The bomb burst, instantly covering the soldiers with a thick black cloud. There were shouts of surprise, then they began firing indiscriminately.
Razor flipped a switch on the side of the infrared goggles; he could just about make out the mercenaries’ blurry images.
Keeping as low as possible, Razor squirmed forward and aimed the glue gun at the mercenaries, spraying its entire contents over their faces, hands and feet. Within seconds, they had stopped moving.
Grinning, Razor turned back to the others. Then Butler called, “Razor! It’s Josh! He’s been hit!”
Consulting the map on his computer, Dioxin made his way to Sakkara’s living quarters. He smashed open the first door. The room was clearly unused.
The next room was empty too. According to the map, the third room was Mina’s. He kicked open the door and walked in. Immediately, something slammed into the side of his helmet. Dioxin staggered and whirled around. Warren Wagner stood in front of him, brandishing a fire-ax.
Dioxin laughed and stood in place, allowing Warren to take another swing. The ax clanged off the armor. “Not even a scratch!” Dioxin said. “That the best you can do?”
He threw a punch at Warren, who ducked just as Dioxin’s metal-clad fist plowed into the wall.
Warren rolled to his feet and swung again with the ax, this time hitting Dioxin in the back of the knee. The armored man stumbled, but didn’t fall.
Warren backed up. “Come on then, murderer! Fight me man-to-man!”
“So you’re Titan,” Dioxin said, marching farther into the room. He spotted Caroline crouched down against the wall, holding on to the comatose Mina. “And you even brought your wife along for the show.”
Dioxin rushed at Warren, plowed right into him. He put his armored hand on Warren’s face and slammed his head against the wall. Warren dropped to the floor, unconscious.
Dioxin reached down to take Mina, but Caroline pulled her away. Dioxin laughed at this futile act of defiance. He raised his wrist, aiming the rocket launcher at Warren. “Put the girl down or your husband is dead.”
“You’re probably going to kill us anyway,” Caroline said. “What do you want with her?”
“Nothing. But her sister doesn’t want me to hurt her.” Seeing Caroline’s reaction to this, he smiled. “You didn’t know, of course. Yvonne can control people’s minds. She’s been using Dalton to feed us everything we needed to know about this place. Now hand her over or your husband will burn. Like your son did.”
Caroline said, “You fire that missile and the blast will hurt Mina.”
Dioxin sneered. “Like I could give a crap!” He tried to fire the missile, but somehow he couldn’t do it. “Damn it! Why can’t I fire?”
“Because if Yvonne’s mind-control is anything like Max Dalton’s was, then you have no choice but to follow her orders,” Caroline said. “If you don’t, it’ll cause a feedback loop in your brain that could trigger an aneurysm. What were Yvonne’s words exactly?”
“Do not let any harm come to her.” He reached out and grabbed Mina’s arm.
“Stop!” Caroline shouted. “Look closely, Dioxin! I’ve got my thumb pressed on Mina’s carotid artery. If you don’t back down, I’m going to tear her throat out. You know what’ll happen then, don’t you? You’ll have allowed harm to come to Mina, directly violating Yvonne’s order! You’ll be dead within seconds.”
“You’re bluffing!”
“Am I?”
“You’d never harm her!”
“You’re really willing to take that chance?” Caroline glanced around, desperate for something that would help. Then something caught her attention; looking past Dioxin, through the window, she could see that a helicopter was approaching fast.
26
NIGHT WAS FALLING AS THE COPTER APproached the roof of Sakkara. Renata said, “The StratoTruck…It’s been destroyed!”
“At least that means we know they made it back,” Façade said. “Hold on. I’m setting her down!”
“No, it’s too dangerous for you!” Renata said. “Colin and I will jump out. You two need to go and get help from somewhere!”
“I’m coming with you,” Danny said.
Colin said, “You’re not. Sorry, Dan, but we can’t put you at risk.” He glanced at the doorway: Renata had already jumped. Without another word, Colin followed her.
Danny looked at Façade. “We should—”
“No. We shouldn’t! Renata’s right. We’d be more of a liability than a help. We’re going to the safe house.”
“Façade, I can’t just sit around the safe house doing nothing! Not while all this is going on!”
“We won’t be doing nothing—we’re going to get your mother and Niall and everyone else out of there. If Sakkara has been compromised, then there’s a good chance that Dioxin’s people know the location of the safe house. Let’s just hope they haven’t already found it!”
“You don’t need me for that! I think…I think I can help, Dad.”
Façade stared at him. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
“I’m not absolutely certain…but if there’s even the slightest chance that I can help, I have to take it!”
Façade nodded, then angled the helicopter back toward Sakkara.
As quietly and quickly as possible, Renata and Colin ran through the corridors. There was debris everywhere, broken glass, shattered computers, scorch marks on the walls.
They made their way to Josh’s office and stopped when they saw the mercenary’s body.
“Right between the eyes,” Colin said. “Good shot.”
“Better check him for weapons,” Renata said.
“You check him! I’m not touching a dead guy!”
“Being dead isn’t contagious, Colin.”
Colin was about to respond, then froze. “Danny’s coming! I should have known he wouldn’t listen.”
Renata peeked out into the corridor and spotted Danny approaching. She waved him over. “Nice going,” she whispered. “So who’s going to watch you when all hell breaks loose?”
Danny looked down at the dead man. “Looks like all hell has broken loose already.”
Colin said, “Not yet it hasn’t.”
“We should get to the machine room,” Danny said. “They were building weapons for the new Paragon armor.”
Colin paused, listening. “I can hear Dioxin, talking to my mother…Mina’s room!”
“You two go,” Danny said. “I’ll be OK.”
As Colin and Renata ran off, Danny cautiously made his way to the entrance to the machine room.
He silently stepped through the ruins of the door and looked down. Most of the workbenches had been piled up against one wall and directly below, through a strange, thinning black mist, he could see four of the mercenaries lying on the ground. They were in very awkward positions and appeared to be unconscious. His heart beating like crazy, Danny crept down the stairs and approached the men from behind. This close, he could see that they’d been glued to the floor.
Moving quickly but quietly, Danny reached in and took hold of one of the mercenaries’ guns, then instantly jumped back as a bullet whizzed past.
A voice called out, “Danny?”
“Razor?”
“Get over here!”
Danny stepped around the unconscious mercenaries and ran over to the barricade of workbenches.
“Anyone out there?” Razor asked.
“No, it’s all clear. What’s the situation here?”
“It’s not good,” Razor said. “We don’t know how many of them there are. They had us pinned down in here. Josh took a bullet in the chest. He’s still alive, but only just.” He gave Butler a look of disgust. “This guy’s a dud. But you…”
“What about me?”
Razor grinned. “You’ve got your powers back!”
“No I haven’t.”
“He’s right,” Butler said. “You dodged that bullet.”
“No I didn’t. On the way
here I got the feeling that I could do it, that I could move fast again, but it’s no good. The power is gone. There’s nothing there anymore.”
“It’s all in your head, Danny,” Razor said. “Look, I know you went through a tough time after the mine, but you are not responsible for what happened to Quantum.”
“I realize that,” Danny replied. “But there’s…” Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the mechanical arm. “There’s something else.”
Shaking his head, Razor walked up to Danny and looked him square in the eye. “Something else. Is that so? Well…Get over it! People are dying here, Danny! Butler has the power to save them, but he hasn’t got the guts. You’ve got an even greater power and it’s looking like you don’t have the guts either!”
Danny yelled back. “Shut up, Razor! The power is gone!”
Razor suddenly punched Danny in the face, knocking him backward.
“What was that for?”
“That was for being too scared of yourself to save your friends. You want another one?” He started pushing Danny in the chest. “You don’t kick-start that superspeed of yours and we are all dead. I might as well have a little fun before I go.”
Another punch. Danny dodged it, but only barely.
“They’re going to kill us and then they’re going to find your mother and your little brother. You think Dioxin will let any of them live? He’s going to hunt them down and murder them, just like he murdered your best friend.”
Razor swung another punch at Danny and this one he dodged easily. “Colin’s not dead, Razor. He survived the fire. We brought him back with us.”
Razor stopped and stared. “What?”
“Colin’s alive.”
“Gunfire,” Colin said. “Coming from the computer room, I think…No, the firing has stopped.” He listened more carefully. “Sounds like there’s a couple of our people pinned down.”
“Go help your parents,” Renata said. “I’ll take care of this.”
As Renata ran toward the computer room, she tried to remember the room’s layout. Most of the giant supercomputers are lined up against the walls, but there are a few in the middle of the floor.
Closer to the room, she could hear shouting: “Give it up!” a man roared. “You are outgunned! Throw out your weapons and surrender!”
A woman shouted back, “Exactly how dumb do you think we are?”
Renata crept forward. Through the open doorway she could see four of the labcoats crouched behind the nearest supercomputer. The woman was holding a small handgun. Behind her, two of her colleagues were frantically tending to an older man who was covered in blood. There was only a narrow gap between the enormous Cray computer and the doorway.
As Renata watched, the woman pushed her gun around the supercomputer and let off a couple of deafening shots.
Renata realized that the woman was using the reflective side of a compact disc to see the positions of the gunmen. That’s clever. She moved a little closer and then the woman spotted her.
The woman held up three fingers, then pointed toward the other side of the room. Renata nodded.
Three of them. One or two I might be able to tackle myself, but not three. She knew what she had to do and it was risky. She waited until the woman let off another couple of shots, then jumped through the doorway, landed directly in front of the gap between the supercomputer and the door, and immediately turned herself solid.
Bullets ricocheted off Renata’s crystalline form as, behind her, the labcoats dashed out to safety.
Now what do I do? Renata wondered. In solid form, she couldn’t hear anything, but could still just about see. The three gunmen stopped shooting and one of them approached her while the others kept their guns trained on her.
The mercenary tentatively poked Renata in the stomach with the muzzle of his gun. He turned to his colleagues and said something, then started to move past her, toward the door.
Instantly, Renata unfroze herself, locked her arms around the man’s neck, holding him in front of her. “You shoot and you’ll hit your friend!” Renata shouted.
Blam!
The soldier’s head was thrown backward and then he slumped down.
The man who had fired said, “What was that you were saying?”
Still holding on to the dead man, Renata froze herself. They killed him! They just…What can I do? They know I can’t move like this! As she watched, one of the remaining men moved toward the door, acting as a lookout while his colleague attached a device to one of the supercomputers. So that’s what they’re doing here; they’re trying to steal information!
I can’t move fast enough to stop them and if I stay like this long enough they’ll just escape past me.
Renata waited for her moment: when she was certain that the mercenaries’ attention was elsewhere, she turned back to her human form and threw the dead man’s body at his colleagues. She knew she had only seconds to act: she spun around, grabbed the nearest supercomputer and lifted it off the ground. I hope these things aren’t too expensive! Power cables and data lines snapped as she wedged the huge computer in the doorway. They’ll never get out past this!
One of the men recovered and fired a short burst from his gun just as Renata was turning solid again. Her body jolted suddenly and there was a brief flash of pain in her stomach.
They shot me! Oh my God! Renata was unable to look away from the spray of blood that had erupted from her stomach and been frozen in midair.
The bullet is still inside me! If I turn human again, it will kill me!
The man who had shot her walked over and examined the crystalline blood with curiosity, then turned his attention to the supercomputer wedged in the doorway.
At least I’ve got them trapped here, Renata thought. They won’t be able to harm anyone else.
Slumped against the wall of Mina’s bedroom, Warren Wagner groaned and his eyes began to flicker.
Without looking at him, Dioxin said, “Your husband’s waking up, Mrs. Wagner. I think we both know him well enough to guess that he’s going to try something heroic. Something that will definitely get you both killed. Make it easy on yourself. Let go of the girl.”
“No.”
“So it’s a stalemate?” Dioxin asked. “I hurt you, or try to take Mina away from you, and you’ll hurt her. I don’t really think you’d do that, Energy. You were a superhero. I know you’d never harm an innocent person.”
“To save my life and my husband’s life? Yes, I would do it. And if I do, you’ll be allowing it, going against Yvonne’s order. I’m telling you, you’ll die if you do that. With her sort of mind-control your brain has been reprogrammed at its most basic level. You cannot disobey the order.”
“You could be bluffing…” Dioxin thought for a moment, then a slow smile crept across his scarred face. “But there’s a solution.” He activated his helmet’s radio. “This is Dioxin! Put me in contact with Yvonne immediately!”
Seconds later, Yvonne’s voice came over the radio. “What is it?”
“You ordered me not to hurt Mina. Because of that, I’m stuck here. I need you to reverse your order.”
“I don’t want my sister hurt!”
“I won’t hurt her, but Energy here is threatening to kill her if I try to separate them. Your order prevents me from allowing Mina to come to harm. I promise that I will do my best to keep her safe.”
A brief pause, then Yvonne said, “Do whatever you feel is necessary.”
Laughing, Dioxin reached down and pulled Mina away from Caroline. He threw the girl on the bed, then locked his hand around Caroline’s throat and hauled her to her feet. He pressed the muzzle of his rocket launcher into her face. “No more games, Energy.”
Then a voice from the doorway said, “Dioxin. Let her go. Now.”
Dioxin whipped around to see a dark figure glowering at him.
Caroline didn’t immediately recognize the young man. His eyes burned with anger and confidence and for a brief moment she thought s
he saw a small electrical spark crackle around his right fist. “Colin!”
27
HIS ROCKET LAUNCHER STILL AIMED AT Caroline, Dioxin said, “Oh for crying out loud! Why aren’t you dead?”
“That’s one of my powers, Dioxin. I cannot die. I cannot be stopped.” I wish, Colin added to himself. “Now let her go. That’s your last warning.”
“Kid, I swear to you that if you take one more step I’ll blow your mother’s head off.”
Then Colin heard his father’s voice whispering, “Get ready…” Warren’s hand crept out toward the fire-ax.
Warren leaped up from the floor, swinging the ax into Dioxin’s visor. The armored man staggered as Warren pulled Caroline from his grasp.
Colin charged. He smashed into Dioxin’s armored chest, forcing him back against the thick Plexiglas window. “Dad! Get them out of here!”
Dioxin swung his fist at Colin’s face. Colin ducked, the blow barely missing him.
The scarred man aimed his missile launcher at Warren and Caroline, who were carrying Mina out the door. Colin grabbed his arm and forced it upward just as he fired; the missile exploded against the ceiling, instantly flooding the room with fire.
The room’s two CDH boxes immediately burst open, spraying the entire room with hundreds of white pea-sized pellets. A thick cloud of steam and carbon dioxide gas erupted from the pellets, dampening the fire.
With his free hand, Dioxin jabbed at Colin’s stomach, then smashed him in the side of the face with the rocket launcher. Colin fell back on to the smoldering bed, rolled to his feet and leaped again at Dioxin just as another missile struck the bed.
Dioxin ducked down and Colin sailed over his head, crashing heavily against the window.
Got to get out into the open, Colin thought. He knew what he had to do: Josh told us that the windows are bulletproof. But can they take a direct hit from a high-explosive missile? I know I can. He stayed where he was and allowed Dioxin to fire again.
The missile exploded against his chest, pushing him into the glass. He felt the window crack behind him.
Colin concentrated: he could feel his skin absorbing the heat of the explosion, felt the energy surging through his veins and nerves.
The Gathering Page 19