Expelled (Interplanetary Spy for Hire Book 1) Read online

  Contents

  Dedication

  Legal

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  CHAPTER FORTY

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

  CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

  CHAPTER FIFTY

  CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

  CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

  CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

  CHAPTER SIXTY

  CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

  CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

  EPILOGUE

  Merry Comms

  Author Notes - Ell

  Author Notes - MA

  Social Links

  Series List - Ell

  Series List - MA

  DEDICATION

  To everyone who ever dreamed of making a dent in the universe.

  — Ellie

  EXPELLED

  Interplanetary Spy for Hire 1

  JIT Beta Readers

  Robert Gould

  Diane Smith

  Robert Brooks

  Kimberley Beaulieu

  Jackey Hankard-Brodie

  Crystal Wren

  Brian Roberts

  Tonya Waldron

  Les Hagar

  Terry Hill

  If I missed anyone, please let me know!

  Editor

  Sasha Landau

  Expelled (this book) is a work of fiction.

  All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.

  This book Copyright © 2019 Ell Leigh Clarke and Michael Anderle

  Cover copyright © ProsperityQM LLC

  ProsperityQM LLC supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  ProsperityQM LLC

  1500 South Lamar Blvd, 1050

  Austin, TX 78704

  First US edition, 2019

  Version 1.01.01

  Interplanetary Spy for Hire (and what happens within / characters / situations / worlds) are copyright © 2019 by Ell Leigh Clarke and Michael Anderle

  CHAPTER ONE

  Avalon Space Station, Espionage Academy, Dean Ronald Geiger’s Office

  Jayne’s head nodded forward. Her eyelids drooped. The room gave way to darkness. Then the falling sensation of unwanted sleep brought her back. She checked the holo-clock hanging on the far wall by the dean’s portrait. An hour and a half had passed.

  The office oozed professional indifference and subtle intimidation. The black leather chair and ornate wooden desk stood in stark contrast to the featureless holographic blinds that echoed the endless vacuum of space beyond the forcefield-protected window. The aesthetic possibilities of the entire office had obviously been sacrificed for the illusion of austere efficiency. Except for the ceramic poodle figure on the dean’s desk. It was a personal touch that almost made Jayne empathize for the crusty fossil.

  Jayne had arrived ten minutes late for her meeting with the dean, but he neatly turned the tables on her. “He’s running a bit behind,” his secretary told her with a bright and telling smile. “Please go on in, and he’ll be with you very soon.”

  She puffed her cheeks and blew out an exasperated breath. She rested her head on the back of the chair. She noticed the ceiling fan.

  Oh, so that’s what the shit will hit.

  She silenced her chuckle when the door opened behind her. Ronald Geiger strolled in with a bulging folder under his arm The good ol’ dean glanced briefly at Jayne, his expressionless face as bland as the nondescript curtains.

  She assessed him furtively for signs of what might be coming.

  He sat in his grand leather chair. “Hello, Ms. Austin.”

  “Dean Geiger.”

  He held up the bulging folder. “So, I am sure you know why you are here.” He dropped the folder with a thud, rattling the ceramic poodle figurine on the corner of his desk.

  Jayne paused, gauging her superior. Thus far, he’d obscured his tells well but she’d play the game and wouldn’t make this easy for him. “You want to congratulate me on my long-standing success?”

  The dean regarded her cautiously. “No,” he replied. “It has nothing to do with your, admittedly, excellent marks. This concerns your conduct.” He probingly looked her over, assessing her response.

  Jayne admired his subtle knack for intimidation. She countered with a calm mask as convincing as his own.

  “Ms. Austin… We have protocols here. And we have them for good reason. When someone violates protocol, there are consequences.”

  Jayne’s eye twitched, an involuntary acknowledgement of the inevitable. This was the fourth time he’d had to speak personally to her. Never more than a rap on the knuckles. But her latest transgression was simply too high profile within the academy for him to let it slide.

  “I’m afraid that due to the severity of your latest infraction, we have to discharge you from-.”

  Jayne yawned. Her ace-up-the-sleeve power move. “Oh, Francois Casanova?”

  The dean nodded in confirmation.

  “I understand there are protocols for identifying, pursuing, and capturing double agents. However, I felt my duty, in the moment, required me to cast those protocols aside in the greater interest of the Academy.”

  He nodded again. “You were showing off.”

  Jayne slapped her knee. “Ah, so I’m being punished because I’m a little showy. I deserve that.”

  “You’re being punished because your reckless behavior not only endangered the reputation of this entire academy, but also yourself. And the safety of this federation. You were one midnight rendezvous away from-”

  This was where Jayne drew
the figurative line in the sand. Reprimand her for violating protocol, for harming the academy’s reputation, sure. Fine. Whatever. Criticize the decisions she makes between the sheets? That was no one’s business. She started where it would hurt most.

  “Tell me, how long had your best people been looking for this guy?”

  The dean’s lip quivered. “Well…”

  “Did your team have an image of him?”

  “There was, yes, a fairly comprehensive-“

  “Because I had put one together in an exercise designed to test my abilities in a controlled setting. How many cadets ran that scenario?”

  The dean stammered. He involuntarily pulled at his collar.

  “Were any of them able to solve one of your coldest most-wanted cases?”

  Enough was enough. Geiger slammed his open palm down on the table. The ceramic poodle rattled yet again. “The issue is the manner in which you were able to determine that he was the mole.”

  “What, because I recognized the mole by his cock based on an image some other agent had put into his file eight years ago?”

  “Yes, Ms. Austin. It is because, as you so eloquently put, you recognized his cock.”

  “The guy had a good looking cock. You would have recognized it, too.”

  Geiger did not want to honor that one with a response. Which suited Jayne just fine.

  “Tell me, Deanie. How many agents have you ordered to sleep with foreign intelligence officers for the very same purpose over the years?”

  “Well, I—”

  Jayne folded her arms pointedly and glared to silence her superior. “I don’t need a specific number. I merely want to establish the complete hypocrisy of this accusation.”

  “Young lady, you violated academy rules by fraternizing with one of your classmates. Regardless of whether he turned out to be a foreign operative or not, that protocol stands and must be enforced. In addition, you weren’t on a mission. You disobeyed direct orders from your superiors multiple times. You are not a spy. You are not an agent. You are a student. We cannot stand by and watch—”

  She cut him off again. “I saved this academy. I saved its reputation, and your job. In our field, the ends justify the means. That’s one of the first things we’re taught. So let’s get to the real reason for this meeting. Please.”

  “I’m making sincere attempts at transparency with you, Ms. Austin.”

  “You need a reason to remove me and make room for that wank-job Preston Johnston III, Esquire”

  “Esquire is an honorific for an attorney. Preston Johnston is not a—“

  “You know what I mean.”

  “The point, Ms. Austin, is—“ Geiger demanded.

  “The point is that Senator Wank-job wants me out so daddy’s little boy can take a shortcut to the top.”

  The dean shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Just because Preston’s father is a congressman doesn’t mean he controls everything around here,” he replied, lowering his gaze to his desk.

  She rolled her eyes. “Well, at least I know whose dick you have to suck to get ahead in this school,” she fumed.

  “That is totally inappropriate,” Geiger chastised, “and another reason why expulsion is the only answer. Insubordination and flippancy with a superior will not be tolerated.”

  Jayne tilted her head in an unspoken challenge.

  A blush rose in the man’s cheeks as he bristled. “Besides, that’s not the only issue we have with your conduct. As we discovered through his interrogation, it turns out you’re not very good at keeping secrets…” he gulped. “During sex.”

  “What?” Jayne fumed. “The only secret I told him was where I like to be—”

  “Enough!” He slammed his hand down on his desk, a performed punctuation mark. “I don’t need to know any more personal predilections.”

  “You would have had no idea he was a spy in the first place if it weren’t for me. The only reason I figured that out was because his cock was this far away from my right eye.” She spread her fingers suggestively.

  Jayne made the dean uncomfortable. Sure, someone inevitably argued this kind of ruling, but never this much. The girl had successfully run this entire meeting off the rails. Time to get back on course.

  Geiger exhaled slowly and retrieved a document from the folder.

  “Regarding the question of morality,” she challenged “I would think I passed easily.” She reached for the folder with results from her final exam. Dean Geiger yanked it away from her, gaping at her audacity.

  “You didn’t,” he countered. “You failed to kill the dog.”

  That sobering statement cut through Jayne’s anger enough to restore her composure. “There is nothing hard-ass about killing a puppy.”

  “This is not a matter of how hard you are supposed to be, Ms. Austin. It’s about being able to do what is necessary.”

  Jayne shook her head, her expression stony. “I rejected the idea immediately. The whole point of that exercise is that the mission ends in failure. Knowing that if I obeyed instructions and killed it anyway meant failure, I chose to do the right thing.”

  “No, Ms. Austin. The point of the final test is to see whether you can put the mission above your own personal emotions or not, regardless of the circumstances. As an operative, you would be in situations where you’re likely to form relationships and attachments. Being a good agent requires the ability to put the goals of the mission and your orders ahead of personal feelings and alliances. You did not kill the dog. You failed.”

  Jayne sat back in her chair. Her first retreat.

  The flush drained from Geiger’s cheeks. He could feel his blood pressure lowering. They had entered familiar waters again, and he was the shark. “With the level of performance you displayed, you would have wound up at a desk, anyway—which is fine. That’s an important role. Some might say the desk jockeys are our unsung heroes. However, I should and do note that I use the conditional tense because the fact remains. You’ve been expelled.”

  Jayne pushed upright and slammed her hands palms-down on the table. The poodle rattled toward the edge of the desk. Jayne leaned over the desk.

  “I’m the best spy this school’s ever seen. You’re ousting me because you can’t let Senator Wanksalot’s son get bested by a girl. You waste your time on inconsequential things, while the school you claim upholds such strict standards falls behind in the results the graduates are able to achieve for the planet! You’re not just screwing me over. You’re screwing over every student walking these corridors right now! All for one hack born with a silver spoon up his ass.”

  The dean simply leaned back. He would not let this meeting jump the tracks again. While the accusations had raised his ire, this wasn’t the first expulsion he had overseen, and it certainly wouldn’t be his last. Jayne wasn’t the kind of student who was silenced by her anger. No, she waxed eloquent, instead.

  “I understand your grievances.” He didn’t. He couldn’t have cared less. “But this decision is not personal for anyone involved. You violated school protocol and that’s that.”

  Jayne opened her mouth, clearly ready to launch into another tirade.

  “You have two options now,” Geiger said. It was time she felt what it was like to get cut off.

  Breathe, Jayne. Keep it together. Sit down. She sat down.

  “You can choose to remain in the academy as a secretary, where you will be responsible for management and communication and act as a point of information for the chair and other committee members.”

  Her mouth set into a tight line. The dean knew that neither her ego nor her skills were a fit for that kind of work. He had only mentioned it as a way to avoid a lawsuit.

  “Or,” he continued smoothly, retrieving the form he’d prepared for this stage of the conversation. “You can sign this form, and we return the remainder of your tuition to allow you to return to your home planet. You will remain part of the military, and you may or may not be eligible to claim benefits provided by th
e government.”

  Jayne bit her tongue. She didn’t want to go home in disgrace, but she most certainly didn’t want to be a fucking secretary.

  “So, what will it be?”

  Jayne gritted her teeth and struggled to contain the growl in her throat. She glanced down the lengthy, fine text of the agreement in front of her. Finally, she spoke.

  “I’m good. You know I’m good. And someday , you’ll need my help. You’ll ask me to do it for the love of the Federation. And I’ll tell the Federation to kiss my ass.”

  She scribbled a barely legible signature on the form. She stood up, and with a final steely glare, she turned on her heel and strode out. She slammed the door. She slammed it so hard the poodle finally fell of the desk and shattered.

  Geiger looked at the shards in defeat. She killed the dog after all. Just to spite him.

  The dean leaned heavily on the arm of his chair and took a deep, purifying breath. He opened the bottom desk drawer and pulled out a glass and a bottle of scotch – the good stuff, actual, vintage Earth scotch – and popped the cork out with a thlunk.

  The sound of the door opening startled him. He braced himself in the split second it took to look up.

  Fortunately, it was his secretary, Mrs. Noora Barcellos. “How did she take it?” she asked innocently.

  He merely squinted his eyes menacingly. Half the academy, no doubt, had heard the meeting.

  She noted the look. “Well, at least all the drama around her is finally over,” she consoled him.

  He poured his glass. “Somehow, I don’t think we’ve seen the last of her. What are the odds she’ll actually pack her bags and disappear into the night?” He gulped the scotch. In this moment, he wasn’t concerned with savoring a dwindling delicacy.

  The secretary shrugged. She wasn’t paid to consider those issues and hastily changed the subject. “By the way, the congressman is pleased that his son is at the top of the school now.” A mischievous glint sparked in her eyes as she handed him the latest round of messages. “I even hear there’s some additional funding coming our way.”

  “I really don’t want to talk about the congressman right now,” he replied drily.