THE FOREVER GENE (THE SCIONS OF EARTH Book 1) (25 page)

"That is an order, Captain. The only way Chang could get me to co-operate with him would be to put a gun to your head.  If you escape on the ship, he will have no control over me.  Don't worry; he is not going to kill me.  He needs me as a hostage."

They quickly discussed who would make for the ship and who would join Armitage's diversion.  Then Katya left her cubicle and the men finished their showers.

By then, there wasn't much time until the grenade was due to detonate.  Katya hoped fervently that it wouldn't malfunction.  She would look pretty silly if nothing happened at ten o'clock and the hatch remained locked.

She sat, still and calm, subtly watching the others for signs of nervousness.  Vitaly was tense, occasionally biting his nails.  She caught his eye and shook her head slightly.  He understood and relaxed, at least outwardly.  Carson and Heller distracted themselves by playing an apparently intense game of electronic hockey on the table top touchscreen.  Armitage betrayed no signs of stress.  It seemed that he had some steel buried deep within his generally cantankerous temperament.

By now, the others had been brought up to speed on what was about to happen and each had been assigned a part to play.  None of them were particularly adept at hiding their anxiety, but the occasional ferocious glare from Armitage helped to stiffen their backbones.  For the first time since her arrival at the moonbase Katya felt a glimmer of respect for the American general.

A few minutes before ten, Heller stood up and went over to the wall-screen above the hatch.  He switched it on and flicked through channels as if trying to decide which one to watch.  She was sure he was the right choice to accompany her out into the corridor.  He was young and athletic and had been in the Northern European armed forces since he was eighteen.  He had seen action as part of a United Nations force which had intervened in the fierce border war between Ethiopia and Sudan a few years ago.  He had also served two tours in the Fifty Years war in Afghanistan.  He would understand what had to be done.  It was not their intention to kill the guards, but if there was no choice he wouldn't hesitate.

She remained slumped in her chair a few feet from the hatch.  The plan was for Heller to go through it first.  She let him think it was so that he could take out the first guard and then be able to help her despatch the second.  The real reason was because what Vitaly had said about her was true.  She was so quick she could afford to give Heller a head start and still hit her target first.

Ten o'clock came and went, and nothing happened.  She wasn't sure whether they would be able to hear the explosion in the electronics recess, so the signal to move was the release of the lock.  The time ticked by and her heart sank.  The timers on Russian stun-grenades were not completely accurate, especially over a period of three days, but the more seconds and minutes went by, the less likely it became that the grenade would detonate.

She saw the tension go out of Heller's shoulders as he decided that nothing was going to happen.  He glanced at her, but she remained still.  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Armitage's face reddening.  Not the most patient of characters at the best of times, he had held it together for a full three minutes.  But that was his limit and he opened his mouth, presumably to start blasting her for her incompetence.

And then they heard the lock release.  To his credit, Heller didn't hesitate.  He sprang forward instantly, ripped the hatch open and leapt into the corridor.  She didn't have time to worry about why the lock had released; whether it was because the grenade had done its work, or because someone had chosen that moment to visit the brig.  She exploded forward, hot on the German lieutenant's heels.

She saw him go left and her first glance was to the right.  She saw no-one and whipped around to follow him.  Two soldiers were about ten yards away on the left; one sitting on a stool and the other on his feet lounging against the opposite wall.  Heller went for the latter, crossing the distance in a split second.

Although they had both been momentarily distracted by the explosion, the soldiers were well trained and reacted quickly.  The one on his feet was the more alert of the two and he managed to get his laser-repeater up to partially block Heller's charge.  The German countered by smoothly sweeping his adversary's feet out from under him, but on hitting the floor the soldier rolled expertly away and bounded back up, still trying to get his repeater to bear.

Katya reached the second soldier as he began to stand up from his stool.  Without slowing, she used the sole of her left foot to smash into the side of his knee.  Its ligaments gave way with a hollow snapping sound and he hit the floor with an agonised shriek.  She stamped hard on his temple with her other heel, leaving him senseless.

Heller had flung himself bodily at the other soldier, bearing him to the ground and trapping the rifle between them.  But the soldier was surprisingly strong and managed to wriggle halfway out from under him, wrestling so desperately that the German began to lose his grip.

Katya skipped across the corridor and drove the toe of her right boot into the second soldier's abdomen, just below his ribcage.  The kick drove the breath out of him and, as he doubled up, she kicked him again, this time on the point of his jaw.  He collapsed like boiled spaghetti and Heller was able to scramble to his feet.

The altercation had taken no more than a few seconds.  In that time the others had come out of the brig.  She could see Carson and Vitaly hurrying away down the corridor.  Without a word, she and Heller picked up the soldiers' laser-repeaters and sprinted off in the other direction.  The others waited until they were clear before moving away from the brig more slowly.

They had decided that it would look foolish for Armitage and the others to try to evade capture.  There was nowhere for them to go and Chang would probably smell a rat.  So the plan was for them to march straight towards the ops room.  As soon as they were seen, Armitage would loudly demand to see General Chang.  That would give the Chinese soldiers a focal point to converge on, distracting them from the four who had been chosen to make for the ship.  It wouldn't take long for Chang to realise that some of the prisoners were missing, but the hangar bay wasn't far from the brig and the escapees should have enough time to get there before the alarm was raised.

Their main goal was to make sure that at least one of the cosmonauts got onto the ship.  So they had decided to split up and double their chances of success.  Vitaly had teamed up with Carson, and Katya with Heller.  Each pair would take a different route to the hangar bay so that, if one pair was caught, the other might still make it. 

Katya and Heller didn't bother trying to keep out of sight.  Their biggest advantage was the element of surprise, so they simply ran.  She checked to make sure that the laser-repeater she was carrying was set to stun.  She did not want to kill anyone, but anyone who tried to get in her way would be regret it.

Within a few minutes of leaving the brig, they neared the hangar bay.  With Katya in the lead, they rounded the corner without slowing.  Two soldiers were standing guard at the hatch and, without hesitation, she scythed them down with a burst of laser fire.  She and Heller raced past the twitching bodies and then slowed to a walk, hiding the repeaters behind their backs.  They walked nonchalantly into the hangar bay on the off chance that they wouldn't be noticed.

It was a vain hope.  There were two more soldiers stationed at the loading bay ramp of the ship, and they had been alerted by the burst of laser fire.  They caught sight of the escapees and opened fire.  Katya reacted by throwing herself behind a cargo crate, but Heller wasn't so lucky.  A laser burst hit him squarely in the chest and he went down, jerking spasmodically.  She hoped he had been stunned rather than killed, but either way she couldn't help him.  She heard the soldiers calling for back-up and knew that the bay would be crawling with reinforcements in seconds.

The soldiers were experienced veterans; they didn't make the mistake of approaching her position, giving her easy targets to hit.  Instead, they took cover and waited for help.

While they remained where they were, it would be very difficult for anyone to get onto the ship.  And time was running out fast.  She wasn't prepared to sit idly by and watch their escape plan fail.  She decided to charge the soldiers, drawing their fire.  If she was quick, she should be able to hit at least one of them before they got her.  Then Carson and Vitaly would have a better chance of reaching the ship.  They had better have made it to the hangar bay by now, or she was going to be making a pointless sacrifice.

She got into a crouch, took a deep breath, and sprang away from the crate.  She sprinted towards the ship, jinking and swerving. The first burst of laser fire missed her, whipping past her left ear and giving away the position of one of the soldiers.  She dived to the right, rolled, and came up firing.  She had the satisfaction of seeing him go flying backwards, but now she was a sitting duck.  She threw herself to the ground as the other soldier opened fire, missing with his first volley.  She tensed for the shock of being hit.

Instead, she heard the crack of a gunshot and the laser fire ceased abruptly.  She realised instantly what must have happened.  Carson had retrieved his sidearm and used it to shoot the second soldier.  She looked up to see him racing into the bay from a hatch on her left hand side.  She was relieved to see Vitaly following a step behind.  They had almost reached the loading bay ramp when a squad of soldiers boiled out of the hatch behind them and opened fire.

She wasted no more time and sprang to her feet, firing at the incoming soldiers.  They dived for cover and she used the opportunity to sprint for the ship.  By the time she got there the other two were already aboard.

"Close it!" she screamed at them as she hurled herself onto the ramp.  She carried on firing at the soldiers, forcing them to stay behind cover, and hoping that her repeater had been fully charged by its erstwhile owner.  She risked a glance into the loading bay, where Carson and Vitaly were hunting frantically for the control panel which operated the ramp.

"On the bulkhead to your left!" she yelled at Carson.  "Does no-one read the manuals in this place?"

Finally the ramp began to lift, agonisingly slowly.  More soldiers came through other hatches around the hangar bay and she fired bursts in all directions to keep them back.  After what seemed like forever, the ramp clicked shut, sealing itself automatically.

She didn't waste a second.  She ran towards the elevator chutes, signalling Carson and Vitaly to follow.  "Stay together," she ordered.  "There are probably other people on the ship, and some of them may be loyal to Chang."

"What happened to Heller?" gasped Carson as they ran into one of the chutes.

"He was hit," she said, pressing its touchscreen.

"Stunned or..."

"I think so.  I couldn't do anything for him."

The chute doors sprang open and they moved cautiously out onto the landing on the bridge level.  They ran quickly down the walkway leading to the bridge, checking the living and dining cabins along its length.  In one of them they found three technicians crouched nervously against a bulkhead.  From the badges on their overalls she could see that two were British and the third American.

"Are there any Chinese soldiers on board?" she barked at them.

The American spoke up nervously.  'We haven't seen any, Ma'am, and we have been on board all morning.  Can you tell us what is happening?"

"The ship is about to launch.  We cannot open the loading bay to let you out so you have no choice but to come with us."  She turned to Carson.  "Take these technicians with you and search each level.  Round up anyone on board and take them to one of the passenger cabins.  Make sure they are all secured within life-support cocoons.  If you see any Chinese soldiers, I need to know how many and where they are.  Use the ship's com system to contact me on the bridge."

Carson led the technicians away, quickly explaining the situation to them.  The other two headed for the bridge.  They approached the massive suspended cylinder which encased it.  Located centrally within the ship, it was designed on the same principle as the life-support cocoons.  Attached to the hull by malleable tethers, it would sway and twist so as to minimise the effect of the G-forces generated by wormhole travel.  There was a wide clearance around the cylinder to give it enough space to do so.  It was reached by a retractable conduit, which would be withdrawn before the star drive was engaged.

She checked the repeater; it was almost out of charge, but there was nothing she could do about that now.  They ran across the conduit to the main bridge hatch, which was closed.  They flattened themselves against the outside of the cylinder, one on each side of the hatch.  Keeping his body to the side, Vitaly carefully opened it and pushed.  They both stood still, waiting to see what reaction they would get from whoever might be inside.  Nothing happened, but that didn't mean much.  If there were Chinese soldiers in there, they would be waiting to see who came in.  If Hans and Harry were inside, as she fervently hoped, they would surely be hiding.  Of course, there might be no-one in there at all.

She realised that she was going to have to offer herself as a target again.  There was no time for anything else.  She thrust the repeater at her companion.  "Come in right after me.  If anyone starts shooting, take them out.  There is only a single burst left, Vitaly, so don't waste it."