Garret's Gambit by Dale Mayer (best sci fi novels of all time txt) 📕

test of some sort, she sank back and called her sister, putting it on Speakerphone. Garret couldn’t hear all of the conversation, but he heard enough.

“I couldn’t stay in the house,” she said. “I’m bored to tears. You guys left me alone to go on some stupid wild goose chase. Why should I have to sit there all by myself?”

“Well, you were supposed to be resting,” Astra said.

“All I’ve done is rest,” she said resentfully. “It’s my life that’s all mixed up here, you know?”

“Absolutely. So who did you call to spend time with for the evening then?”

“What makes you think I called anybody?”

“I can’t imagine you going out alone. Not being pregnant.”

“You keep harping on me being pregnant,” she said. “Why is that any different now?”

“Because I was thinking you would never put your baby in danger,” she said, “or am I wrong?”

“Of course not,” she said, “but just going out for an evening. That can’t possibly hurt.”

“Which is why I’m pretty sure you’re not alone,” she said. “So do you mind telling me who you’re with?”

“An old friend,” she said cagily.

“What kind of an old friend?”

“Somebody Gregg used to work with,” she said.

Instantly the other men turned to look at her.

She said, “Then you won’t mind telling me his name.”

“I won’t tell you his name because you’re acting like I’ve done something wrong,” she said, her voice turning petulant.

“Oh, for crying out loud. I just want to know that you’re safe,” she said. “How is that so difficult to understand?”

At that, her sister sniffed. “I’m not at all sure,” she said, “that’s what this is all about. When are you coming back anyway?”

“Soon,” she said, with a shrug at Garret and Kano.

They just nodded.

“So you say,” Amy said. “that could mean anything. I won’t sit in the house by myself all evening.”

“Fine, so who are you with then?” In the background she heard a man telling Amy to shut off the phone.

“I’m not shutting off the phone,” she said. “It’s my sister.”

“Even better,” the man said. “Hang up the phone.”

“No, I already told you that I’m not hanging up. Just keep driving. I need a drink.”

“You’re not drinking with the baby, are you?” Astra asked.

“Oh, for God’s sake, give me a break,” she said. “Just because I want something to drink, doesn’t mean it can’t be coffee.”

“That’s true,” Astra said, with half a smile. She looked at the other two men, as if asking what to say. “So you’ll be at a pub then?”

“And again, there you are with the questions.”

“Well, so far you haven’t answered any, so you can’t blame a girl for trying,” she said. “And you’re going out of your way, trying to piss me off by evading the simplest questions, which is very suspicious.”

“Hang up the phone,” said the man.

“No, I’m not. My sister might be nosy, but she’s harmless.”

“Yeah, I’m harmless,” she said, “unless I think you’re in trouble.”

“I’m not in trouble,” she said. “I’ve spent lots of time with this guy. Haven’t I, Rick?”

“Don’t call me by my name, and hang up the damn phone.”

Astra heard a struggle going on, with her sister crying out. Finally Amy got her phone back and said, “I have to hang up now.” But she was sobbing, and, all of a sudden, the phone went dead. Astra put hers down very carefully and said, “Oh, my God.”

“What?”

“I think she’s in trouble.”

The vehicle in front of them picked up speed and ripped around a corner, hard.

Chapter 10

Astra was flung from one side to the next, as Charles chased after the vehicle in front.

Garret reached out, snatched her into his arms, and held her close, using his legs to brace them, as they went around corners.

“Is my sister involved in this?”

“I’m not sure,” he said, “but it’s possible. Do you know who this Rick person is?”

“I think she mentioned him before, somebody who Gregg worked with.”

“That’s what she said, but is he a good guy or not a good guy?”

“As far as I remember, he kept asking Gregg to go work for him.”

“Privately?”

“Yeah, but I don’t know what the job was.”

“It’s probably something off the books too.”

“I don’t know what that means, but it doesn’t sound good.”

“No,” Garret said, “I doubt that it is. But we can’t jump to conclusions. I just know from the sound of what we heard that, whatever scenario your sister has gotten herself into, it doesn’t look good.”

Just then the vehicle ahead whipped into a car park. Garret himself almost missed it. Just as the taillights went around, he caught it. Immediately Charles turned into the same place and blocked the side entrance. Garret slipped out, and so did Kano. She watched in shock, as they disappeared. She leaned forward to the front seat and asked Charles, “Do we just sit here, in the middle of the road?”

“No,” he said. “I’ll take this parking spot, right up here,” and he pulled the large vehicle in and around, moving it quietly into the back corner.

She asked, “Now what?” She watched as Charles pulled a handgun from the glove box. “Now we wait again,” he said.

“I don’t feel so good about my sister right now.”

“No,” he said, “neither do I. We’re trying to get a make on the vehicle she got into and to see if we can get an alert sent out on it.”

“I still don’t understand why she would have left to go with him in the first place.”

“She obviously knew him,” he said. “The question is, how well did she know him?”

“And how did he get her to leave?”

“I don’t know,” Charles said. “That’s something you might answer, but, for us, it’s hard to know. It was enough for her to walk out of the safety of my house though.”

“Who would know that she’d gone in there?”

“Somebody who was monitoring Kano’s and Garret’s calls or movements. Or she got a call and told them where she was.”

“But going to your place was all very secret.”

“True, but a lot of people