Allie's War Season Four

by JC Andrijeski

Another cloud of smoke and white dust flew into the back area of the lounge, even as I lowered my head. I closed my eyes, coughing, feeling Revik’s light form into a shield and slide over both of us briefly. I watched the debris and powder alter course and flow up over and around us as he did it, like air and dust flowing over a glass windshield.

  I felt worry on Revik briefly, him looking with his light...

  “Fuck.” He cursed aloud a second time, in Prexci. He’s moved them, Allie. The list seers. I don’t see their signatures in any of the ones he was planning on showing us...

  Is Shadow behind it?

  I felt Revik looking again, probably reading Dulgar and his people.

  No. I don’t think so...but I can’t tell for sure. I don’t want to get too close to that construct in Hong Kong...

  Then don’t. Don’t, baby... I pooled warmth in his chest, pulling his light nearer to mine. Where is he taking them? Revik? Can you feel where they are right now?

  Revik shook his head, exhaling a bit. He continued to look, then a sharper pulse of heat left his light. I think they’ve already left the island, Allie. I don’t see them anywhere, not among any of the stock. He’s sold them.

  Could he have hidden them here somewhere? Dulgar?

  Revik shook his head, but not exactly in a no that time. I don’t think so. I felt some details of the exchange. The transport. They’ve been sold...I’m trying to get a name, but they’re pretty heavily shielded.

  My jaw clenched as I fought to think through this.

  Twenty-six list seers, and we traced them all here.

  We couldn’t let them go. We just couldn’t.

  Where’s Dulgar? I sent. Right now? I looked through the darkness, trying to find his form by the fireplace. Is he still here?

  He’s on the move, Revik sent, tensing. He’s rabbiting, Allie. His guards are moving him right now. Back door...

  Where? Where are they taking him?

  Smoke filled the space of the lounge, making it difficult to see. Not like it had been easy to see before, with the dim lighting of the fireplaces and not much else, but now the visibility cut to basically zero, at least with my eyes. The reflecting pool was covered in ash, obscured by smoke and falling debris. I could barely see the flames of the fireplace anymore, meaning the one that stood only a few yards from us, at the end of the black-glass table.

  I was already stretching out my light, doing my best to ignore the screams as they broke out among the seers and humans on the terrace, when...

  My aleimi felt something.

  A jarring, off-note in our immediate Barrier space.

  It was faint, but I jerked my head around without thought.

  Squinting through the smoke, I extended my light in a tighter arc, straight into the corner wall behind the fireplace. My light hit a dense shield, military-grade, but once I was looking in the right direction, I glimpsed a Barrier shape I almost recognized.

  My mind formed gold eyes, gold threads on the sleeves of a black jacket...oily smile. Dulgar, and at least three of those bulked-up guards, who continued to pull him deeper into the corner. My light slid higher, looking at them from above, versus trying to penetrate that dense shield directly. Immediately, a view of the scene snapped into focus.

  Dulgar, both arms held by security goons, was being hustled and dragged towards an organic panel embedded in that same segment of wall. Flashing the image at Revik, I grabbed hold of his shoulder, using it to climb rapidly to my feet.

  “There!” I shouted, still half-deaf from the explosions. “They have some kind of escape hatch in the wall...”

  “Allie, wait––”

  But I was already launching my body after them, feeling more than seeing as a small panel popped open, sliding sideways in the wall. I could see it by then, too...with my eyes, I mean. Light poured out of the wall’s opening, illuminating dust fragments and smoke, giving that end of the floor a spooky, rock-concert feel. The hole itself was smaller than a regular door, but still bigger than I would have expected, maybe five feet tall and three wide.

  Briefly, I saw Dulgar himself as he looked back at me, outlined in the illumination that poured out of the wall’s opening. Half of him was in shadow from being backlit, but his eyes caught the light, and glimpsing the gold irises, I knew for certain it was him.

  The guards and Dulgar were already disappearing inside when Revik caught up with me. He tried to grab hold of my arm, to stop me.

  “Allie!” he shouted. “Wait! We don’t know where that goes!”

  “We can’t wait!” I snapped. “He knows who the buyer is! He knows where they’re going!”

  “But Jon is downstairs...”

  I hesitated, then motioned towards the terrace, switching to my mind. You stay then, if you think they need backup. Balidor can finish here...you help Jon get the ones working the casino floor and the rooms. Feeling Revik’s light heat up, I clutched his arm. I got this. Promise. I’ve got access to the telekinesis again. I don’t need to fight his people...just get close enough to Dulgar to question him. Find out who he sold them to, and––

  “No! No fucking way!” Revik caught hold of me for real that time when I started to move, then abruptly gave in, moving with me towards the wall.

  I felt frustration ripple his light, but also agreement.

  You’re right, he sent. We need him. I’m coming with you, he added shortly.

  I started to shake my head. I’ve got the necklace––

  “No.” He shook his head, adamant. No fucking way. No separations...you promised me, Alyson. And anyway, Jon doesn’t need me. He has Maygar.

  I started to say something to that, too, then didn’t, shutting my mouth.

  Revik wasn’t about to compromise on this particular point, and really, I didn’t want him to. I agreed with him. He still held my wrist when we reached the organic wall, but released me when we both saw the panel door closing frictionlessly on invisible tracks. Jumping forward, I fought to grab hold of it with my hands...

  ...only to have it slide inexorably under my fingers.

  It shut without me even slowing it down.

  I cursed in Prexci, then turned.

  Revik was already by the wall where the guards had been, prying open the panel with his fingers. Watching him yank down on a dead-metal plate to expose the squid-like tendrils of the organic circuits, I walked over to join him, staying behind the alcove to be out of the range of random gunfire, since the smoke made visibility pretty much shit, anyway.

  Cover me? he sent softly.

  I nodded, throwing a denser shield over his aleimic form.

  Watching him squint into the dim light exuded by the living organics, I grabbed hold of the necklace I wore, and yanked it off my neck. Once I had, I put my light into the organic strands, commanding them to reconfigure. Within seconds, they formed the shape of another tool, this one for manipulating filiament strands and equipped with a penlight.

  Here, baby, I told him, handing it over. Use this.

  He took it from me with a pulse of gratitude, then went back to working over the panel. Tossing the piece of metal he’d removed to the floor, he activated the light on the tool, peering in on the squid-like strands.

  Fuck, he muttered in my head. I was never good at doing it this way.

  Feeling him thinking about Garensche, I winced, remembering the big seer and how he died. I’d appreciated Gar while he’d been alive...big perverted weirdo that he was...but now that he was gone, I realized just what a genius he’d been with the machines. I realized that, in part, because there was a bunch of stuff we just couldn’t do now, or couldn’t do quickly, not with him gone. The only one who even came close was Dante, and she was human, so some of the Barrier stuff just went over her head.

  Then don’t, I urged him. It’ll probably be faster to just talk to the damned thing, anyway. It’s what Gar would have done...

  Nodding, Revik plunged his hand in the open panel, grimacing a little as he wrapped his bare fingers around t
he hanging organic strands. I clutched his arm, hearing the mind of the AI through Revik’s light––or cybernetic organism, really. I felt Revik was trying to reason with the thing, trying to coax it into seeing him as one of the Legion of Fire. I felt him telling the AI that its masters were in danger, that we wanted inside to help them.

  The AI appeared to be skeptical.

  Still listening to their strange conversation, I split my focus to keep an eye on our position, even as I densified the shield I was using to hide Revik’s Barrier work. With the smoke and the screaming and increasing automatic weapon fire, I couldn’t make out much, and I was hesitant to go into the Barrier any more than necessary. I knew their infiltrators would be looking for us by now. I didn’t want to risk some smarter-than-most seer putting two and two together when they saw us hovering over that organic panel.

  So far, it seemed like they’d been a little too distracted with the anti-aircraft guns and the breach on the roof to give a damn about what we were doing. In the few glimpses I got of the room, mostly I saw people with soot and dust-smeared faces crouched behind white couches. Most of them looked scared out of their wits.

  Next to me, Revik cursed.

  Fucking thing is encrypted. Keeps asking me for my DNA password.

  Can you get past it? I sent.

  I’m trying...

  My eyes slid to the other end of the room, where the gunfire was getting closer. Black-clad soldiers of the Legion of Fire were definitely firing back at someone now. The anti-aircraft gun had quieted, too, so Balidor’s people must have reached the terrace.

  Even as I thought it, I wondered where we might get a gun.

  No, Allie, Revik sent, obviously hearing my thoughts. Stay here. I don’t want you wandering around looking for guns...

  I considered arguing with him, thinking about how easy it would be, to sneak up behind that line of guards and knock one of them out with my light. It would be great to have at least one automatic rifle...and maybe whatever sidearm he was carrying. Feeling Revik’s light charge up as this went through my mind, I relented, rubbing his back with a hand.

  How much time do we have? I asked him.

  He glanced at his old-fashioned watch.

  Forty-two and a half minutes, he sent.

  And Maygar’s with Jon? I sent. They got in okay?

  Revik nodded, giving me a bare glance. Jon and Maygar breached downstairs about fifteen minutes ago. Facial rec picked up Maygar. I felt it on Dulgar’s light.

  I frowned, nodding. That explained a few things.

  We didn’t have time to talk about any of that now, though.

  You think Shadow is behind the seers being moved? I asked him again.

  Revik made a noncommital gesture with his free hand.

  You think it’s just a coincidence, then? I pressed.

  He shrugged. No. But maybe not Shadow himself.

  What does that mean? I asked, puzzled. You think someone else is tracking List seers?

  He shrugged again. The buyer was Arabic...or pretending to be. He was pretty specific though, Allie, whoever he was. I saw him consulting a list of names on his hand-held. He was looking for specific seers...and he only took those on the List. Giving me a bare glance, he let his light exude a pulse of reassurance. It may be a coincidence. They’re all highly ranked. And if it was Shadow, they’d be dead already, right?

  I nodded, grimacing a little. Pushing my hair out of my face, I clicked under my breath, knowing it wouldn’t be audible in here.

  Will you and ‘Dori be able to track them? I sent. If we can’t get to Dulgar?

  I felt a pulse off him, but couldn’t quite untangle the emotion there.

  I don’t know, he sent. Whoever’s got them has them under a pretty heavy shield...

  I felt a shift in the Barrier and turned.

  More soldiers of the Legion of Fire were on their way. I felt some on the stairs, and on the elevators. Balidor’s people would have to hurry if they were going to take control of the terrace.

  How far away are the boats? I asked Revik, thinking of our daughter that time.

  When he didn’t answer, I looked back at him.

  He was staring at the circuits. Some of their glow leaked onto the lower half of his face in a blue slash, and I could feel him there, once more trying to hack the machine’s consciousness. I was just reaching out my light, wondering if I could help, when he let out a sharper exhale, straightening all at once.

  You got it?

  I think so...yes.

  Even as he said it, the panel in the wall was starting to open.

  Orange light flooded the area by the fireplace a second time. When I looked up, I could see Revik again. He smiled at me, motioning me towards the five-foot-tall passage.

  You sure we should go without guns? I sent, smiling back. That’s so unlike you, husband.

  Clicking in mock disapproval, he tapped his temple with a tanned finger.

  I smiled back, in spite of myself. Okay, walking bomb boy...maybe you shouldn’t be pushing me to go first, then.

  But I was already moving towards the opening. I felt him behind me as I slid up to the edge of the wall, letting my light snake out lightly ahead. I didn’t feel anything.

  Poking my head around the corner, I saw a long, narrow corridor.

  It flashed in and out of view, lit by orange emergency lights, which probably kicked in at the same time as the generators. For the first time, it occurred to me that the whole security system, as well as the power, had been tied into the construct I’d cracked. Thinking about that, I clicked briefly into the Barrier, just long enough to feel the mass of infiltrators in the surrounding Barrier space, working frantically to repair the damage I’d done.

  Ten minutes had passed. Barely that.

  Revik laid a hand on my arm, sending me an impulse to be careful.

  I checked our shield, then ventured deeper into the opening in the wall.

  A gun went off overhead and I ducked.

  From the flare of light in the Barrier, I could tell that Revik deflected the bullet.

  That fact didn’t reassure me...especially when I saw the line of soldiers moving towards us, emerging out of the smoke. Lit in front by the orange emergency lights, they held automatic rifles, wearing all black apart from the armbands of the Legion of Fire.

  Revik threw up a shield, holding out a hand as they raised their guns.

  Grabbing his jacket sleeve, I pulled him the rest of the way into the opening, even as they opened fire. Once I had him inside, I started feeling over the walls with my hands and light, looking for another panel, some way to close it.

  I heard violent, loud cracks and winced.

  Revik was breaking guns.

  I figured better that than spines.

  I found the panel, and pinged Revik, who tossed me the cutting tool. Cracking the panel open with the same tool, I shoved my hands into the tendrils the way Revik had, even as I heard another set of small explosions from Revik igniting the bullets inside a least one gun magazine. I peered past the opening again, only to have another guard fire on me for my trouble.

  “Stay out of sight, Alyson...jesus,” Revik said, raising his voice against the sound of gunfire. “I’m trying to just scare them off...not kill them all.”

  Just knock them out! I sent.

  I would if I could... he said, pointing up with his hand.

  Feeling the military-grade, mobile construct surrounding the infiltrators now stalking us, I nodded, then focused back on the panel.

  Once I could feel the organism, I sent an impulse to the organic to close the door.

  It complied without protest.

  Really, without saying boo.

  I flinched, watching in disbelief as the panel began to slide shut. Apparently they put all of the security measures on the outside.

  Allie, what did you promise that thing? Revik joked.

  Wouldn’t you like to know? I grinned at him.

  Not really, come to think of it.
..

  My adrenaline spiked as several of the remaining guards lunged towards the opening, right before Revik shoved him back using the telekinesis. Revik was still avoiding killing people, which I was totally good with, of course...even so, I found myself wishing he’d get better at busting kneecaps.

  You try it, he sent, his light holding humor again. Miss smarty pants...

  His light was still humming from the telekinesis, and I let out a short laugh. I tensed again when I saw another of the black-clad guards reappear right at the opening. Two of them reached for it, scrabbling with black gloves on the outside, like I had done, when...

  The door closed.

  One guard got a final few shots off with a handgun, right before that narrow opening completely vanished. At least one made it through before the edges met, making me duck again, even as my adrenaline briefly spiked.

  Then the last of that shot echoed down the corridor, too.

  We were left in silence.

  I couldn’t even hear the alarm much anymore, I realized. From here it was only a distant hum, like an alarm clock going off in a neighbor’s apartment. We were cut off from the craziness in here pretty much entirely. In fact, I wondered if we could even get out.

  “Having second thoughts on this plan of yours, wife?” Revik said humorously.

  Giving a faint snort, I looked him over. “Not shot, then, husband?”

  “Nope.”

  I smiled, clicking at him. “Does Balidor know where we are?”

  “He should,” Revik said, tapping the old-fashioned watch.

  We’d managed to equip it with an ancient GPS pulse, one that slipped past their sensors, which mostly looked for organics. Still smiling faintly, Revik made an apologetic gesture with one hand.

  “Probably wouldn’t hurt to call him anyway, now that the grid’s down,” he added. “I suspect the Legion of Fire figured out by now that we aren’t actually here so you can blow their boss while I watch...”

  Hearing the genuine irritation in his words, I let out another humorless snort. When Revik motioned in sign language that we needed to hurry, I nodded. We were both walking fast down the narrow corridor and deeper into the building.

  Despite his casual demeanor, I could feel he was in full-on military mode.