Ozzy almost snapped at her comment. It wasn’t but hours ago that she was dead set against the idea.
“Now that the Dunrakee are here, we don’t have time to dig our way there. I’m going to see Jonas, secure a craft, and fly our asses to Olympus Mons.” He gave Jozi an ominous stare. “If that’s alright with you.”
He didn’t wait for her reply. He turned the Miner around and tunneled toward Tagus Valles.
18
Tagus Valles, Mars
After a few hours of driving the Miner, they finally found themselves underneath Tagus Valles’ domed city.
Jozi monitored the holodisplay’s radar. “A small Dunrakee force is heading this way.” A cruiser and a squad of starfighters were in the air.
Ozzy put up a thumb. “Perfect,” he said, being as sarcastic as possible. This was the last thing they needed. “Are we directly under Jonas’s compound?”
Jozi nodded. “Heading up?”
Ozzy took a deep breath, hoping this worked. “Yes, heading up.”
He grabbed the controls and steered, changing the Miner’s direction. It pivoted and rotated, whining as it did so, moaning and shaking back and forth.
The drills spun, cracking through rock and soil. The Miner moved, heading in a vertical path on a slight grade.
Ozzy turned on the com line, patching into Jonas’s com channel.
Jonas answered, a scowl on his red face. He was holding a sandwich and had visible crumbs on his lips.
A vein pulsed on his forehead. Apparently, he wasn’t happy he was being bothered on his private com channel. When he realized who it was, his face lit up.
“Ozzy? Do you have my Ark?”
Ozzy ignored his question. “We’re below you. I’ll be up there in a minute.”
Jonas dropped his sandwich on a plate and stood, glancing out a window. “You’re coming from below? I don’t see you.” He was clearly confused.
Ozzy looked at the holographic map on his display. They were almost to the surface, coming at a ninety-degree angle. They’d be tearing up Jonas’s giant lawn in a matter of seconds. “Almost to the surface.”
“What do you mean?” Jonas glanced out of his window again, pushing away a curtain. “What surface?” Jonas’s desk vibrated. “Are you—”
The edge of the drill poked through the ground, grinding soft dirt and grass and throwing it to the side like it was soft snow.
The screen blipped off, and the Miner lurched forward, bouncing over a lip in the tunnel and rolling onto the lawn.
Ozzy unstrapped his belt and unclipped his helmet, dropping it to the floor. Before he hopped out of the Miner, he touched the capsule in his satchel to make sure it was still secure.
The grass was full of divot holes from explosions that littered the compound during Jonas’s and Wildly’s earlier little tangle.
Most of the trees surrounding the place were charred, sending off a subtle ashen and woodsy smell.
Jozi switched the Miner off. She jumped through the open doorway and onto the grass, following Ozzy.
Jonas stepped out of his mansion. His gut jiggled as he walked toward them. He pulled a napkin from his collar, crinkled it into a ball, and tossed it on the ground. “What happened to the brand new mole digger I bought you?”
Ozzy looked away for a moment. “Let’s just say it had some complications.”
Jonas frowned but then extended his hand. “Doesn’t matter. You have my Ark?”
Ozzy took his hand, shaking it quickly. “Nope. We had a run in.”
Jonas pursed his lips and let go of Ozzy’s hand. “I paid you to get the Ark, Ozzy.” His face flushed red, and his eyes narrowed.
“And I will.” Ozzy glanced at the graviton shield doming the city. “The Dunrakee are on their way as we speak.”
Jonas shook his head. “Nice try. They aren’t arriving for a few more weeks.”
Jozi stepped next to Ozzy. “Check your black market feed. We have proof that an assassin fleet is here right now.”
Jonas brought his wrist to his mouth. “Sunny, pull up the BM feed. Tell me what you see.” He pressed his fingers on his ear mic, listening to Sunny’s reply. He nodded a few times, his posture slowly drooping at every nod. He slapped his hands together. “Mars’s crack,” he swore. “Assemble the militia. Let the other syndicates know. It’s war.”
Jonas turned, walking hastily back to his house.
“Jonas,” said Ozzy, following him.
Jonas threw his hand up. “Can’t talk now.”
“I can get you that Ark to defeat these bubble-heads.”
Jonas stopped as he reached the door and spun on his heels. “Right.” He tipped his head toward the Flying Miner. “Get going then.”
“Listen, Jonas. You’re going to laugh. I need more money.”
Jozi tugged on Ozzy’s EVA sleeve. “What are you doing?”
Jonas brought his hand up, palm out. “You see this?”
Ozzy nodded.
Jonas swung his hand hard, slapping it across Ozzy’s cheek. Ozzy bent over, holding his face.
“Don’t ask me for any more money until you retrieve that Ark, Ozzy.”
“I need a ship with a mole digger then.”
Jonas opened his door, walked in, and slammed it in Ozzy’s face.
“Well, shit.” Ozzy massaged his cheek.
Jozi stood on the lawn, her hands on her hips. “Is money that important? You could have asked him for a ship like I thought you were going to do.”
“We need both.” He held his index finger up. “One to get there, and…” he held up another finger, “one to dig into the mountain.” He knocked on the door. “Jonas, we need a ship and a mole digger to get the Ark.”
“Go away. I’m busy.”
“Jonas, come on.”
The door opened and out came a few of Jonas’s guards. They closed the door quietly and were holding photon rifles, planting themselves in front of the entryway.
Ozzy got the hint and spun on his heels, walking back toward the Miner.
“How much money do you have in your auric wallet?” Jozi asked.
“Twelve and a half million and some change.”
She eyed the Flying Miner like she would be tested on the thing. “We need extra boosters and fresh energy cells to get us quickly to Olympus Mons, correct?”
Ozzy nodded.
She grinned, pointing at a hovercar in Jonas’s driveway. “I have a plan.”
19
Tagus Valles, Mars
“This is your plan?” Ozzy should have known. Anything dealing with Jozi would have to go the legal way.
They stood in line at a local parts warehouse.
“You want an extra booster, and we can get it here.”
“This is going to cost me.” He pulled out his auric wallet, not wanting to part with anymore funds.
“It will not cost you much.”
People stood around, shuffling their feet and sighing their impatience. Pallet jacks and forklifts moved throughout the warehouse, pulling engine and thruster parts from the large shelves.
None of them knew a small group of Dunrakee starfighters were on their way. The less they knew, the better.
Clangs and pings reverberated throughout the structure, reminding Ozzy of his old days back at the factory with his brother when they were teenagers—before college and family life took over and before the High Judge sent him on his crooked life of forbidden archaeology digs.
“Next,” called a woman at the cashier’s counter. She had on glasses and looked past them like they were a huge inconvenience, similar to the way she looked at the customer before them.
Ozzy leaned forward, pressing his hands on the counter.
“What do you need, sir?”
“H-3 Boosters, military grade.” He feigned a smile.
“We don’t have any Hover-3 Boosters. We have the next step up, the H-5 Renegade Boosters, sir.” Her voice whined like the Flying Miner’s gears.
That would co
st him a pretty auric, and he didn’t have any auric he wanted to part with in the first place. But he was in a hurry so he’d negotiate.
Jozi poked him in the ribs, whispering, “It’s for humanity.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He held up his auric wallet. “I’ll take one. I’ll need it delivered and attached to my craft.”
“That will cost you more.”
Ozzy blinked his disappointment. “I figured. How long will it take your boys to hook it up?”
“A few hours, sir.”
Ozzy leaned in closer. “We don’t have a few hours.” The Dunrakee would be here in less than an hour if not sooner. “How do I speed it up?” He shook the wallet in his hand.
“We could send techbots. With them, it’d take ten minutes at most to install your boosters.” She paused and pushed her glasses higher up on the bridge of her nose. “That’ll cost you several million auric credits alone, sir.”
Crap.
He slapped the wallet on the counter, rubbing the back of his neck. “About how much is the total?”
She calculated the cost on her holopad. “Seven million twenty-two thousand auric.”
He let out an audible sigh loud enough for Jozi to hear.
There goes his way off the planet anytime soon. He gave Jonas’s address where the Miner was parked and went to leave.
He paused, glaring up at a holoimage on the wall. It was Robert Baldwin in his white High Judge robe, his white pants and white hat, standing at a podium giving a speech. At the top of the image was a quote from Robert endorsing this company. The image then changed to a beautiful ionic engine, one this business manufactured. But he saw something on Robert’s chest that looked oddly familiar, and something he’d never seen on Robert before.
He turned to the cashier. “Can you switch back to the last image?”
“What are you doing, Ozzy?” inquired Jozi.
“Next,” yelled the cashier.
Ozzy didn’t move and put his hand up for the man behind him to wait. “Listen, lady, I need to see that last image.”
She touched her earpiece. “Bobby, we have a problem up here.”
The image switched to a beautiful Mars sunset with the company’s logo. “Just switch it back,” said Ozzy.
Jozi tugged on his arm. “Why?”
“Pull out your pendant.”
“Ozzy, let’s go.”
“Please, Jozi.”
She reached down her jumpsuit collar and pulled out a red pendant.
Ozzy inspected it. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” said Ozzy.
Jozi rubbed her forehead. “What’s going on?”
“Sir, you’re holding up the line,” said the man waiting behind Ozzy.
Ozzy shot him a look. “Just wait a bit longer, because this wonderful lady behind the counter is going to switch the image to the one with the High Judge at the podium.”
“No, I’m not, sir.”
The image changed to the High Judge again, apparently going through its short slide show and back to Robert. Ozzy pointed, blurting out, “Jozi, look.” There was a pendant hanging down on Robert’s chest, and it was very similar to Jozi’s. “How many people on Mars own that? I thought your dad made it?”
Jozi’s face held no emotion as she walked toward the image, her eyes boring on Robert’s pendant. “Holy Mars.”
The image changed.
Jozi spun, glaring at the cashier. “Get Robert Baldwin’s image back on the wall.” She pulled out her MMP agent ID and shoved it into the woman’s face. “Now.”
“Yes, ma’am.” The lady typed on her holocomputer, and the images shuffled to Robert again.
“Pause,” demanded Jozi.
The cashier stopped the image.
“Zoom in on that pendant.”
The cashier did.
Jozi gasped. The pendant had a child with a mom and dad. Ryan was etched at the bottom. It was identical to Jozi’s. “That’s my family’s pendant. My dad made only three.” Her hand flew to her mouth, and she closed her eyes. “Wait. No, he made four. One for his estranged brother. But why does Robert have it?”
A siren blared in the store, and everyone looked up, their eyes darting around, wondering why in the hell a city warning was going off, which meant that everyone was to get to their homes and seek shelter. They usually came on when ridiculous dust storms or gigantic dirt devils were on their way, but the last time they blasted throughout the cities was when the Dunrakee terrorists took over Dawes a few months ago.
“I don’t know why Robert has the same pendant, but right now, we have to get going.” Ozzy grabbed Jozi’s arm and pulled her toward the exit.
“Ma’am,” cried Jozi, holding her ID in the air and waving it for the cashier to see. “This is official MMP undercover business. We need the techbots to install the booster regardless of the city’s warnings.”
The cashier nodded. “We support our MMP agents, and we’ll send the techbots.”
“Thank you,” yelled Ozzy to the cashier, pulling Jozi through the doorway.
20
Tagus Valles, Mars
Ozzy stepped into the Miner, smelling the fresh fuel cells and the new ionic Hover-5 Renegade Booster’s fumes wafting into the craft. The techbots had left a few minutes ago.
With the new boosters, they’d make it to Olympus Mons in no time flat.
“You coming?” Ozzy asked, the sirens blaring in the city. He hadn’t checked the news, but he was sure the warnings were for the Dunrakee squadron coming their way.
Jozi had her arms folded across her chest and was standing in Jonas’s yard next to the Miner. “Yes. Just looking at the last beautiful traces of this city. It’ll be scrapped soon.”
“Not if Jonas has anything to say about it.”
Ozzy could tell there was more on her mind, even more than the coming bubble-head raid. “You wondering if Robert is your dad’s brother?”
“He’s not my dad’s brother, but wherever he got that pendant, I sure as hell want to know.”
“We need to hurry,” said Ozzy. “We can talk about it on our way.”
“Yeah, I don’t know if I want to talk abou it.” Jozi put her helmet on.
Wapooh!
Jozi flipped onto her back, yelping loudly. She slapped her shoulder and rolled on the grass. “I’ve been hit.”
Ozzy ducked inside, grabbing his rifle. “Where did the shot come from?”
“I don’t know,” her voice was high, no doubt from the pain of the photon blast engulfing her. “Maybe at three o’clock from your angle? I’m finding cover on the other side of the Miner.”
Wapooh! Wapooh!
Several photon blasts hit the craft. From his angle, Ozzy couldn’t tell from where the blasts were coming. Smoke billowed from the singe marks on the ship.
“Throw me my rifle,” yelled Jozi.
Ozzy grabbed it and ran to the entrance. He threw it into the grassy yard near where he thought Jozi was.
He curled back inside the ship. “You get it?”
“Thanks for the crappy throw.”
He turned on the engines. The holodisplay beeped awake, and he swiped through cam views, trying to find the culprit.
Wapooh!
A photon beam came from the charred trees. A woman with long, pink hair streaked in bright blue and wearing bright red lipstick was crouched beside a tree. She had one eye looking through a rifle scope and her finger on the trigger. Two long daggers were sheathed to her side.
“It’s Sonya Zeld,” said Ozzy. She still wanted the damn capsule that had the map to the Ark. This woman was relentless.
Wapooh!
“She’s not letting me come around the corner to get in the Miner, Ozzy,” cried Jozi.
“Run behind the mansion. The Miner is hiding Zeld’s visual of you. Use it to your advantage.”
More blasts screamed by the entryway.
Jozi growled. “That witch.” Her breathing came heavy. “I’m running behind the mansion now. You have to go.”
Ozzy strapped the rifle around his shoulder and sat at the cockpit. He shook his head and spoke into his helmet mic. “I’ll come around and pick you up.”
“You can’t get that thing to fit back here. Get going and retrieve that Ark. Hopefully, it saves humanity and doesn’t end it.”
If the Ark didn’t end humanity, the Dunrakee surely would. The Martian Marines were well equipped, but they were still a small brigade, and the young men and women hadn’t fought in a real fight ever.
Ozzy shook his head at Jozi’s comment. “Then run your butt back over to the Miner. I’ll throw cover fire.”
“Get going, Ozzy. And promise me something?”
“What?”
“Come back alive.”
“That’s my plan.”
“Good. I’m turning my mic off.”
Static filled the com line.
Ozzy pressed his lips together tightly. It was probably for the better. He did things better alone, plus he wouldn’t be bringing her more misfortune by her simply being in the same room as him.
He pulled back on the lever and closed the Flying Miner’s door. A pang rang across the Miner from Zeld’s shots hitting the craft’s exterior armor. “I’ll see you when I see you, Jozi.”
He spun the craft around, heading for the city’s exit. He typed in Jonas’s com channel, whose fat face appeared on the screen, perspiration all over his forehead.
“What do you need?” Jonas was out of breath. “I’m gathering my militia as we speak. We will cut the Dunrakee off before they get here.”
“Do me a favor?”
Jonas bared his teeth. “No more favors.”
“You have Sonya Zeld in one of your trees trying to kill anyone who exits your home. Kill her.”
“That piece of Mars shanks,” growled Jonas. “Alright. I’m on it. Gotta go.”
“Wait,” said Ozzy.
Jonas held up his finger, ready to turn off his com line. He sighed. “What is it now?”
“Jozi is outside. Let her in and get her in your underground bunker.”
Martian Quadrilogy Box Set Page 33