TekLords (The TekWar Series) by Shatner William

Author:Shatner, William [Shatner, William]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781453287514
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2012-11-12T16:00:00+00:00

20

THE MORNING FOG HUNG heavy around the Oakland Spaceport. Jake, fingers of his right hand drumming slowly on the arm of his plastiglass chair, was looking out through the window of the small waiting room next to the boarding ramp for the prisonbound shuttle.

Beth was sitting beside him. “You okay?”

“Tip-top.”

“You’ve been looking somewhat downhearted.”

“I almost always look that way,” he told her, grinning. “You’ve just never noticed before.”

“You told me once that the Freezer, the first time you saw it, reminded you of something. But you never got around to—”

“When I was a kid, actually about the same age Dan is now, I was sent to a school they called the Sky Academy.”

“I’ve heard of that. A very strict military sort of place for...well, for boys with problems.”

“I fit into that category. Or so my father thought.”

“And your mother?”

Jake returned to watching the fog. “It didn’t much matter what she thought. My father was a professional military man. He ran the show.”

“I know.”

“Guess I’ve told you most of this already.” He fell silent.

Finally Beth asked, “How long were you up at that orbiting school?”

“Nearly two years. My mother got sick while I was at Sky Academy and...she died while I was up there.” He shook his head. “Once I got clear of the place, I promised myself I’d never go near a setup like that again, that I’d never send my kids to one.”

“So why is Dan at Oceanside?”

“Kate chose it,” he said. “It doesn’t actually orbit the planet, but it sure looks and smells like Sky Academy. Sending your son off to a school like that isn’t—”

“Good morning, Cardigan.” Onita Mixon, a slim black woman, had come striding into the Reception Room. Two large silverplated robots in white tunics trailed behind.

Jake rose. “Morning, Nita.”

The National Disease Control Agency agent asked him, “You feeling any remorse yet?”

“Over what—the fact I’ve known you for almost ten years?”

“Ten minus the four you were up there.” She pointed her forefinger at the ceiling. “No, Cardigan, I meant remorse over the fact you were willing to let thousands of people in Frisco die while you and the other crooks at Cosmos got hold of the cure first. That way you could peddle it to the—”

“Nita, you’re going along to the Freezer,” he reminded her. “There’s no need to lecture me on the ethics of the Cosmos Agency or—”

“If it hadn’t been for Jake,” put in Beth, standing, angry, “nobody would yet know the probable cause of this damn plague. As soon as he talked to Chesterton, he was going to pass on whatever he found out.”

Agent MacQuarrie had been standing across the room. Looking a little uneasy, he moved closer to the group.

Onita nodded to herself. “You’re the one he’s replacing his wife with, aren’t you? It figures you aren’t going to tumble to Cardigan’s real motives.”

“None of you people from NDCA, not one, even suspected that Chesterton’s virus might be what was—”

“We did, though, and that’s exactly what I’ve been digging into for almost two days—along with a lot of other possibilities,” said the agent.

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