Shooting Stars 07: Chapter 2

Anne Friedland, code name: Network
Then

    Everything felt wrong.  I was lying on my back, my rifle and my kit a few feet away from me.  The hot, desert sun beat down on my face, but there was just enough of a gentle breeze to make me feel slightly chill.

     My ribs hurt and I felt a tremendous pressure on my chest and sharp, stabbing pains up and down my sternum.

     For a moment I panicked, thinking I’d caught a bullet.  A rifle bullet at close range can tear through even the most advanced body armor the Corps could provide, slowing just enough to bounce around inside the body like a superball instead of making a nice, clean exit- but I wasn’t feeling any wetness.

     I struggled to open my eyes and a dark, strongly masculine face covered up the sun.  “Lie still, Specialist,” our Chief, Warrant Clines, ordered gently.  Naturally, I tried to get my arms under me, to push myself into a sitting position, but Clines simply put both hands on my shoulders and held me down.  I didn’t struggle for long, as any exertion reawakened the agony in my chest and, besides that, seemed to cost a truly Herculean amount of energy.

     “What happened?” I croaked.

     “We were hoping you knew,” Clines admitted.  “I’m having you evac’d to an infirmary, Friedland,” he continued.

     “The mission…” I protested weakly.

     “No way,” Clines answered, not unkindly, cutting off my protest, “you’re done.”

     A few minutes later, they had me bundled onto a field stretcher and two big privates loaded me into a medevac chopper.

     I wept bitter, silent tears all the way back to the base.

*****

Now

     Ellie pulled up outside one of the many triplexes in the Ashton Village Condos.  These homes tended to be favored by retirees and the more placid of AFU’s grad student population.  While they weren’t exactly remote, located in Angel Fall’s West End, they were often overlooked by tourists and partiers who preferred to frequent the glitzier Midtown, just east of Verdant Way.  The communal lawn was well-tended, with a modest sandbox and a small plastic play structure, both currently unoccupied.  A thin strip of petunias and hibiscus bordered a hedge of low, evergreen bushes next to the wooden siding of the building, evidence of one of the residents’ obvious love of gardening, since none of the other apartments on the block showed similar provision.

     As was her habit, especially when working without backup- Harry had stayed behind to follow up on the gadget they’d found- Ellie scanned the street, ahead, behind, to the sides, and up and down before stepping away from her cruiser.  The place looked well enough- there was certainly nothing visibly wrong to make Ellie’s skin prickle with gooseflesh- but she felt her nerves, that ancient instinct common to cops and soldiers, quietly standing to attention, and she was worried.

     She felt her hand straying to her sidearm and had to consciously restrain herself.  She got up to the door and rang the bell.

     “Just a minute,” came a cheery voice from within.

     “Take your time, Miss Vance,” Ellie called, smiling slightly.  She’d met the girl a little over a year ago, when she had been hospitalized following a bombing at her university.  They hadn’t exactly become the closest of friends at that point, but Ellie liked Shae and guessed that she’d have a better chance of tracking down Apollo through her than through her suspicious older brother, Evin.

     The door opened and Ellie found herself looking across the threshold into the pretty, young face of Apollo’s youngest sibling.  Ellie felt the slightest twinge of jealousy; while Ellie was attractive enough, with her dark hair, coffee-and-cream skin, and chocolate eyes, she also was starting to show some of the effects of her age in the thickening of her middle.  Kachay Vance, on the other hand, was an ethereal beauty- very nearly as tall as Ellie, with porcelain skin, cornsilk hair, and eyes the color of ice chips on a cold winter morning.  Added to that was the fact that Shae was ten years younger, and she’d kept her college athlete’s body… Ellie definitely felt a little self-conscious.

     “Sergeant Martinez,” Shae chirped, “you’re looking well- can I help you with something?”

     Ellie inclined her forehead politely.  “Could we talk inside, Miss Vance?  It’s important.”

     Shae took a moment to scrutinize Ellie’s face and, apparently satisfied by what she found there, bobbed her head.  “Sure, come on in- and call me Shae!  You’ve more than earned the right, after all.”

     Ellie followed her inside and scanned the apartment- a reflex action for anybody who’d survived their rookie year on the force.  The room was surprisingly spacious, with large archways leading into other rooms instead of doors and hallways, and a tall ceiling that seemed to extend to infinity because of a large skylight.  There were stairs at the back of the living room that led up and down- up to the bedrooms and bathroom, Ellie assumed, and down into the cellar and laundry room.  Although the total space was actually much smaller than Ellie’s home- there was no actual dining room, for one thing, and the kitchen basically consisted of a refrigerator and stove sectioned off from the main room by a counter built out from the wall- the space was well-apportioned and felt much larger than it actually was.

     Shae led them to a sofa and loveseat set around a low coffee table and gestured for Ellie to take a seat.

     “I have to say,” Ellie noted, feeling her way along, “you seem to be doing well.  Much better than the last time I saw you, anyways…”

     Shae chuckled at that.  “I’m okay,” she agreed, “no ninja assassins attacking me in the middle of the night does wonders for my beauty rest…”

     “Hah.  I’ll bet,” Ellie agreed.  “Boyfriend?  Kids?”

     “No thanks,” Shae grinned wickedly, “I just ate!”

     Like that, any lingering tension was dispelled.

     “What’s really going on, Sergeant?” Shae asked, reminding Ellie of her purpose in visiting.

     “We’ve lost contact with Apollo- your brother- and we were hoping you might get a message to him.”

     Shae frowned slightly.  “Lost contact?  Doesn’t he have a radio or something?”

     “If he does,” Ellie allowed wryly, “nobody ever shared it with me.  All I’ve got is his cellphone number, and he hasn’t been picking up or calling me back.”

     “That’s certainly not like him,” Shae agreed, chewing her lip.  “Assuming I can track him down, what should I tell him this is about?”

     “It’s an open case and an ongoing investigation,” Ellie demurred gently, “I can’t tell you any more than that.

     There was a brief pause while Shae digested that.  “Is he a suspect or something?” she asked quietly.  Ellie didn’t answer, but the hardening of her lips told Shae everything she needed to know.  “Fine.  I’ll see if I can find him and pass on a message,” Shae sighed finally, “no promises.”

     There wasn’t much to say after that, so Ellie made her goodbyes and headed back to her cruiser.

     Something still didn’t feel right.  It tickled at her hindbrain, a sensation not unlike an ice cube held lightly against the back of her neck, but she couldn’t pin it down.

     Getting into her car, Ellie nearly had a heart attack.  Sitting atop her clipboard was a plain manila envelope.  It wasn’t particularly big, but her name was blazoned on it in large, block letters.  It hadn’t been there when she’d gone into Shae’s condo.

     Ellie was considering calling in the bomb squad when her cellphone rang.  Absently, she picked it up.

      “Good afternoon, Sergeant,” came a cool, crisp woman’s voice, “call me Network.  I would like to offer you my assistance in your current investigation.  If you are interested, you merely need to open the envelope I’ve left you and place one of the enclosed microbugs in your ear.”

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Finally... finally!  A little more background into the life of my techno-nerd, Network.  Honestly, I love this girl, but she'd not all sweetness and light.  As you will see, hopefully...  This picture- and all the artwork for Shooting stars- is brought to you by the amazingly talented and lovely !

Shooting Stars is an epic tale (okay, maybe that's pushing it, but I've always wanted to call something I wrote an epic) taking place in  and will feature characters by , , and an appearance of Esau by .

 wrote the story and owns the characters of Network, Sergeant Eleanora Martinez, and Shae Vance.

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