Lament would have assumed there would be guards but he didn’t know there was a military force. What the hell was Mitchell and a couple of freaks, with one gun between them, supposed to do against a force like this?
Jason was gesturing: five. Well, that wasn’t so bad, and they were facing in the other direction.
Then a woman screeched. It wasn’t a scream of pain or fear. It was attack. He saw Dog tense up, and Jason was gone so fast he was just a blur.
What the hell is this now?
Gunfire blasted from the soldiers but it wasn’t at them in the stairwell. The men moved forward and then there was another figure in the middle of them. The gunshots stopped. The woman, he caught a glimpse of red hair, was in among them gouging and biting, she had already ripped the goggles from at least two of them that Mitchell could see and there were moans and groans in the male register. And swearing.
Mitchell put his gun on the floor; he couldn’t use it without risking hitting her, but he wasn’t going to leave her to it. There was the flash of a knife blade and he pulled the door. The soldiers were focused on the banshee in their midst. He grabbed the nearest one by the shoulders, shoved his knee into the back of the soldier’s leg and pulled him backwards.
Taken by surprise and with his leg bent he fell back. Mitchell followed him down. The soft armour would absorb impact energy but his face was bare, and splattered with blood. Mitchell grabbed up his gun by the barrel and brought it down hard in the middle of his face. The nose cracked and blood flowed. Suddenly Dog was there. He grabbed the man’s legs and heaved.
Before Mitchell could stop him the soldier flew out into the space of the stairwell and fell. Mitchell followed his fall powerlessly. How much could the armour absorb? He didn’t know.
‘Don’t!’ he shouted at Dog. But the berserker was back. Dog spun about and dived into the fray. Mitchell couldn’t see Jason anywhere.
The fight was not quiet. Between Dog’s growls and the screeches of—he caught a glimpse of her face—Vanessa Cooper, were the groans and cries of the men. Then Dog howled. Mitchell saw the flash of metal and a spray of blood go up.
‘Fuck it,’ said Mitchell. He turned his gun round, paused to aim and fired at the head of the one with the knife. The gunshot echoed up and down the stairwell. The man went down. There was another on the floor so that left two.
Dog dived back into the fight, oblivious to the cut.
A thundering sound filled the air and two more voices screamed defiantly. Dog jumped out into the stairwell as a bed carrying something big slammed into the two remaining combatants and crushed them against the wall.
Mitchell pulled his slip-tie handcuffs from an inner pocket and went for them. He had them trussed up in a moment. Taking a moment to see the monstrosity on the bed.
The lights flickered on. He shook his head. Lucy Grainger was barely recognisable. At the other end of the bed were Melinda Vogler and Chloe.
‘Hi, DI Mitchell,’ she said a little breathless. ‘Sightseeing?’
A low growl was thrumming behind Mitchell. He glanced back and saw Dog with his attention fixated on the redhead. She was looking directly at Dog with a growl coming from her as well.
It seemed Chloe became aware of it. ‘That’s enough, you two! I don’t bloody care whether you tear each other to bits when we’re out of here but until then we work together.’
‘You’re not the boss of me,’ growled Vanessa.
‘Yeah, I am,’ said Chloe. ‘And don’t you forget it.’
They still looked daggers at one another but the growling stopped. Mitchell was impressed but Chloe hadn’t finished.
‘We need to get out of here, Mitchell,’ she said. ‘How?’
‘Lift,’ he said. ‘Lament’s controlling it.’
The floor shuddered with vibration and then the sound of an explosion roared over them. Jason reappeared looking agitated. He pointed down and made counting gestures with his fingers: ten-ten-ten.
‘Soldiers?’ said Mitchell.
Jason nodded.
‘Lift is out,’ said Chloe.
‘What the fuck is that?’ said Vanessa pointing at Jason. He seemed to shiver at her voice.
Great team.
‘How do you know the lift is out?’ he said.
‘Because I just saw it heading down and that explosion was in the shaft.’
‘I suggest up,’ said Mitchell.
‘Yeah.’
They went for the stairs.
‘Can you big strong guys carry Lucy?’ said Chloe.
Chapter 32
Chloe
There was loud music coming from the penthouse, it leaked round the door. There were multiple speakers and the volume drowned out any image she could get from inside.
Was Mercedes Smith having a party?
Well, they had to crash it. The soldiers were coming through, what the hell they’d do once they were inside she had no idea.
She looked at Jason. He held up three fingers.
Only three people inside?
She was at the front, and everyone, even DI Mitchell, followed her, as if she knew what she was doing. She swallowed nervously. She was just making this up as she went along. There was nothing for it. If they stayed here they would be caught or killed.
She turned the handle and the door opened.
The music blared out. Maybe she should see if Melinda could kill the sound.
She stepped into the light. She was in a short corridor with another door at the end. An airlock to protect Mercedes Smith from the rest of the world.
They were forced to move in single file. It made it hard for Dog who was staggering under the weight of Lucy. She seemed to be recovering a little, she was walking but still did not seem aware of where she was.
Mitchell had his gun out.
She turned the handle on the second door and pulled it. She caught a momentary glimpse of a man with a gun pointed at her.
The blast hit her in the face and across her middle. Something hit her in the eye, pellets lashed across her body, ripping through her clothes and cutting stingingly into her flesh. Mitchell pushed her out and down. The gunshot went off above her head.
Another blast from the other gun and cries as her friends were hit. Lying on the floor she couldn’t see anything. Her body was demanding attention and her eye bled.
‘Next shot I’ll kill her, Chloe Dark.’
What? Kill who?
‘Don’t listen to him, Chloe!’
Sapphire?
‘I’m sorry Chloe, I was trying to help.’
‘Getting your teacher-lover to spy on me, Chloe? That was a mistake; there is nothing Saffie can do that I can’t see through.’
The Purity guy?
‘Your helicopter is on its way, Mercedes.’
The wirehead.
‘I didn’t ask for a helicopter, Xec.’
‘I know.’
Chloe forced herself up on to her knees. It was weird seeing out of only one eye. The music still blasted out and all she could see, through the kitchen and into some sort of main room, was Special Agent Graham with the gun he’d used on her pressed against Sapphire Kepple’s neck.
What the hell were they wearing? Not wearing.
Almost naked.
‘Is this how you like to see your lover, Chloe?’
He sounds crazy.
‘She’s not my lover,’ said Chloe, her voice came out croaky.
‘I told you, Chris, I told you she refused me.’
Something behind Chloe alerted the agent.
‘Nobody move or I’ll shoot. This gun may fire non-lethal pellets, but at point blank I imagine it would make a real mess of her neck.’
Non-lethal? thought Chloe and touched her fingers gingerly to her damaged eye.
The music cut off.
The movements of the people behind her slowly resolved into the image of the kitchen. The cabinets, central island, doors.
There was someone out of sight in the further room, Ch
loe could see the ghost of them. Must be Mercedes. Chloe was tired. And she hurt.
What could they do? If they attacked he’d shoot Sapphire. If they waited the soldiers would arrive. What did they have? Melinda could take out the lights but he would shoot. Neither Dog nor Vix could do anything, nor Lucy, even assuming she was aware of what was happening. What did that leave?
Jason appeared behind Graham moving in swiftly. He shoved the gun away from Sapphire’s neck. The lights blinked out. Chloe moved.
It took her less than a second to cross the distance to Sapphire and the agent. Emergency lights flickered on. Graham turned the weapon on Chloe. She jumped.
The gun went off and the pellets tore through her trousers. She landed on the agent. The noise blasted her acoustic sense again. Lights moved outside, spotlights streamed down from a helicopter.
She hit the ground and her legs crumpled under her.
Graham slammed an elbow into her face. And then grabbed her by the neck, pushing the gun hard into her throat.
‘Stay back or I’ll kill her.’
She couldn’t see anything.
A door in the swathe of glass windows opened and a freezing wind ripped through the penthouse.
‘Come on, Graham!’
Mercedes Smith.
She wanted to tell the others to attack. He was going to kill them anyway. They needed to get to the helicopter, they could get away in that but the words wouldn’t come. It was hard even to breathe with his tight grip.
He was moving and she weighed so little she could not stop him carrying her with him.
A gunshot roared and glass shattered. She could hear growls above the wind. Dog, Vix and Lucy were closing in. They could take him easily, they just needed to attack. Not to worry about her. Behind them she saw movement: Melinda, Mitchell, Jason and Sapphire.
They were following. But they weren’t paying attention, she couldn’t speak but she lifted her hand and pointed at the soldiers she could see who had reached their level and were about to come through.
Mitchell must have realised and called a warning.
Dog, Vix and Lucy turned on the spot. Chloe saw them pounding back towards the kitchen while the others took cover. Burners raked the darkened space.
The noise of the incoming helicopter was drowning out her vision. All there was now was the cold, the dark and the pain. She lost consciousness for a few moments. The thundering of the helicopter rotors brought her back. There was nothing else in her ears except:
‘Look down, Chloe Dark.’
She opened her good eye. She was face down and she saw the city. Below her was nothing but the distant ground. They were on the edge, he was holding her over it.
‘Let’s see you fly, freak!’
She felt his grip on her neck loosening. She screamed. And forced her wings through the frayed and tattered cloth of her coat. The prehensile digits grabbed at his face and hooked around his head. Using them as the fulcrum she twisted downward and grabbed the edge of the roof. The cold bit into her fingers.
She pulled.
Gripped by her wings he toppled forwards, as his momentum increased she yanked harder and he went over her. She let go and he fell.
But there was no grip on the icy edge. Her fingers slipped. She wondered if she could fall sixty flights and survive.
A hand grabbed hers and she looked up into the weird and distorted face of Jason Lomax.
Maybe she could survive a fall of sixty floors. But she wouldn’t have to test that today.
Chapter 33
Epilogue
The helicopter lifted from the pad at the top of the Utopia Genetics building, leaving Mercedes Smith with her arms wrapped around herself, watching it go.
It picked up speed.
‘Where are we going?’ said someone.
‘I know a place,’ said Chloe.
‘Don’t tell me,’ said Mitchell.
‘I’ll make a point of forgetting,’ said Lament as they pulled across the city towards the River Irwell.
‘I thought you were going to make Xec think we weren’t there,’ said Chloe.
‘Too hard,’ said Lament. ‘I had to give him selective information instead so he would underestimate what he was up against and send too few soldiers.’
‘Nearly killed us,’ said Dog.
‘Didn’t, though,’ said Lament.
And Chloe couldn’t argue with that.
~ KYMIERA will return ~
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About the Author
When he's not sitting at his computer building websites for national institutions and international companies, Steve Turnbull can be found sitting at his computer building new worlds of steampunk, science fiction and fantasy.
Technically Steve was born a cockney but after five years he was moved out from London to the suburbs where he grew up and he talks posh now. He's been a voracious reader of science fiction and fantasy since his early years, but it was poet Laurie Lee's autobiography "Cider with Rosie" (picked up because he was bored in Maths) that taught him the beauty of language and spurred him into becoming a writer, aged 15. He spent twenty years editing and writing for computer magazines while writing poetry on the side.
Nowadays he writes screenplays (TV and features), prose and code.
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