Read The Orion Deception for Free Online

seat. She gave Heck a poke in the shoulder but he just snorted and continued to sleep.
    She glanced back at the man behind them but he did not seem to notice or care.
    Lainne attributed it all to nerves and put the well-dressed man out of her mind and glanced at the clear, paper-thin, glass tablets stuffed into the seat pocket in front of her. The first was covered in smudges from greasy fingers and she had to wipe the viewing area with a tablet cloth from the seat pocket. The label at the top of the tablet read:  Women's Interest.
    She tapped the button on the outside corner and the clear piece of glass flared to life, displaying a selection of hundreds of magazines to choose from. Nothing interested her very much and after returning the magazine tablet she saw something odd on the main display above the pilot's head. For a moment she thought it had displayed,  Jacksonville.  But when she looked again it displayed  Port of Tampa.
    Was it her imagination? She watched for a few moments and anxiously picked up another tablet, the display still showed  Port of Tampa.  When she found nothing of interest in the  Men's Interest  category, she returned it to the pocket and took out her holophone; but it didn't seem to work now.
    "Hey!" she said loudly, poking him in shoulder. An angry eye opened up and glared at her. "How come the phones don't work?"
    Heck slowly opened his other eye and very quietly said, "Because they are being jammed."
    "Jam-"
    "Shh," he interrupted. "This isn't an ordinary shuttle."
    "Then what is it?" she demanded in a harsh whisper. "Looks like any other commuter hopper I've ever been on."
    "The other passengers are probably government agents," he replied in a low voice. She knew now he had been feigning sleep all along. "They usually jam communication devices during flight."
    "Oh my God! What are we going to do?"
    "Nothing. They aren't on to us yet, but mind yourself. They look like US government agents, not Commonwealth types, and are probably riding the shuttle for another reason. The Commonwealth might ask US police to help them apprehend a suspect, but they won't call in any local or federal help in a man-hunt."
    "Oh no!" she exclaimed in a whisper, her eyes fearfully glancing back to the man she thought looked familiar. Just then the shuttle seemed to begin to descend.
    "What?" he asked in harsh whisper, losing patience with the woman's dramatics.
    "That man in the aisle seat behind us looks familiar."
    "What makes you say that?" he asked, a dangerous tone in his voice. Heck suddenly looked like a coiled spring, ready to leap into action.
    "I think he was the one who had been snooping around right before my brother disappeared."
    "Ok, anything else?"
    "Yes," she gulped. "A few moments ago, right before I noticed my phone wasn't working, the display above the pilot's head read  Jacksonville for just a moment, then it displayed Tampa again."
    Heck lay his head back on the seat rest in resignation and looked out the window at the world passing below.
    "What is it?"
    "They're on to us."

    "They are?" she asked in a slight panic, though she knew he spoke the truth. "My disguise is wearing off."
    "Mine too. I was hoping we'd be in Tampa by now. If what you say is true, they've figured us out. Damn." Heck appeared genuinely frustrated and let out a long sigh. "Ok. That means this shuttle is headed for the Commonwealth Aerospace Port in Jacksonville."
    "Why haven't they just arrested us? Why the charade?"
    "Because they respect my abilities too much." Lainne knew that Heck wasn't being arrogant; he was just speaking the truth. His reputation was in fact very well known.
    "So all of the passengers on this shuttle are Commonwealth agents?"
    "I don't know, maybe."
    "How did they know about us?"
    "Your phone," he said suddenly. "I should have had you trash that sooner. Too late now."
    "I can shut it down," she offered, fumbling for her phone.
    "Do it, but it won't help us right now."
    "What else can we