Code Breakers: Beta (18 page)

Petal had stepped out and was standing outside looking down at him. “What the hell was that?” she said, peering down at him.

Another shot fired, just missing his head, sparking off the tunnel wall. “Go,” Gabe screamed. “Get to Xian’s.”

“Gabe, no.” Petal made to step back to the hatch when, with gritted teeth, Gabe climbed one more rung and reached up for the underside handle. “Please,” Gabe said, every word a pained effort, “it’s all on you.”

A hand gripped his ankle. When he looked down, there were a dozen ronin waiting for him, having come out of the two rooms on either side of the narrow passage.

Petal dashed forward, her arm stretched to reach the hatch, but Gabe pulled it down, locking it in place. He kicked out at the person on the ladder beneath him, connecting with a skull, sending him falling down the vertical tunnel with a scream. He fell into the group of ronin beneath.

With his vision starting to shut down from the pain, he lowered himself a few steps on the ladder and fired the shotgun into the digital control panel on the hatch. He heard a series of bangs from the other side as Petal pounded on the surface, trying to get in. He could just make out her frantic sobs.

He hated having to do it, but he needed to give her a chance of getting safely to Xian’s. This was bigger than him.

A third bullet grazed his hand, making him drop the gun.

“Come down willingly, or we’ll just kill you where you are.” The voice was strong, experienced, and cold.

Gabe looked over his shoulder and saw a grimacing man in a Libertas Security Service uniform. He wore his hair in a buzz cut and a sneer on a scarred face.

Gabe descended the ladder, using his arms more than his legs. His right one pulsated with the pain of the earlier shot. The bullet like a fiery stone embedded in his flesh. He winced with every movement. Finally, he reached the bottom and turned to face his audience.

He counted eleven security men and women behind their apparent leader. They could only stand two abreast in the narrow passage. Their leader turned to them. “Back to work, everyone. Aruki, Marv, you stay with me—get that hatch open, and recover that bitch. Looks like we’re gonna have ourselves a little more fun today.”

The onlooking group of men and women made their way back into the room, leaving three behind. The leader wore rubber gloves that shined glossily. Even in the darkness, Gabe knew it was blood. It covered the blue Libertas uniform, making it dark in patches. He knew then where his father and the rest of the tribe were. The stench of blood and a low sobbing came from the door to his right where the others had retreated.

The glove-wearer smiled when he looked at Gabe. “You look just like him. How nice. A family reunion.”

Gabe gritted his teeth, balled his fists, and readied to fight—even if it looked like his last. There was no way he’d let them out of this bunker. Whatever happened, he’d make sure Petal had a head start in getting to Xian’s place.

Chapter 25

Sasha made to dash away from the expanding ronin beneath the console desk. But, as she planted her foot, ready to launch away, a hand grabbed her ankle. She fell forward and smacked her face hard against the floor, making her brain rattle against her skull. Her vision dimmed, and her head prickled with pain.

Malik, standing a few metres away by the door, reached out for her, his reactions too slow. His makeshift crutch fell away as he toppled forward and collapsed onto his side.

Black smoke filled the room. The console operator’s chest expanded, then deflated before his body exploded, sending muscle, organs, and bones erupting in a cone-shaped burst. Malik had turned his back, but Sasha had faced the man before he exploded in order to free her ankle.

The blast blew out the window overlooking the factory floor.

The Plexiglas shards, wide like knife blades, shot through the air and struck down two onrushing guards. The remaining fragments littered the various conveyor belts and workbenches.

Sasha took the brunt of the eruption on her front, sending her sliding back across the tiles, her chest a mess of blood—not all from the operator. When she’d come to a stop, she found breathing difficult, as though she’d just been kicked in the gut. With each breath, a burning sensation filled her chest. When she looked down, to her horror, she saw a pattern of cuts and wounds, the worst was a bone fragment some fifteen centimetres long protruding from the left side of her chest, from her heart.

Blood poured out of the wound, pooling around her as she slumped to her side, her eyes shut with the pain. When she tried to speak, she choked until she coughed blood. “Malik,” she said, barely getting the word out through the pain. It paralysed her. Any movement only aided in layering on yet more agony.

The bone must be one of the operator’s ribs, she thought, oddly fascinated with it.

Her hand twitched at the idea of pulling it out, but that would only make the situation worse. This is it, she thought. This is the end. Even she couldn’t come back from this. It was as fatal as it could get. Even ’Stems couldn’t fix a pierced heart.

“Malik,” she said again, this time weaker as the life drained from her body both literally and metaphorically. “Help... me...”

He’d rolled over to face her. On one knee he crawled to her, placing his hands on her shoulders. She couldn’t even raise her arms to embrace him. She managed to open her eyes and take in his pained, grief-stricken expression. She watched as his attention went from her face to her chest, to the bone sticking into her heart. He reached out towards it, but then pulled his hand back.

“Oh God,” he whispered over and over, his voice trembling with fear. “Oh God. What can I do?” He shook his head; his eyes filled with tears of frustration.

“Hold... me,” Sasha said, her voice barely a whisper now. So low she couldn’t even hear her own words. Everything was becoming quieter, as though she were receding into some distant land. Her pulse no longer roared. She couldn’t even feel her heart beat anymore. It wouldn’t be long now. The coldness had gripped her. It started at her toes and had taken her legs and waist. The light of the room grew dim, and it was all she could do to remain focussed on Malik’s face. The very act of looking brought pain.

He cradled her head in his arms, bringing it close to his chest as he leant over, gripping her tight as if he could prevent death from taking her. “I love you,” he said. “I love you.”

They were the last words she heard. Her ears popped, and a heavy silence fell over her.

The door flew open, and she could just make out a number of guards flood the room. They surrounded Malik, reaching out for him. She wanted to warn him, but nothing came: no words, expression, or motion.

They grabbed him then and pulled him away. She didn’t feel his hands let her go as he struggled against the ronin guard. They dragged him off as his arms stretched out towards her. But then his figure grew dim and blurred until she could no longer see his face. His words still floated around inside her, replacing her pulse. “I love you too,” she thought before everything finally ceased. All tension had left her body, and her eyes closed.

Sasha took one last breath, and then it was over.

Chapter 26

James tried to ease the tension from his forehead. He was sat on the cell cot, his back against the cold wall, trying to formulate a plan. Nothing would come, just a ripple of fear making knots of his insides. A Libertas guard stood outside of his Plexiglas cell to one side, on the other a combat ’droid. It had since been refitted into Libertas colours. Fuentes seemed to have found new resources after all. He guessed that they, along with the various ronin-chip wearers, were now yet more nodes on Elliot’s ever-increasing network.

James noticed the human guard stood to attention as Fuentes walked down the corridor.

“Ma’am,” the guard said with a nod.

“Give us a few minutes,” Fuentes said.

Both the human and ’droid left Fuentes as she stood there, looking through the clear-fronted cell at James. She gestured to her palm-sized slate, and the cell door slid into the ground. She stepped over the threshold and stood before him. The door came back up behind her.

For a brief moment, he considered throttling her until she lay dead at his feet. But he knew the guards would be on him before he could get his hands on her. They may be out of sight, but they would never be that far away. Her confidence told him she already had precautions worked out. He’d underestimated her once; he wouldn’t do it again.

“Come to let me go? Changed your mind?”

“If only I could, Jim.”

He winced at that. She’d only called him that when they were in bed together.

“What do you want?”

“It was real. I wanted you to know that, at least. I didn’t expect it to... develop as it had.”

“It’s a moot point now, though, isn’t it?”

“I’m afraid so. However, I came here to explain a few things. You won’t be harmed throughout any of this... transition period.”

“I doubt you’re just going to let me go once you and Elliot have achieved whatever it is you want. So why this charade now?”

“Charade? No, it’s not that. I will see to it that you and your friends remain comfortable. There’ll be no death sentence for your crimes. This facility will provide you with a good standard of living for the rest of your days.”

“Crimes?” James stood up from his cot then and came to within an inch of her face, his own tight and twisted with outrage. “The only crime I’ve committed was to get involved with you. Doesn’t the fact that most of my friends and colleagues were butchered in saving this goddamned city mean anything to you?”

Rosario didn’t flinch or back away. Her confidence sickened him.

“We all make sacrifices in this world, some more than others. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the reality of this existence now. There’s no going back. There’s only forward.”

James turned his back to her, unable to look at her face anymore. The face he thought on a few occasions that he might love. He’d imagined a future together, being at the centre of a free new society. But all along he was suckered in like some randy teenager.

“Just go,” he said finally. “There’s nothing else for you to say.”

“I understand you will always hate me for what I’ve done and what I’m about to do, but one thing you can trust me on is that I’m doing this for the citizens of Libertas. The Family have likely reached their Mars colony by now. And with Elliot’s and my leadership, we’ll keep this city safe. It’ll grow and thrive without the Family’s control, but we have to make sure that it doesn’t tear itself apart first. A transition period like this will be difficult in the short term, but it’s needed if we’re to grow and survive.”

“But why me? Why fit me up as your scapegoat? You said what you felt was real, and you’re going to bury me, make me a hate figure!”

“Like I said: we all have to make sacrifices. Given you and your allies’ antagonistic approach to Elliot and the debacle with the ’droids, the public blame you for the ills that have befallen this city since the Family left.”

“Only because of the information you’ve spread.”

“No, that’s not true, Jim. I’ve kept you sheltered, kept you safe. It’s either this or a public lynching. At least here you’re alive. Just like Petal and Sasha will be. Saladin’s technology will help them like it has helped Samir. Saladin named her. It suits her, don’t you think?”

That was too much for him. He reached out and grabbed the lapels of her jacket, ready to slam her against the cell wall, but as he gripped the fabric, his body tensed with an electric shock and he was thrown back, slamming against the edge of the cot. He doubled over with agony, his back flaring with pain, making his head spin. His muscles cramped with the aftereffects of the shock.

Rosario looked down at him with an expression of disappointment. “I had hoped we could come to understand one another,” she said, kneeling down and looking him in the eyes. “It’s a shame, dear Doctor.”

He tried to reach out for her, but his muscles were still locked as tiny spasms flowed around his nerve system. He squeezed out a few trembling words, “I hope you fucking rot in hell.”

She laughed then as she stood and smoothed out the creases in her skirt.

“I admire your spirit, Jim. You always were... enthusiastic. But I’ll leave this here. I’ll keep to my promise. Unless you do anything stupid, you’ll never be harmed under my leadership. One last thing: you don’t need to worry about Sasha. I’ll make sure she’s taken care of.”

She turned to leave as the cell door dropped into the ground. On the other side, she looked back at him and said, “Oh, and if you have any information on Petal’s whereabouts, please pass it on, we’ve had... trouble securing her position. But now Samir is operational, I don’t think finding anyone will be a problem, given the extent of her talents, do you?”

As the effects of the shock wore off, James hauled himself to his feet but knew he’d not have the energy to rush her, try to escape. “One day,” he called out to her before she left, “I will watch you burn!”

***

James sat on the cot with his knees up, his back resting against the wall. The shock had stopped making his body spasm, but the soreness of his muscles remained. It was as though he’d just completed one of General Vickers’ workouts. Despite their grievances and conflicting approach, he missed the old bastard. He missed his men and women, he missed the scientists and the work, and he missed Sasha. It was as he lamented his fate and casually took in the room, seeing that the ’droid and human guard had returned to their station, that he saw a flash of light glint against the Plexiglas.

He eased his tired legs off the cot and, despite the soreness, shuffled to the front of the cell. The human guard looked back at him, giving him a nod of acknowledgement. James returned the nod and tried for a smile, but it probably came out more like a grimace. He saw the light again: a little dot reflecting off the clear surface. He traced it this time, trying to keep up with its movement.

The dot shined off the metal surface of the ’droid’s head, catching its attention. A second one joined the first, this time reflecting off the human guard’s forehead.

With almost no sound, just a pulse of gas, both human and ’droid collapsed to the floor, the former leaking blood and the latter leaking silicon oil. The sound of bullet against metal ricocheted through the narrow corridor.

Fortunately, the cell opposite and on either side were empty.

James hobbled back as a shadow loomed from the right of the corridor.

A man and woman in black form-fitting clothes and half-masks stood over the bodies of the guards while a tall, elegant woman stood out from behind them to face James from the other side of the cell. She held a slate in her hands and smiled at him.

“Enna? Did you get my message?”

“We came as soon as we could. We saw the arrest—and the clone. What the hell happened?” She gestured on the slate, and the door opened.

James eyed the two shooters. They both held their rifles casually as if they did this kind of thing every day. It was almost as though they were bored with it all. “Who?”

“Ghanus and Liza-Marie,” Enna said. “We don’t have time for a full introduction, but they’re on our side. We’ve found a way out. We stashed Omega in a safe part of the city. We need to get you out right now.”

James held his breath against the protest of his muscles as he dashed from the cell. He picked up the rifle from the ’droid, and Enna followed likewise, taking the rifle from the security guard. Despite his situation, he felt a tinge of loss for the guard. He was just doing his job, probably under threat, another one of Fuentes’ sacrifices.

Enna checked her slate once more. “Fuentes is heading to her penthouse apartment. We should leave now before an alarm is raised.”

“How do you know her whereabouts? A tracking device? How did you get it on her?”

Enna gave him a sly smile. “She’s not the only one with a loyal team within the city. From the day we liberated the place, Malik and I have worked on developing our own interior squad of spies and loyal agents. I had one tag her yesterday after I heard rumours that she was fronting for the insurgents and Elliot’s ronin.”

“Why didn’t I know?”

Enna shrugged. “We didn’t know if we could trust you. No offence, but you were very... close to her. I hope you understand.”

He did. From the outside, it must have looked like he and Fuentes were in this conspiracy together. Maybe that was her plan all along? Not only to get close to him so she could fit him up for the scapegoat, but also to convince people like Enna—and Sasha—that he was apart from them, on Fuentes’ side.

“What now?”

Liza-Marie looked back up the corridor that led to the main cellblock of the justice department. It was a three-storey building a few hundred metres away from Fuentes’ presidential residence. “We take a maintenance tunnel out of here and head for the safe house where we have secured Omega. From there, we’ll try to establish contact with Sasha and Malik and find the location of Elliot’s data-centre.”

“What safe house?” James asked. “And we can’t just leave Sasha alone; she’s in real trouble.”

“We’ve already taken care of that,” Enna said. “I’ve had my guy in the security service send a team over there. Fuentes will think it’s her people. As soon as they’ve found them, they’ll send word. As for the safe house, Gabe and Petal had two secure places in the city. The first was found and destroyed by Jasper, but they had a second one just beyond the financial sector, in the basement of one of the towers. We can use the maintenance tunnel system and part of the metro line to get there.”

“Let’s not waste any time, then.”

Ghanus and Liza-Marie led the way, going further down the corridor, past the empty cells until they came to a door that opened onto a small cupboardlike room.

“Through there?” James said, wondering if they hadn’t made a mistake. “It’s just a box room.” The only things found in the room were a few shelves with various H-core cells and some maintenance tools, presumably for ensuring the smooth running of the cell doors and suchlike.

“Not so, my friend,” Ghanus said. From the squinting of his eyes, James could tell that he was smiling beneath the half-mask. Still, it didn’t fill him with confidence. He heard voices from the other end of the corridor and couldn’t help but sweat a little.

Ghanus ran his hands on the white surface of the wall below the lowest shelf. It looked utterly featureless, but as Ghanus felt with his fingers, James watched on as he found a seam in the wall. Ghanus pushed hard against it, and a door no larger than a metre square opened. The stench of dry air wafted through. A metal grate barred their entry.

The voices grew louder.

“Hurry,” James said. “Someone’s coming.”

Ghanus pulled a crowbar from his backpack and levered the grate open. A screech peeled out, and the voices stopped. Ghanus stood aside and pushed Enna and James in first. James coughed as he breathed in the dust and debris of things that had lain in the tunnel for God knew how long. The two Upsiders quickly followed and closed the hidden door and grate behind them, making the tunnel pitch black.

Enna took an OLED lamp from her belt and switched it on.

James blinked at the sudden change of light, but was appreciative of not having to crawl in the darkness. The tunnel was just large enough for Enna and the Upsiders to crawl on their hands and knees comfortably. James’ greater bulk, however, squeezed through, scraping along the sides, grazing his skin and the crown of his head.

From behind them, he heard the muffled staccato yell of someone finding two dead guards.

“We’ll need to move quickly,” Enna said. “It won’t take them long to discover the various routes out of the prison complex.”

“How long does this go on for?”

“A kilometre and a half.”

James’ heart sank. At this rate it’d take them an hour or more to reach the end. He tried not to think about getting stuck and being an easy target. Of course, not thinking about it meant it was all he could think about. I should have stayed at Criborg.