Chapter 34 Darren
Darren
Ten hours later, all the preparations for the hit on Marcus’ production factory were in place.
Barbara handled the distraction portion of the plan, while Darren worked alongside Aiden and Nikos, who was ex-military and one of the few with combat expertise amongst George’s associates, on how to secure a cargo load of fifteen conduits meant to be leaving for the spaceship construction base on Mars.
“Darren.” Bea waved him over when he entered the Maine’s bridge where Aiden and Nikos were briefing the rest of the heist team. “I’ve got your ground shuttle sorted. It will be waiting when I drop you off at Port-Gentil. The factory is about thirty miles south from there.”
“My team will approach from the other direction and wait for your signal,” Nikos said, stroking his neatly trimmed beard with one hand and pointing at the zoomed-in section on the holographic map with his other. “As soon as we get the confirmation from Barbara, they can go in.”
“We are at the location and all set up,” the woman in question chirped over the secure comms, “so make sure you are in position before 1305.”
Darren’s window of opportunity was short.
He and the infiltration team had to execute their parts flawlessly or they risked alerting Marcus to what was really going on before they’d managed to snatch the shipment.
George’s ships and the Maine had their engines and the synchronization devices ready, missing only the conduit component Darren was about to steal.
Thanks to Kristen and Leonard, every ship had a team ready to do the necessary installations as soon as the Sinaloa, George’s commercial grade frigate, delivered the components while the Maine served as decoy.
As long as things didn’t go completely south, they were hours away from escaping Marcus forever.
“We’ll be there,” Darren assured her, cracking his neck.
“Keep me in the loop if there are any changes,” Barbara said, ending the call.
“I’ll head to the Sinaloa and together with Nan to make sure the cruisers are in position. Are you sure about using the Maine as bait?” George said as he appeared around the curve of the corridor.
He and Nan were in charge of coordinating the cruisers for the jump and ensuring the authorities didn’t get suspicious. The ships were currently headed to Lambert Outpost, located halfway between Earth and Mars.
“Yes. Marcus knows it’s my ship. It will provide the perfect cover for the cruisers,” Darren said, nerves clutching his stomach.
“Okay. Just be careful.”
Darren smiled, pride swelling in his chest. “Bea is the best pilot I’ve ever met. We got this.”
The scorching heat that welcomed them at Port-Gentil made Darren’s T-shirt stick to his damp skin.
The cotton fabric was soaked within minutes, molding to his chest, back and arms like an uncomfortable second skin.
The tanned workers around the docks were in the same boat and so were Nikos and Aiden, who, like him, also wore beige shirts and camo cargo pants.
Darren sighed, fanning his face. The lighter tones of their clothes were supposed to help fight the heat, but humidity seemed to be off the charts today and, according to the forecast, would only get worse in the afternoon.
Still, if Darren had to name one good thing about it, it was the fact that he got an eyeful of Aiden’s toned back and chest in proper daylight.
Shaking his head to chase the horny thoughts away, he focused on the mission.
“Darren,” Aiden said, pointing at the fenced-off shuttle hub at the end of the dirt road.
Darren gestured to move out. He enabled his earpiece just as they reached the nondescript dust-covered vehicle a trustworthy contact of George’s had prepared for them. “Barbara, we’ve touched ground. ETA to the factory is thirty-plus-ten minutes.”
“Roger. It sounds like you’ll be there earlier. Do you want me to push things forward?” she asked, her voice breaking up a little.
As much as Darren loved the idea of getting this over with as soon as possible, he wasn’t going to risk it. “Negative. We stick to the plan.”
“Understood. We’ll strike at 1305 as agreed. Make sure your people don’t go in too early.”
“Will do. Over.” Turning to Aiden and Nikos, Darren indicated the shuttle. “Let’s go. We’ll use the extra time to scope out the complex.”
The ride to the warehouse lasted half an hour and went by mostly in silence, save for Nikos comming the rest of the infiltration team, who’d taken a different route so they could cover more ground.
“OK, my boys are in position and have visual,” Nikos said from the backseat in his booming voice. He had an accent of some sort, European maybe, though Darren couldn’t quite pinpoint it. “There are two security teams of five each, as well as twenty drones and surveillance.”
Darren glanced at the tablet Aiden had propped on top of the console, which showed they were three minutes away from their destination—an abandoned scrapyard, 600 yards to the east. Based on the size of the compound, the numbers Nikos had cited were standard and what they’d expected to find.
Nikos’ guys were tasked with securing those ten guards, while the codes Barbara and Nyle had managed to get hold of would take care of the drones and cameras.
“You’ve got the network device running?” Aiden asked, his voice leveled and flat as his eyes stayed on the road.
“Yep.” Nikos patted the phone-sized device on his right.
It contained the codes and frequencies and all they had to do was link it up with the network and issue the maintenance reset command, which would give them twenty minutes of security downtime.
“We are good to go as soon as I press the button.”
Another two minutes and Aiden parked behind a stack of flattened car frames.
The three of them slipped out and ran across the scrapyard to the other side, keeping close to the piles of metal and parts.
When they reached the high wall that spanned the perimeter of the manufacturing factory, Aiden took out the foldable ladder while Nikos checked that the network device was connected.
“All good, we’re just waiting for ‘go-time’,” Nikos said, grinning as if he was about to have the fun of his life. And maybe he was, as he did seem like the type that enjoyed adrenaline rushes.
“Darren, you are go!” Barbara shouted over the comms a while later, gunfire and explosions audible on her end.
Darren snapped his attention to Nikos. “GO!”
“On it!” With a few commands issued by the device in Nikos’s hands, they infiltrated the factory’s network. “Charlie, surveillance and drones are down,” Nikos relayed to his team. “Move in.”
“Roger that,” the man on the other end replied.
Since security on this side of the factory compound was entirely automated, they didn’t have to wait for the clear from Charlie to go over the wall.
In contrast to the adrenaline coursing through Darren, the surroundings were eerily silent and still.
He was buzzing, but there were no drones coming at him or alarms going off, the entire thing somehow anticlimactic when his body was wound up so tightly and he was ready to roll.
Taking a few grounding inhales, he let that feeling pass and focused back on the task. The conduits were stored in one of the inner buildings, so he led Nikos and Aiden that way.
“Bea, we’re in. Head over,” Darren commed the Maine.
“Aye, aye. I’ll be at the landing pad in seven.”
“We’re just entering the first building,” he said, pushing open the heavy door. Aiden and Nikos went in first.
He clicked off and helped the other two search for the conduits. He took the first floor while Aiden and Nikos covered the two sublevels. All of them came up short so they moved to the second structure, which had a similar layout. They didn’t find anything there either.
By the time they got to the third building, Charlie checked in, “Guards are secured. They’ll be out for at least twelve hours. Where do you want us?”
“We are in building Six, and we checked Five already. There should be seven more,” Darren instructed.
There was a pause, which Darren assumed was Charlie’s team making their way toward the storage area. “We’ve got Three and Four here. I’ll comm you if we find the load.”
It took another building before they found what they were looking for. Darren felt a rush of relief. “Charlie, we found it at building Nine.”
“Roger and heading over.”
The six men that comprised Nikos’s team joined them and with the added help, they carried the four gray containers to the landing pad. The Maine was already there with the cargo ramp down and they wasted no time loading the boxes. As soon as the bay doors shut closed, Bea took off.
Darren left Nikos and his team to secure the containers in the cargo hold and ushered Aiden to the bridge.
“Yo, just heard from Barbara,” Bea said as the two of them joined her in the cockpit. “Things are getting pretty heated in Ontario.”
“Where are we picking them up from?” Aiden tossed, flopping into the co-pilot’s chair.
“Kingston is getting put under lockdown, but they’ve slipped out and are headed to Syracuse. We’ll be there in about thirty minutes.”
To Darren’s relief, the extraction went smoothly despite the quickly escalating situation in Kingston.
Barbara’s team had suffered mostly minor laser burns and bullet scratches.
After quickly treating them, Bea took the Maine to the agreed drop off location.
Nikos, Barbara and their teams loaded the conduits on the two shuttles that would take them to the Sinaloa.
“So, who’s staying?” Bea asked, her gaze bouncing between Darren and Aiden. “Other than me, obviously, and Darren so Marcus takes the bait…”
The two of them were all that was needed. There really was no point putting anyone else’s life in danger. That included Aiden, as much as part of Darren wanted him to stay on the Maine.
“You, Darren and I will stay,” the man in question said just as Darren opened his mouth to send him away, announcing it in a way that didn’t leave any space for arguing.
Bea saluted him, fighting off a snort aimed at Darren. “Aye, aye!”
Darren’s heart raced. He cut his gaze to Aiden, unable to stop a wide grin. “You’re hot when you are bossy,” he said, this time making Bea snort.
Aiden smirked. “Is that so?”
Darren threw his head back and laughed. “I can’t win against you, can I?” he challenged and meant it.
He caught Bea’s sideways glance and as he waited for Aiden’s response, he was transported back to his old ship.
She was his only crew and the two of them were throwing friendly jibes at each other on the way to some shipping job Darren had accepted.
It was a little nostalgic, and he enjoyed that feeling for a few moments before he let his mind return to the present.
Something fluttery warmed his chest and it grew as he took in the Maine’s sleek form, as he thought to all those people who were counting on him.
And among them, the one person who was most important to Darren was here, by his side, outright refusing to leave it.
Aiden reached over and rubbed the back of Darren’s neck, the smirk on his face transforming into a fond smile as he trained his gaze on the field with wheat behind the two shuttles.
He didn’t agree nor disagree with Darren’s words and Darren simply moved on, letting his mind cycle through the many possible outcomes of this stunt they were about to attempt.
“Haven’t you already?” Aiden eventually said, his voice so quiet as if he was whispering a secret.
It touched Darren’s heart and soul and he smiled to himself, balling his hands into fists as he let himself hope for the best for the first time ever.
“Barbara,” he yelled, getting the woman’s attention. “The three of us will stay with the Maine.”
“Okay! We have concluded loading, so we’ll head up. Good luck!”
“Right. Let’s get the Maine’s jump drive sorted.” Bea clapped her hands and made her way to the Maine’s airlock.
Aiden followed her, but Darren stayed outside for a few extra minutes.
He watched the shuttles lift off, disappearing in the sky before the dust and sand could settle back on the ground.
A soft breeze broke out, and he enjoyed that too while Bea and Aiden’s voices discussed engine tweaks and start-up sequences through the earpiece’s comms. Taking one last look at the wheat fields, he breathed in Earth’s fresh air and headed inside.
As they awaited George’s call, his nerves were on edge, the wait feeling like hours instead of the twenty minutes it actually lasted.
“This is the Sinaloa. I don’t think Barbara’s diversion is working anymore.
Things are getting heated up here,” George said, his voice filling the Maine’s cockpit.
“The GN is looking for us. They are grounding stations left and right.” He paused, speaking to someone on a different line.
“I just heard from Nan. A GN squadron is headed there, so she’s moving the cruisers out of Lambert Outpost. They’ll meet us halfway. ”
Darren’s stomach coiled, giving him a bad feeling. He raked a hand through his hair. It had grown longer, reaching past his ears now, but he kind of liked it this way, so he didn’t cut it. “We are in position and ready.”
The original plan was for the Maine to leave Earth once the Sinaloa arrived at Lambert, but they’d accounted for a scenario where they might need to do it sooner.
“We’ll let you do your part then. I’ll report when we are preparing to jump. Good luck.”
“Roger that! Good luck!” Bea chipped in. A small smile played at the corners of her lips when she met Darren’s gaze. “Are you ready to make not just Marcus, but his entire GN fleet chase after us, boys?”
Darren nodded. Aiden did as well, but the motion was a bit stiff. He also frowned at the visualized trajectory Bea had on the central screen. “You are sure we can make it look like we crashed?”
“That’s what the shuttle loaded with spare parts in the cargo hold is for! We’ll send it crashing at some rock and use the fireworks as a distraction so we can jump.”
It was a good plan. It was also their only plan, but that didn’t matter because they were going to make it work.