Free Red Knight Falling by Craig Schaefer Page A

retrieval and interrogation.”
    “And the rest?” Jessie asked.
    He tilted his head, pausing as he considered her question.
    “Terminate,” he replied, “with extreme prejudice. Linder out.”
    The screen went black.
    “He can’t be serious,” Kevin said. “There’s no way. We can’t do this.”
    Jessie dropped down onto one of the beds and spread her arms.
    “We can’t not ,” she said. “Okay, floor’s open. All ideas are welcome. Including the crazy ones, because I think we’re gonna need one or two of those to pull this off.”
    April steepled her fingers, thinking. “Our enemy knowing our faces—and not giving us the courtesy of an introduction in kind—is troubling but not insurmountable. What do we really need to track down the satellite? Exactly what we lost: the telemetry data, and an expert to interpret it.”
    “Wait a second,” Kevin said, holding up a finger. “The data’s out there in the wild, waiting to get scooped up. I mean, that’s how Bette and her friends ended up here in the first place: I guess whatever got leaked is enough to go on, if you know what you’re looking at. Get me a laptop with Internet access and I’ll have it in five minutes flat.”
    “But we don’t know what we’re looking at,” Jessie said, “and we don’t know any rocket scientists who can help us out.”
    A smile rose to my lips, unbidden. I couldn’t help it.
    “Yes,” I said, “we do. Jessie, given that you’re officially our team leader, I’d like to ask permission to commit a gross breach of Vigilant Lock security protocols.”
    Jessie gave me a wolfish grin. “Look at Harmony, getting wild over here. I like it. As team leader, I do not give permission, because we never had this conversation and whatever you’re about to do will not appear in my official report.”
    I hit the speed dial on my phone. After three rings, a familiar warm voice washed over the line.
    “Talbot Cove Police Station, Deputy Winters speaking. How can I help?”
    “Hey, Cody,” I said.
    “Harmony?” He paused. “I . . . didn’t know if I’d hear from you again.”
    “Told you that you would.”
    “I know, just . . . it was a weird time, when you were here.”
    That was an understatement. In the space of an hour, Cody had gone from a blissfully innocent small-town cop to surviving a demon attack and witnessing a man getting dragged into the pits of hell. He’d earned his scars, just like the rest of us.
    I didn’t think about Nyx’s attack when I thought of him. I mostly thought about that night I sat alongside him on the hood of his squad car, leaning into his arm and looking up at the stars.
    “Your degree’s in aerospace engineering, right?” I asked. “Astronaut stuff?”
    “Sort of. I mean, I never graduated before I had to come home and take care of Mom, but I came pretty close.”
    “So if you had, say, data on a satellite in a decaying orbit,” I asked, “could you estimate where it’s likely to crash down?”
    He chuckled. “Have to dig up my slide rule, but sure, I could make a good go at it.”
    “Cody,” I said, “how would you like the chance to serve your country?”
    He didn’t hesitate. “Tell me where I need to be.”
    “I have to warn you: this isn’t going to be safe. And that’s kind of a massive understatement. You’d be standing in for an operative who didn’t make it.”
    “Didn’t make it?”
    “We’re not the only people on this hunt,” I told him. “The agent who was supposed to track the satellite for us—he’s dead.”
    Something shifted in his voice. A new, harder edge. Something urgent.
    “You’re in danger?”
    “Cody, I’m always in danger. That’s part of the job.”
    “But there are people out there,” he said, “gunning for you? Right now?”
    “Fair to assume, yes.”
    “Then tell me where to meet you. I’ll be on the next flight out.”
    “You’re sure?”
    “Harmony,” he said, “ please . Let me help you.”
    Jessie