Remembering Ben’s former history as Charlie’s spy, Gregor felt a sudden surge of anger. “You’re going to continue denying it?”
“Seriously. I don’t know you—”
Gregor clamped his hands around Ben’s throat and squeezed with as much force as he could muster.
Spittle sprayed into Ben’s reddening face through the gaps in Gregor’s clenched rotten teeth. He dropped the candle to the dirt floor and pulled out the dagger.
This would have to be quick.
He didn’t want to get caught down here and needed to get back to the ludus with the new information—but he’d have enough time for a little fun.
Gregor thumped his fist against the ludus gate. A small hatch swung open, and Augustus’ spy appeared in the gap and led him through.
Augustus turned a black prism around in his hands and appeared deep in thought. “Did you do the deed? The guard said you have information for me?”
“No, the Jacksons were there. Talking with Hagellan. The freak was sitting on a damned throne.”
Augustus snorted. “That’s about right. Delusions of grandeur. Thought he’d rule the galaxy, you know? How little he truly knows.”
Gregor shrugged and started to tell him about what he had heard during the conversation, and what little information he could get out of that Ben lookalike.
“They talked about a jump gate?” Augustus said as he listened, all the while running his fingers over his little prism stone, presumably some good luck charm from Roman times.
“Something about a mission to blow up a jump gate in a repaired ship. The rest was just some bullshit about peace and cooperation.”
Augustus sat back in his chair. “You know what this is, Gregor? All this talk of other worlds and jump gates?”
“Why don’t you enlighten me?”
“It’s a trap. They’ll take the Jacksons up and drop them out of the sky. Revenge for their antics. They want every capable person out of the way so they can take me and my supporters out.”
“What do you want me to do now?”
“Hagellan still needs to die, but I need to decide on the right time. But it’ll be soon, Gregor, soon.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Denver reclined into the chair and sipped at the steaming mug of tea as Charlie paced back and forth across the living room of the cabin.
“What’s up?” Denver asked.
Charlie stopped and turned to face his son. His face taut with tension. “I just don’t trust Hagellan. Who the hell is he going to put in as his third choice? If it’s Augustus…”
“I don’t know, I just can’t see Hagellan taking him along. The guy’s a liability, from what you’ve been telling me. And it’s not like he’s going down well with the locals if what Ryan is saying is true.”
Charlie scratched at the straggly stubble on his chin. “That’s a fair point. But I hate having to have faith in these alien bastards. It’s such a risk to believe them like this.”
Denver stood and faced his father. “What’s the alternative? Disbelieve them, stay here, and then what? What if there is a chance that they’re telling the truth about this destroyer ship? Could you, or I, for that matter, live with ourselves knowing we had a chance to do something and didn’t take it?”
Smiling, Charlie shook his head. “You’re a good kid. You’ve grown a lot, you know, since I left. I think it did you good to be without me for a while.”
“I don’t know about that. I’d rather you hadn’t had to go.”
“Still, the time brought you closer to Layla and the others. Much better to have other people to talk to than your crazy old man.”
Denver laughed and sipped his tea. “You ain’t crazy. It’s this whole world that is.”
“Well, if Hagellan can be trusted, it seems we’ll be having the opportunity to try out a new world. And you know, I have to be honest, that does appeal to me. I’m intrigued to see what this other place is like, see exactly how the alien bastards live.”
“Will we even be able to breathe there?”
“They’ve got us breathing apparatus. The atmosphere isn’t too different to Earth,” Charlie said. “The croatoans aren’t dissimilar to us in regards to what kind of planets they can survive on. Apparently, all their planets are Earthlike to some degree or another.”
“That makes sense, I suppose. Want a brew?”
“Sure, thanks.”
Denver thought about the challenges they would face as he headed into the kitchen. Even if they could destroy this jump gate or whatever it was and stop the destroyer—and other ships—from coming to Earth, what of the gate world itself? They’d be trapped there with a destroyer, presumably full of croatoans, not to mention the aliens on the planet already. They’d likely be fugitives—even if Hagellan didn’t conspire to kill them after the deed was done.
Unless he killed Hagellan first.
And Baliska.
He’d talk with Mike about taking some other concealed weapons along for the ride. If he had the opportunity, he’d have to take it.
When Denver returned to the living room with a fresh mug of tea, Charlie approached the window and placed his palm over his eyes to block out the glare from the afternoon sun.
“What is it?” Denver asked.