AMP Blitzkrieg by Stephen Arseneault Page A

the old pilots, Kurt Daniels, spoke up, "I tell you, I have to beg that guy for work now. Seems he has been purchasing ships of his own and enlisting young pilots for a pittance to fly them. They don't care about the pay and they certainly don't care about us. And we can't pick up any stray deals because his delivery times are somehow much shorter than ours. I don't know how, but his crews are getting out there and back in record time."
    The conversation suddenly put a thought in my head. I wondered if there would be a way to slow down a ship using negative ions. I would make the suggestion to Gy and Rita, asking if something could be attached to a ship or perhaps a beam fired from a distance. Michael Felix was expanding his use of the optimized ion engine and it would only be a matter of time before the knowledge of how it worked leaked out. Loose credits had a way of opening people’s mouths.
    There was also the possibility of obtaining his copy of the document for the ion engine and then hiring away all of the people he had working for him that knew how it worked. It would take a coordinated effort to snatch the tech back from him, especially since it now flew in four Messenger ships. I would ask the Colonel if any of his men had prior experience in the intelligence service, if so, they would be starting a new task upon my return.
    The late afternoon hours soon turned to evening. As a last effort to see Ashley Elizabeth I made my way to the SCore office that Doris had mentioned that Ashley frequented. I sat on a bench in the bustling hallway and the two boys I had previously hired to drop off a message came up and sat on the bench next to me.
    "Hey, I remember you. You gave us five credits for dropping a message in there." I looked at the kid and shook my head, "Sorry kid, you must have me confused. I'm not from around here." The kid grinned and shook his own head, "No, you are him. I don't forget a face... say, you wouldn't have any more jobs for us would you? I'm 12 and he's 11 and it's tough to find anyone who needs something done around here."
    "We get out of school at 4PM and our moms work, so we got nothing to do until they get home at 8PM." I looked the kid in the eye, "Are you supposed to be out here? Isn't there some after school thing you can do? A sport or a club? I bet your parents don't know you are out of the apartment."
    The younger of the two had a worried look on his face, I continued, "Don't worry kid. I'm not here to rat you out. I tell you what. I have another job for you. There's a blonde that works in the SCore office over there. How about you two go in and see if she is in there anywhere. Nose around; tell them you are looking for your Aunt and that she is a tall blonde and very pretty. If you see her or they point her out just say "That's not her." and walk out."
    "When you come out the door, point down the hall that way if she was in there or down this way if she was not. And don't look at me, just look down the hall." The older kid held out his credit store, "What's in it for us?" I smiled as I loaded 20 credits onto it; his eyes got big as did his grin. He grabbed his friend by the shoulder and they both ran towards the SCore office.
    Several minutes passed with no sign of the kids, I began to get nervous. The younger kid then came bolting out the door straight into a passerby. He was knocked sprawling onto the floor along with the passerby's packages. The older kid then came out behind him and pulled him to his feet. He glanced my way and then pointed down the hall in the other direction. The two boys then ran in that direction.
    Seconds after the commotion, Ashley Elizabeth emerged from the office looking in their direction. She questioned the man they had run into who was collecting the packages that had been knocked from his hands. He had nothing to offer. She then looked back down the hall with her hands on her hips before turning to go back into the office. I sat on the bench for another