help. I didn’t want you to do something that would land you real jail time. I was afraid that since you arrived on Earth a couple of weeks earlier than we did that I was too late.”
“No need to worry about that. Apparently the gang members who killed my ex-girl’s cousin have long gone.”
“Tyler Malcolm?” she asked. “Was he the leader?”
“Yeah,” Magnus said with a slight curious frown. “How’d you know?”
“I told you that I’d look into your case. When they arrested you, his name was the one you gave to the police to search, but they ignored your request.”
“I guess it was easier to charge me since I was less of a threat than Tyler’s entire gang.”
Boony smiled. “I think maybe some of the officers, the prosecutor, and the judge were in cahoots with Tyler Malcolm. Instead of bringing charges and arresting him and his gang members, they received a large cut of the money from drug sales.”
“I’ve thought about that, too. But hell, there’s no way to prove it, and even if I could, we haven’t any idea which officers we could trust to turn them in.”
“Jonas said that he has ties higher up at the state capital.”
Magnus looked at her and shook his head. “Jonas is willing to help me? Nah, I know better than that.”
“If we get the proof, he will. I’ve never known him to go back on his word.”
“Like I said, T.M. isn’t using the warehouse where he set me up.”
She smiled. “No, now he’s using one several blocks away.”
“For real? You found that out?”
“It’s not difficult when you have computer access to the Dallas City Records, which Jonas does and allowed me to snoop around.”
Magnus chuckled. “That’s definitely something I don’t have.”
“So what was your plan?”
Magnus sat down and pointed at the map on the floor. “Where is the warehouse he’s using now?”
Boony knelt to the side of the map and after a few minutes of tracing the city grid, she pointed. “There. So what do you want to do?”
“With some of the money I got from selling those MarQuebes, I bought some spy-tech cameras and bugs, hoping to uplink whatever I could capture on film and audio to get enough evidence to have them all arrested.”
“So you’re not planning to kill Tyler yourself?”
“Lord, no. I think his time in prison would be a greater punishment. How can death punish him? It’s instant. I want all of them behind bars without the possibility of parole, which based on our judicial system is a long shot.”
“You need some help?” Boony asked. “Setting up the cameras and bugs?”
He shook his head. “No, I can’t have you putting your life on the line for this.”
“Okay,” she replied. “How about an extra set of eyes? I could be your lookout.”
Magnus smiled. “That would be something I need. I have binoculars.”
“Great. So we should probably go check out the warehouse and figure out a way to get these devices set.”
“My motorcycle’s in the parking lot.”
“Motorcycle?”
He nodded.
“You’re settling in pretty good already.”
“Ah, this place, nah, I don’t intend to stay here. It’s a weekly lease, but a good place to blend in. Say, have you heard anything about Sylvia and Carter?”
“You didn’t hear?”
Magnus looked worried. “No. Is Sylvia okay?”
“She’s fine, I suppose. She’s been released from her contract with Grayson and from what I can figure out, she went to live with family. But Carter—”
“What’d he do?”
Boony rose to her feet and rested her hands on her hips. “He killed everyone that was stationed on Deimos.”
Magnus’ mouth dropped open. His eyes widened. “I suspected that he was a bit messed up in the head because he kept going into weird trances, but I never thought he’d ever do something like that. And to think Sylvia and I had traveled back from Mars with him.”
“He’s not going to ever get out of prison.”
“It’s a shame his fate turned out so badly.”
“Count your blessings. You’re lucky he didn’t kill you and Sylvia aboard the shuttle home.”
Magnus nodded. “The first month that we went into Hyber-Sleep he stayed awake. I noticed him while I was going under and he wasn’t preparing to sedate himself and get into his chamber. It was frightening because there wasn’t anything I could do.”
“You’re safe now.”
“Yep. Come on, let’s go scope the warehouse.”
***
In order for Magnus to get inside the warehouse, Boony had to become a major distraction to lure out the two gang members who guarded the warehouse while the rest of the group were out on their bikes.
She had worn short shorts and stood bent over the side of Magnus’ motorcycle acting frustrated that she couldn’t get the engine to fire. Of course, the two men hurriedly offered to come help, and while she feigned helplessness, they combed over the bike, trying to identify the reason for it not starting.
Magnus hurried inside and concealed cameras in every corner of the warehouse. Then he planted a few bugs where he guessed Tyler might negotiate terms for major drug deals. When he finished setting up the devices, he slipped out through the rear side door into an alley. Once he was at a safe distance where the two guards wouldn’t see him, he texted Boony.
She then pointed to a loose wire, connected it, and got onto the motorcycle. She started the motorcycle, smiled, and then rode away.
After a week of recording video surveillance from the rooftop and the inside of the warehouse, which was forwarded to Jonas, he made contact with the state attorney general who sent a SWAT team to raid the warehouse at the most convenient time. Three local officers were inside in the middle of a trade when the armed police forced everyone to lie facedown on the floor.
Magnus and Boony sat upon the roof of a neighboring building, watching everything as the SWAT officers took the gang members, including Tyler Malcolm, and several police officers into custody. Every major television news station was present, as were countless newspaper reporters.
Magnus tipped his bottle of beer toward Boony’s and she clinked hers to his in a toast.
A few days later, the national news reported the arrest of the prosecutor and the judge from Magnus’ case. Jonas had pointed higher ups in the right direction as he had promised. Charges against Magnus were later dropped, and he declined the offers from attorneys wishing to represent him in a suit against the city.