“Jozi may have been killed,” said Ozzy through gritted teeth.
“Sometimes that’s the price we pay.”
Ozzy’s heart burned like a hot knife was stabbing into it. “So, she’s going to die?” He wasn’t sure if Jonas had seen her yet or if his med-techbots had started working on her, but whether she was going to live or not, Jonas setting him up like this stamped it clearly into his mind that he wasn’t working for Jonas anymore or any crime lord from this point forward.
“Ozzy, I know you may not feel good about what I did or if your friend is going to live, but this was something I had to do. It was a gamble, and you get nowhere in this business if you’re not willing to take these calculated risks.”
Ozzy stiffened. “You didn’t risk your life, you risked mine and my friends’ lives.” He took in a deep breath. “Jonas, please understand when I say this, I’m a little too tired and worn out to do any work for you or anyone else. At least for a while. I’m going to have to turn down the job.”
Jonas frowned. “What job?”
“The job to get the sphere from Earth and return it to Mars. You can find someone else. I’m sure any archaeologist would jump at the opportunity if you pay them as much as you were going to pay me.”
“Trust me, I didn’t want to set you up like I did, but it got what I wanted. It almost worked perfectly.”
“I’m serious. No more digs.”
Jonas quieted and glared at Ozzy. He nodded his head, saying calmly, “That won’t do.” He shifted his gaze to the pilot. “Pilot, turn your ship around and head back to Ozzy’s Eagle.”
Ozzy threw his hands out. “Wait, no. I’m refusing to work for you.”
“A deal is a deal. You’re going to Earth.”
“The hell I am.”
“Your daughter, your ex-wife, and your brother are safe with me, but if you don’t go on this agreed upon mission, they won’t be for much longer. Do you understand?”
Ozzy shifted in his seat. Jonas was supposed to be somewhat of a buddy. He had always trusted Jonas, so why was he acting like this? “I don’t understand. You wouldn’t harm my family.”
“Ozzy, this is business. Don’t take it so hard.”
There had to be something he could do to change Jonas’s mind, and then it hit him like a ton of bricks. He sat straighter and forced a smile. “If I can get you the High Judge position, would you hire another forbidden archaeologist for this find?”
Jonas scratched the stubble on his chin. “I’m listening.”
“If you can grab Anonymity, do so. Robert is dead, therefore, Anonymity doesn’t have an arrangement with the High Judge anymore. Everything that I gave him to expose Robert is still with Anonymity, and if you can pay him top dollar, you can show how corrupt the High Judge was and even those in the Ministry. It should pave an easier way for you to get the High Judge seat.”
Jonas nodded. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of that. Excellent, Ozzy. You see, you’re a valuable asset to have.”
Ozzy’s heart lifted. “So, you’ll do it?”
“I think I will.”
Ozzy let out a long breath. “Thank you, Jonas.”
Jonas put his finger up. “Don’t think I’m hiring someone else, though. You’re still going on the mission.”
“What?”
“Once I have the sphere in my arms, you’ll have your daughter and your family back in yours.”
Ozzy’s heart beat faster and a rush of anger gravitated to his throat. He narrowed his eyes. “Wait a minute.” A lot of things started adding up like they didn’t before, and in rapid succession. Perhaps it was because, as Gragas said, Ozzy was of the bloodline and his gift allowed him the ability to decode things more quickly than others. “You piece of shit. This wasn’t the only thing you set me up with, is it?”
Jonas didn’t say a word, his eyes locked on Ozzy’s.
Ozzy frowned. “You set me up this entire time. The devices around the arched doorway at Ares Monument. I thought those were strange and human-made technology. The devices around the fake crystal sphere that I found inside Ares Monument were human-made as well. And that woman, Shar? She was the size of a human because she was human.”
How could he be so stupid?
He should have known the first time he laid eyes on her. Ancient Martians towered over Earthlings. Shar should have been twice his height and twice his width. She wasn’t a Martian at all.
The pilot lowered the craft and was coming up on the Eagle. Blown-out ships were strewn in hunks of metal around it.
Jonas shrugged. “I did what I had to do. The invading Dunrakee took that sphere during the time you held them off with the Ark of the Concordant.” He took a deep breath. “My crew and I went into Ares Monument to find it, and when we figured out it was gone, I devised a plan to get it back. The real sphere was there less than a month ago before the Dunrakee stole it, and that’s why I had to create a fake sphere and plant it in the mountain.” He crossed his arms. “We had holocams strategically positioned throughout Ares Monument, and when Jozi tried to walk through the fake shield separating both rooms, we zapped her. But when you and Gragas attempted, we didn’t. In a sense, we fooled you.” He dipped his head. “I want you to trust me, Ozzy, and that’s why I’m telling you. You’re like family to me, so don’t forget that.”
If Ozzy could, he’d pull the prick through the screen and punch him in the nose. All of this was a sham? “Then are you saying the sphere isn’t buried where the map said it was?” Jonas probably made up that map as well.
“Oh, it’s on Earth but not buried. The holographic map coming from the fake sphere you found was my creation. We put this entire plan together to entice you to go find the sphere on Earth.” He looked over his shoulder and back at Ozzy. “It worked.”
The screen went black.
Ozzy slapped his hands together. “That piece of Mars dung. If I go to Earth, I’m going to have to figure out where the hell the sphere is located because it’s sure as Mars not where the map said it was. It’s probably in some damn Dunrakee leader’s bedroom.”
He was once again between a rock and a hard place.
Quad stiffened. “Do you want me to kill Jonas? I’ll lower my fee by half.”
Ozzy pushed the question away. “No.” That could end up being a blood bath, and his family would come up with the short end of that stick like they always did. “I’ll figure a way out of this.”
The pilot brought the craft into a hover. “I’m sorry, boys, orders are orders. A word to the wise: if you don’t do what Jonas asks, your family won’t be alive much longer.”
If Ozzy goes to Earth to find a sphere without its exact whereabouts, then he wouldn’t be alive much longer either.
46
Olympus Mons, Mars
Ozzy’s S-4 Jumper was a burnt mess. Luckily for him, Mars didn’t have much oxygen in the atmosphere or else his entire ship would be a pile of ash. The fire only burned as long as Relic’s internal oxygen tanks leaked, and they leaked dry quickly.
Ozzy and Quad waded through the mess in his storage bay, heading for the door to the room that housed Indigo. He needed that rock to evade anyone and everyone when he took the Eagle for himself. He’d figure a way out of Jonas’s diabolical plan to get him to go to Earth.
Ozzy pointed. “Quad, can you do me a favor and blast that door open for me?”
Quad reached around his belt and pulled out a detonation device. He placed it on the door and stepped back, using his arm to push Ozzy back as well.
Baroom!
The door flew off its hinges and tumbled across the floor. It slid and stopped at the base of the pillar that strapped Indigo in place.
Ozzy unstrapped Indigo.
“I can’t go to Earth with you, Ozzy. I have another job.”
Ozzy nodded while walking down the ramp to the outside. “I’m not planning to go to Earth. It’s the last thing I’m going to do. The first thing I’m going to do, however, is free my family
from Jonas.”
He trudged to the Eagle, wishing he’d picked a different life and hoping he’d be able to see his daughter again. His boots spat up dust at every step he took across the sandy mountain base. He stopped and turned to Olympus Mons, eyeing the holographic image of a rock outcropping that covered up the true image inside—a castle-like structure in the mountain—Ozzy’s newest squatting area.
“Ozzy,” said Quad, standing next to him. “I learned something from Gragas.”
Ozzy flinched, and an ache punched him in the gut. He’d almost forgotten about Gragas and Jozi, and he had no idea if Jozi were still alive. “What’s that?”
Quad touched a button on his belt. Gragas’s voice boomed through the external mic on Quad’s helmet. “For a friend, overstepping is more important than understepping for the sake of a code.”
Quad turned it off. “I came back to help my friends. I came back to help you.”
Ozzy tilted his head to the right. “Thank you. Without you, I’d be dead, or worse, in prison.”
“I know,” replied Quad in his gruff, robotic voice. He stepped back. “I must go.”
Ozzy nodded. “I’ll see you when I see you.”
Quad crouched then jumped, his boots making an odd sound as they lifted him into the air. Whatever technology Quad had, it was something new and spectacular to witness.
Quad shot into the sky and arched over a short peak on the mountain range. He vanished from sight.
Ozzy paused. It would have been nice to keep Quad around, but life wasn’t ever that easy for Ozzy. He’d become the poster boy for things going wrong and for people double-crossing him.
He stepped forward, finding himself underneath the Eagle’s belly and near the middle of the craft where the ramp to get inside was located.
Above him was a large piece of paper taped next to the ramp and full of codes and login data for the ship.
“Way to keep it mysterious, Lyra No Tail.” Anybody could have moseyed on over and used the codes to get in the craft and steal it.
Lucky for Ozzy, he was at the base of Olympus Mons, and there wasn’t anyone in their right mind around here looking for flying rigs to take.
He gazed upon the note, framed it in his helmet cam, and took a picture. He reached up to the control box next to the ramp and typed the code. The ship shuddered and hissed loudly like Relic always did.
The ramp unfolded, setting down on the Martian sand.
He held Indigo in his arms and ambled inside.
He was in the Eagle’s lobby. This ship was a lap of luxury. Couches, fancy chairs, and a holovid were in the entry room. Corridors in all four directions led to other spacious accommodations.
He wasn’t on a ship. He was on a flying mansion.
“Ozzy,” came a voice that sounded too much like Jonas. “I have a surprise coming for you.”
Ozzy pressed a button next to the ramp opening, and the ramp moved upward and closed. He walked down a corridor lined with several doors until he made it onto the bridge.
“Holy of all Holy’s,” he said under his breath.
The space was massive and mimicked a small star cruiser’s bridge. It held a captain’s chair, a helm, and numerous stations all around. Would he need an entire crew to fly this thing?
“Ozzy, pay attention.”
Ozzy glanced at the movie screen-sized holodisplay at the room’s bow. “What is it?”
“The surprise.” Jonas’s eyes glowed. Something was making the guy a little happier than usual.
Ozzy furrowed his brow and stepped around the captain’s chair and sat down. The smooth, silky leather automatically molded to his back. “Yeah?”
“I have a package coming for you. After you receive it, get the Eagle in your little hideout inside Olympus Mons. You can then rest up before you go to Earth.”
Ozzy scoffed. “I was fine going to Earth when I thought the crystal sphere was buried somewhere. Now, I know it’s in the presence of a Dunrakee. If you wanted to kill me, Jonas, you could have just put a photon beam through my head and called it a day.”
Jonas waved his hands in the air. “Don’t start your pity party with me. You’ll get the sphere and be fine. You always are.”
Ozzy shook his head. He wasn’t going no matter what Jonas had to say. He just wouldn’t let that prick know…not yet. “I can’t believe you set me up.”
“It was the only way.” He cleared his throat. “Enough.” He slapped his hands together. “Okay, let’s get to the good stuff. I paid Anonymity, but I upped it one better. In a special private message, I’ve sent all the files to each of the high officials in the Ministry and told them that if they don’t usher me in as High Judge, I have plenty of holodocs, holoimages, and holovids of them doing some very shady things.”
“But, you don’t.”
“True, but with the information I am showing them about Robert and all the bad shit we have on him, they will take the bait.”
“Well—”
“And I’m asking to be installed tomorrow morning.”
Ozzy shook his head, his eyes widening. “Don’t you think that’s a little fast?”
“Yeah, I do. But if I give them too much time, they’ll figure out a way around my bluff. Hell, they might even find out that I’m conning them.”
Ozzy’s jaw dropped. “You’re actually doing this.”
“I actually am. Things will get better on Mars. Trust me.”
With being set up and with being thrown to the Dunrakee on Earth, Ozzy highly doubted things would get better with a lying, double-dealing man like Jonas.
“What is this surprise you have for me?” He wasn’t looking forward to any additional revelations. All he wanted was to figure out how to get his family from Jonas’s greedy paws.
“You’ll see.”
A clank on the exterior ramp echoed through the ship.
Ozzy turned and hurried out of the bridge and down the hall. Reaching the ramp, he held out his photon gun and pressed the ramp button.
Steam expelled and the ramp unfolded, dropping to the ground.
His eyebrows rose and he backed up, gasping loudly. “Son of a—”
47
Olympus Mons, Mars
A squad of men, all decked out in military-grade EVA suits with weapons galore, stepped on the ramp and headed toward Ozzy.
“Don’t move,” warned Ozzy, pulling out his other sidearm, now holding a gun in each hand and pointing them at the oncoming soldiers.
“Ozzy, stand down.” It was Gragas somewhere in the back of the pack. “We’re heading on up.”
Ozzy holstered his guns and stepped aside. A crew of men and women carried up wood crates, setting them on the shiny, polished floor.
Two men walked by Ozzy, placing a burnt crate on the white sofa. It was the box holding the Ark of the Concordant.
The soldiers were silent as they marched back down the ramp.
“Gragas, where are you?”
“Down here.”
Gragas had his arm around Jozi and was helping her up the ramp. She was limping, but other than that, she looked fine. Jonas’s medbots worked a miracle.
Gragas and Jozi made it to the top of the ramp and into the entryway lobby. Ozzy went to shut the ramp, but Gragas grabbed his arm. “I’m leaving.”
Ozzy’s stomach sank. “But I need your assistance. I’m not going to Earth. I’m going to find a way to get my family back, and then I’m blasting off this planet for good.”
“I’m sorry. I must get back to my Knights. I have challenges I need to tend to, plus I would be overstepping the code to help you…again.”
Ozzy huffed, crossing his arms over his stomach. “I thought you said the code doesn’t necessarily go above helping friends when they need it.”
Gragas rested his hand on Ozzy’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. You’re a friend, but I can’t go this far over the code. I’ll be violating Galactic Knight protocol and assisting you too much. I can’t overstep that type of boundary. My K
nights would be decommissioned.”
“Decommissioned by who?” asked Ozzy.
Gragas didn’t answer, and, instead, helped Jozi to a chair. She cautiously sat down and rested her head on the backrest. She was going to live, that was for sure, but Ozzy could tell she was in some massive pain.
“There is nothing I can do to change your mind?”
Gragas shook his head. “Nothing.” He bowed. “Be well, Ozzy. And most of all, be safe.”
He walked down the ramp. Ozzy bit his lower lip, wanting to bite all the way through. How the hell was he going to get his family back?
With Gragas, it would have been a quick in and out extraction.
“Ozzy,” said Jozi, her voice soft and weak. “There is another thing.”
“What is it?”
“Jonas’s surprise for you.”
He could tell from Jozi’s voice that he wouldn’t like the surprise.
“When we get the sphere, he wants you to use the crystal skulls, the crystal sphere, and the Ark of the Concordant to obliterate every Dunrakee on Earth.”
“I’m not getting the sphere.”
Jozi cringed, attempting to hold in her pain. She leaned forward, staring Ozzy directly in the eyes. “Yes, you are.”
Ozzy let out a quick laugh. “You’re joking, right?”
She shook her head. “Do something right for humanity for the first time in your life.”
Ozzy gulped. “Excuse me? You want me to forgo saving my family and destroy the Dunrakee?”
“Yes. This is something that will save humanity for the remainder of our days and a way we can get back our home world. This is Jonas’s plan, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I back him on it. Him taking over the Ministry is something I can’t stand and something I’ll be firmly against, yet his plan to have you and me sneak onto Earth and erase every Dunrakee is sound and, by all intents and purposes, I’m all for it. I owe this to everyone. And so do you. We will be at peace in the solar system once again.”
Martian Quadrilogy Box Set Page 59
