"What do you mean, you don't know?" Denton yelled. Passengers around glanced his way and then picked up their pace. Leah put a hand on his arm and gave Denton a look. Denton sighed and shook his head.

"Tanner, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell. We just can't afford to lose him now."

There was a long silence before Tanner spoke up again. "I understand. To be fair, I didn't say I've lost him, just that I don't know where he is."

Denton felt his blood start boiling again.

"What's the difference?" he snapped while he opened and closed his fists repeatedly as he resisted the urge to punch the wall next to him.

"I am certain he didn't pass through the second set of cameras. Which means, he must be within the arrival platform area."

"That is true," Denton admitted and scanned the rectangular shuttle arrival area. "If he didn't cross the bridge, he's got to be on the platform."

Passengers came and went while others patiently waited for their turn to board. Those that had just arrived headed straight for the raised walking bridge that led away from the platform. Carter was nowhere to be seen. He wasn't among those seated in the neat rows of chairs placed throughout the arrival area.

"Carter is somewhere close, he hasn't passed across the bridge into the general passenger terminal yet," Denton repeated to Leah.

"How about that door over there?" Leah said immediately and pointed towards the far side of the platform, by the front of the shuttle. "Could he have disappeared through there?"

"I'm not seeing a door," Denton said as he reached to see above the crowd.

"It's by the railing, on the left. You can barely see it. It blends in with the wall."

At first, Denton just saw a white wall with a stripe painted horizontally across it. There was no door there. 

"I don't see it-wait, wait, no, there it is," Denton said as he noticed the rectangular shape, barely visible. How did she see that? "Good catch. Let's check it out," Denton said and walked over towards the closed door. 

"Tanner, where does the door on the forward end of the platform lead to."

"Give me a minute while I pull up the schematics."

The outline of the door became easier to distinguish from the wall as they came closer. Denton wasn't surprised he had missed it, partially hidden by a potted bush and a garbage can as it was. On the other hand, he wasn't sure what to think about Leah's discovery of it. She was obviously very capable, a fact that no longer should surprise him. Not after everything they had been through. So why did it? He kept missing things, and she kept picking up the pieces. He shook his head and rubbed his forehead. Was he losing his mind? He forced the thought out of his mind and shifted his attention to the door.

"How do we open this thing?" he mumbled to himself as he ran his hand around the edges of the door. A square lit up about midway down the door when his hand passed over it. "Ah, here we go. Let's see if we can get this thing open." Denton put his whole hand into the square and waited. The light came back on, flashed white for a moment and then turned red.

"Oh, come on, open up!"

"How about your badge?" Leah said.

Denton looked at Leah and then back at the square on the wall. "That's a palm reader," he said as he put his badge up against the square on the wall. "I've seen thousands of these primitive things around and..." He was cut short when the square lit up green, and the door slid open. Leah smiled and entered through the open doorway while Denton scrambled to find a way to gracefully recover.

"I have heard that some of them are more advanced these days," he shouted after Leah and then followed her through the door. It closed quietly behind them, and they found themselves on a rectangular metal grated platform, barely large enough for the two of them. Recessed lights along the wall illuminated the surroundings with a pale, yellow light, revealing a shaft that stretched into the darkness both above and below them. A ladder dotted with lights at regular intervals descended into the dark abyss of the shaft.

"So, Tanner, I could use your help here. Where are we and where does this take us?"

"It's a cooling shaft, primarily for air circulation. There should be a ladder that takes you down about twenty feet. There's another access door there that takes you directly into the general passenger terminal."

"The perfect escape route if you don't want to be seen."

"Except one little detail."

Denton rolled his eyes and sighed. "Ok, what did I miss this time?"

"Just the fact that to access your location, Carter would have had to have the proper access. The door isn't open to the public."

"Couldn't he have stolen credentials?"

"Unlikely. Carter has been in his apartment since he arrived."

"It doesn't matter though, does it, Tanner? He clearly wasn't on the walking bridge to the rest of the terminal, which leaves this as the only other places he could have gone."

"Unless he disguised himself again."

Denton hadn't thought of that. In fact, Denton couldn't believe he hadn't thought of that. It was so elementary, such an easy thing to check for. As much as he hated to admit it, Tanner was right. Carter easily could have taken off an outer layer or put on another one to blend in with the rest of the crowd. If he did it in the shuttle, any cameras looking for him likely would have missed him anyway. Of course, the shuttle had already departed to the next station, so there was no way for them to confirm his suspicion. 

Denton gritted his teeth and let out a grunt while his hands squeezed the railing of the platform. He was always a step behind, and Carter always seemed a step ahead. How was that even possible? Was there a leak somewhere? Was someone trying to set them up? A chill ran down his spine at the very thought. They had to be extra careful going forward.

"Ok, Leah, we'll need to split up, just in case he managed to blend in with the other passengers. I'll meet you immediately below the bridge, by the door into the shaft. Go across the passenger bridge from the arrivals and then down the ramp to the main terminal. I'll meet you there."

Leah nodded. "Be careful," she said, put her hand on his arm with a concerned look that held his gaze longer than he expected and then exited the shaft the same way they had entered.

Denton's eyes lingered on the door until it shut close and then sighed. He was grateful Leah was there. There was no doubt he couldn't be in two places at once, and four eyes were always better than two. Tanner might argue otherwise, but in this case, Denton wasn't about to ask.

"Tanner, heading down," Denton said, walked over to the ladder that extended up through the floor of the platform and began his descent. He made it a few rungs down before he stopped and glanced over his shoulder into the dimly lit darkness below. His head started to spin, and he felt strangely out of balance. The ladder and the shaft felt like it slowly was tipping over on top of him, pushing him off of the ladder and into the abyss below. His heart raced as he closed his eyes and pulled himself close to the ladder and held on as if his life depended on it.

"Are you ok, Denton? I hear some heavy breathing, and your vitals are all over the place," Tanner said.

"I'm-I'm ok," Denton managed to squeeze out between breaths.

"Are you sure? Are you making progress towards the door?"

Denton forced himself not to look down and instead let his mind wander to happier places as he released his iron grip and continued down it, one step at a time.

"I said, I'm fine," he said as he imagined himself climbing down a set of stairs to one of the beaches on Proxima b, allowing the constant draft of the shaft become the cool breeze blowing in from the ocean, the squeaking of the ladder seagulls circling aloft looking for leftovers. Not until he set foot on the platform below did he open his eyes and breathe a sigh of relief.

"Denton, Leah has located Carter," Tanner said, urgency in his voice.

"She what?"

"She's chasing him through the terminal right now."

Denton took the few steps to the door that led out of the shaft and found himself among passengers going to their respective destinations within the main terminal.

"Which way?

"Towards departures."

"Which ones? Orbit or surface."

"Sorry. Surface."

Denton muttered under his breath as he took off running through the terminal towards the surface departures. He knew that orbital and surface platforms were on the opposite side of the circular terminal, the departure and arrival platforms accessible a level above the terminal floor. Since the center of the terminal contained shops, restaurant, and various administrative offices, to get to the surface departures he had to follow the circular outskirts of the terminal to the other side, completing a half-circle, then ascend the ramp to the floor above and cross over the bridge to the actual platform.

"When is-when is the next departure?" he forced out between breaths as his legs and arms propelled him forward.

"It depends.  Multiple shuttles are departing in the next thirty minutes, heading to vastly different areas on Proxima b."

"He'll be on the next one, whichever it is. Which one leaves first?"

"The Twilight Dawn will close its boarding door in the next few minutes."

"That's the one. What's the platform?" Denton breathed as he squeezed between a group of businessmen that had decided that taking up as much space in the middle of his path was a great idea.

"It's not a platform. The surface shuttles have proper gates, Denton. Once the door close, there's is no way to access the ships."

As Denton shouted apologies for disturbing a group of mothers and their toddlers, he knew Tanner was right. The trip to the surface was one he had done many time himself. The closed door was both a safety and security precaution. If Carter made it onto a shuttle, they couldn't get to him before the shuttle landed at its destination.

"Where is Leah?" Denton whispered between breaths as approached the surface section of the terminal. His pace had slowed considerably.

"She's twenty yards behind Carter, just now crossing the bridge."

Denton looked up just in time to see Leah sprint across the bridge.

"Is she going to make it?"

"Unknown. The doors are closing as we speak."

"She doesn't have a ticket," Denton blurted out as he jogged up the ramp to the upper floor, breathing heavily.

"She doesn't need one."

"Of course she does. Every passenger needs a ticket. I should know."

"She was issued temporary credentials when she was assigned to help with the case. That is sufficient for her to be let onto the shuttle."

Denton turned onto the bridge leading across to the gates just as the door closed, a red light flashing above the door. He slowed down to a quick walk and stopped just short of the gate, bent over, breathing heavily. Leah was nowhere to be seen.

"Did she make it on?"

"Affirmative," Tanner replied. "I can confirm her credentials were scanned as she passed through the gate, thereby not setting off any alarms."

"And there's no way to get to her and Carter?" Denton said as he walked over to one of the observation windows with a clear view of the shuttle.

"The next stop is Proxima b."

"Fantastic," he muttered.

"At least she made it on. Carter can be detained and turned over to the authorities upon arrival."

"No, we don't want to do that, Tanner."

"Why not?"

"If he can lead us to Jarrell, it's better if we follow him. Can you get in touch with the captain of the shuttle?"

"The shuttles don't have captains, Denton, nor a proper navigational crew. They're all automated."

"You can't be serious."

"Why wouldn't I be? You didn't know this, and you've traveled on these shuttles how many times?"

"So," Denton said and ignored Tanner's question. He straightened up and walked over to the observation window, "Leah is on board the Twilight Dawn, in pursuit of our prime suspect and you're saying we've got no way to let her know what we need to do."

"Something like that, yes."

"And she's got no backup. She's all on her own."

"She seems very capable."

"Ok, so tell me this, Tanner. How can I beat Carter and Leah to the surface?"

~~~

Denton's got a problem. His suspect and his partner are on a ship on their way to Earth. He's stuck on a space station without any way of knowing what's going on. Can he make it to the surface of Proxima b before the Twilight Dawn and its precious cargo?

As always, your vote and your comments mean the world to me and I'd love to have both!