New Space Opera Novel Coming Soon
Tidal Pulse: Mars Revolution by S.V. Farnsworth will be released on October 10th, 2024. Preorder now.
Read the sample chapter 1 below…
When revolution splits them apart, how will they move heaven and Mars to come back together?
A daring, freedom fighter is bent on revenge after a soul crushing betrayal shakes his faith to the core. At the last minute, he discovers his catastrophic mistake. He’s blamed an innocent woman.
Now, he must risk everything to make it right. Can he help her save the planet before the real culprit murders everyone who doesn’t fit into a twisted plan?
Or are the secrets between them unforgivable after vengeance has gone awry?
Tidal Pulse: Mars Revolution is the redemption sequel to the suspenseful book one, Hard Start: Mars Intrigue.
Get the completed romantic, Martian adventure duology today.
Chapter One
Royce Nedge flexed his muscular arms, folding them across his broad chest as he searched the sunny promenade for faces from his nightmares. Concealed behind the tinted visor of a shock suit helmet, he hunted child predators. His zeal was that of an avenging angel, though he’d irrevocably compromised his iron clad principles after Lisa Shim’s betrayal had stripped him of faith in a merciful God.
He wasn’t supposed to be amidst the tall pine trees of Mars Colony NINE. His patroness had forbidden it. However, he’d failed to find the man most responsible for his suffering in the other eight colonies and this was his last chance.
Without support, Royce had descended to new depths to survive. Not that he wanted to be bought and sold on the underground market, but food cost credits, and infant formula was rationed. His empty stomach rumbled.
He spotted the pompous Technology Director that Lisa was replacing. The overweight Director Xyler huffed and puffed as he walked toward the docking ring. Five underlings carried bags and rolled trunks in a formation as his much younger wife trailed the throng wearing a glitzy outfit and precariously high heels.
Royce had waited for this sign. The elite class was fleeing NINE for the Impenetrable Zone. He headed down the nearest stairwell, taking the steps three at a time on his way to sub-level one’s communications center.
Striding in as if he belonged there, he sat at a console and tuned the shortwave radio’s frequency. Men and women bustled about, monitoring private citizens’ communications. A pair of men entered the large room, one had his arm around the shoulder of the other as they watched a data pad with animated expressions.
“He’s huge.” One man pointed.
“She’s not, but in he goes.” The other man laughed.
“Replay it again at half speed.” The second man leaned closer to the screen.
Royce stood as they walked past to see the infrared recording of a man and a woman coupling. None of this spying on citizens was legal. Yet, that didn’t seem to bother the Space Division personnel involved.
Royce clenched his gloved hand around the microphone, sitting at the radio instead of confronting the voyeurs. “The guests are on their way. Over.”
The radio belched static for a moment. “We’re dressed for the party. Over and out.”
Royce changed the frequency to obscure his activity and left the communications center, heading for the docking ring. He double timed it up the stairs to a long, curved, hallway of windows and hatches. Rovers of various sizes backed up to the docking ring to take on passengers.
Black uniformed Police Division officers maintained order despite the massive crowd. Space Division pilots in silver-gray uniforms boarded the people on their manifests. Xyler and his entourage argued loudly about being left behind as armed police ushered them from the ring.
A vindictive thrill coursed along Royce’s spine. Xyler’s devious plotting hadn’t resulted in the hoped for reward. He’d never enter the Impenetrable Zone or receive the promised luxuries.
But, other elites fled from NINE in rovers, departing amidst the stunning, red rock landscape. Their pilots accelerated north along the spur, entering the equatorial Glass Highway to head East. He wished them a fiery death on the road tonight.
Would Lisa stay or travel with the group? Surely, the Matchmaker would go. Royce’s blood warmed for the kill.
Unexpectedly, his gaze struck a strangely familiar blonde woman. Her golden blouse with trim-fitting slacks of a similar shade, marked her as a high ranking member of the Administrative Division. He froze in place among the crowd, moved by the unexpected vulnerability in her nervous turning of a narrow, wedding band on her left hand.
Fortunately for him, no one questioned an undercover Space Division agent while in full shock gear no matter how tall, broad shouldered, or in the way he might be. His patroness had aged gracefully since his early childhood. He served her because she’d shielded him from most of the abuse slaves suffered.
Standing at hatch thirty-nine, she chewed her bottom lip until the coral colored lipstick wore away. Eleven months ago, she’d sent Alik to free him from the dungeon. Since then, she’d helped him evade the Matchmaker’s henchmen.
Any contact with her would put her at risk, but he couldn’t let her board a rover. Not when the revolutionaries had laid a trap on the highway tonight. So, he strode toward her and took her right hand as if to shake it.
“Delay your departure.” He stroked a birthmark on her thumb the way she had caressed his matching one when she’d identified him in the slave lineup so long ago.
“Son, you have an older brother.” She held his gloved hand in both of her small ones as a pleading look filled her gaze.
He withdrew in confusion, striding through the crowd to stand at attention beside hatch forty-three. He’d always dreamed that his patroness was his mother, but he had lacked poof. Her confession wasn’t for his benefit, but to manipulate him into accepting a brother.
The shuffling steps from his tortured past intruded on his thoughts. A white haired man held onto the rail of a patient occupied hospital gurney while a red uniformed woman from Health Division pushed it along the hallway. Heinous acts of remembered violation rippled across Royce’s skin, causing his rapid breathing to rebound inside his helmet.
Outwardly stolid, he stood straight with his heart palpitating, immobilized by fear as the Matchmaker passed him. Cody Greene lay unconscious in a hospital gown on the gurney. What had they done to him?
“Father.” Royce’s mother addressed the Matchmaker, shocking Royce with another unwelcome revelation. “Why isn’t Lisa with you?”
“I’ll take care of her, Addison.” The elderly villain grasped Royce’s mother’s arm, drawing her away from the hatch to allow the red suit to wheel Cody inside. “I know where she’s gone.” He ruled a criminal empire in obscurity, wearing the blue uniform of a lowly Technology Division programmer to hide in plain sight.
“Let her finish her task.” Addison shied away from her father’s touch. “It might help the situation.”
“No.” The Matchmaker’s thin lips pressed together. “Lisa is wasting her time repairing the fifth atmospheric collector. It won’t be enough to save the colony from environmental collapse. You should take Cody to Laser Outpost Juliet. I’ll meet you there.”
“You must not hurt her.” Addison’s facial features sagged in a pitiable way as if she might weep. “My son will never forgive me if you do.”
“Act fast.” The Matchmaker smiled with a lustful glint in his eyes. “The doctor has implanted the stimulation device, but Cody will wake up from the sedative soon. Have her perform the match the instant you depart unless you want my grandson to know what you’ve agreed to in exchange for leniency.”
“I’ll keep my word.” Color rose in Addison’s cheeks. “Is the doctor’s husband safely at Juliet?”
“Not yet.” The Matchmaker’s gaze narrowed. “He’s driving a wrecker as part of the escort for a convoy of elites just in case anything goes wrong. Let’s meet there in the morning. I want to see their faces when you tell them what you’ve arranged. Anyway, I’ll bring Lisa shortly. You go ahead and leave without me.”
“Yes, Father.” Addison’s chin dropped in a defeated pose.
The old man smiled as he shuffled along the emptying hallway carrying a medical kit. Royce watched Addison stare as the Matchmaker moved away. The trembling of her hands was visible even from a distance.
His lungs quivered with shallow breaths as a chilling possibility occurred to him. Had the Matchmaker abused her too? The ease with which he had molested him and ordered his other grandson’s exploitation solidified the impression.
Pain showed in his mother’s mournful eyes. She inhaled a tremulous breath. Glancing through the open hatch of the waiting transport, the corners of her lips turned downward.
“Please, end our suffering. I love you, my son.” She entered the hatch and sealed it.
Without delay, the craft departed into the fading light of an orange sunset. Why hadn’t he done anything? Dread for his mother and brother’s well being assailed him, causing his hands to shake. To steady his nerves, he fixated on Addison’s vengeful command. He would take pleasure in murdering the Matchmaker. The man deserved it for the suffering he’d inflicted.
But Royce could not spare Lisa Shim, not even for his brother’s sake. No, she had destroyed his hope for redemption. And for that devastating betrayal, she must pay the ultimate price.
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