by M. D. Cooper
Erin’s grip on her loosened, and Isa nearly fell. Erin grabbed her again and pulled her close.
Isa heard a muffled curse through Erin’s helmet.
Erin didn’t explain the significance of what she’d just learned, and Isa was too weak and exhausted to understand an explanation, even if it had been offered.
They carried on walking, Erin half-carrying Isa across the difficult terrain. Concentrating on finding the Tyrian was all Isa had strength for. She could barely focus as she tried to recognize familiar spots in the mass of crystals.
The sound of running, booted feet began to echo around the cave.
Isa said.
Hearing the ice-hard tone in her partner’s voice, Isa believed she was right. There was a side to the woman she loved that she’d never seen before. The way Erin had taken one look at Martin’s body and immediately executed Pigtail in cold blood had shocked Isa, even though at the time she’d mistaken Erin for a Marine.
Isa halted as they came to the open space where Martin had broken free of his bonds.
Another few steps brought them in sight of Ada’s feet. As they walked closer, it became clear that they were too late. Ada’s arms were thrown up as if she’d been trying to defend herself. Her mouth was half-open, and her eyes were wide with fear or surprise. Isa saw the wound that Martin had inflicted, but that hadn’t been what had killed her. Another wound had opened her stomach and chest.
Erin dropped to her knees, bringing Isa down with her.
DESPERATION
STELLAR DATE: 03.22.8937 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Crystal Cave, Mount Ida Caverns
REGION: Tyre, New Canaan System
Erin stared at the corpse of the Tyrian.
SSS?
She could barely believe it. The idea that Sanctity of the Sol System terrorists had made it all the way to New Canaan boggled her mind. Everyone had thought the sabotage at Estrella de la Muerte to be their last-ditch attempt to stop the Intrepid. That some of their number had risked death as a final backup was hard to swallow.
And not only that, their desire to wreak havoc remained wholly intact, despite the Intrepid’s journey far into the future. It was no wonder she’d struggled to work out what Pippa was up to; predicting the actions of people who thought nothing of waiting centuries to destroy entire colonies, meant envisaging their madness.
But Erin had no time to try to wrap her head around the philosophy of the SSS. She had to find where the group had planted the antimatter bombs. The sites would be along the planet’s fault lines, yes, but those stretched across thousands of kilometers.
Suddenly, Isa collapsed, falling from Erin’s grasp and slumping to the cavern’s floor. Erin crouched next to her, touching her shoulder.
Walter said.
“Shit…oh, Isa.” Erin knelt beside her love, her armor’s scan gathering the woman’s vitals. She was overheating and dehydrated. On top of that, her blood pressure was dangerously low.
Onyx replied.
Erin switched to the Marine’s channel.
Erin brushed the hair from Isa’s face and frowned with concern. Initially, she’d thought all the blood on Isa had been from Martin, but on top of the heat and exhaustion, she realized that her lover had been shot in the leg and sustained a head injury. Not to mention, her knees and hands looked like someone had taken sandpaper to them.
Erin had been clinging to hope for Martin, but now she worried that she should have the same concerns for Isa.
As she waited for the Marines who would carry Isa to the surface, she thought of Usef racing up the tunnels with Martin over his shoulder, bearing the weight of an adult man as he ran, fighting gravity up the steep passageways…
If anyone can perform that feat of strength and endurance, it’s Usef. He might do it. He might make it. He might save Martin.
The image of Pippa standing over Martin’s corpse flashed into Erin’s mind. Shooting the woman had been a reflex; Erin wouldn’t have been able to stop herself had she wanted to. But she didn’t even hesitate to put an end to the terrorist’s life.
Pippa deserved to die. In the same circumstances, Erin would have done the same thing in a heartbeat…. Except maybe Usef had been right. It could have waited until after she’d interrogated her.
Erin returned her attention to Isa, who hadn’t moved at all. Erin was no doctor, but Isa looked like she was barely clinging to life.
Where are the damn Marines?
Then suddenly, they were right behind her.
Isa would hate that, Erin thought, swallowing hard. She was always careful with her hair.
Erin watched the pair carry Isa out, then she returned to the problem at hand, struggling to focus on what she needed to do. There was nothing more she could do for Martin or Isa. She had to find the antimatter bombs.
She looked down at the last hope for information from the terrorists, murdered by Pippa to prevent her from divulging the SSS’s secrets.
The fact that all the terrorists were dead, as far as Erin knew, didn’t diminish the threat they posed. There was a risk that the bombs could be on a countdown, and no reason to assume there was much time before they went off.
She considered that Pippa would have known that Max’s body would be discovered soon, and then her guilt would be clear—which was why she’d left Carthage even while under suspicion.
The woman had come to Tyre expressly to set the SSS’s plans in motion.
Why had the SSS terrorists come to this cave? Usef’s prior concern came to mind. Am I sitting on one of the detonation sites?
Erin brought up a map of Tyre’s tectonic plates.
Bingo.
One of the fault lines ran right under the crystal cave. But, assuming she could find the bomb, how could she deactivate it?
he replied, his voice filled with more sorrow than she’d expected.
Then she realized that Eamon might have been injured along with Martin. Before she could ask if the other AI had been responsive, Walter continued.
Erin said.
Walter replied, but Erin was already on her feet and reaching out to the Marines who remained in the cave.
Even though Arla seemed uncertain, Erin resolved to be optimistic. She had to be.
The Marines spread out in their search, and eleven anxious minutes later, Sergeant Grey called out.
“Shit,” Erin muttered, knowing that a kilo of antimatter was easily equivalent to a very large fusion bomb.
This deep in the crust, on a fault line below an old volcano…it would lead to tremendous damage.
Erin realized she was holding her breath, waiting for the AI to inform them of her success. When the word came that the bomb was disabled, she gasped for air.
Erin realized she had to leave. The Marines had that site covered, but she had the rest of Tyre to protect.
She turned and rushed through the obstacle course, returning to the cave entrance. As she jogged and weaved around the crystalline obstructions, she contacted Usef and Chief Kang.
Erin explained the situation to the pair. To her credit, the police chief’s reaction was calm as she faced her planet’s imminent destruction.
She was at the narrow gap leading to the great cavern that Usef had struggled to pass through. As she squeezed through, she had the vague impression that something was wrong, but couldn’t put her finger on what it was.
Onyx said.
The calm in his voice reassured Erin, and she nodded to herself as she traversed the tunnel.
Erin didn’t respond. She knew her worry wouldn’t help matters. Kang’s officers and Usef’s Marines had a difficult, urgent, dangerous job ahead of them, and they all needed to focus to find the sites in time—stars knew there were enough of them. Samuel had eleven ‘vineyards’ that were directly situated on active fault lines.
Not caring if she got wet, Erin cut partway across a shallow section of the great lake, splashing through the water to reach the narrow tunnel that led further up through the steep passageway.
The ascent promised to be arduous, and a few minutes later, her breath was coming in harsh gasps as she sped up the tunnel to the surface, heedless now of the sparkling walls.
Far below her in the crystal cave, Sergeant Grey called up.
Erin was about to reply when a shot rang out, her armor absorbing the round as it hit her side. She spun away instinctively, aghast and bewildered as she ducked behind a protrusion of rock just in time to avoid a second shot, which grazed her shoulder.
Her chest heaving, Erin tried to make sense of the situation. Who the hell could be attacking her? And how could she fight back? She was weaponless.
No, that wasn’t true. Before supporting Isa to help her walk, she’d slung her weapon across her back. It had been hanging there this whole time.
Stars, Usef would never let me out of my apartment if he knew about this.
Erin drew the gun over her shoulder and set the stock against her shoulder.
She had a rough idea of the location of her assailant from the direction of the fire. It had been coming from a nook on the opposite side of the tunnel and above her current position. Erin angled her weapon and fired, but she couldn’t shoot directly into the shadowy recess.
A third shot from her enemy flew behind her, glancing against the backs of her calves.
Stars, she couldn’t stay where she was forever, trading shots. She had to return to the police cruiser to help in the search.
Erin ran out from behind the rock protrusion and up the tunnel, spraying fire. She sped toward the crevice that hid whoever was intent on killing her, round after round spurting from her weapon.
No answering fire came. Holding her gun in front of her, she mounted the last couple of steps to the nook. Was it a trick designed to give her opponent the opportunity to shoot her at close range? Erin couldn’t help that if it was. She had to get past her assailant.
Just as she reached the hidden spot, a pair of legs in armor splayed out. Erin jumped back, stumbling a little down the slope, but the rest of the armored body quickly followed, falling toward her.
Erin stepped hastily aside. The body passed by and continued to tumble, bouncing off rocky outcrops before finally coming to rest half-hanging from a jutting rock. The person who’d been shooting at her was a Marine.
“What the…?”
Erin scanned the steep passage. No other surprises seemed to be lying in wait.
She took the long steps required to get down the rocks to reach the hanging body. The armor wasn’t latched together properly, just resting against the man’s body. She lifted the helmet and leaned forward to get a clear look at the dead man’s face. Not recognizing him, she sent the grisly image to Onyx.
Of course, the brief glimpse Erin had of him at Ushu’s air and spaceport had looked nothing like the lifeless face hanging in front of her.
Erin suddenly realized what had been wrong at the narrow gap: Usef’s armor had been missing.
“Nice try, buddy,” Erin muttered, turning away. She didn’t have time to waste looking at a corpse.
She began to run up the tunnel again and asked Chief Kang for an update.
It looked like they had a slim chance to stop this before it started.
The tunnel seemed longer going up than it had coming down. When would she reach the top? Her side hurt a little, and she remembered that was where Rahmin Butler’s shot had hit her.
Why was he there waiting for me?
Erin guessed he must have left the cave before Pippa, or she would have killed him as well as Ada. His wound would have made his progress slow.
What had he been trying to do?
Perhaps he’d been hoping he might still survive, and he’d wanted to reach the pinnace in the lot outside and escape. She and Usef must have passed him on their way down, but he’d hidden from them. Usef must have also passed him when he’d returned with Martin on his shoulder.
It had been lucky for her that she’d been armed, or Rahmin Butler might have died more satisfied. Erin wondered about her reaction when she was attacked and cornered; it hadn’t been hard to fight back with lethal force. Killing seemed to come easy to her these days.
