Read Online Accord of Mars (Accord Series Book 2) by Kevin McLaughlin - Free Book Online

says the US Navy is loaning them some warm bodies, too,” he said. He took a deep breath and let it out. “And officers.”
    I hissed in frustration. If that were true, then Perrault surely would have known about it. Which meant he deliberately hadn’t told me. What else hadn’t he said? Worse, if the US Navy was backing this new UN space force, how deep in it was Perrault himself? He was one of the few top ranking men with any experience in space. If I were looking for officers to recruit, he’d be right at the top of my list.
    “He’s got to be in on it, then,” I said aloud.
    “Perrault?” Acres replied. “Yeah, that’d be my bet, too.”
    “Dad needs to know.”
    “We can place a call to Mars, jet this info out to him,” Bolton said. “But even with good encryption, we don’t know who else might be able to intercept and decode it.”
    “No, better to bring it ourselves. I think we’ve done enough here. This balloon is going to go up any time now,” I said. I thought about that a moment. All of the pieces were in place - why wasn’t Choi already making his move?
    “What’s he waiting for?” I wondered aloud.
    “An excuse?” Acres said. “He can’t just go declare war with no reason.”
    “It wouldn’t take much more to manufacture one, now that your father is President of Mars,” Bolton said.
    “What?” I asked.
    “The media is all over it,” Bolton said. “Clarke was badly injured in the bombing. He’s alive, but until he’s healed up enough to take up his duties again, Mr. Stein has been named interim President.”
    “Choi’s been all over it,” Acres growled. “Hinting that it was a military coup, and now the Mad Bomber is in charge of Mars - and the uranium, and the Mars fleet.”
    “Damn it, Dad and I just saved this planet,” I said. “Are people believing his shit?”
    “Earth got hammered by the attacks. Whole cities wiped out,” Bolton said grimly. “There’s a lot of scared people out there. It doesn’t take a lot of work to change someone from being afraid to being angry.”
    My thoughts were racing. It was the perfect setup. By surviving, Dad was implicated in George’s injury. By taking charge like he usually did in a crisis, he was easy to use as Choi’s boogeyman. All the UN would need now is a spark. And a small spark is easy to manufacture.
    My smartwatch chimed with an incoming message. I glanced down out of habit to check it, and froze. Of all the people I’d thought would be trying to contact me right now, he had to be lowest on the list. I stood staring at the message for a long moment.
    “Thomas? What’s up?” Acres asked at last. “Who messaged you?”
    “It’s Choi,” I replied. “He wants to meet.”

Chapter 12
Nicholas Stein
    T he chair wasn’t comfortable . For the hundredth time, I shifted my weight in the seat, trying to achieve some relief. I knew it wasn’t the seat’s fault. It was mine. I wanted to be out of this office and back out in space where I belonged.
    George’s desk - my desk, for the time being - was covered with paperwork. There was what seemed like a never-ending stream of tasks to accomplish. Fortunately I’d delegated most of it right back to the Council. They’d be the ones really governing Mars, at least until George was well enough to take the post again. I’d told Tabby as much, when she insisted I take on the title of President.
    “No shit,” she’d replied. We’d let the matter rest at that.
    I looked across at my new chief aide - Keladry Flynn. I still wasn’t sure when she’d become my right hand, but damned if she wasn’t. There were only so many people I could trust completely to have my back, to be on my side no matter what happened. Flynn gave me that feeling. Her quick wit and inability to keep her mouth shut when she disagreed with superior officers would have sunk her in some Navies. But not in mine.
    It was much easier to see why Thomas had been so smitten with her, now that I’d worked