Carriles strode into the docking bay, his heart smashing against the inside of his chest. He thought about what Delmar had said: that he’d crossed a line his political cronies and friends couldn’t save him from. Not just professionally; Carriles’s life was on the line.
As Carriles approached the docked ship, Penagos turned from the security terminal and nearly threw a salute up, but then nervously put his hand back down. The young, wiry redhead was covered in a sheen of sweat.
“I don’t feel good about this,” Penagos said.
“You shouldn’t, Lieutenant,” Carriles said. “You can go if you want some plausible deniability. Tell them I had a weapon or something.”
Penagos glanced at the ship and then looked back at Carriles, then slowly shook his head. “I didn’t sign up for an invasion. Delmar lied to us. So, in for a penny, you know?”
“Sure.”
Carriles wished he did have a weapon. Something to give him some added layer of security. He had pulled Vicks’s blaster off her, but had handed it to Liu in case Vicks found a way out of the brig.
“So,” Carriles said, regarding the security terminal. “Doors are locked?”
“They might be able to override on the inside, but it’ll take time,” Penagos said. “As for now, no one’s getting off.” He pointed to a red button. “This will open up communications. One other thing.” Penagos clicked a few buttons and called up a biomonitor. “We sent down two teams of fifteen. So there should be thirty people between those ships. Right now we’re counting fourteen. All the American crew, minus Shad.”
Carriles nodded, and rubbed his finger over the button, considering his next steps, before pressing down.
“Captain?” Carriles asked.
Demlar’s voice sprung from the console. “Carriles, is that you? Open these goddamn doors right now.”
“Not yet,” he said. “First tell me what happened. Where’s the rest of the mission? Where’s Shad?”
Silence. Carriles wondered if he had to keep pressing the button to communicate, when Delmar’s voice came through again. “We encountered hostiles. Shad didn’t make it.”
Carriles’s breath caught in his chest. “What do you mean, hostiles? Like, aliens?”
“Yes, Carriles. Aliens. We thought we were landing near a natural structure. It wasn’t natural. It had been built. And almost immediately, we took fire.”
“What did they look like?”
“What does it matter what they look like?”
Carriles laughed. “You made first contact with aliens, Captain. Can you blame me for being a little curious?”
Delmar sighed. “We didn’t get a good look. We took cover and retreated.”
“And you left half the crew behind.”
Another pause. “At this point, there are things we shouldn’t be discussing over the comms.”
Carriles felt a presence next to him and turned to find Liu. She nodded quickly, and Carriles trusted the woman had done her due diligence to make sure Vicks was secured in the brig. She was still carrying the blaster, which was comforting.
“If you want out, it’s best for you to tell us exactly what’s going on.”
It was a lie—Carriles didn’t have a game plan for what he’d do if Delmar refused, but he also didn’t want Delmar to know that.
“If you want to continue this conversation,” Delmar said, “it needs to be the two of us.”
Carriles pressed the button to stop communication and looked over at Penagos. “They can’t hear this in the control room,” the lieutenant said.
“Do you want us to leave?” Liu asked.
“No,” Carriles said. “I feel like I’m going to end up needing witnesses.”
“Or coconspirators,” Penagos muttered.
“I guess we’ll see which it is.” Carriles hit the button. “Go ahead, Captain. It’s just us.”
Another long pause. “You know I can see you from the ship’s window, right?”
Damn it. Okay.
“I mean, the rest of the crew can’t hear, but I need Penagos to keep things calm, and Liu clearly knows more than she should, so at this point, you may as well tell us the truth.”
“You want the truth? Fine.” Delmar said. “Before the indigenous people attacked us, the Chinese turned on us.”
“I don’t believe it,” Liu whispered.
“They were led by Wu,” Delmar said. “It was before we were engaged. Yes, I had relegated him to a backup position, but that’s because I suspected something was going on. Still, given the politics, I couldn’t deny him the chance to be the second person to step foot on Esparar. That was the deal we made with the Chinese. But as soon as we got there the Chinese contingent held us at gunpoint. That’s when we were attacked. And oddly enough, it didn’t look like any of them were taking fire. I think the two sides were colluding.”
“There’s no way that’s true,” Liu said.
“Sorry?” Delmar asked.
Liu had offered it under her breath, like maybe Delmar wouldn’t hear, but as soon as he acknowledged what she’d said, her eyes shot open. She gave a little shrug of her shoulders. “You’re telling me you made first contact with an alien species and they were working with China the whole time?”
“Oh, if you only knew the truth . . .”
Penagos poked Carriles in the ribs. “Jose?”
“What truth?” Carriles asked, ignoring the lieutenant.
“You know what?” Delmar asked. “I’m done talking.”
Penagos smacked Carriles lightly on the shoulder and pointed down at the biomonitors. “I think that’s why he’s done talking.”
“What am I looking at?” Carriles asked.
Penagos whispered into Carriles’s ear. “There were fourteen on board a minute ago. Now it’s down to thirteen.”
Shit. Carriles turned off the comms. “Could anyone have gotten off?”
Penagos put his hands on his hips and looked at the ship, considered the options, then snapped his fingers. “Goldsmith.”
“He’s a comms guy. What about him?”
“He’s also a scarecrow,” Penagos said. “Someone as skinny as him could have wriggled through the landing gear. It wouldn’t feel good, but it would be possible.”
Shit, shit. “Okay. Where would he go? Can he override the doors? Get them open?”
“Not from anywhere else on the ship,” Penagos said, patting the console. “Can only do it from here.”
“Then where would he go?” Carriles asked, looking around like the answer might appear to him.
Liu held up her sidearm. “Weapons. He’s probably going to get something to overpower us.”
There was a weapons locker in the docking bay, but it was right next to where they were standing; that wouldn’t be his destination. He’d have to go down to storage. But once he got there, he could get something a hell of a lot more powerful than a blaster.
“I’m going after him,” Carriles said. “You two stay and watch the ships.”
Penagos nodded.
Liu offered Carriles the sidearm, but he waved it off. “You keep it. In case he comes back armed and you need to defend yourself.”
“And if he’s armed by the time you find him?”
“Then I’m dead either way,” Carriles said, before breaking into a run.
Carriles pushed out of the docking bay and into the corridor, heading for engineering. He could cut through an access hatch that would shave a few minutes off the trip. Another perk of knowing the ship better than anyone. He might get lucky, might outrun Goldsmith. Get to the weapons cache first.
What did Delmar mean, If you only knew the truth?
Carriles made it through the access hatch and down a ladder into the next service corridor, which led into the kitchen.
Then he stopped in his tracks.
Goldsmith was there. His feet were dangling in the air, his skinny limbs desperately seeking purchase.
And he was being held aloft by Izaiah, the cook.
Izaiah, the soft-spoken chef who was even smaller than Carriles, was holding Goldsmith in the air without showing any signs of strain or effort.
Carriles opened his mouth, to say . . . what? He could barely process what he was seeing.
Goldsmith made a choking sound, and then there was a crack. He threw his head back and screamed, and his body went limp. Izaiah cocked his head, almost confused by what was happening. And then it seemed like the color of Goldsmith’s skin was changing.
From pink to gray, then darker, and finally black, then sloughing off, like a piece of paper set aflame. His body crumbled to dust, his uniform going limp, until it was like Izaiah hadn’t been holding anyone at all. Just some dirty laundry.
Izaiah lowered his hand, turned, and saw Carriles standing in the doorway. “I guess we have some things to talk about.”
Carriles didn’t know what was more unnerving—the way Goldsmith had disintegrated, or the flat affect of Izaiah’s voice, like he was recounting the day’s menu.
“Yeah,” Carriles said, his voice thick, his head spinning. “Lot going on today.”