MoonRush (25 page)

Buton’s sharp and matter-of-fact tone cut into Jarod’s revenge fantasies. “Caution might be your wisest choice.”

Jarod thought
that
if he heard one more person say “caution” or “careful” or “wisdom
,
” he was going to lose it. “No, that bastard is going to pay
—
”

“He is immune.” The certainty of Buton’s voice cooled Jarod’s rage more than volume ever would. “To confront him now would be suicide.”

Cooled, but not doused. “Immune? He’s the criminal. Let him sit in a damn cell…And smell like urine.” He moved toward the door to find Cleo blocking his exit.

“Listen to Buton,” the marine biologist urged. “Then decide.”

Jarod looked around the room. He caught Rob’s eye as the teenage boy nodded his agreement. Jarod sighed and sank into a chair. This must be serious if even Rob was urging him to listen.

Jarod glared at Buton, needing to take his aggression out
on
some
one
. “Tell me something useful already!”

Everyone left standing in the room shifted from foot to foot, clearly not wanting to answer but needing to respond. Buton cleared his throat and began. “We’re all under investigation for the
s
pace
s
tation bombing.”

“What?” Jarod couldn’t have heard that right.

Cleo stepped in. “My warning to the authorities before the place blew, remember? They’re taking that as some kind of admission of guilt.” Jarod started to protest, but Cleo talked over him. “Much as it sucks, I get it. I’d probably suspect us
,
too.”

“Out of the vessels that survived the explosion, we are one of only two ships that made it to the moon,” Buton continued.

“So? So did Gil!” Jarod wanted to punch something. He settled for leaping out of his chair and pacing once more.

Rob chimed in, “Makes you wonder, huh?”

Just as fast as he had jumped up, Jarod felt himself deflate, this time on top of the bed. He looked at Rob. “You don’t really think…How many people must’ve died in that…? Not even Gil…”

Buton answered the not-quite-asked question. “The design of the explosive was one that I recognized. My hypothesis is that the perpetrator did not understand the lethal nature of the device utilized. I believe the intent was to disable the station, not destroy it
,” he said.

Apparently this is all the crew had been discussing while he was in the slammer. Cleo put in her two cents. “But with all that said, someone wanted the moon, and everything on it, to themselves.”

“Sound like anybody we know?” Rob asked.

Jarod sat up on the edge of the bed. “Then why isn’t Gil’s ass in jail?”

Buton waved his hand over his laptop, activating the holographic display. “That was the postulate I investigated.” Names and numbers scrolled down the empty air between Buton and Jarod. “Gil possesses diverse backing. One of Gil’s main investors is Nickel Products…”

Rob stepped in, clearly too agitated to let Buton do all the talking. He stabbed his finger at a name in the air. “And look at what they own. American Justice. The contractors for Moon
b
ase’s police force!”

“So, you see…” Cleo began.

“We’re screwed!” Rob finished for her.

“Actually we’re…okay,” Cleo countered with caution. “At least we have enough money to get back home. From there, we can
—
”

Jarod stepped in. “Is there any chance the
Eureka
can still get us to the dark side?
”
He looked around the room
.
T
he entire team seemed struck all at once by how fascinating their shoes were.

After trading looks with one another and their
footwear
, Cleo was the first to speak up. “It was totally trashed, so we…Well, we sold it for scrap to raise your bail.” Jarod felt something bubble up inside of him, bursting out in bitter laughter. Cleo looked askance at him. “Jarod, this isn’t funny.”

Jarod waved his agreement at her. It took him a moment to control the laughter, which was threatening to turn into a full-blown psychotic episode. When he had himself back under control, he pounded his fist on the bed.

“I swear, Gil is
the
Antichrist.” He looked around the room, locking eyes with each
crew
member before continuing. “We can’t let him get away with this.”

Rob threw up his hands in disgust. “We don’t have any other
—
”

“Buton, how much money do we have left?” Jarod stood up from the bed, facing the East Indian scientist straight on.

Buton made a wry face. “Not enough to do what I believe you are planning.”

Jarod whirled around to the entire group. He spoke to each one in turn, pulling out all the stops. “Come on. We can still do this. We’re on the moon
,
for
G
od’s sake
!
” He held Rob’s gaze. “We’re just a few miles from the diamond fields!”

Cleo stepped between Jarod and Rob. “It’s not just the ship. We need supplies and
—
”

Buton joined in, adding what he probably thought was the nail in the coffin. “After we’re outfitted, there will be no funds left to get home.”

Jarod heard the defeat in Buton’s voice, but he refused to accept that as the final word. “Then I guess we’ll just have to find us some diamonds! Won’t we?” Jarod looked
at
Rob, his go-to guy,
but
even Rob refused to meet his gaze.

This could not be happening.

Cleo spoke into the quiet. “Jarod, please, we’ve got to admit
that
we’re outmatched.”

“Outmatched? By Gil?” Jarod turned his appeal back to Rob. “Do you really believe that?”

Buton reiterated, “He has the police force under his control.”

“And…” Rob began, looking up through his eyebrows at Jarod. “He sprays his scalp black under his comb-over. It
would
be embarrassing to be defeated by that.”

“
That’s
what I’m talking about!” Jarod looked around for any other cracks in the armor. Jarod could tell the comb-over comment had gotten to them. “He’s got the connections, but we’ve got the skill
s
.” He paused for effect. “Anybody going to argue with me on that?” There was no answer. “Anybody at all?” Still nothing. “I’m willing to compromise…If I can’t find a ship by the time you round up a ride home, I’ll head back with you…No complaints.”

Cleo’s tone was as wary as her expression. “But?”

“If I find a way to get to the diamond fields, we go for it.”

Cleo started ramping up again. “Jarod…This isn’t
—
”

“What do we have to look forward to on Earth?” No. Jarod raised a finger. There would be no arguments here. He pulled out the big guns. “Scrounging up day jobs until we can scare up some financing for a new ship
?
If
we ever can!”

He looked at the faces of his crew. His family. He knew them. He could tell from their reactions just how they would feel if they had to go back. Buton’s forehead was creased into those tiny folds he got when he was thinking about something unpleasant. Cleo’s nostrils flared
,
and the corners of her mouth were pulled tight. She did not like where her thoughts had taken her. And Rob? Rob looked like he had just smelled a gym bag with clothes inside that hadn’t been washed in a year.

“You guys willing to work in an office? Eight hours a day?” Jarod faced off with Rob first...the easiest target. “Flippin’ burgers sound like fun? Constantly worrying
whether
the splashing grease from the fryers is gonna melt your legs off?” Rob flinched. Yeah. That got him.

One down, two to go.

“And Buton. So very anxious to get back to your undergraduate students
—
with their texting grammar
,
and lame excuses for late papers? ‘Dude, professor…like, I totally didn’t know that when you said Monday you meant
this
Monday.’ I can see where you would really miss that.” Buton somehow managed to
add to
the number of creases on his forehead. No mean feat, that.

Two down.

“Cleo.” By the set of her jaw, Jarod could see that Cleo was not going down without a fight. Al
l
right, then. Game on.

“Cleo, Cleo, Cleo. I know how much you’ve missed nursing. Getting to use that marine biology degree every day while you clean out the pans of the incontinent.” Cleo didn’t move a single muscle in her face, but Jarod was pretty sure he saw a glimmer of something in her eyes.

“Listening to the know-it-all doctors who have no idea
of
what they’re doing.” Ah…there was a twitch. Jarod had definitely seen a twitch.

“Getting pinched by the dirty old men pretending to be so far gone you can’t get mad at them.” Cleo dropped her eyes to the floor. Victory. “Didn’t think so.”

And now it was time for his patent-pending Jarod charm. He held out his arms to his crew like he was asking for a group hug and plastered his best smile on his face. “We
can
do this. I know we can. You know we can.” He amped up the wattage on his smile, angling his head back just slightly for his teeth to catch whatever light these bulbs were putting out. “I’ll tell you what. If we come back empty-handed from the diamond fields…” He leaned back. Jarod knew how well he had worked this room. It was time to let them come to him.
“I’ll sell my body until we get enough to get home.”

“So basically,” Cleo snorted
, “we’d be stuck here forever.”

* * *

Dr. Weigner had thought that the whole getting-blindfolded-to-be-taken-to-a-secret-location thing only happened in movies. Apparently, he’d been wrong.

After hours of traveling without being able to see where he was going, he finally had the offending cover removed. He was gratified to note that the general was still at his side. The doctor looked around, finding himself in one of the largest underground spaces he had ever seen. He had thought his own secret laboratory quite spacious. At a rough estimate, Weigner figured that his lab would fit within this space at least a hundred times.

And their journey was not over yet. They were greeted by an unsmiling, unblinking
,
and possibly not
-
quite
-
human escort in a hovercraft that zipped them across the underground cavern at something approaching 95 miles per hour, according to the digi
tal
display floating above the dashboard.