Crystal Horizon: A Short Prequel to Crystal Deception (4 page)

I’m not going to look while you’re sitting there
,
thought Sid. But he was anxious to learn if the story checked out.

He’d known from the start that doing well at camp led to big
opportunities afterward. In fact, that had been an important factor when he
decided to attend.

But he hadn’t expected to hear about his options at an impromptu
meeting at his bunk.

And beyond that, Jack was right. Cheryl fulfilled him in
ways he never thought possible.
I’m crazy about her
. That complicated
matters, and he needed to think things through.

“And I’ll take two nights to sleep on it. I’m not going to
make this decision right now. I’ll check your reference list. If it flies and
if I’m inclined, I’ll meet you here at eleven hundred hours two days from now.”

“Let me know if your answer is no. Otherwise, I’ll meet you
in two days in the infirmary at seventeen hundred sharp. That building has its
own exit road.” Jack got up and moved to the door.

“Hey,” Sid called. “Is it worth leaving everything behind?
Did you ever look back?”

Jack didn’t turn around. “You’re a sophisticated warrior who
craves adventure. It’s a dream come true.”

Sid played with those words as Jack exited the cabin.

The moment the door closed, Sid checked his com and
considered the three names Jack had sent. Two of them were captains who’d
mentored him from his earliest days. He had known them for years and trusted
them.

The third name was an admiral he’d interacted with for a
short period about a year earlier. He appreciated that Jack put a heavy hitter
on the list, but he doubted he’d learn anything useful from the guy. Sid already
understood that Jack had serious connections and this was an inside operation.
What he wanted to know was if Jack’s words matched reality.

He called Captain Paul Stanley, his first choice on the
list, and was pleased when the officer answered.

“Hey, Captain,” said Sid. “It’s good to see you. How are you
doing?”

“Hi, Sid,” Paul said. “It’s been a while. You’re looking
fit. I hear you’ve been made an offer you shouldn’t refuse.”

Sid studied Paul’s face. They’d been through a lot together
and Sid felt confident he could read the man. “What can you tell me, sir?”

“Honestly, I don’t know much,” Paul said, shaking his head.
“Whatever you got going, it’s connected. Two admirals and a government goon are
telling me to tell you that it’s the right choice. I haven’t a clue what ‘it’
is, so I can’t provide you guidance. I can just confirm that they want me to
use my good name to tell you that it’s real. I’ve seen a lot of stuff over the
years, big guy, but this is weird. Are you in some kind of trouble?”

Seeking to keep the conversation on track, Sid pressed him.
“Would you mind telling me who the admirals are?”

“I’ll tell you that one is O’Hara. The other is at Central
Command and I’ll only say that I know him and believe he’s being straight. I
don’t know the goon, except to say he has a clearance level higher than mine.”

“Why would they go to all this effort for me?” asked Sid
with sincere innocence. “Part of me feels like I’m being played here.”

Paul laughed. “You got talents, bud, so it makes sense to
me. If they’ve offered you something and it sounds like a fit, take it. When
they go to this much trouble to recruit you, they’ll treat you well going
forward.”

They chatted for a few more minutes, then Sid thanked him
and signed off. He called the other captain on the list and the conversation
was similarly supportive. His mentor reinforced that the Union was going to
great lengths to have Sid feel good about the situation. He, too, admitted he
didn’t know any details about what that situation was.

Sid climbed into bed that night thinking that as technology
evolves, it becomes ever harder to pin down truth. He could come up with a dozen
ways an organization might orchestrate a group of people into reinforcing a
thought or idea without them even knowing they were being manipulated. This whole
thing could be a deception and he’d never know.

Yet one item seemed indisputable—powerful people wanted him
to work for them. As he closed his eyes, he relaxed his mind, hoping an answer
would come to him in his sleep.

* * *

Cheryl awoke next to Sid. They were
a half-day’s hike into the woods, and though the air was cool outside, it was
warm inside their tent. They actually had two tents but never bothered to set
hers up. It would have been wasted effort.

“
Mmm
,” she thought, snuggling against him.

Their training scenario—the last one of camp—was constructed
much like a treasure hunt. They needed to decipher clues to find the next
secret location, which held clues to the next location, and so on until they
found the hidden treasure. The first team to find it and bring it back to camp
won bragging rights for that year’s graduating class.

The two didn’t care about hidden treasures or bragging
rights. They both wanted to use the time enjoying each other.

At the first hint of sunrise, he kissed her neck. Giggling, she
turned to him and they lost themselves for a bit. Afterward, she lay in his
arms and thought about this man who’d captured her heart.

He was kind and considerate in his daily life. She loved his
quiet confidence and was honest enough with herself to admit she was attracted
to the hint of danger that lurked beneath his surface. He brought out the best
in her. It was joyous to be in his arms.

He interrupted her thoughts when he lifted his head. “Did
you hear that?” he whispered.

“No,” She whispered back. “What did you hear? Is it some
one
,
or some
thing
?”

He sat up and started pulling on his clothes. “Let me go
look.”

Cheryl dressed as well. “I’m not sure which would be worse,
finding a bear or Captain Dooley outside.”

Sid opened a flap just enough to see into the morning light.
“I think I caught us breakfast in my snare.” She heard excitement in his voice,
then she processed his words. “A snare? Yuck. I’m not interested in eating a
little forest creature for breakfast.” She was no longer worried about bears or
captains.

“Quick.” He spoke as if he were leading a campaign against
the enemy. “Stay behind me while I check.”

He crept out of the tent and worked his way toward some
brush near a stand of trees. She watched him with a mixture of confusion,
fascination, and anticipation. This wasn’t part of the treasure hunt exercise
and it wasn’t his characteristic behavior.
Enjoy his delusion
, she
thought, entertained by the silly performance.

He crawled over the ground, staying hidden behind rocks and
shrubs as he moved closer to the brush and his snare. Cheryl stayed on her feet
and followed from a distance.

When he was a within reach of the trap, he turned and
mouthed, “We got something big.”

She tensed in excitement. He cautioned her with a hand sign,
then reached forward and pulled back the brush.

“Breakfast is served, my lady,” he said, lifting a restaurant
pouch out for her to see.

“What the hell?” She moved next to him. “Is that from
Smitty’s?”

Smitty’s was a small restaurant about three miles due west.
They’d eaten there a few times over the months and loved their breakfasts. Opening
the pouch, he reached inside and lifted out two coffees. Wrapping both hands
around the cup, she inhaled the aromatic steam and took a sip. “Umm.”

Back in the tent, they feasted on their bounty. “Eggs,
muffins, fresh fruit! I’m in heaven!” Smiling like a child on her birthday, she
sampled everything. He fed her a bit of waffle, and when syrup dripped onto her
chin, she chased it with her tongue. She saw he was fascinated by her attempt
at an impossible chin-lick maneuver and, unashamed, laughed out loud and tried
again.

As they ate, Sid confessed that he’d walked to the
restaurant and back in the early hours of the morning. “It was my pleasure,
Cheryl.”

He was acting way out of character, but she thought it was
cute. They both knew that graduation was coming. She accepted that they would
be headed in different directions. Modern transportation and communication
services made long-distance relationships easier, but it remained a challenge.
She appreciated that he was making their last days special.

They feasted, cleaned, and packed, then walked along a trail
up to a ridge crest. With an open view of the valley, they could see a portion
of the camp’s lake in the distance. Sitting on an angled rock, Cheryl lifted
her face and savored the warmth of the sun.

“Can you see them?” asked Sid, pointing into the valley.

She squinted in the direction he indicated and saw Sophie
and Alstine, two of their classmates, walking in the distance.

“They’ll be following that trail across the valley floor.”
He moved his arm as he traced the path with his finger.

Then he turned to her. “Cheryl, I’ve been ordered to return
to camp. We’ve been instructed to meet up with those two. You’ll finish this
round with them.”

She looked at him and frowned.
That’s the second time he’s
called me Cheryl.
When they were alone, he always called her something
silly, like Angel or Sweet Bun. It wasn’t that she preferred the pet names, but
she understood that everything was good between them when he used one.

Her other concern was that he’d been sent a change of plans
while she hadn’t. She checked her com and found the feed confirming his story.
It
should’ve prompted me about such an important message.

The morning’s events were all off, wrong enough that her
training kicked in. As she followed him down the trail, she reviewed everything
they’d done together over the past week, searching for clues. The tension grew
as his silence lengthened.

It took a couple of hours to catch up with Sophie and
Alstine. When their classmates came into view on the footpath, Cheryl squared
up and confronted him, “What’s going on, Sid?”

He stepped to her, caressed her cheeks, and kissed her,
holding it for a long moment. He squeezed her hands as he stepped back, and
then turned and walked ahead on the trail, his pace quickening with each step. He
nodded to Sophie and Alstine as he strode past them, and then the trail curved
into the forest.

Following him with her eyes, she brought her fingers up and
traced her lips where he’d kissed her. She stood unmoving until he vanished
from sight. Her mind swirled in turmoil as she struggled to understand.

When Cheryl got back to her cabin that night, dread filled
her heart. She looked for him in his bunk, and then checked his usual haunts. She
tried calling him, but her com told her there was no such person. She asked their
friends if they knew his whereabouts, and then she asked everyone she saw. She
didn’t sleep that night. She just stared into the darkness.

The next morning, she asked to see Captain Dooley. Following
an aide into his office, she stood in front of his desk and, breaking protocol,
asked him what he knew.

Looking at the work on his desk, Dooley compounded her
anguish with a cryptic remark. “We’ve spent eight months training you to keep
your eyes facing the future, Lieutenant. We don’t dwell on history here.” He lifted
his head and said gently, “Dismissed.”

She nodded and made a hasty exit. Back at her bunk, she
spent the rest of the day working her com, trying to find out where he might be
or how she might contact him. In spite of her substantial technical talents, as
near as she could tell, Sid didn’t exist and never had.

Confused and devastated, she curled up on her bunk and
cycled through feelings of grief, anger, denial, and betrayal. Staring into the
dark again that night, she started to cry. A few hours before dawn, completely
exhausted, sleep came to ease her pain.

She attended the graduation ceremony that afternoon. Dressed
in formal whites, she assembled with the class. Cheers and friendly jeers rang
out when the winning hidden-treasure team revealed their loot. Cheryl didn’t
notice who had won or what the treasure was.

As was tradition, the ceremony ended with a roll call of
next appointments for each of the graduates. Announced one by one, the class
clapped and hooted in support of their colleagues. It was a heady day for the
group.

“Lieutenant Cheryl Wallace is now Commander Wallace,” announced
Dooley. “She’s the new first officer on Fleet ship
Pinnacle
. Congratulations,
Commander Wallace.”

She walked to the front, saluted, shook the captain’s hand,
then faced the class and accepted their accolades. As she waved to the group,
she saw an empty chair where Sid should have been. It was a fitting metaphor
for the void in her heart.

* * *

 “Ohh,” Sid moaned. He opened his eyes
and closed them immediately when a wash of pain radiated through his body. A
welt on the back of his head throbbed in rhythm with his heartbeat. He reached
back to explore the wound. Or tried too. His arms wouldn’t move.

He opened his eyes for a second time and peered into darkness.
Wiggling both hands and probing with his fingers, he determined that his
i
wrists were bound to the armrests of a chair. Lifting
and twisting his feet, he confirmed that his ankles were fastened to its legs.

As his eyes focused, he detected a faint slit of light a few
paces in front of him.
That’s a door.
The closeness of the ambient noise
in the space helped him complete the picture.
I’m tied to a chair and I’m in
a closet.

With these cues, memories flooded back. He was on a small
island in the Pacific Ocean—a rogue plot of land set closer to the Philippines
when traveling from Hawaii. The island had switched owners at least four times
in the past decade, and the different landlords all had two things in common: they
were controlled by criminal syndicates hostile to the Union of Nations, and they
used the prime location as a world-wide clearinghouse for arms trafficking.