by Tanya Lisle
“What are you doing?”
“Setting up Iris from a phone is impossible,” Ed said. Her fingers flew across the keys and she created several small windows on the single screen to work off of. Her eyes locked on the screen, her phone left to the side as she opened more and more windows. The clacking of the keyboard filled the room.
“Okay, so who are we putting where?” Kitty asked, turning back to the table and trying to assign their people to specific areas.
Snow looked to Ed, then back to the table, watching as Kitty and Mac pointed at different areas of the map and outlined the names of people who would go there. She followed those fingers and picked up the names, placing the person at the intersection or hallway and trying to see what would happen to them at that time. She still couldn’t see what attacked them, but she could see where they would encounter something and a better idea of when.
“They will be shot at,” Snow said. “They are hit from behind at 1438.”
“What if they come out here?” Kitty asked, altering their route.
“They will not.”
Snow could feel her insides churning when she opened her mouth. Her throat tore at itself to keep her from speaking and her lungs split to try and stop her breath, but she knew that she couldn’t let it stop her. It was punishment for daring to try and change the future without the permission of the Fates, but she was not willing to let them kill her. She wiped away the blood that tried to blind her, even as the movement threatened to tear apart the muscles in her arms.
Both Mac and Kitty didn’t notice as the bruises formed on her pale skin, though Kitty looked worried at the sight of the blood smeared on her face. She tried to make Mac slow down, Mac asking her at every moment if they would encounter something in one spot or another. Snow accommodated them as best she could, but she could feel that she would not remain conscious for much longer.
“We still have a couple other issues,” Ed said from the side, still pecking away at the keys and not looking back. “We’ve got a plane apparently coming in and… did you ever figure out what the last one was planning for us?”
“No,” Snow said.
Ed made a noise, her fingers stopping on the keys for a moment. “What about the walls?” Ed asked. “Over the next week, is there anything else you can see happening to the walls of Janus? Start at a week away and look back, maybe?”
Snow kept her eyes on the map, but her attention was on the walls. She couldn’t quite make out what happened a week from now. It felt unset, still slowly coming back together as the rules were being written. She couldn’t quite tell what was happening to it, only that the walls were no longer there in a week. None of this place remained in a week, though that was of no help. She needed to see what made the Janus Complex cease to be.
“Problem,” Ed said from the corner, waving Mac and Kitty to the computer. She maximized a window where several dark shapes moved quickly on the horizon, getting closer to the Jaus Complex. “Looks like we have people out by Section I.”
“I got them,” Kitty said. She left, leaving her phone on the table behind her.
“I’ll sound the alarm and get the evacuation going,” Ed said, still looking over her screens. “We don’t have anyone on Section J, do we? Iris’ servers are there.”
Mac looked back over to the table. “We need people over at J,” he said. “I think we still have Hester and hers in reserve so — Fuck!”
Mac looked up and Snow knew what he saw. She was coated in a light layer of blood, several of the vessels having burst. Her throat and lungs were filled with fluid and she could no longer breathe. Still, her eyes were wide and red, staring down at the map, blood pooling at her fingertips.
She knew what Tavorian had planned. She could see the winds come and the cyclone that would devour the Janus Complex regardless of what happened in this battle. Her red vision went black before she could say a word.
Chapter 19
The evacuation alarm blared over everything, lights showing the way to the Medical Wing. People knew what to do at this point. They were still largely packed from the last raid and were able to pick up and get out of their homes. Most of Security was busy with either getting everyone out before anything happened or getting ready for the incoming attack.
“You’re staying inside,” Kitty told David privately as she got her helmet in place. “We need these guys dealt with quickly and you’re shit on the ground. Get up to the embrasure. And be careful up there.”
“You too.” David saluted and disappeared through the hidden door. Give him a handgun or any of the weapons they used on the ground and he was useless. Hand him a sniper rifle and he could pick off a fly a kilometer off.
Kitty shook her head and looked at the other six people she’d managed to round up. They weren’t her first choices, but she’d left her phone somewhere and she couldn’t call anyone. For a small group of intruders, they would do. At least they knew how to suit up without any help and avoid friendly fire. They couldn’t spare their better options right now on something this small.
They just needed to stop them before they made it in. Kitty glanced at the wall to the right, knowing full well what was over there. It was too close to Iris for her comfort and they would be screwed if they lost communication throughout the complex.
“Shoot first, take them out quick!” she barked at them. “Move out!”
There was once a maze of trees and flowers out here, though all that remained were the concrete planters. They stayed low and took positions behind them. Kitty kept her eyes out on the horizon and led the way, stopping them one by one to take a stable position.
They were a much larger group than Kitty thought they’d be. She guessed the mob was about twenty, though trying to count them through the haze was impossible. Though the cameras could pick up something more clearly, she wasn’t equipped with whatever filters Ed had access to. All she could tell was that they weren’t far off — close enough now that she could hear them shouting at one another — and there were more of them than they had ammunition for.
The blob of people shifted and a cry went up in their numbers. David had probably begun to pick them off, which was reassuring. What bothered her was that they weren’t moving from their spot. If they were being picked off, the last thing the group should do is stay still so David could keep shooting at them.
The communication in her helmet crackled and David’s voice filled her ears. “Kitty, get out of there!”
“Wh — oh fuck, everyone fall back!”
She saw something large cutting through the haze with fire on its tail heading straight at them. Kitty pushed the rest of them back toward the door, but they were much too slow.
***
“Tell where she is!”
Kitty heard a crunch and a cry of pain, followed by sobbing and an attempt to get words out. Her mind was more alert than her body, which still struggled to come back around to consciousness. Her ears stung, though she didn’t know if she heard ringing or if that was only pain. Her already sore leg throbbed and she was pretty sure she had been crushed at one point by a falling wall. Her body felt like someone had tried to grind her into powder and given up part way. She could still feel each finger, though she lost track of her left foot.
She didn’t really need that foot anyway.
“Tell where she is. We stop.”
In all the movies Clyde made her watch, she had never heard such a horrible accent. She opened her bleary eyes to a man standing over one of her own, a pipe in hand that was already covered in blood. She couldn’t even tell who he held up in one hand and threatened with that pipe anymore, their face too streaked with blood and dirt and tears.
“The fuck are you talking about?” Kitty asked. Her voice was louder than she expected it to be, but as she looked around, she understood why. The whirring of machinery and the soft beating of the fans were the only sounds. Lights flickered from the rows and rows of metal boxes, all arranged on even spaced shelves.
&nbs
p; Of course they were in Iris. Of course.
The man tossed her comrade to the ground with a thud. With him this close, she could recognize David. She wasn’t sure how much of him was mangled from the falling wall or what they’d done to him already. She fought back the urge to reach out and see if he was even breathing, unwilling to draw any more attention to him. If he was alive now, she wanted to keep it that way. She couldn’t let herself think about the alternative.
Status. She needed to see who was still here and how much trouble they were in. She was propped up on the wall with the others, all in varying states of consciousness. At least one of them was so twisted that they might be dead. Others had their helmets on and she couldn’t tell if they were even awake.
Around them, people were laughing and looking bored. The invasion party, she figured, were taking a moment to ask them a few questions before they proceeded. They were dark like Roland, though they didn’t look like they came from wherever he did.
Not that it mattered. They were probably dead as soon as one of them told these guys whatever they wanted to know.
“You!” The man grabbed Kitty by the front of her suit and tore off her helmet. He dragged her away from the wall, laughing. “A bitch! You tell us where you keep her or we kill rest.”
“Keep who?” Kitty asked. She couldn’t keep her neck still, her head flopping as she tried to bring it around to look at him. Her hands, she realized, were tied behind her and her feet bound together. Everything hurt and she felt very tired. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The mountain girl,” another one said. His English was much better. “We only want the mountain girl. We will leave you alone if we get her.”
“I don’t know if you know this,” Kitty said, trying to get her head upright to look at him. She met his eye with a grin and let out a small laugh. “There’re no mountains in Saskatchewan.”
The other man laughed as well. A moment later, Kitty went flying from his backhand, landing painfully on the ground. “Funny girl,” he said.
A kick landed in her stomach and she curled up against it. She wanted to vomit, but choked it down.
“So many jokes.”
His boot hit her head hard and she saw stars. She couldn’t breathe and her throat was warm. She could taste blood and other awful things as it all rushed out of her, spilling on the ground beside her in a warm puddle.
He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her up to look at him. “Where is the mountain girl?” he asked again.
Kitty coughed, her mouth tasting more of blood than vomit. “No mountains,” she managed to cough out.
Another man stepped out from the ring of people, speaking in a language she had never heard before. He made a show of whatever it was he was saying, gesturing wildly at either of his companions. Whatever he said, it elicited laughter and Kitty was glad for the break. The one holding her hair threw her to the side, Kitty almost grateful for the hard landing if it meant that she could rest for a moment.
From against the wall, she could see eyes on her and their hands behind them starting to move. Two of them were conscious now, with the third starting to stir. They watched her and moved slightly, trying to show her that they were going to get free and help.
Kitty kept her movements as small as she could, shaking her head no and keeping her eyes on them. She needed them to stay right there and say nothing. They weren’t to help her. They were to keep from drawing attention to themselves. She would distract them as best she could, but they weren’t to try and save her.
The one with a pipe came to the wall and picked up David’s leg, dragging him out to the middle of the ring. David started to stir with a groan and Kitty felt relief immediately followed by fear. He couldn’t even talk, so she didn’t know what they wanted with him, but still they dragged him by a leg to the middle. The man with the bloody pipe took a spot over him and the man who didn’t speak English picked her back up by the hair, smiling as his breath grazed past her ear. He said something that she didn’t understand.
“Jovver is telling you to be happy,” the third one said, nodding at the one speaking in Kitty’s ear. “We will not make you any uglier. Tell us where the mountain girl is.”
“There are no mountains in Saskatchewan.”
The pipe landed with a crunch on David’s leg. He didn’t even twitch.
She froze at the sound, her eyes unable to look away. She needed to make sure he was still breathing. Still alive, at least. She couldn’t let him take another hit in his condition or it might kill him. It might have already.
“Joven doesn’t like that answer. Where is the mountain girl?”
She hesitated, trying to come up with something. They were dead once she told them anything about Snow anyway, so she couldn’t give them their answer. Not that she knew anything about where she was now. If she didn’t give them an answer they liked, David would get another bone smashed by the pipe in Joven’s hand.
Pain shot through her side and she let out a scream in surprise, muffling it and grinding her teeth against the pain as the knife plunged into her. Jovver said something in her ear and she could hear his sneer as he gave the knife a jerk.
“He says you take too long. Don’t worry. He is very good with his knife. He will not kill you quickly. If you die, we have others. Where is the mountain girl?”
Her breathing was ragged and she was out of ideas. Short of Snow showing up, she really didn’t know what she was going to do.
A loud knock struck the door. There was what looked like a wagon in front of it to keep it shut, but the entire room focused on the door. The knocking continued for a moment longer. Joven left David’s side and went closer to the door and the man who could speak English joined him.
“You got our people in there!” Mac’s voice came booming from the other side of the door. “We want ‘em back!”
Kitty wasn’t sure whether she should be relieved or just embrace death now.
“We want the mountain girl! Give her to us and we will consider!”
“How do I know they’re still alive? I want to talk to one of them.”
Jovver twisted the knife in her again and she gritted her teeth, sucking in a breath and trying to keep her body from twitching on the knife. He dragged her toward the door, pressing her up against it, the knife not leaving from its spot inside her.
Kitty let out a yelp and collected herself. She was dizzy from the pain and from everything else, but she had to keep it together. “Hey Mac,” she said, knowing how pained her voice must sound.
“You cooperating in there?”
“I tried to tell them there’s no mountains in Saskatchewan and they decided to go Frollo.”
“Didn’t see the light?” he asked.
“That’s enough!” the third man roared. Jovver pulled Kitty back, leaving the knife in her side as he threw her back toward the center of the ring. “You will bring us the mountain girl now.”
Kitty struggled to her knees and went to David’s body. She laid over it, trying to cover it as best as she could and looked back to the people still against the wall. They managed to get their restraints off in the commotion. Now was as good a time as any.
“Fire in the hole!” she yelled as loudly as she could.
The door blew open a moment later and the air went white. She closed her eyes against the flash and saw nothing of the chaos that happened around her. People kicked and stepped on her, but she stayed firmly covering David, listening very carefully for his faint heartbeat as the shouting and shots and explosions happened around her.
“Grace?” Mac said as the sound died down. He cut her arms free and gingerly helped her off of David. “You still-”
“Ed’s going to call,” she said immediately. The room was trashed, with several of the servers knocked over and significantly fewer lights blinking on. She wasn’t sure how well they would operate with parts of it on fire, but she was pretty sure it wasn’t long.
“Medic!” Mac called, g
etting someone to look at her. Mac stood up, the phone call coming as soon as he got to his feet.
She let herself be treated, lying down where they asked her to and keeping a closer eye on David. They got him on a stretcher, keeping him as together as they could before they took him away. She tried to keep her breathing even and stay calm, but she couldn’t stop trembling. As much as she needed the knife removed and the feeling returned to her leg, she needed to shoot someone between the eyes more.
“Ed says she’s got this,” Mac told her, helping her back to her feet. Kitty couldn’t feel her leg, struggling to keep balance on it, but she could put weight on it without it collapsing. “You can’t keep going like this. You’re out.”
“Like fuck I am,” Kitty said.
“You can’t even stand. Once Iris is back, go help Ed with coordinating. That’s an order.”
Kitty glared at him. “Yes sir,” she said.
He handed Kitty her phone. “Before Iris goes down, get everyone to Section F and G. Ed said there’s three semi-trucks heading this way.”
Chapter 20
When he came back together, Brady didn’t expect to be here. He was still disoriented, but he recognized those train stickers that served as a trim for his room anywhere. His mother insisted that he left them alone and he didn’t need to be smacked more than once to learn to not take them down again.
“Okay, now you just stay there,” came his mother’s voice from the door. She leaned into the room as he looked blearily on. “I’m going to make sure you don’t go off with that woman again. It’s for your own good. That Snow White is too dangerous and you never know what she’ll do.”
Brady let out a noise of confusion.
“No,” she told him quickly. “I don’t care, she needs to go. If no one else will get rid of her, then I’ll just have to. Her and that damn mountain of hers. And don’t worry about that plane. The plane isn’t landing here. Now you be good until I get back.”