“Alex, that isn’t what this is about—I mean, yes, I hoped you might realize we’re not the enemy, but—”
“I know. And I’m…I’m sorry I wanted us to destroy this place.”
His smile was exceptionally gentle. “Apology accepted.”
She glanced around again briefly before returning to his gaze, to find it had never left her. “So what is this about then? I feel like I’m being wooed, but I think we’re a little beyond that stage.”
“Are you complaining?”
“Nooo.”
“I’m glad.” He reached across the table and took her hand in his. “I know you’re out of your comfort zone. I recognize it isn’t easy for you to follow someone else’s lead. And I just want you to know I appreciate it, and maybe convince you it doesn’t always have to be so bad.”
She squeezed his hand. “There’s certainly nothing bad about all this…in fact, I’d say it’s pretty damn wonderful.”
69 Earth
Vancouver, EASC Headquarters
Richard strode brusquely toward the Archives building. The late afternoon sun at his back almost hinted at warmth in the moments before it would drop below the horizon.
Much as Miriam had expressed the previous day, he found himself ruing the…extensiveness…of Alliance regulations. The assassination investigation having been closed on account of the war and the obvious-to-everyone perpetrator, all the files pertaining to it—thankfully except for the medical files due to a few test results still outstanding—had been moved to Archives and personal copies ordered scrubbed. Because that was how things were done.
Thus his trek across the EASC campus over to the Archives to review the files there. He would not be allowed to check them out and take them to his office. Because that was how things were done.
Alex’s insistence that the assassination, the entire war, was a setup had troubled him even prior to his lunch with Will. Seeing as he’d now arguably committed treason against the Alliance on a bet she might be correct, it seemed a good idea to look deeper into the matter on his end as well. If he—
The blast of heat hit his back before the sky brightened, which was odd—nearly as odd as his brain insisting on noticing such details above far more dramatic ones.
Maybe he was simply too close for the difference in speed to be noticeable.
Yes, that must be it.
He spun around at the same instant as he was thrown tumbling through the air by an invisible force.
He caught the briefest glimpse of the towering, white-hot ball of flame pluming into the sky just as the sun began to set beneath the water and he—
When he regained consciousness—slowly, groggily—the flames clawed at the heavens, but they were increasingly obscured by the thick smoke which now roiled across the broad courtyard toward him.
He scrambled backward on his hands and heels to escape the approaching smoke, which was of course a ludicrous thing to do. The smoke surged over him in a massive wave, choking his lungs and stealing the breath from them.
Shouts and screams cut through the haze in the air and in his mind, closer than the roar of the flames and screeching metal reverberating from everywhere and nowhere.
Feet pounded against the stone of the courtyard. People running. Panicked.
It occurred to him he had been almost to the Archives.
If he could get inside then perhaps he could breathe. Perhaps he could live.
He crawled to his feet…and realized the smoke was far too dense to determine in which direction the Archives was located.
The lack of oxygen spread foggy tendrils into his brain, mucking up the works and colliding with spots of yawning blackness from what must be a concussion….
He somehow managed to call up a map overlay on a whisper.
That way.
He half-ran, half-stumbled twenty meters and fell through a door and into merciful darkness.
Hands reached down and helped him up.
He coughed smoke out of his lungs. His vision began to clear. Breath by breath his mind sharpened the fog away.
His head hurt like the devil and he suspected he’d fractured his right shoulder. But he was able to think again, and thus allow the soldier within to push aside the terror and take control.
Smoke obscured everything beyond the glass doors. A quick glance around indicated those in the lobby appeared largely unhurt, so he rushed to the lift and headed for the top floor.
The Archives building stood only thirty-five stories, but it should be tall enough to get above the worst of the smoke. When the lift slowed to a stop he hurried to the windows, ignoring the sharp jolts of pain shooting along his shoulder and neck.
The once-towering Headquarters building was fully consumed in flames and crumbling in on itself. One corner of the foundation was completely blown out, causing the structure to list and gradually sink into the gap. Midway up and again near the two-thirds point where the flames burnt strongest, entire sections of the frame were missing, sending the higher floors canting back the other way.
The destroyed building had acquired a ragged, zigzagged appearance. It reminded him of a child’s haphazardly constructed tower of blocks right before it collapsed.
He used his ocular implant to capture several visuals, because the tower in front of him would also soon collapse, and he may be one of the few people seeing this particular vantage.
As the adrenaline continued to dissipate he studied the scene with a more critical eye. Based on his experience, it looked as though high-powered explosive charges had detonated at the base in the front left corner as well as at strategic points throughout the building.
No way did explosives get past security into the building—which meant the bombs must have been assembled inside.
They had traitors in their midst.
A renewed war. Aliens on the approach. Now insurrection from within. Had Alex and her Senecan companion been more horrifically right than even they imagined?
The sirens of emergency vehicles rose above the rumble as craft began circling overhead. There was certainly plenty of water available to douse the fire…but there was also a lot of fire.
God, how many people had been in the building? Five thousand? Six? Many would still be alive and trapped. Rescue personnel were already dropping beneath aircraft and attaching themselves to the burning, dangerously crumbling walls.
The pulse leapt into his vision, startling him out his reverie.
* * *
Richard! Are you there? Are you okay?
Miriam. Yes, I’m fine. I was over at the Archives. Are you still in Washington?
On the way back. What’s the situation? There’s been an attack on HQ?
Oh, Miriam…I’m afraid it’s far worse than a simple attack.
What do you mean?
Headquarters is gone.
There was a weighty pause.
I’ll be there soon.
When the connection ended he dragged a hand down his face; it came away coated in soot and blood.
Miriam possessed inside information, but the news would be hitting the exanet any second now, if it hadn’t already. He took a deep breath and pulsed Will.
70 Seneca
Cavare
They strolled along the promenade, Alex’s hand wrapped snugly in his. Dinner had been delicious and romantic, and the return trip beneath the lake’s surface doubly so. Caleb wanted nothing more than to whisk her away to his apartment and spend several hours ravaging every single centimeter of her lovely body. But alas, there was still work to be done. Later, however….
“Do you think we—” He broke off mid-sentence, frowning at the abrupt, unnatural movement of people toward one of the nearby exanet news broadcast screens. They instinctively joined the crowd, though he was also pulling up his own customized news feed.
The large screen showed an aerial view of an island in late evening light. An uneasy sensation rippled through his skin; the location looked uncomfortably familiar, though it
was difficult to be certain due to the remainder of the scene.
A towering pillar of copper and crimson flames roiled to engulf a high-rise and lick at the sky. Dense clouds of smoke billowed out from the structure to flow over the island. Scattered strewn debris and huge chunks fallen from the edifice decorated gaps in the smoke. At least a dozen emergency craft circled in the air above, many dangling rescue responders beneath.
“This footage is from Earth Alliance Strategic Command in Vancouver, where fourteen minutes ago a series of massive explosions rocked the building which houses—”
“Alex, you—” She thrust a palm into his chest, holding him at bay. Her gaze was unfocused, her stance rigid. He watched her instead of the footage.
It was a full ten seconds before she exhaled and focused on him, her features losing a mere fraction of their tautness. “She’s safe. She was traveling from Washington. Richard’s safe, too, though he had a much closer call.”
She ran a hand down her face as her attention was drawn inexorably to the screen. “Caleb….”
“I know.” Had his government done this? In war everything constituted fair game, but it nevertheless struck him as incredibly dirty tactics. A hell of a lot of noncombatants worked in that building. On the other hand, wiping out a good portion of Alliance military leadership in one fell swoop would definitely knock them on their heels, sowing confusion and perhaps chaos. Arguably a brilliant tactic…but still dirty.
He grasped her shoulder. “Let’s get to some place quieter where we can find out what’s going on.”
She nodded in agreement, but her eyes were clouded and troubled. He honestly couldn’t blame her.
The crowd thinned then vanished as they wound their way to the end of the riverwalk, up the stairs and across the street to the parking lot. It was dark and maybe a third full.
The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. It was too dark. Some of the lighting had gone out—which was impossible unless it had been deliberately eliminated.
A shadow moved in the corner of his vision.
Another deep in the recesses of the lot.
All his senses sharpened into hyper-focus as nanobot-aided adrenaline flooded his veins and fueled his limbs to enhanced speeds.
“Get down!” He shoved her behind one of the skycars the same instant a laser streaked between them from the left.
She landed on her hands and knees next to the car door. He crouched beside her but kept his focus outward as infrared augmentation activated in his ocular implant. Not wanting to risk a sound, he pulsed her. Stay here.
He drew his kinetic blade out of its sheath and flicked it on as a heat signature grew at the front edge of the vehicle. He crawled forward, staying low and against the frame.
When a foot appeared at the rim, he grabbed it and yanked to send the attacker sprawling to the ground. In one fluid move he landed on top of the man, knocked the Daemon from his hand and slid the blade in beneath his ribcage and up into his heart.
As soon as he felt it pierce the heart he pulled it out, picked up the Daemon and sprinted to the next nearest vehicle.
The shadow he had seen in the rear of the lot moved closer. This one was cloaked, but in infrared he saw the faintest shimmer to indicate the outline of a person. He rose and aimed over the top of the roof.
One shot, center mass. The outline collapsed.
He immediately scanned the vicinity for more targets. Nothing…nothing…there. A heat signature slinked along the wall on the other side of the lot.
Toward Alex.
He flung the Daemon against a vehicle three rows over and ducked to sprint back. The racket succeeded in momentarily distracting the attacker, who paused to glance in the direction of the sound.
By the time the man resumed advancing Caleb had reached him. He grappled him from behind and with a fierce wrench snapped his neck.
He dropped the body and kneeled beside her. “Are you okay?”
She nodded weakly, staring at him in the darkness with wide eyes and dilated pupils. A knot of dread began pooling in his chest. He didn’t—
“Behind you!” It came out as a cracked whisper of a shout.
He spun as he stood, right leg swinging up with the motion.
His heel smashed into a wrist and jarred a Daemon out of the attacker’s grip as it fired. The laser stream skidded off the hood of the skycar, cutting the front in two and burning across the wall of the neighboring building.
His opponent delivered a left hook to his jaw. His head jerked, but the overload of adrenaline meant he didn’t notice the jolt of pain. He kneed the attacker in the stomach while he shifted his grip on the blade, then plunged it into the man’s gut.
The attacker stuttered in surprise, but the angle had been too low and he wouldn’t be dead for a while yet. Running on his own adrenaline, the man clawed at Caleb’s face in search of an eye socket in which to jam a thumb.
He pulled the man into a bear hug, shoved the blade in deeper and forced it upward, slicing him open a centimeter at a time.
When the man finally sagged lifelessly in his grasp, he tossed the body to the side.
“We need to leave, now. Let’s get to the bike.”
Getting no response, he turned to Alex. Even in the dim light he could see all the color had drained from her face. She clung to the frame of the vehicle as she haltingly climbed to her feet. Her gaze roamed around wildly, looking at anything except him.
In an adrenaline-fueled combat state everything was knocked off-kilter. Time moved rapidly and slowly all at once. Light and shadow gained contrast, and the world appeared as an over-processed image, full of sharp edges and too-crisp colors. Movement leapt out as jagged gashes against a frozen frame.
He struggled past all this to see what she saw.
Three dead bodies lay within four meters. Blood pouring from two of the bodies pooled to join together and creep inexorably toward them.
Intestines spilled forth out of one; the flickering illumination from the riverwalk created the illusion of slimy tentacles slithering forward in the treacherous shadows.
The third corpse’s head was twisted at an impossible angle upon the ground, eyes open to stare blankly at her and into the void.
He stood before her coated in repulsive bodily fluids. He felt the warm stickiness of blood streaked along one cheek, across his chin, dribbling down his neck.
Without a doubt, it was an utterly horrific panorama of violence and death. A tableau of nightmares.
And as he watched her recoil from the gruesome scene—and him—his heart plummeted then left him entirely. The moment he had always dreaded, worked to ensure never came to pass while trying his damnedest to pretend it never would, met him full on in her shell-shocked eyes and blanched face.
It occurred to him that perhaps Mia had been right after all. Which only made it so, so much worse.
He swallowed the lump in his throat. “We have to get away from here, and quickly. It’s not safe. Will you come with me?”
Having reached a standing position, she gave a semblance of a nod.
Taking it as assent, he headed for the bike several rows further in…and realized there had been no jagged gash in his peripheral vision. She had made no move to follow him. His chin dropped and his eyes squeezed shut so tightly halos flared in the blackness.
He forced them open to gaze at her.
“Please.”
“Right….” She shook her head roughly and gingerly pushed off the vehicle, skittering to the side of the encroaching pools of blood to trail behind him at a distance.
When they reached the bike he had to remind her to put on the helmet wrap. Her hands rested warily midway around his waist; he felt them trembling through the cloth of his overshirt.
He wanted to scream and rage. He wanted to hit something and kill a few more people. He wanted to grab her and shake her and beg her with every ounce of his soul to not react like this…
…but he knew it was already far too late. And
the rest of his body and brain were still in combat mode and he had to get them to safety.
“Alex, you need to hold on tighter, okay?” His voice sounded hollow and strained, like a too-taught string on an antique violin.
But she complied. He pulled out of the lot and onto the street.
They’d go back to Division, where security was high, then…well, he didn’t know what then. He didn’t know if she’d consent to go anywhere with him after this. If not, he could…he could send an escort to accompany her to the spaceport and she would be able to leave. Go to Romane, and from there, Earth.
He tried to focus on the road. The artificial lighting had returned to normal; in his distorted vision the added light gave the surroundings a washed out, achromatic sheen.
It was what it was. It was done and there was nothing in the universe which could change it. He accepted the deadening of his heart and began prepping the stoic mask he would desperately need in the coming hours.
He sent Volosk a message to let him know they were on their way and under assault.
Message unable to be delivered. Recipient is not connected to exanet infrastructure. Message will be queued until it can be delivered.
Fucking bloody fuck.
And just like that everything became considerably more complicated. If they weren’t the only ones being targeted….
But for the moment, a single thing mattered: staying alive. Her staying alive.
He broadcast a local Division alert and slowed as they neared HQ. The information relayed to him indicated Volosk’s last recorded action was to leave the office to run an errand.
He swung to the rear and came to a stop alongside the building across from the entrance.
Alex stumbled off the bike, sending another dagger into his soul.
It didn’t matter.
He kept his voice low. “Stay here a minute. I need to make sure the way is clear.” She nodded mutely and backed into the wall. The void in his chest swelled to a yawning chasm at the sight of her looking at him in such a manner, shrinking away from him.
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