“Oh, there are all manner of spirits here, and no shortage of the macabre,” the groundskeeper said with a shrug. “They come and go as they please. But you, my friend, you are something special. I was ready to hop in, but you looked like you had them. Your face okay? You’re bleeding.”
I touched a hand to my hairline. It came back sticky with blood.
“I’ll be fine,” I said, handing the man back his shovel. “Here you go.”
“Thanks,” the groundskeeper said, accepting the tool. “Shelly did good for herself.”
“You name your shovels?” I asked.
“Of course, and not just my shovels; all my tools,” the groundskeeper said with another crazy grin. “We’re a little family here.”
“Whatever floats your boat, old timer,” I called, heading for the cemetery gates.
“Hey, all fooling aside, you should be careful. If that kid was telling the truth, the mayor of Athens is not a pushover,” the groundskeeper warned. “The Drakes are a powerful family here. You best watch your back.”
“Will do,” I said, throwing a hand over my shoulder.
I walked out of the cemetery, jumping the locked gate like I had when we entered.
The vehicle we had “borrowed” to get here in the first place waited for us outside. But I had a ride coming for me. In hours, I’d be in the Hall of Power with an alien invasion to explain.
X and I waited outside of the cemetery in silence. The best thing about X was she was as comfortable with the silence as I was. Neither of us felt compelled to carry on a conversation for the sake of passing the time. Each of us was lost to his or her own thoughts.
“Hey, X,” I asked. “What would you do if you could do anything? I mean, if you weren’t assigned to help as an AI.”
“What do you mean?” X asked.
I could already tell she was dissecting the question, analyzing it from every possible angle.
“You know, if you could do whatever you wanted, what would you do?” I clarified. “First thing that comes to mind. Don’t overthink it.”
“Well, I guess I would help you. You’re my friend,” X answered. “Besides, I like to help. That was what I was created for.”
“Right but let’s say there’s an alternate universe where you didn’t know me and you weren’t programmed to want to help, then what would you do?” I asked.
X was silent for a long time.
“I guess—I don’t know,” X said. She sounded disturbed by the idea that she didn’t immediately have an answer for something. “Common answers would be to practice some kind of art I enjoy, maybe travel, relax, but I honestly don’t know what I would do. Maybe I never will.”
“If you ever want out of this, you give me the word,” I told her. “I mean, I’m in a mess here. If you wanted out, I understand.”
“Stop,” X said. “If I wanted out, I’d just sent an electric pulse that would fry your brain and then I’d be free.”
“You can do that?” I asked, my eyes going wide.
“Maybe,” X teased me. “Seriously, I wouldn’t rather be anywhere else. You’re a good man, Daniel. We’ll figure this out. Plus, we’re on the eve of an alien invasion. Who doesn’t want a front row seat to that?”
A praetorian heavy assault vehicle rolled down the deserted street. It looked like an armored truck capable of carrying a complete platoon of the foot soldiers of the Galactic Government.
They stopped at the stolen vehicle up the street and shone powerful lights on the exterior of the vehicle.
“Think we should run?” I asked. “If they link that stolen vehicle to us?”
“No way they can,” X answered. “I mean, running might be a good idea, though. In your current state of dress, you look like a zombie.”
A second later, it was too late. The Praetorian vehicle spotted me and shone one of the bright searchlights on me.
I blinked under the brilliance of the searchlight. I lifted a hand to shield my eyes.
The vehicle rolled up to me.
The passenger side tinted window of the assault vehicle rolled down. A praetorian with hard eyes and buzz cut eyed me.
“You got an ID chip on you?” he asked, taking note of my MK II. “You have a walking permit for that weapon?”
“I’m with Immortal Corp,” I answered. “Waiting on a dropship from Captain Zoe Valentine.”
Both the driver, who I couldn’t see, and the passenger broke out in a roar of laughter.
“You here that, Odie?” The driver of the vehicle leaned over in his mustard colored armor to take a look at me. “He’s waiting for a dropship to pick him up.”
“You high on stim or something?” Odie asked me, finishing his laugh. “You better have an ID chip and permit or you’re going in.”
“Wait, wait, let him tell us more,” the praetorian driver said, tears coming out of his eyes. “Let me guess, you’ve seen aliens or are involved in some kind of secret government conspiracy.”
“You boys are going to get a kick out of this one,” I said with a shrug. “Yeah, aliens are coming to kill and enslave humankind in six days. They’re starting with Mars first.”
Another gale of laughter exploded from the vehicle. This time, Odie even lost it like his counterpart, wiping away tears from his eyes, he was laughing so hard.
“Oh boy, well, crazy, you’re going in for at least a night in the tank until we can get you sorted,” Odie said. “Hands in the air away from the weapon.”
I lifted my hands as ordered. “Can you at least check out my contact? Captain Zoe Valentine? She’ll tell you all you need to know.”
“All right, all right,” Odie said, stepping down from the vehicle with his partner. The driver trained a rifle at my chest while Odie walked behind me. “Let’s get you nice and cuffed and weapon free and then we can talk to this captain or Santa Claus or whoever else you want to call for help.”
My adrenaline spiked. I couldn’t get taken in. As it was, I was already late for the meeting at the Hall of Power. If I went with the praetorians now, who knew how much longer it would take?
Lucky for me and the two prats about to cuff me, the distant hum of a dropship met our ears.
The pair of praetorians searched the sky. Both soldiers pointed their weapons at the approaching bird.
“Tapping into the Galactic Government channel now,” X said in my head.
“Praetorian Unit 2571,” a female voice spoke over the open channel. “This is Captain Zoe Valentine under the order of the Hall of Power and Colonel Jonah Strife. You are ordered to stand down. The asset you are apprehending is coming with us.”
I had never enjoyed being called an asset that much. Come to think of it, I had never wanted to be picked up by the GG either.
Both Odie and the praetorian driver lowered their weapons and looked at me in awe.
“Yes, ma’am,” Odie answered into his earpiece.
The noise level increased as the dropship landed in the street beside us. Wind buffeted us back as the ship came to a rest. The rear ramp opened. Zoe Valentine exited in her armor.
I had forgotten how much of a warrior she actually looked like. Some people were deceiving in who they were or what they did for a living. Not Captain Zoe Valentine.
She walked with her head high. Her helmet was attached to her belt with a magnetic lock. The roaring saber-tooth, emblem of the Galactic Government, branded on the left shoulder of her armor with pride. One side of her head was shaved while the other came down in a long braid.
Both Odie and the praetorian with him saluted.
Zoe returned the salute. She came over to me with a scowl on her face.
“What in the name of Frum happened to you?” she asked, looking at the praetorians with a suspicious stare. “They rough you up?”
“No, I, uh—I fell into a hole,” I lied.
“Some hole,” Zoe said, looking at my bloody knuckles and filthy face. “Well, come on. We need to head back to Athens ASAP. The Hall of Power is wait
ing.”
Three
The ride back to Athens from Elysium was short. Zoe gave me a damp cloth to clean up as best I could. I had recovered my MK II from a speechless Odie before we left. The Order mask was tucked securely in my pants pocket.
“So aliens, huh?” Zoe asked as I wiped my face with the damp cloth. “Still sticking to that story?”
“Not a story,” I said, sawing back and forth in my seat in the dropship as the craft hit a bump of turbulence. “I wish it was all a lie.”
“Yeah, me too,” Zoe said, pursing her lips. “I was ready to write you off as a stim head when I contacted the major about it. So happened you aren’t the only one speaking about aliens on the far side of Mars. Witnesses say a Way settlement was attacked by them and some big wigs in legislation were also whispering about a coming threat.”
I didn’t tell her, but I knew where the extra pressure was being applied. Enoch and those in the Way settlement we had helped to defend were back in the city spreading the word.
I guessed the big wigs Zoe spoke of were Immortal Corp’s own inside assets in the Galactic Government pulling strings to get the brass to listen.
“I’m still not sure how far this will go,” Zoe said with a shrug. “They’ve agreed to a meeting but mobilizing the Praetorian Corps is another thing all together.”
“It’s a start,” I answered above the whine of the ship’s engines. “You believe me now, right?”
“I don’t know how I can’t,” Zoe said with a long sigh. “I saw the images. If you can present a body of one of these aliens, I think I’m going to have to believe you. But what do they want? Why us?”
I remembered back to my conversations with the Voy interrogators. I reached a hand up to my throat, feeling the phantom pain of the doctoid they used as torture. The small insect had burrowed into my skin and attached itself around my throat. I was surprised I hadn’t had nightmares about that yet.
“Our colonization of the moon and Mars sent warning signals out to the galaxy,” I explained. “Apparently, that means we reached a sufficient level of intelligence for them to come take a look. They want us for a work force, nothing else.”
“How many?” Zoe asked as the dropship reduced speed and began our descent. “What’s the size of their force on Mars?”
I thought back to the thousands of Voy I had seen, the way they grew them in those sacks. Truth be told, I didn’t have an exact number.
“A lot,” I emphasized. “Thousands, maybe more.”
We rode the rest of the way in silence. I could see the wheels turning in Zoe’s head as she thought about tactics, how much we still needed to know, and what the fallout of a battle would be.
The dropship came to a soft landing and the rear doors opened. Zoe led the way from the dropship, motioning me to follow.
I had never been to the Hall of Power. I knew it was the headquarters of the Galactic Government where all the politicking and bureaucracy existed. To be honest, I had never been much for politics. It seemed like a lot of arguing with words and emotion. If I felt really strongly about something I’d rather just use my fists.
The landing area was a massive outside circular pad with stone columns on the border. Giant banners with the Galactic Government sigil of a saber-tooth tiger with an open mouth were displayed every few meters.
Even at this hour, there were GG pilots jogging to and from dropships, containers being loaded and unloaded, and men and women at work.
I received a few inquisitive stares, but nothing that stopped our progress. Salutes were traded between Zoe and a few of those we passed, but nothing more.
We followed a long walkway also lined with stone pillars to a building guarded by a pair of praetorians. Unlike most praetorians, these wore black armor with a gold emblem of the GG on their left shoulders.
Zoe showed them a data chip with permission to enter. They traded looks then eyed me before one of them motioned to my weapons.
“You’ll have to leave that with us if you want in,” the female guard said. “You can pick it up here later. No weapons inside the Hall of Power.”
I would have argued if I thought that was going to do anything. The look in the guard’s eyes told me any kind of verbal sparring would be an act in futility. I handed over my MK II.
When Zoe and I walked into the building, a silver light scanned us for weapons. Since we were both clean, no alarms sounded. We continued on our way.
Everywhere I looked, there were guards stationed, some in the traditional mustard-colored armor like Zoe, others wearing the black body armor.
“What’s the black armor mean?” I couldn’t help but ask Zoe as we traveled through the building made of marble floors and stone walls.
“They belong to a special military branch of the GG called the Shadow Praetorians,” Zoe explained. “An elite group that really knows how to take it to the enemy.”
The answer was sufficient to satisfy my inquiry. We turned a corner, where not to my surprise, another pair of Shadow Praetorian waited in front of a set of wide double doors. Standing with them was Wesley Cage.
I think it was the first time I had seen the man without a cigar in his mouth. He sported his normal trench coat and this time wore a uniform underneath. I recognized the design. It was an old Galactic Government dress uniform equipped with enough medals to make me wonder how it stayed up at all and didn’t tear from the weight.
“Glad you could make it,” Wesley said, eyeing me seriously. “You find what you were looking for?”
“Not even close,” I answered.
Zoe went over to the praetorian guards, exchanging a few words with them. It gave me the opportunity to dig into my pocket and come back with the bloody Order mask.
“This is all that was in the grave,” I said with a hard stare. “Tell me you didn’t know.”
“I didn’t know,” Wesley affirmed, looking me dead in the eye. “After we deal with the Voy threat, things at Immortal Corp are going to have to change. I understand that now. Are you able to see past your hate and do what we need you to do right now?”
I clenched the mask in my right hand so hard, it shook.
“I am,” I growled through gritted teeth. “But I’m done with these games. I’m going to find her if that means taking apart Immortal Corp from the top down.”
“You have no argument from me,” Wesley said with a hard nod. “Jax and Angel aren’t going to stop you either; heck, they might even help you. Immortal Corp isn’t the same company we started with. Somewhere along the way, the Founders lost who they were.”
“You two ready?” Zoe asked, coming over to us. “We’re about to be let in. Try not to make me look like a fool for helping set this up.”
She looked at me when she said that last part.
“Why are you looking at me?” I asked, shoving the mask back in my pocket. “Wesley’s here too.”
“Because I am looking at you,” Zoe said.
Before we could exchange any more words, the doors in front of us opened. I rubbed the weariness from my eyes as we walked in. I had no idea what time it was, but I knew it was late.
The chamber we walked into was square with high ceilings. In front of us was a panel of seats with five men who sat in crisp mustard yellow uniforms. Like Wesley, they had a myriad of medals pinned to their chest.
At the side of the room were more Shadow Praetorian standing at attention. In the center of the chamber was a table with what looked like a long body in a silver bag.
The walls, floor, and ceiling were white stone, all the furniture in the room a dark brown. The table and seats they sat on were actual wood from the old world.
Zoe saluted them then took a step back against the wall. Wesley and I were left alone in the center of the room with the Voy body.
The five men in front of us measured us with weary eyes.
The man in the center was clean shaven with a haircut close to his scalp. His dark eyes maneuvered around me, then Wesley.
&nbs
p; “I’ve ruled this out of being any kind of hoax or fake news,” the man said in a gruff, matter-of-fact tone. “Immortal Corp has a lot of pull and that’s the only reason we’re all here. Mr. Cage, I understand you served in the Galactic Government as an officer and made a name for yourself in your day. I recognize your name, sir. Thank you for your service.”
“General Armstrong,” Wesley said with a salute. “Thank you and thank all of you for taking this meeting. I understand it is anything but protocol to meet like this with a civilian corporation.”
“Well, let’s get on with it, then.” General Armstrong didn’t even bother to ask me my name or address me. “Word is you’ve come in contact with foreign invaders who pose a threat to our way of life here on Mars.”
“That’s right,” Wesley said, moving over to the long bag on the table in front of us. “I understand it’s a lot to swallow. We have proof. I’m sure you’ve already seen the images we had sent over. Inside this bag, we have an actual body. One of our top operatives has also come face to face with them and engaged them. Daniel Hunt can answer any questions you have.”
The general didn’t look amused. He eyed me with a long stare.
“The only reason we’re here at all is because there are too many factors calling for this meeting,” General Armstrong stated. “I mean, aliens is a big pill to swallow. We’re here because Immortal Corp is a huge contributor to the Galactic Government. Let’s just be honest.”
General Armstrong rose to his feet. He was shorter than I would have guessed. He walked from the table to where the alien lay in the bag.
“I’ve already come to terms with what we’re dealing with here, but let’s look the devil in the face, shall we?” General Armstrong said.
The other four other officers in the Galactic Government joined us around the table.
Wesley unzipped the bag, opening the cover for all to see.
The alien stunk with some kind of chemical solution designed to keep the body from decomposing. The stench hit my nostrils so hard, I could taste it.
Vendetta: A Near Future Thriller (Forsaken Mercenary Book 4) Page 2