“Why are you doing all this?”
“You saw what was happening in Lieberstan. We didn’t set that up: the so-called civilised nations did. Human beings have proven over and over that they are incapable of living in peace. For any one nation to be comfortable, others must suffer. That’s the way it has always been. We will put an end to that by creating only one nation.”
“That’s what Kinsella – Cross – kept telling me.”
“He was right.”
“Maybe he was. But who are you to decide how other people should live their lives?”
“I’m a superhuman. I’m smarter than everyone else.”
“I’m a superhuman too. And I’m more powerful than you can even imagine. So by your logic I should be the one in charge, not you.”
“But I can control you.”
“Not perfectly.”
Yvonne sighed. “Many cultures share myths and legends, did you know that? Even cultures that seem to be very different often have the same roots to their folklore. One of the most common is the story of the flood. You’ve heard of that, I take it?”
“Noah and the ark, and all that. Yes, I’ve heard of it.”
“The basic story exists in almost every culture. The world is filled with corruption and evil, and God – or the gods, depending on what you believe – sends a great flood to wipe out most of the human race and start again. That’s what we’re doing here.”
“Killing innocent people to save other innocent people. You can’t justify that.”
“History will prove me right.”
“I’m sure that Adolph Hitler believed the same thing. If you want to save the world, why can’t you just use your power to order everyone to be nicer to each other?”
“Because not everyone on this planet speaks English, Colin. And because I want to create something here that’ll be around a lot longer than I will.” She walked to the edge of the roof and looked out over the town. “This place is not what it appears to be. There are no civilians here. We built it to look like an ordinary town, but it’s not. It’s a fortress. We have weapons that can track and take down even the most advanced missiles before they get close enough to do any damage. And if the military try to approach over land, they’ll discover that most of the buildings on the outskirts are actually disguised heavy weapons. Nothing short of a nuclear strike is going to penetrate our defences, and even then this building is strong enough to withstand that.”
“They’ll stop you!” Colin said.
“Let them try. The more fire-power they direct at this location, the less they’ll have to defend the rest of the world against our troops. I want you to familiarise yourself with this town and its defences. Your friends will be coming here.”
“How do you know that?”
“Haven’t you figured it out by now?” Yvonne said, turning towards the open hatch. “I know everything.”
Stephanie Cord pulled the remote control from Grant Paramjeet’s hand and switched the channel to UNC.
“Hey!” Grant tried to snatch it back.
“My house, my remote.”
On screen, the female news reader said, “Related news coming in from Monticello, Arkansas: according to witnesses, several dozen armed members of the local Trutopian community have raided a supermarket and cleared the shelves of supplies. This could be in retaliation to the earlier attack on the Trutopian community in nearby Jefferson county. Tom?”
The male news reader said, “That…uh…that seems unlikely, Diana. The attacks happened within minutes of each other, and it looks very much like the Trutopians were provoked. It’s understood by all Trutopians that the only way forward is through peace.”
Grant said, “It’s started.”
“Don’t be ridiculous!” Stephanie said. “No one’s that stupid.” She switched to the local news channel. It displayed nothing but a card reading, “We are experiencing technical difficulties. Please stand by.”
“That’s probably just a coincidence,” Stephanie said.
Alia came into the room. “The guy on the radio just said that the Trutopians have been declared illegal. If they don’t disband, the army’s going to be sent in. And there’s a curfew. No one’s allowed out on the streets until further notice.” She glanced at Grant. “You’ll have to phone your parents, tell them you’re staying here.”
Stephanie switched the TV back to UNC. The female news reader was saying, “…getting literally dozens of similar reports from all over the world. The Trutopians are said to be heavily armed and more than willing to use their weapons against their enemies. Fifteen people are confirmed dead, with upwards of a hundred injured. It’s believed that—”
Her companion interrupted her. “Diana, we’re getting a transmission from the new leader of the Trutopians…”
The screen changed to show a teenage girl walking up to a podium that displayed the Trutopians’ logo. There was a flurry of camera-flashes.
“Crap! It’s Yvonne!” Stephanie stabbed at the remote-control’s mute button.
“Hey! I want to hear that!” Grant said.
“No you don’t,” Alia said. “She’s got the power to make you do anything she says.”
They watched in silence as the camera closed in on Yvonne and she began speaking.
“What’s she saying, Grant?” Stephanie asked.
Grant began to recite Yvonne’s words: “The governments of the United States of America, Brazil, Germany…something…and Poland have all declared their intentions to invade Trutopian territory. We will not allow this to happen. I have a message to all the Trutopians listening. You all understand that what we’re building here is a utopia, a perfect world. But it’s not logical to build a perfect world on imperfect foundations. The old world has to be destroyed before the new one can begin.” He turned to Stephanie. “My God…!”
Stephanie pointed to the TV set. “She’s not finished!”
Grant continued: “Something…didn’t get that…Now it’s time to stop talking about peace, and start making it happen. Some people say that fighting for peace doesn’t make a lot of sense…They’re wrong. It makes perfect sense. You will fight and kill anyone who is not a Trutopian. You will keep fighting until we are triumphant.”
Yvonne simply turned and walked away. The camera panned to a shocked-looking reporter.
Stephanie hit the mute button again.
“Tom, Diana…I…I don’t know what to say. We’ve just heard what sounded very much like a call to arms issued by this unnamed teenage girl who, it is claimed, is the new leader of the Trutopians.”
Someone shouted off-camera and the reporter looked around wildly. The camera shook and began moving, bobbing and swaying as it followed the reporter. Breathlessly, he said, “Don’t know if you’re still picking this up…We’ve just been told that we are trespassing on Trutopian soil. We’ve been given five minutes to evacuate the building or we will be declared prisoners of war.”
The screen cut back to the two newsreaders.
The woman said, “Well, Tom, it appears that the president was right to call the Trutopians an evil, illegal organisation, especially if they’ve appointed this young girl as—”
Tom lashed out with his fist, knocking the woman to the floor. “You’re the ones who are evil! You broadcast lies and slander about us!” He leaped to his feet, picked up his chair, and was about to bring it down on her when a security officer darted in from off-screen and tackled him to the ground.
A voice shouted, “Go to commercial! Go to commercial!” and the screen was suddenly showing an advert for coffee.
Stephanie swallowed. “OK…Now it’s started.”
24
IN THE COOPER family’s quarters in Sakkara, Danny watched as Façade carried his pyjama-clad brother Niall into the sitting-room and sat him down on the sofa, next to his mother.
Rose Cooper was wrapped up in her dressing-gown, and looked blearily at them. “So what’s wrong now?”
“We’re leaving,�
� Façade said. “Not all of us. Just myself, Danny and Renata. Warren’s still recovering from surgery and can’t travel, so he and Caroline are going to stay. Plus there’s Mina and the baby to consider. Butler still believes in Sakkara, so he’s staying too.”
“What about Razor?” Rose asked.
“He’s definitely staying,” Danny said. “And we want you to stay too.” He crouched down next to his mother. “This is probably the safest place for you. Sakkara is practically impregnable, you’ve got the US army camped outside, and Butler has promised to make sure you’ll be OK.”
Niall looked up at his older brother. “So you’re going off to do superhero things?”
“Yep.”
“OK then. Just don’t get killed or anything stupid like that.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Rose said, “You don’t have to do this.”
“Somebody has to.”
Then the door to the apartment opened and Impervia strode in, followed by six armed guards. “No one is leaving.”
Façade asked, “And how do you know what we’re talking about?”
“After the attack on General Piers we started monitoring everything. I’m surprised you didn’t figure out we’d do that.”
Façade smiled. “Oh, we did.”
“This situation is too volatile for us to allow you…to…” Her shoulders sagged. “Damn it! Where’s Danny?”
Danny Cooper arrived on the roof of Sakkara to find that Renata had already taken care of everything: she stood on the StratoTruck’s ramp, surrounded by unconscious soldiers.
“Let’s go,” Renata said, racing up the ramp.
She jumped into the pilot’s seat to see that Danny was already sitting next to her. “I wish I could do that,” she muttered. “All right…Razor, you hear us?”
“Loud and clear. It’s all set. The equipment’s stored in the back, and you’ve got enough fuel for about six thousand kilometres.”
The StratoTruck’s six turbine engines whined into life and the vehicle rose sharply into the air.
“You’re now officially on the wrong side of the law.”
Renata laughed. “Hey! Doesn’t that make us supervillains?”
The morning sun rose over the Rocky Mountains, illuminating Colin Wagner as he floated in mid-air. He adjusted his eyesight to compensate and resumed scanning the sky.
“OK, Control. I can see a fighter, moving fast. It’s going from north to south. It’s pretty far away.”
“Identify the make and model of the craft,” the Trutopian mission analyst asked over the radio.
“Let’s see…It’s got the letters JSF on the side, near the pointy end.”
“Joint Strike Fighter. That’s an F-35 Lightning, Colin.”
“Are they dangerous?”
“Very. Anything else moving?”
“A lot of activity on the ground, but nothing close. How goes our completely illegal and immoral war? How many innocent people have we killed so far?”
Yvonne’s voice said, “Colin, I’m listening to everything you say. Do not speak about the war like that again.”
“Understood,” Colin replied.
He closed his eyes and listened. This high above the ground, it seemed that every sound reached him: he could hear gunfire, screaming, the rumble of tanks and the roar of helicopters and jets.
A new sound appeared and Colin opened his eyes to see that the F-35 had changed course, banking towards him.
“Uh oh. The fighter’s seen me…”
“Get out of there, Colin!” Yvonne said. “F-35s have got HPMs.”
“What?”
“Directed-energy weapons – high-powered microwaves that could fry your insides! Move! Do not let him get a direct line on you.”
Colin zoomed up and out of the path of the aircraft.
“Destroy the fighter, Colin!”
Colin pitched himself up and forward, and increased his speed, aiming to come down on top of the F-35. The noise of its engines was almost deafening and Colin had to almost completely shut down his hearing to be able to concentrate.
The pilot saw him coming and sharply banked the jet away from him; Colin increased his speed to match.
The F-35 went into a sudden three-hundred-and-sixty degree roll, and pitched up sharply as it emerged.
Colin streaked past it, unable to slow himself in time. This guy’s good…But he can’t keep it up forever.
Colin darted after it, but again the jet managed to shift its course, throwing him off. He’s probably been flying for years – I’ve only been doing it since yesterday.
He swooped down behind the craft, then came up directly beneath it. His fingertips brushed the fuselage just as the jet pulled up once more. I’m going about this the wrong way, Colin thought.
He hovered in place as he watched the jet zoom away, flip over and resume its attack. Colin dropped, plunging feet-first towards the ground, then reversed direction just as the F-35 passed overhead. He smashed through the rear of the plane, shattering its engines.
The F-35 began to drop like a stone.
He watched it for a moment, then launched himself after it, catching up, coming close enough to see the pilot frantically grabbing for the ejector seat’s lever.
The fighter’s canopy was blown off, and the seat was launched. Almost instantly, its parachute was deployed.
Colin and the pilot both watched the F-35 crash into the ground and break into thousands of pieces. Colin drifted towards the pilot and floated down alongside him, only a few metres away.
The pilot removed his oxygen mask. “What are you going to do to me?”
“Nothing. As soon as you land you’re free to go.”
For a moment, the pilot just looked at him, then he grabbed his handgun and aimed it at Colin’s face. “You’re not. You’re under arrest. You attacked a US Air Force plane, endangering the life of the pilot and threatening the security of the nation.”
“But you attacked me first!” Colin looked at the gun. He’d never actually been shot before. His father had been bullet-proof, but Colin still didn’t know whether he’d inherited that trait, and wasn’t too anxious to find out. “All right. Arrest me. It’s going to take your people hours to get here. Do you really believe that you can hold the gun on me all that time? I mean, just one lapse in concentration and I’m out of here.”
“Why are you people doing this?”
“I’m doing it because I’m being controlled by a superhuman who can make anybody do anything she wants. She’s doing it because she wants to destroy our civilisation so she can start a new one.”
“You know what you’re doing is wrong, but you’re doing it anyway?”
Colin nodded. “Yeah. On the positive side, for some reason she can’t order me to kill. But pretty much anything else she tells me, I have to do.”
The pilot lowered his gun. “Man, that sucks.”
“I know.”
A gust of wind caught the parachute, and the ejector seat began to drift. Colin moved to keep pace with it.
“So this girl…” the pilot said, “how are you going to stop her?”
“I don’t think I can. But there are others, the New Heroes. Trouble is, if they get anywhere near her, she’ll order me to fight them.”
“Where is she?”
“The Trutopian base in north-east Wyoming. The new town.”
Yvonne’s voice came in over Colin’s radio. “Colin? You dealt with that fighter yet?”
“Yes, it’s been destroyed.”
“Good. Then get back here. I’ve got another job for you.”
“OK.” Colin turned to the pilot. “I’ve got to go.” He pointed to the east. “Nearest road is that way. There’s nothing around here so you’ll be safe until your people come to pick you up. I hope they don’t make you pay for the fighter.”
“We’ll send the Trutopians a bill.”
Colin smiled and rose into the air. God, I hope they win.
Carrying two s
teaming mugs of coffee in his gloved hands, Evan Laurie nudged the door open with his shoulder and walked into the dark, freezing room.
The room had been carved out of solid ice. Even through his boots, thick socks and the rubber matting on the floor Laurie’s feet were aching with the cold.
He stepped over a bundle of cables that snaked across the floor and carried the mugs over to Victor Cross’s workstation. “I hate this place,” Laurie said, as he handed one of the mugs to Cross.
“So you keep telling me,” Cross said. He nodded towards the monitor. “The US Army are moving on the Trutopian HQ.”
Laurie dragged over a chair and sat down next to Cross. “You know that this could be the biggest mistake of your life, don’t you?”
“You should know by now that I don’t make mistakes,” Cross said. “Everything is going according to the plan. With Colin on her side, Yvonne will win this war.”
“Right. And then she’s going to figure out that we’re not dead. She’ll come looking for us.”
“She won’t figure it out. The DNA analysis of the bodies confirms that we died in the crash.”
Laurie said, “You should arrange for the bodies to go missing in case she wants to examine them herself. Because if she does she’ll spot that they’re not real bodies, just charred lumps of cloned flesh and bone.”
A message popped up on the screen. Cross frowned. “That’s not right…”
“What?”
“Danny Cooper and Renata Soliz have left Sakkara. They’ve stolen the StratoTruck.”
“They could be going after Yvonne,” Laurie said. “Renata’s immune to Yvonne’s mind-control, and if Danny’s moving fast enough he won’t be able to hear her. She won’t be able to control him either. What’s their trajectory?”
“Uncertain. The StratoTruck’s transponder has been disabled. But it doesn’t look like they’re heading for Wyoming.” Cross leaned back in his chair, staring at the monitor. “I don’t get this. I’ve taken everything into consideration. I know these New Heroes better than they know themselves. I know their strengths and their weaknesses. I know how they think and how they react. Right now, they should still be trying to work out a way to stop Colin.”
Absolute Power (The New Heroes, Book 3) Page 16