by Seven Steps
Ivan’s arm shot out and grabbed the guns, handing one to Sorcha.
She stared at it. The white metal shimmered in the low light, and Sorcha wasn’t surprised to discover that the gun had tiny jewels in the barrel. She put both of her hands around the trigger and felt its heaviness.
Phineas Zorg was only a few yards away. All she’d have to do was come out of her hiding place, aim, and fire. Once he died, her problems would be solved. The Nadir would be saved. It wouldn’t matter what happened to her after that. Justice would be served, and her life’s mission would be complete.
She heard her heart thump in her ears. Her blood pounded out the words, as if beating the thought into her head.
Kill him. Kill Phineas.
She took a deep breath, and held the laser gun close to her right shoulder. Closing her eyes, she imagined herself aiming and firing. In her mind’s eye, she saw Phineas’s head exploding with the force of the laser. The thought brought peace to her.
This ends now.
She let out a breath, and lifted her foot to step out and to finish the course to which she’d been called. Before she could drop her foot back to the floor, Ivan had pinned her to the wall with his body.
“What are you doing?”
She didn’t respond. Only bit the inside of her cheek until she tasted a metallic gush of blood. Her face felt wet, and she wondered when she had started crying.
“If you kill him now, his agents will kill you.”
“I don’t care.”
“I care. I don’t want to lose you. We will kill Phineas, but not now.”
“Why not? Because he’s your cousin’s husband?”
“No. Because it won’t do any good. Someone else will pick up where Phineas left off. One of the other companies maybe. Phineas deserves to die for what he’s done, but if you are going to save the Nadir, you have to do it smart. You have to do it the right way.”
She peered at him in the darkness. “The machine?”
He nodded. “The machine, the shipping units, the factories, the scientist. All of it. We can take everything out, and you are the key.”
“The bomb?”
“Yes. Once we get it out of you, we can use it to destroy Mega-Corp. But, we have to get out of here alive first.”
She released her death grip in her gun and relaxed her shoulders.
How did he know what I was going to do? she wondered. Does he know me that well?
She wanted to ask him, but Ivan quickly jerked his head to the side, and she followed him down the dark staircase.
Now that she cared whether she lived or died, the thought of death once again made her stomach clench and her heartbeat pick up. With no way to tell what laid above or below, they were throwing their lives in the hands of Taklin. Had he cleared the stairs of the agents that no doubt prowled the property like hungry wolves? How could he do that without arousing suspicion?
They crept forward, until Sorcha could see the light from below. She didn’t know where the steps led to, or how close to the alcove they were. Had the agents found the ship? Would the agents find them?
She began to measure time in the inches. Step by step. Twelve inches out, four inches down.
Were they twelve inches closer to freedom, or twelve inches closer to death?
When they finally arrived at the last step, Ivan plastered himself against the wall and his chest heaved heavily. He closed his eyes, and Sorcha wondered if he was praying. Had he become a religious man over the year that she’d been away?
His mouth moved, counting down.
“Three. Two. One.”
He exhaled a breath and peeked around the corner before quickly bringing his head back around.
“We’re in the kitchen. It looks clear,” he whispered. “I’m going to go out first and cover you.”
Sorcha shook her head. “No. Let me go first.”
But, before she could finish her thought, he was gone, sprinting across the room before disappearing in the darkness of the hallway beyond.
Sorcha’s heart banged against her chest, her breaths heavy, her mind filling with fear and worry.
Focus, she commanded herself. You can do this.
She felt the heaviness of the laser gun in her hand. It reassured her. She counted as Ivan had before.
Three. Two. One.
Her legs exploded out of the staircase, rushing with incredible speeds toward the hallway.
She was almost there. Just a few more steps.
“Hey!”
A voice came from the doorway to the common room. Someone had just walked through the door and spotted her.
“They’re here—”
Sorcha’s consciousness shrunk down into one small thought.
Survive.
She raised her laser gun and fired, the blast blowing away half of the agent’s face. He collapsed in a bloody heap, his corpse propping open the door to the common room.
Ivan reappeared from the hallway, running toward her, a second agent in tow. The agent—who looked like he’d just emerged from a blood bath—must have entered from the alcove door. Two more agents rushed in behind the first. They, too, were covered in blood. Sorcha vaguely heard gunfire. What was going on outside?
Ivan reached her and pushed her behind him as the three men formed a line between them and the hallway. The agents raised their lasers, the same shimmering white as Ivan and Sorcha’s.
They couldn’t go back up the stairs. Taklin’s actions proved that there were agents up there, too.
They were trapped!
The first of the laser fire whizzed past them.
Sorcha raised her laser and fired back, advancing forward with each step. She heard a scream echo through the kitchen. It was hers.
Ivan’s laser fire hit the agent on the left in the middle of his chest, and he collapsed. The agent’s insides sizzled as the burning heat from the laser ate at his flesh.
The middle agent’s neck snapped backward to look at his fallen friend.
Bad move.
Ivan rushed at the agent, tackling him to the floor and ramming his fist into the man’s face, covering the floor with blood, saliva, and snot as the agent’s nose exploded.
Sorcha ducked beneath a line of fire before delivering a wicked kick to the side of the last agent’s head.
The agent stumbled to the left, dropping his weapon. His eyes narrowed, and he sneered.
Come on. I’m not afraid of you.
The agent dropped into a crouch and rushed at her. He caught her in a bear hug, his feet like a runaway train. The kitchen whizzed past her a moment before he slammed her into the wall, knocking pots and pans on to the floor. Sorcha’s head cracked against the hard glass walls, and she saw stars.
The agent delivered a punch to her liver, then another, and another before lifting her up and tossing her on to the floor.
Sorcha rolled into a standing position and crouched low, her head and ribs throbbing, her vision blurring.
“I’m going to enjoy watching them drain the blood from your body,” he sneered.
What?
He rushed at her again.
Sorcha was ready for him. She side stepped, pivoted, and delivered an iron like punch to the side of his head. The man fell to his knees, before quickly recovering, shaking his head, and stumbling to his feet.
Like a flash, Ivan was there. He grabbed the agent by the neck with one hand, lifted him off his feet, and body slammed him hard to the floor. The agent groaned in pain.
“Let’s go.”
Ivan grabbed her hand and raced into the hallway. They stopped short. More agents were running up the back steps, lasers drawn.
“Common room,” Sorcha cried.
Ivan yanked her forward, away from the back door.
Green laser fire heated the air around them as they turned left and rushed into the common room and directly into the sight of Phineas Zorg.
Leilu’s eyes went wide as she stood next to her husband, her gaze darting between
Sorcha and Phineas. Phineas’s eyes shrunk and darkened, his gaze blazing through Sorcha like a sniper’s bullet to the head.
“Ivan Romanov and Sorcha Blitz. The scientist and his creation.”
Ivan stopped short, pushing Sorcha behind him as he stared Phineas Zorg down.
Sorcha eyed the gun on Phineas’s hip. Her own gun felt heavy in her hands. All she had to do was aim and fire. It would only take a second. A single moment in time, and it would all be over.
“I’ve been looking for you,” Phineas said.
He spoke with a false smile and hooded eyes. Just like he did when he lied in interviews. On television, he was handsome. In person, he was devastating, all shaved head, square chin, and strong features. His eyes were a deceptively sweet shade of baby blue, too full of innocence for such an evil man. He wore a well cut suit that perfectly showed off his bodybuilder-like physique. If Ivan was big, Phineas Zorg was monstrous.
“What are you doing in my house?” Phineas asked. “Family reunion?”
“Of sorts,” Ivan replied.
“Shame that I wasn’t invited. And yet, I see that your girlfriend is here.”
“Leave her out of it.”
Phineas’s lips lifted, as if he’d been about to laugh and then decided not to. “You know I can’t do that, Ivan.” He held out his arms, as if ready to embrace them. “I need both of you to come back to my labs. You are, after all, my property.” His eyes were heavy on Sorcha, making her skin crawl.
The gun was so heavy in Sorcha’s hands. It would only take a fluid movement and it would all be over.
Phineas’s eyes roamed down her body, an evil sneer curling his lip.
“You’re not thinking about shooting me, are you, Sorcha?”
“Actually, that’s exactly what I was thinking about.”
The agents appeared in the doorway of the common room, laser guns drawn.
Phineas held up a hand, staying them.
Meanwhile, Leilu had come to stand in front of her husband. She held one hand on her belly and eyed Sorcha with a hard, pleading look.
Plead for his life all you want, Leilu. If I have to go through you and your baby to get to Phineas, then so be it.
“There’s no reason for any more people to die today,” Phineas said. “Stand down and come with us. You won’t be harmed.”
“I’ll never go with you,” Sorcha spat.
“Why not? I treated you well, didn’t I?”
“If by treated me well, you mean carried out experiments on me. Then yes. Quite well.”
She remembered it like it was yesterday. A dark lab. Needles pricking her skin. So many tests. So much blood. They drew it out of her by the gallons. By the time Ivan found her, she was so weak she could barely stand. That was when her and Ivan decided to put the bomb in her head and send her to Earth. Away from the clutches of Phineas Zorg and his so-called scientist.
“Sorcha, you are very special. One of a kind. You are a jumper of the highest caliber. Able to see dimensions that the rest of us can only imagine.” Phineas stepped around Leilu, placing his body between her and Sorcha’s gun. “It is important that we understand why you are the way that you are.”
“Why? So you can find more Nadir to kill? Not enough murders under your belt, Phineas?”
He cracked his neck and glared at her. Any delusions of helpfulness or friendliness that he’d portrayed were now gone.
“What I kill are not people. They are things. Like slaughtering cattle or killing sheep.”
She flinched. She saw Leilu flinch, too.
Is Leilu a Nadir like me? Is it possible?
“Is that what you think, Phineas?” Sorcha demanded, marching forward to stand toe to toe with the man. “You’re a monster! My family died in one of your reapings! Were they sheep? Cattle to slaughter?”
“Your family died for a purpose. So the blood in their veins could power universal commerce. There is no higher honor.”
“You disgust me.”
She turned her back on him, keeping her eyes glued on Ivan. She needed his calm. She needed to breathe.
“Your family died so that you could shed your mortal shell. Without my reapings, you’d be back in the mud where Sin found you. And now look at you. A phoenix rising from the ashes. If I hadn’t killed them, you would never have known how special you are. And you are special, Sorcha. My own, little, special sheep.”
She turned to glare at him, her finger burning to pull the trigger and end his hurtful words and his smug smile.
“Come back with me,” he said. “We’ll cut the bomb out of your head, and you and I can be partners. Imagine it, Sorcha. You tell me where to find the Nadir, and I’ll mine them for all they’re worth. No more sleeping in dirty spaceships or wearing these awful clothes. You and I will be equals. And all you have to do is say yes.”
Holy crap!
She felt as if he’d knocked the wind out of her. Her and Phineas Zorg as partners? The amount of money would be astronomical. She’d never want for anything. Ivan would never worry about being poor. She could live like a queen without a care in the world, with no one to tell her what she could or couldn’t have.
“Say yes, Sorcha, and you and Ivan can walk out of here with more money than you’ve ever dreamed of. And all you have to do is tell me where to find the other Nadir. Simple as that.”
Simple? No. She couldn’t do it. How could she betray her own kind? How could she even consider it?
“I don’t want your blood money,” she growled.
He shook his head. “Then, Sorcha my dear, I shall just have to take your blood. We have been running a bit low.”
His hand went to the gun at his hip. He swung it in a wide arch, and aimed it at Sorcha.
Ivan pulled her back, away from Phineas’s fire, but her gun was already drawn and she pulled the trigger. The shot went low.
“No!” a light voice screamed.
Laser fire nicked Sorcha’s shoulder, blowing a piece of it off. She screamed and grabbed her bloody shirt, falling to the ground. It felt like liquid fire eating through her skin.
“Lei? Lei?”
She ripped her attention away from her burning shoulder and looked across the room at Phineas and Leilu.
Leilu’s body was on the ground, a hole smoking its way through her midsection. Blood and matter covered the white carpet behind her.
“Lei!”
Phineas Zorg’s face crumpled as saw his entire world die in front of him. In that moment, the second most powerful man in the universe was completely vulnerable. His mouth formed an O as he howled, his eyes gushing tears, his body shaking as he held what remained of his wife’s body in his arms, screaming into her limp neck.
Time slowed to a crawl.
What happened? What did I do? What did she do?
Ivan tugged on her sleeve. His eyes were wide. His hands trembling. His beloved cousin had just been killed in front of him. Horror and disbelief made his jaw go slack.
“We have to go, Sorcha,” he choked out.
“But, but...” Sorcha sputtered.
She can’t be dead. The last words we spoke to each other were … no … she can’t be dead.
She felt herself being dragged, but, oddly, it seemed like it was happening to someone else.
There was no here and now. Only memories. Memories of everyone who’d died in front of her in the last twenty-four hours. Meghan. The homeless man. The green eyed boy. And now Leilu and her baby.
All dead.
All because of her.
More screams echoed through the small room. She marveled that one of them was her own.
“Sorcha, we have to go!”
She couldn’t rip her eyes from Leilu’s corpse. Away from the grieving Phineas Zorg.
Then, Phineas Zorg stopped grieving.
His red, tear soaked eyes looked up at Sorcha. She didn’t know that eyes could hold so much hate. So much malice.
“You. You did this.”
The words left his
lips and landed on Sorcha’s soul. Branding her. In one word, he’d told an entire life story. A woman he loved had been murdered, and he blamed Sorcha.
But I didn’t tell her to jump in front of the gun.
She wanted to go to him; tell him that it wasn’t her fault. That Leilu had made her own decision. But then she remembered that the man was not just a fellow being. He was Phineas Zorg. He had killed her family. He had killed many families. Any empathy she’d entertained immediately fled.
He deserves this. He deserves to feel exactly what I felt fourteen years ago. What I still feel today.
“Sorcha!”
Ivan’s tugs and calls finally registered. Her blown-out shoulder screamed in protest as she pushed herself up and stood.
Phineas Zorg’s eyes never left her. There was so much pain in those eyes, and it was all directed at Sorcha. She saw her own loss in him. It terrified her.
“You,” he repeated.
Ivan was pulling her to the right, where Leilu had gone off to only an hour before. Finally, he grabbed her hand and dragged her from the room. From Leilu and the child that had been incinerated by Sorcha’s gun.
I’m a murderer.
The world spun, and Sorcha felt oddly disorientated. For a moment, she didn’t know where she was. Who she was. Then, the moment passed, and she ran as if the world behind her was on fire.
It was.
Chapter 4
Footsteps echoed behind her as Ivan dragged Sorcha down a dark hallway that ended in a wall.
The agents.
They had snapped out of their mourning, and were in hot pursuit.
What is Ivan’s plan? There’s no place to go! We’re trapped!
Her mind began to race. What could she do? Both her and Ivan each had a weapon, but her shooting arm had a hole in it.
Sorcha dug her feet into the ground, stopping her forward motion.
Doesn’t Ivan know that there’s no place to go? That he’s running us into a wall?
Switching her laser gun from her right hand to her left, she swung it in an arch and fired, hitting the first, black suited agent in the chest.
The other agents jumped back as the first agent fell. They then looked back at her. She felt the full weight of the agent’s hateful gazes upon her.