Chapter 6

Two men stationed themselves on each side of Cory as he unlocked the cargo bay door and heaved it open. The bright light streamed out into the dim hallway, and they squinted for a moment as they peered inside. Their anxiety abated when they saw no one but the hulking dockman and his toady waiting for them.

Jackknife shook his head in an exaggerated display. "We told you he ain't here no more, Cory. You didn't have to bring a whole danged platoon with you. Of all the places these guys ought to be, this ain't one of them, 'cause they ain't gonna find him here. You ought to lock this bay up tight, seeing as this is the only place we know he ain't at."

Cory looked past Jackknife and scrutinized the room with a sharp eye. The system of interconnected containers hung in its center like a gillnet full of choked salmon, and hundreds of small objects that had been ejected from smashed units filled the empty spaces. A thick, oily substance exuded from a nearby container, trapping passing debris in a tangled glob.

"Are you sure there was only one person in here, Jackknife?" Cory asked. "Seems like there's plenty of room for someone to hide."

"Beats me, but I only saw one guy go out the door, and I'm sure we woulda heard something by now if there was somebody else in here with us. You can send in your girl scouts to check the room if you want."

Cory motioned to the men at his side. "We'd better make sure. If it's clean, we'll seal it off like Jackknife says." They entered and began sweeping the room for any sign of another intruder. Cory turned his attention back to Jackknife. "You look rough."

"I've been better, I've been worse."

"And you, Lopez, you okay?"

"Me? Yeah, I'm all right. Man, it was pretty wild around here." He discreetly glanced over at Jackknife and then shrugged apologetically. "I had a hold on him for a while, but I kinda let him get away. Jackknife was on the way to pin him in, but I sort of lost my grip and he shoved me into a bunch of containers. By the time I got free, he was long gone. Then he locked the door, and Jackknife-" he paused briefly as he weighed his words, "-well, he almost had him, but not quite. I mean, he was right there but just a little behind, and then-"

"He got away," Jackknife muttered angrily.

"Did you see which way he went?" Cory asked.

"Not through a closed door, I didn't, but I'm pretty sure it was right or left."

Cory ignored his attitude. "And how long ago was it?"

"About ten minutes ago."

Lopez spoke up cautiously. "Probably more like twenty. Jackknife was sort of, well, out of it for a while."

"Okay. Ten, twenty, whatever," Jackknife snapped. "He was here then, he's gone now. He's out there and we're in here. He's moving, we're talking."

Cory opted not to push back, instead directing his next question to Lopez. "Did he say anything to you?"

Lopez thought for a moment before he spoke. "Mostly he just kind of made noises. You know, like everybody does in the middle of a fight. Like when you hit 'em in the belly and they shout 'cause they weren't expecting it. But now that I think about it, he did say something once, back when I had him in a tight hold. What was it now? Oh yeah, something like, 'not now' or maybe 'not yet.' It's hard to say."

"What do you think he meant by that?"

"Hmmm. I guess it was kind of like a threat. Like I caught him off guard and he was saying he was going to deal with me when he was ready and not before. He probably didn't want to wrestle in the dark any more than I did, so he was probably upset he didn't get a clean shot at me."

Cory nodded his head and looked Lopez in the eyes. He spoke in the reassuring, yet direct manner one uses with a child. "It's important to tell me everything you can remember because any information you recall could help us. Did you see or hear anything else?"

"No, Cory, that's all. He might have said something else, but there was things crashing all over the place. I know Jackknife was yelling from across the room, but I couldn't even make out what he was saying. I just held on and-oh yeah." He reached behind his back and produced the ripped prison shirt. He turned it over a few times and then held it up with the nametag visible. Cory studied the name for a moment and then acknowledged its significance with a curt nod.

The other men returned from searching the room and reported it clean, assuring Cory there was no other way in or out. He agreed they should leave the room and designate it off-limits. After ordering everyone out into the corridor, he shut the door and engaged the deadbolt.

"The only problem is that the lock-as you know-can be opened from the outside. That could allow our guest to get back in and hide where we've already looked. We'll have to put a padlock on it to seal it off for good." He took an appraising look at the men around him and addressed the pair on his right. "You two, I want you to head back toward docking bay D where the others are. We know he didn't get that far, so you can start from there and work your way back. I want every cubic inch searched. Understand?"

They nodded in unison and left. He turned to the other pair. "And you two, I want you to head back the other way toward the mess hall. Stop when you run into the nearest search team, and work your way back this direction. Got it?"

They followed their orders, leaving Jackknife and Lopez alone with Cory.

"Lopez, I want you to find Ramon and tell him everything you told me. He's heading up this search, so he needs as much information as you can give him-don't leave anything out. And update him on the two teams I just sent out. It may be wise to pull in the others from the extremities and have everyone search within the new bounds. But Ramon knows this station better than anyone. If there's any way this guy could slip past through a maintenance shaft or air duct, Ramon would know about it. I'll trust his judgment in placing the teams."

Lopez flashed him a broad, gaptoothed grin as if he had been entrusted to carry Caesar's most vital orders to the battlefield. He beamed proudly to Jackknife, and deflated only slightly when he received no response. A graceless kick off the doorway sent his pudgy form sailing down the corridor.

After Lopez was on his way, Cory turned to Jackknife. "As for you, I want you to get down to the supply module and round up as many chains and padlocks as you can. I'll wait here and keep this door secure until you get back, so make it fast."

Jackknife didn't stir.

Cory hesitated for a moment, like a boy whose rocket failed to take off when the fuse was spent. "Is there a problem?"

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, there is. It sounds a lot more like you're telling me what to do than asking me. That's a problem." As he drew closer, the final words were punctuated with thick smoke that curled around Cory's face. "'Cause I don't work for you no more, Cory."

Cory's expression perched between anger and disbelief. "Jackknife, this is not the time-"

"No, Cory, this is exactly the time. The time I got left belongs to me. Not to the company, and not to you. I'll spend it as I see fit, and that don't include taking orders from you."

Cory discreetly reached back and felt the wall close behind him. He maintained his ground and tightened his fists in case they were needed, but softened his tone considerably. "Look, Jackknife-"

"No, you look. You might control paychecks around here, but I don't see as that counts for much anymore. The one thing you definitely don't control is me."

Cory drew a deep breath and continued in a placating tone. "What I'm saying is-"

"There you go again, Cory. You just don't get it, do you? I ain't interested in anything you're saying. Now, if you take a notion to start asking, I might be inclined to listen. Or I might not, depending on my mood. But I won't be ordered around any more like you done me for the last year. If I decide to go back to the crew quarters and drink myself into a coma like Biggs, that's my business and there ain't a thing on God's green earth you can do about it. But if I decide to find this guy, it's because I want to, not because you're telling me to, so don't even waste your breath."

The struggle between protocol and expedience played itself out in the shifting lines on Cory's forehead. The final arching of his brows in conditional surrender signaled that the latter prevailed. "We can't afford the time to argue about this, so how about telling me what you want to do."

Jackknife responded with a self-satisfied smirk. "First I want to go back to the mess hall for some supplies. After that, I plan to settle a little score I got with somebody that slammed a steel door in my face. Now, there happens to be some other guys around here that are looking for him, too, so it's in my best interest if they help me find him. Since the supply room is pretty close to the mess hall, it wouldn't be much of a problem to grab a few chains and padlocks and give you a couple, as long as you realize I'm doing it on my schedule, and because it's what I want to do instead of what you're telling me to do."

"I can live with that," Cory said.

"Good, I thought you could." Jackknife smiled broadly and started to leave. "Oh, and if you have any more... suggestions, just let me know and I'll consider them." He turned and gripped a set of handholds along the walls. With a large tug, he launched down the corridor and out of sight. Once he was gone, Cory contacted Ramon on the hallway intercom.

"Yeah Cory, what's up?"

"Are you alone?"

"I can be, yeah." Ramon could be heard clearing the room, after which he told Cory to continue.

"I sent Lopez your way to relay some information. I'll let him go ahead and do that when he gets there, but there's more to tell. In short, Jackknife and I just had a confrontation, and he made it clear that he's done taking orders from anyone."

"That's bad news. What's he plan on doing?"

"For now, I think he'll cooperate with us as long as he doesn't feel pressured. We need his help, so if you can keep him working with us, then do it. Tread lightly though, because we can't afford to let him make a scene in front of the other men; they might take the cue to bolt, too. I'm hoping he just wanted to blow off some steam and tell me off, so I let him. But if he's planning on writing his own rules and interfering with what we need to do, we could have yet another problem on our hands."

"Every problem has multiple solutions," Ramon replied in an inscrutable tone.

"Then I'll trust you to handle things as you see fit. Now, as soon as you can spare him, send Tyrell my way. I could use a hand sealing up the rooms we've already checked."

Ramon hesitated so slightly than not even a close friend like Cory would perceive it. "Hmmm, it might be a while. I've got him and another guy checking some of the maintenance shafts on the outer part of West Wing. No intercoms down there. Can I send someone else?"

"No, that's okay. Just send Tyrell whenever he's done. I can handle it by myself for a while, and I sort of wanted to talk to him personally. I know he's not handling this very well. We've always had a pretty close relationship, I think, and I know he could use some encouragement."

"Roger that. I'll send him when he shows up. Out."

Cory gave the door another perfunctory check and then hand-tightened the locking mechanism as best he could. The lock wheel budged reluctantly and he managed only a quarter turn out of it. Confident he had done his best, he settled into waiting.

Several minutes passed as he kept silent watch over the empty corridor. When it seemed that no one would appear anytime soon, he hesitantly reached inside his vest pocket and produced a worn envelope bearing his name in feminine hand. He opened it with the greatest reverence, and removed a letter dated some eight years prior.

Cory felt the texture of the paper before carefully placing the letter inside its envelope. A sudden, faint noise caused him to hastily put it back into his vest pocket. He casually looked down the length of the corridor in both directions, but saw no one. He unconsciously held his breath as he listened. This time he distinctly heard the sound of metal on metal, and it was clearly coming from behind one of the bay doors just a few feet away.