9

by James Phelan

  She took a deep breath in through her nose. ‘We’re near the sea … Marseilles, maybe?’

  ‘Great, that’s a start,’ Sam said, looking down at the long drop to the street.

  ‘So what now?’ Zara asked.

  ‘We get out of here.’

  03

  EVA

  Eva looked away from the sheets covering the bodies, not wanting to see. She didn’t know how many there were under there, but one was too many, and there were far more than one. A violent sob threatened to break through and overcome her.

  I’m still alive.

  The stones from the destroyed Academy building lay in piles. Eva looked around at the Guardians and Academy staff who remained on the Swiss mountaintop, working through the night to find anyone still trapped in the rubble, blackened with the smoke of the spot fires that broke out after the attack.

  A torch beam danced over her. ‘How are you holding up?’ Tobias asked, stopping beside Eva and passing her a bottle of water.

  ‘I’m not, really,’ Eva said truthfully. She felt numb, as if functioning only automatically, from outside herself. She put down her shovel and had a drink. The water was cool down her throat and she drank the full bottle in a few gasping gulps.

  ‘Eva,’ Tobias said. ‘You should rest.’

  ‘When are we going to be able to leave?’ Eva said to him, ignoring his advice. She put down the empty bottle and picked up her shovel again, ready to keep clearing debris.

  ‘We’ll have to wait for dawn, for the weather to clear,’ Tobias said as he gently took the shovel from her hands. Eva realised she was far too tired to object.

  Tobias dragged another huge broken timber beam onto the raging fire that burned near them. The heat staved off the cold mountain air, and every now and then the people would come over and warm themselves before setting off to sift through the ruins once more. His face was drawn and tired.

  I probably look just as bad.

  ‘More help is on its way, Eva, we’re not alone.’

  Eva nodded, holding out her hands to heat them by the fire. There were still a few small patches of glowing embers in the remains of the old monastery, even though the attack had happened hours ago. She knew that the only road out was impassable—a direct missile hit had triggered that whole side of the mountain to avalanche, taking the road with it.

  The last medical chopper had left over two hours before, taking more wounded students and injured Guardians. Gabriella had gone with them, bandaged around the head, Lora helping her on board. Xavier had wanted to stay but he was needed to assist in caring for the wounded during the flight.

  ‘Until these strong winds drop a little, it’s too dangerous for the helicopters to come back to get us. They’ll be back when they can and we’ll resume the search for survivors at first light,’ Tobias said, sitting down in a makeshift shelter under a section of collapsed roof.

  ‘OK,’ Eva said, taking a seat next to him. She felt tired, as though stopping her search and rescue efforts had brought with it a new wave of exhaustion and desperation.

  Maybe I could rest for just a little while. Dream of some place, far from here, somewhere happy …

  ‘They won’t be back,’ Tobias said, his tone resolute as he looked absently into the fire. ‘Stella, I mean. They achieved what they set out to do.’

  The fire crackled and sparked amid the silence between the two of them. Eva had known this was a dangerous time, but even now she could not comprehend how things had suddenly turned so deadly. It didn’t seem real, seeing the shapes lying underneath the stark white sheets.

  And Pi …

  Eva struggled to suppress another sob. Most of the staff and students had been able to get out in time, helped by the Guardians who put their lives on the line to ensure that the Dreamers were evacuated safely. Many brave Guardians had not been so lucky.

  ‘Thanks,’ Eva said finally, ‘for everything.’

  ‘You don’t need to thank me.’

  ‘But you saved me, out in the snow before,’ she said. ‘And now, because of you, many of us here are alive. How did you know where to be?’

  Tobias shrugged modestly. ‘I dreamed something terrible was coming—but I had no idea it would be this bad, not in my wildest of dreams. I had suspected deep rifts in the Academy and the Council for a while now, and we had information about rogue elements operating within the Enterprise. I didn’t know exactly what I was waiting for, but I knew I had to wait. And it had to be alone.’

  ‘We were so lucky you were here,’ Eva said again.

  ‘We will need even more luck now. There’s still a long way to go,’ Tobias said. ‘But I truly believe that as long as Sam is leading us, we can do this.’

  ‘You think he’s OK?’

  ‘Yes,’ Tobias said, nodding, a small smile on his lips. ‘Sam’s out there still, no doubt dreaming of more Dreamers to come. We are right to believe in him, of that I am certain.’

  04

  SAM

  ‘So, how do we escape Hans and his men?’ Zara said. ‘Wait—we’re not jumping again?’

  Sam nearly laughed, remembering Zara’s reaction to them BASE-jumping from the Eiffel Tower. ‘I don’t think jumping to the street is a safe option this time,’ Sam said, looking out the window at the darkness below, occasionally broken by the headlights of passing traffic. ‘It wasn’t exactly a smooth, or accurate, landing last time, remember? And that was in broad daylight. There’s not much my Stealth Suit can do for us if we drop in front of a truck.’

  He checked the room for anything they could use to help them escape. Like his room, this one was bare and the heavy wooden door was locked from the outside.

  ‘We could try climbing down the outside of the building,’ Sam said, gathering up the two short ropes from the floor.

  ‘That won’t get us down to the ground,’ Zara said, looking at the rope that had been used to tie her up.

  ‘Maybe it won’t have to,’ Sam said, looking out the window down to the next ledge below. ‘Yeah, maybe …’

  Sam tied the two ropes together to make a single longer one. He tied one end of the rope to the iron handrail at the windowsill, then dangled it down to the window directly underneath. Too short. He glanced around the room, his eyes alighting on the broken mattress on the floor. A torn, dirty sheet lay across it. Sam pulled the sheet off and tied it onto the end of the rope, tossing it back out the window.

  Yes!

  ‘We slide down the rope to the next level,’ Sam said, ‘then bust into that room, climb in and escape through the building, down to the ground floor.’

  Zara looked down the rope and sheet dangling outside, and the long drop to the street.

  ‘Bust in?’

  Sam nodded and smiled. ‘Trust me.’

  Sam pushed hopefully against the window in front of him and was relieved when it swung open at his touch. Inside, it was dark and quiet. It was an apartment, or at least it used to be, but it was now as desolate as the rest of the building—unoccupied and deserted a long time ago … until Hans arrived.

  So far, so good.

  Sam looked up to Zara peering out from the window above and whispered, ‘Come on down.’

  He watched as she tentatively put her weight on the rope and shimmied down towards the ledge where he waited and caught her, helping her into the room.

  Sam put his finger to his lips and motioned for silence as they looked around the empty apartment, walking as quietly as they could across the creaking wooden floorboards.

  It was much the same as the sparse rooms they’d been locked in, empty but for a few shadowy shapes of furniture, some draped in dusty sheets.

  ‘OK,’ Sam said, relaxing a little. They crept into what must have once been a spacious lounge room. An old coffee table still sat in the corner, complete with a stack of unopened mail, and most importantly, a phone.

  I wonder …

  Sam tentatively lifted the handpiece and, incredibly, heard the soft hum of the dial tone.


  ‘It’s still connected!’ he exclaimed in surprise, the unexpected stroke of luck making him inadvertently drop his guard.

  ‘Shhhh!’ Zara hissed worriedly. They both froze on the spot, listening for footsteps outside in the hallway. It was quiet.

  ‘I’ll call the Academy,’ Sam whispered.

  ‘Are you sure?’ Zara said, still sounding anxious. ‘Shouldn’t we get out of here first? What if they notice we’re missing?’

  Sam thought for a moment. ‘My friends will be able to help us. We might not get the chance to call again,’ he said.

  ‘OK,’ Zara agreed, ‘but be quick.’ She continued to listen for noises beyond the front door, her face tense.

  Sam dialled Lora’s phone number and she answered on the third ring.

  ‘Lora, it’s Sam—’

  ‘Sam! Where are you?’

  ‘I’m not sure,’ he replied, quickly running through what had happened since he’d seen her last—da Vinci’s workshop, trying to escape, Mac turning traitor and Solaris taking the Gear and the Bakhu machine. Finally he told her about Hans and the German Guardians kidnapping them.

  ‘You’ve been through so much,’ Lora said. ‘I know how devastated you must be that Solaris took the Gear. But you can’t imagine how relieved I am to hear from you.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Sam replied. ‘This time the Gear was in, or rather was part of, a box. And Zara’s Gear was some kind of, I don’t know, like a toothed axle—like it might form the middle part of the machine that all the other Gears work on or around.’

  ‘I’m just glad you’re OK. You need to get out of there, but you’ll have to leave the line open, so we can trace the call and find you. It may take some time.’ Lora hesitated, then continued, ‘Our equipment is down so I’m relying on a contact in the Swiss police until Jedi gets things up and running again. Can you get to someplace safe nearby to hide and call me back? As soon as we have a fix on your position, we’ll head there.’

  ‘OK,’ he said. ‘But hang on, why is the Academy equipment not working?’ Hans’ words echoed in Sam’s head, ‘the Academy is no more … blown into dust …’

  Surely it couldn’t be true? Could it?

  There was a brief pause before Lora said anything and Zara could see the concern building on Sam’s face.

  ‘The Academy’s main campus was attacked,’ Lora said finally.

  No!

  Sam listened silently, shock etched on his face as Lora explained how Stella had led her team of Agents to the Swiss campus and destroyed it.

  ‘And Eva’s still up there?’ Sam said finally.

  ‘She is, but we’ll pick her up at first light as soon as the weather clears,’ Lora said. ‘Don’t worry, Tobias is there with her.’

  ‘What!’ Sam nearly dropped the phone in surprise.

  ‘He’s alive, Sam. He helped us. Without him, we would have had many more casualties.’

  Where’s he been all this time—and why didn’t he let me know he was OK?

  Sam turned to look at Zara, sensing the fear and impatience to leave, to escape this place.

  ‘Look, Lora, there’s something else. I think I’ve had my next dream, but I’ll have to tell you later, we need to get away from here.’

  ‘Agreed. I’ve just arrived in London so I’ll coordinate our efforts from here. Stay safe.’

  ‘We will.’

  Sam turned to Zara. ‘They’re coming to get us, let’s go.’

  They went to the front door of the apartment and listened intently.

  ‘What if those guys are out there?’ Zara whispered.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Sam replied with a hushed voice. But he’d heard guards outside his room all night—talking and pacing. Sam hoped that there’d be no reason for Hans or his men to be on another floor.

  Time to find out.

  ‘We’ll have to chance it,’ Sam whispered. ‘Besides, it seems like Hans is only using the floor above. This place looks like it’s been empty for a while, right?’

  There was a quiet thud outside their door and Zara jumped in fright.

  Sam again held his finger to his lips. Zara nodded and they stood there, silent, listening with their ears against the timber door. When all was dead quiet again, Sam took a breath, turned the lock and opened the door a couple of centimetres.

  After peering out carefully into the corridor, they slipped out, the telephone receiver swinging on its cord in the room behind them.

  05

  ALEX

  Alex headed for the makeshift operations centre across the street from the still smouldering Enterprise skyscraper. With the Enterprise headquarters now cordoned off while firefighters and the police tried to make the structure safe, the uninjured Enterprise staff were gathering at the emergency meeting point in a building opposite.

  A handful of Agents had been taken to hospital by ambulance, but thanks to the Enterprise’s efficient evacuation procedures, no-one had been too seriously hurt.

  Inside the building, the corridor was abuzz with Agents and support staff, rushing here and there with equipment, desperately trying to repair the damage and salvage what they could. They were also trying to make sense of what just happened. He caught snippets of conversation as he walked by, much of it he already knew.

  ‘Stella went rogue!’

  ‘Matrix destroyed the computer lab …’

  ‘We’re out of the race now!’

  ‘I heard there’s another hidden site.’

  Phoebe came down the hallway towards him. ‘Alex, are you sure you’re OK?’ she asked, pointing to a graze on Alex’s cheek.

  ‘Really, Mum, I’m fine,’ Alex brushed her concern away. ‘I’m just looking for someone, I’ll be right back.’

  Alex kept moving until he came to a temporary medical bay, spotting the person he was searching for.

  Shiva was sitting up in a bed, typing away on a laptop. He looked a lot better than when Alex had last seen him—he had a bandage wrapped around his head and a bruised and swollen eye, but there was fire in those eyes.

  ‘Hey,’ Shiva said, smiling.

  ‘Hey yourself,’ Alex replied, pulling the curtain closed behind him. ‘How are you feeling?’

  Shiva flicked back the covers—he was fully dressed, shoes and all.

  ‘Ha!’ Alex laughed. ‘You keen to get back to work because of your new promotion?’ Following the devastating act of betrayal when Matrix joined Stella’s rogue element, Shiva had been immediately promoted to his position of the head of the IT department—news that pleased Alex.

  The curtain was pulled back and the Director stepped into the cubicle space. ‘I thought I’d find you two together,’ he said. ‘You OK, Shiva?’

  ‘Back on deck, sir, ready as ever,’ Shiva replied, ‘I know I’m needed.’

  ‘Indeed. And we’ll all have double duty to do, now we’ve lost so many to the other side,’ Jack sighed. ‘But we’re not alone in this. As you might know, the Enterprise and the Academy were created by the Professor and myself a long time ago. And while we may have had a strong difference in opinion about the role of Dreamers in the world that forced us in different directions, we were never sworn enemies. We just had different ideas about the prophecy and the last 13.’

  ‘And now?’ Alex asked.

  ‘Stella’s violent actions, going rogue and attacking both sides, has forced things to change. There is no more time for division. We must work together now. I’ve sent a team to the Academy to help with their search and rescue efforts in Switzerland. And teams of Agents and Guardians are already lining up to hunt down both Stella and Matrix.’

  ‘Well, I’m good to go,’ Alex said, motioning to Shiva. ‘You?’

  ‘Buddy, I’m ready when you are,’ Shiva said, getting out of bed and pulling a backpack from underneath.

  ‘Very good,’ Jack said. ‘I’ll see you both soon.’ With that, he turned and left, Agents immediately scurrying up to him, phones in hands, questions at the ready.

  It’s really b
attle stations now …

  ‘I still can’t believe that Stella turned on us all like that,’ Shiva muttered. ‘Matrix, yeah, didn’t surprise me that much—that guy always had a screw loose, and everyone could see it but they excused it because he was so brilliant at what he did. But there was always something not quite right about him.’

  ‘I just wish I could have raised the alarm earlier,’ Alex said, ‘when I hacked into Stella’s files and realised what she was up to. That might even have prevented the attack on the Academy.’

  ‘No, I don’t think so,’ Shiva said, shaking his head. ‘I mean, Stella’s taken nearly half the Agents with her, there’d have been no stopping what they were going to do to your friends.’

  ‘Yep.’ Alex wondered again about Sam and Eva, and where they were and what they’d gone through. ‘I just can’t believe she and Matrix and all of them did this and got away with it. I guess you … guess you never know, do you?’

  ‘Know what?’

  ‘What a traitor looks like.’

  Shiva nodded, lost in the thought. ‘Come on,’ he said, smiling and donning his backpack. ‘Let’s get the next flight out of here. I hear there’s not much room at Site B, so it’ll be “first in best dressed” when it comes to accommodation and work spaces.’

  ‘So we’re off to Amsterdam?’ Alex said, slinging his own pack over his shoulder.

  ‘Yep,’ Shiva replied as they walked.

  ‘Good. It’s closer to the Academy, and I want to see how they’re getting on.’

  06

  SAM

  The corridor was empty, except for the small but recognisable silhouette of a cat walking slowly down the hallway. At Sam’s feet were a bundle of old newspapers which, by the look of the settling dust, had just been knocked over.

  Phew.

  ‘Just a stray cat,’ Sam said. ‘Quick, there’s no guards out here, let’s move.’

  They raced down the corridor to a set of wooden doors at the end. There was a lift in the lobby beyond, the old type with a slide-across metal safety screen. The motor was whirring noisily—someone was coming down.