A Dunrakee lurched forward, his back arching away from Ozzy, and fell. A true hit by Jozi and then another and another.
“Hold your fire,” yelled Gragas. “Don’t pull your triggers.”
A few Dunrakee ran out of the capsule via the wall they blew open.
The rest were dead. They had to be. If they weren’t, the Mars atmosphere would soon get them through their open wounds, pulling out their oxygen and pumping them full of carbon dioxide.
Ozzy turned on his EVA lights and walked forward, his breath coming fast. He strode past Garen and leaned down, doing his best to calm himself. He eased his breathing and closed his eyes, focusing on his heart. “Slow down,” he repeated out loud. “Slow down.”
“What?” Jozi said, taking careful steps behind him.
“Nothing.” He straightened and made his way to Gragas. He looked over his shoulder at Jozi.
She was kneeling next to Garen and touching her heart. She then touched Garen’s shoulder. “You were sent by the angels. And now you are flying high with them. I’m eternally grateful.”
She bowed her head and stood.
“Gragas,” said Ozzy. “How are we going to get over to the next city?”
Ozzy wanted out of this place as fast as possible. There was no telling when any surviving Dunrakee would find their way in here and start another battle.
“Good question. Do you have any ideas?”
“No.” Ozzy put his foot on a dead soldier. Dunrakee were everywhere. He would count them, but what was the point? Two dozen, three dozen? They were all the same—just evil people trying to steal another human home.
“We walk.”
Ozzy glanced up, watching Gragas leave the capsule. “Uh…say what?”
Jozi nodded. “Yeah, what Ozzy said.”
Their last attempt of walking from one city to the next almost killed them.
Gragas turned and put his hands on his hips. “Do you have any better ideas?”
“Yeah, like living,” replied Ozzy. “We barely made it out of this, and I don’t want to push my luck.”
“Excellent. While you stay alive in here, we’ll stay alive while walking to Lanlee Junction, the closest city to this location.” Gragas pointed to the ground, indicating where this location was.
Ozzy gave a thumbs-up. “Sweet plan.” He rolled his eyes and gestured for Jozi to follow. “Let’s go.”
Jozi sighed. “Does he know we barely survived the last one?”
“No complaining,” demanded Gragas. “We’ll huddle together and warm each other during the walk. I have a feeling we’ll be fine.” He threw his own thumbs-up, mimicking Ozzy.
The rest of the Galactic Knights did the same.
“Partake in your thumb ritual again, Ozzy?” came Gragas, still holding his thumb up.
Ozzy extended his arm, giving him a thumbs-up, but then lifted his middle finger and thrust it at the ground.
“What’s that?” asked Gragas.
“Just a memento to this planet if I don’t survive the walk to Lanlee Junction.” And if Lily didn’t survive, either.
Gragas lifted his middle finger, and the rest of the Galactic Knights joined in. “A memento to Mars. May she let us live and flourish.”
“Yeah, that too,” said Ozzy.
34
Moonshinka Rock Near Dawes, Mars
The cold was getting to Jozi. Perhaps it was the make-shift bandage—Garen’s belt—around her leg letting in more freezing air, but she was shivering.
Ozzy put his arm around her, wiggling her back and forth, rubbing his hands up and down her shoulder and arms. The sun had departed the sky more than an hour ago, and it was pitch black. The cold was getting to all of them.
He couldn’t get Lily out of his mind. Did she make it? Was she healthy again? He didn’t know when he’d get answers to these questions. In the meantime, the wondering was killing him.
If she didn’t live, then what was the point of his living anyway?
He checked his EVA as he walked on the red sand. Besides the stars in the sky and the domed city twenty miles ahead, the EVA suits they wore were the only things lighting the way.
The Galactic Knights were practically shadows.
Ozzy halted and pointed up at the sky. “A ship is coming.”
It was a small dot, heading their way. It split off into three more dots, separating from a line formation into a “v.”
Gragas and the Knights tilted their heads back, following Ozzy’s finger.
Gragas turned and walked in the opposite direction. “That’s our cue.”
“Where are you going?” Jozi asked, her voice trembling.
“We will see you another time.” Gragas and the Knights jogged away. “Communication off.”
Gragas’s com line went to static, and their silhouettes faded into the darkness.
“Wait! That’s it? You’re leaving just like that?” Ozzy said.
No response.
Ozzy shrugged and continued walking to Lanlee Junction. It was probably best the Knights left anyway. They may not be welcomed by the incoming ships.
Ozzy held Jozi tightly to warm her. He didn’t know if it worked, but even the chance that Jozi thought it worked, may act as a placebo effect and at least give her mind the impression she was warmer.
A light beamed around Ozzy, and his helmet’s com line beeped on. “This is the Mars Ministry Police. Put your hands up where we can see them.”
“This is Ozzy Mack. I’m with MMP Agent Jozi Ryan.” The S-9 Mars Ministry Police ships flew closer. “We’ve just come back from the cure’s location. Jozi and—”
“Mr. Ozzy Mack,” came a voice. “We’re fully aware of who you are.”
Ozzy would know that squirrely, screeching, terrible sound from anywhere. It was the High Judge, Robert Baldwin.
“Did the cure work, Robert. Did they cure our children?” Ozzy held his breath, his hopes high.
“Mr. Mack, you know quite well that I’m not to be referred to as Robert. Call me High Judge.”
“Okay, High Judge, did the cure work?”
The S-9’s were now overhead, their white lights glowing from their underbellies, nearly blinding Ozzy.
Their ionic boosters rotated and pointed toward the surface. They went into a hover and descended. The dust whipped in the wind, clouding Ozzy and Jozi like a mini sandstorm.
“We can discuss this another time, Mr. Mack. Out,” replied Robert.
The line went to static.
More sand blasted across Ozzy and Jozi in the soft wind. Jozi put her hand up and covered her visor. Her hand and arm were shaking, either from weakness or the Mars freeze. Or both. “Just cooperate, and everything will be fine, Ozzy. The Ministry won’t tag you as a hero, but many of the MMP agents and their families throughout Mars will.”
That’s if the cure was working. Ozzy couldn’t care less who tagged him as anything, as long as his Lily-bug was alive. That’s all the mattered.
The ground shuddered as the crafts landed and surrounded them.
Ozzy puffed out his lips. “This doesn’t look good.”
“No, it doesn’t. They’ve landed in a triangle formation. That’s our formation when we’re attempting to secure a criminal.” The S-9’s ramps opened. “Definitely put your hands up. Don’t give them any reason to shoot.”
Ozzy let go of Jozi and lifted his hands in the air. “All in a day’s work from High Judge Robert Baldwin.” He let out a quick breath through the gaps in his teeth. He couldn’t wait to get his hands around that man’s neck. “Do me a favor, Jozi?” He dropped his hands by his side, punching in information on his wristband.
“What are you doing?” she complained.
“Hold on.” He grabbed Jozi’s wrist and touched his band onto hers. “There you go.” He put his hands back up.
“What did you do?”
“I’ve downloaded all the locations where I’ve hidden holodocs, holoimages, and holovids of Robert’s illegal dealings with me. H
e won’t like what he sees. If anything happens to me and if Lily is—” his voice cracked. “If she’s not of this world anymore, then please expose Robert for the fraud that he is.”
Jozi shook her head. “Ozzy, I know you think he’s a terrible person, but I don’t think those docs will be much of anything. You dislike him, so you see them much worse than they really are. He may be a jerk, but I’m not going to expose someone in my family. He did everything he could to cure the Martian Plague.”
“He did everything he could to cure his son. Curing the population was a mere side effect and nothing more, and we don’t even know if the cure worked. So, please stop putting him on a pedestal.”
“I don’t put him on a pedestal. He’s just not as bad as you wish him to be.”
Ozzy swallowed. Even after all they went through to get the cure, she was still on Robert’s side. Once an MMP agent, always an MMP agent. “They are not your family.”
“They are.”
It was most likely true. They were probably her only real family, so Jozi giving that up wasn’t going to happen easily.
Several men in EVA’s, thick military-grade suits with blue-colored MMP patches on the front, rushed down the ramps with their rifles held out in front of them. Bright flashlights were attached to the barrels.
“Keep your hands up where we can see them,” ordered an MMP agent.
Jozi lifted her hands as well.
“Not you, Special Agent Ryan.”
It was Robert’s voice, and Ozzy almost laughed. The guy was the smallest of the bunch. He was holding a photon rifle with his legs bent in a defensive posture as if readying for Ozzy to pounce on him at any moment.
Jozi dropped her hands as the agents cautiously approached Ozzy.
“What are you arresting Ozzy for?” she inquired.
“Aiding and abetting a crime lord during a mission under Ministry guidance,” said Robert.
Ozzy cringed, and his stomach tightened into a ball of fury. “You piece of Mars scum. You had no intention of setting me free.”
Jozi took a step in front of Ozzy and put her hand up for him to stop talking. “He did no such thing, Robert. As you know, I’m a High Judge MMP agent. So, under law twenty-eight, section two, I hereby take this man under my own custody. That is something I can do until we figure out a proper and fair resolution for the man who may have saved Mars.”
“Jozi, don’t,” said Ozzy. “You don’t have enough strength.” It would mean they would have to walk the rest of the way to Lanlee Junction, something Ozzy wasn’t positive she’d live through.
“I do have the strength. Trust me.”
“Overruled, Miss Ryan,” said Robert. He motioned to Ozzy with his rifle. “Take that man into custody.”
The MMP agents surrounded Ozzy. They grabbed his arms and put them behind his back. He felt tight cuffs clasp around his gloved wrists. “You are now prisoner 113884 of the Gale Crater City prison system,” shouted an MMP agent.
Ozzy nodded. “Of course.” He stared at Jozi, who stood dumbfounded and shaking. “He’s not your family. He’s not your brother. He’s not anything to you other than an asshole.”
They escorted him toward an S-9’s ramp. He dug in his heels and looked over his shoulder. Jozi was being helped to another S-9. “Jozi, if Lily made it, can you please make sure she has a good life?”
A tear fell from his eye. It was the first tear Ozzy had shed since his last farewell hug he gave to her.
Lily had said, “Why are you crying, Daddy?”
He touched her chin and kissed her cheek. “It’s because I love you so much.”
A hard shove to his side brought him back to the present. He craned his neck, catching a glimpse of Jozi.
She stopped and nodded. “I’ll do my best, Ozzy.”
“Quiet,” demanded Robert. Ozzy was pushed forward. “I hope you enjoy prison. You’ll be there for a long time.” There was an air of delight in Robert’s tone.
Robert was beside him, walking along with several MMP agents.
Ozzy inhaled. “Why don’t you just kill me and get it over with? I’m obviously the bane of your existence.”
For a moment, Robert hesitated. He’d no doubt thought of killing Ozzy many times, and probably attempted to on several occasions, but Ozzy was good at hiding, at being a ghost. And until Jozi came along and pretty much infiltrated his business and his life, Robert was always a step behind.
“MMP agents, turn com lines off. I’m going private,” ordered Robert. They did and guided Ozzy up the ramp and onto a seat. Robert sat across from him, his hands folded over the rifle in his lap. “You’re a good asset. I need you around. As I said, no one can translate glyphs and find artifacts as you can. You’ll be my guy when I need you.”
A flash of rage rushed through Ozzy. Be his guy? He’d rather eat knives. He curled his fingers, making a fist. “You’re taking me to prison so how can you use me?”
“I have my ways. You’ll enjoy your time away from your cell bars every now and again. It’s a win-win, really.”
“My daughter,” growled Ozzy through gritted teeth. “Is. She. Alive?”
An MMP agent slapped the “close” button, and the ramp hissed as it shut.
“She’s not important anymore,” responded Robert in a monotone voice.
Ozzy tilted his head to the side and narrowed his eyes. “What does that mean?”
“You know what it means.”
Robert used Ozzy’s daughter to get what he wanted—for Ozzy to find the cure. Now that Ozzy did, Robert no longer needed her.
“Did she survive, Robert? That’s all I need to know.”
Robert stared coldly into Ozzy’s eyes, refusing to answer.
Ozzy did his best to hold down the anger that wanted to burst out of his veins. He couldn’t.
He stood and rushed Robert, slamming his shoulder into Robert’s chest. Robert yelped. Ozzy stepped back, readying to kick the High Judge in the helmet. In seconds, MMP agents were on top of Ozzy and pinning him to the floor.
He thrashed, kicked, and screamed.
A knee came down on his stomach and knocked the wind out of him. He curled into a fetal position, clenching his stomach with his cuffed hands.
Something sharp touched his shoulder.
Ozzy turned his head. The tip of an electric rod was pressing into his EVA. The agent holding the device pressed a button on the rod’s handle, and hot electricity shot through Ozzy. His body shook back and forth, and every synapse in his brain felt like it was frying on a burning grill.
His legs and arms jerked back and forth, and he let out a low-pitched, gurgling bellow from deep inside his gut.
He scrunched his eyes shut, and his mind became hazy. Everything around him spun, and his body continued to shake uncontrollably from the electricity zapping every cell in his body.
He let out a loud yell and flexed every muscle he had. “Just end me, Robert.”
An instant later, darkness overtook Ozzy, and he lost consciousness.
35
Gale Crater City Prison—Gale Crater City, Mars
A guard gripped Ozzy’s arm and pulled him out of his cell. Ozzy’s hands were chained and bound together.
The guard lifted a device and pressed a button. The cell door clanked shut. He brought the device to his mouth. “Prisoner 113884 is out of his cell. I’m taking him to block five, hospital wing. Open up.”
Ozzy stepped in stride with the bulky guard, his eyes on the door ahead of him. There was a loud bang, and Ozzy glanced away, eyeing a prisoner clanging an iron mug against the bars of his cell.
Ozzy tightened his lips and glanced ahead. He had no idea where he was going or why. He’d been here half a night and hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep or food.
It was probably better that way. It made him numb and emotionless.
Now he was being forced to go somewhere. Hopefully, a firing squad to end his miserable life. But he knew it wouldn’t happen. Robert was probably going to attem
pt to send him on another mission.
Not over Ozzy’s dead body. Robert had ruined his life and was continuing to do so.
The door buzzed and automatically opened. They walked through the doorway and turned down a hall labeled Gale Crater City Prison Emergency Hospital.
A stench wafted to his nose. Was that the smell of death?
“Hold your breath, 113884. The city hospitals were overrun. They used the prison system for more rooms. They haven’t carted the children out yet.”
“What children?” He held his breath, not from the guard’s advice, but from the chance that his daughter had survived.
“The ones that died.”
The wind was sucked out of him. He let out a breath, and he moved his eyes forward. He should have known.
They passed a room with its door open. A grieving woman was by her son’s side, holding his lifeless hand. His skin was ashen, and his lips were blue. Death had grabbed him not too long ago.
Ozzy’s stomach sank. The cure must not have worked.
He looked away as they walked past. They were heading for another door at the end of the hall.
The decaying stench grew stronger, and he coughed, trying to force the rotting odor out of his lungs.
He walked by another doorway where a little girl was dead, lying alone in a bed. Her eyes were open. No family was around her. Ozzy squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to see anymore.
Thank the Mars’ gods it wasn’t Lily, but if it were his Lily-bug, he wouldn’t be able to bear it. It’d be a dagger in his heart, and he wasn’t ready for that. He wasn’t prepared for what was most likely the inevitable.
“How many children made it?” he asked.
“Keep your mouth shut.”
Ozzy continued, keeping in line with the guard’s pace, only ten steps to the door at the end of the hall. His legs were tired. His heart felt like a zombie’s. He just wanted to pass out and die.
The guard brought the device to his lips. “Open up.”
A buzz sounded, and the door squeaked open.
The guard escorted Ozzy through it and turned down another hall. They stopped at yet another door where the guard pressed a keypad attached to a panel on the wall. “Prisoner 113884 is here.”
Mars Colony Chronicles (Books 1 - 5): A Space Opera Box Set Adventure Page 20
