Ascendant Saga Collection: Sci-Fi Fantasy Techno Thriller Brandon Ellis (ebook reader for comics txt) 📖

Javon took three long puffs, then looked at Drew with relaxed eyes. “I’ll be back. Stay here.”

Drew hoped he wasn’t being set up. For a second, he wanted to make his way back to his car and drive off, calling it a day. Any blemish on his record would be something Hobbs could use to discredit him. Mix your fiction with a smattering of facts and you could make a plausible case for someone being a—what had Hobbs called him?—a porno-loving junkie? If he was going to present this Callisto story and his findings to the world, he needed his record to be squeaky clean. He stared off at the sky, the fumes of the hot day waving like transparent silk, telling him that being in the heat of a risk was part of a journalist’s life. Or, he was nuts and the temperature was getting to him.

Javon walked around the corner, motioning Drew over. “We’ve got one minute to get into the warehouse.”

He led Drew to the main entrance and pressed in a security code. A click and a buzz and the door opened. Drew’s eyes adjusted from the bright sunlight to the low light. He was in a preparation room that was closed off from the rest of the warehouse. People readied themselves with safety clothes and equipment before they entered the main portion of the warehouse.

Javon handed him a construction helmet from a rack attached to the wall. “Put this on.”

Drew placed the helmet on, watching Javon do the same. Over in the corner of the room were several large cardboard dumpster bins with pallets loaded in rows next to them. Lockers were lined up on the opposite wall and warehouse suits hung from metal rods.

Javon opened a large garage door, closing it behind Drew.

Forklifts, pallet jacks, and scores of men and women in warehouse suits busied themselves by unloading pallets full of heavy boxes and setting them on large metal shelves.

“Come this way,” said Javon, walking down a concrete path bordered by stanchions that held ropes.

“What’s in those boxes?” Drew yelled over the beeping forklifts and loud jacks.

Javon looked over his shoulder as he kept a good pace, zig zagging through the walkway maze. “Materials for our propulsion engines and other space-age shit.”

Drew wanted to punch the air in triumph. He was in the right place. He kept his arms at his sides and trotted behind his guide like a good little boy.

There was a large column in the middle of the warehouse. The elevator shaft. Two men stood on either side of it. Alert, eyes front, no smiles. Military. “After we tour the warehouse are we going in that elevator?”

“No.”

“Where does it go?”

“To another section below. I’ve never been down there.”

“Why not?”

“You see those two guys?”

Drew nodded as Javon continued, “They have side arms.” Javon observed Drew’s confused face. “You know, guns. Only top military officials and those with high security clearances get past them. The section below us is run by the GSA, not by TEC. I have no access.”

Drew lowered his head, disappointed. “That’s where the colonel said we’d be going. I guess he was going to get me security clearance for my story. I probably can’t get access to that right now, can I?”

Javon pointed toward the floor. “Down there?” He shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

“Okay, well, another thing is that I’m supposed to watch and observe. He was going to allow me to walk around on my own. I’ll stay on the path.” It was all bullshit, but maybe it’d work. He held his breath.

Javon looked at his watch. “I’m sorry. I don’t—”

Drew dropped his shoulders, huffed, made sure Javon knew he was annoyed. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m just going to leave and come back when the colonel is here. I can’t do a story unless I do it right.”

“Here, let me get on the line and see if I can pinpoint where the colonel is. If he was supposed to meet you, then he’s got to be around here somewhere.” Javon went to a phone hanging on the wall and dialed three numbers. “Charles, Javon here. I—”

Drew curled his fingers around the door knob. “Javon, don’t worry about it. I’ll take off and come by next week.”

“Hold on. I have—”

Drew shut the door before Javon could finish his sentence and hurried through the stanchion maze, coming up to the garage door and pulling it upward, letting it rise the rest of the way on its own. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Javon walking over to catch up. Drew acted as if he didn’t see him and walked into the preparation room, shutting the garage door, hearing it clatter as it hit the ground. A few more steps and he’d be outside and back at the guard post where he began this tour.

But that wasn’t where he was going.

He took off his helmet, placed it on the rack, and raced over to the largest cardboard dumpster bin, opened it up and jumped inside. He covered himself with as much cardboard as he could, hearing Javon fidgeting with the garage door, then opening it.

“He left already?” said Javon. “What a prick.”

22

June 4thStar Warden – Second Class Star Carrier – Secret Space Program. J-Quadrant, Solar System (Callisto Orbit)

Star Warden’s launch bay was a few football fields long and just as wide. As it should be. Star Warden was a second-class Star Carrier, the largest ship in the Secret Space Program. Only three were in existence, Star Haven and Star Bracken, the other two.

The launch bay was full of transport ships, starfighters, and a few frigates in for repair. Crewmembers inspected craft and worked on damaged ships, doing the daily grind like a colony of ants.

Special Agent Cole walked up his dropship’s ramp, glad he wasn’t an ant. No, he was the baddest of the bad. He was a