Gravity Wars: Saturn Protocol by Vaughn Heppner

Author:Vaughn Heppner [Heppner, Vaughn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-08-07T00:00:00+00:00

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For the first time since arriving—other than the time he went down to Madagascar—Colonel Steele left O.S. Aphrodite and went to O.S. Hera, a commercial orbital station that saw many more non-Petty personnel than the rest. There were different vendors, different everything from Aphrodite. The public places had a Chinese feel. Still, Petty’s people ran it, but many others were here as well.

Wearing a beard disguise and using a cane, though he didn’t really need it, Steele purchased a rocket plane ticket.

This seemed like a stupid disguise, but a woman he had talked to, one of Petty’s top case officers, had instructed him on what to do. He didn’t have a knife, but he would be able to pick one up in a Moscow suburb. That was where he was headed, the great Moscow spaceport.

Steele boarded a space plane with his forged documents, passing inspection. Soon, he buckled in. He sat beside an old woman, a chatty crone, and he nodded as she spoke most of the trip. She seemed delighted that he didn’t want to talk and was willing to listen.

After leaving O.S. Hera, the space plane glided down to Earth.

Once the outer shutters opened, Steele saw the great landmass of Russia, and then the pine forests surrounding Moscow. Soon, the space plane raced along an ultra-long runway. The chutes deployed, and once again, Mike Steele was back on Mother Earth.

He disembarked with the others. Security people checked his papers. He remembered to use his cane and wore shades and clothing he would never normally use.

He took a taxi and went to a park on the outskirts of Moscow. There, at the place they said it would be, he picked up a combat knife. He strapped on the forearm sheath, tugging at his sleeve to widen it. Then he was on his way, taking a bus to Leningrad.

The trip proved uneventful. He reached Leningrad at night. It was freezing, although there was no snow. He went to a hotel, used his credit card to check in, and had a restless night. He couldn’t believe it. He was going to see his boy, his son, tomorrow.

Would the authorities at the Leningrad school let him see John? Now that John was seventeen, it shouldn’t be as difficult, he hoped.

In the morning, Steele woke up late, went down to a complimentary breakfast of bacon, eggs, and German sausages, and realized he felt fitter than he had in a long time. Possibly, it was the drugs he had taken just before leaving Aphrodite. He knew his body was shutting down. He knew that this time there would be no antidotes from Anwar Gray. For all he knew, Garvey had brought him the last ones, a year ago, when the operative had dropped a bag full of ampoules in his room.

Steele took a taxi out to the forest and hobbled toward the school. The main structure was an old, dour building. Fir trees were everywhere. There was a large parking lot to the side.

Would the school officials let him see his son?

If they didn’t, he was going to kill some people.

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