James pointed to the other Cat, less than a hundred meters distant, racing toward the ravine and kicking up a large quantity of dust in its wake. “There he is!”
Before Tennant could even touch the accelerator, Daniel shouted, “Oh my God! He’s going over the cliff!”
They watched in shock as Jardin’s Cat dove to its destruction. A moment later, a red-orange flash appeared above the cliff’s edge, followed by an expanding puff of gray smoke.
CHAPTER 24
Martian Areology—Today, Mars is a dry, barren wasteland. What water has been discovered is either found at the poles in the form of ice mixed with frozen carbon dioxide, or is trapped as frost just below the surface in other parts of the planet. Mars was not always this way. Hundreds of millions of years ago, shallow brackish seas and freshwater lakes covered much of the surface. Rain washing down from the highlands formed rivers that carved ravines and deep canyons in the planet’s crust on the way back to the seas.
— Excerpt from Encyclopedia Solaris, 2176
* * * *
Two minutes earlier, Doug Jardin had just completed his preparations by securing a small wrapped package to the back of the driver’s seat.
First I need to ditch this ride. If they think I’m dead, even for a few hours, it’ll give me a chance to slip away unnoticed.
Jardin climbed out through the airlock. Using the remote he’d devised for just this situation, he gunned the motors of the Cat and sent it careening ahead. Thirty meters beyond, the Cat performed a beautiful swan dive before crushing the cab against the canyon floor nearly twenty meters below. An instant later, the cab was flattened beneath the weight of the latter two-thirds of the vehicle.
At the same moment, Jardin pressed another button on the remote, which triggered the explosive charge in the package he had left. The cab disintegrated, along with half of the passenger section. The gout of flame was extinguished almost immediately in the oxygen-poor atmosphere of Mars, leaving only a smoky pall over the crash site.
Perfect. It’ll take them a while just to figure out I’m not in there, and then probably an hour or so scouring the area for my body parts, and then hours longer searching for poor little ol’ me who ‘must have wandered away from the crash site and died.’ Ha! The saps.
He basked for a moment in the satisfaction of once again outwitting the peabrains trying to stop him. Jardin turned and headed for sanctuary, whistling to himself.
His euphoria didn’t last long.
* * * *
“It exploded!” James yelled in horror.
Then, through the cloud of brownish-gray dust hovering over the lip of the ravine, a figure appeared striding north.
“Look!” Daniel shouted, pointing. “There he is!”
“The bastard tried to fake his death. He’s not getting away this time.” Tennant gunned the motors and the Cat leaped ahead. They got within fifty meters of Jardin before he spotted them. He took off at a run, but had no chance of outracing the Cat. Within seconds the vehicle had cut him off. Jardin doubled back, but the younger and faster Daniel and James ducked through the airlock and quickly caught up with him, bracketing him so he couldn’t run farther. Tennant followed moments later.
Just when it seemed the chase was over, Jardin bolted between Daniel and James. James tried to tackle Jardin, but was stiff-armed in the helmet. Daniel managed to get in front of Jardin, forcing him to double back toward the edge of the ravine.
Tennant completed the three-sided box surrounding Jardin, filling the gap between Daniel and James. He smiled. “Give it up, Jardin; this is where it all ends. There’s nowhere to run. You’re mine now.”
“Not a chance, ‘Lieutenant’!” He reached into a pouch on his belt and whipped out an antique—but well cared for—Smith & Wesson Model 342PD titanium-alloy .38 caliber revolver. Old, but still quite deadly.
James opened his eyes wide in shock. Where the hell did he get that? And how did he get it past Security and down to Mars?
Jardin evidently guessed the questions in James’ mind from the incredulous expression on his face. “You don’t have a clue how I got this past all the weapons sensors between here and Earth, do you, kid?”
James shook his head.
He snorted. “You have led a sheltered life, haven’t you? You wouldn’t last a day in my world. Come to think of it, you won’t last another day in any world.” He chuckled at his own pitiful attempt at humor.
“Tell you what, kid, I’ll let you in on a little secret that maybe you can use in the next world.” He smiled that cruel, cold smile of his. “It’s amazing what greasing a few palms can get you. It pays to be generous.”
He smirked and waved the gun at James and Daniel. “You two, over there with Tennant!”
They complied.
He raised the gun from waist height and pointed it at Tennant’s head.
“Whoa, Jardin.” Tennant held out his palms. “You don’t want to do this.”
“The hell I don’t! If I let you take me in I’ll fry anyway. That’s not gonna happen. What’s three more deaths on my conscience? If I had one.” He smirked again.
“So now what, Jardin?” Tennant inquired. “Do you think you can just kill us and ride off into the sunset?”
“Hell, yeah! This ain’t some hokey cop holo where the bad guy leaves the hero unattended so he can escape. This is real life, pal, where the hero dies and the villain escapes with the loot. And thanks for the replacement Cat, by the way. It’ll save me from having to call one of my many friends to come and get me.
“It won’t work—‘Dougie.’ A security detail from Base Camp 7 is on its way, and we have Sagan Observatory tracking you with high-gain sensors.”
“So what? I’ll be driving your Cat, not mine. Mine exploded, remember? They’ll just assume it’s you driving the Cat. And unfortunately your radio will be on the fritz for a few hours. That oughta confuse ‘em long enough for me to escape.”
Tennant had no comeback to that.
Jardin snorted. “I hope you all kept your wills up to date.” He sneered and shifted the gun to a two-handed grip. “I’m really gonna enjoy watching you die, you self-righteous sonofabitch.” He cocked the hammer.
His knees shaking, James remembered what Kim had said about seeing him wave up at Phobos. He took some small comfort in knowing that Jardin had underestimated the capabilities of the sensors Kim could point at the surface of Mars.
I just hope you’re watching all this, Kim!
“I’m warning you, Jardin.”
“Stuff it, Tennant! The only thing I want to hear from you is a death rattle.”
Tennant shrugged. “Fine. It’s your funeral.”
Daniel shouted “Go!” and dashed away from Tennant. James, taking the cue ran in the opposite direction. Surprised by the maneuver, Jardin’s gun wavered left and right trying to cover the two as the gap between them widened. Taking advantage of Jardin’s indecision, Tennant charged straight at him.
Jardin swung the gun around, pointed it right at Tennant’s chest and fired.
A .38 caliber revolver is a powerful handgun; no less so in Mars’ reduced gravity. Unfortunately for Jardin, his weight was barely a third of what it was on Earth. As a result, the gun had nearly three times the kick it would have had back home. The force of the shot threw Jardin backward and the gun’s muzzle upward.
The bullet spanged off Tennant’s helmet, knocking him to the ground. Jardin, however wasn’t so lucky. Thrown off-balance by the shot, he stumbled and caught his heel on a rock. The gun flew from his hand and he went cartwheeling over the edge of the cliff.
James ran over to where Tennant lay on his back. There was a five centimeter crease near the top of the durasteel helmet, but no apparent break. “Lee, are you all right? Lee!” He shook Tennant’s shoulder.
“I’m fine. I’m fine. Where’s Jardin?” He half sat up, supporting himself with his arms.
Daniel, who had reached the others by then, spoke. “He fell. He must be dead
.”
“I tried to warn him.” Tennant shook his head, then he looked hard at Daniel. “Don’t assume anything when it comes to Jardin. Check!”
“Sure thing.” Daniel walked to the lip and looked over. “He’s down there, Lee. Maybe eighteen, twenty meters down. And he’s not moving.”
Tennant slumped back in relief. “It’s over then. Thank God. All right, let’s radio base and tell them what happened. Then we’ll go down and get the body and head home.”
* * * *
It took ten minutes to radio their situation to Base Camp 7 and gather the necessary climbing gear, and eight more to find a safe way down the escarpment, nearly fifty meters from where Jardin fell. The three men reached the bottom without incident and walked back to the spot where Daniel had seen Jardin’s body lying on the canyon floor.
“Uh, guys,” James began, “isn’t this where he went over the side?”
Daniel scoured the cliff face for clues. “If not exactly, we’re pretty close. So where’s Jardin?”
Tennant whipped around, looking in all directions. “Damn it! I knew this was too good to be true.”
“But how could he survive a twenty-meter fall?” Daniel asked.
“This is Mars, remember? You don’t fall as hard in point-three-eight gees.”
“At least he’s unarmed,” James commented. “There’s the gun.” He pointed to his right.
Tennant walked over to the revolver and picked it up. It still held four rounds “Good. We can’t assume he’s not armed.” He flashed a tight smile. “But now so are we. Let’s fan out and see if we can find his tracks. Be careful.”
It took but a minute to find first one footprint and then a second.
“Lee,” James called out, “it looks like he’s heading north, following the ravine wall.”
Tennant confirmed his assessment. “Good work. And he’s limping badly. Look how his right foot is dragging. He can’t get far or move very fast. Let’s go.”
Despite their superior mobility, the three had to take advantage of whatever cover was afforded by rock falls and mounds of dirt, in case Jardin was lying in ambush. As a result, there was a lot of stop-and-go, dodging from one point of concealment to the next. Eventually, they rounded a left-hand dogleg in the ravine and could see clearly for sixty meters ahead.
“So where did he go?” Daniel wondered aloud. “There’s nowhere for him to hide out here.”
“Obviously there is,” Tennant said. “We just have to find it. There may be a crevice on this side of the ravine or the other, or maybe he found a hole in the ground and covered himself with dirt. Fan out and keep your eyes open. I don’t want anyone getting hurt.”
James looked doubtful. “So what do we do when we find him—assuming he’s still alive? If he’s backed into a cave where we have to come at him from the front, he can pick us off one by one.”
Tennant shrugged. “We’ll have to play it by ear. Maybe he doesn’t have a weapon after all, or maybe he’ll be considerate and die before we get to him. At worst, we can wait him out. We topped off our air tanks before we came down here. He’s still running on what he had left when we arrived, and if he’s hurt he’s probably breathing hard. So he should run dry before we do. Besides, Base Camp 7 now knows where Jardin is. The security detachment should be here in less than an hour. We just have to keep him from getting away until then.
Daniel nodded sharply. “All right, then. Let’s do it.”
The trio spread out, with Daniel taking the south wall, James the north wall, and Tennant the open ground in the middle.
Six minutes later, James called out, “I found something! There’s a crack here that looks like it expands into a cave.”
Tennant loped over to James’ position, followed by Daniel.
“Good work, James,” Tennant declared, clapping James on the shoulder. “It looks like this is your year for discovering hidden caves.” He peered into the opening. It was a good four meters high but hidden in shadow, making it nearly invisible from the ravine unless one knew where to look. Tennant reached into a pouch and pulled out a small cube. Then he pushed the green button and placed the cube on a rock by the mouth of the cave.
“Okay, I’ve set a locator beacon so the security team can find their way here. Jardin isn’t going to weasel out of his day of reckoning this time. Let’s go.”
The cave mouth was easily wide enough for three men abreast, but Tennant insisted on going single file, with himself in the lead. After all, he was the only one of the trio with a weapon. They entered the opening and found that after a few meters it widened into a much larger chamber. It was empty but for some rubble and two columns where stalactites and stalagmites had merged, revealing the presence of water at some point in the cave’s history. On the far side was another opening.
“Well, he’s not in here, so he must have gone through there.”
Daniel snorted. “Brilliant deduction, James. Or should I call you Sherlock?”
James ignored the jibe.
Beyond the opening lay a narrow, winding passage, heading gradually downward.
“Keep your eyes open,” Tennant ordered, before entering the tunnel. “I’d bet good money Jardin’s known about this place for ages and kept it in reserve, just in case.”
“That would certainly explain why he was driving out into the middle of nowhere in the Cat,” Daniel suggested.
Tennant nodded. “Watch out for tripwires and other booby—” Before he could complete the sentence, an intensely bright strobe light blinded the trio. “Go back! Run!”
Disoriented, the two younger men turned to run back toward the cave entrance, but lost their balance and stumbled. Tennant dove forward, toward the other end of the tunnel.
Then the roof fell in.
CHAPTER 25
Martian Areology—Over the course of millions of years, Mars lost its atmosphere, and with it its protection from the vacuum and cold of space. Between a hundred million years and ten million years ago, most of the seawater evaporated; then when the planet’s temperature dropped to the point where the remaining water froze, most of the ice sublimated away, leaving behind only the raw scars chiseled by rushing water. Many of these canyons today are the subject of intense areological study, because they cut through billions of years of strata, allowing scientists to see how Mars formed and how it died.
— Excerpt from Encyclopedia Solaris, 2176
* * * *
From his hiding place, Jardin felt the collapse of the passage ceiling as a rumble transmitted through the floor. A chill, sadistic smile slowly spread across his face.
Serves the bastard right for meddling in my affairs. I hope he didn’t die immediately. It would be so much more satisfying for him to be lying there, legs crushed under tons of rock, slowly bleeding to death and knowing that once again he was outsmarted by Doug Jardin.
His smile grew even larger.
* * * *
James opened his eyes. I’m blind! What was that light? What did it do to us? A moment later, he remembered the cave-in. Damn that Jardin! That had to be his doing.
James took a moment for self-assessment. Nothing hurts, so I think I’m okay—unless I’m paralyzed! He slapped his right leg and determined that this was not the case. He found that he was able to stand. Finally, he thought to check his helmet light. No go. The same falling rock that dazed him had smashed the light. Thank goodness for the helmet!
He used his hands to feel around him and found the reason for the darkness. A pile of rock obscured most of the passageway forward and another pile completely blocked the tunnel behind, cutting off what daylight had permeated that far. He was caught in a narrow pocket that miraculously hadn’t been flattened by the cave-in.
I can probably pull down enough rocks from the pile in front to get over it and out of the tunnel, if I’m careful. Wait a minute…where’s Daniel? He was right beside me when the ceiling fell in!
“Daniel! Where are you?” James got down on his hands and knees
and felt about him on the floor of the tunnel, hoping to find Daniel in the small safe space. He was terrified he would find only legs sticking out from under one of the rock piles.
“James!” Tennant’s voice crackled through James’ radio. “I hear you. There must be some gaps in the rockfall. Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, Lee. But I can’t find Daniel.” He continued to feel around on the floor. “I don’t know where—” His hand hit something smooth and hard. A helmet! “Lee, I found him! But he’s not moving.”
“Is he breathing?”
“Hold on.” James slid the hand down to Daniel’s chest. He held it there for several seconds. Come on, Daniel, you can do it.
“He’s breathing!”
“Good. See if you can tell if he’s hurt.”
“Okay. Where are you?”
“I’m on the other side of the rockfall in front of you, just clear of the rubble. Tend to Daniel. I’ll try to get to you.”
“All right, but hurry.” James felt all over Daniel’s body looking for obvious signs of broken bones.
I can’t be sure nothing is broken internally, but at least there aren’t any bones sticking out anywhere.
He touched his helmet to Daniel’s, in case the other’s radio was damaged. “Daniel. Can you hear me? Daniel!”
He was afraid to shake Daniel, in case there were internal injuries. So he resorted to tapping Daniel’s helmet. “Daniel. Wake up. Daniel! Come on, Daniel, wake up!”
“Quit yelling, already,” Daniel said weakly over the radio. “I’m awake. Is it time for school, yet, Dad?”
“School?” Uh-oh. How big a hit did he take?
“Just pulling your leg, mi amigo. Remember Phobos? I’m okay, just a bit woozy.”
“Thank God. You had me worried.”
“You have my profoundest apologies for worrying you.” The playful tone of his voice was reassuring. “So how about giving me a hand up?”
The Imperative Chronicles, Books One and Two: The Mars Imperative & The Tesserene Imperative Page 29