by Andria Stone
***
Mark commed everyone to the conference room. Looking half-asleep, the women arrived in jogging clothes, exercise togs, pajamas, and slippers. “There’s no easy way to say this. Maeve is dead.”
Eva stared back at him, confused, shocked, then she burst into tears. Crossing her arms on the table she collapsed on them, sobbing. Ohashi sat stone-faced, unblinking. Petra found a bottle of brandy in the cabinet, took a drink, and passed it to Mark.
“Major Essex says Axel found her in the bakery’s walk-in cooler. She’d been shot four times.” Mark looked at his tablet. “Essex is afraid Axel will go on a homicidal rampage. He wants us to head back to Terra.”
“No,” Ohashi said. “I’m staying.”
“I’ve known Axel for years.” Petra’s eyes brimmed with tears. “Seen him with beaucoup women. He never, ever, cared for any of them like he did her.”
Eva straightened up, wiping away the tears on her sleeves, still sniffling. “What happens now? Will there be a service?”
Mark read from his tablet: “The bodies of Sergeant Wong and Colonel Sorayne will be sealed in cryopods for transport to Terra. Services will be held there. Sergeant Nelson is alive, but not expected…” Mark paused to read another incoming message. “Nelson is deceased.”
Noises at the entry hatch caused everyone to rush from the conference room. Kamryn entered, followed by Axel, trailed by two TMD soldiers who remained outside. Kamryn held up her hand and they all stopped.
Axel’s olive complexion turned ashen. There was no light in his eyes. He walked straight past them to the room he shared with Mark.
Kamryn collapsed in one of the plush blue passenger chairs near the hatch and started removing her weapons. “I thought about contacting Essex to send a medic with a knockout cocktail for him. He wouldn’t let her go. He wouldn’t let anyone touch her. I didn’t know how much he loved her until today.” She took off her vest, then her boots. “He cried.” Kamryn choked up, sniffling, then clearing her throat. “Never saw that, either.”
Mark handed his tablet to her with the messages queued up from Essex.
Kamryn read for a minute. “Oh, hell no. I didn’t come all the way to Mars to watch my friend lose the love of his life, then tuck my tail between my legs and run back home.”
Mark looked at each woman, receiving nods of agreement to stay. “Well then, it’s unanimous. Kamryn, maybe we should send Axel planetside for a change of scenery. It’s best if you go with him.”
“If he thinks the Parkers are down there, he’d be more willing to go.”
“Ohashi, can we monitor their financials? Track their movements by credit usage to narrow down a location on the surface?”
“You mean can I hack into the Martian planet’s Financial Institution?”
He gave her a dimpled smile. “When I was growing up, we called it ‘fish or cut bait’.”
She mimicked his grin. “Give me ten minutes.”
Kamryn stood. “I’m going to shower. I need to clear my head, too.”
Mark walked along with her, speaking in hushed tones. “Axel likes to believe he’s the master of his own fate, but if he can’t control his emotions, he’ll shoot first, and there won’t be anyone left alive to ask questions of later. You’re going with him to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Chapter 5
Axel had remained silent all morning. Everyone’s emotions were still too raw for much conversation. He and Mark stood behind the women at the conference table. The vid screen showed split images of Dimitrios and Essex as they skimmed over the details of services for Sorayne and the two sergeants. It was evident Maeve had been one of the general’s favorites.
Dimitrios changed the topic. “Yesterday, I dispatched two more warships to Mars under the command of Colonel Olivia Rushing. You’ll be notified when she arrives. It’s obvious we were unaware and unprepared for how far-reaching the Coulter-Parker scheme had progressed. All the protocols from Operation Pandora have been reinstated. It’s now classified as Operation Red Rain because we’re going to rain hellfire down on these people.”
Next, he updated the MAVREK team with late-breaking news on the information gained from Hayes Barton, the man they’d found with Wong’s body.
“That mealy-mouthed little piece of bat dung was the shopkeeper in the bakery owned by the Parkers. He got a mega dose of SP-27 and was interrogated for two hours until he gave up everything he knew. We have images of cyborgs, clones, Valerie and Victor Parker, their contacts, plus the space station’s C'n'C employee who sent the drone. It should have adhered to your hull to monitor your communications. Why didn’t it?”
“Uh, General, sir, that would be me, Cyber Specialist Ohashi. I designed a surveillance system for our ship, a former BioKlon business-class Mixx-Reid Starcruiser 75. It was recently retrofitted to a science vessel.”
“Ah, yes, those would be the four ships you stole from us,” Dimitrios grumbled, waving off the thought. “We want the surveillance tech. Send us a bill, and the schematics to General Mitchell Baldwin at the TMD Shipyards. Dimitrios out.” The screen went black.
Wide-eyed, Ohashi asked, “What just happened?”
Mark turned to her, executing a deep bow. “I believe you’ve risen to the rank of millionairess, Ohashi.”
She looked at the stunned faces around the conference table. “What do I do now?’
“I’ll take care of it. Our attorneys are former JAG lawyers who went into private practice. They know all the ins and outs of dealing with the military.”
Axel turned to leave without saying a word. Mark hung back, watching as Axel headed for the gym, then backtracked to speak with Eva.
“Is there anything we can do?”
“Give him space. He needs a purpose. We have our work, as do the cybers, but Axel and Kamryn were soldiers. Their work was battle. Since they left the military, they’re warriors with no war.”
It made sense. He’d mull it over, see if he couldn’t come up with some options for them.
***
Petra commed everyone with an emergency to meet in the conference room. “Holy cow.” She checked her computer. “We have movement on Mars. Valerie Parker’s bank logged a transaction moments ago. Two transactions, no—three, for over 650,000 credits. Someone’s buying a lot of…Argus Island Spices?”
“Arms dealers,” Kamryn said. “I’ll bet money on it. Didn’t know they’d opened an off-world location out here, though. I guess they go where the business is.”
Mark glanced at Kamryn. “How much firepower can that buy?”
“Enough to start a war.”
“I’m going down,” Axel said, watching as every face turned toward him.
Mark tossed a questioning glance at Petra, waiting for confirmation that the data was legitimate.
She mouthed, ‘For real.’
“Everybody, grab your guns. We’re all going to Mars,” Mark announced, drawing Kamryn aside. “I’m thinking we should leave the ship here and take a shuttle down to avoid any interference from the TMD.”
Kamryn pointed to her neck. “We’re chipped. These geolocators mean they can track us anywhere.”
“Yeah, but no sense in waving a red flag in front of Essex saying, ‘Follow me this way,’ right?”
On his way to change clothes, Mark’s tablet pinged. Major Essex was sending an escort for the entire MAVREK team. The new colonel had arrived, and she wanted a meeting. Mark opened his comm to broadcast the message.
While they dressed to impress Sorayne’s replacement, Petra broadcast her background research on Rushing. “She’s 53, born in Guadalajara, second in her class, IQ of 142. Here’s a juicy little nugget…she struck a commanding officer for making a pass at her about twenty years ago, but was absolved of all wrong-doing. She’s been married and divorced twice, no children, commendations up the wazoo. She’s a liberal user of profanity, and here’s another tidbit—she served with our Major Torance on the African continent about fifteen years ago in the H
ydro Campaign.”
When they met at the entry hatch, Eva wore her red leathers from Luna, convinced they made her look taller. Ohashi dressed in smoke gray, including gloves. Petra sported her new pants and favorite jacket—Mark’s gift to her from Luna—an edgy, black leather decorated with jewel toned metal studs. Kamryn and Axel were all business in perennial black. Mark opted for his last unblemished set of leathers in a color best described as black-cherry, a color he neither liked, nor disliked, but wore because it fit after the muscle he’d gained from working out with Axel.
Mark opened the hatch, surprised to find Colonel Olivia Rushing standing in front of him. Seldom caught off-guard, it still took him several nanoseconds to recover. “Ma’am, please come in.”
She remained immobile for a moment, assessing him, a smile tugged at the corners of her lips. It perished as she waved at her two aides to stay outside.
Mark made the introductions, then extended an open hand toward the plush blue passenger chairs, hoping the informal setting might lead to a more relaxed conversation. On the surface, Rushing was no Maeve Sorayne; half a foot shorter, brown-eyed, shoulder-length light brown hair, with a whiskey voice that could strip paint. He wasn’t getting a good vibe from the woman.
“I’ll get right to it,” she said. “I’m ordering you to return to Terra. We have all the intel we need and more than enough troops to handle this situation. Your presence is not required. You’ll just get in the way.”
Mark sensed his friends trying to control their shock. He took command of the situation before anyone else could speak. “No ma’am,” he said, stretching back in his chair, crossing one ankle over his knee. “We’re not military anymore. We don’t take orders. As private citizens, with a horde of excellent attorneys, we exercise our rights to come and go as we please. You seem to have overlooked a rather important fact: This is Mars. You have no jurisdiction here. They invited my esteemed colleague, Dr. Jackson, plus her security detail, for the terraforming experiments, which are not yet completed. The two TMD ships we accompanied are also guests of the Martian government, as I believe yours are.”
He smiled at her, flashing a mouthful of perfect teeth, while he calculated the next three moves to outwit his new adversary.
She shot him a withering look. “I was told you were a cocky smartass.”
“Well, that’s partially correct. I’m not as cocky as I used to be, but I am a whole lot smarter.” Mark stood, motioning toward the hatch. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, Colonel Rushing, we were leaving for dinner.”
She rose to follow him, turning as she departed. “You haven’t heard the end of this.”
“For now, we have.” Mark almost winked at her, but stopped himself. It would have been cocky.
He spun around with a finger pressed to his lips, then motioned everyone to the conference room.
“Petra, can you send a message to Torance? I’ll leave it up to you how to ask him, but we need everything he knows about Rushing. I want to know who her ex-husbands were, plus the name of that officer she hit. Then we can leave. I’m starving.”
***
Eva caught up with Mark on their walk through the airlock tunnels. She slipped her arm through his, forcing him to slow down. “Couldn’t you have at least tried to get on her good side?”
Mark laughed. “Rushing doesn’t have a good side. She only respects those who stand up to her.”
“I know. You’re right.” She sighed. “I feel like everything’s gone downhill since we got here.”
“No, Eva.” He slowed even more, walking in step with her. “You go out of your way to avoid confrontation. I might have once, too, but not anymore. For us, this all started seven months ago with the attack on CAMRI. Beth Coulter was my lab partner then, but she’d set her plan in motion years before. We’re just uncovering all the places where she’s hidden pieces of her monstrous puzzle. She’s dead, but it’s obvious her followers aren’t. We don’t know which ones might believe they’re capable of succeeding. We must keep searching until her entire network is demolished.”
“It’s a daunting task.”
“So is terraforming, but that hasn’t stopped you from trying.”
She hugged his arm, smiling up at him. “You’re my best friend.”
On Deck 2, Eva pulled him into Bombay Saffron, an Indian restaurant, where the aromas of nutmeg and cloves floated from the kitchen. If he’d told Eva it made him queasy to be near anything Indian, she would have chosen another type of cuisine. For everyone’s sake, Mark put on a happy face while trying to push memories of being tortured by Coulter on the Indian vessel, Star of Jaipur, out of his mind.
After dinner, Kamryn raised her glass to Mark. “Here’s to our fearless leader, who’s grown a pair of grandes cojones. I could never have done what you did.”
“You’re a good soldier, Kamryn. The military trained you to follow orders, respect your commanding officers, and not question their authority. Soldiers are indoctrinated to function within those parameters. Scientists, on the other hand, don’t have constraints. Successful ones have to think outside the box. Hell, for most of us, there is no box.”
Kamryn pressed for confirmation. “But we are going planetside to search for the Parkers and the weapons they bought, right?”
“Affirmative,” Mark said. “All we need is an iron-clad invitation from a VIP in the scientific community with more leverage than a colonel and who dislikes the military.”
Eva blushed, holding up her small hand. “I might know someone.”
All attention fell upon her. Petra thrummed her fingers on the table. “Are you going to make us guess?”
Eva appeared unusually coy. “I sat in the habitat for several hours without much to do except talk to some of the other specialists around me. Dr. Wade Lerner was exceptionally kind. He’s what Mars calls a Planetary Engineer, who also happens to be the Chief Scientist at MarzTek in the use of fluorine compounds, CFCs, for greenhouse gases. It seems he has multiple issues with the military. Is that good enough? Because there was another.”
“Oh, do tell,” Petra begged, enthralled as she listened to this undiscovered side of Eva’s personality.
“Well, Dr. Clay Bryant is much younger. And attractive.” Her eyes sparkled. “He’s a Biodome Engineer. He mentioned his father’s the governor of Dome 3, with an unfavorable opinion of the military.”
“Congratulations, Eva, my little femme fatale.” Mark pointed at her. “You’re our ticket to the surface. All we need is to get one—if not both—of these top-notch scientists to invite you, and your security detail, down for a visit.”
“If you want to use me as bait, I didn’t bring the right clothes for this kind of assignment. I need more feminine attire.”
Petra jumped out of her chair. “I’ll take Eva shopping.”
“No,” Axel said. “We all go, or no one does.” His delayed involvement in the conversation shocked everyone. He hadn’t spoken in hours.
They left the restaurant, making two stops for clothes plus accessories in nearby stores before returning to the ship.
Petra helped Eva finagle invitations from both scientists for the following day. With her entourage of both cybers, she arranged to visit one man in the morning, and the other in the afternoon. This would give Mark, Axel, and Kamryn an opportunity to hunt for the Parkers. With any luck, they hoped to turn the trip into an overnight stay that would last several days.
When arrangements were finalized, Petra wrapped her electronics in extra changes of clothing, tucking it all into a business case, as did Ohashi. Eva demonstrated the ultimate packing technique by rolling up her essentials, then slipping them into a bi-fold expandable case no bigger than a mid-sized shoulder bag.
Mark preferred the finer things life offered, but he could go commando if the situation called for it. This one did. He, Kamryn, and Axel piled weapons in front of the hatch. With preparations underway in earnest, Axel seemed more engaged.
They made the decision to leave in
the middle of the night, while they hoped Rushing was sleeping or otherwise occupied. The next passenger shuttle left in two hours. They checked knives, guns, ammo, commlinks, stun batons, battlefield meds, and rations, then put the pilots on notice in case of an all-out emergency.
The MAVREK forces of Operation Red Rain were on the move. Axel took point, Kamryn in the middle of the women, with Mark functioning as the rearguard. Employing a good measure of stealth, they took the least traveled path down to the Departure Gate on Level 3. After checking in without any problems, they boarded and harnessed themselves in for the quick trip to Mars.
***
Axel wanted blood, and plenty of it. The Parkers had shattered his world. He would take theirs apart piece by piece, resolving to keep a tight rein on his emotions under the watchful eyes of his friends. His motives might be suspicious, but he didn’t need to flaunt his intentions. It would become clear soon enough when people started dying.
Every nurturing, caring, loving woman in his life had been brutally taken from him. Pain and misery filled Axel’s storied past. Never knowing his father, his whole world revolved around his mother. Bianca Von Radach, once a beauty, but weathered by a hard life, was murdered for her last five dollars, leaving Axel orphaned and homeless at sixteen. He finished school with the help of a friend’s father, who owned a small, 24-hour diner in a sleazy district of Phoenix. They gave him a room in the back. He worked for food, then learned to cook.
Always big for his age, Axel was pressed into maintaining order in the restaurant. Soon, his talents became well-known throughout the unsavory neighborhood. Other shop owners requested his services, as did the prostitutes who frequented the vicinity. One particular woman, Dorthea Diamond, took him under her wing—and to her bed. She procured a better job for him in a health club across town, where he encountered a different class of people; lots of business-types, teachers, college kids, and some law enforcement clientele. He refined his rough edges to be more socially acceptable, and after a while, they saw him as one of their own. Several police officers urged him to apply for the force. He did. To his amazement, he passed the tests.