Free Carson Mach 1: The Atlantis Ship by A. C. Hadfield Page A

it’d be cost effective for me to have you go back inside.”
    “Fine, I can live with that,” Sanchez said with a satisfied grin. He spat in his hand and held it forward. Mach shook it, the warm saliva smudging against his palm.  
    Danick joined them in the midsection and stood next to his sister. “We can’t be involved with this. Everyone in the Fides system knows about Adira’s murders.”
    “You’re here to follow my orders,” Mach said. “Download the prison plans from the central database and get them up on screen.”
    The JPs stood looking at him like a pair of lost puppies. Sanchez moved behind them and wrapped his arms around their shoulders. “You better listen to the man. I’ve seen him in a bad mood, and let me tell you, it ain’t a pretty sight.”
    Mach loved Sanchez’s style of passive-aggressive persuasion, but his other skills got him on this particular mission.  
    “I’ll have them up for you in two minutes,” Lassea said and brushed Sanchez’s hand off her shoulder. “For the record, I don’t like being touched.”
    Sanchez laughed and sat on the soft leather captain’s chair. “Fides Primes and their stiff culture. You need to relax a little.”  
    Danick and Lassea sat at the cockpit controls and worked the holocontrols to get the required information. If Mach could find a way out, that didn’t involve passing reception, he was confident of springing Adira.  
    “Did Adira really try to kill you?” Lassea said.  
    “It was a long time ago.” Mach thought back to the encounter. Apparently he was the only person alive in the Salus Sphere to survive one of her attempts. “I’ve spoken to her since, in a sense. There’s no hard feelings.”
    “I’d be careful,” Sanchez said. “If she had a contract on you, I wouldn’t put it past her to cash in at the first available opportunity. I would.”
    Mach shook his head. “It’s over, trust me. Get what tools you need to break off her security neck-ring. I’ve already thought of a way to get inside.”
    Sanchez grunted and heaved himself from the chair. He walked toward the back of the shuttle and pulled open the hatches on the unbuckled left-hand side.  
    “I pulled in a favor from one of my friends at HQ,” Lassea said.  
    The 3D technical designs for the prison flashed across the left screen above the cockpit. Mach studied the designs. They had to have emergency exits in case of a fire. The CW was health and safety mad, and wouldn’t have only one point of access. He spread his finger and thumb on the console and zoomed in on the solitary wing.  
    The wall thinned on a one-meter section at the end of the corridor. He checked B-wing and it had the same feature. False walls that could be blasted through, or brought down by a group of angry horans at full sprint. It initially seemed convenient, but he remembered his time in prison. Armed guards stood in front of the walls whenever cells opened and inmates were strictly controlled.  
    Mach’s suspicion proved correct. He now had a way in and a way out. The last thing required was access to the cells. For that he’d need a security card.  
    “Are you two ready for a drink?” he said to Danick and Lassea.  
    “We’ve already told you—” Danick said.  
    “Start to live a little. You’ll appreciate these little downtimes in a week or two.”
    Lassea disabled the holocontrols and stood. Sanchez appeared from the back of the shuttle, holding a cylinder-shaped multipurpose electro-tool. “Did somebody mention a drink?”
    Mach nodded. “We’re going to find a security swipe.”

    ***

    A small group of buildings clustered around an apartment block half a klick from the shuttle. Mach headed for their dim lights and caught up on the latest Salus gossip with Sanchez. All of it was standard. The outer planets expected war. Pirates were still a problem, and there was still good money to be made smuggling.  
    Danick and Lassea trudged along beside them, shielding