Lunar Heat: 1 (The Heat Series)

by Susan Kearney

“He did it before we left Mars.”

  Cade was staring at his console. “Everything okay?”

  “Space Force has spotted irregularities at our coordinates.”

  “Aren’t we cloaked?”

  “Yes.” He took the tray and peeled back the foil protector.

  She did the same and was surprised to find the food already warm, the scent enticing. Her mouth watered. Taking one of the tined utensils, she scooped food into her mouth. The savory yet delicate taste was tangy and rich, wonderfully good. “So how does Space Force know we are here?”

  “Jamar must have given them a heads up.”

  “Why would he do that?” she asked as she peeled back the liquid’s cap and sipped a refreshing fruit punch.

  “To cause us trouble.” Cade wolfed down his food. “Even though their instruments can’t see us, if they have our exact location, they’ll notice that we’re blocking the starlight that should be shining straight at them.”

  “And they’re sending ships to investigate?” she guessed.

  “We’ll zigzag in. But it’ll cause a delay.”

  “How long will it take Jamar to repair the damage we did to his ship?” she asked.

  “He’ll leave repairs to the crew. As soon as they clear the damage, he’ll head down in another shuttle. He won’t be far behind.” Cade shoved aside his empty tray, sucked down his juice in one long series of gulps, then went straight back to his controls.

  For the next hour, he flew the shuttle in a random pattern. Finally, he landed on the tarmac beside many assorted craft next to a smaller dome near the reservoir.

  An automated lunar transport rolled over and sealed to their hatch. Cade exited first, Jamar’s injured crewman, now awake but cuffed and helpless over Cade’s shoulder. As they strode into the empty transport that would take them to the terminal, Cade set the man down.

  “We’ll be leaving you behind. You might want to disappear before Jamar gets his hands on you again.”

  The man sighed. “Maybe I will.”

  Shara placed her hand in Cade’s. “The dome will be crowded. He won’t be able to follow us.”

  “It doesn’t matter.” Cade sighed. “Jamar already knows where we’re going.”

  From the terminal, they caught an open train down one of the tubes toward the reservoir. When they exited the free mass transportation system they leased a hovercar. She drove along the reservoir, eyeing the nicest homes that surrounded a blue lake that served the nearby community.

  “We found no natural water on the Moon,” Shara told Cade as she drove. “But hundreds of years ago, after we learned how to alter the Lunar gravity to match Earth’s, our pilots towed huge, icy asteroids here from Saturn’s rings. We built and warmed the domes, the ice melted, and now we recycle every precious drop.”

  “Impressive. But there’s nothing green here. No animals.”

  “It would have cost too much to bring in soil. So food is grown underground in hydroponics tanks. And the air is re-circulated there.”

  In this exclusive area, they passed only a few hovercars and fewer people. No one paid them much attention. Shara knew the houses here were built from reconstituted moon rock. At this time of day, most of the inhabitants would be at work.

  “We’ll need to rent a boat,” Cade said as he peered at equipment he’d taken from the shuttle. “This is odd.”

  “What?”

  “I’m picking up two portal pieces. One in the lake. The other at this address.” He pointed to a second blinking light.

  “Let’s head to the house first.” Shara drove for a few more minutes.

  “This is it.” Cade had her stop in the driveway of a large home with blind-covered windows and moonstone sculptures in the front yard.

  “Now what?” she asked, turning off the hovercar’s engine and exiting the vehicle.

  “We search the premises for the portal piece.”

  As they strode toward the home, she prayed the premises would be empty. That Jamar had either not yet arrived, or that he’d already come and gone.

  No one else needed to die today, especially not them. “What does a portal piece look like?”

  Cade lowered his voice. “Each is a shiny silver spherical ball about the size of a grapefruit. They are extremely heavy. You might not be able to lift it.”

  They walked to the front door, a metal plate in a wall of moonstone. Cade raised his fingers to his lips and motioned for her to hide behind him. He waited for her to move, the lock clicked as he used his Quait, then he reached for the knob.

  The inside was decorated with items from Earth: silver picture frames, ceramic pots painted with bright yellow and blue flowers, and top-of-the-line electronics that covered the walls with scenes from Earth. But most of the furniture was made from moon rock and decorated with colorful pillows.

  The back windows had a spectacular view of the lake, rimmed by the crater. The waterline followed the natural flow of the land, winding and bending. Several motor boats coasted across the lake.

  After a thorough search, they learned no one else was in the house. Cade removed his locator device from his pocket again and turned it on. Immediately three blinking lights appeared on a tiny screen, and coordinates popped up.

  Shara leaned over his shoulder. “Has Jamar found all three pieces?”

  “Nope.” Cade sighed. “But he’s activated the third beacon.”

  “So he now has the first two pieces?” Shara asked.

  “He’s found both pieces.” Cade’s voice went electric with excitement. “But he left one of them here.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “From the GPS locators, one piece is here, he’s currently retrieving the other one from the lake, and the third one’s in the Caribbean.”

  She frowned at the blinking lights. “Why would he leave a sphere behind?”

  “If the first portal piece is too close to the locator, it ruins the readings. He wouldn’t be able to hone in on the second piece.”

  “But why wouldn’t he have left it on his spaceship?”

  Cade shrugged. “He doesn’t trust his crew—not when he’s so far away that his Quait’s power is tenuous. For all he knows one of them might shove the sphere out an airlock.”

  She wished. “So where do we look?”

  “According to my readings, we’re practically standing on top of the one he hid. But the other on the lake is heading this way.”

  “Jamar’s heading here? Now?” Shara’s pulse ratcheted up a notch. “So let’s get it and leave.”

  “Jamar’s messed with my signals.”

  She peered over at the screen. “How close can you get us?”

  “It’s within fifteen feet of the front door.”

  She restrained a groan and looked around the living room with its stone fireplace and view of the lake filtered through blinds. High stone arches above their heads might support the massive weight of a sphere. Or Jamar could have hidden it below them in the basement. Or outside in the crook of a sculpture.

  Shara dropped to her hands and knees, looked under a low table. Nothing but Lunar dust bunnies.

  She searched the kitchen. Scotch, vodka, whiskey lined up and called to her. Her mouth watered, and her hands shook. She’d give ten years of her life to bolster her courage with a drink.

  “No.” She slammed the cabinet door.

  “What?”

  “Nothing here.”

  “Search only the lower ones,” Cade instructed and headed for the hall closet. “The sphere is heavy. Maybe fifty pounds.”

  Ten minutes later they were no closer to finding the shiny sphere than earlier. Cade stared at the holoscreen. “It’s here.”

  “Maybe he hid it outside.”

  Cade nodded. “Great idea.”

  Shara followed him into the front yard, wondering if she should have remained silent. If they found the sphere, she intended to study it in the hopes of finding a way to destroy it. She already knew water wouldn’t hurt it. Jamar
had just retrieved one from the lake.

  She wasn’t accustomed to thinking like a damn double agent. She wasn’t comfortable with her untrustworthy role. And she certainly wasn’t a scientist who could do a chemical analysis of the sphere. If only she could call the authorities for help, but who would believe her?

  Cade moved his device back and forth. “I think you were right. The signal seems a bit brighter and stronger out here.”

  “It’s probably your imagination,” she grumbled.

  “We’re close.”

  “And Jamar’s getting closer.”

  “I’m aware.” He turned in a slow circle.

  She checked the first sculpture, a mermaid lifting her arms to the dome overhead. Nothing. The second and third sculptures didn’t have it either.

  Cade headed around the side of the house. She hurried to catch up. “Where are you going?”

  “Back to the garage. Weren’t there shovels leaning in the corner?”

  While she searched for the shovels, Cade pulled wires from the hovercar’s engine they found inside. When he jumped down and joined her, he had a pleased twinkle in his eyes. “Jamar and his men won’t be pursuing us in that hovercar—not anytime soon.”

  “Good. I found two shovels.” She handed one to him.

  “Come on. Maybe the sphere’s just sitting a few inches out of sight.”

  His enthusiasm was contagious, and they returned to the spot he’d pinpointed and began to dig. It was hard, dirty work. The moon dust was heavier than it looked. The shoveling caused her to sweat, even as her toes turned numb with the cold.

  “If we find this part of the portal, what do we do about the piece still in Jamar’s hands?” she asked.

  Cade tossed shovelfuls of fine gravel over his shoulder, working with the smooth precision of a machine that didn’t tire. For a long time he didn’t answer, and she returned to digging and scraping on her side of the hole. “It’d be best if we can steal that other piece from Jamar.”

  She wiped sweat from her forehead. “And if we can’t?”

  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

  But she knew. He’d told her each piece could open the portal by itself, but all three would be safer. Damn it. To stop him she needed all three pieces.

  The roaring sound of an outboard engine pulled her from her thoughts. She stared past the house to the silver-gray lake. A speedboat was racing their way, its white, frothy wake indicating a high rate of speed.

  “Jamar’s coming.”

  “Keep digging.”

  “But—”

  “It’s here in the moon gravel. I can sense it.”

  She squinted against the sun. “There are five men in Jamar’s boat. We should go.”

  “Soon.”

  She heard a clink of metal on metal. Cade tossed his shovel aside, knelt and dug with his hands.

  Shara looked up and saw the boat had almost reached the shore. “Hurry.”

  “I’m digging as fast as I can.”

  54

  “Did you seduce me so I’d rocket to Haven to examine your friend’s asteroid?” Lyle pulled the sheet up to his chest, donned his glasses, and stared at Jules, suspicion clouding his clever brown eyes.

  Jules turned onto her side and didn’t bother to pull up the sheet to cover her breasts. Hell, he’d already seen everything, and it wouldn’t hurt to remind him that he’d enjoyed himself. “Is that what your genius IQ is telling you? That I flew halfway across the solar system to seduce you?”

  “But that’s exactly what you did.”

  “Only because I like you. Obviously, if you believe I’m capable of acting so coldly, so deviously, you don’t have half the brains I thought you did. Perhaps you were the one thinking with your hormones—not me. And now that I’ve cleaned your pipes—”

  “Cleaned my pipes?” he sputtered, his expression one of outrage and denial.

  “—you’re claiming that I’m using you, so you can justify getting rid of me.” Jules’s blood pressure pumped until her ears roared. How dare he accuse her of manipulating him with her body? She might not be a crazy smart scientist with five PhDs, but she didn’t think so little of herself. “Look, Dr. Donovan, there are other scientists in the solar system and—”

  “Are you going to seduce them, too?”

  “What is it with you? Don’t you think a girl could like you without having an ulterior motive?”

  “No.”

  His answer almost shocked Jules into silence. “No? What do you mean no?”

  “I have little else to offer.”

  She let her hand trail from his chest to his belly and lower and grinned. “Trust me. You have a lot to offer.”

  “Don’t toy with me.” Lyle rolled from her reach. “I’m not made of stone.”

  “If you were, I wouldn’t have made love to you.”

  Lyle turned back, questions in his eyes. “My ex claimed I was as cold as granite.”

  Jules giggled, now that she understood Lyle had been testing her. “I assure you, she was wrong. Just as you were wrong to accuse me of using my body—”

  “Sorry. It’s just that you’re a beautiful woman.”

  She arched an eyebrow. “And a beautiful woman can’t want you unless she has an ulterior motive?”

  “I’m not sure why any woman would want me, never mind one like you.”

  “You’d think with all those brain cells, one of them might have a little confidence.”

  “When it comes to my work—”

  “You’re at the head of the class.”

  “When it comes to women, I’m a nerd.”

  “Your ex sure did a number on you.”

  Lyle threaded his hands through his hair, refusing to meet her eyes, clearly uncomfortable with the conversation. “I guess she convinced me that I’m not perfect.”

  “No one’s perfect. Not me. Not you. Certainly not your ex. The trick is to see if our imperfections match up in a way that makes us happier together than when we are with someone else or when we are alone.”

  “If I’d known you were so smart,” he said as he reached for her, “I’d have been too intimidated to kiss you.”

  “Don’t worry, sweetie. You had no choice. I would have kissed you and”—she gestured to the bed and smiled—”the rest would have been history.”

  He nuzzled her neck. “They say history repeats itself.”

  “Mmm. As much as I like that theory, I really need to know if you can predict the direction of a Lamenium explosion.” Jules was getting closer to telling him about Cade and the portal, but she still intended to ease in slowly. At the moment, Lyle thought she was concerned about Haven’s mine exploding, but he didn’t yet know she feared the portal might cause the explosion.

  “Lamenium explosions are by no means an exact science. The substance is rare, and we’ve only found it on small asteroids. But an explosion would depend on a number of forces—gravity, heat, electromagnetic wavelengths and pressure as well as the quantity of Lamenium involved.”

  “So are there advance warning signs that the Lamenium might be going critical?”

  “Not necessarily.” He shook his head. “Lamenium has some unstable qualities under high temperatures. If a fluidized mass of turbulent gas and rock fragments at temperatures of five hundred degrees Celsius combines with a surge of gravity and electromagnetic—”

  “In English, please.”

  “An explosion is difficult to predict.”

  “And they’re dangerous?”

  “Very. Naroclastic explosions are enormously destructive because they release massive amounts of kinetic energy and lethally hot gas. One breath can vaporize all internal organs.”

  “And how far-reaching are the effects?”

  “If the Lamenium on Haven ignited, it could blast the asteroid right out of orbit.”

  “And if the asteroid crashed into Earth?”

  “Volcanic eruptions across the Pacific Rim would send up enough ash so no one in the continent
al U.S. would see the sun. They’d have massive crop failures, massive starvation. But many people would die long before they starved. An eruption that large could set off tidal waves. Or other massive earthquakes. An explosion of such a huge magnitude would be like setting off over a thousand atomic bombs.”

  She shuddered, wondering if the cataclysmic eruptions would end all life on Earth. And she wondered why she hadn’t heard from Shara and if she’d managed to stop Cade from finding the portal pieces. “Once Lamenium ignites, is there any way to prevent an explosion?”

  Lyle eyed her curiously. “There are theories.”

  “Like what?”

  “Releasing the pressure before it builds high enough to cause the explosion.”

  “But?” She sensed his reluctance to say more.

  “Some scientists believe that tampering with forces we don’t understand might actually set off the explosion and cause a permanent disruption in space. Even computer models disagree. We simply don’t know enough.”

  She heard the frustration in his voice and wondered if she could use it to convince him to come to Haven. While she hoped Shara could stop Cade, her visions were too strong not to do everything she could in case Shara failed. “Wouldn’t it be a good opportunity for you to visit Haven?”

  “The likelihood of it exploding and striking Earth is very, very, very improbable. But if we were there and it did ignite, getting away might be impossible.”

  “You can’t be afraid. You live atop the largest active volcano on Io.”

  “My work is here.”

  “How long since you’ve taken a vacation?” She shoved the sheet to the floor and let out a low, sexy chuckle. “And in case you’re wondering, I’m now attempting to seduce you.”

  His eyes sparkled with male interest. “You don’t play fair.”

  “I also have some more surprises for you.”

  “Sounds interesting.”

  “Oh, I’m better than interesting,” she promised, deciding that she would tell him the entire story as soon as she heard from Shara. Meanwhile, Jules intended to enjoy this opportunity. Who would have thought a staid scientist could be so deliciously inventive?