The Battle for the Solar System (Complete Trilogy)

by Sweeney, Stephen

  “Right,” said Dodds, and left Estelle to start off on another round of searching.

  His mind began to wander as he walked. Despite what he’d said to Estelle, he hoped that nothing had happened to Barber. The day had clearly started off as it intended to go on – badly. To discover now that something had happened to their contact would be the icing on the cake. If there was anything they didn’t need right now, it was further complications. Maybe she was just asleep, covered in a blanket and hadn’t seen them. Injured? It wasn’t an impossibility, given how the people around here reacted to even the slightest incursion into their personal space. Although … perhaps she was dead…? No, that was taking things too far. She had to be here somewhere.

  Dodds forced aside the negative thoughts and instead wondered what was on that data card that Parks wanted so badly. Maybe it had something to do with the ATAFs …

  Just as he began singling out people who might be able to help him locate Barber, he became aware that some of the refugees were staring pensively at something behind him, and he turned to see Chaz striding in his direction. As the big man approached, Dodds noted a look of anger on his face and took a step backward. It was the same expression Chaz had worn when Parks had reassigned the group to Temper, all those weeks ago. The man’s fists were balled, his eyes, though narrowed, blazing. If the security guards on Xalan Orbital had shown reluctance in tackling Chaz back then, Dodds was certain that right now it would probably be like confronting a fifteen-hundred-pound grizzly bear.

  “What’s happened?” Dodds asked.

  “Barber’s dead,” Chaz growled.

  Aw, hell! “Who …” Dodds began, though Chaz didn’t bother to stop walking, forcing Dodds to hurry along after him.

  “She’s been taken to the infirmary; they didn’t like having corpses around,” Chaz added.

  “We should let the others know.”

  “Yes, you should.”

  Dodds stopped at the comment. For the few months he had known Chaz, he had found the man to be generally a very quiet character. Every now and again he was moody, but easy to get along with when you got on the right side of him. Watching the man’s back as Chaz strode off, Dodds figured that at this moment in time there was no right side of Chaz to be on.

  Given the circumstances, he decided it would be best to do as Chaz had suggested and soon rounded up the rest of the team, who then, after consulting a floor plan, made their way towards the port’s medical unit.

  *

  “Sound-proof,” Dodds said, as the doors to the infirmary swung shut behind the four men and women, dampening the noise from the rest of the port.

  “Probably to help the staff and patients relax,” Enrique said.

  “You’re sure he came in here?” Estelle demanded. She had been furious when Dodds had informed her that Chaz had headed off to the infirmary alone, without consulting her. Not that, as far as Dodds was concerned, there had been very much to discuss.

  “Like I said, he seemed rather keen to get in here,” Dodds said.

  “See if you can lock the door,” Estelle ordered. “I don’t want him walking off again, or anyone else coming in, for that matter.”

  Dodds did as he was told and after studying a panel next to the door, succeeded in securing it. The little clicking sound that came suggested that it wasn’t a very sturdy lock, more of a deterrent than anything else.

  The group began down the various corridors of the medical unit, searching every waiting and examination room they came to. They were all empty. Eventually they came to the final door of the clinic-esque wing of the port – the morgue. The door was open a crack.

  “I think I’ll stay here,” Kelly said, allowing the rest of the team to move on ahead of her.

  “Toughen up, princess!” Estelle snapped. “We’ve got a job to do! Don’t start making excuses for your sporadic necrophobia,” she added, before she heaved the heavy door fully open.

  And there, standing over a gurney with his back to them, was Chaz. A sheet, stained dark red with blood, lay on the floor at the foot of the table. Estelle stopped just inside the doorway, her arms folded across her chest, displeasure written all over her face.

  Dodds took in the scene. Estelle was used to having Enrique and himself challenge her authority from time to time, but they did at least eventually respect the chain of command and fall in line. Chaz, on the other hand, had completely ignored her order to inform her of any developments in the search for Barber and not to take any action without first consulting her. She wasn’t going to stand for his insubordination.

  “Lieutenant Koonan, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Estelle asked, scowling at his back. Chaz neither turned around, nor said a word. Estelle glowered. Now the man was ignoring her. “Lieutenant?” she said again, though Chaz still made no sign to acknowledge her presence. He remained still as a statue, looking down at the body on the table.

  The team exchanged a few glances, before Dodds walked forward and came to stand next to Chaz, Estelle and Enrique following behind him. He looked down at the woman lying on the gurney. Her eyes were half-open, dried blood staining her mouth and chin, her face very pale. Chaz’s eyes seemed to be filled with a mixture of anger and sadness as he continued to stare down at her, his fists still clenched into tight balls by his sides.

  Chaz, do you know this woman? Dodds wondered. Is that why he’d been so keen to get in here? Why hadn’t he said anything? Dodds looked around and saw that Kelly had taken only a few steps forward, making little effort to cross the threshold of the mortuary doorway. She gave him a look of deep concern as her eyes shifted from Barber to Chaz. After a few moments, one of Chaz’s hands left his side, two fingers finding their way to Barber’s eyelids and gently closing them.

  “Chaz, does she have the data card?” Estelle asked.

  Chaz continued to say nothing, and instead ran his fingers across Barber’s cheek. Dodds watched him for a moment. An odd thing to do. It was as if he was saying goodbye.

  Estelle mouthed several curses, then, “We don’t have time for this.” She gestured to Dodds to check for the data card, who acknowledged her and reached forward to investigate Barber’s jacket.

  Chaz caught Dodds’ wrist as he took hold of the zipper. “I’ll do it,” he said in a cold voice, not taking his eyes off Barber’s face.

  Dodds looked up at the big man, well aware that he wouldn’t be able to break free of such a tight grip. He released the zipper and Chaz let go of his wrist. The big man then took hold of the zipper himself and undid Barber’s jacket, exposing the white vest she wore underneath. It was soaked red and torn in places where it appeared it had been slashed. Beneath the ripped material, crimson spots of congealed blood, gathered around lacerated white flesh, were quite visible. They looked like stab wounds. Dodds was momentarily reminded of Dean’s injuries, as the man had lain dying on his parents’ couch.

  Chaz started to search the inner pockets of Barber’s jacket as the others looked on. Then, after failing to find anything, he checked the outer ones. Then those of her trousers. His searching started to become more urgent as he turned out more and more pockets, unable to find what he was looking for. He then pulled off her boots, though from the way they were so tightly laced it was doubtful he’d find anything there. Whoever had brought Barber in here had apparently decided to just dump her body on the first available trolley and leave it there. As expected, the boots turned out to be empty and there was nothing in the socks, either.

  “What’s wrong?” Estelle asked, as Chaz let an empty boot fall to the floor.

  “Isn’t it obvious?” Chaz said, acknowledging Estelle for the first time since entering the morgue. “I can’t find the damn card.” He began to dump more items on the floor and the gurney as his search continued.

  Knowing that his help wasn’t wanted, Dodds left the others to continue sorting through Barber’s possessions, investigating another gurney that rested opposite, covered by a bloodstained sheet of its own. He p
ulled it aside, revealing the body of a dead man beneath. He peered down at the man’s scar-riddled face for a time, before a thought occurred to him.

  “Chaz,” he said, “how did Barber die?”

  There was a pause, then, “A man killed her,” Chaz replied, his voice bitter.

  “This man?” Dodds asked, indicating the body. The other four glanced around, seeing the exposed body with its long coat and clothes even more bloodstained than Barber’s vest.

  “She killed him at the same time. That’s all I know,” Chaz said.

  That was good enough for Dodds. “This is our man!” he declared. “This is the guy who took down Cardinal,” and immediately set about rifling through the raider’s clothes. Enrique and Estelle hurried over to join him in his quest to locate the data card, though even after a thorough search they failed to locate anything. Just as Chaz had done, they also checked boots, socks and other possible hiding places, to no avail.

  Dodds glanced over at Kelly, who had remained more or less in the doorway of the morgue. Likely, he thought, she was feeling rather unnerved by the sight of the two bodies. Chaz sent her a look that emphasised his deep frustration.

  “Want me to take a look?” Kelly offered, although it seemed she asked only out of courtesy, and not because she wanted to be involved. She regretted it seconds later, when Chaz moved away from the body.

  “Go ahead,” he gestured to the gurney.

  Kelly approached and began her own search, rechecking every place that Chaz already had, though much more gingerly and with added caution. Watching her, Dodds pondered how the woman could be such a good military pilot and such a coward at the same time.

  “Don’t worry, Kelly,” Enrique reassured her, “she’s not going to come back to life and try to strangle you.”

  Kelly only gave him a nervous smile, one that suggested that she wouldn’t rule out the possibility.

  Dodds returned his focus to the task of searching the raider, discovering that they had all but exhausted every conceivable hiding place. This was a worthless investigation. If either of these two people were in possession of the card, it was most likely Barber and not the man whom he searched. Then again … “Do you think someone else might’ve taken it?” he said.

  “Well, they didn’t take anything else,” Estelle said, nodding toward the numerous belongings that had been removed from the two bodies. “And if they couldn’t be bothered to even take Barber’s gun, then why would they bother with something like that?”

  “Maybe she’s hidden it in some secret compartment?” Dodds looked over at Chaz. “How carefully did you check her boots? There might be a false bottom or heel?”

  “There are no hidden compartments in her boots,” Chaz answered.

  “Gloves? She’s a spy, after all, so there’s bound to be at least one secret hiding place—”

  “There aren’t any,” Chaz growled. “She doesn’t have any secret hiding places.”

  Dodds wasn’t convinced. How would Chaz know? He’d never worked in the secret service. “Maybe it’s in the lining of her jacket? Or around the collar? It could even be tucked into her bra …”

  “Can it, Dodds,” Estelle said, patting at the raider’s long coat.

  “You sure she’s not just holding it in her hand?” Enrique asked.

  Dodds turned him a look of disdain.

  “No, seriously,” Enrique said.

  “She is holding something,” Kelly said. She was staring at Barber’s right hand, which, unlike the left, was closed up.

  Dodds moved over and took the woman’s hand, inspecting it closely. “Looks like plastic,” he said. He tried to prise her hand open, but found it so stiff that he couldn’t even move one finger. After a while, he managed to push his own little finger between the gap in Barber’s grip and poked the object out. It fell and bounced gently to the floor. He retrieved it and held it up for all to see.

  “What is it?” Estelle asked.

  “Some kind of tiny bottle,” Dodds said, turning the clear container around. It felt slimy in his grasp and he noticed that a thin film of fluid still clung to the inside. Estelle took it from him, almost dropping it as it slipped between her fingers.

  “It’s … it’s lubricant,” she said, sounding more than a little confused.

  “Ah ha!” Enrique suddenly exclaimed, “I’ve got it!”

  “Got what?” Dodds said.

  “I know where the card is!” Enrique said, pointing at the bottle. “My grandfather once told me that spies sometimes don’t keep really important stuff on them. Not in their clothes, anyway; it’s too risky. So, instead, they’ll do what drug mules used to do and …” He abruptly stopped talking, as though his ears had only just heard what his mouth was saying.

  Dodds noted the horrified looks on Kelly and Estelle’s faces, knowing that they were a mirror for his own. Even Chaz appeared startled by the revelation, the anger having left his eyes, his face fallen. Dodds turned his attention back to Barber, as Enrique finished his sentence.

  “So basically, she’s swallowed it. It’s inside her.” The enthusiastic tone was gone.

  At these words, Kelly’s eyes grew wide and she yanked her hands free from where they had been worming their way into pockets and feeling the lining of Barber’s clothes. She hurried away, putting distance between herself and the gurney. Dodds didn’t see where she went, finding himself suddenly unable to tear his eyes away from Barber’s stomach.

  “I really, really wish I hadn’t gotten out of bed this morning,” he said.

  *

  Within a small corridor of Arlos starport, next to an airlock, a dozing man blinked awake as he heard a control panel emit a short bleep. He looked up to see the red light that had once indicated that the airlock was sealed, had now turned green. He shook himself further awake just as the door slid open, and felt his heart almost stop as he saw his worst nightmare step on through.

  Clad in black suits, helmets covering their heads and faces, the six new arrivals to the port paused for only a brief moment before they drew their weapons. Bright, ruby-red eyes fell on the man who sat on the floor only metres from where they’d entered.

  He began to struggle to his feet, eyes wide. A scream lodged itself in his throat, as if it was unwilling to expose itself to the invaders. A shotgun was levelled at him. There came a sound of thunder and tremendous pain ripped through his chest. He toppled backward and gasped as the agony mixed with shock and disbelief.

  Why? WHY? He had been safe here! They had all been safe here! Just a few more hours and he could’ve gotten away! He should’ve made a bigger effort to get on that last ship out! It wasn’t fair! Why him? Just a few more hours …

  He raised a quivering, pleading hand towards the ruby-red eyes, begging them to spare his life. He tried to speak, but the scream was still blocking his throat, a thin gasp all he managed. It did him no good, a second round exploding from the shotgun, finishing what the first had started.

  As his vision faded, he saw the invaders start forward, preparing to deal the same fate, via a multitude of different weapons, to the other refugees sharing the corridor. They would kill everyone who appeared before them, taking no prisoners and sparing no lives.

  *

  “We’re going to have to cut her open,” Estelle said, unable to wrench her eyes away from Barber’s face. The thought was already starting to turn her stomach. She looked to Kelly, who was still backing off, a hand on her own stomach, as if attempting to quell the churning within. Their eyes met.

  “I’ll keep watch!” Kelly suddenly volunteered, before darting out of the mortuary, without waiting for any acknowledgement from her commanding officer.

  “I’ll go with her,” Enrique added, before he too bolted out the room, leaving Estelle, Dodds and Chaz by the gurney. The three stood in silence for a long moment, looking from one another, to Barber’s body, and back again.

  “Right … right,” Estelle said, snapping out of her trance. Though she had tried to deny it,
Enrique was right. The thing they had come for must be inside the dead woman, and there was only one way to get it out. She turned away and began looking around the mortuary, finding what she was searching for at one end of the room. Her fingers brushed over a number of stainless steel medical implements, before they closed around the one she needed. Grasping it firmly in her hand she returned to the two men, who hadn’t moved from the gurney.

  “No!” Dodds exclaimed, backing immediately away.

  Estelle thrust the scalpel towards him, ignoring his protest. “Dodds—” she began, her voice a little shaky.

  “No!” Dodds repeated, retreating to the other side of the gurney and putting the dead woman between the two of them. “No way, not happening! And certainly not with that,” he added, pointing to the scalpel, “that … archaic tool! Isn’t there a laser cutter?”

  “No,” Estelle said, “we have to use this.” She heard it come almost as an apology.

  “Why? Cutters are good enough for organs,” Dodds said.

  “Because if the card’s in there, the beam could damage it. Now, come on, Dodds.” She made to walk around the gurney.

  “No, Estelle, stay there! No, Estelle, stay! You’ll have to do it. I can’t.” His voice was shaking, his face showing unmistakable signs of distress.

  “I’m not doing it,” Estelle said.

  “Why not?”

  “Because I’m your superior and … and I’m ordering you to.”

  Dodds’ distress disappeared for a fraction of a second. “You’re ordering me to?” he said incredulously.

  “Yes, Dodds, I’m ordering you to.” Her voice was shaking again, as was the scalpel she held. She caught the reflection of her own face in the blade. It didn’t look confident.

  Dodds gave a tiny, humourless chuckle. “Well, then I guess I’m going to have to disobey that order, Lieutenant.”

  “Dodds!”

  “What are you going to do about it, Estelle?” Dodds said, throwing his hands up in the air. “File a report to say I defied your orders to cut open a dead woman, because I was too scared? In that case, you’d better be prepared to add yourself, Kelly and Enrique to the list.”