Mother of Mars, page 13
part #2 of Mars Ascendant Series
She smiled. “I think I can find something for that.”
Satisfied I was in good hands, Varr joined the others in the cockpit. When I was sure he wouldn’t overhear, I whispered to her, “Please, I know I didn’t hallucinate anything.”
She studied me seriously. “I don’t know JR from a hole in the ground, but I know you. Of course, I believe you, chica, but what are we going to do about it?”
My elation at Dani’s belief in me ended when her question sank in. “I don’t know, but we need to keep on our toes.”
“Oh, I won’t take my eyes off him.” They narrowed as she looked to the front of the ship. “While I do believe in you, one thing bothers me. Why didn’t he just do you in when he shot them? It would have been a whole lot easier to come up with a story around that than hauling your cute little ass around town.” Then she added, “And don’t pay attention to his crack about your weight. You look amazing.”
I pondered that for a moment. “He needs me alive.”
“Maybe to persuade your ex to cooperate? Doesn’t he want something from him?”
“Maybe.” Something bothered me. The sudden emergence of Carlos after all these years seemed too convenient. Something didn’t add up.
“We’ll just trust that whatever prevented him from shooting me will continue to serve us for a bit longer. Keep your eyes and ears open. I think things might start to get worse from here.”
Chapter 24
Felix Altius sat at his desk studying the document. The risky operation had gone better than anticipated; Talus Varr was now a wanted fugitive, and Felix’s Dominus had resumed his former seat with the Triumvirate. Regis Mundi was ecstatic, of course, even if his enemy still breathed for the moment.
Mundi rarely wanted to be troubled with operational specifics, but even so, Felix believed he had taken a personal risk in not revealing the details to his master. He had wished to spare him yet another disappointment should it fail. With the surprising success employing their degraded sample of the nanovirus, Felix now had more far-reaching implications to address.
Mundi still did not know of the weakened state of their Ares viral stock. Felix had gone to great lengths to keep knowledge of it a guarded secret, fearing the loss of the pathogen would further distress his unstable master. The old man had been overjoyed to learn of its recovery from the treacherous Erik Dunn two years earlier. The storage of the nanites, as well as the cure supplied by the woman they’d rescued, was initiated without delay, but things had not proceeded smoothly in the intervening months.
Under normal circumstances, Felix was unflappable. There were few difficulties for which he could not find a satisfactory solution. The unlikely success of the assassination of the high chancellor on the first attempt now threatened to lead to one of those vexing, unsolvable problems. Usually, he was able to defer a decision on such difficult issues until an answer became apparent, given more time and data. Most of the time the tactic worked.
The problem he faced today had too many far-reaching difficulties for Mundi. His master responded poorly to failure, but his reaction to a complication involving a pivotal resource would send repercussions throughout the organization if not handled with the utmost care. Though he could not forestall his presentation of the situation, he was grateful for the time required to walk from his office to Mundi’s new apartments on Olympia.
Once he passed through the security doors, the decor changed from the typically stark, unadorned style that dominated the station, to the ornate and detailed preoccupation of Regis Mundi. The empty anteroom was lined with Doric marble columns pillaged from archaeological sites and museums on Earth. Each artefact was genuine and meticulously restored to its original glory. From the intricate mosaic-inlaid floors to the amphoras in the alcoves, everything spoke to the man’s obsession with ancient Rome. The guards all dressed in the uniform of the Roman legions, and the servants and retainers wore traditional tunics or togas as their station required.
Felix’s boots clicked on the marble floor as he approached the massive closed doors modelled from those in the ruins of the Hagia Sophia. Though Byzantine and not strictly Roman, they served well as the grand entrance to Regis Mundi’s receiving room and reflected his imperial ambitions. The bodyguards bowed and admitted him with no delay.
Felix stood at the threshold and inclined his head to the figure seated on the replica of a sella curulis. The low dais it rested on at the end of the audience chamber, though modest, still compelled the deference of his guests. Mundi, engrossed in a discussion, did not acknowledge him, though Felix never expected any and assumed his usual station behind his Dominus. He quickly ascertained the nature of the conversation then stood at quiet attention and waited.
The presenter was a corporate agent, reporting the successful eradication of pirates who had harassed company trade routes between Luna and the Galilean colonies. When an appropriate pause occurred, Felix bent to Mundi’s ear and whispered. Rising from his seat, the old man nodded and waved dismissively at the nonplussed agent. The man looked from Mundi to Felix, who instructed, “Your audience is complete. Please file everything with my office. You are dismissed.”
Felix turned his back on the frustrated man and followed Mundi into the private chamber located behind the dais. On closing the door, Felix noted the anguish on his master’s face. He decided that a quick thrust of the blade would be more merciful than a long, slow cut.
“There is a problem with the Ares sample.”
“What’s happened? Has there been a release?”
“No, Dominus, something much worse; the nanites are dying.”
“Aren’t they in stasis?”
Felix nodded gravely. “All were in cold storage and should be viable, but on the inspection I ordered, our scientists discovered 98% are deactivated. There is no explanation.”
“Did some biocontamination trigger their activation?”
“There is no discernible cause.”
“This can’t be happening. Felix, assure me this is a joke! Do you know how long I waited to get my hands on it again? Fifteen years. I almost gave up.” He collapsed into a chair and buried his face in his hands.
Compassion flooded Felix as grief overcame the old man. “Master, even with the weakened sample, we have achieved much. Talus Varr stands accused of the assassination, and the Triumvirate rightly invited you to return to your former station.”
Rage distorted Mundi’s face. “My revenge is incomplete. My enemy still lives, and while I may now be restored, he can yet thwart me.”
“There are few places he can hide, Dominus. Soon he will be arrested and humiliated in a public trial before his execution.”
Mundi looked hopeful momentarily, then moaned and resumed his weeping. Felix could barely understand him when he spoke. “What difference does it make? Without it the conquest of Terra is impossible. I’ll be stuck in orbit over this miserable desert world until I die.”
Suddenly, his head shot up, red-rimmed eyes wide with an epiphany. “There is still the source on Mars.”
A pained expression gripped Felix, and Mundi did not miss the significance.
“What is it, Felix?”
“Talus Varr also knows this.”
“What of it?”
Felix thought of keeping everything to himself until he devised a solution. However, the tragic experiences of others taught him the best policy with Mundi lay in full disclosure. While it could be painful, it was far less so than what happened to those who kept secrets from him. “He holds the means to destroy the originating source of nanites.”
“How?”
“Two years ago, we transported to Mars a person with an acquired immunity to them.”
“You mean the woman with the so-called cure? That all but degraded weeks after obtaining a sample of it. It was useless.”
“Yes, sire, her hybrids were of little value. In fact, there is sufficient evidence from our research to suggest that they contributed little to her defence from infection. My spies here on Mars inform me the cure is in her very blood. We believe her immune system is somehow genetically adapted to fight off the nanovirus or any infectious invader.”
“Is it even possible?” Mundi let the rhetorical question hang as he rose and paced the length of his office. “What do we know of her, Felix?”
“Very little, despite being recruited by Dunn. There are unexplained gaps in her record and curious inclusions.”
“What sort of inclusions?”
“Born thirty-seven standard years ago, the archives show her as a life-long person of interest to the Corpus, but no details suggest why. Her birth, school, and government records are all available, but there is nothing exceptional about her until her unlikely enrolment in the Terran Medical Academy at an early age. Talus Varr, using an assumed identity, sponsored her admission.”
“Varr! I knew this had his hand all over it.”
Felix was taken aback. His prodigious memory was constantly at Mundi’s disposal, and nothing occurred in his master’s universe with which he wasn’t familiar. “I’m sorry, Dominus, but I don’t know what you’re referring to.”
Mundi smiled patronizingly at his lieutenant. “You don’t need to be embarrassed. Certain events were never committed to the written records.”
“And the woman is involved?”
“I believe she is. Thirty-eight years ago, Talus started a little science project. He never included me on it, and frankly, I had no interest at the time, being occupied with my work on Luna. Talus was convinced humanity needed an evolutionary jump-start. This took place a few years after the beginning of hostilities between the Lunar and Terran governments, and he recruited a number of comfort women to participate in his experiments. Rumour claims him responsible for the genetic manipulation of over fifty thousand pregnancies. It all happened at around the time of the initial discovery of the Ares nanites on Mars.”
“You believe the two events are related?”
“Well, thirty-five years later a young woman suddenly emerged with an immunity to the same contagion. That woman is also present in our records for unknown reasons. Now, two years since her re-emergence, she is at large with Talus Varr. That is too much of a coincidence for me.”
“I concur, Dominus.”
“Where is this woman now?”
“She is in hiding with him, on the planet below.”
“Varr has plans for her, and she must be found and destroyed before he can use her to destroy the source nanites. Everything hinges on my getting access to them. Do not let me down.”
“My agents are already working on it, sire. This will be resolved soon.”
For the first time in his life, Felix personally feared the consequences of failure.
Chapter 25
Dylan surveyed the charnel scene. Though a rare crime among Martians, the victims before him represented two-thirds of the murders investigated in a year.
The body of the girl disturbed him the most, and his stomach tried to turn over when he examined her. He could not imagine a person who could murder a child in cold blood.
He knelt to examine the adult’s body. The man was shot in the temple. He didn’t try to speculate on the calibre or kind of firearm used without the forensic analysis. Gingerly, he turned the head to reveal the exit wound. A glance up at the wall showed where the man’s brains had ended up.
“Do you think our fugitives are behind this?” asked Morgan. He stood across the room with a molecular scanner attached to his left wrist.
Dylan allowed his imagination to show him how the crime might have played out. “The male victim faced the girl when the shooter capped him at close range.” He assumed an imitative stance where he imagined the position of the killer. Assuming a firing posture, he aimed at the victim’s location, then turned and pointed in the girl’s direction. “He wasted no time in murdering the witness immediately after.”
His attention drifted to the child’s mutilated face, and his arm dropped to his side. “He’s an expert. Someone who showed no hesitation in either killing.” Dylan turned to face his lieutenant. “None of our suspects are capable of this.”
“Then who?”
Dylan held up a hand. Morgan closed his mouth and resumed his scan of the room with the molecular sniffer. The burly man shook his head. “Well, I’m not finding anything, sir.”
Dylan frowned and walked to the table near the window. It and the chairs served as the only furniture in the room. He ran his finger over its surface and turned it up to examine. He repeated the action on the back of the chair. “There’s dust on this.”
“Dust is everywhere on this fucking rock,” replied Morgan without looking up from his work.
“But there’s none on the table top.” Dylan’s eyes scanned the rest of the dingy interior. “In fact, it’s the only thing that isn’t covered in it.”
“You think your killer cleaned it?”
Dylan’s head snapped around to see who spoke. In the doorway stood a silhouetted figure. After a dramatic pause, a small man with distinctively Mediterranean features strode confidently into the room.
“Or perhaps a recent meal was served. There are many potential answers,” the stranger said, a hint of amusement on his face.
Morgan moved authoritatively to him. “This is a restricted area.”
Dylan signalled his man to stand down. “It’s all right, Lieutenant. This is Felix Altius. He works for Regis Mundi.”
Felix nodded to the younger man and approached the two bodies. He stood between them and took in the scene.
“Why are you here, Altius?”
“You know very well why I am here, Mister Hodgson. Your search for the assassins yields abundant excuses but little in the way of results. Your superior is concerned with your lack of progress and requested my assistance.”
“Your master hasn’t yet assumed his duties. You don’t possess any authority to take over this portfolio.”
“Please, Mister Director, there is no need to be defensive.” Felix smiled reassuringly. “I offer my services as a courtesy. I am a consultant, nothing more. Nobody plans to take over your case—yet.”
Dylan ground his teeth as he watched Felix move about the room, examining everything as he went.
“My investigation is proceeding just fine, thank you.”
“Really?” Altius did not look at Dylan but focused his attention on the blood-splattered wall. “A computer security breach confounded your surveillance operation, and now you are distracted by this sideshow.” He raised his hands to the wall and hovered his fingers millimetres away from it, as if he felt for something without touching.
“Murder is rare. I don’t believe in coincidences.”
“I’m gratified to hear of your thoroughness in such matters. One could so easily interpret these little asides as distractions that allow your lover to escape justice. Ah, there it is.” Felix pressed firmly to a spot and a latch clicked. A large panel slid aside to reveal a sophisticated computer interface.
Felix turned his head and favoured Dylan with a smirk. “It would seem that your instincts are still sound, Director.” He backed away to admire his discovery while Dylan approached and stood next to him.
Dylan’s eyes were riveted on the equipment when Felix leaned in and whispered into his ear. “You’re welcome.” He smiled again and walked to the door. “I’m glad I could help put your investigation back on track.”
Dylan called after him. “Where are you going?”
“Oh, I’m a consultant. I don’t wish to interfere. I am going to turn over some rocks that you haven’t yet looked under.”
Dylan turned to regard the strange machine, then back to the departing Altius. “Do you know what this is?”
Felix stopped in the doorway, wearing a sly smile. “I’m sure your technical experts will confirm that it is a Cortical Implant programming interface. I surmise your assassin came here to cover his tracks and then eliminated the only witnesses. Good hunting, Director Hodgson.” He turned on his heel and vanished into the alley.
“Damn it!” Dylan knew Glynn Tennant would call in help from Mundi. He’d hoped he might be able to stave it off for at least another day, but this unrelated murder drew too much attention upstairs. The coincidence of its occurrence right under his nose while he hunted for the fugitives could not be ignored.
“What does this machine do? I never knew such things existed.” Morgan stood beside him and admired the discovered technology.
“They aren’t supposed to.”
The cortical implant was intended to be the ultimate personal identification device. Once installed at birth, a CI was a permanent brain enhancement, unremovable and unalterable. A scan of one eliminated any doubt of a person’s identity. “There are rumours of something like this available on the black market.”
“How did that guy know what this thing is? How the hell did he find it? I scanned that wall three times,” said Morgan.
Dylan didn’t know how Felix did it. His abilities were frighteningly inhuman. Somehow he had sensed the machinery behind the panel. Without the synthetic man’s help, Dylan doubted his people would have located the interface behind the shielded panel. He wondered what other hidden talents Altius possessed and what information he didn’t bother to share.
“Get in touch with our tech people on Olympia,” ordered Dylan. “They can figure out what it was used for.”
Despite the time spent working the case, he could show little for it except this room and the bodies. Although the delays in the investigation had been engineered by him to allow Mel time to escape, he could no longer offer her that luxury. He now found himself in a race to find her before Mundi’s people.
There still existed no way to connect Mel with these deaths, and Dylan was desperate to prove them unrelated to her. It would be far easier for Mel to defend herself against one set of charges. Three murders would all but ensure her execution, especially if Felix Altius found her first.
He stepped out for a breath of fresh air. He needed time to think of his next move. His latitude diminished by the minute, and he would soon be in no position to help Mel. In the absence of any evidence, Dylan could still believe in Mel’s innocence, a circumstantial victim of unfortunate association with Talus Varr.
