Blink: Phantom (Book 3)

02

After spending a year and a half as a Blink operative, Amber knew that when Darien was angry it was not smart to get in his way. So she felt more than a little sorry for the unfortunate port control officer who found himself face to face with the furious Blink squad leader. While he maintained an outward veneer of calm, Darien had a volatile temper sealed away inside, and every now and again he let it slip out.

When the signal had vanished they'd still flown to the last registered co-ordinates to see for themselves. What they found was a whole lot of empty space and some residual energy readings. Something had been there, but Amber couldn't formulate any explanation as to how an entire ship had simply disappeared. Instead, she watched and waited as her companion engaged in a frank exchange of views with the attendant. All around them the chaos of Marnill's primary space port continued on unheeded. A cacophony of shouting voices lay over everything like a blanket of noise.

"I have exactly no time to debate about this. A kid just got abducted because of you slack-draggers," Darien snarled. "So either you show me the planetary sensor logs or get me someone who can."

The man on the receiving end of his ire looked thoroughly uninspired by either course of action. His expression made it clear that he couldn't quite believe the teenager in front of him actually had the authority to ask this of him. But, after checking and rechecking Darien's ID pass the port officer had no choice but to swallow his pride and give in. A few minutes later another man arrived on the scene, an older officer with iron grey hair and a bristling moustache. He held a brief, hushed conversation with his subordinate, and then ushered the two Blink operatives to follow him.

Following in Darien's wake, she could almost feel the waves of anger beating off him. She knew it stemmed from his concern for their potential recruit, but that didn't take away the feeling of apprehension she always felt when her squad leader unleashed his rage. They were led through a series of dull metal corridors beyond the security doors of the main port processing station.

The passages still thronged with activity as men and women in grey overalls trooped past them, talking animatedly, some stopping to acknowledge their chaperone with curt nods and half salutes and others ignoring them completely. The officer accompanying them didn't seem to care either way. On they went, twisting through several other corridors that might have left he average person completely lost. Luckily one of the features that most heavily characterised those with Blink aptitude was an eidetic memory.

Eventually their tour through the warren ended at a large set of double doors with the words 'Operational Control' emblazoned above them in bold black type. The officer punched a code into the panel on the right side of the door which she quickly committed to memory – just in case. Then the doors opened to reveal the nerve centre of Marnill's port control.

Dozens of screens filled the far wall in an outward facing arc, and beyond them through an enormous bowed pane of reinforced glass the expanse of the main spaceport opened out before them.

The room overlooked the barely organised chaos of Marnill's main transit hub: a huge untidy mixing bowl of colonial life. A blizzard of ships came and went; people seethed back and forth aboard loading apparatus and lines of vehicles snaked their way through the mayhem. The rumble of engines penetrated even the thick glass of the operations room.

As the doors slid closed behind them the older officer at last turned to the operatives, looking them up and down with a critical eye.

"My man tells me you're from Blink," he said.

"That's right," Darien replied sharply. "And as I'm sure you're aware, he has already run our security passes three times each."

"He said as much." The man popped a small white capsule into his mouth and crunched down on it, chewing thoughtfully before continuing. "Name's Hank Canton, Port Sergeant, and I don't care who you are. You should be careful about where you go around making demands. Your friend here already violated and overrode half a dozen port controls when she took off to go speeding through the skies over this planet's capital city. If you were anyone else you'd be in a constabulary jail pod right now."