Jupiter Winds Read online

  JUPITER WINDS

  C. J. DARLINGTON

  Copyright © 2014 by C. J. Darlington

  All rights reserved.

  Published by Mountainview Books, LLC

  Author photograph copyright © 2011 by Dean Livengood Photography. All rights reserved.

  Edited by Carol Kurtz Darlington

  Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

  This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher.

  ISBN: 978-0-9891621-3-5 (paperback)

  ISBN: 978-0-9891621-4-2 (ebook)

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Acknowledgments

  Discussion Questions

  Jupiter Storm excerpt

  * * *

  Chapter 1

  Grey Alexander crouched behind a fat saguaro cactus and tried not to think about getting killed.

  “Hear anything, Rin?”

  Her younger sister Orinda listened with her auris plug then shook her head. So far, she’d heard nothing but a thundering herd of thirsty zebras. But that didn’t mean they were safe.

  Grey knelt in the hot, gritty dirt. Flyovers didn’t happen often in the Preserve, but with a bounty on the heads of the unconnected, some pilots considered them easy money. And Mazdaar didn’t care if the bodies were still breathing or not.

  She tapped at her bracelet controller, and the turquoise stone transformed into a grid of thumbnail touchscreens. Running her finger across the grid to activate the ocelli contact lenses in her eyes, Grey focused on a stretch of sage-pocked desert a quarter mile away. They hadn’t been able to afford implants for both of them, instead designating Rin as the ears of the mission and Grey as the eyes.

  The ocelli immediately brought the area into sharp focus. Along the edge of Grey’s vision field, tiny red numbers indicated 8x zoom and F16 aperture. She sometimes imagined she could see the voltage of the invisible electric border fence shimmering in the desert heat.

  Grey tapped her wrist again, wishing the lenses could perform x-ray scans. What if she missed a robot drone?

  “Looks clear to me,” Grey said, giving her sister a thumbs-up. They sprinted across the desert floor, darting around the scattered scrub and ironwood trees. Her heavy pack thumped uncomfortably against her back, making her glad Orinda had the lighter one.

  The sisters zeroed in on their target, a sandstone rock they’d strategically placed to mark where they’d dug under the fence last time. As soon as they reached it, Rin tuned in for any sounds of a patrol. Grey waved her hand over the ground. Her DNA registered in the chameleon cloth sensor and an outline appeared in the dirt, revealing a three-foot-square piece of fabric. Able to match the image of any surface and project the picture onto itself, it masked their hole perfectly. Grey had traded a month’s worth of food for it.

  Quickly jerking the chameleon cloth away and being careful to keep her hand on her side of the fence, she stared at the thick, black wire snaking across the ground above the hole. Grey licked at her cracked lips and slipped out of her pack. Luckily, the fence only emanated an electric force field upward and Mazdaar hadn’t bothered to bury the wire more than a few inches.

  She shoved her pack under the wire before slowly slithering after it on her stomach. Many had died trying to cross this border, and now she could hear the wire humming with voltage that could kill her too. Halfway across, with the wire only inches from touching her back, she sucked in a breath and caught a mouthful of dust. She suddenly felt trapped, pinned down, and unable to escape.

  “You have plenty of room,” Rin encouraged her.

  She forced her body through the rest of the way and clambered to her feet on the other side of the border, gasping in air. She gave the area one last scan, glad no cameras were installed out here. It was just them and the lizards.

  Grey waved for Rin to follow, and her sister didn’t hesitate. She slipped under the wire and joined Grey on the other side. Grey repositioned the chameleon cloth, and they were off again at a jog.

  This stretch of the border between the Alamo Republic and the North American Wildlife Preserve was always the least patrolled. Only drones traveled this far from the city zones, and the few unconnected people who managed to stay alive in the land of canyons, cacti, and lions didn’t want anything to do with Mazdaar.

  Still, they could never be too cautious. As far as Mazdaar was concerned, both she and Orinda were outlaws just by being unconnected. The contents of their backpacks alone could send them to the Mars prisons, not to mention their black-market implants and the small, unregistered coilgun Grey wore in a holster around her ankle. It would never be as powerful as any of the laser weapons of Mazdaar, but it would protect them.

  Grey huffed a little as they jogged, sweat tickling down her temple. If she and Orinda were to race, Rin would win every time. Thinner, stealthier, and with the grace of a coyote, her fourteen-year-old sister was the only reason Grey had taken these smuggling jobs in the first place. Alone, she might’ve given up when Mom and Dad disappeared, but Rin gave her a reason to survive.

  “Two more miles.” Rin was barely breathing hard.

  “He said to wait in our usual spot,” Grey said. She pulled out a rag and tried to clean up her dirt-streaked face as they slowed their pace. She didn’t want to look like a wild animal when they met up with Jet.

  Rin sent a grin her way. “Tired?”

  “Nope.”

  “Liar.”

  They laughed, but Grey kept aware of her surroundings. They could still be shot on sight.

  “Think he’ll short us again?”

  “Hope not.”

  “You’ll hold your ground?”

  Grey nodded.

  Rin gave her a sideways glance, and Grey tried not to think about how Rin shouldn’t have to be doing this. She hated to see the worry lines etched on her little sister’s forehead.

  “We’ll be okay,” Grey said reassuringly. “We always are, right?”

  “I will starve before I sell Tram and Trif.”

  Their two zorses were patiently waiting for them to return from this job alive. Half zebra, half horse, they w
ere smaller and more robust than horses but calmer than zebras. Perfectly suited for life in the Preserve.

  “We won’t sell them,” Grey said, hoping Rin didn’t detect her less-than-convincing tone. She didn’t want to either, but if it came down to eating another month or parting ways with the animals—she just hoped she wouldn’t have to make that choice.

  As their destination neared, Grey’s adrenaline spiked. “Pay attention, Rin.”

  Her sister rolled her eyes, and Grey regretted sounding like a scolding parent. She had to remind herself she was Rin’s older sister, not her mother. She wished she could’ve made Rin stay home and leave these missions to her. That’s how it began, but as Rin got older she started secretly following her, and she finally decided it was better to have Rin where she could watch her than worry about her sneaking out alone and unarmed.

  More saguaro cactus loomed, and a rattler scuttled across their path. The sun beat down on their heads and Grey wished she’d packed more water, but if everything went as planned Jet would have food and drink waiting for them before their transaction.

  Grey held up her hand, and they stopped in their tracks as the one-room shack came into view. It was barely standing. Too many years of sun, wind, and bomb tests had eroded the wood planks into splintered, sagging beams.

  The sisters stepped up to its lone door. Grey carefully opened it, her lenses instantly adjusting to the darkness. A scorpion crunched under her boot as Rin closed the door behind them. They quickly took up a defensive position, standing back-to-back, ready to see and fight all directions at once. They knew they risked walking into a trap with every one of these missions.

  Wisps of sunlight peeked through the battered slats of the shack’s back wall, illuminating a million dust particles.

  “Just us,” Rin said, and Grey breathed easier knowing Rin’s auris probably would’ve alerted them to any drone.

  Standing in the center of the room, Grey thunked the warped floorboards with her boot toe three times, paused, and followed up with two more. She smiled when beneath them came an echoing response.

  Rin stuck her finger through one of the knotholes, pressing the hidden switch. The floorboards lifted slightly with a click, just enough for them to pull up the trap door and reveal a set of dark stairs. With her lenses, Grey could see what Rin could not—a man’s face staring up at them.

  He wasn’t Jet.

  * * *

  Chapter 2

  Grey instinctively shoved Rin behind her and whipped out her coilgun. She shielded her sister with her own body, training the weapon on the man’s face.

  “Stay where you are!”

  He raised his hands. “It’s okay! Jet sent me.”

  “Prove it.”

  Rin whispered, “He’s alone.”

  “Tram and Trif,” the man said.

  Grey zoomed in on his features with the ocelli. The newest generation of drones looked so human it was hard to tell the difference, but she could usually spot one by its eyes. Their pupils didn’t react to light and were always dilated, even in direct sunshine.

  This man’s eyes seemed responsive, and drones rarely spoke with his natural inflection.

  “What did you say?”

  “Jet told me to tell you ‘Tram and Trif.’”

  Jet was the only one in the zones who knew the names of their zorses, and they’d figured it would be a safe password. Grey sheathed her gun, making a snap decision to trust this guy. Jet could’ve confessed the password under duress, but they had a job to do.

  She sent a questioning glance in Rin’s direction, and her sister nodded her agreement. They descended the stairs into the bunker, closing the trap door carefully behind them. The man turned his back and led them down the corridor lit by dim, old-fashioned halogen lamps.

  “I’m sorry if I startled you,” he said.

  At least a foot taller than Grey and with the shoulders of a body builder, the man was not someone she wanted to have to fight.

  “Who are you?” she asked.

  He chuckled at the question. “I forgot you aren’t connected.”

  And she’d forgotten to act like she was. Connected people could mentally access information about each other in seconds. They only needed to think a series of cognitive command prompts to activate their permanent implants.

  “Please keep that to yourself,” Grey snapped.

  “My name is Carr.”

  Rin poked her in the back, and she tried to soften her tone. “Grey. And my sister’s Orinda.”

  “You’re awfully young.”

  “Where’s Jet?”

  Carr chuckled. “I can see why he uses you.”

  “We only deal with Jet, so I sincerely hope you’re taking us to him.”

  “Or what?”

  Grey tensed at the man’s subtle challenge. Yes, she carried a much-coveted gun, but what did Carr conceal beneath that black tunic? He could be hiding an MI pistol, a device shaped like a gun that at full charge was capable of stopping a heart. And since he was probably connected, he could be communicating with anyone even as they walked. They were clearly vulnerable.

  “Listen, Carr,” Grey tried to sound friendly. “Jet usually meets us at the shack. We’re risking a lot here trusting you.”

  “Understood.” Carr paused in front of a door, allowing a face scanner to recognize him. A light on the handle turned green and he opened it, ushering them into another corridor, much brighter than the last. Jet had reassured them that few knew this bunker existed. It had been built to secure government officials who were now long dead. Grey had been dealing with Jet for a few years, but all she knew for sure about him was that he was extremely wealthy and spoke with an elite dialect.

  They passed a security guard armed with a thick plasma rifle, and Grey eyed Orinda. If things went badly they had their escape plan, but she hoped it would never come to that. She didn’t want to shoot a man.

  She also hoped Rin was still listening with her auris and could warn them of danger. Some frequencies were jammed down here, but so far, Rin still seemed to be receiving. With each step deeper into this underground facility, Grey’s nerves frayed a little more.

  “This way,” Carr said, gesturing toward a door marked Authorized Only. He reached for the handle as the invisible camera silently scanned his face again. The green light blinked on and Carr opened the door, holding it for them to enter first.

  Grey and Rin walked inside, and Carr quickly stepped back out into the hallway, slamming the door behind them. Grey lunged for the handle a second too late. They were locked in.

  “Just procedure,” Rin reassured her, and Grey composed herself. Her sister was right. They’d been down halls like this with Jet, and each door always locked behind them. Still, she hated feeling trapped like a lab rat.

  “I’m gonna strangle Jet,” Grey muttered.

  Rin smiled.

  They’d never been in this room before, and Grey quickly took it in. A huge, polished conference table made of glass or clear polymer dominated the space, with at least twenty stools surrounding it. Potted plants adorned each corner, probably real but genetically altered to withstand the underground conditions. Along one wall was a stunning painting of the Mazdaar City skyline.

  Grey stepped closer to the work of art. Titled “The New Centre of the World,” she was mesmerized by the towering skyscrapers sparkling in the artist’s rendition of a sunset over the Middle Eastern city. Some of the buildings were two hundred stories high. Most people dreamed of being chosen to live there, but the sight of it caused something inside Grey to churn.

  She turned away.

  Still wearing their packs, Grey and Rin wandered around the room. The brown carpet would hide their dirty prints and the cool air set to work drying their sweat, but she wished they could freshen up before meeting with Jet.

  Rin held her hand to her ear. “He’s coming.”

  “Where?”

  Her sister pointed to the opposite wall. There must be a hidden door.


  Sure enough, just as Rin pointed to it, the outline of a door became visible. The panel slid aside and Jet walked in, flanked by a female drone with a slightly uneven gait.

  “Ladies,” Jet said, giving them a bow. His coat, made of a black textile that somehow shimmered in the light, hugged his lean torso then flared at the waist into long, flowing tails behind him.

  “You could’ve warned us you were sending someone else to meet us.”

  “But I gave him the password, did I not?” With a wave of his hand, Jet ordered the drone to stand against the wall. She obeyed, giving Grey and Rin a piercing look with her iris-less eyes. Grey tried to keep her focus on Jet. Drones never ceased to give her the creeps.

  “Not the point.” Grey crossed her arms. “It can’t happen again or we’re through coming here.”

  Jet laughed. “Are you now?”

  For the second time that day Grey got the feeling their bargaining power was disintegrating. He never discussed how many other scouts he had working for him, but she guessed they weren’t the only ones. What, except his past friendship with their parents, was to keep Jet from ripping their packs away and taking their merchandise without even paying?

  The hidden door opened once more and a tall man dressed in a blue chef’s uniform entered carrying a tray full of food that immediately sent Grey’s stomach growling.

  Setting the tray on the table, the man placed two square cups beside it and poured steaming coffee into them from a black pot. Grey’s annoyance melted just a little. The coffee smelled fantastic. No one outside the zones could afford the beans.

  Silently, the man set out the rest of the spread, and Rin honed in on the colorful plate of vegetables they’d never be able to grow in the Preserve’s climate. The feast included bright-red peppers, succulent tomatoes, lettuce, and herbs neither of them had enjoyed anywhere else. Grey knew Jet was buttering them up quite literally with the food, but she’d decided from the beginning to relish everything they could on a mission. Who knew the next time they’d get to savor real vegetables or pastries made from chocolate?