The Colchis Job (Four Horsemen Tales Book 3) by Kal Spriggs

Author:Kal Spriggs [Spriggs, Kal]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Seventh Seal Press
Published: 2018-07-31T04:00:00+00:00

* * * * *

Chapter XI

The Pherbos System

There was no boom. I took a cautious breath and opened my eyes. We were still alive, and I still had the feed from Grimes’ camera. “What’s happening, Professor?”

“I, uh, disconnected the warhead from the ship so I could input commands directly. I guess that also deactivated the safety.” Grimes said it calmly, but I felt my balls try to climb up inside my stomach.

“You’re saying the warhead is now live?” I demanded.

“Yep,” Grimes answered, even as he continued to work. “The sensors are looking forward, though, and there’s no ‘target’ in front, so at the moment, there’s nothing to trigger it.”

I looked at the debris floating around the wreck. In particular, there were several chunks of metal plate that might be more than big enough to trigger the warhead...and lots of it floated in micro-orbits around the ship. “Professor...”

“I should have it disabled, soon-ish,” he noted. I could almost see the sweat dotting his forehead at this point.

I looked at Reedie. “Anything we can do to help?”

Reedie’s eyes had gone as big as saucers. “Uh...”

Part of me wanted to order him to take us to a safe distance. It was the smart thing to do. But I knew that would look like I was abandoning the people on the wreck. It would cost me their loyalty, and it would probably anger the rest of my guys.

“We should pull back,” Custer said, and several heads turned in his direction.

Idiot, why would you say that aloud? I shot him a glare. “We aren’t abandoning my people.” The look I gave him should have been warning enough.

“You have what you need already,” he snapped. “The people on the station are going to give you the information you need. Staying here while an unqualified, uncertified enlisted-man tries to disable a nuclear warhead is not just reckless, it’s stupid!”

“Listen to me,” I said, slowly. “I have total faith in the Professor.” I didn’t—not really—but after all we’d been through, I figured that of anyone, he had the best chance to disable the weapon. Besides, maybe that vote of confidence would be enough to make the difference.

“I think I got it,” Grimes said over the radio. “I got...oh, shit, no, no, no...”

I closed my eyes. I even said a little prayer.

“Oh.” The relief was evident in Grimes’ voice. “We’re good.”

“Good job, Professor. Now pack that nuke up and bring it inside,” I said.

“Bring it inside?” Custer, Reedie, and Grimes all asked in shock.

“Well, yeah,” I answered. “We’ll have a use for that thing!”

If nothing else, I wanted to shove it up the ass of Colchis’ CEO when I found him.

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