Deep Space Endeavor 3 Death Match by Ron Francis

she will be out of action for a while. Three full weeks of bed rest, followed by at least a month of light movement. No work for at least three months.”
    Nina, still trying to hold it together, commented, “That’s going to be really hard for her. We’ll keep her here for three weeks, and then we’ll move her to a facility on Polisia. Thank you, Doctor, I don’t know what I would have done if she had died. If you ever need anything, you call me. Do you understand?”
    “That’s very kind of you, Mrs. Romanov, but I was just doing my job. I am serious about the bed rest. If she reopens those internal injuries, she’s going to be in bad shape.”
    “I’ll sedate her if need be, thank you again, Doctor.” As the doctor took his leave, Nina embraced Serge and Manny, thankful her cousin was still alive. She turned to Manny and said, “You saved my cousin’s life, Manny. I’m going to make sure both she and Jesse know it.”
    “I’m just happy she made it. Now, it’s going to be a long road for her to get back to normal.” The relief in his eyes was evident and Nina realized that he had been blaming himself for not getting to her in time. She just hugged him with a mixture of relief and gratitude in her eyes.
    “I’m serious, Manny, she’s gonna know it was you who saved her, and don’t you dare blame yourself for this. You had no control over when you received the information and you did your best, which, by the way, was good enough.” Serge patted him on the back as Nina spoke and he smiled slightly knowing that they didn’t blame him. Now, he only needed to stop blaming himself.
     
    ______
     
     
    Jason was so angry, how could anyone want to kill Ariel? She had never even spoke out against any of these Enclave people. She was a good person, and she was Jesse’s kid cousin. That was probably it. The police had gotten nowhere with identifying the assassin, so he thought he might try to get an ID through other channels. He tried to hide his foul mood as a large Italian man answered his transmission. Carmine was a bear of a man. Even on the little screen he looked big. He was starting to show a little gut, but he still had the largest arms Jason had ever seen. “Carmine, how’s it going?” Jason greeted.
    “What do you want, hacker?” Carmine smiled, he had been calling Jason that from the first moment they had ever met.
     
    Thirteen years earlier…
     
    Jason knew he was in trouble, how could I have been so stupid ? Carmine Sangia had put a huge price on his head. He had ripped off the wrong man. He thought it was going to be an easy score, until he realized his mark was well connected in the underworld. Now, that well-connected man wanted him dead. There was only one person he could think of that might be able to help him. A guy that used to stick up for him in secondary school. He had just made it back to Earth from some Special Forces mission. Maybe he could defend him one last time. He sent a message off to Sergeant Jesse Marcos, hoping he would remember the kid he used to help out. He was surprised when Jesse agreed to meet up with him.
    “So, you hacked this local gangster’s accounts and took some money from him. Now he wants you dead. Is that all that’s going on here?” Jesse asked with no judgment in his voice. “I need to know the whole scenario in order to help you work out a solution.”
    “Yeah, that’s pretty much it.” Jason agreed.
    “Why him? Out of all the people you could have hacked, why this guy?”
    “I don’t know, probably because he’s a muscle head like the guys that used to pick on me. Plus he had enough that I didn’t think he’d miss it.”
    “You know you’re gonna have to give it all back, plus some if there’s any chance for you to survive this, right?”
    “Yeah, I figured.”
    “Alright, let me see what I can do. Go stay at my house until I call for you or get back home. No one will think to look for you there. I’m gonna go meet this Carmine