Blackout b-1

by Robison Wells

  She wished she had more training—more time back at Dugway to really learn how the Green Berets react in situations like this.

  She walked to the entrance of the ramp and started down.

  She could barely keep her eyes open, she was cringing so much.

  And then she was in the parking garage.

  A Green Beret spun from the shadows, bumping into her and then suddenly looking confused that she wasn’t there.

  “What the hell?” he said, spinning all around looking for her.

  The insignia on his shoulder indicated he was a sergeant—not who she was looking for.

  “Jack,” Aubrey said. “You’d better be out of sight. They know I’m a Lambda.”

  The sergeant put his hand to the mic at his mouth. “She’s gone. I don’t know where she is. Anyone have eyes?”

  As her vision adjusted to the darkness, she saw the other three: another sergeant, the warrant officer, and a girl in camouflage without any insignia. She was the Lambda. There was no sign of Dan.

  All three soldiers had their guns readied, searching the dim light for her, not knowing she was just inches from them.

  She ran to the warrant officer and gently patted his chest pocket. The detonator was there.

  “Kubato,” the officer said into his radio. “I want you to find those other two. Get eyes on them, and then radio me. Don’t get shot.”

  “Jack, they’re coming for you. Get out of there.”

  Aubrey very gingerly—well, as gingerly as possible—attempted to open the pocket.

  Crap. It was Velcro. She wouldn’t be noticed, but would ripping open a Velcro pocket be?

  It would put suspicion on all the Lambdas on team 9128. They were going to get shot, because someone was stealing the detonator.

  She couldn’t let that happen.

  But the other Lambda—the fast one—was chasing down Laura and Jack. He was going to lead the other Green Berets to them.

  Aubrey had to do something.

  She could tie this girl to the officer—that way if he blew up the leg, he’d hurt himself.

  No, that was stupid.

  She could appear—announce that she wasn’t with them, and make a show of leaving the girl alone.

  No. She’d get shot as soon as she appeared.

  She’d have to make him forget about the detonator. That was the only way. Make it so far from his mind that he wouldn’t ever consider it.

  “Jack,” she said. “You’re going to hear gunshots. Ignore them.”

  Aubrey took a breath and pulled the officer’s sidearm from his holster. Just as he was turning, feeling the motion, she emptied the magazine, firing wildly into the few cars that remained in the parking garage. Glass exploded and tires boomed. Gas was leaking from one, but nothing was on fire.

  The soldiers were scrambling now, searching everywhere, panicked and calling for backup.

  She disassembled the M9 and dropped it on the ground with a clatter, then moved to the next soldier. She yanked the pistol from his hand and did the same, though she was firing into the puddle of leaking gas now. On the third shot there was a spark and the small sedan burst into flames.

  “Get out!” the warrant officer barked. One man grabbed the Lambda girl by the collar and pulled her toward the exit ramp. The warrant officer followed and Aubrey tripped him. He splayed out on the concrete, and as he tried to get up she tore open his pocket and stole the detonator.

  The group dashed up the ramp, and she followed, running in weird loops and circles around the Green Berets. The snipers could see her now. They could take a shot, and she had to make it too hard for them to take her out without shooting a fellow soldier.

  It was stupid. She didn’t have the energy for this. She wasn’t in as good of shape as they were anyway, much less so when she was invisible. She hadn’t thought this through.

  But then the men stopped at the top of the ramp.

  “There’s a terrorist here?” the officer shouted into his mic. “What do you mean you can see her?”

  She grabbed the third soldier’s pistol—not because she knew what to do with it, but because it might make the snipers pause. She kept moving around the soldiers, inches from them. She was shorter than all of them, which made her feel better, because any headshot on her would hit a soldier in the chest. No sniper would take it without risking their own man.

  Another man was running toward them across the plaza.

  Dan.

  She was stumbling now as she moved around the men. She yanked the microphone from the officer’s ear, and cut through the cable with his knife. She jumped to the next man and did the same, but by the time she got to the third, he was holding on to his—the snipers must have been telling them what was happening.

  Dan approached cautiously.

  And then suddenly the ground erupted, like an earthquake, and everyone fell to their knees. She tried to hold on to a soldier, but she was an open target.

  She jumped up and dove for the cover of the ramp, and the ground bounced under her feet. She couldn’t tell if the cracks and pops she heard were shattering stone or rifle blasts, but she was a sitting duck.

  The ramp bounced again, the cement sides starting to crumble inward, and she rolled to the center. Dan couldn’t see her—he must have just been incapacitating her.

  She spun, tried to run, and tumbled farther down the ramp. She was almost out of the snipers’ view, almost under the cover of the smoke-filled garage.

  The ground thumped again, and she was underground, bits of cement dropping all around her.

  Dan was standing at the top of the ramp, the battered Green Berets all around him. Aubrey stood and reappeared, only for an instant, and waved for him to come forward. Then she disappeared again, and ducked into the darkness of the garage.

  The place was thick with smoke and the scent of burning oil. She leaned against a pillar, the pistol in one hand and the detonator in the other.

  Dan appeared out of the darkness.

  She made herself visible, and held up her hands.

  “I’m a friend,” she said, and then tossed him the detonator.

  His eyes went wide. “How did you find me?” There was an uncertain grin on his face.

  “I have Laura Hansen with me.”

  “Laura? I didn’t think she survived. But, of course she did.” He was marveling at the little device in his hand.

  Aubrey looked past him. “They’re going to be here soon. I can’t make you invisible. And the snipers can see me.”

  He looked up at her, his face full of confidence. “I can get us out. Can you run?”

  “Kind of,” she said. “This wears me out.”

  Dan looked like he could hardly control his happiness. “I’m going home.”

  “First we have to get out of this garage.”

  “Easy,” he said. “We just need to get to the top of the ramp and then out to the road. Roads are easy.”

  She had no idea what he meant, but she nodded. “I’m going invisible. Just know that I’m with you.”

  He nodded. “Like old times. For my mother and yours.”

  She stared awkwardly for a minute and then disappeared.

  “There’s going to be some dust,” he said, looking where she had been.

  He walked to the ramp and saw the three soldiers, their M4 carbines drawn and pointed down at him. “It’s okay,” he said.

  For just a moment they relaxed, and then the entire ramp exploded in a puff of fine white concrete powder.

  “Run!”

  He darted through the cloud and Aubrey followed on wobbling legs. There was another tremendous crash and when they reached the top of the ramp all three men and the Lambda girl were on their backs, clutching at their feet and ankles.

  Dan jumped into the street and as she followed, a wall of asphalt and dirt jutted up out of the road, creating a barrier between them and any sniper on the surrounding buildings. With the wall in place, she reappeared to get some of her strength b
ack, and they sprinted down a side street, the path and wall forming just in front of them as they ran.

  He was amazing—far more powerful than anything she’d seen in the training area at Dugway, or even when the terrorists attacked the convoy. And as she ran, her stomach fell, wondering what kind of monster she had just unleashed.

  She prayed Laura was telling the truth—that her actions the night before had just been moody, not sinister.

  When they were four blocks down, she stopped and called for him to wait. The streets of San Francisco were a wasteland behind them. Aubrey bent over, crouching to catch her breath. She pulled the bottle of Flowerbomb from her jeans pocket and sprayed herself, much to Dan’s confusion.

  “Trust me,” she said, with a gasp. “It’s how they’ll find us.”

  She looked back the way they came and let out a small laugh. Like Jack and Laura would need much of a map to track them.

  And then a dot appeared, coming at them impossibly fast.

  “Dan—”

  Before the word had escaped her lips, the road bulged upward. The dot, which became the shape of a man, couldn’t stop in time and rocketed up the bulge and over their heads. He flailed through the street, arms scrambling for hand holds in the empty air, before landing with a crunch.

  Aubrey’s heart sank. The man didn’t move. No, he wasn’t a man. He was a Lambda. He was a teenager, just like her, and now his broken body lay in the street, motionless.

  She wanted to throw up. He was dead. Just like that. Killed as casually as swatting a fly.

  “Where’s Laura?” Dan asked.

  Aubrey stood and stared for several seconds.

  “They’re going to come after us,” Dan urged. “Where’s Laura?”

  Aubrey stared. Without even looking, she disassembled the M9 and dropped it to the dirt.

  “Come on,” Dan said.

  She took a deep breath, and then pointed in the direction of the car.

  “They’ll follow me,” Aubrey said.

  FIFTY-SIX

  LAURA SAID THAT DAN HAD a storage shed in Southern California that would be the closest place to hide out. Jack drove, completely silent other than a few glances at Aubrey. At one point he thought he heard her say, “I’m scared,” but it was too muffled by her raspy voice to be sure.

  Dan was more than Jack had expected, but he should have thought about it. Dan was a Lambda 5M—that had been in the file Aubrey had read, and a 5 was just like Laura. They were both powerful weapons.

  It was getting late, and Aubrey asked Jack to pull the car into the parking lot of a gas station. There was a big spray-painted sign out front that read “No Gas,” but Aubrey insisted she needed to go to the bathroom and get something to eat.

  She took his hand before getting out, and pulled him across the car toward her. He wasn’t expecting it at all, but she kissed him on the lips and then on the cheek.

  “Listen.” One word, breathed beside his ear.

  He sat behind the wheel and watched her walk away. Laura and Dan were in the back, talking about something on the smartphone. Jack wasn’t focused on it—all his attention was on Aubrey. Every footstep, the tiny grains of concrete rubbing under her shoe, the wisp of her fleece sleeves as they drew back and forth, the rapid beating of her heart, the unsteady, nervous inhalation of air.

  “They’re not who they say they are,” she said, disappearing through a creaky door into the bathroom. “You should have seen the way that Dan killed that kid—he didn’t care at all. He seemed proud of it.

  “And remember what Laura told you about how she got caught? She was hitchhiking, alone, and was in a car accident at a bridge collapse, down on I-70. And the military records said Dan was caught up by Price. But when I told Dan that I was with Laura, he seemed surprised she was alive. He said, ‘I didn’t think she survived.’ How would he know that she was in an accident unless he was with her?

  “They’re lying, Jack,” Aubrey continued. “I don’t know about what, but something isn’t right. I don’t think we want to be with them. But I don’t know how to get away. I mean, I can, but can I get you away? They’d both have to be asleep.”

  Jack turned to Laura and Dan. “I’m going to grab a drink. You guys want anything?”

  “I’ll take anything—donuts or chips or something,” Dan said. “I’m so sick of those MREs.”

  “Just a bottle of water for me,” Laura said. “Power bars, if they have them.”

  Jack stepped out of the car.

  “I don’t know who they are, Jack,” Aubrey said. “They might be terrorists. Think about it—they knew each other from before, they’re both superpowerful. And that Alec guy. I don’t know what the deal is with him, but when I was with him I swore I knew him. I swore we were old friends. I don’t know if that’s some kind of power, but it fits the whole profile, doesn’t it? Three terrorist teenagers, all together and aware of their powers before the government cracked down.”

  Jack was in the store now, looking through the bottles of soda. The selection was small, as if they hadn’t had a shipment in weeks, and the drinks cost nearly six dollars a bottle.

  “Anyway,” Aubrey said. “I just think we need to be careful.” He could hear a smile in her voice. “Now quit listening, Jack. I’m in the restroom.” She laughed.

  Jack put the food on the counter and waited for the cashier to ring it up.

  “You can’t talk like that,” Laura whispered. “He can hear you.”

  Dammit. He’d missed something.

  The cashier began making small talk about a storm coming in off the Pacific. Jack replied awkwardly, trying to listen to the car.

  All he could hear now was the electric clicks of typing on the smartphone. They were hiding information from him.

  Aubrey emerged from the bathroom just as Jack took the bag of snack foods from the counter. It had cost a whopping thirty-eight dollars, but Jack guessed it didn’t matter. They were still spending money from someone else’s wallet.

  “I agree,” Jack said, as they walked out of the convenience store. “They’re writing on the smartphone so I won’t hear. We have to get away from them.” He paused to kiss her again before reaching the car. He looked into her eyes. “We have to wait for them both to sleep. They’re too powerful for us.”

  Jack cracked open a packet of Tylenol and took the pills with a swig of Mountain Dew. The pure sugar was almost overwhelming, but the store was out of bottled water.

  “You want me to drive?” Aubrey asked.

  “How are your eyes?”

  “As good as they get. I can take over for an hour or so.”

  They climbed back in the car.

  “Where are we going?” Aubrey asked immediately, opening the paper map that had been in the glove compartment.

  Dan turned to Laura. “Where’s the closest stash?”

  “Take I-5 into San Diego,” Laura said. “I’ll give you directions from there.”

  Jack leaned back in the passenger seat, watching the road ahead of them in the darkness. Aubrey seemed to be doing fine with driving, so he didn’t mind relaxing his head a little bit. He lowered the headrest as far as it would go and slumped in his seat.

  He could hear the clicking in the backseat. It wasn’t stopping.

  They had to do something.

  His view outside was blocked by a little glare from inside the car. He could see through it, but it was annoying.

  He shifted his head to figure out what it was. The skin along his scalp throbbed as he moved.

  And there it was, as plain as day.

  The screen of the smartphone was reflecting off the back window and onto the front window. He didn’t even have to transpose the letters—it was being written out for him as clear as if the phone were in his own hands.

  What’s in San Diego?

  We’re supposed to go after military next, right? San Diego has a HUGE naval base. Subs. Carriers. Everything.

  And we can do anything about that? We’re 2 people.r />
  Hang on.

  Laura took the phone from him and looked up a map. Jack could see every detail—he saw the glow of Laura’s finger as she pointed out the Coronado Naval Base, the enormous bay that held a hundred ships, in the satellite photo. And then she pointed to a narrow channel. She tapped on it, and then pointed to some land to the west. It read “Point Loma.”

  She closed the map and resumed typing.

  Dude, it’ll be your biggest score ever. There’s only 1 way in and out of that naval base and it’s that little channel.

  That “little” channel is half a mile wide. Didn’t u look at the scale?

  ☸ That’s the best part. Point Loma is a massive rock—way tall. IDK how you do your stuff, but u get up there on that thing and knock the whole damn point into the water, houses and everything.

  Seriously?

  Look at the map again. Look up Point Loma. It’s gonna be AWESOME. Alec will freak.

  Wow.

  For your mother and mine.

  Dan took the phone and switched back to the map.

  They didn’t type anymore, and now that they weren’t holding the phone between them, Dan’s head blocked the reflection.

  “How much longer are we looking at?” Jack asked. “I’ve never been down here.”

  “The last sign said seventy miles,” Aubrey answered.

  “Where’s that map?” he asked, digging around in the footwell. It was the only reason he was asking about the distance.

  He found the map of California, and a close-up of San Diego.

  “I’ve always wanted to go to the zoo,” he said, trying to sound casual. “Probably not on this trip.” He turned back to look at Laura and smiled. She gave him a half smile in return.

  The map was clear, and Laura had been right. The naval base was huge. Miles and miles across, with dozens of major piers—room for hundreds of boats.

  Jack didn’t know what enemy he had sitting in his backseat, but they wanted to stop the military. They wanted to freeze them in their tracks.

  And after seeing what Dan did to downtown San Francisco, Jack had no doubt that he could obliterate Point Loma, turning it into a massive avalanche that would tumble down into the narrow channel and block every single boat in the harbor.