The group was nowhere to be seen.
What did they just do? Where the hell did they go?
Philippe’s attention returned to the stricken airship. He watched eagerly, hoping it would nose-dive into the ground. What he didn’t expect was for the whole ship to shiver like a dog shaking water from its coat, and simply disappear.
This wasn’t like before, with the ship’s slowly dissipating camouflage and the revelation of its presence. This time, it simply wasn’t there anymore; a fact revealed by the way in which debris, pieces of float, and pieces of people flew upwards as air rushed to fill the massive vacuum created by the ship’s sudden absence.
The camera shook, along with anything else not bolted to the ground, as a massive thunderclap drowned out all other sound in the pitiful microphone. The sound reached the recorder a scant two seconds after the carrier vanished. They all took note of the timing of the sound report.
Seconds later the smaller craft lifted off, taking the man in red robes away. The footage came to an end. The serious face of Major Coombs loomed once again on the screen.
Philippe felt hollow and set adrift.
The whole thing set his heart racing with the footage raising more questions than it answered. Like how does a man produce flame out of thin air hot enough to incinerate someone in seconds? Yet what Philippe really wanted to know, was why. What was all this about? What was their purpose in targeting that group? Now Sacks’s earlier comment really had Philippe wondering. Maybe it is aliens that we are facing and they just look like people.
Philippe wanted to watch the footage again. He desperately wanted to study it for weaknesses, something, anything the team could use. If the Americans were correct and the ship really was coming here, into the conifer-laced wilderness, the squad would be invisible. They’d hunker down among the pine trees and create little oases of warmth that wouldn’t be detected under several feet of snow, especially spread out between several hide sites and covered with thermal blankets. That would give them the chance to observe, and if the opportunity arose, they’d be able to take a shot. Philippe couldn’t be sure of how effective it would be. The uncertainty worried him the most.
He worried the squad would end up like the police in the video, wiped away with barely a thought. A thought occurred to him and he leaned forward in front of everyone.
“Sir. Do we have any idea at all what they’re after? The whole attack focused on that small group in the footage. I’m wondering if there’s something we can use for leverage. Oh, and why the hell do we think they’re coming here?” Philippe shivered slightly.
Major Coombs took a moment to answer, fussing with his comb-over. “The Americans believe they are headed our way. They haven’t shared why. Seem to think that if these people have advanced tech, they might be able to crack our codes or hack defence systems. They are sending someone to you. Some scientist by the name of Dr. Stanford Ellis. Sorry for the unnecessary hike, but he’ll meet you at the White River command post. He’s flying in from Brazil.”
“Jesus. I guess we’ll be cooling our heels for ten hours then.”
“No. The Americans picked him up in an F-35 Lightning a while ago. With airborne refueling along the way, he’ll be at White River in a few hours.”
Damn. The Americans are spending millions of dollars to ferry this guy here just to speak to us. That can’t be good.
Snake gently strummed the instrument on his lap, playing something of a Spanish lullaby. China looked at his daughter, fast asleep, her head resting on his thigh. China gingerly brushed away an errant hair trailing down Jay’s face. Jay looked so peaceful when she was sleeping; more peaceful than when she was awake, despite the small frown. She always frowned when she slept. And like all those previous nights, China lost himself in contemplation of this girl who had wound her way into their hearts ten years ago.
China’s leg had gone numb under her head some time ago. He hoped Jay would wake soon so he could move and get the blood flowing again.
Mack warned all of them about the extreme temperatures at this location. Lack of blood flow would only hamper them in such austere conditions. The microbags would keep them from freezing, but the clothes they’d managed to buy in Rio hadn’t actually been rated for arctic temperatures. They’d settled for layering as many clothes as they could and limiting exposing skin to reduce the risks of frostbite and slow the inevitable creep of hypothermia. He wore five layers on his torso, but his feet still felt cold. They needed to move on to somewhere less hazardous soon.
He waved at Snake and motioned towards his feet. Encased in his armored boots with the special projectors, they looked damned stylish, but he’d be happier when they were covered up from the cold. The metal of the boots acted like a heat sink and chilled the blood before it ever got close to his toes. The guitarist nodded, picking up the chocolate bar that rested on his knee and taking a bite with one hand as he reached over and pulled down the silvery microbag to better cover China’s extremities. China mouthed ‘thank you’ at him and returned to his thoughts.
Mack and Sarge had decided to try for some sleep. China heard the familiar sounds of his wife’s gentle snoring, but worry kept him awake. From the moment Sarge had forced the issue and taken Jay from the Facility, China had worried about the girl. But that’s what dads do.
Barely seven years old, she was the smallest and easiest to carry away from that hellish Facility, but what she represented was chilling. The surgical scars on her head led them to scan for implanted tech. Alex, the Rebellion’s resident genius inventor, had managed to disable the tech inside the poor child without killing her, but she would forever have scars, and not just physical ones.
The strange child with the ability to sense things no one else could was curiously hesitant about everything. She’d needed permission for the simplest things—couldn’t relieve herself without being told, asked before eating the food provided to her.
When China gave her a Leibär she hadn’t known what to do with the cuddly, stuffed animal covered in soft fur. China had tucked it under her thin arm and told her that he was to keep her company and that she could tell her secrets to him and he would always listen.
It had broken China’s heart, seeing the little girl in the post-op room with bandages around her head, unsure of what was being done to her. But she knew that the people around her wanted to help her. China hadn’t figured himself a natural father. Ever since Sarge had come into his life, he thought children weren’t going to happen.
He loved his wife, utterly and completely, but she was a Lifer, born into servitude, and could never have children. The Royals had seen to that. But when the little girl with the big, soft, brown eyes had entered his life, he couldn’t help it. For the first time, China had wanted to be a father. He’d wanted to be that little girl’s parent and that little girl had instinctively drawn towards that emotion, trusting it implicitly.
China was proud of how his daughter had grown since those early days. Jay was a confident young woman now, wise beyond her years, although still possessing a childlike innocence that China hoped she’d never lose. He liked to think that most of that was his own influence; bringing the girl out of her shell and tearing down the walls she’d built up around herself after being in that place.
The Facility they’d destroyed was a monolithic testament to scientific advancement at the expense of humanity, an example of how Royal ends were always sacrosanct, no matter their cost. Pulling Jay free from such a life had been such a miracle, and such a blessing. But his helping her into a forceful confident woman was the reason why China only had himself to blame when this mission had become a possibility. He closed his eyes, picturing the scene before they left.
Startled, China looked up as Jay burst into the mission briefing room. No lock in the world would keep his daughter out when she wanted in and one glimpse of Jay’s face was enough to know she’d listened. Dammit Jay! The answer is no, he’d thought, knowing Jay would be skimming their surface thought
s.
“I’m coming. You’re not leaving me behind!” the young woman said forcefully.
“I’m not sure you coming is wise, Jay,” Sarge responded in her typical slow and careful manner. “This is going to be dangerous.”
“Yeah, we might not even make it out of the parking lot kiddo,” Snake joked, sweeping back his long hair. “Sheila’s a bloody triumph, Alex. Really. She’s amazing. But a ninety-five percent probability of success is still a five percent chance we’ll have every atom in our bodies smeared across two dimensions.”
“The science is sound, Pilot,” Sheila replied in feminine tones that carried a faint mechanical echo.
China steadily held Jay’s defiant gaze. ‡This isn’t like you and Mom going on missions. That’s bad enough, not knowing if you’ll come back. If you’ll be taken. You need me there.‡
From the lack of reaction from everyone else in the room, China figured Jay was limiting her telepathy to just himself.
He crossed his arms, staring through the holographic projection showing the harmonic variables dancing in the air between the double helix of repeated earths. ‡No. This is too important Jay. The chance to secure world keys of our own—it could change everything! Having your mother around on missions? I’ve gotten used to it. I know she can handle herself. But you, the first time you are in any kind of danger, I’d lose my focus. I—we, can’t afford that.‡
“I’m not being left behind! Not this time!” Jay cried out. “I’m coming. It’s unfair to make me stay behind. I’m part of this too, aren’t I?”
“I can’t watch you die,” China stated, trying to control his emotions. He knew Jay would feel the subtle shift in feelings if he didn’t keep them tightly controlled. Jay could probably feel them anyway, that awful gulf that opened in his chest at the mere thought of his adopted daughter dying. “We take risks every day just by being what we are.”
Hot tears rolled down Jay’s cheeks. “No! I know what you’re planning to do. I know how dangerous it is, but I can’t stand it either. Not knowing. You might be dead and I’d never know, never even be able to find out for sure. I’d just be alone, hoping you’d come back for the rest of my life. I can’t do it! If there’s a risk, we take it together. As a family.” Jay’s eyes were both angry and pleading.
Sarge stepped up next to China, placing a warm hand on his shoulder, drawing his attention to her. “She’s old enough to choose, honey. We can’t protect her forever, and she’s right. We might need her Gift. She might make the difference between success and failure.”
“There’s one more thing,” Jay added. “Whoever touches the key will get King Barrett’s power. An ability that took me years to learn and control. We won’t have years when the Royals find out what we’re doing. I don’t want Mycroft’s curse, but no one other than me can pick that key up and possibly use it immediately.”
Shaking, Jay looked at her foster parents. ‡Please Dad. You know I’m right. I don’t want to, but it’s the best chance for all of us.‡
China glared at both of them, feeling his resolve weakening and a sense of pride in his daughter. Better than anyone, she knew what syncing to that world key would do, yet she was willing to do it because it would be easier for her than anyone else. At the sudden grin on Jay’s face, he knew she felt it. “If you die, I will damned well kill you. Both of you,” China said in exasperation.
Snake chuckled and China fixed him with a stare that made him wince and stifle his outburst behind a hand.
Within a week, they were on a journey that muddled quantum mechanics and spatial boundaries in ways that would give a tachyon fits …
Jay’s dream woke her with a start. She heard Snake’s soft strumming stop as she sat up from her makeshift pillow of her dad’s thigh. She always woke with a start when she dreamed of her real father. In her imagination, he was a terrible figure with dark, angry eyes that locked on her and bored into her very soul. She never knew if her dreams were any kind of reflection of the real man. She’d never felt his touch, physical or mental, but he’d been responsible for the death of half her world, from what she’d learned.
She wasn’t sure how long she’d slept. Long enough for the team to turn what was essentially a hole in the side of a hill of ice into something almost cozy, given the extreme temperatures. Lightly packed snow closed off the opening caused by the shinkari rifle. On their highest setting, the small light emitters provided a trifling amount of heat as well as light. Bundled up as much as possible, wearing every item of clothing they had, the team huddled in the small space.
Layered with microbags, she felt warm and dry and blessedly migraine-free, although her head still felt fragile, like she’d pulled a muscle exercising and more exertion would cause a cramp. Mack and Sarge appeared to be sleeping, their curled forms motionless, encased in silvery microbags of their own. She rubbed the sleep from one eye, yawning hugely.
‡How long was I out?‡ she broadcast, unconsciously opening her mental shield enough to project the thought at China and Snake. With dismay, she felt a twinge, a subtle warning that she wasn’t ready to use her abilities.
“A few hours. How’s the headache?” China whispered, kneading some sensation back into his thigh where Jay’s head had rested.
“Better. Not all the way, but better, thanks.” She didn’t really want to tell her dad that her head still felt like fragile glass that might break if she turned around too fast. Her nose twitched at the smell of the bar of chocolate resting on Snake’s knee.
He caught her looking and grinned around a mouthful of chocolate as he fished another from his pack and tossed it to her in that easy, fraternal fashion he had with everyone who wasn’t immediately trying to kill him. His task done, he resumed strumming gently, serenading those still asleep. “Sheila needs feeding. Those couple of shields back in Rio really took it out of her,” he explained with a note of affection for the instrument.
Jay grinned her thanks at the grunge musician and opened the red and black confection. The sweetened cacao assaulted her oral senses while the texture of peanuts challenged her to swallow without chewing. She liked it, but something both edible and warm sounded more enticing at this point. She knew one of the bags contained dried foodstuffs and small chemical burners that needed only a small amount of water to turn them into meals. Unfortunately, they had the consistency and taste of wet papier-mâché. Still, Hot food, she thought wistfully.
“Listen. Jay-Jay. We talked while you rested,” China began, brushing the teen’s hair out of her eyes.
Jay nodded, her mouth still full.
She sat, silent, mouth opening and closing as China explained. They had decided what to do without her. It wasn’t fair. In the past, her parents had always asked her opinion, even if they had to explain why their choice was better. Now, they had decided to take a risk that was outlandish even by the standards of what they had already done. She listened, increasingly both stunned and hurt.
And China left no room for argument either.
The plan was simple. The frigate could track Sheila’s quantum signature. Therefore, China and Sarge would jump around with Snake and get the frigate to follow them, tangling the frigate up in battle with this world’s military where they could.
Splitting up would allow Mack to take Jay and use the map from Mycroft’s diary. They would be responsible for finding the world key in one of the six caves he’d marked. That was the hope, at any rate.
Jay didn’t like it. They were family, they had to share the risks. It wasn’t right to have both of her parents taking those risks while she remained safe. The Rebellion only used her parents for the most difficult and crucial of missions, preferring them to remain hidden with Jay at all other times. Jay had become less accepting of their absences the older she got. The more her Gift had developed, the more she felt she could help them.
For them to tell her ‘no’ was an affront to her sensibilities.
After traveling across dimensions, after defeating that bastard
in red and gold, after saving everyone twice: now they want to send me away? She railed against the idea. “We don’t even know that their lightship survived the blast from that pyro!” she objected loudly, without regard for those still sleeping in the microbags.
“No. We don’t know, and that is why it’s important for us to split up. In case it did.” China was using Jay’s own logic, which only infuriated her further. For them to ask, no, tell her that she had to go somewhere else and couldn’t help them—it was too much to take.
Jay turned desperate. They had to take her. They were family. She managed to lower her voice. “Dad, you can’t leave me out of this. You need me. I proved that in Rio—”
China held up a hand to stop his daughter. “That’s not the issue, Jay. You know it’s not. We have to—”
“Yes, but you wanted to leave me behind before, and, I saved us all,” she said. “The drone at the base? Rio and that Gifted prince? You know I can hel—”
“The answer is no, Jay. Your mom and I aren’t belittling what you’ve done already. You’ve proven yourself, but we didn’t anticipate the Royals would come looking for us. We thought we could find the keys and return and they would never know until we were ready to fight them.”
Behind her mental shield, Jay whimpered. She really wanted to use her Gift to sample her dad’s emotions. That would probably drive her fragile state of dull ache into a full-blown, blinding migraine that beat on her brain like a drum. Still, it was tempting; just to be sure.
Suffrage (World Key Chronicles Book 1) Page 14