He shook his head. It had to be the command center because why else would it have a security doorway? But Samantha had said he needed to get into the military- controlled section of the base. He was still in a civilian area as far as he knew. Samantha had also said that the base wasn’t well scouted. Was she mistaken?
Seth waved his hands in front of his face. "Enough of this nonsense," he muttered. He had to act now. He had no other alternative because going back meant more delays and more time for the MSA forces outside of the base to be exposed.
With a quick jolt, he sprinted, sent his boot into the air, and connected with a square shot against the middle of the door.
Thud! The edge of the metal door, perhaps five centimeters thick, collapsed inward, and the middle of the door was now angled toward the room on the other side. He stepped back, readied his shoulder, and threw himself at the door again. This time, it popped off its hinge, rattled along the floor, and came to a stop in the center of the room. The door—now in the shape of a crude potpourri bowl—wobbled back and forth.
The officers in the room were stunned. Seth didn’t waste a moment. He reached for the sonic pistol attached to the small of his back and squeezed off ten rounds before the men could reach for the alarm button.
Everything had slowed down for him again; the noises deepened, and the streaks of movement slashed along the air in front of him. The men in this room were too slow for him; everyone was too slow for him. He controlled the moment once again.
The entire complement of personnel in the room was dead in a matter of a moment.
He was unstoppable. No longer did he need the MSA force to obliterate the Alliance. He could do it alone.
He looked at the monitors. From the rotating displays on the monitors, he knew he wasn’t in the command center, and to his dismay, he wouldn’t find it before someone found the ten dead men lying at his feet. More likely, he was in the security command room for the common area and civilian portion of the underground colony.
From behind, he heard the sound of boots hitting the floor. He spun around and saw a platoon of at least fifteen soldiers circling toward him from the upper section of the room. He hadn’t noticed them until now.
They aimed toward him and fired instantly. Seth found the display humorous. He smirked, seeing the puffs of smoke form into miniature clouds. The bullets exited what seemed like minutes later to Seth.
In a blur of real time, the platoon was dead, and he was left holding his smoking gun. The patter of bullets rattled behind him off the console. The platoon had missed.
Next came the claxon roared throughout the Alliance tunnels. "Intruder Alert" blatted over the speaker.
He would make them fear the claxon. He leaped for the doorway.
Death. Murder. Obliteration.
By the time it was over, Seth had moved through the majority of the base in a matter of minutes. His mind focused completely, and his rage consumed him so much that he couldn’t count how many men, women, or children he had killed. A great relief rippled over him as the Alliance slowly died.
"Seth, stop!" a voice screamed toward him.
The voice shook him with a deep, slow, and cracking boom. It was familiar. He stopped himself so he could concentrate.
"Seth, stop this!" the voice said. This time the voice soothed him with a soft, poignant, and panicked tone.
"Sarah McCloud." He saw Parker’s wife curled behind a chair on the far side of the room. "Where is Parker?"
"He is gone. He was transferred to another base to make repairs."
"You lie," he said, rushing over to her. "Where is he?"
"I am telling you the truth. He is gone, but I can find out where he is."
"You are useless to me if you don’t know where he is now!" Seth replied. He raised his gun, aimed it at her head, and pulled against the trigger.
"I am the informant that has been talking to you," she cried. "Don’t shoot me."
BANG! The bullet ricocheted and pattered along the floor.
Seth shook his head in bewilderment. "Why would you—the leader of the Alliance—betray them?"
She rose to her feet and dusted herself off. "Hannah Rohen is the leader, if you care to keep up with current events. Secondly, the MSA’s total rule and the destruction of the Alliance can only help Aethpis regain its glory."
"Your colony is a pile of rubble now. Protecting it is pointless."
"I heard," she replied flatly. "It wasn’t when I started feeding you information."
"But you betrayed Parker."
"He wouldn’t listen to me when I told him that Aethpis was suffering. I trusted him to surrender, but he became a part of the problem."
Seth waved his hand toward her. "Turn around with your hands up."
She obliged.
Once he was satisfied she had no weapons, he lowered his gun. "Don’t try anything either. I can kill you in under a heartbeat."
"I know. I saw you—at least, a vision of you—when you entered the room. You were so fast."
"Why should I keep you alive?"
"Because I can help you take down Samantha Burns. She has a weakness, and I have enough political savvy to help you."
Seth stared at her for a moment without saying anything.
She spoke again, "Look. I know you aren’t the best at the military stuff. I know my way around this planet. If you can help me get Aethpis back, you will have my support and the resources I can get from the people. My father’s legacy still holds some power."
Seth rubbed his hand against his chin. "Why did you contact me as an informant? Why not Gwen or Samantha?"
She smirked. "Because I thought I could control you with it."
Seth laughed. "Very honest of you. But the MSA has taught me many things. I have a power that makes it impossible for anyone on Mars to stop me."
"All the more reason for me to guide you. Who are you going to kill first, Gwen or Samantha? And should you kill either of them? The MSA government is fragile now. A simple slice and dice will sever the head and kill the MSA you seek to control."
Seth nodded. He had killed everyone in the facility who was looking for Parker McCloud and Hannah Rohen. They were nowhere to be found. Now, he would use Sarah as bait and bring Parker to him.
And in turn, he would bring Chloe.
"I kept Samantha alive for far longer than I should have…now, I am about to keep you alive. I think I am going to regret this."
Chapter 35
"And that is how we destroyed the Alliance at Jupiter station," the military patrolmen said as he laughed.
"You are so strong," Lola said, rubbing the man’s forearm. "Tell me more stories about MSA victories."
Chloe leaned against the wall and stared at the other man who had approached them minutes before in a cavalier attempt to pick them up. Chloe was immune to their charm. In fact, they sickened her. But either Lola was continuing her trained courtesy from the tavern, or the tall, handsome man telling her stories of his victories in battle had her smitten. She hoped it was the former, because Lola should be too smart to fall for lines that were so transparently shallow.
Although Lola wasn’t loyal to either the MSA or the Alliance; she was loyal to herself. This MSA soldier, using his boasting to coax her toward the MSA, sickening Chloe, was probably having a charming effect on the fragile mind of Lola Starbright.
"Tell us what you are doing on Zephyria," Chloe said before the man started another tale of his exploits. "They don’t keep talent like yours cooped up for very long."
The man turned toward her. His eyes hardened with a look of contempt. "We guard the Zephyria terrariums from Alliance infiltrators. It is one of the most dangerous assignments on Mars."
"You poor thing," Lola replied. "The Alliance always shooting at you, how can you stand it?"
The other man spoke up, "We haven’t been shot at…yet. The Alliance doesn’t even know where our terrarium is. Right under their noses, too."
The man closest to Lola turn
ed red. "Shut up, Decker. You know that is classified information."
Chloe smiled from within. Opportunity. She had to get into the terrariums. She had heard, from numerous gloating customers at the tavern, about the capacity and striking beauty of the fields of crops that lay within. If it was under the ground in Zephyria, Gwen wouldn’t be far away in her bunker. "We want to see it. I heard the terrariums are beautiful."
"That isn’t possible," the man said sternly.
"Come on," Chloe said, rubbing the other forearm of the man. "We would be very, very grateful to you."
The man cleared his throat and looked at his partner. "It wouldn’t be that much trouble to just show them."
The other man shook his head. "If Dr. Bauer finds them…we are in trouble."
"Don’t worry so much. He isn’t scheduled to come to the terrarium until tomorrow," the man said, and then turned to the girls. "I’ll be glad to show you around."
The two men studied the girls, grabbed them by the hand, and led them to the transports.
They took several elevators downward until they finally stepped into the heart of the terrarium. Chloe blinked several times. She doubted what she saw—meters upon meters of plants lining the cave floor.
The men stepped from the elevator first and did a quick survey of the area. It was clear, and they waved for the girls to come. Lola sprung forward, ran into the field, and threw herself into a patch of densely packed leafy greens. She giggled and laughed.
Both of the men watched her joyous frolic in the crops. They hadn’t noticed Chloe reaching behind her back, retrieving her gun, and sending two silenced bullets into the back of their heads.
Both men dropped to the floor, silencing their lame pickup lines and Lola’s playful giggles.
"What are you doing, Celeste?"
"I told you to call me Chloe. If you didn’t know, we are in a war here, and they are the enemy."
"We were having so much fun, though," Lola replied, rubbing her hands along the leaves.
"Maybe you were, but I was sick about the whole thing. We have to find out if there are any connecting bunkers to this system. Gwen and Seth are probably holed up in one of them."
"Chancellor Arwell is in the Majestic Tower. Everyone knows that."
Chloe didn’t reply right away. She had also heard the reports of Gwen holing up in the Majestic Tower, but it was improbable she would leave herself exposed. "Hans Bauer will be coming here, and we have to kill him as well."
"Hans Bauer?"
"A nasty doctor. He tortured Seth and me, and I need to repay him."
"You will kill him, too. I think I like Celeste better."
"Don’t call me Celeste. She is a dishonorable person who did dishonorable things…twice in her lifetime. No mother would be proud of what her life became. I, Chloe, have to get Seth back for my daughter because I can’t leave her alone like Seth and I were. It is too much for one child to bear, especially one with her pedigree."
"So you kill two other people who might have children and do the same thing to them? And the thousands of others the Alliance and MSA have killed with this silly war. My father told me before he died that honor lies within your heart. And your heart is cold, Celeste."
Chloe shook her head free of those thoughts. "The MSA started it by kidnapping me."
"I thought you promised me a better life. Your actions have led me into becoming a criminal against the MSA. The tavern is better right about now."
Chloe went to speak but thought better of it. She turned toward the two downed men, dragged them behind a pair of cargo bales, and came back to find Lola weeping, covering her face with her hands.
"Lola, I am dying. That is why I am doing this to get Seth back. He needs to be saved so he can raise my daughter."
"Dying?" She wiped the tears from her face.
"Look, I will make sure you turn out fine. I have friends who will find you legitimate work. The Alliance doctors found a deterioration of the nerves at the base of my brain, and without nerves, I will die. Shortly, too. I will be dead by the year’s end, so you know why I am pressing for this to happen rather quickly. I can’t think about the consequences because the only thing that matters is finding Alexandra her father."
"What are we going to do? The MSA are scouring this place—"
"Halt right there," a dark voice called to them.
Chloe didn’t wait to reply. She knew the horrible voice from her first visit to Mars. She pivoted away from the direction of the voice and took off running toward the inside of the cave, pushing through the crops beating at her legs. Lola followed when the bullets zipping over her head coaxed her into moving.
The cave was bright, and finding refuge in the darkened shadows was impossible. Chloe groped her way through a group of tall stalks of corn, looking over her shoulder to make sure Lola was following and the MSA weren’t catching up. They were out of the corn stalks in a matter of twenty paces, and they wobbled through a patch of lettuce, hoping their ankles wouldn’t snap on one of the bulbous heads.
Suddenly, at the end of a small alcove, a group of MSA soldiers popped out in front of them. The cocking of their guns halted Chloe in her tracks. Lola was unable to stop quickly enough, and she ran into the back of Chloe, lost her balance, and fell to the ground in between the MSA soldiers.
"I finally have you, Chloe," Hans Bauer said from behind her.
"Shut up, Bauer. You have it wrong. I’m not this special person as you claim me to be," she said, lifting her arms as the MSA soldiers frisked her. They took her sonic pistol.
"You should have come to me earlier," he said. "I would have found a cure."
"It isn’t curable, you meat-carving butcher. Your search for me was worthless because you will never find anything within me. I can make sure of that."
Hans sneered. "Don’t be so negative. Come, I must start my experiments again. Your time is coming to a close. Your daughter needs you."
"Soon, the MSA will be destroyed, and she will be safe."
"No matter," he said. "I can continue my work on your husband."
Chloe laughed at him. "I already know you can’t find a single thing within him. I know why he is special."
Hans ground his teeth.
"I won’t go with you. You might as well kill me," Chloe said.
"Or I could kill your friend," Hans said, moving his sonic pistol from her toward Lola. "She won’t be missed."
Chloe bit her lower lip. "Stop, I will do whatever you ask if you let her go."
"You can’t do that," Lola said from the ground. "Celeste…Chloe has suffered enough in her life. Don’t do this to her."
Hans smirked. "Chloe, you have the count of three to come with us."
"Don’t do it," Lola replied, keeping her eyes locked on Hans’s pistol.
"One."
Chloe’s heart pounded. It was bad enough that she would have to go back to Hans, but now, Lola was a part of this whole ordeal. The MSA forces weren’t trustworthy, but what if they couldn’t find a cure for her? What if Seth never found her? What if they killed Lola anyway? Hoping to catch Hans in a bluff, she stepped up to him.
He jerked his gun toward her. "Two."
Chloe saw it now—the straps along the experimental table, the bubbling sounds, the smells of chemical concoctions making her retch and gag, the bitter taste of the medicine, and the nurses with the needles, pills, and medical instruments, unconscious of the pain and the torment they were causing her. They didn’t care.
"No!" she screamed at Hans until her face was scarlet red. "You will have to kill the both of us."
Quickly and recklessly, she hurled herself toward Hans. The consequences didn’t matter to her; only killing him mattered. Chloe was about the same height and weight as Hans, and she grabbed his wrist as if her fingers were a vice.
He squealed in pain, staggering backward into the wall.
Chloe felt a rage billowing through her mind. She kept her vice-like hold of Hans Bauer’s wrist, thrust with
her legs, and heaved her shoulder into his chest. "Die, you jinxed butcher!"
Her shoulder burrowed its way into Hans’s midsection. Air wheezed from his lungs. Hans coughed, struggled to regain his balance, and crowed a pathetic plea to his subordinates. "Get her, fools."
Chloe didn’t know what she was going to do next. Hans wasn’t about to let go of the pistol, and she wasn’t strong enough to take it from him outright before his soldiers ripped her off him. She thrust her knee between his legs.
But he avoided it easily with a simple turn of his body.
She countered by pushing her weight toward him and spilling both of them to the dirt floor. Hans tried to get her off him, but he couldn’t because his arms were occupied with keeping control of the gun. And she didn’t dare shift her weight for fear he would gain an advantage and control of the gun.
Where were his soldiers? Chloe spun her head around and saw them running behind a collection of cargo bales. She turned her head further and saw another group of soldiers converging on them.
Then she heard gunfire.
There was a firefight! The Alliance had come to rescue them. But how did they know she was going to be here? They didn’t—so it couldn’t be a rescue. It had to be an invasion. That meant she and Lola were caught in the crossfire. She had to get out. This was the opportunity.
Hans squirmed below her. Taking a risk, she removed one of her hands from the handle of the gun and thrust her thumb into Hans’s eye.
He groaned and flailed his hand at Chloe’s face, pushing her head backward—
And then out of nowhere, a foot whizzed by her shoulder and slammed into Hans’s temple.
The gun flew free and tumbled along the cave floor. She scrambled across the ground, quickly grabbed it, popped to her feet, and aimed the gun. There was only Lola and a dazed Hans Bauer there.
"Thanks," she said to Lola, who was shaking terribly. She moved over to her friend and put her arm around her. "It will be okay, but we must leave immediately."
Bullets kicked up behind them.
Chloe pulled Lola’s hand and dragged her away from the firefight. They had gone several meters before a familiar voice called out to them. "Wait."
Lunara: The Original Trilogy Page 97