"Mom!" Shannon exclaimed. She bolted into the apartment and hugged the woman.
Past the embrace, Eamonn noticed a man walk up from behind and stare at him. The man hugged Shannon and then resumed his rigid stance before Eamonn had a chance to walk in the door.
"This is Eamonn Dalton," Shannon said, pulling him into the room and closing the door behind them. "He is a great hero of the Alliance. Shake his hand."
They exchanged greetings.
"Mommy!" a voice shouted. A boy ran to Shannon and pulled on her tunic. She knelt to greet him. The boy was so thrilled to see his mother, he jumped into her arms and knocked her backward to the ground. She kissed him all over his face and hugged him.
"Adol," she said. "I want you to meet someone. His name is Eamonn. He is very special to me, and I hope you will be nice to him."
"Hello," Adol said. "You are tall."
"Thank you. You are a strong boy for your age. I bet you can lift one hundred kilos already."
The boy giggled. "I can lift this box of toys. Want me to show you?"
"Sure," he replied.
"Be careful," Shannon warned.
"Don’t worry, Mom." The boy grabbed the box and pulled as hard as he could. The box rose a centimeter off the floor and dropped back down. "Did you see that?"
"Incredible! You are stronger than me," said Eamonn.
"I will show you my toys." The boy opened the box and started to rummage through it.
"Adol, honey." Shannon grabbed him by the arm and pulled him in front of her. "We are in a hurry. We are taking you to a safe place. Pack your clothes, and you can take one of your favorite toys."
"Only one toy? I don’t want to go," Adol said sharply. "I want to stay here."
"We’ll come back for them someday, but we must leave quickly."
"I’m not going." He sat down on the floor with his arms crossed. "You can’t make me."
His grandmother lowered herself to the floor and brushed Adol’s hair. She smiled. Tears rolled from her eyes and down her wrinkled face.
"Why are you crying, Grandma?"
"I’m going to miss you. You must go. They will take you to a safer place. Be a brave boy."
"Grandma, I’ll miss you."
"Now do as your mother says and pick out one small toy. I will gather your clothes." She rose to her feet and led Shannon into the boy’s room.
"Grandpa, what toy should I take?"
"Take Scruffy the dog. He is mean. He can protect you if things get bad."
"I like him, but Poodles is always funny. Can I take both?"
"Your mother said only one."
"Why not two? Poodles is small."
"I’ll tell you what," Eamonn said. "If you don’t tell your mother, we can put Poodles in my backpack, and you can take both." He loosened the straps, and the boy put the small stuffed animal inside.
"I’ll keep it a secret. I don’t want to lose Poodles and Scruffy. Where are we going?"
"We are going to Lunara, the moon around Earth."
"In a spaceship?"
"My ship is the only way to get there."
"A spaceship, wow!" the boy exclaimed. "That will be amazing. You can fly it. Can you let me fly it?"
"If you are good and your mother says it is okay."
"Okay with what?" Shannon said, entering the room with a small backpack.
The boy yelled with excitement. "Eamonn said that I would fly the spaceship. I will be his co-pilot." Adol used his hand to simulate the flight, weaving and bobbing it up and down.
Shannon grabbed his arm. "Only if you are a good boy. You have to listen to us carefully. This is a dangerous thing we are about to do, and I want you on your best behavior."
"I will be."
"Are you taking Scruffy?"
"Yes." Adol eyed Eamonn and smiled at him.
"Put him in your backpack," she said.
He stuffed the doll into his backpack and shouted. "Don’t close it too tight. He won’t be able to breathe."
"I’m sorry." She left a small opening for the animal. "Get your jacket, boots, and your breathing mask. It is time to leave."
"When was the last time you changed his air filter?" Eamonn asked his grandfather.
"I put a fresh one in the other week. He hasn’t used it since the MSA locked us in our houses. It should be fine. Let me go get the child filters for you." The old man walked briskly over to the wall cabinet, grabbed three small bags, and returned. "Here, three should be enough for anything that might happen along the way."
"Thanks, Dad," Shannon said, taking the filters before the boy’s outstretched hand could grab them.
She bent down to Adol, who had pulled on his boots and jacket. She unhooked the pouch on the side of Adol’s waist and placed the extra filters into the compartment pocket.
"Do I need a new filter?" Adol said.
She smiled at him; everyone on Mars knew how to change an air filter without assistance by the age of three. It was a matter of survival and was one of the first mechanical actions everyone learned. He was no different.
"No, honey. Grandpa says it’s fine," she said, pulling back his hand from the pouch. "And don’t put your mask on until we get to the lobby."
"Okay."
She straightened his collar. "You look so handsome all dressed up for the weather."
"Mommy," Adol complained as she kissed him on the cheek. "Don’t do that. You are slobbering on me."
"How are we going to avoid those random patrols?" Eamonn said at the stoop of the apartment complex.
"Don’t worry, I grew up around here. Plenty of back alleys lead to the crossing point."
"Why didn’t you mention this before? We could have avoided that MSA patrolman on the way here."
"They’re off limits. The only reason we’re taking them now is because children aren’t allowed on the street."
"So what do we do when we get to the crossing point?"
"We can figure something out when we get there. All we need is to get across, and we are home free. They won’t chase after us."
Adol buried his face in his mother’s chest, trying to hide from the fear he seemed to sense in their voices.
"I hope you are right," Eamonn said. "I can carry him for a bit." He reached his arms out toward her.
"No," she snapped. "I will carry him. Come this way."
"Look, I want to help. If you can manage him—it’s fine."
"I’m sorry. My nerves are fried," she said as she moved down the alley farther into the darkness.
After several twists and turns, Eamonn hunched behind Shannon at the back stoop of another building that looked strikingly similar to the one they had just left. "Where do we go next?"
"This way." She pointed down an alley that led toward the spotlights streaking into the morning sky.
They arrived at the end of a series of alleys. Directly in front of them, the border was flooded with light from the huge spotters along the towers and blocked by several metal hedgehogs intertwined with barbwire. They hadn’t anticipated an obstacle as daunting as it appeared. From the distance, it had seemed all they would need to do was run for their lives, but the hedgehogs, a mixture of three rows of progressively larger metal barriers, seemed an impossible task without a distraction. And Eamonn was fresh out of distractions.
Between the shadows, Shannon’s face twisted with worry as the border appeared.
"Cheer up," he said. "I will figure out something. We need a distraction."
She looked at him long and soft, dread pulling at her face. "Know that I love you and that I’m sorry. There was no other way."
Before he could make sense of what she had said, she took off at a sprint toward the border. Adol grabbed tightly around her neck, holding on for his life.
What in the name of Pluto is she doing? She will never make it. "Come back!" Eamonn shouted. He was about to chase her, but it was too late. Guards were suddenly circling around, as if they knew that he and Shannon were coming. He recog
nized the guard ahead of him as the same young MSA patrolman from the street, but how had he known to look for them?
Shannon stopped and glared to her right. Eamonn tried to follow, but as he saw the figure emerge from the shadows and listened to the siren’s wail, he realized in an instant what had happened. He dropped to his knees and slumped to the ground in disbelief.
When she heard the sirens, Shannon stopped, the spotlights blinding her. To her right, a figure appeared cast in a shadow. She turned behind her and saw Eamonn on his knees, holding his head in his hands.
The figure emerged fully. It was the woman she had met in the Licus colony only three days ago, the woman who had threatened her son if she didn’t cooperate, the woman who had just ruined her life: Samantha Burns.
"I see you fulfilled your end of the bargain," Samantha said smoothly.
Shannon gritted her teeth, trying to control the flowing wrath consuming her body. The way Samantha brushed off the toughest decision in Shannon’s life, coupled with the arrogant swagger as Samantha walked toward her, made her understand that pure evil existed. Her hatred of the woman wasn’t because Samantha was MSA; it was because of Samantha’s pure indifference to anything but her own interests.
Samantha reached out with her hand and brushed the little boy’s hair with her fingers.
Shannon twisted Adol away from her reach. "And it is time for you to fulfill your end of the bargain. You have the wrong man. He didn’t do anything to the chancellor. I don’t know where you get your intelligence information from, but they are dead wrong. Allow us across."
"No," Samantha said, grabbing her under her arm. "The chancellor is dead, and I have the man who killed him. Cross the bridge before I alter the deal. You are lucky Lady Arwell wants me to fulfill it as planned. If you keep arguing trivial nonsense with me, don’t think I won’t alter the deal as I see fit. I can come up with a good story about how you were involved and how you resisted me. Where will that leave your boy?"
"Go eject yourself."
Samantha pulled on her arm and moved toward Eamonn. "Come see your hero," Samantha replied.
They reached a crestfallen Eamonn several strides later.
"Say something to her," Samantha said, spitting the words out. "It might be your last chance."
"Shut up, Samantha," he replied and then turned his head to Shannon. "Why?"
Shannon would never forget his deflated tone, the sheer emptiness in his voice, a distance already separating him from her. "I love you…but they were threatening Adol. Samantha came to me three days ago when we had to stop in Licus colony. I can’t let anything happen to him." She brushed Adol’s hair with her hand. "I’m so sorry. I hope one day you can forgive me, but I will understand if you can’t."
"All you had to do was ask," he said. "I would have traded myself for him and done it for you. You betrayed me."
"Take him away," Samantha ordered the guards. They picked him up by the arms and pulled him off toward a waiting hovercar.
"Eamonn." Shannon reached for him, but Samantha stepped in front of her, robbing her of one last glimpse of him before they threw him into the hovercar.
"Cross the bridge now, or you won’t be able to leave," Samantha said, pointing toward the border.
She walked with heavy feet over the bridge with Adol in her arms. Her mind raced: They would have killed Adol if I hadn’t cooperated. Was that worth Eamonn’s life? Would they kill him? My beautiful boy and the love of my life—how can someone make me choose between the two?
When she arrived on the other side of the bridge, she could hardly see past the tears. Adol wiped the tears from her face with his hand, but it only made her cry more. Today’s decision would haunt her forever.
To make it right, she needed help.
Chapter 22
Eamonn heard the door to his cell open and braced for the worst. A bucketful of water landed directly in his face. He sputtered and coughed. The saltiness pained his cracked lips. The cold water trickled down his back, sending chills through his body.
"Get up," Samantha’s unpleasant voice ordered him. "It’s time to answer some questions." She banged the metal bucket against the wall. The clanging sent his already throbbing head into even more intense pain. "Come on, Eamonn. You will live; don’t make us go through another ordeal."
"I wouldn’t want to take all your fun away," he muttered. He licked the bitter water from his lips and swallowed. Opening his eyes fully, he saw Samantha and two guards standing rigid in his cell. The dim light was enough to make him squint and turn his ahead away. "Wasting water isn’t conservational, Samantha."
"I’m not worried about it," Samantha said. "Horse urine isn’t useful."
He almost gagged but realized she wanted him to react. He turned his head toward her and smirked.
The guards placed a stool in front of him. Samantha sat, excessively close for his liking. After pushing him back into a seated position on his cot, she placed one of her boots between his legs and rested it on the frame of the cot. He looked down; worried as her high heels—very high heels—were dangerously close to his groin.
"You look nervous," she said. "I’m not such a bad gal."
"I suppose torture and agony are your welcoming gifts." He narrowed his eyes as he looked into hers, trying to force her to blink.
She didn’t; instead, a perverse glee sparkled within her.
"What do you want?" he asked. You already had your amusement."
"It isn’t as guilt-free as you might think. The MSA is about protecting the people from any number of dangers threatening Mars. You killed our leader, and you should expect an interrogation. Don’t play coy with me. Shannon and I had quite a talk before I told her I worked for the MSA. Such a naive young woman, but she has a pretty face. Your interest in her is understandable."
"Your approval means so much to me." He went to raise his hands and go for her throat but lowered them immediately when a stinging pain rippled in his midsection.
She gouged her high heel into his leg. "Give us the information we need, and she won’t be targeted anymore," she said. "Did the Aethpisians order the assassination of the chancellor?"
He sat in silence, letting her press her heel harder into him. He grimaced but kept his eyes on her. She pulled her foot back, shifted in her seat, and leaned in toward him. "Silent treatment again, but maybe we can get the information out of the girl. She’ll talk if we threaten the boy. She gave you to us to get her son back. No doubt she’ll turn traitor to save herself."
"What do I care? She is the one who gave me up to you. She can die."
"Perhaps the boy is your weakness."
"Don’t you dare," he said. His mind raced for some argument to leave Shannon’s son out of it, but a counteroffer escaped him. She had him in a corner, and he couldn’t dodge. Even if they were safe and Samantha had released them, the boy would be forever in danger unless he cooperated. "Sarah ordered the assassination, and I did it out of vengeance."
"A father for a father. Why would you take the weight of her pain?"
"I didn’t say I did it for her."
Her eyes widened. "What was your vengeance?"
"Because the chancellor killed Madelyn White."
For a moment, she chewed her lower lip, reflecting on what had happened at the gala. Her face stretched; a gaping mouth, widened eyes, and then a slight bob of her head as she pieced it all together. "The foolish girl from the gala…Cross will love this, and he will especially love knowing that you were going to come after him next."
He didn’t reply.
She leaned back in the chair a bit, relaxing her intensity. "You should have killed Cross. It would have been more help to the MSA."
Again, he held his tongue, but this time his ears sharpened. The MSA was divided. The chancellor’s death had alienated Samantha—and seemingly Gwen—from Thomas Cross’s military. Perhaps Shannon and Sarah were right about the MSA unraveling. His sacrifice might not be in vain.
She reached over
and brushed the hair away from his face. "Do you think a guy like you and a girl like me could ever become involved?"
He tried to laugh, but his throat produced a hacking cough. "You are something else, Samantha. Do you have Gwen under your spell?"
"Gwen is capable of making her own choices, and she is a part of the MSA now."
"Does Cross also see it as right? It appears to me that you are in this for power, or you wouldn’t want him dead."
"You are moving off topic," she said, with a bit of annoyance. She stood, pushed the stool away, and after facing the wall opposite to him, she turned around with a noticeable regaining of smoothness in her tone. "Where are Chloe Jones and Seth Smith?"
"It is Seth and Chloe Smith now. Gwen will want to know. I haven’t seen them in days, so they could be anywhere."
"They were last reported on Lunara. Is this still true?"
"As far as I know, they are still on Lunara. They may have returned to Mars or gone to Titan."
"Doubtful, they are wanted. Lunara is their best protection. If only you would turn them over to us, the Alliance would greatly benefit from it. Your insistence on keeping them is prolonging the war."
"It was your fault. The MSA didn’t have to start a war." He knew it was useless to argue with her. The chancellor had brainwashed her, and a simple statement wouldn’t bring her to his side. But perhaps he would plant a seed, and maybe it would get back to Gwen or someone else sympathetic to the Alliance.
"With the undisciplined bureaucracy of Mars, war was inevitable. The chancellor tried for years to get the funding and the authority to conduct the experiments he wanted. No one would listen to him. It was too idealistic, and it wasn’t profitable to the people. They thought spending all the money on terraforming was charity enough for Mars. Healthcare and nonprofitable science could wait until the terraforming was complete. The chancellor’s supreme vision wasn’t in the best interest of the budget for the leaders to spend the credits without tangible returns."
"And you know what is best?"
"The MSA’s research and innovation is already advancing the people, not for the budget or the government. It may not appear to you that we are right because of how we had to act, but we do help people, and we give them what they need—a chance to survive in the future. Under MSA rule, Mars is wealthier than ever."
Lunara: The Original Trilogy Page 49