Albert stepped around the corner with his 9mm raised.
“Where the hell have you been?” Morgan asked.
He gave her an odd glance. “I was setting the bugs and spy cameras for when the others show up. I figured the two of you shouldn’t have any problem taking her. Besides, Grayson was talking to me again.”
“Handcuffs?” she asked.
Albert reached to his back pocket and took out a set. He noticed Lars wiping blood from his face. He shook his head and handed the handcuffs to Morgan. “Here. I suggest you let her get dressed before you cuff her though.”
“You going to behave?” Morgan asked Sylvia.
Sylvia glanced toward Albert and saw the gun. She nodded.
“You’d best,” Morgan said, “because I’m hoping you give me one reason to get even.”
Morgan backed away from Sylvia. She turned with a swollen lip.
Albert winced. “She did this to the two of you? Or did Lars piss you off again.”
Morgan rolled her eyes. “Lars is still standing, ain’t he? Remember the last time?”
Albert nodded. “Yeah. He didn’t wake up for a few hours.”
“What else did Grayson want?”
“He asked me to see what belongings she had with her, but I couldn’t find anything,” Albert replied.
“That’s because I don’t have anything. I didn’t bring any belongings with me,” Sylvia said.
“Really?” Albert asked.
She nodded.
“Then how’d you manage to afford this suite?”
“Got lucky.”
Morgan laughed. “Lucky? Honey . . .”
Albert interrupted her. “Grayson’s under the impression that you pocketed some MarQuebes from Mars. Is that true?”
Sylvia shook her head, but her eyes indicated her fear and proved she was hiding something.
“Okay. Lie if you want to,” Albert said. “But understand Grayson has ways to find the truth. It’s really much better if you tell me where you stashed them.”
“I don’t have any of them. I never took them either.”
“How else could you afford this room?”
“I told you. I got lucky. I found a thousand dollar chip on the edge of the street and cashed it in.”
“Likely story,” Morgan said.
“It’s the truth,” Sylvia said, while she hurriedly dressed.
“So your accomplices have the gems?” Albert asked.
“I’ve told you all I am going to say. Take me to Grayson and let’s get this over with,” she replied.
Morgan held up the handcuffs with her right index finger, letting the cuffs dangle. “Put these on, but if you’re lying . . . Grayson will become even angrier.”
Sylvia placed her hands behind her back and turned so Morgan could tighten them around her wrists. She wanted to cry, but she wasn’t about to give these three bounty hunters the satisfaction. She’d face her punishment, but she refused to give Grayson any information that would aid him in finding Carter and Magnus.
71
Grayson turned toward Donavan and smiled. “They have Sylvia in custody.”
“One down. Two to go,” he replied. “But the biggest problem is that you may have lost the opportunity to find Magnus and his mystery accomplice.”
“She’ll talk.”
“Perhaps. Perhaps not.”
“You’re generally more optimistic than this.”
Donavan shrugged. “I offered you my advice.”
“So you’re mad that I didn’t take it?”
“Not mad, but . . . it seems like you don’t have much confidence in what I suggest.”
“I do, actually. Your idea for hacking into the street and casino cameras and using facial recognition was a great one. You found Sylvia. I can’t see how we’re going to find the man from Deimos.”
“I received an email a few minutes ago from Shelly in the computer tech office. She’s been reviewing the footage of when the man from Deimos arrived at Olympus Mons.”
Grayson placed his hands into his pockets. “Did she find something we’ve missed?”
Donavan nodded. “I think she’s found something of great significance.”
“What’s that?”
“Come here, and I can show you.”
Grayson walked to where Donavan was seated and looked over his shoulder.
“When he got off the shuttle, he was holding that briefcase. She’s sent multiple still-frames from various cameras throughout his routes while he was inside Olympus Mons. He never left that case out of his sight, apparently.”
“Wonder what he has inside it?” Grayson asked.
Donavan shook his head. “I don’t know, but it has to be worth quite a bit.”
“Gems!” Grayson said. “He must have stolen MarQuebes. I had suspected that for quite some time.”
“It seems the most likely thing,” Donavan said. He tapped his earphone. “Give me a second, Mr. Grayson.”
Donavan listened to the message and then looked up at Grayson. “Shelly’s on her way to your office.”
“Why?”
“She said that she will show us when she gets here. It’s quite urgent. She said.”
“It had better be,” Grayson said.
“She’s my equal in computer analysis and hacking, so if she says that she’s found something of great importance, she’s not exaggerating.”
A quick rapping came at the door.
“She must have run,” Grayson said.
“Up the stairs,” Donavan said, nodding. “She dislikes elevators.”
Grayson nodded at Henry. Henry turned and opened the door. A thin blonde stepped into the office with her laptop tucked under her arm. She was pale, almost a reflective white, wore no makeup, and looked like a ghost caught in human form. Her eyes were tinted a slight pink. An albino.
“What do you have?” Grayson asked.
She walked to his desk and set down her laptop. She opened it and typed for several seconds. Afterwards, she grabbed his remote control off the desk and aimed it at the large computer screen attached to the wall.
“When I found this footage, I knew you’d want to see it immediately,” Shelly said. “Really, there’s not any decent way to describe it in words.”
Grayson nodded. “Go ahead.”
She clicked the ‘Start’ button. She talked while the footage played. “I received this video transmission from Deimos Life Station a few minutes ago.”
“The Deimos Life Station?” Grayson asked. “We’ve not been able to make contact with them for months.”
Shelly smiled. “I think there’s a reason for that.”
“What?”
“Well,” she replied, “it seems Dr. Carter on Deimos somehow manipulated the computer feed of the cameras to prevent us from getting footage.”
“Dr. Carter?” Grayson said, crossing his arms. “He’s the medical doctor on Deimos. He’s not a computer tech.”
She shrugged. “He apparently has some knowledge because it is his identification number that logged the computers and altered the codes.”
“You managed to override his codes?” Donavan asked.
“No,” she replied. “He delayed our access to the cameras and apparently to our means for communications.”
“Why would he do that?” Grayson asked.
Shelly pointed to the screen. “Watch.”
On the screen, Dr. Carter is working with a dying patient. Behind him are sheet-draped bodies on gurneys.
“What the hell happened?” Donavan asked.
“An outbreak?” Grayson asked, walking closer to the large screen.
“That’s what it looks like. Lots of bodies on the beds behind him. But I can’t answer that,” she said. “Watch.”
Another clip showed Carter seated on the edge of a bed with a syringe in his hand. He placed the needle close to a swollen vein on the inside of his left elbow. His face was flushed. Beads of sweat covered his forehead. A shadow spilled over
him, and the footage paused and pixelated. Static blurred the visual.
“What was that?” Grayson asked.
Shelly sighed. “I have no idea. But it’s like someone deliberately cut the footage of the person who entered the room.”
“What was he doing? Shooting up?” Grayson said.
“No. He looked like he was sick. He might have been preparing to overdose on something to kill himself. But watch where the next footage picks up.”
In the next scene, Carter stood at a laboratory table. Numerous vials, pipettes, a centrifuge, and microscope slides littered the table.
Donavan stood and walked to stand beside Grayson. “He’s not sick there.”
Grayson frowned and looked at Shelly. “Are you sure the date and time stamp of these clips are accurate?”
She nodded. “These are chronologically correct. I can’t explain the missing footage, or if these was the only things that Carter wanted us to view.”
“What’s he doing?” Donavan asked.
“Looks like he has isolated a virus or a disease-causing agent and is beginning to propagate it,” Grayson replied.
“He’s growing it?”
Grayson nodded.
“Why would he do that?” Donavan asked.
“Revenge.”
Dennis glanced toward Grayson. “Revenge? For what?”
“I think I know,” Shelly said.
She clicked the rewind button on the remote and backed through the footage to a scene before Carter started to inject himself. The scene was when Carter kissed Wanda’s dead lips only moments before shoving her corpse into the incinerator.
“Girlfriend?” Donavan asked.
Shelly shrugged. “That’d be my guess. This is before the film pixelated. Now, let me forward this to the last few minutes of the footage.”
Carter stood in the laboratory and held up two sealed glass vials. He smiled. Carefully, he tucked them into a cushion, which was inside a silver briefcase.
“Shit,” Grayson said.
“What?” Donavan asked.
“That briefcase,” Grayson said softly. “He carried that everywhere. Carter is the unidentified man that arrived at Olympus Mons.”
Shelly stopped the screen. “He brought the briefcase to Earth?”
Grayson shook his head. “Love-smitten fool must blame me for the woman’s death. That’s touching.”
Donavan said, “So Carter brought back whatever virus killed the people on Deimos?”
“We really don’t know what he packed, but we need to speculate that he did indeed bring a deadly virus to Earth,” she replied.
“You want me to call Homeland Security?” Donavan asked.
Grayson shook his head. “No. We handle this ourselves.”
“How?”
“We have something Carter might want,” Grayson said.
“Sylvia?” Shelly asked. “You think they’re a couple?”
“We’ll find out once we make contact with him,” Grayson said.
Donavan looked uneasy. “If they are, you’re proposing a deal to trade her for the virus?”
Grayson nodded.
“Why do you want the deadly virus?”
Grayson smiled. “The man who owns that virus rules the world.”
72
When the elevator opened on the ground floor, Albert tapped his earphone. “Yes?”
They stepped outside the elevator. Sylvia’s hands were cuffed behind her back. Lars held a blood-soaked washcloth to his face. Morgan kept a firm grip on Sylvia’s left elbow.
Albert looked at Morgan. “It’s Grayson.”
Morgan rolled her eyes.
“Mr. Grayson, we have her. Morgan will drive her to your headquarters and then Lars and I—”
“Stand down on the two men,” Grayson said.
“Why?”
“Get Sylvia here immediately. The man with Magnus is Dr. Carter. Do not engage. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.” Albert looked confused.
“Do not engage. Get Sylvia to my office ASAP. Where is Team Two?”
“On the street outside the casino, looking for these two men.”
“Inform them to stand down and observe. Inform us whenever Magnus and Carter are spotted.”
“Roger that.”
Grayson ended the call.
“What does he want now?” Morgan asked.
“To bring her in,” Albert said.
“What about the others?”
“Nothing yet. Only for us not to engage them.”
“Shit,” Morgan said, pushing Sylvia to walk. “I guess a third of our bounty is better than nothing at all.”
“A third?” Lars asked. Fury burned in his eyes.
Albert shook his head. “Grayson never said that. Right now, he wants her. He’s never shorted us before.”
“I wouldn’t put it past him,” Morgan said.
Albert motioned toward the right. “Let’s take her out the back, in case the two men enter through the front. I’ll notify Team Two to observe but stand down.”
“Grayson believes we should be that apprehensive of them?" Morgan asked.
“Maybe we should be asking Sylvia why,” Lars said, easing close to her.
Sylvia stepped uneasily away from him.
They walked through the casino, passed the barred cashier windows, and headed down a carpeted hallway. An exit sign at the end of the hall indicated the door entered into the parking garage.
“Lars,” Morgan said. “I’m warning you for the last time. Leave her alone.”
Albert glanced toward Sylvia. “Any reason why Grayson wouldn’t want us to approach your two friends?”
“Other than Magnus beating the crap out of you?” she replied.
Lars snorted an odd laughing sound. “I’d like to see him try.”
Sylvia grinned. “Maybe you’ll get to meet him soon. You’d be minus a face.”
Morgan smiled at her. “There’s always room for improvement.”
Grayson sat behind his desk. “Shelly, do you have anything else that we need to see from the Deimos archives?”
“Where the film pixelates, there are large areas that have been deliberately blacked out. With your permission, I can try to recover what was lost.”
“By all means,” he replied.
“That could take some time, preventing me from working on anything else.”
“With what Dr. Carter has brought back to Earth, I need to know everything that occurred on Deimos. It’s not only for our safety, but also for the entire population. We cannot underestimate Carter and his intentions.”
She nodded. “Yes, sir. I’ll get right on it.”
Carter walked alongside Magnus in the alley.
“I really tried to kill the pawnshop owner?” Carter asked.
Magnus nodded.
“I really don’t remember doing that.”
“Sylvia and I have been worried about you for quite some time.”
“Why?” Carter asked.
“Your erratic behavior and memory lapse indicate much deeper problems for you. Maybe it’s due to the long space flight? Or it might be something worse.”
“But I feel fine.”
Magnus frowned. “You didn’t look fine. I cannot count the number of times since we met where your mind has drifted off. Neither of us could get your attention. It was like you completely zoned out or were in another world.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes. You survived the virus on Deimos, Carter, but have you ever considered it might have altered something inside your brain chemistry?”
Carter’s eyes searched as he thought. “I’ve never thought about that, but you might be right.”
They stopped at the edge of the alley, near a dumpster. Magnus counted out the money and gave Carter his cut. Magnus kept the gym bag since he needed to be on the move. Otherwise, he would have stuffed his stacks of bills into his overalls pockets. Still not certain about Carter’s briefcase, he figured if Carter
needed, he could always put his money inside it.
“I took a third of the money,” Magnus said. “The rest is for you and Sylvia to divide.”
“Are you sure you’ll have enough money?” Carter stuffed the stacks of money behind the waistband of his pants and stretched his shirt down to hide them as best he could. “After all, you’ve done so much to help us succeed.”
Magnus nodded. “Yep. What I need to do won’t require a lot of money. I hope that you know Sylvia is more than fond of you.”
“I know. We spent a lot of private time aboard the shuttle, as I’m certain you’re aware.”
“Carter, to her it’s more than sex. Her eyes reveal her love for you. Don’t you abandon and hurt her.”
Carter looked stunned.
“After seven months aboard the ship, I still get the feeling that your heart is elsewhere. You don’t hold the same affection for her as she does you. It’s more than evident in your actions when you’re with her.”
Magnus extended his hand to Carter.
Carter stared at Magnus for several moments before accepting it.
“Carter, I wish you the best of luck. Please look after Sylvia and give her my well wishes when you see her.”
“I will,” Carter replied.
Magnus smiled and gave a nod. “This is where we part ways, my friend.”
Magnus turned and headed to the edge of the street where he hailed a cab. One stopped. When he got inside, he didn’t bother to look back in Carter’s direction.
Carter felt alone and worried. He tightened his grip on the briefcase. Fear swept through his mind as he studied the passersby, wondering if any of them had been hired by Grayson to apprehend him. He would have felt safer if Magnus had stayed because Magnus was an intimidating person in appearance, but oddly more gentle than most pups unless provoked.
He noticed the hotel across the street where Sylvia was waiting. It was best that he hurried. There was great comfort in being with a close friend. At least, the alien had not tapped into his mind again. He hoped that since he was now on Earth he was outside her mental reach. But with the strange episode in the pawnshop that he couldn’t recall, he feared what she might do next.
ESCAPE FROM MARS Page 44