CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

I DON’T NEED NO DOC

It was a day later.

On Mars, a day late and a dollar short was a way of life. It was part of the hard-boiled attitude that spoke so truthfully to the tough miners and construction workers who had built this world and struggled on a day-to-day basis to make it work. They worked and lived under the worse conditions imaginable. They thrived without any help from Earth.

The only thing the settlers and pioneers on Mars received from Earth were problems: excess regulations, stupid rules, unjust laws, spies, bureaucrats, terrorists, subversives, mind-control mechanisms of every type, all to keep them slaves of Earth. All to increase the control of The DOC.

It always came back to The DOC, Ryan thought. To The DOC and Arabella Rashid.

He decided he’d have to kill her.

But he couldn’t do that.

So he decided he’d have to tell her.

Eventually.

The secret war on Earth was real, she’d let on to him about it. She’d told him about it, even mentioned Moses Sage, finally brought his name out in the open.

It was valuable information. Now he owed her.

He knew what he had to do for the first time now.

Something he did not want to do.

He had to trust her.

There was something he wanted to show her.

He knew he’d have to show her the secret place and hope that she would understand.

Then maybe she’d listen to him and their personal war could end before any fatalities.

Otherwise, they’d all be doomed.

Then all of them would be very dead, very soon.

So he was okay with it all now.

He was sane. He knew it. Better.

He was sure of it.

But this was all just so damn crazy.

He knew they didn’t have no doctor for what was bothering him.

But to show Arabella Rashid their most secret place was infinitely dangerous. The kind of thing he’d need a shrink for. Or a firing squad. But not the shrinks they have today, like the ones down on Earth. Not those political shrinks. They were evil. They were all collaborators with The DOC. There used to be honest head doctors in the old days. Even if not perfect, at least they really did try to help their patients. Sometimes their advice even worked. Not likely today.

He didn’t need no doctor. He needed some guts. He needed some serious guts because if he showed Arabella Rashid the secret library of Mars and he got the wrong response from her—if it appeared she would use the information to move against Mars, against the Republic and the Resistance—then love her or not, he’d have to take care of it.

He just hoped he had the guts to do what needed to be done.

He knew that he didn’t, but it was his job.

“I am ‘Mr. Takes-Care-Of-Odd-Jobs’. That’s what I told her. That’s what she called me. And it’s true. I know it and she knows it. And ‘odd-jobs’ takes in a lot of ground. Too damn much ground sometimes.”

Ryan looked at the weapon in his hand. He had not made use of it since before he’d come to Mars. Now he might have to use it one last time.

On the woman he loved.

Ryan was the ‘odd-jobs’ man. The revolutionary. The killer. The traitor to the cons long ago, the fink according to Macky, the liar, the rat—the warrior against Earth freedom. He was also the keeper of the Secret Place, but he knew the less said about that now, the better.

Some spoke of making him king.

But he knew what he really was cut out for.

Ryan.

James Ryan.

Fool.

And.

Knave.

Ashamed of himself.

Some called him a man of honor.

He knew better.

There is no true honor....

...that is not born of dishonor.

He had been there....

...and back again.

He put the gun away.

He hoped he would not have to use it.

He prayed he would not have to use it.

He could always strangle her, or blunt force trauma would work in a pinch.

It made him sick to even think about it.

He imagined the cold steel pressed against the soft flesh of the temple of Arabella Rashid’s head. He could see himself pressing that trigger. If he had to. He could see her dying in his arms. If she had to. And with her, all his hopes and dreams dying too.

Or would she get the drop on him? He was weak. Perhaps she would trick him? It had happened before. He knew all about such treachery. From both ends, from both sides in the struggle.

If she won—if The DOC won—then that would be it for him and Mars and everyone on the planet. DOC would investigate, she’d see to that. The DOC was nothing if not thorough. They’d find the truth soon enough. What they would discover is that the entire planet, and everyone on it, was a dangerous nest of revolutionaries that needed to be neutralized immediately. Serious hard case Authority problems. They’d have no choice according to their own twisted version of truth and correctness. They would eliminate the infestation and that meant killing all human life on Mars.

A secret order would go out on a planetary scale.

KTA!

Kill Them All!

Ryan figured Arabella Rashid might start with him. Or maybe, if her DOC training got the better of her, she’d save him for last. A special case. Watch him. Gauge his reactions. Try to turn him. Scare him. Make him beg. Cry. Cause him to die inside little by little as his friends all around him, and his world, were slowly destroyed before his eyes.

Such was The DOC way.

They so enjoyed their work.

He gave her a call and told her,” There’s a place I’d like to show you.”

“I’ve seen all the local tourist traps, Ryan. There’s not all that much to see here on Mars, that I haven’t already seen,” she said a bit stiffly, still bristling from the other day no doubt, but trying not to show it.

“This is different,” he told her.

“How is it different, Ryan?”

He said, “It’s cool, kinda revolutionary, if you know what I mean.”

She perked up. “What is it?”

“It’s one of the best spots on Mars. You have to see it to believe it. There’s nothing like it on Earth at all. Not anymore,” he told her proudly.

“Not another tourist trap?” she said. She couldn’t resist busting his chops one last time for the way he’d left her yesterday. She still felt the hurt, was actually surprised by it, but not really angry.

“This isn’t anything any tourists will ever see. Not now. This is something special and I want to share it with you, show it to you.”

“Is it some kind of secret, Ryan?” she asked in a conspiratorial whisper.

“Yes,” he replied mysteriously.

Arabella Rashid smiled her most winning smile. It was delightful to see, except Ryan could not see it. She said, “Ryan, I really like secrets.”

“I figured you would.”

“So how many people know about it...?”

He didn’t say another word. He pressed the time and coordinates code that showed her where and when they were to meet.

Then he broke the link.