The Road to Hell

Chapter 22

 Questions. Answers. Facts. These were the basic units that José Ramius built his life upon. He'd learned early in his career that every military operation lived and died on the quality of its intelligence, and José couldn't be any prouder of how Fisher had picked up the slack during his absence. It was a lot harder than they made it seem, analyzing raw data and turning it into usable information, and because of them, David was this close to putting Zeus down. But something didn't add up, and that's why José was now sneaking through Zeus's maze.

Zeus wasn't supposed to be on the base. He was supposed to be on Rosana's ship, which departed three days ago. That was why both Farid and José were surprised that Zeus was making his first live appearance ever to announce that the Ghosts of Olympus were going to attack the Interstellar Senate.

If Zeus was here, then who was with David? And if Zeus was with David, who was here? If one of them was a decoy, José was willing to bet the real Zeus was still on base, where it would be safest. That meant he could have done two things. Wait until David got back, or seize the opportunity to kill Zeus himself. Farid made him wait a couple of days, but eventually they both agreed the latter option would be the best one.

When the time came, José suited up with the Peterson twins and snuck into the restricted zone, where the entrance to the maze was found. "All right, the plan is simple. We split up and search for Zeus's room. The suit's systems will trace your paths, so if you need to bug out, do it. There's no comms down here, so that means there's no back up. If we get caught down here, our cover's beyond blown, so no restrictions on this one." He looked at each of the twins for a second. "You kill Zeus if you find him, and if anyone else is down here, kill them too."

"Yes, sir." Pitter said. "Are you sure you want to come in with us? I mean your leg..."

José waved him away. "My leg will be fine, Pitter."

"Bet there's plenty of traps in here," Patter said.

"I don't have to tell you to be careful, but... be careful," José said. "It's been good working with you boys. May Lady Luck guide you." And with that, he started down the first branch in the path.

Patter kissed his teeth in annoyance. "He really didn't have to go and say that now, did he?"

Pitter shrugged. "No one's ever come out of this thing alive except for Zeus and Rosana, right? The odds aren't exactly in our favour."

"And when are the odds ever in our favour?"

"Point taken. I won't say goodbye then." The brothers walked together into the maze until they reached another branch and then wrapped each other in a brief hug. Pitter wordlessly started down the path.

"Hey," Patter called after him. "fifty creds I'm the one who bags Zeus."

Pitter turned a corner and just before he was out of sight, he shouted, "Deal, little brother!"

Patter chuckled and started down his own path. "Just four minutes, you fuckwad."

#

When they finally completed the last leg of the otherspace transit and arrived at the base, David was feeling a mixture of excitement and disappointment. He'd decided to round everyone up as soon as they touched down and make a quick escape in the Spectral Hawk. They knew that the Ghosts still posed a military threat, but David, Tanner, and Fisher agreed that instead of killing Rosana and Fitch, they'd get clear and then call in some HDL heavy fleets to deal with Zeus's army. They already had a strike legion monitoring Desrequins and his Sharks. As soon as they gave the word that Zeus was dead, Coschek would send in the big guns to fully shut the Ghosts of Olympus down.