Scarlet Phoenix E-Book

C.A. Wilke

• Herausgeber: Next Chapter
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

Something big is coming, and Earth isn’t ready.

All Scarlett ever wanted to do was protect her friends and family. And get a little revenge against her ex for trying to kill her. Look how that turned out...

She died and was resurrected with medical nanites, leaving her in a coma. Now, her friends are on the run from the government and her family is in the hands of Erebus, a paramilitary organization led by the infamous Colonel Notch.

When she wakes on the moon in the hands of Earth Command, all memory of the last six years is gone and she’s back to being meek little Jillian. Even without her kick-ass alter ego, she quickly realizes that the nanites did more than just bring her back from the dead. They made her stronger, faster and much harder to kill.

But she’s not the only one.

In Scarlet Phoenix, the conclusion to C.A. Wilke's Scarlet Angel series, it will take all of her skills and newfound strengths, as Jillian races against time to remember who she is and save the people she cares about.

Leseprobe

Scarlet Phoenix

Scarlet Angel

Book 3

C. A. Wilke

Contents

Dedication

1. Resurrection

2. Surrender

3. Instinct

4. Escape

5. A Call

6. Cargo

7. Ride Home

8. Meeting

9. A Little Palaver

10. Safehouse

11. A Breakfast Interrupted

12. Totally Professional

13. Sparring

14. Hiding

15. Going Up

16. Neil

17. Rescue

18. Trouble

19. The Word is Out

20. A Little Walk

21. On the Tarmac

22. A Little Motivation

23. The Storm

24. Cornered

25. The Trap

26. Sides

27. Close the Hatch

28. Joyride

29. A Visitor

30. Bullshit

31. Seven Minutes

32. Message in a Bottle

33. Bringing Up the Rear

34. Plan B

35. The Next Move

36. Firewalls

37. A Shell Game

38. Light It Up

39. Reunion, Of Sorts

40. Out of the Dark

41. Gasping

42. Chaos

43. Last Ditch

44. The End

45. The Beginning

About the Author

Copyright (C) 2022 C.A. Wilke

Layout design and Copyright (C) 2022 by Next Chapter

Published 2022 by Next Chapter

Edited by Tyler Colins

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the author's permission.

Dedication

I want to take a moment to thank the people who have helped me along the way in finishing this series. Early on, I wrote Scarlet Angel, the first book in this series, as what was intended to be a one-off. But the story grew to be much bigger than I had anticipated. In those early days of my writing, I relied heavily on the Phoenix Metro Writing Workshop, Wednesday edition. This is a local writing critique group that met every Wednesday at one of my favorite coffee shops. I met some great writers and fantastic friends. A few of those I can mention include Cameron Milkins, Andrew Terech, David Nicol, Jacob Shaver, John Deliedon, Patrick Hodges, Cody Wagner, and BC Brown. Many of these friends have gone on to publish books. These people were instrumental in seeing Scarlett’s story to completion.

Even more than that, though … I have to thank my wife, Lori, and my family. Without their continued support, this absolutely could not have been done. Lori has always been my biggest fan and advocate, and that’s part of what makes her so amazing to me. And while my kids continue to poke a little good-humored fun by calling me an “Aging Hipster,” they’ve never wavered in their support either. And of course, my mother. As a kid, she encouraged me to read. We always had a virtual plethora of books around the house. I remember her bringing me copies of The Wheel of Time, Revelation Space, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and so much more. These books inspired me to tell the stories that I wanted to read.

So, to everyone who’s contributed, thank you. And just because Scarlett’s story is done, that doesn’t mean that I am.

Chapter1

Resurrection

I am lost in a land of confusion. Part of my past is gone, and my future is as clear as mud.

* * *

The void was all. There was no sound, no up or down, no cold, no hot. Just … nothing. And yet, that darkness shuddered. Somehow, the black shroud of emptiness shook and twisted. It shook and twisted until it seemed as if it would break.

Then it did and there was pain. A pain that reverberated across her entire body, like that time she was hit by a car while riding her bike on the sidewalk of a busy street. She’d been crossing a driveway when a car pulled out a little too far. She’d tumbled from her ride and landed on the asphalt barely a couple feet from the raging stream of metal and glass that was traffic. That accident had only resulted in a few bruises and scrapes, but it had hurt enough that she cried the rest of the way home.

This was like that, only much, much worse.

Her lungs burned, almost as if she hadn’t breathed in a long time, but that didn't make sense. There was a sensation, almost as if she was under water. Gravity, the tug of the Earth pulling her down, did not feel right. But if she was underwater and tried to breathe she'd drown. But no, there was no water.

With a mental scream, she forced her mouth to open, and air flooded her lungs. Stale air with the smell and taste of dust, but it was delicious air nonetheless. Her chest spasmed and her abdominal muscles cramped. She gave a dry, raspy cough. Each breath seared, but she forced herself to keep breathing.

Cold air pricked her skin, covering her in gooseflesh. She rolled onto her side and opened her eyes, blinking against a harsh, white light. A couple feet away to her left, the light sliced through darkness, highlighting walls of jagged, gray stone that rose up all around her. Still, gravity did not feel right.

The light moved.

The simple beam of light swiped across her face, but to her it felt like a slap. She gasped and recoiled. Even with her eyes closed, her vision was now punctuated by the horizontal line of green and purple afterglow branded into her eyeballs. Her muscles groaned with the deep ache of not having moved in a long time.

Something grated against the stone floor nearby. A flash of fear ran through her but was accompanied by a sliver of relief that she wasn’t alone. The light moved again. Lifting a hand, she blocked out the brightest center of the beam. She tried to peer into the dark shadows but saw nothing.

Opening her mouth to speak, only a dry, grating sound came. She shivered against the dry, chilly air as she gathered what little saliva she could. The second she swallowed, fire ripped through her throat. The pain quickly faded to a dull scratch as the trickle of liquid made its way down. Finally, her words came, sounding far more gravelly than she expected. “Hello?”

Her invisible companion coughed, the unfamiliar voice deep and masculine. When the person spoke, a Nordic accent tinged his pain-cracked voice. “Well, that is timing for you.”

“What?” She didn’t understand anything. What? Who? Where the hell am I?

The last thing she remembered was … fire? And pain. There was so much pain.

“I … I don’t understand.” She tried again. “Who are you? Where are we? Where’s Derrick?”

She looked down to find her body covered in a black, skintight bodysuit. A lump at the back of her neck indicated some kind of electronics. A distant memory of wearing something similar during her last physical at her doctor’s office. A medscan suit? Why in the world was she wearing a medscan suit?

The light shifted and bounced, and she realized the light was a lamp on the man’s helmet. He took the helmet off and angled the beam so it shone between them. At last, she could see his face.

The man—his neck veins bulging in agony—had a broad chiseled jaw. He lay on the ground on his side. His long torso stretched from the light into the darkness. The man’s left leg was crushed under a boulder. “I do not know who Derrick is, but I am Aksel, from the team that came to rescue you, Scarlett.”

Her confusion deepened. “Rescue me?” Realization dawned as memories of screams and explosions filled her head. She was in the Universal Dynamics research building, down in the basement test levels. Derrick’s voice had counted down over the loudspeaker. And then …

She coughed again. “Rescuer? Yeah. The experiment, it went … wrong. There was an explosion.”

That’s it! Flashes of bodies and rubble filled her head. She had a vague memory of being pulled from that scene, but it had to be a dream while she was unconscious. But if she was still

at Universal Dynamics, where was she exactly? And why did everything feel so weird and … light. Could it be an artifact of altered gravity? Some weird result of the Centaurus Engine malfunction?

Aksel’s face twisted in confusion. “Explosion? No. We fell. You probably do not remember. You were unconscious.”

None of this made any sense to her. Fell? From where?

“Scarlett, can you get up?”

She shook her head to clear the mental cobwebs and looked around. “Who … who’s Scarlett?”

“Who’s Scarlett? That’s you, isn’t it? They said that was your name. They said we were going to rescue the Scarlet Angel.”

The what?

She shifted into a sitting position. “I don’t know what that means. I’m not any kind of an angel. And my name’s not Scarlett. I’m … I’m just Jillian. I’m a physicist for General Dynamics, that’s all. Please, tell me where we are. Tell me where Derrick is!”

This time it was Aksel’s turn to shake his head. “Great. That woman said you were Scarlett; she just did not say you were crazy.”

“What woman?” Jillian shook with fear and anger. Growing up, she’d always been a fairly passive person. She didn’t usually make things happen, they just tended to happen to her. But this, this man’s confusion, the insane place she found herself … it was all too much. “Just tell me where we are!”

She needed that little bit, that something to give her a connection to what was going on.

Aksel stared back at her for a long moment. Finally, his deep, grating words echoed off the gray walls. “Luna. We are on the moon.”

“What? No. That’s impossible.” Jillian shook her head. “We’re … we …”

She thought back on her memory of the Centaurus Engine. She remembered seeing the hole in the air, the hole leading to the deep void of space. She remembered the explosion when the engine malfunctioned, destroying the underground research complex. She remembered her time in the hospital afterward, too. She even remembered, with a shiver down her spine, the whiskey-breathed man pinning her to the wall and choking the life from her. The memories felt real.

A realization dawned on her. “Am I dead?”

“Not as far as I know.” Aksel chuckled then grimaced in agony. “If you are, then I guess I am too. And since I don’t feel dead …”

Then what happened? Why couldn’t she remember anything after that? Jillian’s voice shook as she formed the words, “H-how did I get here?”

Distant shouts echoed down to them from overhead. She looked up and opened her mouth to yell, but Aksel’s hand on her arm stopped her.

“Shh.” His whisper came through clenched teeth and sounded more like a hiss. He reached over and clicked off the light on his helmet. The darkness of complete black fell on them. “You were arrested, and we came to rescue you. If that is Earth Command, they will just throw you back in a dark hole for the rest of your life.”

His words hit her in the gut. “Arrested? For what? I’m just researcher, a nobody.”

Aksel’s tone changed as he spoke through clenched teeth. “Sisko, if you are half the woman we were told you are, being a researcher is the least of your skills.”

Jillian had no idea what the Hell he was talking about. Above, the voices grew louder. One of them, a man by his deep tone, yelled something about following the tracks in the dust. A woman replied to stay alert. Jillian only understood two words from the woman’s next sentence, but they chilled her even more than the cold lunar cave air.

She looked to where Aksel was, her whispered voice shaking with fear. “Deadly force? What does that mean? Oh God. Does that mean … oh God.”

“Shhh!” Aksel hissed. His voice changed again, this time from the energy of resistance to a slower, sleepy drawl. His breathing grew heavier, too. “Dammit, they will hear you. We just have to … hold out here … until …”

Something thumped to the ground.

“Aksel?” she whispered. “Aksel?!” Shit!

Jillian crawled over to the man and checked his pulse. With the tip of her finger under his jaw, she felt a faint thump-thump of his heartbeat. She looked around to see if there was anything to help him, but all she found was darkness. Even if there had been something, she would never find it. Above, thin, white beams cut through the black. It was hard to tell, but she guessed them at least twenty feet up. She had nowhere to go and this man—who supposedly came to help her—was hurt and probably dying.

Jillian knew she had no other choice, so she sucked in a deep breath and screamed.

Chapter2

Surrender

I was never a fighter. Once, in junior high, a girl hit me. I curled up into a ball and cried for an hour.

* * *

The hard, metal boot heel pressed into Jillian’s back, threatening to crack her spine as it shoved her down into the moon dirt. Tears streamed down her face at the pain and humiliation. Strong fingers dug between the muscles and bone in her wrists as the Earth Command Marines wrenched her arms behind her back. Cold steel clacked around her wrists, binding her arms together.

Even with her limbs secured, the boot did not let up.

The dark chasm she’d woken in was now lit with a handful of portable lights and the Marines’ helmet lamps. Two feet from her face, a light-blue clad medtech worked on Aksel, checking his blood pressure and other vitals. Another medtech focused on the wounded man’s leg by securing a tourniquet.

A shuffle from one of the Marines kicked a fistful of gray lunar dust into her face. She coughed and spat out the chalky rock-powder, but each cough sent another cloud into the air.

Hands seized her shoulders and yanked her to her feet. Sobbing to herself, she let her head hang. Jillian had no idea what was happening or why Earth Command would want to arrest her. No one had even been willing to tell her anything other than to shut up and put her hands behind her back.

The Marines shoved her around like a group of schoolyard bullies and wedged her into a safety harness. Cinching it painfully tight, they connected her to a rope that led up into the darkness above. A second later, her feet left the ground and the darkness enveloped her.

A shiver of nausea ran through Jillian as she wondered what the hell could have brought her to the moon. She hated space.

Out of the hole, more lamps lit the nearby area. More hands gripped and groped her until she was standing on solid ground facing the chasm. On the far side, the tunnel swallowed light like a black hole. When she was finally spun around, she found the tunnel on her side curving away and out of sight, well-lit the entire way. A few seconds later, a contingent of six EarthComm Marines prodded her down that lit path. The soldiers ended up having to carry Jillian most of the way. Their tactical armor suits might have weighed enough to hold them to the ground, but Jillian did not.

She wanted to say something, to make them wait until they brought Aksel up out of the hole, but one glance from the mirrored glass faceplates and the words vanished from her tongue. She didn’t know the man. Hell, she didn’t even know if he was a good guy or bad guy. What she did know, though, was that for whatever the reason, he had stepped into danger to rescue her.

And she had put herself right back into trouble.

Absently, Jillian rubbed her shoulder against her cheek to wipe away a tear trickling down her face. Bits of the gray, dried moon-dust-mud crumbled off her skin. She needed to get a hold of herself. There had to be a way out of this. Maybe Derrick could help.

The group turned a corner and a bright light blazed ahead. By the time her eyes adjusted, she was being carried through a surgically cut hole in a metal wall. Beyond, she found herself in a brightly lit corridor made of shiny aluminum and plastic. To her right, a sheet covered a roughly human shape, a large red splotch at the center. A pair of dust-covered work boots poked out from under the white cloth.

The Marines escorted her down several halls, finally depositing her in a bleak, gray room. With a large mirror embedded on one wall and stainless steel table and chairs in the middle, the room reminded her of something from one of those old television crime dramas. Part of her expected two mismatched cop partners to come strolling in, one unkempt, the other in a suit. They'd alternate playing good cop/bad cop—until they realized she didn’t know anything.

The door slammed behind her, making her jump. She looked around and found she was alone. This was no TV show. She was actually under arrest in a place that had no constitution or basic rights. Because of an international agreement established decades ago, the moon belonged to no nation or state. Instead, it was the sovereign domain of the multinational military force called Earth Command.

Left alone to her thoughts, it didn’t take long for her tears to come back. Her body wracked softly with her sobs. Eventually, her eyes grew heavy.

Jillian was jarred awake sometime later by the metal door clanging open. She jerked her head up and tried to wipe the string of drool off the side of her mouth with her shoulder. She looked around and found herself sitting in one of the corners of the little room, her still shackled arms hanging numb and useless behind her back. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been in that interrogation room, but it felt like forever.

Turning to see who was coming through the door, she climbed to her feet. A woman in an EarthComm uniform strode in carrying a commpad. Two Marines in basic combat armor followed her in. The woman sat in the chair on the far side of the stainless steel table.

“In the chair,” the woman commanded.

Before Jillian even had a chance to take a step, the two Marines seized her arms and shoved her down into the metal seat with a hard thump. The EarthComm officer stared at her, so she stared back. A square bandage stuck to the side of EarthComm woman’s face, surrounded by a light purple bruise. The woman’s collars had small bits of embroidery that looked like a diagonal bar next to a small starburst. Jillian had no idea what EarthComm rank insignias meant.

The woman looked down at her device’s screen. “Jillian McAdams, AKA Scarlett Angelise. Or, as some refer to you, the Scarlet Angel. I am Lieutenant Nuñez, and I will be handling your interrogation.”

Nuñez flicked at the screen. When she spoke again, the only hint of feeling in her words pointed to a strictly contained anger. “Who are you working with and how did you communicate your location?”

Working with? Jillian understood the woman’s words but was having trouble comprehending the actual question. “I … what?”

“Where is the present location of Colonel William Notch?”

The name held no meaning for Jillian. “Wh-who's th—”

“What is the name of the individual who led the raid to rescue you?”

“I don’t …”

A loud, irritated sigh came from the Lieutenant's nose. The commpad fell to the table with a metallic slap. Lt. Nuñez looked up and her gaze bored into Jillian. “Ms. McAdams, you are charged with multiple counts of murder of EarthComm personnel and acts of terrorism. I won’t pretend that you’ll ever see the light of day again, but this will go a lot easier if you answer my questions.”

The blood drained from Jillian’s face. Her shoulders felt heavy and breathing became difficult. “Murder? Terroris …” she whispered.

“Ms. McAdams,” Nuñez set her jaw and looked away. “This little … game you’re playing is only going to make things worse.”

“I don’t …” Jillian cleared her throat. She swallowed hard. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t even know what I’m doing here. I just woke up in that hole and … how did I get on the moon?”

Nuñez’s jaw tightened and she looked into Jillian’s eyes, her gaze digging even deeper. “Fine. I’ll play. After your little attack on the CyberBio facility, you were wounded. We … stabilized you and brought you and your two friends here for interrogation, processing and holding. Just a few hours ago, someone assaulted this facility in an attempt to rescue the three of you. The other two made it. You did not.”

Jillian’s mind still hung on the murder and terrorism. It had to be a lie, or she had been framed, or something. It just wasn’t possible. Jillian was horrified at the prospect of killing someone, much less hurting them.

Lieutenant Nuñez’s lip curled in a sneer, and she leaned forward. “We all caught up now?”

The cloud of confusion surrounding Jillian only thickened, but she nodded anyway. Whatever had landed her in her current circumstances, pissing this woman off would do nothing to help.

“Good.” Nuñez smoothed her hair. “Now, where is Colonel Notch?”

Fresh tears, hot with fear, ran down her face. Her hands reflexively pulled against her restraints to wipe them away, but the metal did not budge. Instead, she stared into her lap and sniffled. “I don’t know who that is.”

The loud bang of Nuñez’s fists on the steel table made Jillian jump. She looked up just in time to see the Lieutenant launch herself across the table. The woman slammed into her. Jillian felt the wind burst from her lungs and the world twist as she tipped backward.

Jillian’s head bounced off the concrete floor. The back of her skull exploded in pain and her vision swam with stars. Fingers closed around her throat, choking off her air.

“You’re supposed to be some serious badass, but right now, you’re just my little bitch.”

The Lieutenant’s breath was hot on the side of Jillian’s face. Her vision cleared a little and she looked up into her attacker’s rage-filled eyes.

“I’m not playing your bullshit games. You see these two?” Nuñez nodded at the two flanking Marines. They stared straight ahead, unmoving. “Your little escape stunt put two of their friends in the medbay and one in the morgue. Do you think they’re going to give two shits if I choke the life out of your worthless hide?”

Jillian felt something inside start to change as the lieutenant’s spittle pelted her face. Her body struggled and fought for air, but a strange calm settled over her. There was no point in struggling, and she knew it.

Darkness crept in at the edges of her vision. A memory flashed in her mind. Fingers wrapped around her neck, just like this. She was pinned to the wall in her bedroom. No, in a living room. Or both at the same time. There was a man. Rancid, alcohol breath.

Overwhelming fear coursed through every vein. Both times she knew it was the end, that she would die. Bits of her life passed through her, places, and people; some she recognized and some she did not.

She opened her mouth to say something, but only a gurgle came out.

The fingers around her throat vanished. Jillian sucked in a lungful of air, burning her throat and lungs. Powerful coughing spasms wracked her whole body. She rolled onto her side.

Somewhere in the distance she heard voices. A woman, not Nuñez, yelling something. Jillian only caught a few words. Something about UCMJ, prisoners, and court martial.

Finally, Jillian’s coughing fit subsided and she lay huddled in the fetal position, letting the tears trickle across her nose and down to the floor. That woman had nearly done it, had nearly killed her. Yet Jillian still had no idea what was going on or why she was even there.

A gentle hand touched her shoulder.

“Ms. McAdams? Are you alright?” The new woman’s voice was tender and laced with a slight accent.

Jillian tried to place it, but in her oxygen-deprived state, her brain would not function the way she wanted.

Hands lifted her up into the chair. Jillian blinked away the remains of her tears and watched the other woman sit in the far seat. Nuñez’s replacement was different. Her face was chiseled in hard lines and her skin was like dull copper. She wore the same uniform as the Lieutenant, but this woman’s collar had two bars instead of just one. She also held a commpad, though her gaze was on Jillian.

The woman opened her mouth to speak, her face showing genuine concern. “Ms. McAdams? Do I need to call for a medic?”

Jillian coughed again and shook her head. She was reasonably sure she was alright. In fact, she was a little surprised at how quickly her throat had stopped hurting, and the back of her head was barely a shadow of pain. “I’m fine,” she croaked.

The woman nodded. “Good. Do you know who I am?”

Jillian shook her head.

The other woman smiled. “I thought not. I’m Captain Sania Ganesh. I’m part of a specialized task force going after the terrorist group known as Erebus.”

Her mind jumped from thought to thought. She tried to focus on the Captain, but the unfamiliar faces from her dying vision kept pulling her away.

“I want to apologize for my lieutenant’s enthusiasm. She lost a close friend in that rescue attempt.”

Enthusiasm. A part of Jillian wanted to laugh at the Captain’s choice of words.

Ganesh’s voice took on a harsher tone. “But that’s no excuse. I’ll file the formal charges myself, you can be assured.”

One face stuck in her head. She recognized him but couldn’t quite place him. Yet somehow, he looked older than he should. His blond hair was a little longer and his smile was more genuine.

Captain Ganesh cleared her throat. “Now, Ms. McAdams—”

“Jillian.”

“Right, Jillian. I’m trying to put some pieces together about you, and I’m hoping you can help.”

“I don’t know who this Colonel Notch is or where he is.” Jillian looked up to see Ganesh’s head cocked to the side. The woman leaned forward just a little, as if to catch Jillian’s words just a little sooner. “I don’t know anything about any communications. I don’t know who tried to rescue me. And I sure as hell don’t know how I got into a hole under the surface of the moon.”

Ganesh set the commpad down and leaned back. “All right then. Why don’t you tell me what you do know?”

Jillian did chuckle at that. “What I know? I know there was an explosion at the lab where I work. I know I survived. I know I was in the hospital for a while. And I know that a man came into my room and tried to kill me. After that, I …”

“Hmm.” The Captain picked up her commpad and made some notes. “The explosion at the lab, that was Universal Dynamics, no?”

A piece of Jillian’s mind shouted the words, piecing together Ganesh’s faint East-Indian accent. Pulling herself back to the question, she nodded.

“So, you don’t remember anything from the last six years?”

Jillian’s heart skipped a beat. She’d heard the Captain’s words, but for some reason, her brain rejected them like an incorrect password. “I’m sorry. The last what?”

Chapter3

Instinct

It is a good thing we never realize what we are truly capable of. If we did, it would terrify us.

* * *

“Six years?” Jillian swallowed against the desire to throw up. “No. That’s not possible.”

With her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around the saggy pillow, she stared off at the blurry steel wall across from her. Her cell was barely a five-by-six metal box with a spring-suspension cot on one side and a stainless steel toilet on the other. Her ears thrummed with the monotonous echo of distant machinery and air-cycling systems.

While she was technically staring at the wall, her thoughts were elsewhere. Bits of her conversation with Ganesh swirled around in her mind. Through the mental fog, she fought to piece her life together, to make sense of what Captain Ganesh had told her: Derrick was dead, and she was wanted on charges of murder and terrorism.

But none of that made sense. Derrick had survived the explosion at UDI. In fact, she’d been the one to find and save him when a ceiling beam pinned him down. Yet, somehow, she’d murdered him just last year …? And on top of that, she destroyed an entire space station and sent it to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean …?

“No.” She shook her head. It was just too much. If everything Captain Ganesh had said were true, those last six years had turned Jillian into a monster. She wanted to cry, but she’d run out of tears a while ago.

Jillian gently rubbed her tender wrists. The motion was instinctive. The skin there was no longer an angry red and the burning had also faded away. Again, she was awed by how quickly the pain and irritation had disappeared. In a way though, she still felt it, as if the memory of the pain was enough to trigger her reaction—a reaction that somehow let her keep a foothold in the reality of the world outside her mind.

Her surreal presence in a brig cell on the moon was no help in that department either. With no sunlight or clocks to tell time, she wasn’t sure how long it had been since she woke in the hole, but she guessed it to be at least a day and a half.

Metal clanged in the hallway outside of her cell, pulling at the corner of Jillian’s awareness. Footsteps came in the form of metallic click-thumps she’d learned were from the Marine’s magnetic boots. One thump punctuated louder and deeper than the others, though. This one had no steel-on-steel sound. Something heavy and soft thudded against the floor in a similar rhythm as the footsteps, only as every other step.

A glimmer of hope appeared in Jillian. Maybe it’s all a mistake. Maybe I can go home. Maybe Derrick’s not dead.

The footsteps grew louder until they were right outside her door. There, they paused. A soft beep. The door to the cell opposite hers opened—thump-thump—and it slammed shut. A second later, the footsteps retreated back the way they’d come minus the odd stepper.

When the outer door to her cell block closed, Jillian’s faint hope collapsed in on itself and she slid back into that black pit of despair.

“Scarlett? I mean, Jillian? Are you there?” the voice called out, echoing through the overhead vent with a slight Finnish accent.

Aksel.

Jillian’s heart jumped a little at hearing his voice. He had to be in one of the cells next to hers, but she couldn’t tell which. Jillian felt a trickle of comfort.

When she didn’t respond, Aksel called for her again. “Jillian? If you are there, I just want to see if you are okay. And to say that I am sorry.” His voice rang with genuine concern.

She cleared her throat and took a deep breath. “For what?”

“For getting you caught. For falling down that hole.”

In spite of herself, a faint smile pulled at the corners of her mouth. He may have come to rescue Scarlett, but he actually seemed worried about Jillian. “It’s not your fault, Aksel. Well, I mean, technically I don’t know if it wasn’t your fault since I can’t remember. But I’m pretty sure it wasn’t your fault anyway.”

Aksel chuckled but didn’t respond.

Not knowing what else to say, Jillian let the silence take over. Several minutes passed before either of them spoke again. Hoping to have a tiny bit of understanding about herself, she broke the quiet. “Hey, Aksel?”

“Yes?”

“Tell me about Erebus.”

“The terrorist group?” Confusion filled his voice.

“Yeah.”

“Well, I do not know much. I mean, I remember hearing about them on the newsfeeds, but that is about it.”

Jillian had operated on the assumption that it was Erebus who’d come to rescue her. Ganesh hadn’t specifically said as much, but the insinuations were there. “So, you’re not connected with them?”

“Me? Hell no. People like them are all about governments and holy books. I do not get into politics or religious stuff. I am just a docker. Er, a dock worker. I do my job, I go home. My tour with Viking Astro here on Luna is almost over. I was scheduled to go home in a month. Not that I would have, what with them coming and all.”

Viking Astro tickled the back of Jillian’s mind. Viking was a small space logistics company with defense contracts. Thinking back, she remembered—maybe—going in for an interview there, but she hadn’t landed the job.

She shook her head. Viking employed tens of thousands of employees. There was no way that was any kind of a meaningful connection, not one that was strong enough for someone to break her out of jail.

“Then, what made you come for me? Who am I to you? Are we, uh … I mean … you and I …” Her voice trailed off as she felt her face flush with heat.

“No, nothing like that.” Aksel chuckled. “We will just say that getting you out of here was more for me. An, uh, act of self-preservation, I think.”

Jillian had no idea what that meant. She knew he was probably being evasive on purpose. After all, there was no telling if someone was listening in on them. At the same time, she found that she was grateful for the conversation; it hadn’t exactly lifted her spirits, but it did make her a little less lonely.

“Oh, I meant to ask, how’s your leg?”

Aksel grunted. “It is fine. They fixed it up with stemgel. It will still take a week to heal, but they put my leg in a mobile splint so I can get around. Itches like a vitun kyrvän lutkuttaja.”

“Uh.” Jillian’s brow scrunched. “Do I want to know what that means?”

“Probably not.”

Metal banged, signaling the door to the cell block opening. Two sets of heavy mag boots click-thumped their way down the corridor, their steps almost perfectly in time. Jillian noticed the lack of a third set of footsteps. Since they’d just delivered Aksel, they were probably coming for her.

Hard metal banged twice against her cell door, making her jump. A man’s voice—tinny and faintly electronic—echoed from the other side. “Prisoner 491, stand in the circle, facing the back wall with your arms behind you.”

She knew better than to disobey. The last time she’d moved too slowly, they’d vented the oxygen until she passed out. When she’d woken, she’d found herself in the interrogation room again.

Jillian jumped to her feet but pushed off the bed too hard. Her head thumped against the ceiling, and she yelped. With one hand on her head, she drifted back down to the ground. Frustration flared in her. The Marines were not gentle, and the last thing she needed now was a headache.

Behind her, the door beeped. Her head pounded, but she yanked her arm down and stood rigidly stiff, her thumbs hooked together at the small of her back. It had only taken doing it wrong once for her to learn how it worked. Metal groaned softly and the door opened. Boots thumped the ground. The first Marine stepped into her cell and Jillian’s mind kicked into overdrive. He would be taller than her, wearing the powered black and grey plasteel armor. He’d have a tazestick in a holster on his right thigh and a low-yield plasma pistol on his left. Not that he needed either. The suit augmented his strength enough to break bones.

Any second now, she’d feel his hands on her wrists and she would be shackled.

Instead, something heavy hit her right shoulder, knocking her forward. On Earth, she’d have just stumbled a step, but here on the moon she was catapulted forward.

“I said stand in the circle,” the Marine barked.

Jillian slammed into the far wall, her forehead bouncing off the steel surface. Pain reverberated through her skull. Stars sparkled across her vision. Everything twisted around her, and she wasn’t sure if it was from hitting her head or falling in the lessened gravity.

She retreated back into her mind. A powerful hand seized her shirt and shoved her face down onto the cot. Her stomach slammed into the sidebar, knocking the wind from her. The Marine leaned down over her, his weight pressing down on her left wrist as he held it against her back.

“You better listen when a Marine gives you an order, 491.” The Marine’s low voice dripped with venom. His facemask was just a couple inches above her ear. “Our Marines died because of you. It would be a shame if you were to have an accident in here. I suggest you do as you’re told.”

People died because of her. The words slipped into her mind like a hot knife, her thoughts sizzling where they entered. Somewhere deep inside she knew that people died for her, far more than her attacker knew. Some she was supposed to protect, and some because she’d killed them. Jillian couldn’t remember any of those things actually happening but, somehow, she knew they had. And yet, she also knew something worse was coming.

With her eyes squeezed shut, the darkness twisted. Suddenly she felt smaller, more like she was watching what was happening, as if someone had shoved her mind aside and taken over.

Her eyes flashed open, and her body moved.

Jillian’s right hand slid back and touched the cool plasteel armor. The Marine continued to bellow in her ear, but his words slithered over and past her without recognition. Her hand moved back a little further and she felt it. Alarm ran through her. She did not want to do this. She just wanted to submit and do as she was told.

The tazestick slid from its holster. Her hand hung down off the side of the cot for a second. Inside her head, she screamed and thrashed. She could not do this. If these men did not kill her, Ganesh would throw away the key when they caught her again.

The Marines microphoned voice broke into her mind.

“… know who you think you are, little girl, but you're in my house n—”

Her arm moved, jabbing the tazestick into the space between the Marine’s armor plates. The metal contacts reached the underside of his chin where only a thin layer of vacuum-rated neoprene protected him. She twisted and the contacts sliced through the rubberized material. The tiny speaker next to her ear fizzled with static as electricity shot into him.

The Marine’s hand gripped her wrist tighter, but when she took her finger off the shock button, he let go. With a shove, the man rolled off her back. He groaned and started to move. Bracing herself with one hand, she smashed the side of the tazestick into the side of the guard’s head three times before his body went limp.

Glancing at the door, she saw the other Marine was just turning around.

As if she had trained for combat in low-gravity, Jillian kicked off the small sink and arced through the air. The second Marine reached for his plasma pistol. Her stollen tazestick, already buzzing with more electricity, reached him first.

The stick glanced off his plasteel chest place with no effect. Jillian’s body twisted. Her fist, knuckled around the tazestick, smashed into the tender unprotected inside of the Marine’s wrist. The gun flew from his hand and sailed down to the other end of the cell block.

She slammed into the Marine, shoving him back into the door to Aksel’s cell. Her fingers grabbed onto the corner of his armor to yank him closer. Wrapping her legs around his head, she jammed the tazestick into a gap in the Marine’s armor. And wrenched again.

The stick buzzed in her hand as her opponent stiffened and convulsed. She heard a vicious scream and realized it was coming from her own mouth.

A few seconds later, the tazestick died. The Marine stopped convulsing. She kicked off and sent her opponent stumbling across the corridor. Shaking his head, he reached for his own tazestick.

Before he could react, though, she grabbed onto the door handle and flung herself at the Marine. Her foot smacked into the side of the Marine’s helmet. Her hands wrapped around his facemask and shoved. His head bounced off the wall and his limp body started its slow descent to the ground.

When Jillian’s feet made contact with the floor, she stood there and stared at what she’d done. With a rush, her mind jumped back into place, taking control of her body. Her knees quivered as she looked down at the dead tazestick. She jerked her hand away from it as if it had shocked her too. The weapon clattered to the floor.

Jillian’s breaths came in ragged spurts and her blood pounded in her head. When she spoke, her voice came out as a whisper.

“What did I just do?”

Chapter4

Escape

Time and necessity have changed who I am and who I wanted to be. Now, when I look in the mirror, I have to ask, “What have I become?”

* * *

Fear rooted Jillian in place as the tazestick clattered on the metal floor. What the Hell just happened?

In the span of a few seconds, and unarmed, she had taken down two well-armed and well-trained Earth Command Marines. Her body had moved of its own accord, as if it were all reflex, as if she’d been doing it … for years.

Until now, she’d thought this whole Scarlett thing was a big setup. A joke or prank or … anything. Even with the video that seemed to show her beating the hell out of several EarthComm Marines in a moving prisoner van, she thought it was algorithm-altered video or mistaken identity or whatever. But now, she’d actually done that same thing.

And she’d barely broken a sweat. Still, her stomach did flipflops and her breathing came in panicked gasps.

Aksel’s Nordic-accented voice came from the other side of the metal door. “Jillian? Jillian are you okay?”

“I … I don’t know.” She stepped back as apprehension gripped her insides. “I think I just killed the guards.”

It took Aksel a few seconds to respond, but when he did, he did not sound concerned or afraid. Instead, he sounded impressed. “Really?”

Her voice shook with fear. “I don’t know. They’re not moving.”

There was another short pause before Aksel blurted, “Open the door. Let me out.”

“What? I can’t.”

“Jillian, if you do not let me out, they’re going to come in here and really hurt you. Maybe kill you.”

“But I didn’t mean to.” She shrank back against the wall, terrified of what she’d done.

A heavy thump came from inside of Aksel’s cell, followed by a footstep and another thump. “Dammit, we do not have time for this. They probably saw the whole thing on the security feed; they are going to come in here weapons blazing.”

As if activated by his words, an alarm klaxon echoed throughout the cell block. The ceiling flashed red. Her gaze trailed up the wall to find the small black dome in the corner. A tiny red light blinked from inside the glass. “Oh God. Okay, what … what do I do?”

“The glove. The Marine’s left glove has an embedded sensor. Pass it in front of the panel to the left of my door and it should release the lock.”

Jillian looked at the unmoving form at her feet. She took a tiny, tentative step forward. Part of her worried the man wasn’t dead, that as soon as she got close enough, he would jump up and attack her. But she needed that glove.

Swallowing hard, she reached down and grabbed the Marine’s left hand. For once, she was glad of the lunar gravity as she pulled the man across the floor and shoved his gloved palm against the red-lit lock panel. The panel turned green. As soon as the magnetic seal released, Jillian dropped the Marine’s hand and stepped back. She held herself tight with her arms wrapped around her body.

The door started to swing wide but was stopped halfway by the limp Marine’s head. Aksel leaned out through the gap. As soon as his gaze landed on the scene before him, his eyes went wide with shock. “Holy moly. How did you …?”

She pointed at the tazestick. “I used that.”

He just closed his eyes and shook his head. Aksel rammed his shoulder into the door and pushed the door open the rest of the way, shoving the Marine out of the way. He pointed into her cell. “Get the other guard’s gun.”

Jillian nodded and bounded back into her cell. As she slipped the plasma pistol from its holster, a groan escaped from behind the Marine’s face mask. A small sense of relief washed through her that the Marine was still alive. A fraction of a second later, that relief vanished in a tsunami of panic. Jillian bolted out of the cell and slammed the door shut. The magnetic lock engaged automatically.

She pointed back at her cell. “He’s … he’s waking up.”

“Then we need to go.” Aksel bounced up to her, the second Marine’s gun in one hand and the glove in the other. He angled his chin at the weapon in her hand as he made his way past her. “You know how to use that?”

Holding the weapon by the muzzle, she followed him. “No. Maybe. I have no idea.”

He laughed. “Guess we’ll figure it out along the way.”

Aksel slipped the glove on and pressed it to the cell block lock panel and the door opened. Jillian followed him as they made their way down several corridors, him peeking around each corner before they continued. Aksel shot each and every security camera along the way. A couple times, he led her down a few hallways only to turn and go back. When she asked if he knew where he was going, he told her he was leaving false trails. Jillian wasn’t sure she believed him. Regardless, she had little choice but to follow.

While she had no personal experience—that she knew of—after only a few minutes Jillian started to feel as if their escape was going too smoothly. They were supposedly in a highly secure EarthComm facility.

The further they went though, the more frequently they had to stop and wait for guards or other personnel to pass. And each time, her stomach felt like it was going to crawl out through her throat. And each time it got worse.

By the fourth time, they stopped. Jillian feared she was going to throw up all over the steel floor. Aksel peeked around the corner, then leaned back. He held up two fingers and waved for her to move back. She took two small steps, but the sound of metal boots clacking on the ground stopped her.

Aksel’s brow furrowed, and he waved her back again. But she didn’t move. The footfalls were getting louder.

“Boots.” The word slipped from her lips.

Aksel looked up, his eyes widening in recognition. He peeked around the corner in front of them and pulled back quickly. “Shit. It is right there.”

Jillian pressed herself against Aksel and the wall. The plasma pistol hung limp in her hand. The footfalls had stopped. She turned back and stared at the corner two dozen feet back the way they’d come. If she had to guess, she expected there were several EarthComm Marines around that bend.

A gloved hand popped out from the corner, then disappeared back again. She glanced at the glove still on Aksel’s hand and spotted a small camera. “They’re here.”

Aksel nodded. “I expect more are on their way, too.”

A strange calm settled over Jillian. She was still terrified, but somehow her fear had shrunk to a tiny ball and moved to the back of her mind and an odd clarity took over. “This is a trap. They knew we were coming here.”

“I am surprised it took them this long to figure out where we were going.” He reached down to take the gun from her, but she tightened her grip. He arched an eyebrow but let go of the weapon.

“Where, exactly, were we going?

Aksel stuck his thumb toward the corner they had been heading toward. “Right there, other side of those Marines, is an emergency airlock.”

Her calm crumbled. “You’re kidding, right? An airlock? What are we going to do, just go for an Earth-lit stroll? Oh, how romantic.” As the words echoed in her own hears, Jillian wondered what the Hell had come over her; snarkiness was not normal for her. Must be the panic of impending death. Yeah, that’s it.

He gave a faint smile. “There are vacsuits inside the lock.”

“Oh, well. That makes …” She rolled her eyes as she spoke, but her words trailed off as her gaze fell on a series of pipes running along the ceiling. Her gaze followed the white-painted conduits down to the intersection where the Marines huddled around the corner. A label showed on one of the pipes that read CO2.

A gloved hand poked out from around the corner again. Captain Ganesh’s voice came from the same direction. “Miss McAdams, think about what you’re doing. You know you can’t really get away. There’s nowhere to go.”

“She’s right,” Jillian said, turning to Aksel. “Even if we get outside, where would we go?”

He peeked around the nearby corner toward the airlock. “It does not matter now. That door might as well be a kilometer away.”

“Jillian, if you continue, I cannot guarantee your safety. I know you have no idea what’s going on but trying to escape is not going to help.” Ganesh’s words fell on deaf ears.

Jillian looked back up at the pipes. In the other direction, they turned the corner toward the airlock. She pointed up at the conduits overhead. “I have an idea. I’ll give the signal and you shoot that CO2 pipe over by the guards behind us. I’ll try to get the one in front. Then we’ll bust ass over to the airlock and you do your thing.” She tightened her grip on her weapon.

“Uh.” Aksel’s brow furrowed. “What thing?”

“You know, your hitting people thing? Isn’t that what you do?”

He scoffed. “I thought that was your thing. Like back at the cells? I’m just a docker.”

“Oh, no.” Jillian shook her head quickly. “I have no idea what happened back there. That was not me. You’re a big guy. You do the hitting thing. Ready?”

Aksel nodded.

Jillian edged her way past Aksel and peeked around toward the airlock. Four Marines in black-and-gray armored vacsuits stood guard at the door about thirty feet away, all with plasma pistols in hand. She raised her own weapon to sight-in on the pipes above the soldiers. Before her gun was pointed halfway up the wall, all four Marines had lifted their weapons and fired.

Jillian jerked back as three green bolts slammed into the wall in front of her. She peeked back around the corner again. The wall right next to her face was scorched black and the air smelled like melted plastic.

But what she found most curious was that the four Marines had their weapons trained on her face. Warning shots?

What now? They didn’t really have another option. Maybe, if she was quick enough, she could get the shot off before they knew what was happening. Keeping the weapon out of view, Jillian tightened her grip. Her eyes honed in on the pipe over the Marines at the end of the hall.

Words slipped from her lips in a whisper only she could hear, asking herself if she was ready. Her voice sounded confident and strong. Everything she didn’t feel she was. A second later, she said aloud, “Now.”

Time slowed as Jillian whipped her arm around the corner. Her eyes stayed focused on the pipe. With her peripheral vision, though, she saw the Marines moving. Her finger squeezed the trigger before her hands had even stopped moving. Only after the bolt blazed out of the end of her weapon did she realize she hadn’t even tried to aim.

Jillian yanked herself back behind the corner. Four bolts shredded the far wall. A loud hiss came from toward the airlock, and she hazarded another glance. A jet of white came from the pipe, shrouding the entire end of the corridor in a cloud of near-frozen carbon dioxide That same hiss came from behind her, where Aksel had fired his weapon.

Before she knew what was happening, she was moving again. At two strides, she blinked, and her vision changed. The world in front of her became a kaleidoscope of red, yellow, and blue blobs. Where the jet of white had been, now a deep blue fan arched out. Behind that fan, four man-shaped blobs of red stood out.

Thermal vision.

Her arm moved and brilliant yellow streaks shot out of her gun. Inside, she screamed. Jillian never wanted to hurt anyone. A part of her pleaded with the plasma bolts to miss. But they hit home, exploding the Marines’ legs and arms. Two of the soldiers dropped their guns and the other two stepped back in shock.

To her right, a large red blob—Aksel—raced past. He smashed the handle of his gun into the side of one Marine’s helmeted head. The figure went down. As the last Marine responded, Aksel tucked down and rammed his shoulder into the guard’s gut. The impact lifted the Marine off the ground and slammed them into the wall.

Jillian reached the group just as one of the first two recovered. She ducked under one Marine’s haymaker punch and slammed her weapon into his chin. A part of Jillian was terrified her fingers would pull the trigger, but they didn’t. She didn’t need to. The Marine crumpled to the ground unconscious.

Behind her, she heard the whine of a plasma pistol powering up. Jillian turned around slowly and found a plasma pistol inches from her face. The second of the two she’d already shot had recovered and got the drop on her. His left arm hung limp and there was a dull yellow patch where her plasma bolt had hit him there.

From the corner of her eye, Jillian saw a red blob sail through the air. The blob flailed like an unconscious body and smashed into the Marine with the gun. The two bodies bounced down the hall and didn’t get up.

Disoriented by the odd thermal view, she held her hands out and stumbled her way to the airlock. She blinked several times as she shook her head and her vision returned to normal. By the time she reached the door, Aksel had it open.

Jillian could only find two words to express her level of shock. “Holy shit.”

The heavy door slid shut behind her and Aksel hit the override lock. The inside edge of the door started to glow red. He smiled and tossed her a blue vacsuit. “Impressive.”

Holding out the vacsuit to look it over, she turned to him with wide eyes. “I can’t believe I did that.”

As he stepped into his own suit, he peered at her sideways. His body language said he was all business but there was a hint of wonder in his gaze.

“Hurry up,” he said. “You really don’t want to go out there without that.”