Escape Velocity

by Mark Walden

  ‘Plan B,’ she said and jumped up and caught hold of the edge of the open hatch in the ceiling, pulling herself up effortlessly. Once she was on the roof of the carriage she lowered a hand back inside and gestured for Otto to take it. He grabbed on to her wrist and she pulled him up through the hole as if he were weightless. Otto activated the night-vision mode on his helmet and the pitch blackness of the lift shaft was lit up in an eerie green light. Raven stood looking up at one of the doors in the shaft wall, ten metres above them.

  ‘Feel up to climbing?’ she said quietly.

  ‘Do I have a choice?’ Otto asked, sounding tired.

  ‘Not really,’ Raven replied calmly. She moved to the cables supporting the lift carriage and examined them. They were covered in a thick layer of grease; there was no way they’d be able to climb them. She moved to studying the concrete walls that surrounded them, but they were featureless and smooth, offering no type of footholds. Silently she cursed the fact that the camo suits weren’t fitted with grappler units, an oversight that might prove fatal. She pulled the twin swords from their sheaths on her back and thumbed the controls, switching them to their sharpest setting. She moved to the wall and slid the first blade into the solid concrete effortlessly. She touched the controls again and the forcefield surrounding the blade deactivated, trapping the blade within the wall. She pulled herself upwards, using the hilt of the sword as a handhold and followed the same procedure with the other blade, sliding it into the wall a couple of feet higher than the first one. She clenched her jaw as fresh searing pain from the wound in her shoulder lanced across her back. She pushed the protests from her injured body to the back of her mind and ignored them, just as she had been trained to do. Once she had pulled herself to the level of the second blade she switched the first blade’s forcefield back on and withdrew it smoothly from the wall. Otto watched, quietly impressed, as Raven repeated the process several times, slowly but surely ascending the smooth wall of the shaft.

  By the time Raven reached the lip of the door her arms were burning with exertion and her back felt slick under her armour with fresh blood from her shoulder wound. With a final grunt of effort she pulled herself up into the narrow recess, pressing herself against the closed doors. She slowly reached down and pulled the sword from the shaft wall, sliding it into its sheath next to its partner and making a silent note to thank Professor Pike for building the unique weapons if she ever saw him again. She stood there for a moment, slowing her breathing and gathering her strength before forcing her fingers into the gap between the doors and heaving them apart. As the gap widened light poured in from the corridor beyond. Raven breathed a sigh of relief as she saw it was empty.

  In the shaft below Otto fought to keep his balance as the lift suddenly began to move upwards again, gathering speed. Raven hauled the doors further apart, sliding between them and bracing her back against one while pushing the other away with one foot.

  ‘Jump!’ she yelled at Otto as he raced up towards her. Otto dived from the roof of the carriage, aiming for the narrow-looking gap in the doors. He shot headlong through the opening, colliding with Raven and sending them both tumbling into the corridor beyond as the lift shot past just centimetres from his feet and the doors slid closed.

  ‘Just once,’ Otto said, sitting up, ‘it might be nice to do things the easy way.’

  ‘Oh, come on,’ Raven replied, pulling him to his feet. ‘Where would be the fun in that?’

  Wing, Laura and Shelby ran back up the stairs towards the roof. A couple of floors below them a pair of MI6 guards entered the stairwell. One of them leant into the void that ran down the middle of the stairs and looked upwards.

  ‘They’re heading for the roof,’ the guard said into his radio. ‘We’ll intercept them there – they’ve got nowhere to go.’

  Above them, Wing, Laura and Shelby ran on to the roof and into the cool night air.

  ‘You two go and get the kits ready,’ Wing said, sounding completely unperturbed by the situation they found themselves in.

  ‘What about you?’ Laura said, sounding considerably less calm.

  ‘I will delay our pursuers,’ Wing said calmly.

  ‘Every guard in this building is probably on their way up here. Are you mad?’ Laura said sharply.

  ‘I will join you shortly,’ Wing said, trying to sound reassuring. ‘I am as keen to leave as you, but we must delay their pursuit if we are to get away safely.’

  ‘He’s right,’ Shelby said reluctantly. ‘Come on, Brand. We’ll get the kits ready.’

  Laura looked for a moment like she might continue to argue but she knew they needed the time that Wing could buy them. She gave a small nod, looking unhappy, and ran away across the roof. Shelby turned to follow her, but then stopped and looked back at Wing.

  ‘Be careful, big guy,’ she said softly. ‘No heroics.’

  ‘No heroics,’ Wing said calmly and turned back to face the door leading from the stairwell.

  Shelby ran after Laura as the sounds of the pursuing guards running up the stairs below became louder.

  Wing stood waiting just a few metres from the door. He removed his helmet, tossing it to one side; without the advantage that a working thermoptic camouflage system provided it would serve no purpose other than to limit his peripheral vision.

  The pair of guards burst through the door on to the roof, their guns snapping up and levelling at Wing as they spotted him standing there.

  ‘You!’ the first guard yelled. ‘Hands on your head, don’t move.’

  Wing slowly put his hands on his head, showing no hint of emotion.

  ‘What the hell?’ the other guard said. ‘He’s just a kid.’ He pulled a pair of handcuffs from his belt and slowly moved behind Wing and grasped one of his wrists. In one fluid motion, Wing grabbed the guard’s own wrist with his free hand and twisted hard. There was a sickening crunch, the guard howling in pain as Wing stepped backwards, too close for the man to bring his gun to bear. He pulled the guard’s wounded arm further over his own shoulder, dragging the man closer, and jerked his head backwards, his skull connecting with the man’s nose with a crunch. Wing rotated around the guard, pressing the wounded arm up into the small of the man’s back and ducking behind him, giving the other guard no clean shot without hitting his associate. He pushed hard, sending the stunned guard staggering towards his partner, and delivered a sharp kick to the base of his spine. The wounded guard’s momentum sent him careering into the other man, yowling with pain and confusion.

  Wing took two short steps and in a blur of movement pulled the handcuffs from the wounded man’s belt and snapped them closed around both his broken wrist and the wrist of the unwounded guard’s gun hand.

  Wing pressed his fingers into the pressure point behind the wounded guard’s ear and he collapsed, instantly unconscious, pulling the other guard down with him and pinning his gun to the ground. The conscious guard snatched for the gun with his free hand, but Wing dropped on to him, his knee pressing into his throat hard enough to choke him but without crushing his windpipe. Wing delivered a sharp knuckle jab to the guard’s shoulder and his free arm was instantly disabled too.

  Wing could hear the sound of at least half a dozen more guards racing up the stairs from below. He knew there would be more than he could handle. He reached down and took a smoke grenade from the webbing on the pinned guard’s chest and pulled the pin with his teeth, tossing it through the doorway into the stairwell. There were cries of confusion from just below as the confined space filled with impenetrable clouds of white smoke. Wing pulled a flashbang stun grenade from the other side of the pinned guard’s webbing and waited a couple of seconds before tossing it into the stairwell too. He closed his eyes, the flash of the grenade clear even through his eyelids.

  ‘Who the hell are you?’ the guard pinned beneath Wing gasped.

  ‘Just a kid,’ Wing said with a slight smile and punched him unconscious.

  Wing sprang to his feet and ran across the roof toward
s Laura and Shelby.

  ‘We must leave,’ Wing said quickly. ‘Are you ready?’

  ‘As we’ll ever be,’ Shelby shot back, tossing a small pack to him. He put the straps of the pack over his shoulders and snapped the clasps at the front together.

  Shelby stepped up on to the low wall that surrounded the edge of the roof, looking at the dark ribbon of the Thames far below. Laura stepped up beside her, swallowing hard.

  ‘You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?’ she said.

  ‘Are you kidding?’ Shelby grinned. ‘I haven’t had this much fun in ages.’

  Wing joined them on the parapet.

  ‘Ready?’ he said. The two girls nodded and all three of them leapt off the edge.

  As they jumped they pulled the ripcords attached to the packs they wore and black silk parachute canopies unfurled above them. They drifted down towards the river, but moments before they hit the surface they pulled the quick releases on their chutes, dropping the last few metres. There were three small splashes and then nothing. Only the black canopies that floated gently down on to the water were left to show that they had been there at all.

  ‘Control to Raven,’ the voice crackled in Raven’s earpiece as she ran down the empty corridor with Otto in tow, ‘team two have exited the building. Mini-subs are effecting retrieval now.’

  ‘Understood, Raven out,’ she responded in a whisper.

  ‘What is it?’ Otto asked.

  ‘The others are out safely,’ she said quietly and Otto felt a sudden rush of relief. All they had to worry about now was getting out of there in one piece themselves.

  ‘Freeze,’ Raven hissed, pushing him back against the wall of the corridor. Another squad of half a dozen guards, all in full tactical gear, ran down the corridor towards them. Otto held his breath as they got closer, praying that the suits systems were still fully functional. The squad ran past and vanished around a corner further down the passageway. Otto breathed a sigh of relief. He could get used to being invisible. He had to admire the ingenuity of Darkdoom’s technicians.

  ‘Come on,’ Raven said, continuing down the corridor. At the far end were a set of double doors with the word ‘Garage’ on the wall next to them.

  ‘You thinking what I’m thinking?’ Otto said quietly.

  ‘Yes,’ Raven said quickly, ‘let’s see if we can’t borrow a ride.’

  She moved towards the doors, opened them a crack and peered through. There were no signs of any guards in the cavernous space beyond, so she slowly crept inside. The garage was huge, with numerous vehicles filling the vast low-ceilinged space, all parked in neatly arranged bays. Otto followed Raven between the rows of parked cars and vans; there was still no sign of any guards. Suddenly Raven stopped.

  ‘What is it?’ Otto whispered.

  ‘I think I just found our ticket out of here,’ she said, nodding towards one of the bays just ahead. Parked there was the most beautiful car Otto had ever seen. It was sleek, low and black, its muscular curves and fat tyres suggesting that it was going to be somewhat quicker than walking. Otto started to walk towards the car, eager to get a closer look, but Raven shot out a hand, holding him back. Something about this was not right.

  ‘This is too easy,’ she whispered. ‘Where are the guards?’

  She was right, Otto thought. The security forces knew that the building had been infiltrated; it would be madness to leave such an obvious escape route unguarded. As if in answer to his suspicions, there was the sudden tinny clink of something metallic hitting concrete and Otto turned to see a small silver cylinder rolling across the floor of the garage towards him.

  ‘MOVE!’ Raven yelled urgently, pushing him towards the waiting car. Almost unconsciously she put herself between Otto and the grenade, waiting for the concussive wave to hit her in the back, praying that she could shield him from the blast. But no blast came; instead there was just a sharp electrical crackle from behind her and then nothing. A message popped up on the head-up display inside her helmet.

  WARNING!

  THERMOPTIC CAMOUFLAGE SYSTEM DISABLED

  She pushed Otto towards the car and positioned herself between him and the rest of the garage, feeling horribly exposed.

  Suddenly two women, both with long blonde hair tied back in ponytails and wearing suits of tight-fitting white leather body armour, stepped out of the shadows. They had to be twins: their faces were mirror-images of each other.

  ‘Hello,’ the first woman said in an upper-class British accent. ‘I’m Constance.’

  ‘And I’m Verity,’ the other woman said, in an identical voice. ‘And we’ll be your murderers for tonight.’ She grinned evilly and raised a snub-nosed black pistol. Without hesitating she pulled the trigger and two darts trailing thin wires shot out, striking Raven squarely in the chest. Fractions of a second later the taser discharged fifty thousand volts straight into her body, dropping Raven into a twitching heap on the ground.

  ‘And I thought this was going to be difficult,’ the woman called Constance said, walking slowly forwards. She looked up from Raven’s incapacitated body and smiled at Otto. ‘Mask off, please.’

  Otto slowly removed his helmet, glaring defiantly at the two women.

  ‘Mr Malpense, I presume,’ Constance went on, still smiling. ‘We work for someone who’s very keen to meet you.’ She pulled a pistol from her belt and pointed it at Raven’s prone form. ‘I don’t really approve of non-lethal weaponry,’ she said, gesturing at the cables trailing from Raven’s chest, ‘so why don’t you come quietly before I’m forced to rectify that situation.’

  Otto leant against the sleek black car next to him and bowed his head, closing his eyes.

  ‘Good boy,’ Constance said, stepping forward.

  Suddenly the car roared into life, the engine revving wildly and the headlights switching on to full beam, sending the woman staggering backwards, blinded by the glaring halogen light. Otto ran at her, colliding with her hard and knocking her off her feet while she was still disorientated. Her gun skittered a few feet away across the tarmac and Otto scrambled across the floor, desperately reaching for the fallen weapon. Constance leapt to her feet as Verity dropped the taser and sprinted towards Otto. Otto grabbed the gun and rolled on to his back, pointing it straight at Constance.

  ‘Back off!’ he yelled angrily.

  Verity stopped just a couple of metres away from him, murder in her eyes.

  ‘One more step and one of you gets a bullet, understood?’ Otto said, trying to keep the edge of panic he could feel from his voice as he slowly got to his feet.

  ‘You might find that difficult, Mr Malpense,’ Constance said, taking a slow but deliberate step towards him, ‘especially with the safety catch still on.’

  ‘Oh, come on,’ Otto said with a sneer. ‘What do you think this is – amateur hour?’ He twitched the gun downwards and pulled the trigger, blowing a chunk out of the floor between Constance’s feet.

  ‘Now back away, slowly, both of you.’

  Constance stared at him for a long moment as if trying to work something out and then slowly backed away, her sister following suit. Otto didn’t take his eyes off them as he moved carefully over to where Raven lay. She gave a soft moan as he approached and tried shakily to push herself up to a sitting position. Otto reached down and yanked the cables trailing to the taser, pulling the two tiny barbs from Raven’s chest.

  ‘Can you move?’ Otto asked.

  ‘Yes,’ Raven said, getting unsteadily to her feet. She pulled her helmet off and tossed it to one side. The look in her eyes as she stared at Constance and Verity sent a chill down Otto’s spine.

  ‘Give me the gun,’ Raven said. ‘I’ll finish this.’

  ‘Kill us and Nero dies,’ Verity said calmly.

  ‘Oh, I’m not going to kill you,’ Raven said, ‘not for a while anyway.’

  ‘There’s no way you’re getting out of here,’ Constance said. ‘Kill us and you’ll still be captured, but Nero will die for what you’ve done.
You can’t win.’

  ‘Leave them,’ Otto said, putting a hand on Raven’s shoulder. ‘We’ve got what we came for. Besides, you’re the designated driver.’ He nodded towards the still-idling black sports car in the bay next to them. ‘I’ll cover these two. You get that thing moving.’

  Raven paused for a moment and then nodded. She looked over at the two women.

  ‘Next time we meet, you won’t see me coming,’ she said.

  ‘We’ll look forward to it,’ Verity replied with a sneer.

  Raven stared at her for a moment, as if memorising every detail of her face, and then turned and walked over to the car. She opened the door and slid behind the wheel. The car leapt forwards, tyres squealing as Raven hit the gas. She spun the wheel and fishtailed the car to a halt behind Otto, leaning over and popping the passenger door open. Otto slid into the passenger seat, keeping the gun levelled at the two women.

  ‘Go,’ Otto said and pulled the door shut.

  Raven did not need to be told twice, she floored the accelerator and the car roared away between the rows of parked vehicles.

  ‘Damn it,’ Verity shouted as the sleek black car disappeared around the corner at the far end of the garage.

  ‘They’re not out of here yet,’ Constance said calmly. She pulled a small black remote from her pocket and pressed a button. There was a double beep from behind her and the headlights flashed on a silver sports car parked in the shadows.

  Raven spun the wheel again, steering the car around the corner and straightening up as it rocketed between the rows of parked vehicles on the next level of the garage.

  ‘That was quick thinking back there, Otto,’ she said with a smile, ramming her foot down on the accelerator. ‘How did you start this thing?’

  ‘Let’s just say that we had a little chat,’ Otto replied. The truth of the matter was that this car, like all modern cars, was controlled almost completely by computers and it had not taken much effort to exert control over it. Otto grabbed on to the dashboard as Raven sent the car sideways around another corner. Ahead of them now was the exit from the car park, an exit that was firmly sealed by steel security shutters and half a dozen guards, all with assault rifles raised and pointing in their direction.