Dragon: Bridge & Sword: The Final War (Bridge & Sword Series Book 9)

by JC Andrijeski

  It was taking too long.

  Whatever he was doing, this was taking too fucking long.

  My fingers began combing through Revik’s hair again, noting another cut behind his ear, one on his hand where he held my arm––

  When a voice rose abruptly in my headset.

  “Alyson?”

  It was loud, shocking me with its immediacy.

  Not Jem. Balidor.

  I heard the wonder in just that single utterance of my name, what must have been shock from what Jem had just told them. I fought tears, more relieved than I could express that they were finally here, that we could finally do this.

  I didn’t have time to field their reactions to the rest of it.

  Not even Balidor’s. Or Wreg’s.

  So I just clicked into sub-vocals, and launched into it.

  “I’m going to assume you have everyone we need online in the next five seconds and then I’m only going to explain this once,” I said, without taking a breath.

  I heard Balidor click his fingers sharply from the other end.

  A minor commotion of light and sound erupted; I felt a rush of other lights join the comm link in those same seconds.

  Once I felt them there, I didn’t wait.

  “…I have the map. The real one, meaning the one Revik is actually hooked into. It’s fucking rough and it keeps shifting and Revik’s only half-conscious right now, but I think it’ll be more than enough for him to guide us through the main structure. The highest parts of his light are wide fucking awake, and that’s the part of him we need. I can translate from there.”

  I took a short breath, forcing myself to get out the rest of it.

  I could feel a lot of lights listening now, not only Balidor’s.

  “The network seers are all here right now,” I added. “…In the City. Revik can feel them on his light. That same part of him told me the main storage facility is here, and the only one that’s currently in operation. They have two more in process. One in Tibet. Another is outside of Anchorage. A third was housed in New York under Gossett but got damaged during the last big flood. It looks like they’ve decided to abandon that one and focus on the land-locked cities, with another proposed to be built in Zurich next year.”

  Taking another short breath, I added,

  “You’ll need to crack the secondaries and backups when we’ve finished here, especially in the bigger cities… and of course get rid of those other storage facilities. Use the Americans on the latter part of that, if you can. Get them moving towards Anchorage now. Use the Adhipan we’ve got in western China to move on the Tibet facility.”

  I paused, feeling a denser pain in my heart.

  “And you need to neutralize the mole,” I said. “It can’t wait any longer, ‘Dori. Have Declan do it. But don’t fucking hurt her, damn it! I really don’t think she has any idea what she’s doing. She thought she’d given that book to Tarsi, not Novak––”

  “Allie. About that––”

  Without letting him finish, I plowed on.

  “––As soon as we’re finished with the meta-network, I mean that very fucking instant, I want your team broken up and assigned accordingly to deal with the rest of that shit. In terms of the main, it looks like we caught a break with Dragon’s crazy. The network pillars he killed are actually here, in Beijing, like I said, so between Revik and I, we should be able to knock out their current bodies, too, not just the network links themselves.”

  “Understood. Allie, there is––” Balidor began, but I cut him off.

  “––Dragon’s not on the network grid at all according to what Revik can see,” I said. “Neither is Menlim. I have to assume Menlim’s connected via some tertiary link, but even if Revik can’t dig that out for us, hopefully they’ll be in free-fall once the overall structure crashes. Either way, let me and Revik handle the actual pillars. I want you to focus on secondaries, as soon as we’ve ripped out the main structure. In theory at least, Menlim should be cut off from his source of light not long after we start taking them out.”

  I exhaled, blowing hair out of my face.

  “I’m hoping that alone might kill him temporarily, but it may not,” I admitted. “Revik knows where the body storage facility here is located. We’ll see if we can do something about that once we’ve finished with the light work. Assuming we’re successful. If not, we may need at least one squad of infiltrators to come in and help––although I’m hoping the Lao Hu will aid us in this, as well.”

  Taking another breath, I added,

  “To do that we need to break the back of this fucker faster than he can rebuild it with any of his backup clones. And we need a goddamned exit waiting for us once we’ve done it, whether it works or not––but especially if it doesn’t. Leave at least one of your team out to arrange that for everyone in China, and to coordinate with Brooks. Tell them if the network goes, contact Laiki of the Lao Hu. Or Voi Pai herself, if they can get through. I’m hoping we can free enough of them to have real help there, but tell them to terminate contact if they sense the Lao Hu are being cagey. Revik also tells me there’s some scary-ass hyper-sentient machine here that we can’t afford to leave alive. It’s close to the main storage facility for the bodies, so we can probably handle that on our end as well… but we may need help, like I said.”

  “Understood,” Balidor began again. “Allie, there is something––”

  “Whatever it is, I don’t care,” I cut in, my voice harder. “We’ve been out here too long. I need to get Revik out of the network as soon as I fucking can, before Menlim catches wind of this and kills him. I can’t do that until we’ve finished here. We’re going live on this now, ‘Dori. Right now. Is your team ready?”

  Balidor tensed.

  I felt it through the line, right before he let it go.

  “We are ready,” he said.

  “Good.” I took a full breath for the first time. “Wait for the first one to go down, then you’re up. Work fast, goddamn it. As fast as you can. This isn’t going to be like the Pyramid Galaith put together. This fucking thing needs to be yanked down all at once, so we’re going to hit the mains almost simultaneously. There can’t be any fucking mistakes on this, ‘Dor. None at all. I’m starting now…”

  I didn’t wait for him to acknowledge that time.

  I didn’t want for him to say anything.

  I didn’t even try to feel which of them was with me, although Jem’s light shone brightest in the background, warming me with his.

  I didn’t let myself think about that, either.

  Instead, for the first time in months––really, since I’d last seen Revik in the tank before we got off the ship––I opened my light.

  Like… really opened it.

  As I did, I heard Revik gasp, right before he gripped me in his arms.

  54

  THE LAST PRESIDENT

  PRESIDENT BROOKS FROWNED at the virtual transmitter.

  Behind her chair, the highest-ranked military officers left in the United States muttered amongst themselves in a tense circle with Osake, ranking officer of the human SCARB unit still operating out of the East Coast.

  Most of those military leaders were from her Joint Chiefs of Staff, which explained in part why they were alive and not dead from the disease. They’d been pulled into protective custody at the same time she had.

  The nearest stood roughly ten feet behind her.

  Even so, she knew without looking that despite the steady murmurs, they were listening to every word of her current conversation. She didn’t have to eavesdrop to have a pretty good idea of what they thought of that conversation, either.

  Hell, she wasn’t even sure she disagreed.

  Fighting not to let their stares or murmurs distract her, she focused back on the comm.

  “What do you mean she’s ‘not available’?” Brooks let her voice turn cold. “Tell the Esteemed Bridge that she is now approximately four hours past the deadline we agreed upon in relation to Dragon. If sh
e is in Beijing as you say, then she’d damned well better make herself available, or she’s likely to find herself in a very serious situation…”

  The seer on the other end of the line grew increasingly uncomfortable.

  It didn’t help that the male’s English wasn’t very good.

  In fact, Brooks had to struggle to even understand him.

  What had he said his name was? Jack? Jackie?

  “Jax,” the seer said. “With all respect, Madam President, all respect. It is impossible this thing. Now, it is not good. But she knows you and she knows she still adheres to objectives as you said. This is important now. Much so, and if you wait, we can speak of this, if––”

  “Is she aware Dragon has been spotted in Beijing?” Brooks said.

  She gritted her teeth at the silence at her question, fighting to hold onto her civility at the other’s stilted and overly-soothing words.

  “This very morning,” she added coldly. “Dragon was caught on surveillance flyers, just outside the City’s walls. Tell your Esteemed Bridge that.”

  “Much respect, Madam, but the most holy Bridge cannot right now do this with you. If you can just wait, some more minutes, all will be––”

  “I was very clear with your mistress about our objectives around this seer, Dragon,” Brooks broke in, her voice hard.“ I would hope she hadn’t forgotten our discussion on the urgency of her contacting me the instant she got wind of his location––”

  “Sir, we are waitings for them now,” the seer said, purring in a way likely meant to be reassuring. “They is coming soon. This important… very important. If this is gone, then there will be much easier in dealings with Dragon seer. China will fall. Do not worry.”

  Brooks felt her fingers tighten painfully on her own thighs.

  “Is there someone else there I can talk to?” she barked, her voice openly angry. “Someone who can speak English better than you do?”

  She knew she was being rude now, or at the very least, culturally insensitive, but at that point she really didn’t give a damn.

  Even so, the silence on the other end made her wince.

  When he spoke next, he made a clicking sound, one containing an overt regret.

  “No,” he said. “No, there is no one.” Pausing, he added, “We have problem here, cousin. One of our people… she has hurt mine. Killed. There is problem, so no one else here to help. But if you wait, just a little more wait, all will be okay. This is vow. We are not hurting you. The Bridge is not hurting you. This is vow.”

  Brooks bit her lip, fighting not to snap at him again.

  Problem? Killed? What the hell was he talking about?

  “Who was killed?” she said, sharp.

  “Respected cousin, it is not for me to say these things now. Please wait. If there is only a small wait, the Bridge tell you everything. I do not wish to worry you now.”

  Brooks felt her frustration worsen.

  She nearly jumped a foot when someone spoke from just behind her chair.

  He kept his voice low, nearly a murmur, but had leaned down close to her ear, so the unexpected proximity made her heart leap to her throat.

  “Pardon me for interrupting, Madam President,” her Chief of Staff, Javier Garcia, said from behind her. “But we can’t wait on this much longer.”

  Frowning as Brooks turned her head, looking up at him, Garcia waited until she’d hit the mute button on the comm, then added in a low murmur.

  “That seer is telling the truth. There’s been some problem at the building where you housed the Bridge’s team… meaning the seers she left behind. We don’t have details yet, but it looks like one of them might have killed over half of them. Maybe more. Our main contact, the ex-Secret Service seer, Talei, was among the casualties.”

  Brooks looked up, incredulous, but Garcia only went on.

  “Most of our people think the Bridge is behind it, sir,” he said, quieter. “I think you’d better talk to them. At least half the Chiefs think she’s allied with Dragon now. And I have to say, it doesn’t look good, sir. Between the killings here and the intel reports we’ve gotten from flyers over Beijing, it looks like there’s some kind of internal struggle going on among the seer factions. Her people are fleeing the city, but there’s been no sign of her. There’s a damned good chance she’s already reunited with both of them over there. Her husband and this other telekinetic, Dragon.”

  Still gripping the console, Brooks fought to think. She turned her head towards the monitor without switching it on, trying to decide what to do.

  Garcia was right. She needed to go over there and talk to them. She needed to talk them down before they started arguing for something reactionary and deeply crazy.

  Assuming she still wanted to do that.

  She sighed in frustration, trying to decide how far she wanted to push things, in terms of her tentative alliance with the Bridge. She knew how fear and overreaction worked. She needed to calm everyone down before she let herself get talked into doing something radical based on nothing but circumstantial evidence.

  Apart from Alyson being late, she had no reason to believe the seer was yet in breach of their agreement. Clearly someone had instructed the seer “Jacks” to call Brooks and calm her down. That someone could have been the Bridge––or one of her people in China.

  Moreover, even apart from the alliance, she didn’t want to kill Alyson Taylor.

  Not without a damned good reason.

  The fallout in the seer community would potentially be massive. The Bridge was still a quasi-religious figure, despite the controversy she caused even among her own people. Brooks didn’t need a damned shooting war with the seers, especially now, when population numbers between the two species were the most “equal” they’d been since First Contact.

  Apart from that, Brooks didn’t want to destroy even a relatively slim change that she might have found a true ally in the seer community.

  She knew she might not have a choice but to act, though.

  Three living, telekinetic seers would not be an easy sell at the best of times. Right now, it was likely to make the military Chiefs standing behind her turn all kinds of interesting shades of purple as they screamed at her.

  She couldn’t say she wholly disagreed with them, either.

  In relation to the Bridge herself, Brooks had to remind herself of the Registry incident in Brazil more than a few times over the past few weeks. Her generals were generous about bringing that up on a regular basis, too.

  She’d also been forced to hear insinuation after insinuation that she’d been manipulated by Alyson’s psychic powers to create their truce in the first place.

  Brooks didn’t really believe that, though.

  Well, not in the way her Secret Service and SCARB advisors meant.

  She was still staring blindly at the virtual monitor when the murmurs and voices grew louder on the other side of the room.

  Brooks turned, using her feet to swivel the chair. She focused on the dozen or so men and women standing there, all of whom now stared up at the same feed monitor.

  Brooks noted Manzares standing in front, the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His full mouth held a heavy frown, but alarm shone in his eyes, bleeding gradually over his features.

  Using the armrests of her chair, Brooks launched herself to her feet, walking over to join them under the main screen.

  “What?” she said, voice crisp. “What is it? What’s happening?”

  None of them looked over.

  Manzares continued to frown up at the screen as Brooks reached his side. Folding her arms over her suit jacket, she aimed her eyes up at the same monitor.

  It took her a few seconds to recognize the images there as live feed from the blackout city of Dubai. The downtown area appeared in crystal-perfect clarity, the first view she’d seen of the famous city in what had to be at least six months.

  Based on the angles and clarity of images, the feed appeared to be from a flyer, and focused
on the walkway of a famous mall area that led up to the base of the Burj Khalifa, what used to be the tallest building in the world.

  Gunshots erupted while she watched, making her flinch.

  Automatic gunfire. So probably military.

  Brooks watched, stunned, as people ran in terror down the street.

  She flinched as the sound of gunfire erupted again, louder that time as the flyer glided lower to the sidewalk. Men in black uniforms and armored vests, what looked like military police, appeared in the right corner of the screen, pouring out over the same section of sidewalk like a liquid wave of bullet-proof shields and armored vests.

  They were chasing unarmed civilians.

  Those not holding shields gunned down the fleeing civilians as they ran, using those same shields for cover. Brooks couldn’t see any reason for the attack. Activating her implant, she scanned through the feed that appeared in front of the image, opening a secondary window to the secure feed from Langley to confirm the data.

  It all said the same thing.

  …Satellite breaches failing. Global surveillance systems temporarily restored in full. Warning of civil unrest in multiple areas previously covered by blackout of satellite feeds. Violence appears to be mainly seer on seer, and seer on human, although cases of human inflicted deaths reported as well. Extensive civilian casualties starting at 16:23 EST in multiple sites, causes still unknown. Incidents reported in Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Anchorage, New York, Salt Lake City, Zurich, Munich…

  There was a two second pause, then the message repeated.

  Satellite breaches failing. Global surveillance systems temporarily restored in full. Warning of civil unrest in multiple areas previous covered by blackout of satellite feeds…

  Brooks felt something in her chest clench as the message repeated, adding new cities each time it re-started.

  She couldn’t help noticing all were cities Alyson had referred to as “Shadow Cities.”

  “What would cause this?” she said, voice taut. “What the hell would cause this?”

  Admiral Preston looked at her, startled, as if he’d forgotten where he was.