by Andria Stone
He tamped down the euphoria threatening to derail his concentration as Kamryn jabbed him in the ribs, her dark eyes flashing. “No going rogue,” she muttered. “No lone-wolf, cowboy bullshit.”
Axel gave her a lazy, two-finger salute, never taking his eyes off the trio until they vanished inside the building.
After Kamryn had sent a report of their findings to Petra, they sat for over three hours with no movement in or out. When she started jiggling her leg, Axel looked at her.
“I have to pee.”
Rayburn’s stomach grumbled. “What say we break for lunch?”
“You two go. I’m staying,” Axel grunted, swinging open the side door, jumping out, and jogging away in a direction hidden by the van. He found a trash module in an alley across the street, giving him a covert spot to surveil the warehouse gate.
When the van left, a convoy of trucks arrived. Axel forced the module closer inch by inch as he recorded the activity on his tablet. The drivers used keycards to open the main gate, then drove through to stop in front of a large, roll-up door. The men driving wore business attire, but the ones climbing out of the back were quasi-military; unkempt, black-clad, predatory gunfighters. In daylight or dark, he’d seen enough to recognize them from a thousand yards away. While he couldn’t hear their conversations, it was evident the empty trucks were there to be loaded.
He commed Kamryn with an update, telling her to have Rayburn park behind the module where he hid.
The older man supervised the mercs and cyborgs loading heavy crates into the trucks. Any questions about the contents vanished. He wondered if the well-dressed drivers were businessmen or politicians, and how they’d been paired with the mercs. Mostly, he wondered where the weapons were going. Axel’s military training dictated the strategic targets would be MPLE surface locations, plus all entrance and exit points to the MMC underground compounds. To overthrow a government in power, the coup must be sudden and violent, crippling the response of law enforcement as well as the military.
Someone was behind him. An adrenaline rush would have caused the hair on the back of his neck to stand up. He’d shaved his head that morning, so there wasn’t any. Still, he felt a tingling sensation, his heart raced, his palms began to sweat. For half a second, he thought it might be Kamryn, except she knew better than to sneak up behind him. Axel pivoted in slow motion to see a towering, musclebound merc perched on the balls of his feet, ready to spring.
The merc held a long, glinting, narrow-bladed dagger in one hand, an extra-large laser cannon in the other. Axel tried to hide his smile as he raised both hands in mock surrender. The merc wielded the knife in a taunting manner while motioning Axel out of his hiding spot with the gun.
Axel shook his head, giving him a ‘you-must-be-kidding-me’ look.
The merc lunged with his knife at one of Axel’s arms, then the other, missing on both counts. Quicker on his feet, and thirty pounds lighter, Axel feinted left, then dodged right, delivering an extreme blow with his augmented arm to the merc’s gun hand. The weapon soared in the air, crashed into the wall, and fell with a klunk, all while the merc took another swipe with his dagger.
It connected, carving a slice through Axel’s good right arm. He didn’t like being knifed, especially by a steroid-ridden Neanderthal. The gun in his left hand was set on maximum stun. He fired into the merc’s genitals. Eyes rolled back in the merc’s head. The dagger fell. Grabbing his crotch, he sank to one knee. Axel finished him off with a knifehand move to the merc’s right carotid and watched him collapse, unconscious.
At the sound of running footsteps, he looked up to see Kamryn sprinting toward him from the opposite end of the alley. She turned, signaled Rayburn to back the van in, took off her jacket, and used it as a tourniquet for Axel’s arm. It required all three of them to lift the merc into the vehicle.
***
Mark waited in the empty kitchen/trauma center, ready to offer assistance. He suspected Rayburn had Dr. Synthia Hullum on a retainer, given her simultaneous arrival at the safe house.
She ushered Axel inside to treat his wound. “I see you’ve been keeping busy, Mr. Hyde,” she said, her gruff tone offset by her kind brown eyes and practiced hands. “This requires stitches.”
Axel waved off her injector of anesthetic.
“I think you’re going to want this one. Just a little painkiller, but with a generous dose of military-grade nanites.”
Axel relented, sitting rock-still as she made seven precise stitches in his right upper forearm.
Mark peered over her shoulder. “Beautiful work, Dr. Hullum.”
“Thank you, Dr. Jekyll.” She looked up. “Anything I can do for you this trip?”
“No, I’m good. I stayed here to hold down the fort.”
“Is there another patient?”
Axel pointed. “In the van.”
Dr. Hullum sprayed his wound, dressed it, then Mark scooped up her medical case to escort her outside. Rayburn opened the van’s back doors, revealing Kamryn braced against the side holding a gun on the comatose merc.
The doctor’s eyes widened. “Well, he’s a whopper, isn’t he? What’s wrong with him? I don’t see any blood.”
“Think his arm’s broken,” Kamryn said. “He got a couple doses of heavy stun. One to put him down, another to keep him down.”
Hullum climbed in, inspecting both the merc’s arms with a handheld scanner. “Yep, nasty wrist and ulna fractures, but no broken skin.”
“He’s going to need painkillers, but no nanites for this one.” Mark leaned in. “He needs to answer a few questions before he’s turned over to the military.”
“I don’t suppose he’s being invited inside, so is this happening here in the van?”
“Yes,” Axel answered, joining the group. “He’s not housebroken.”
The doctor positioned herself out of Kamryn’s direct line of fire while she administered injections before applying a translucent cast to her prone, oversized patient.
“He could do with a bath,” Hullum said, waving away his aroma.
Mark smiled, helping her out of the van. “That’s not one of the amenities of our service.” He led Hullum, along with Rayburn, back to the house. “Doctor, do you have access to a lab, or perhaps spectrum analysis equipment?”
“For what purpose, exactly?”
“We have a chemical sample requiring a breakdown and need another batch made if it’s possible. If you’d like company, maybe Gaige could assist you.” Mark looked at Rayburn. “Right?”
The doctor stood with a hand on her hip. “Oh, how lovely. We can spend some quality time in a gloomy old lab making a dubious compound for your new pacifist friends here.”
“On my honor, Syn, it’s for the greater good,” Rayburn replied. “I’ll even sweeten the deal with a case of brandy.”
“Deal.”
Satisfied things were going according to plan, Mark handed a vial with the last trace of Quazar to Hullum. She left with Rayburn, who promised to let Mark know when they’d finished.
In the van, Axel worked to secure the merc before he was prepped for interrogation. He’d been propped up, arms tied behind his back, legs spread and tied to each side of the van. Since Mark’s last attempt at questioning a prisoner had proved fatal, he gave Kamryn the tools she needed. He and Axel got into position to record as she bent over, snapped open the AZ2 under his nose, and gave him their remaining dose of Quazar.
Nothing. He didn’t react.
Kamryn slapped him. Hard.
The merc awoke with a start.
“What is your name?”
“Frank…Maxwell.”
“Who pays you?”
He shook his head, as if he were giving a negative response.
Kamryn’s self-restraint evaporated. She smacked him again. “Dammit, Frank. Who pays you?”
It took a few seconds, but he spat out the name, “Valerie Parker”
“What is your job?”
He puked. Red stuff. It look
ed like spaghetti sauce.
Kamryn jumped out of the way. It missed her by centimeters, but covered him and the van’s floor. She looked at Mark.
He shrugged. “Weak stomach?”
She resumed questioning as if it hadn’t fazed her. “What is your job, Frank?”
“Governor’s detail…enforcer…make sure she follows orders.”
“Which are?”
“Use underground storage for weapons. Disable emergency public communications on Parker’s command.”
“Which is when?”
“Couple days.”
“How many mercs are on Parker’s payroll in Meridian?”
His answer was garbled.
“Say that again.”
“Couple hundred.”
“Where are they stationed?”
“Many…”
“Where do you live?”
“Governor’s house.”
“How many mercs live there?”
“Dozen.”
“Who were the men in suits driving the trucks?”
This took Kamryn some time, but he gave up three names: Braxton from Transportation, Taylor from Cyber, and Sanders from Logistics. All were government employees. The other men at the warehouse were unknown to him.
Mark snapped his fingers to get Kamryn’s attention. As she looked in his direction, he said, “Where is Parker?”
“Where does Valerie Parker live here?” Kamryn relayed.
“Don’t know—heard Edenvale.” The merc blinked. His eyes started to focus. He moved a few inches, made a guttural moaning noise, then began to squirm.
Axel delivered another heavy stun. “I think that’s all we’re going to get out of him.”
Mark slouched against the van, checking his tablet for background on the Governor of Meridian. “Her name is Eileen Arencia. She’s a widow, just turned 58, been in public service for years, with three grown children and four grandchildren. If Parker’s using the same extortion techniques as she did in Aurora on Bryant, it means Arencia’s family is being threatened to secure her cooperation. Dimitrios will have to share this with Lance, but knowing who to trust with this intel within the MMC is the problem.”
They sent the vids to Dimitrios at Terra’s HQ, and to Major Essex with instructions to pick up their prisoner at a location near the warehouse in fifteen minutes. As a stipulation, Mark warned the military to keep the merc’s whereabouts a secret by claiming he’d been hit by a truck and had died at the hospital, thus Parker wouldn’t be suspicious of his disappearance. After double-checking the merc’s bindings, they drove over to dump him in an isolated spot, unseen from the street.
Petra had reassembled her digital equipment on the table by the time they returned.
“Where’s Edenvale?” Axel asked, staring at her screen as he sat down, straddling the chair next to her.
Mark surveyed the overhead images of the exclusive residential subdivision, replete with a park and nearby shopping. “Ritzy.”
Axel waved his finger at the screen. “Check Parker’s name for ownership of anything in the area.”
She flipped through a dozen screens. “Nothing.”
“Maybe it’s a corporate holding,” Mark said. “Look under ‘Gemini’.”
Three seconds later, Petra turned to them, wearing a wide, toothy grin. “Well, I’ll be damned.”
Chapter 14
Axel had suffered through three defining moments in his lifetime (four if he counted waking up in the hospital with augmented cyborg parts). The bitterness of the last one cut deep. It was still so fresh he could not bear to dwell on it.
The next one might happen soon. Yet, this time, not soon enough.
He splashed water on his face from the bathroom sink, closed his eyes, conjuring up a crystal-clear image of Valerie Parker opening her door while he shot her point-blank in the forehead. But he knew better. No matter how you visualized it, in the real world, it never played out that way.
He stared at his reflection in the mirror. He wasn’t looking at the old, familiar Axel Von Radach. He was looking into the eyes of a man hell bent on killing a rabid animal who also passed as a female member of his own species.
The bond he shared with Mark deepened with Axel’s newfound insight of the unrelenting need to seek justice for his brother’s murder. He’d lost control of his rage and taken it out on Mark. He’d sworn to keep himself in check and had failed. The guilt weighed on him.
The doctor’s mini dose of local anesthetic had worn off. The knife wound stung, but the nanites itched like pins and needles under his skin. He accepted it as penance for fighting with Mark.
Axel’s tablet pinged with an emergency tone. The same noise echoed throughout the house. He went to find the others. Everyone, even Ohashi, was huddled in the kitchen around Petra’s screens. Webnews feeds flooded their tablets with updates on an explosion at the Governor’s house. Sketchy reports stated Arencia’s family had been celebrating one of her grandchildren’s birthdays. No confirmation yet on injuries or fatalities.
Major Essex appeared on Petra’s screen, dark face beaming. “They’re safe. We wasted no time in sharing your last intel with General Lance. He took it upon himself to convince Arencia to go along with the cover story of an explosion while the MMC took her family into protective custody. She wanted to remain, but her daughters refused to consent unless they all stayed together. Ten mercenaries were taken into custody, plus the one found snoozing in the bushes near the warehouse. One’s still missing.”
His expression sobered. “The three named government employees have been charged with treason, their finances confiscated, neural chips were embedded, and they’re being haloed, probably for days.” He glanced away, shaking his head. “Mars is not Terra. They have zero tolerance for the slightest hint of any anti-government activity. I have my doubts about—well, not my problem.” He sighed. “Drones are monitoring both the warehouse and the Edenvale property in Meridian. Parker’s comm traffic is also being monitored.
“Here are two pieces of intel which didn’t come from you. An MMC cyber unit specialist stationed in Aurora, who went missing, has been found dead. He’s the prime suspect for the intel leaks. In the event someone new has replaced him, everyone in the unit is being interrogated. Additionally, the first lawyer for Victor Parker, the one who declined to accept his case, has died of a questionable aneurysm. Another attorney came forward claiming Valerie Parker tried to blackmail him into representing Victor by threatening the attorney’s family.”
“People are dropping like meteorites on this dust ball,” Mark interjected.
“Yes. Which is the reason General Lance has revoked your visitor status. As of half an hour ago, General Dimitrios issued orders for your removal from the surface. You can either come willingly or forcibly, which means you’ll be warming benches in our stockade until we leave Martian space. He said three dead Terrans were three too many.”
“We…we’re being forced to leave?” Axel stammered, incredulous. He’d been so close. Now his plans of catching Valerie Parker were going up in smoke before his eyes. With the MPLE, MMC, and TMD searching for her, it would have been a miracle if Axel was the one to find her.
No. He’d run…
Heavy banging on the front door startled them. Mark rushed to peer through the drapes. “It’s the TMD, in force.”
Axel made a dash for the back door, tearing it open.
A wall of four armored TMD soldiers stood blocking his path.
He might have sunk to his knees if Kamryn hadn’t been there to steady him. Everything was falling apart. His plans, his dreams of avenging Maeve’s death, were gone. Disbelief, anger, and misery flooded through him. He felt heartbroken, again. As a soldier, he’d followed orders to pull back or retreat temporarily, but this felt like a surrender. He’d never surrendered before.
The TMD chaperoned them to the spaceport, ushering them onto a military shuttle which left Mars in a cloud of dust. Within minutes of landing on the Space Station,
they had settled back aboard their ship, including a guard posted outside the hatch.
The women lined up outside the Lavs to shower and shampoo. Mark headed for the galley, grousing about food.
Axel veered toward the gym to pound the shit out of his martial arts heavy training bag. The abused apparatus listed to the right and oozed foam, but accepted every ounce of punishment he delivered. After a lengthy span of frenzied pummeling, his eyes stung from rivers of sweat, but the lump in his throat told him it wasn’t all sweat.
Exhausted at last, when he could no longer lift his arms, Axel stretched out on the floor, yielding to a sleep without dreams.
***
Kamryn took off her gold ear cuff. She handed it back while she sat on a stool in the Med Lab, letting Petra return her blonde locks to their original shade of chocolate brown. Afterward, she finger combed it, checked it in a mirror. She was the real Kamryn again.
She went searching for Axel; found him asleep on the floor of the gym. Her heart ached for him.
She returned to the Med Lab to find Petra changing Mark’s blue-black mane back to its sandy color. “It’s getting long. I can cut it for you.”
He slid off the stool, at once his blond, blue-eyed, dimpled self. “No thanks. I like it the way it is. I’m not in the military anymore.” He headed for the Lav.
Kamryn asked, “Where’s Eva and Ohashi?”
“Eva’s asleep,” Petra said. “Ohashi’s in the conference room stalking the Savant. She took a shower when we got here, but hasn’t eaten in hours.”
They whipped up some breakfast, plus a fresh pot of coffee for her. Ohashi appeared haggard, with dark shadows under her eyes, but the minute she spotted coffee, she brightened.
“How’s it going,” Kamryn said, “or should we even ask?”
“I know who he is. Name’s Dreghor.” Ohashi tapped her screen, swiveling it around for them.
As if posed for a glamor shot, Dreghor smiled at them from over his shoulder, in all his pierced albino glory, pointed teeth, two fingers displayed in a victory sign.
“Eeew.” Petra clasped a hand over her eyes. “I can’t un-see that.”
“He’s a real Martian puke, alright,” Kamryn said. “Seen way too many of them this trip.”
