Wildly was the most eccentric of the bunch. He liked luxury and flaunted it. And the thing was, Wildly wanted to take over every crime syndicate on Mars so he could actually run the planet.
Ozzy had done several digs for the guy and would have to tell Wildly that he’d do something big in exchange for a ship to borrow—something big after Ozzy returned the craft.
The com line inside the hovervehicle dinged. Ozzy and Jozi both looked at each other dumbfounded.
“Who in the Mars’s red dust is that?” wondered Ozzy.
The ID said private.
Jozi answered.
High Judge Robert Baldwin’s face appeared on the holoscreen. He looked run down and more aged. Ozzy could almost see stress seeping out of his pores. Behind him was a waterfall with palm trees highlighted by high heat terraforming lamps.
He wasn’t in Gale Crater City. If he was, it was someplace Ozzy had never been before, and he’d been everywhere.
“Robert?” Jozi leaned in, her eyes full of worry. “How did you know our com channel?” It would be nearly impossible for Robert to know that they were in a hovercar and what com frequency channel it had.
“I have my ways,” Robert replied.
“I heard about Gale Crater City,” Jozi said.
“The scientists and I have been escorted to the bunkers underneath the city,” responded Robert. “We’re safe here. So, when you get to Dawes and retrieve the cure, use the teleporter, and the cure will get to us ASAP. Do you understand?” He looked over his shoulder. Beeps echoed, and the sounds reminded Ozzy of a hospital room.
“What’s going on, Robert?” inquired Jozi.
Robert glanced back at the screen. It was clear something else was on Robert’s mind.
“Dad?” said a young male’s voice. “I need water.”
Robert looked back over his shoulder and spoke to someone off-screen. “Get him water.” He twisted around, glaring into Ozzy’s eyes. “Hurry.”
“Who was that?” asked Ozzy.
Robert gave him a cold, hard stare. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Hold on,” said Ozzy. He didn’t want to ask the question, but he had to know. It sounded like a boy, but maybe it was just a malfunction on the com line. “Was that my daughter?”
Robert’s face tightened a bit, and there was a crack in his voice. “It’s my son.”
His son appeared to be not much older than Lily. Robert never talked about him in public, so Robert even having a son had completely slipped Ozzy’s mind.
Ozzy glanced down at the speedometer. It read 86 miles per hour. Huygens City was a small dome in the distance, and he was approaching it fast.
Jozi shifted in her seat. “Does he have the Martian Plague?”
Robert nodded. “He does.”
“Did he have it before I went on this mission?” questioned Ozzy. If he did, then Robert’s son must have had a mild version of the plague, one that didn’t kill as quickly.
Robert didn’t respond to the question. “I need you to get the cure as fast as you can. Both our kids need it now.”
Ozzy’s heart lifted for a brief second. “Lily is alive?”
Robert blinked and looked around, breaking eye contact.
Ozzy’s chest tightened. “Tell me the truth for once in your life, Robert.”
Robert cupped his hands, and he eyed the camera, his pupils dilated, and he nodded. “Like my son, she doesn’t have much time.”
Ozzy stopped breathing for a moment, moving his eyes from the road to the holodisplay. He had caught a change in Robert’s expression. “You’re lying. Tell me the truth, Robert, or this grand mission you forced me on ends now. Is my daughter dead or alive?”
Robert narrowed his eyes, and his cheeks flushed with anger. “I don’t know. She’s up top in a Gale Crater City hospital. There isn’t much we can do other than watch the people with the plague die. But, if you don’t get the cure as soon as possible, then we’ll both be at our children’s funerals. And I, for one, don’t want to be at my son’s grave.”
Ozzy’s heart about stopped. He grimaced and looked down, remembering his daughter’s smile, her joy when he’d come home from work, and the hate in his heart when he had to leave her three years ago. It was the way he hated himself more than anything else for telling her he’d be right back and never returning.
He hated Robert, too. He hated every cell in that man’s body.
A fury rose inside him, and Ozzy’s mouth contorted. There was no way his daughter had made it. “You son of a bitch! You did this to her. You gave her the plague. You killed her just like you killed my parents.” Ozzy punched the communication’s console. A spark flew, and the console cracked, turning the feed off.
He hung his head and punched his palm, squeezing his fist as hard as he could. “My daughter is dead. Lily is dead.” He huffed, holding in a cry, pushing it down, tightening every muscle in his body so he didn’t have to feel the sadness that was slowly consuming every aspect of his being.
It was clear to Ozzy that Robert had set this entire thing up; Robert’s son contracted the disease, and then Robert forced Ozzy to find the cure. And to light a fire under Ozzy, Robert had Lily infected.
The guy was as evil as evil itself.
Jozi’s eyes filled with sympathy. She shook her head. “Don’t say that. She could still be alive.”
Ozzy narrowed his eyes, lashing out. “You’re just saying that so I continue this mission. You don’t know how it feels. You don’t have a child. You’re just a shitty MMP agent and a backstabbing one at that.” More emotional fire lifted from deep down. He slammed his foot on the gas, not caring if went off the road or if his hovercar dangerously dipped from an indentation in the pavement.
“Huygens City is up ahead.”
Jozi looked at Ozzy with sorrow in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Ozzy. I’m so sorry.”
“Oh, we’ll get your cure for sure, so don’t you worry your pretty little self, okay? And I’ll present the cure to the High Judge myself.”
23
Huygens City, Mars
He drove down a street that shimmered gold to match the shiny hovercars passing him on the road. Palm trees lined the mansions and the high-end businesses.
Huygens City.
His daughter was probably dead, and he was in the wealthiest city on Mars. To say he was numb all over was an understatement. All the cares in the world could screw themselves.
Screw Huygens City. Screw Mars. Screw life.
Screw it all.
Ozzy didn’t care.
“I have an idea,” said Jozi. She undid her restraining belt and crawled into the backseat.
Ozzy ignored her and straightened his lips. He held down a yell and squeezed the steering wheel tighter, imagining his daughter’s last breaths, her final cry, her scream for mommy to help her.
There wouldn’t be a scream for daddy. He was absent. Always.
He turned down another road. More mansions. More celebrity homes.
Clangs of metal against metal filled the car. Ozzy looked in his rearview mirror. Jozi was putting together the teleporter.
“What are you doing?”
She put the last piece on the tripod. “Connie Willis will know if your daughter is dead or alive. She’ll know if the High Judge is lying or not.”
The tripods lit up in electrical sparks, shooting long strings of cyan-colored electrical charges back and forth from one tripod to the other. A gush of wind blew against Ozzy.
“Jozi?” questioned Connie. She looked tired and worn out. She had definitely been working more than just overtime. The woman probably hadn’t slept in days or weeks.
“Connie, I don’t have much time. Can you tell me anything about Ozzy’s daughter?”
“Jozi,” said Connie, her voice filled with terror. “It’s bad out there. We’ve lost more cities. I mean, completely gone. The disease is carrying west. Tagus Valles just reported their first cases. At this rate, we’ll all be dead in a month, maybe two.
”
Jozi reached out and put her palms up, trying to calm Connie. “I know it’s bad, Connie, and that’s why Ozzy and I are on this mission. We will find the cure. I promise you. But right now I need you to concentrate. Can you tell me anything about Ozzy’s daughter?”
Connie feverishly nodded her head up and down. “Okay, okay. I’ll look.” She moved away from the screen, then came back with a holopad. Her hands shook. “What’s her first and last name.”
“Lily Mack.”
“Okay,” Connie replied. She set the holopad on a desk in front of her, typing in Lily’s name. “We need this cure, Jozi. We need it badly.”
Ozzy pulled down another street. He didn’t want to listen, but he had to. If there were any chance that Lily was alive, he’d race his ass to Moonshinka Rock somehow, someway.
“We’ll get the cure, Connie,” said Jozi.
Connie wiped tears off of her cheeks. “She’s not coming up. The network is spotty where I am.” She continued to look on her holopad. “I’m not getting anything. I’ll have to go up top and check the holocomputers.”
“How can you reach us after you find out?”
“Turn the teleporter back on, and I’ll be here. I’m always here trying to figure out how to stop this mutating disease. Give me a day. I’ll get you the answer.” She looked away. “Gotta go.”
The teleporter turned off, and Jozi began taking it apart. “She’s alive, Ozzy. I can feel it in my heart.”
Ozzy didn’t feel it. He felt misery like a knife slashing his heart.
“Thanks, Jozi,” he blurted out, soft and low.
He pulled to the side of the road and turned off the car. He rubbed his hands on his legs, doing everything in his power to keep cool. He pushed down a cry, a sob, anything that would resemble an emotion.
This was not the time or the place.
An MMP buggy flew by, then slowed down as he passed Ozzy’s inexpensive car, an oddity in this affluent city. Ozzy pulled out a food bar from his pocket. He took a bite, doing his best to look nonchalant. The guy eyed Ozzy like the thief he was, then sped off.
Ozzy tossed the rest of the bar on the floor. “This is disgusting. What was Gragas thinking by giving us these?”
Jozi flashed her MMP badge. “I have you covered if—”
“Well, well. If it isn’t the infamous forbidden archaeologist extraordinaire, Ozzy Mack,” interrupted Wildly, staring at Ozzy and stroking his black, pointy beard.
How was the com line working? Ozzy could have sworn he punched it out of operation.
Ozzy pushed Jozi’s badge down, making her cover it back up. “Mort Wildly, how did you find me, and how did you know I was coming?”
“I have holocams everywhere and personal identification technology that rivals the Ministry’s. My tech detected you by facial recognition the moment you entered the city.” He folded his hands. “Welcome, Ozzy. Nice to see you again.” He winked. “Why the sad face?”
Ozzy wiped his mouth, doing anything to get his mind to wake up from the fog he was in. “I have a proposition for you.”
Wildly smiled. “I like the sound of that. What do you have?”
“The biggest find in Mars’s history. That’s what I have.”
“Well, right now I’m more interested in weapons. The Dunrakee terrorists are increasing in numbers, if you haven’t figured that out yet, Ozzy.”
Ozzy gave a half smile, shaking his head, providing Mort with a nice, fat lie. “And that’s exactly why I contacted you first. You have the best militia under your wings.” He had no idea if that were true. “And what does the best militia deserve?”
Wildly stroked his chin again. “Keep talking.”
“Ancient weapon technology.”
Wildly’s eyes went wide. “What do you have?”
Ozzy perked up, something difficult to do when the death of his child was weighing on his shoulders. “I have a lead, but I’ll need a ship to follow that lead.”
“Show me what you have.”
Ozzy jabbed Jozi’s shoulder with his elbow. “Hand me the briefcase.”
Jozi eyed him for a moment before she shook her head no. “I can’t do that.”
Ozzy gave a fake laugh. “She’s kidding, Wildly.” He bent over, reaching for the briefcase and spoke under his breath. “Hand me the damn briefcase.”
“No,” she replied, moving her foot on top of it.
Ozzy sat up straight. “I’m sorry, Wildly. She loves this ancient weapon technology so much, she is having a hard time parting with it.”
“Are you trying to pull a fast one over—”
Ozzy slapped a button, blacking out and muting everything. A red hold icon was in Wildly’s place.
Ozzy bared his teeth, his eyebrows v-ing. “I’m not going to give the guy the damn Coptic tablet. I’m just going to show it to him, so he thinks I’m on an archaeological discovery. He won’t be able to read the thing, so it won’t matter what he thinks it says, okay?”
“You’re not giving this to him.”
If she weren’t a woman and a martial arts expert to boot, Ozzy would punch her out right now and push her out of the car.
He eyed her. “Trust me.”
She stared into his eyes, her baby blues dazzling him like they did when they first met. “Fine.”
Ozzy sat up and pressed the button. Wildly was staring back at him, his expression full of murder.
“Don’t do that again, Ozzy.”
“Understood, Wildly.” Ozzy put his hands out. “Hand me the briefcase.”
Jozi plopped the briefcase hard onto his hands. “Yes, Sir.”
Ozzy opened it, displaying the tablet to Wildly. “This is in Ancient Coptic hieroglyphic writing. It leads to the ancient weapons tech I was talking about. This will help defend you against Dunrakee terrorist attacks.”
“What does it say?” responded Wildly, his lips curled in pleasure. He was showing interest. “What kind of tech?”
“Some type of death ray weapon.” He closed the briefcase and handed it to Jozi. She put it on the floor. “And all I’m asking is to borrow a ship of yours.”
“That’s all?”
Ozzy thought for a moment. He could get more. “And ten million auric credits.”
Wildly stroked his chin, studying Ozzy. Finally, he nodded. “You’ve always delivered, Ozzy.” Wildly glanced away, thinking. “I’ll give you five million credits up front and five million when you hand me the tech.”
Ozzy let out a loud exasperated breath. “I’m selling this to Jonas Moon then. You know, one of the other big crime bosses and artifact dealer on Mars. He’ll then be the biggest and baddest.” Ozzy shut off the com line and pulled the hovercar forward, turning down a side street lined with beautiful white, ancient, Greek-like buildings.
Jozi looked out the window. “Good. So we’re going to find a ship and skip this nonsense?”
“Just wait,” replied Ozzy. “Mort Wildly will want what Mort Wildly doesn’t have. If they can quell these Dunrakee waves and kick the Dunrakee off the planet, which I highly doubt, all these crime lords will fight over who really runs Mars. If Wildly can be the biggest crime syndicate and have the best weapon, then his dream would come true—he’d rule Mars or some bullshit like that.” Ozzy paused. “He’ll call back in a few minutes.”
Jozi thrust her palms out. “Why in Neptune’s hammer would Wildly want to rule Mars?”
“He’s power hungry, sweetheart. All these crime lords are, including Jonas Moon. Well, if Jonas is still alive.” He pulled down another street, heading for a forested area. “And we need one of his ships to get to Moonshinka Rock near Dawes.”
The com line rang. Ozzy let it ring a few times, then hung up. He turned the wheel, heading into the forest, and drove up a small incline. A large mansion came into view with palm trees surrounding it.
He stopped the hovercar at a gate in front of a long driveway.
The com line rang again. Ozzy answered. “Yes, Wildly?”
> Wildly was beaming a forced smile, his brown eyes and pointed nose screwed up in suppressed annoyance. “I’ll take the deal.”
Ozzy frowned. “Wait. I’m sorry, Wildly. I just got off the com line with Jonas. He’s paying fifteen million auric credits up front, and fifteen million auric credits when the weapon is shipped to him.” Ozzy rubbed his hands together, faking sadness. “I’m so sorry. You know—”
“Twenty million up front, and twenty million later.” Wildly leaned in. “Don’t make me go higher.”
“Deal. But under one condition,” Ozzy said. “I need your fastest craft.”
“Alright,” replied Wildly. “We’ll hook you up. When can you get here?”
“I’m at your gate now.”
24
Huygens City, Mars
“Give me the briefcase, Jozi,” demanded Ozzy.
She held it against her chest. “Not in a million years and especially not for millions of auric credits.”
A guard stood outside on the driveway, his arms crossed, waiting for the two to get out of their dilapidated hovercar.
An immense, red mansion loomed behind the man. An arched tunnel at the main entrance led to a metal door into Wildly’s giant abode.
To the guard’s left was a massive parked ship, taking up more space than necessary.
“I’m not giving Wildly the Coptic tablet, Jozi. I’m just showing it to him. I’m telling him it is a guide to the ancient technology. What he doesn’t know is I won’t be getting him any technology at all.”
“Yes, you’re lying to him, and it’s going to get you and me killed. At best, it will get this tablet taken from us.”
The guard tapped the muzzle of his rifle against the hovercar’s window.
Ozzy nodded and got out of the car. “I’ll do this without the Coptic tablet then.” He slammed the door shut and took a step toward the archway.
“Ozzy,” came a robotic voice. Ozzy stopped. It wasn’t Wildly. The voice came from inside the tunnel, but Ozzy couldn’t see who it was through the shadows. “I let Mort Wildly know that you were lying to him. The deal is off.”
Mars Colony Chronicles (Books 1 - 5): A Space Opera Box Set Adventure Page 14
