MoonRush (42 page)

If Buton would join reality for a second here, he might see that they didn’t have any more seconds left. The monstrosity outside was working overtime, pulsing with a rhythm that was kind of hypnotic in its own evil scientist way. The metal door began to scream under the strain, the glass of the window spider webbing into a thousand flashing eyes, refracting the image from outside in a hideous kaleidoscope of colors.

Buton continued to type away at his keyboard, unperturbed. This was so beyond ridiculous at this point.
Jar
od watched as
the door b
egin to buckle under the strain.

H
e leapt back and yelled, “It better be now!”

Buton pushed a few more buttons, but was forced to back away as the soldiers stormed in. Buton raised his hands over his head, his head down.
This did not look good.

“You had to pick
this
time to be wrong.”
Jarod sighed and f
ollowed suit, lifting his hands above his head.

Buton refused to meet his eye.

Dr. Weigner stepped around his military goons and eyed Buton up and down. “I see the greater intellect proved triumphant.
”

Jarod wanted to punch the look off of the arrogant doctor’s face, but really, what could he do at this point? The guy had won; they were surrounded. Time to call the fight.

Buton continued staring straight at the floor.

“We have Haster and Desei.”
W
eigner spoke into his wrist-
set,
while the soldiers clapped gel
cuffs on Jarod and Buton.

A crisp military voice answered back. “Rendezvous at the diamond mines.”

“Is it secured yet?” the doctor probed.

“It will be by the time you arrive.”

Not too tough to figure out what they were talking about. But how had anyone known about the mother lode? Jarod racked his brain, trying to figure out some kind of solution. And then it came to him.

Gil.

Somehow that bastard always knew when Jarod was on the scent of something big. That slime sack had made his career following Jarod find after find, snatching them from Jarod’s clenched fists while Jarod was still trying to figure out what had happened.

At least this time Jarod had figured it out. Not that it helped much.

The trip back up through the garage levels and on up past the lobby felt even worse than the walks of shame Jarod had
taken in his life. At least those
walk
s
said, “
Sure,
I may have woken up with a
Wookie, but last night was a wild ride
”. This one just said, “I’m not
good enough, smart enough or fast enough
”. And that really chapped Jarod’s hide.

As Jarod and Buton were frog marched out
to the waiting hovercraft, Weign
er spoke to the air above Buton’s head, as if he weren’t worth looking straight in the face. “Your escape vehicle is being surrounded as we speak. I will have that crystal.”

Really, the only thing missing
from this scene of shame
was Gil’s gloat. Jarod knew Gil was gloating somewhere, but for Jarod’s humiliation to be complete, he really should be seeing it. Up close and personal. Jarod turned to Buton.

“I can’t believe it’s going to end like this.”

“Karma requires patience, Jarod.”

That was it. Jarod had had it up to here with Buton and his platitudes.

“Okay, you’re so lucky I’m restrained, because I’d slap the karma right out of you.”

They were pushed and prodded into the hovercraft, where they found themselves strapped down in between two very muscular military men with little to no sense of personal space. It wasn’t bad enough they had lost. They now had to be cramped.

The hovercraft lifted off and began skimming the surface of the m
oon, zipping along at speeds
beyond the capabilities of any of the vehicles Jarod had piloted since arriving. At the speed they were going, they would arrive at their destination
in next to no time.

Several uncomfortable minutes into the trip, t
he hovercraft began vibrating
…
enough that Jarod could feel it through his gravity boots.
The screen on the dashboard showed them rapidly approaching the diamond fields.

Buton broke the silence, leaning in to Jarod. “You might want to hold on.”

Jarod made a face and snapped back, “I’m
strapped
down.”

The hovercraft gave an abrupt lurch
,
and all the instrumentation in the craft sparked. The straps and restraints holding everyone in place snapped off as one
,
and Jarod went flying
forward
on the inside of the hovercraft, along with Weigner and the soldiers.

Jarod groaned as he eased his way back to an upright position. He scanned the inside of the craft. The soldiers were all unconscious, but Weigner was still grasping on to the steering wheel for dear life. He had a gash over his eye, his lip was split and he was sporting a bloody nose. The doctor was attempting to keep the vehicle under control with no visible success.

“Only I know the override.”
Buton spoke with admirable calm.

Weigner cursed. “You Ivy League, pseudo-intellectual--”

“I would prepare for your departure.” Buton tossed the ira
te doctor a helmet.
Jarod ran to take over the controls.

The doctor sneered. “You think this is M.I.T. again?”

Buton’s eyes widened slightly. “No.” He leaned in toward the doctor. “This time I intend to get rich.” Without taking his eyes off of Weigner, Buton spoke to Jarod. “Fly low.”

Jarod was only too happy to comply. He took the craft down as close to the surface as he could, slowing down just enough for wha
t he thought Buton had in mind.
Moments later, Weigner and the soldiers were tossed overboard like so much excess baggage.

As far as Jarod was concerned, that felt about right.

* * *

Buton looked up to see a fast approaching ridge. He spoke with some urgency to Jarod.

“The coordinates Mia gave us are just over that ridge.”

“Yep.”

“That would require an upward trajectory that we have not yet achieved.”
Buton did what he could to maintain a sense of decorum as he stated the obvious.

Jarod glanced up from his flying for a brief moment. “Yeah, you want to try flying this puppy?”

Buton gazed up at the protruding edge of the ridge. He sighed.

“We’d best brace ourselves… again.”

The hovercraft hit the ridge head on, bursting through the rock and coming out on the other side at ground level, bouncing along the surface of the moon. Explosions ripped through the hull as Buton and Jarod pushed their way to the door and ripped it open. They leapt from the ship, just as the entire craft exploded around them.

After bumping and rolling to a bruised stop, the two dragged themselves up to standing and brushed themselves off
, checking for major injuries
.
Finding none, t
hey looked at one
another for a long moment and
began trudging up the rest of the hill.

After about a hundred yards,
Jarod stopped and planted his feet. He squared off with Buton, a look of befuddlement on his tanned face.

“How in the hell did you do that?”

“I told you, I hacked into their system.”
Poor Jarod. Even when Buton explained in detail what was occurring, he just was not quite fast enough to keep up.

“
Wait.
So you
hacked in but
never even tried to deactivate the force-field?”

“Oh dear, no. What would that have accomplished?”

“Hello. We could have just stolen the ship, without the whole kidnapped part in the middle.”

Truly, these were the types of things that should require no explanation whatsoever.
Buton faced Jarod, then pointed at the wreckage behind them.

“I let you fly for ten seconds and look at the result.”

Jarod stared back at the scattered debris that was once a very nice hovercraft. His expression became a bit sheepish as he started back up the hill.

“Okay, but next time, give me the 411 on the full extent of the plan.”

Buton cocked an eyebrow. “As you did me?”

Jarod looked like he had all sorts of things he wanted to say to But
on at this point. For better or worse
he was unable to articulate any of them, as an angry group of squatters rushed over the ridge, pushing into the two men. Buton found himself separated from Jarod, the distance between them growing by the second. As Buton tried to push his way against the tide to join up with his colleague, Jarod waved him on.

“It’s just over the hill.
I’ll meet you there!”

Buton considered for a moment
, not positive that leaving Jarod on his own was a good idea
, but the crowd of ‘49ers was not showing any signs of abating. He looked down and over at where Jarod was extricating himself from the crowd, starting up the steeper side of the hill. Buton finally turned and made his way over the top of the ridge. What he saw below gave him pause.

It was the
Eureka
.

“Oh dear. Maybe Fate does ha
ve a sense of humor after all…”

* * *

Jarod was almost to the crest of the hill when he felt his heel slip out from under him. He was about to tumble back down the steep incline, when a hand reached out to grab his own and haul him up and over the top of the ridge.

“Thanks, Buton,” Jarod puffed, winded.

His rescuer backed away as Jarod brushed himself off, catching his breath. He looked up to see Gil, pointing a gun directly at his chest.

Jarod gave a bark of laughter with no humor behind it. This was great. Just fantastic. Really.

“Gil. Great, this pretty much rounds out my day.”

“Where is the mother lode?” Leave it to Gil to avoid the small talk.

“What, you’re not even going to buy me dinner first?”

Jarod put on a smirk. His formal smirk. The one he pulled out for the most important occasions. Gil might have the high ground here, but Jarod was not going down without getting in a few good punches.