Rebirth by Philip R Benge
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It was early afternoon of the 12th of January back on Earth, when Formby had sent a message to the leader of the colonists, Alice Tarraway, to reiterate to her their suspicions about the possibility that two alien enemy agents had boarded the Constellation disguised as two of her colonists. Tom Parkinson had already informed her that two government agents would be boarding the ship when it reached Ganymede in the early hours of the 13th, and why. Formby now requested that she gather the following information, transmit a copy to him on Earth, and give another copy to the two agents after they had boarded her ship. The information he required was, which colonists boarded the starship during the hours from midnight on the 10th/11th January up until it left the space dock?
Jones had not had any luck with Wallace`s neighbours, but both men had expected that. One bit of luck that Formby did have was from a woman who worked for the local Wells Fargo office. Wells Fargo had been asked for a copy of all transmissions to the planet Aldebra, but there was only the one, and that was from the local office in their city. The woman behind the desk at Wells Fargo even remembered the man who sent off the transmission to Aldebra, she even got the chump on film. When Formby read the message and decoded it with the cypher that he had found in Wallace`s suitcase, he quickly contacted Tom Parkinson and informed him of the contents of the message.
"Tom according to the message something was indeed being despatched on the starship Constellation, and it is due to be collected from the planet Persephone. This chap Tirana is obviously unaware that we are already onto the Aldebran connection to the robbery and murder at the laboratory, or he would never have sent the message directly to Aldebra from Earth, even if it was in code."
"That is brilliant work Joe, I will tell the President, oh and don`t worry I will tell him it was you that came up with it."
"Thanks Tom, I never thought otherwise, I will get back to you should we come up with anything more." The photograph of the spy had been instantly transmitted around the world, but it was again in their fair city that the lead came.
"Like I told the young constable, this fellow has been staying here for two weeks now, he paid me in advance for a whole month; well I always insist on money up front, you know one can`t be too careful these days. Now where was I, Oh yeah as I was saying he is quiet, and polite, oh and he had a couple of friends round, it is only the second time that he has had any visitors? These ones came round on the 11th, just stayed for a moment and then the three of them left together. He is not in now though, went out about ten this morning and hasn`t got back yet." The landlady finally ran out of breath allowing Formby to jump in ahead of her.
"Well Mrs Maritz, you have been very helpful to us, remember not to let on to him about our interest in him if he returns, just contact me, here is my card, it`s got my phone number printed on it." Formby said, handing over his card. "Now if you will just show me and my colleague up to his room so we can look around."
"Well I suppose it will be all right, seeing as how you are, FISD, giving the popular way of saying his department`s name, come on then, he`s on the third floor. What`s he done then to have your lot on to him, he`s not a sex criminal is he, cause I don`t want to wake up with him bothering me, or is he one of them psycho`s. I want protection if he is either of those two, I don`t want to wake up with my throat slit."
Formby assured Mrs Maritz that he could guarantee that this would not happen.
"I can`t say what he`s done Mrs Maritz, except that it`s an Earth security matter."
Mrs Maritz looked a little disappointed when she was assured that her body would be safe from Mr Tirana.
The three of them climbed the stairs and Mrs Maritz stopped before the door of room number 3A. She opened the door to the room and stood back to allow the two agents to enter, before she tentatively looked into the room, hoping Formby supposed, to see a dead Mr Tirana, but it was empty of bodies, so she was disappointed once again.
"Do you know whether Mr Tirana has a car, Mrs Maritz?" Jones asked, the first time that he had spoken since the two agents had arrived, and it seemed to throw Mrs Maritz off balance for a moment. She felt now as if she were being interrogated, what with both agents now asking questions.
"Well I don`t know young man, I didn`t see one, but there is a car park along the way and he could leave it there, but I wouldn`t know things like that, would I?" Mrs Maritz answered defensively.
Formby decided now that they had all that Mrs Maritz was likely to be able to give them.
"Thank you Mrs Maritz we`ll let you know when we leave." With this, he shut the door on her and turned to inspect the room.
"Well Jones, let`s give the room the once over, if our boy comes back our lads will soon let us know, so let`s be tidy and leave the room how we would like to find it."
Jones had also brought along with them a small vacuum cleaner, which they hoped, would provide them with traces of Spartan B when the dust was inspected by the Forensic laboratory back at the office. Formby inspected the room; it was quite small with a small wardrobe, a tiny bed, a tatty chest of drawers and a rickety old wooden chair, all that had seen better days and they just about filled the room. In the wardrobe Formby found four wire hangers and two shirts, the chest of drawers had two pairs of underpants in one of the drawers along with two pairs of socks, the rest were empty, and there was an empty suitcase on top of the wardrobe. Tirana must sleep either in the raw or his underwear, for there were no pyjamas in the room and the only toiletries were a safety razor, a toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste. Tirana travelled light, which meant he did not have to fret about leaving valuables behind if he decided to do a flit. This information was all that they took away with them, for there was nothing else to find.
"Jones have someone go along to that car park Mrs Maritz mentioned and discreetly show them Tirana`s picture, maybe he does park his car there as the good lady suggests."
"Right oh Sir, I`ll get Morrison on to it" Jones immediately took out his phone and asked Morrison to do just that.