Page 53 of House Divided
Carefully hidden behind one of the planet’s two moons, Madeline and the others looked at Enoch. Finally, Jack announced, “We’ll see you all in hell?”
“Always wanted to say that,” replied Enoch, in a tone of deep satisfaction. “I hope it sounded suitably dramatic.”
“You’ve a real flair for it,” laughed Madeline, nudging him playfully. “I could almost believe that you were on theJericho, ending your life in a blaze of vengeful glory.”
“Too much to live for, now,” he replied, gazing into Madeline’s eyes.
“Ew! Not in front of your daughter!” protested Aria, to general laughter.
“Nicely done,” observed Jack, nodding. “They have no way to tell that the Jericho has no crew and is being piloted remotely. They’ve abandoned their scanners, and everybody’s in an emergency pod, getting the hell out.”
Quinn frowned. “So how do we tell which pod holds Johnathan Marx?”
“Leave that to the master of all the latest scanning technology, my dear!” replied Giles in a cocky tone, tapping away rapidly at a keyboard. Quinn scowled at the “my dear,” but let it pass.
“How can you tell?” asked Madeline curiously.
“This scanner is designed to detect the biggest asshole in the system,” replied Giles. Enoch emitted a short bark of laughter. “But seriously, execs at your father’s level have a pretty high-powered distress chip, to be activated in emergencies only. And since this is a clear emergency…” He paused as kept typing then made a satisfied noise, “…and there he is, beeping away as if his life depended on it.”
“Quinn, set theMaracaiboon an intercept course to pick up the emergency pod that Giles has located,” ordered Jack.
“Aye-aye, Captain,” replied Quinn.
“It’s a good thing we haven’t had the time to dismantle the Faraday Cage we built for Aria,” said Jack, rubbing his hands with satisfaction. “That’s going to come in pretty handy very soon.”
“So that’s how you did it!” marveled Enoch. “I wondered how you were able to block the signal from Aria’s chip so completely. You used a Faraday Cage!”
“Still wasn’t good enough,” said Jack ruefully.
“One blip in the Tarma system was all we needed,” replied Enoch, putting a companionable hand on Jack’s shoulder. “You very nearly pulled it off. And I was searching very intently.”
Jack glanced over at Madeline, who seemed to be staring into empty space. “You all right, Mads?” he asked.
For a moment, it appeared that she had not heard him, then she turned and looked at her brother, and next to him, the man that she had fallen in love with. “I’m just trying to get myself ready for what comes next.”
***
The capture of the pod went off without a hitch. A squad of Enoch’s troopers escorted a ruffled and confused Johnathan Marx to the makeshift Faraday Cage quarters that Jack had constructed during the time he had been trying to hide Aria from enemies unknown. Madeline and Jack watched the transfer take place via camera. Once they had their father securely stowed in the cage, and Giles confirmed that the executive’s distress signal was blocked, Jack ordered theMaracaiboto warp out of system, effectively removing Johnathan Marx from the sight or detection of anyone trying to find him.
After the warp jump, Madeline, Enoch, Jack, and Aria sat at the meeting table in Jack and Aria’s quarters.
“This time, there’s booze if you want it,” said Jack. Madeline went to the sideboard and poured herself a glass then sat down and took a stiff belt of whiskey.
“I don’t know if I can do it,” she confessed. “He’s my father. I mean, I know he’s your father, too, Jack, obviously, but you know what I mean.”
“I don’t blame you, Mads,” said Jack. “He hasn’t talked to me for years, disavowed me, disinherited me, and I despise him, but still. Mind you, he hasn’t tried to have me killed. Unlike you.”
“Even then, it wasn’t as if it was personal, you know?” she responded. “My death was simply a likely outcome of his plans. It wasn’t necessarily malicious. I was just in the way.”
“That’s the problem,” interjected Aria suddenly. The siblings turned to look at her. “You both are still, somehow, expecting him to act like a father. He isn’t one, not really. It’s like the man Ithoughtwas my father, Comber Gryffin. He deliberately used his children as decoys to fool pirates and enemies, remember? He put all of us at risk, for the sake of his own riches. That’s not what a father does. That’s what a soulless monster does.”
Enoch extended a hand to his daughter, and she clasped it tightly. “My real father tore through the galaxy searching for me,” Aria continued. “He didn’t rest until he had found me. When danger threatened, he hid me with someone he thought he could trust, and even then, maintained a way to keep an eye on me. Comber Gryffin callously put me at risk, and Johnathan Marx was even more casual with your life. A real father doesn’t do that. Trust me, he’s forfeited the right to call himself your dad.”
“I agree with absolutely everything you’ve said,” replied Madeline. She spread her hands helplessly. “But I don’t think I can kill a man in cold blood.”
“That’s all right,” observed Enoch, low and calm. “That’s what I’m here for.”
“Enoch, no,” pressed Madeline, shaking her head. “I don’t want another death on your conscience.”
