7

by James Phelan

  “That was amazing!” Eva said, catching her breath.

  “I only took out the guy to the right,” Lora said. “You took down those three—looks like all that practice paid off.”

  “I don’t even know how, or what just happened …” Eva said, relaxing from her jujitsu stance and looking at her fists in awe. “I just kind of—flipped a switch. Who knew I could do that?”

  “I’ve created a monster,” Lora said, a hint of pride in her voice. She was then serious again as she scanned the hallways. “These guys won’t be alone. We’re going to have to get out of here—right now.”

  They took the fire escape, racing down the metal stairs at the rear of the hotel. A few floors from the ground, Eva could make out cop cars parked at each end of the alley.

  “Would they be working for Mac?” Eva asked.

  “Probably,” Lora said, “he has connections everywhere.”

  “How do we get out of here?”

  “This way,” Lora said, slipping down the remaining stairs and jumping from the last landing into the hotel’s loading bay, where several vans were parked. “We’ll stow away.”

  “Wait,” Eva said, taking one last peek around at the cops. They were stopping all the vehicles exiting.

  No way.

  “No, we can’t get out that way.”

  “OK, plan B,” Lora said, and her Stealth Suit changed into a Seattle PD uniform. Eva copied it flawlessly.

  “Think we pass as cops?” Eva asked, nervous.

  “I think I do,” Lora said. “But your hair is probably non-regulation.”

  Eva caught the reflection of her spiky black hair and thick dark eyeliner in the back window of a van.

  “Give me a sec,” Eva said, turning to a dripping tap behind them and turning it on. She pulled her hand across her face and smoothed down her hair. A minute later there was no trace of makeup and her hair was slicked back neatly and tucked under her police cap.

  “That’ll do it,” Lora said. “OK, let’s take the alleyway.”

  “And what, walk right past the cop cars?” Eva asked as she fell into step next to Lora. They were approaching the southern end of the laneway.

  “No, not quite,” Lora said, taking her dart gun out of its holster and adjusting the amount of sedative that each projectile would contain. “Just follow my lead.”

  Lora approached two police officers, who turned their way after clearing a delivery van to pass through. She smiled.

  “Howdy officers,” the first one said, his hands resting on his hips. “Nice day.”

  “You have no idea,” Lora replied, taking a quick look up and down the lane to make sure that there were no onlookers. She swiftly pulled the dart gun from behind her back and dropped them both with a shot to the legs before they could blink. “Quick, help me put them in the doorway so they can’t be seen,” she murmured to Eva, who stood and stared in shock.

  As they shifted the first unconscious cop, his police uniform changed before their eyes into the standard dull metal grey jumpsuit of a Stealth Suit.

  “Well,” Lora said, leaving him to the side of the street. “Now I don’t feel so bad about darting them. We’ll leave them here.”

  “Who are they?” Eva asked, looking at the other guy with the dart in his leg, his Stealth Suit now also visible.

  “I’m betting they’re reinforcements for those guys upstairs, so they’re probably here on Mac’s orders,” Lora replied, getting into the high-performance cop car and revving the engine as Eva got in the passenger seat. She dropped the car into gear and expertly made the tight turn away from the alley, tires squealing in protest at the speed. “And we’re not going to hang around to find out if I’m right.”

  14

  SAM

  No sooner had Sam and Tobias registered the dart in Duke’s chest, than the front door was blasted off its hinges and sent flying across the room. Agents rushed into the kitchen, weapons drawn. Sam could hear windows shattering as more enemies entered the house through every vantage point.

  “Don’t move!” a commanding voice rang out.

  Sam and Tobias froze. Together they stood under the watchful gaze of the armed men.

  “Place your arms on top of your head,” one of the Agents ordered, moving slowly to Tobias and binding his wrists with strong plastic ties. Then he levelled the dart gun at Sam’s neck.

  “You didn’t need to dart Duke,” Tobias protested. “He’s too old to be treated like that.”

  The leader of the group said nothing. There were seven of them now, all alert, ready to shoot given the opportunity.

  Sam struggled against the guy who was putting ties on his wrists behind his back.

  “Where are you taking us?” Sam asked the leader.

  No answer.

  They were led to the couch and pushed down to sit uncomfortably, their hands tied tightly. Sam immediately thought of the Gears hidden in the barn and was relieved that he had taken them out of his backpack that still sat in the corner of the room.

  “We’ll never tell you anything,” Sam said, defiant.

  Still the men said nothing, although the leader had two guys put Duke on the other sofa, where he snored like an old steam train.

  “Don’t bother with them,” Tobias said to Sam. “They’re just the muscle. They’ve clearly been watching this place, waiting for the moment we got here.”

  Sam understood what he meant. These Agents had undoubtedly been monitoring the house, waiting to see if Tobias, and possibly Sam, would show up. They would report in their catch and await new orders.

  “We walked into a trap,” Sam said to Tobias. “What do we do now?”

  “We wait …”

  “I thought we’d be seeing you soon,” Tobias said to Stella as she strode toward them. “This op had all the hallmarks of your ruthlessness.”

  It had taken no more than an hour for a jet to arrive, landing almost silently in the paddock outside. Sam could see it touch down through the open doors of the barn, so much like the Academy’s jet—able to fly undetected and to land vertically like a helicopter.

  Stella stood in front of them. They had been moved to the main barn and strapped to chairs in the vast space. The Agents were now out of sight. Sam had been running through scenarios in his mind for the last hour how Tobias and he could somehow overwhelm them—but it seemed impossible.

  “I don’t have much use for you, Tobias,” Stella said acidly, “so I’d keep your tone pleasant if I were you.”

  “And me?” Sam asked. “You have use for me, right?”

  “Oh, like you wouldn’t believe,” Stella said through a sneer. She bent down to open a rugged black case on the barn floor before them.

  Inside the case, Sam could see a notebook computer, hooked up to a dream recorder. She was planning to enter his subconscious mind and draw out every little detail from his dreams.

  She’s not getting anything from me.

  “I know that you’re familiar with these,” Stella said to Sam as she powered the machine up. “We’re going to watch the playback of your most recent dream—don’t bother talking.”

  “Good luck with that,” Sam said.

  Focus, Sam. Gotta hold out—gotta shut her out of your mind.

  “The benefit of no longer having a boss, or any rules,” Stella said, “is that I can set any limit on these controls that I wish.”

  Sam strained against his straps.

  “Careful,” Stella said, walking over and placing two postage-stamp sized electrodes on his temples. “The more you struggle, and the more you try to hide your dream, the more I will have to ramp up the power. You don’t want to try resisting a dream recorder—it can leave you, shall we say, a little less smart in waking life.”

  Sam looked to Tobias.

  “Oh, he hasn’t warned you?” Stella said, smiling. “Interesting …”

  “What’s she mean, less smart?” Sam asked Tobias.

  “Oh, go on, Tobias,” Stella goaded, “why don’t you t
ell your little friend here what can happen if he fights the machine on dream recall.”

  Sam swallowed hard, felt sweat beading on his forehead.

  “It has dangers, if you fight it,” Tobias said quietly to Sam. “They are delving so deep into the core of your memory that if you resist it can cause permanent memory issues.”

  “What kind of issues?” Sam said.

  “Worst case? Amnesia.”

  Sam gulped.

  OK, new plan. Let them have this one. We’ll all see where the dream leads … we’ll just have to beat them to it.

  He nodded to Tobias that he understood what had to be done.

  “OK,” Sam said to Stella, trying to sound indifferent. “Go ahead.”

  The dream machine was like the others at the Academy, with a few small differences—this seemed more advanced, and Stella gave him an accompanying sedative through a dart gun, jabbing him in the arm with it like a bad-tempered nurse with a sharp needle.

  Sam blinked twice, then was out.

  As the waves of unconsciousness dragged him under, he was aware that this time he was not driving things as he’d been learning how to do. The dream world appeared around him, memories of the same desert canyons from before but as he watched, detached, his dream went into rewind, going into a prelude that he hadn’t recalled before.

  He saw a road sign:

  15

  EVA

  “Still no answer from Tobias,” Eva said, ending the call.

  “It’s not like him to miss a scheduled check-in,” Lora said, driving on a freeway, Seattle’s outer suburbs disappearing fast behind them. “Call Jedi, have him try to track their phone.”

  “OK,” Eva said, calling the Academy and putting it on speakerphone.

  “Yo, this is Jedi.”

  “Jedi, it’s Eva and Lora here,” Eva said.

  “Hey, girl power!” Jedi replied, his voice suddenly animated. “How goes it in the field? Hope you’re leaving some bad guys for the others to sort out.”

  Eva relayed what had happened back at the hotel.

  “So you’re in a police vehicle now?” Jedi said.

  “Yep,” Lora replied.

  “I’d ditch it if I were you,” Jedi said, “they might be able to track it. And it’s not very inconspicuous. Rent a car or something.”

  “As soon as we can,” Lora agreed, pulling off the main road onto an exit ramp. “Jedi, I need you to track Tobias.”

  “Already have. I know where he is,” Jedi said. “He’s at his old place outside Amarillo.”

  Eva asked, “Can you contact him?”

  “Hang on, I’ll try now,” Jedi said. They heard the phone ringing out. “Hmm, no answer. Let’s switch to vision …”

  They waited a moment, and could hear Jedi’s fingers tapping away at his keyboards.

  “Jedi?” Eva said, when it had been quiet for a while.

  “Ah, yeah, I’m here,” he said, distracted. “OK, look, I’ve managed to hack into a military satellite to look at the area … scanning now.”

  “What do you see?” Lora asked.

  “Looks like their party got crashed,” Jedi said. “We’ve got several large SUV vehicles surrounding the farmhouse and—oh boy, we’ve got a jet landed there too. One of the missing stealth aircraft from the Enterprise.”

  “Stella,” Lora said.

  “Yep,” Jedi replied. “Though I’m not getting any register of people on scene via thermal imaging, except two in the barn and one in the house. And none of them are moving.”

  “They’re hostages,” Lora said, parking the cop car in the parking lot of a shopping mall. “And Stella’s probably there with a team. The latest gen Suits don’t show up on thermal cameras.”

  “I figure that’s about the size of it—the satellite can’t track them,” Jedi replied.

  “OK, keep your eyes on the farm,” Lora said. “Alert everyone anywhere near the area to head there to set up a rescue mission. Don’t let Sam and Tobias out of your sight. We’ll head there now.”

  “Got it,” Jedi replied.

  “And call us if anything develops,” Lora said.

  “Right. Good luck.” Jedi signed off.

  Lora opened her car door. “Come on, Eva,” she said. “We’re ditching this car and getting something a little faster.”

  “Faster?” Eva said, following Lora’s lead. “What’s faster than a cop car?”

  Lora pointed. “That.”

  16

  SAM’S NIGHTMARE

  I pull over in Tobias’ car. There’s a gas station and a diner, and a collection of converted sheds in a long row, each offering different services to tourists. My feet scrunch on the gravel, and I do a double-take at one of the billboard signs—CODY’S ADVENTURE TOURS.

  I walk in through the door of the office. There is no one inside.

  I call out, “Hello?”

  I go around to the back—that’s empty too. There’s just another office and a small adjoining storage room. I head out to the parking lot, walking slowly around the building. There’s a huge shed with a big roller door that is open. It’s dark inside but as I approach I can see, in the light of the skylight panels, a familiar face.

  Cody.

  “Hi!” I call, walking toward him.

  “Hey,” Cody says, strapping down adventure touring equipment—what looks like a yacht’s sail. “Today’s tours don’t start until this afternoon.”

  “That’s OK,” I say, looking around. “I’m here about something else …”

  Everything shudders and freezes around me, like a TV replay skipping frames and pausing. The world spins to a new scene, shudders again and unfreezes.

  I am in a kayak. The water is calm—so far. Ahead it’s another story.

  “Cody?”

  “Here,” Cody says, paddling to catch up. “You’re a natural at this—nearly lost you, it’s like you jumped ahead at the speed of light.”

  “Yeah, well, guns like these,” I say, flexing my non-existent biceps, “you know how it is.”

  Cody chuckles.

  I look forward to where the water is white and foamy, swirling around rapidly. There are steep canyon walls on either side. As the passage between the cliffs ahead narrows, the water pulls us forward at a quickening rate.

  “Cody? How do we …” I pause and look beside me. Cody’s kayak drifts by, empty. “Cody? Cody!”

  I can’t see him anywhere. I stand up in the kayak and dive into the cold water.

  I must find him …

  SAM

  “Sam!”

  Sam opened his eyes. Details of Duke’s barn slowly came into focus. Tobias was still tied to the seat opposite, struggling against his straps. The dream recording device was on the barn floor, just as it had been before. Sam could feel the little electrodes still stuck to his temples.

  So am I really awake? Or is this just another jump in my dream?

  “Sam—now’s our chance!” Tobias said, crookedly standing up, still tied to the chair, and then sitting down again, hard. The rickety old wood chair creaked loudly under him. Sam watched, still in a daze, as Tobias repeated this two more times before the chair splintered apart completely—Tobias was free. He rushed to Sam. “Stella’s gone, come on, quick.”

  OK, so this is real, then.

  Sam saw that a rogue Agent was crumpled on the floor next to Tobias’ chair. “But … how?”

  “Used my head,” Tobias said, rubbing his forehead. “Literally. I pretended to be asleep, and when he came over to check, I headbutted him.”

  “Awesome,” Sam said, getting up as Tobias undid his binds, still a little unsteady on his feet. “How long was I out?”

  “About an hour,” Tobias replied. “Stella won’t be gone for long, let’s go.”

  “Wait,” Sam said, picking up the dream recorder off the floor. He held it high above his head and then threw it down onto the ground. He took the Agent’s water bottle and poured water over the broken black box, watching it spark. He d
ucked into recesses of the barn and retrieved the hidden Gears, securing them safely underneath his Stealth Suit.

  “Did you see exactly where the next Dreamer is located?” Tobias asked.

  “Yes, but—”

  “Nice move, let’s go get Duke and get out of here,” Tobias said.

  “But they’ll see us coming!” Sam protested.

  Tobias turned and smiled. “This place has a few hidden surprises yet.”

  17

  “I can’t see them …” Sam said drowsily. He was crouched alongside Tobias, hidden behind a huge green combine harvester that stood in the paddock close to the barn. The long dry grass came up past Sam’s waist and swayed in the afternoon breeze.

  “They’ll be out there,” Tobias said, eyes searching and then looking back toward the farmhouse. “They’ve boxed in our car.”

  Sam could see three huge SUVs parked around their car. There was also the huge stealth aircraft in the adjacent paddock on the other side of the house.

  Great, that thing is not going to make our getaway any easier. Unless …

  Sam looked around, trying to spot any Agents patrolling outside the house.

  Tobias was silent for a moment and then said, “We can do this another way.”

  “There’s Stella!” Sam pointed. Through the kitchen window, they could see several Agents, including Stella, all sitting down at the table. One Agent stood and went to the window, parting the curtain to look out.

  Sam looked down at his Stealth Suit—as long as they stayed relatively still, they were well concealed, the Suits allowing them to blend into their immediate background. Sam winced as a sudden flash from his dream replayed through his mind. He shook his head to try to clear the drowsiness of the sedative that still made it difficult to concentrate on reality.

  “Sam …?”

  “Yeah?” Sam said.

  Tobias gave him a nudge, making Sam lose his balance slightly.

  “Hey!” Sam protested.

  “Just making sure you’re alert,” Tobias said.

  “I am.”

  “Good. Now, I have a plan, and you have to follow it, no matter what, OK?”