Chloe felt like she was trudging through mud again to get someone on Mars to help someone in need. "We are the Alliance first and foremost. If one of us is in trouble, we have to help that one."
Dakota groaned in frustration. "It is only a sector over from here. If we hurry, we can get there in a few minutes."
Chloe grabbed Lola by the hand. "Don’t worry. You can stay with some of Dakota’s men. They will protect you."
After a time, and plenty of gunfire, Dakota and her guards had pushed the MSA back several hundred meters to the other side of the tavern. But would it be enough? The back alley that Chloe and Lola had escaped from was within sight, as was the front entrance. Shannon was close. Chloe felt it.
The cold handle of her sonic pistol reminded Chloe of the killing she had done. As of yet, she had not fired on the MSA. She hadn’t felt the need to.
She leaned toward the squad commander and spoke, "What is happening?"
"They have a platoon holding down the front."
"There!" Chloe screamed. She was about to get to her feet when the squad leader pulled her down. "Let me go. That is Shannon Buckley and Parker McCloud over there." She pointed with her finger toward the alley.
"It won’t do them any good if the MSA soldiers have an open shot at you."
"We have to get them out now. Shannon is injured badly." Chloe turned toward Parker. Their eyes locked. A wave of sadness poured from him. It pained her heart as if it had turned into a lead ball within her chest. She reached behind her back, removed the second sonic pistol from the small of her back, and rose to her feet.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Her shots continued until both clips were empty.
The MSA soldiers sprawled on the ground to avoid the random fire from the crazy woman. Chloe didn’t care. She had to get Shannon and Parker to safety. In one motion, she dropped the smaller gun, released the clip from his other gun, grabbed a clip from her waist belt, and swung the fresh clip into the gun. And then, against logic—but she was confident in her own cover fire—she dashed across the corridor toward the alley. Bullets whizzed over her head. Desperately, feeling impending disaster, she dove between the buildings into the alley.
She fell short, but a familiar hand grabbed her by the belt and pulled her the rest of the way into the alley.
"That was dumb," Parker said.
"Saving your life or risking myself for you?" she said flatly as she regained her composure.
Shannon groaned. Her eyes fluttered under her eyelids, her skin had turned ashen, and her pulse was weak as Chloe put her hand up to her neck.
"She isn’t well," Chloe said. "I had to make a move to save her."
Parker looked past her. "Is that Dakota Lars with you? Are you saving me with MSA help?"
Chloe shook her head emphatically. "No, no. She is an agent from Castor and Pollux."
"Agent from Castor and Pollux? Did you ever think she was working for either Samantha Burns or Gwen? Bringing you in peacefully. They knew they couldn’t stop you, so they will trick you."
"I never thought of that," Chloe replied. An air of shock rang in her voice.
"Damn it, Chloe—or should I call you Celeste—think ahead!"
"I thought about rescuing you. I see now that it was a mistake. I should have let you die here." She put her hands on her hips. "Dumb was coming to Zephyria to find me."
"I came to rescue you from this place. Not from anything else. How could you work here? In this…tavern of Scarlets."
"This isn’t the time to discuss my employment status. And it isn’t the first time I had to do something horrible. Mars has haunted both Seth and me for a long time, more than you will ever begin to imagine. Your judgment of me is unfounded and unreasonable, considering the predicament we are in."
"Shut up, already. I don’t want to hear about it. I want you back in the Alliance base."
"The Alliance base is destroyed."
"Sarah?"
"I don’t know if she was there or not. Or if she is dead or not. I heard it from Dakota Lars."
"Yes, how reliable is that?"
"She told me Seth destroyed it."
"Seth destroyed it? By himself?"
"Yes, he is more powerful than I thought. I was heading to stop him before Shannon’s cry for help sidetracked me."
Parker’s nostrils flared. Gunpowder was in the air, and it was beginning to give him a sickening feeling. "Those are lies from Dakota Lars. It is a ploy to capture you."
"I saw her kill Hans Bauer, and I sense no deception. She is from Castor and Pollux. If you embraced faith for a moment, you would realize the Alliance is about to topple the MSA. Gwen and Samantha are infighting, Hannah and Dakota are planning to take the control room and reveal the MSA lies to Mars, and I am going to stop Seth. The Alliance’s fight is starting to pay off. Don’t abandon us because of doubt. Have faith. I am telling you that Dakota is with us."
Parker grimaced. "It won’t be enough."
"It will. Once we reveal the secrets, Gwen and Samantha will be finished. Trust me, what the MSA have done will appall Mars. To the food supply, to the Raiders, to us."
A volley of bullets whizzed by them and hit the back of the alley, sending them a step backward.
"How will Seth be a problem then?"
"When I die and his MSA dies, he will go berserk," Chloe said. "And that means the total destruction of everyone in Zephyria, Mars, and the solar system. He won’t stop until he finds paradise. I have to make him realize that Alexandria is his paradise. He can find contentment with her."
Parker sighed. "I will help you through this. I owe it to you because I love you."
She looked into his blue eyes, which were softening as they looked at hers. "I know."
He looked away from her. "Sarah is a traitor. I found out when the location of the asteroid base was leaked. I protected her from Terry and absorbed the label for myself."
"She helped the MSA? I don’t believe it."
"She did it to save Aethpis from destruction, and she was right, you know. They destroyed it. She foresaw what was to come. Was the Alliance worth it? I don’t know anymore."
"Don’t doubt your commitment to the Alliance. You will think yourself foolish once you hear what the MSA has done. Let’s get out of this alley and find Seth. Bring the crew back to Lunara."
Parker nodded, submissively, drawing himself away from her.
"Can we exit out the back way?" said Chloe.
He shook his head. "I wedged the door shut."
"Okay, we need cover fire and a lot of speed. Can you move with her on your shoulder?" She looked down at Shannon.
"With bullets nipping at my ass, of course I can." He heaved Shannon onto his shoulder.
Chloe inched to the edge of the alley. When she bobbed her head out toward the MSA platoon and was greeted by a torrent of bullets ricocheting off the building, she knew they were still there. She looked to Dakota and signaled, with a jabbing of her finger toward her chest, that she was coming…and there had better be cover fire.
Chloe squeezed Parker’s forearm to settle him. Dakota popped up along with the rest of her guards, fired her automatic rifle, and sent the MSA sprawling for cover.
Parker had to push Chloe out of the alley. She was caught up in watching the entire thing; maybe it was nerves, or maybe she had hesitated and then stumbled.
From above, the MSA recovered fast and started to return fire.
Parker was across the alley when Chloe regained her balance and looked up. Then she felt a sensation of ten thousand paper cuts across her triceps. The sting was unbelievable. It took all of her wherewithal to stay on her feet. Once she reached the other side, she fell to the ground behind cover.
Immediately, she grabbed for her right triceps muscle and winced, as it pained her to move it. The warm blood oozed between her fingers, and she fought the anxiety threatening to unbalance her mind. With gritted teeth, she pulled herself to her knees and looked at her arm. She was expecting the worst because the sta
bbing pain was starting to travel down her arm. But as she fingered it, she found the wound to be merely a scratch, approximately five centimeters long. The skin was dangling from the top and the bottom, and the burnt smell of pork indicated the bullet had singed part of her muscle. Luckily, she had full mobility, and the pain was getting tolerable.
She looked toward Parker, who was staring back at her. She nodded.
"Pull back," Dakota called. She rose to a stooped position and angrily threw her hand backward to force Chloe onto her feet and get her to move away from the MSA.
Forced by the urgency, Chloe was over the shock of her wound and swiveled her head to gain perspective on the situation; a platoon of MSA was on the east end of the corridor, the tavern was riddled with bullet holes, and there was an escape route open. Evidently, the MSA did not realize whom they were dealing with when they encountered Parker and Shannon, else no doubt, several platoons would have locked the sector down…if they weren’t already doing so.
"Sunovo," she muttered to herself. "They were probably doubling around."
Parker was beside her when she turned back toward Dakota and the group. They were in trouble. Chloe searched her mind for any activity. Chaos always interfered with her ability to center her mind. She was kicking herself. With only a few moments left in her life, any focusing techniques she should have learned, she wasn’t going to learn now. A regret.
"Come on, Chloe," Parker said. "We have a path out of here. We will get to Seth, don’t worry."
He placed his hand on her shoulder. Only a heartbeat long, pouring into her mind like a floodgate blown apart, Parker’s simple touch was magical. She saw what was to come.
He would live.
She would die.
And Seth would make his choice. It was terrifyingly calming.
Chapter 39
In the deep recesses of his blurry mind, Seth heard footsteps approaching him and the commanding cries from the emergency personnel above him on the landing pad, where he had been moments before. He thought about what had happened, trying to remember how he got here. He couldn’t focus his mind acutely. A pickax was smashing a hole into his right temple. Closer now, voices echoed around him.
Seth drifted out.
He was back again. The voices came closer, louder, more excited. Movement passed across his face. He opened his eyes, and when his vision cleared, he saw a half-dozen MSA guardsmen rushing up to him. Either Gwen or Samantha found him.
He sat up before they arrived, trying to hide the swimming in his head. His forehead dripped with blood; his left eye had closed completely with swelling; and his joints ached. What had happened? He remembered an explosion, his frantic attempt to leap out of its way, and the jarring impact, but nothing after that.
Looking up, he saw how far the landing pad was above him—some fifty meters. Like a sharp light in his peripheral vision, the explosion and the fall flashed through his mind. He had survived because of his abilities.
A guard stepped up to him. "Mr. Smith, are you all right?"
"I am fine. Was the explosion targeted at me?"
"Yes," Samantha said as she walked up to him. "The explosives were painted along the landing strip. Activated by remote. Pretty clever."
Seth chuckled. "To me, complimenting its ingenuity is a sign of guilt. Especially knowing your ego."
Samantha smiled at him. "You survived, didn’t you? You are more powerful than I thought."
"So it was you who targeted me with that explosion?"
Samantha shook her head. "No. I would hardly attempt to kill a man and then come to rescue him."
"Or were you making sure I was dead?" Seth said, eyeing her for a reaction. She didn’t waver.
"Actually, I was," she said, and quickly added, "only because I need you again."
Seth stood and wiped the dirt from his suit. "Actually, I believe you. Because knowing you, you would have killed me with an explosive in the ship you gave me."
"As I see it now, it would have been the more ideal choice. You are able to escape more conventional methods."
Seth eyed her. "Gwen tried to kill me then," he said, trying to reassure himself that it sounded as logical coming out of his mouth as it did in his mind. Gwen’s love for the MSA and her legacy overshadowed her love for him. "She has to be dealt with, now. I have destroyed the Alliance base and everyone in it. She is the last obstacle our MSA has to overcome."
Samantha moved up beside him, shielding her words from the other guards around her. "I agree," she said. "And I suppose she does as well. My informants tell me she will be leaving the Majestic Tower for a more secure location. You have to get to her before she leaves and destroy her."
Fire burned in Seth’s eyes. "I will go."
"First, I must tell you some disappointing news," Samantha said. "Gwen’s men took Sarah McCloud after her arrival in Zephyria. I had no time to speak with her."
Seth cursed, using words Ty had taught him. He knew he should have personally escorted Sarah McCloud to Zephyria, but his ship wasn’t big enough. Instead, he trusted the hapless MSA soldiers.
He controlled his rage, digging his fingernails into the palms of his hands. He didn’t want Samantha to know his deal with Sarah McCloud. He needed Sarah for her guidance in taming the population after he controlled the MSA. Granted, he had the power in strength to rule the people, but he also was aware of the words it took to rule the people as well, and his words failed him more often than not. First, when he spoke to the people of Mars at the gala; and then in the depths of Aethpis colony, the last time his wife respected his destiny.
And now with Sarah McCloud, he would change Chloe’s mind. He desperately needed her guidance.
"Where is Sarah held?"
"Sarah McCloud is dead. Gwen had her hanged as a showpiece. I have video confirmation of it."
Dead. Seth couldn’t believe it. His plan was unraveling even before it was set to take off. "I must kill Gwen."
"She is in her office…"
Seth stepped past Samantha.
She called out to him. "Your best shot at her will be to go to her personal landing pad at the top of the Majestic Tower. She is heading there."
Seth stopped, craned his neck around, and stared with tempered eyes toward Samantha, assessing her motives. She wanted Gwen dead now as well. Why?
Samantha took four longs strides toward him. The unwavering rigidity of her body was void of conscience, so wicked that it reminded him of Chancellor Damon Arwell at the gala. Something she had learned from her former master.
"Throw her off, destroy her, and give the rightful MSA absolute power over Mars. End the quarrels among us."
"I understand," Seth nodded, holding back the rage and the suspicion from his words. He knew now that Sarah’s resources were lost to him, Chloe was in peril, and that Gwen had attempted to kill him. He also knew that the MSA foundation was weakening, and Gwen was responsible. He needed to kill her before she crumbled the MSA. And when Gwen was dead, Samantha Burns would be next. She would die a long, slow, painful death. And then he would shape Mars for himself.
Chapter 40
"I told you not to come if you were going to complain," Chloe said to Parker as they hurried into the Majestic Tower’s basement-level entrances, access granted by Dakota Lars’s personal clearance codes.
"I am not complaining. I am trying to tell you that Dakota Lars is a traitor to us. The Majestic Tower is home to both Samantha Burns and Gwen Arwell."
"And they are both here," Chloe said. "I sense them now. As is Seth."
"Great," Parker said, stopping in front of the service elevator.
Chloe stared at him with a scowl across her face. She slammed her fist against the elevator call button.
Parker folded his arms across his chest. "What is the plan? If we do turn Seth, and he becomes the old Seth again, it is not like he will be accepted among the Alliance."
"He will never join the Alliance again. My only hope is to make him see that Alexandria needs
a father. She can’t live a life without both parents, not like Seth and I."
"But why? He has rejected her."
The brown of Chloe’s eyes smoldered red. "I will be dead shortly, and as bad as it sounds, Seth is left to care for her."
"I will care for her," Parker said. "She shouldn’t know how evil her father has become. We can tell her I am her father. She is young. She will never learn the truth."
"She knows the truth," Chloe replied, softly, using her voice to soothe her friend. "I know it is scary to face him, especially in the Majestic Tower—the heart of everything evil. I am shaking uncontrollably inside, but this is something I have to do before I die. Time is running out."
Parker lowered his chin and tilted his eyes toward her. "I will protect you."
"I know," she said as she placed her hand on her chest.
A ding from the elevator signaled its arrival. Parker stiffened.
He set his feet, reached for the handle of his pistol, and reached out with his senses for anything amiss. There were no obvious sounds as the doors parted. He let out a long breath as he saw it was empty. He loosened his grip on the sonic pistol and entered. Chloe held her place.
"You can’t get cold feet at this point," he said. "Where to?"
"It isn’t that," she said. "I didn’t want to tell you this, but seeing as how we are about to enter peril, I should tell you about finding Vivian Mathilde and the Megacruiser."
"What about it?"
"I was the reason you lost those moments. I commanded your mind to turn the ship around and violated everything the Principles of Man ever told us about respecting a person’s freedom."
"You controlled me? I didn’t feel it," he said, his tone fraught with curiosity and angst.
"I took your mind away from you, and a mind is something that everyone in the solar system should have the freedom to use. Your thoughts were betrayed by me, and I have never forgiven myself for the violation."
"As well you shouldn’t have," Parker said. "How many other times have you done this to me?"
"You were the only person I ever did it to, and that was the only time," she said. "I can’t change what happened, but I am asking for your forgiveness."
Lunara: The Original Trilogy Page 100