Ghost Black

by Matthew S. Cox

  Ghost Black

  Daughter of Mars Book 3

  Matthew S. Cox

  Ghost Black

  Daughter of Mars Book 3

  A novel by Matthew S. Cox

  © 2015 – Matthew S. Cox

  All Rights Reserved

  This book is a work of fiction. Any similarities to actual persons, places, or powerful artificial intelligences is unintentional. No portion of this book may be reproduced without written permission from the author.

  ISBN (ebook): 978-1-949174-40-3

  ISBN (print): 978-1-949174-41-0

  Contents

  1. Whirlwind

  2. Behind the Curtain

  3. A Prophecy Clear

  4. Someone Thought Dead

  5. Death Row Pardon

  6. The Last Day on Mars

  7. So Shiny

  8. Threat Neutralized

  9. Quality Time

  10. The Eye of the Storm

  11. Genevieve

  12. Fools and Shadows

  13. The Merchant of Death

  14. Street Cred

  15. One Less Monkey

  16. Autonomous

  17. Marionettes

  18. Ghost on the Wire

  19. Logistics

  20. Nascent Normal

  21. A Hidden War

  22. The Dark Side

  23. Open Door Policy

  24. Twelve Hours

  25. An Impossible Choice

  26. Rats in the Walls

  27. Game Over

  28. Black Swan

  29. Retirement Plan

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Other books by Matthew S. Cox

  1

  Whirlwind

  Frayed wires draped from a gouge in the wall where a section of plastisteel panel had suffered small arms fire. Risa held her breath for the moment it took her to hurry forward through the cloud of smoke. Air in the subterranean street still tasted like scorched plastic and flesh, though no sign remained of those involved in the shootout. Two figures in dull-crimson jumpsuits hovered by the damage; the white letters ‘ECMA’ across their backs identified them as city employees. One busied himself with a datapad while the other ran her hand around the damage. A handful of locals passed in the opposite direction; no one paid the workers notice, their presence merely another ubiquitous component in the great ecosystem of Elysium City.

  Risa paused to stare at the technicians. The Municipal Authority never shows up that quick. I can still smell the ballistic propellant. She glanced back at Pavo, slowed by his effort to navigate the sparse mass of pedestrians without dropping a pair of steaming noodle bowls. Nothing in this place ever gets fixed that fast without money changing hands. She observed the workers for a moment more, but they didn’t do anything to raise her suspicions further―other than arriving before the bodies had likely reached the morgue.

  Pavo had an apartment on Tier 4, which put it four stories plus twenty meters of dirt and rock underground. Sure, Elysium City had a sizable surface portion… but the rent down here was a quarter what it would’ve cost to live topside.

  The female tech seemed to react to Risa’s pointed look and made eye contact. Another Marsborn, snow-white skin stark under a violet bob. She returned a confused smile, as if some random citizen even acknowledging ECMA workers existed was a rare event―or more likely, those ‘technicians’ had been sent to watch her back… or watch her.

  Or, perhaps ordinary workers had simply been fast today.

  Risa offered a nod of acknowledgement and the woman returned her attention to tinkering with some electronic device.

  Pavo brushed past Risa and headed for his apartment door. “What?”

  She walked after him, her attention still on the open panel in the wall spewing sparks. “Something’s not right. They’re not doing anything but standing there.”

  “They’re ECMA. Standing there is what they do.”

  Risa hurried a step and poked him in the side. “I’m serious, Pavo.”

  He stopped. “You’re starting to sound paranoid. Those two are probably doing an initial site survey so they know what parts to bring for the repair.”

  “Bots are supposed to do that.” Risa pulled her hair off her face and looked up at him. “Aren’t they?”

  Pavo grinned. “If there were a pair of orbs hanging there instead, would you suspect them of being spies too?”

  “Probably.” Risa folded her arms, and lowered her gaze. “I think my brain is fried. Too much, too fast.”

  He gestured with a soup bowl in the direction they’d been walking. “Everett did say we need to lay low for a while. You’ll feel better inside.”

  Risa unthreaded her arms; the smirking grin on his face made her heart swell. She could only tolerate two seconds of gazing into his slate-grey eyes before shying away. Despite the haze of exhaustion, his feelings for her showed clear. How could he brush off being abducted so easily? The artificial orbs in her skull could offer only cold plastisteel and violet light in return. She laid her head against his shoulder, clinging, not wanting him to see her false eyes.

  “Now what?” He managed an awkward hug with a plastic bowl in each hand.

  She shivered. “I don’t want to wake up. I know I’m back at the safe house, asleep… or maybe I didn’t survive Bliss.”

  “You’re taking recreational chems now?”

  Risa chuckled. “No, ass. Bliss the city.”

  “What?” he yelled, then stammered a second before recovering his composure and continuing in a hoarse whisper-shout. “They sent you to the goddamned heart of Corp territory?”

  She kept staring at the ground.

  “Risa… Don’t give me the silent thing.”

  “Yeah,” she whispered. “I thought you were dead. I…”―she covered her mouth with one hand―“went out there not expecting to come back.”

  He prodded her with a bowl. “Inside. I need to hear this.”

  She walked backward for three steps. “I’m not sure I want to tell you.” She waited for him to pass, then followed. “You’ll never let me out again.”

  “Oh, as if you’d listen to me.” He chuckled.

  Risa glanced over her shoulder every so often as they walked down the subterranean street. Every fifty meters, crossing tunnels led off on both sides into various degrees of darkness depending on how many lights had been shot out. The occasional person coming the other way nodded at them in greeting.

  Pavo eventually took a right turn down the passage containing the façade of his apartment. Four on-duty MDF officers coming the other way paused long enough to fist bump him as they went by. Cush job, patrolling the Housing Block one lived in. Since Risa had learned C-Branch created the Martian Liberation Front, a sector populated mostly by Mars Defense Force people didn’t quite scare the hell out of her like it once had. Risa shadowed him across the lobby to the elevator. The building extended down some forty more levels like a skyscraper built in reverse. Elysium City stopped at Tier 4, but a handful of ‘low-rises’ kept on going. The elevator let them off on the -4th floor, where Pavo’s living quarters waited nine doors down the corridor on the left.

  He edged up to the door and grumbled when the panel refused to beep.

  “Damn. I’m going to need a new ’mini.”

  “Uhh, about your apartment.” She filled her lungs through her nostrils.

  Pavo came about in a slow turn, eyebrow raised. “What did you do?”

  “Oh…”―she smiled―“Nothing major. I just, uhh, let someone stay here.”

  He blinked. “You left Kree alone?”

  “No.” Risa cringed inwardly. I still can’t even get her out of the safehouse. She waved her NetMini over the silver rectangle on the wall. The panel c
hirped and the door slid to the side with a short pfft of air. “It’s another long story.”

  The living room looked as tidy as a demo unit. Genevieve perched on the couch in a thigh-length pink T-shirt, bare feet up on the coffee table and attention glued to the holo-panel on which played one of the Monwyn movies. A two-inch orb-bot hovered around her toes, layering nail enamel into floral patterns.

  “At least your friend cleaned…” Pavo walked in, looking around. “This is my apartment, isn’t it? We didn’t go into the wrong one?”

  Risa slipped in behind him. “You can’t tell anyone she’s here.”

  Genevieve waved at the video display, pausing it. “Wow, Bit, where the hell did you find him? Is Maris recruiting the homeless now?”

  “Gen… this is Pavo.”

  The redhead’s eyes shot wide open. “Holy shit!” She tossed her bowl of pretzels on the table and ran over, leaving the tiny nail-painting orb spinning in midair. “You told me he was dead!”

  Risa braced for impact seconds before a suffocating hug almost took her off her feet. “We landed twenty minutes ago. C-Branch was holding him in a remote camp.”

  “Bit? That’s cute.” Pavo smiled as he headed for the small kitchen. He flopped in a chair at the table and attacked one of the noodle bowls. “Genevieve, huh? Looks like Risa’s gotten into the habit of collecting the supposedly-dead.”

  Genevieve laughed. “Not her fault… I faked it.”

  He coughed, trying to laugh and eat at the same time.

  Risa removed her weapons harness and plodded down the hall. Genevieve followed. The little bot tilted like a confused dog, waited a second, and landed on the table. A second later, its lights went out. Once in the back bedroom, Risa set her laser pistols on the small desk by a terminal, sat on the Comforgel pad, and bent forward to unfasten her boots.

  Genevieve leaned on the doorway, arms folded. “Details, girl.”

  “Remember me talking about Shiro?” Risa pulled her feet out of her boots, adoring the relief of chilly air.

  “Yeah.”

  Risa grabbed at the neck of her ballistic suit and pulled the MolWeave fastener down to her hip before peeling off her ‘second skin.’ “He’s not a sympathetic executive from Earth.” She gathered the material in two hands and pushed it down over her hips. “He’s C-Branch.”

  Genevieve gasped, but not at Risa’s nudity. “Oh, shit…”

  “It’s not as bad as it sounds.” She stood naked for a moment, fanning air over her sweat-soaked skin. “We all are. The Front is a puppet of C-Branch created for plausible deniability.”

  “Whoa… Are you playing with my head?” Genevieve ran over and grabbed her shoulders. “That’s not funny.”

  Too tired to fight back, Risa tolerated the shaking. “No, Gen. I’m serious. The MLF was set up by military intelligence to allow them to run black ops against targets both Corporate and domestic, and blame a ‘terrorist organization’ rather than have fingers point back at the government.”

  Genevieve let go of her and covered her mouth with both hands. She seemed about ready to either cry or stomp off to kill someone. After a moment of staring around in shock, she sat on the edge of the Comforgel pad beside her.

  “That file you hid in the ’sem didn’t have much dirt on Maris. Most of the data involved Garrison.” She paced around to let perspiration evaporate in the air conditioning. “Maris, as much as I couldn’t believe it, appears to be the reason they sent Shiro and his team in.”

  “What?” Genevieve clutched her knees, leaning forward. “They who?”

  “Military intelligence command. Maris has been refusing orders to conduct false flag operations. He won’t go after UCF civilian targets. Arden Settlement was supposed to have been us. When he refused, they used an official black ops team.” Risa surveyed a pile of laundry against the closet door, picking among the garments with her toe. “Once they realized Maris had a mind of his own and wouldn’t be their puppet, they identified me as the biggest threat. Shiro was sent in to ‘neutralize’ me if he thought I’d be a problem.”

  Genevieve cocked an eyebrow. “Didn’t you say Shiro’s been trying to talk you into going to Earth with him?”

  Risa faced her and struck a cover-model pose. “Apparently, he couldn’t handle the hotness.”

  “Hah.” Genevieve laughed. “If you weren’t like my kid sister, I’d totally jump on that.”

  Risa plucked an unwashed black T-shirt from the rug and slipped it on; one of Pavo’s, it covered her like a short dress. “Yeah, well… Shiro fell in stupid for me and wanted Pavo out of the way. He arranged for his team to get rid of him, only somehow, Everett got wind of it and intercepted Pavo before they could kill him.” She ran a hand up over her face, raking her fingers through her hair. I just know Everett’s going to call in that favor someday.

  “Eww. Bit, that’s not clean.”

  “Neither am I.” Risa smiled. “Gonna eat and hop in the tube… then sleep for a week.”

  Genevieve got up and took her hand. “You don’t look okay. What’s wrong?”

  She pulled Genevieve to the kitchen, suppressing a shiver at the cold air invading her improvised dress, but reveling in the sense of freedom. More and more, her ballistic suit felt confining, not the security blanket it had once been. Pavo looked up as she rounded the table and took the seat facing him. Genevieve sat on the end to her right. He fought with his soup, struggling to eat the too-hot meal faster than his mouth could tolerate.

  Risa grabbed the pull-tab and tore her bowl open. “Crap, Gen. I should’ve got you one.”

  “I’m good.” Genevieve smiled. “I ordered about an hour ago.”

  “So, what’s ‘Bit?’” asked Pavo.

  “Garrison used to call her that when she was small.” Genevieve grinned.

  Risa’s heart sank. “Umm, Gen… I…” She stared into the morass of noodles, shrimp, and broth, appetite gone.

  Genevieve put a hand on her arm. “No… Don’t tell me he’s dead?”

  “Not yet he isn’t.” Risa narrowed her eyes.

  “I don’t like that look.” Genevieve squeezed. “That man is like your father. What the heck is going on in that head of yours?”

  Risa couldn’t bear looking at either of them. “The data you thought Maris wanted to kill you for… It was all about Garrison and some woman named Serena Var. He used to be Special Operations, Delta.”

  “So?” Genevieve tilted her head.

  “The man’s gotta be past fifty, and I still wouldn’t want to mess with him,” said Pavo. “Delta’s some bad, bad dudes.”

  Risa’s guilt and exhaustion succumbed to the smell of food. She twirled noodles around her chopsticks and ate a few bundles. “I’m not sure how that woman is involved, maybe nothing more than being caught in the surveillance. Her name sounds familiar, but I can’t place it.”

  Pavo, stuffing noodles into his mouth, shrugged with his eyebrows.

  Genevieve exhaled. “Whatever it is you’re trying to avoid saying must be bad.”

  “Garrison…” Risa made a fist, an onrush of anger energizing her to where she almost wanted to run off and kill him at that second. Rage survived the span of three breaths before she fought back the urge to sob and her sorrow settled into a lingering nausea. “He’s the one who gave the order to kill my father.”

  Pavo set his chopsticks down and reached across the table to take her hand. “No wonder he took you in… he must’ve felt guilty.”

  Genevieve’s cheeks flushed red. Her eyes hardened. She seemed angry enough to kill as well. “Son of a bitch! Why?”

  “Corp agent, remember?” Risa muttered. “Told you about Andriy on the ride back from Araphel.”

  “Oh.” Genevieve slouched. “Right.”

  “I…” Risa fumed. “For so long, all I wanted to do was find the piece of shit that ordered my father dead, and tear them apart… and I was living right next to him the whole time.” She clenched both hands into trembling fists. “I can’t bel
ieve he lied to me.”

  Pavo gripped her hand tighter. “He was responsible for the security of the UCF, and issued an order against a foreign intelligence agent. You can’t think it was personal?”

  Genevieve leaned back in her chair and wiped both hands down her face. “Wow… still, it’s twisted taking her in and not telling her the truth. You were such an angry little thing.”

  “Still is.” Pavo winked.

  Risa continued staring into her soup. Scene after scene of her ranting at Garrison about how much she wanted to kill the people responsible for her father’s death played by in her mind. Each time, he’d simply nod or murmur in agreement. His assurance of ‘I’m sure you’ll find them someday’ took on a new meaning, one that made the sick feeling in her gut stronger.

  “So,” said Genevieve. “If the Front is a giant pile of dustblow… now what?”

  Pavo took a long drink from his bowl, tapping the bottom to chase a few stray bits of vegetable or beef into his mouth. He held a finger up in a ‘give me a sec’ gesture until he finished chewing and swallowed. “The PVM has been around longer. I have doubts a purely political effort will give control of Mars to her own people, but I can’t fault Everett’s logic that fighting both sides is pointless.”

  “I think Garrison also tried to kill you.” Risa looked up, locking stares with Genevieve. “The Front got those rigged detonators from a different contact. This guy Heitzenroeder. The file you hid in the ’sem had images of Garrison meeting with him in person.” She sighed at the table before glancing at Pavo. “That’s why she’s here. None of them know she’s not dead. She can’t go back.”