by Jack Heath
‘I hated it,’ Ace said. ‘The constant travelling was exhausting, and it felt like I never had any free time. But looking back, I can see she did the right thing – I never would have learned anything sitting around at home watching TV.’ She swallowed. ‘And I never thanked her.’
Six said nothing. Rotting brickwork and crusty signposts rolled past the windows.
They were driving to Six’s house. Ace hadn’t lived with her parents for a couple of years, but her home address was probably written down somewhere among their things. It was likely Vanish would have found it, and there was a chance he would come after her. He would do anything to keep his new identity a secret.
‘I wanted to take her on a trip.’ Ace’s hands fidgeted in her lap. ‘She took me on so many, it felt like I should give something back. And I thought it would make her feel welcome in our family. But I never made the time.’
‘She wouldn’t have taken you to all those places if she didn’t feel welcome,’ Six said. It felt clumsy. Was that a good thing to say? He had seen a lot of grief, but he never knew how to deal with it.
‘I guess,’ Ace said.
They had tried to call King. No answer. They’d tried Kyntak. No answer. Queen of Hearts. No answer. Jack. No answer.
Six had been about to start dialling agents he barely knew when he realised that the Deck had had its own transmission tower. The mobile phone of each agent sent signals via that tower so they couldn’t be intercepted. The Spades had an independent communications network, offsite, but neither Six nor Ace had access. With the Deck gone, they couldn’t contact anyone. They were on their own.
Six felt ill thinking about it. The Deck had been more than just a building. It wasn’t just his workplace. It was a symbol of deflance, independence, freedom from ChaoSonic rule. It was his whole community. It was his whole life.
‘Why blow it up?’ Ace asked, wiping tears from her eyes. ‘Who are the time-soldiers working for?’
‘ChaoSonic,’ Six said darkly. ‘It’s always ChaoSonic.’
‘But we hunt down code-breakers,’ Ace said. ‘And so does ChaoSonic security, in their own selfish sort of way. They never liked us, but why would they suddenly want to wipe us out?’
That was it. Six’s eyes widened. ‘Exactly!’ he said.
‘Exactly what?’
‘We have the same goals, we fight the same people!’
Ace stared. ‘Was that supposed to make sense?’
‘With the Deck gone,’ Six said, ‘ChaoSonic will need something to replace us! The security force they’ve got won’t be enough.’
‘So why would – oh.’ Ace’s hands tightened into fists. ‘ChaoSonic didn’t hit us,’ she said. ‘Chemal Allich did. Because with us gone, ChaoSonic will need a bigger, better police force. They’ll want to buy her time-soldiers.’
Six punched the steering wheel. ‘And then they can do whatever they want,’ he said. ‘They’ll have their own private army of invincible psychics.’
‘We have to stop them,’ Ace said.
‘We will,’ Six replied. ‘King gave me my next mission before we left the cell block. I’m going to blow up their time machine.’
‘And Vanish?’ Ace asked. Her gaze was hard. ‘What are we going to do about him?’
‘If he survived the explosion,’ Six said, ‘we’ll think of something.’
They parked the car a few houses down from Six’s, on the other side of the street. Six doubted that Vanish or ChaoSonic would figure out which car they had stolen and trace it here, but he was taking no chances.
‘Nice house,’ Ace said as they got out of the car.
‘That’s not it,’ Six said. He pointed. ‘That’s it.’
‘Oh. Nice house.’ Her voice was less convincing the second time.
‘It’s safe,’ Six said. ‘That’s what counts.’
Ace looked apprehensive as she walked up the drive. The house was small and flat and had sheets of armour on the roof. All the windows were blacked out. It was particularly ugly, Six knew, but it was secure. He disarmed the door and walked in.
‘I’ve sometimes wondered what your house would be like,’ Ace said as she crossed the threshold.
Six said nothing. He felt suddenly embarrassed. He hadn’t designed it for visitors. In fact . . .
‘I think you’re the first person to come inside,’ he said. ‘Besides me.’
‘Really?’ Her eyebrows climbed her forehead. ‘What about King?’
‘He has his own house.’
‘Yeah, but . . . what about Kyntak?’
‘So does he. But . . .’ Six thought for a moment. ‘Actually, Nai has been here. But only as a baby. You’re the first non-infant to be here. Anyway, hope it lives up to your fantasies.’
He’d meant to say ‘expectations’. ‘Fantasies’ had just slipped out.
Ace smiled slightly and walked down the hall. Laser beams wove around her ankles.
‘That’s a security measure,’ Six said. ‘The lasers are hooked up to a network of mirrors. It shows me if anything else in the house is moving.’
Ace was pressing her fingertips against the wall. ‘Your insulation needs some work,’ she said. ‘The plaster’s really cold.’
‘It’s not plaster,’ Six said. ‘It’s painted lead. Same as every other wall, plus the floors and ceilings.’
‘So, in the event of a nuclear apocalypse . . .’
‘My house would be the safest place, yeah.’
‘Nice.’
‘I thought so. You hungry?’
‘No,’ Ace said. ‘Is it dinnertime?’
Six glanced at his watch. ‘Not since a few hours ago.’
‘Oh, okay. We should eat. What have you got?’
‘Soup.’
Ace waited.
‘That’s it,’ Six said. After a pause, he added, ‘I made it myself.’
‘How could I say no to that?’ Ace asked.
Nai stood in the exact centre of the lift, back straight, watching the numbers on the screen tick down.
685 metres below surface.
690 metres below surface.
695 metres below surface.
The lift had buttons for only two floors: G and B1. But the B1 button was a fingerprint scanner. If anyone other than Nai were to push it, the lift would travel to the car park immediately below the ground floor. But when it recognised Nai’s thumbprint, it would sink all the way down to Lerke’s home, 2.8 kilometres underground.
935 metres below surface.
940 metres below surface.
She looked at her watch. Almost 3 am. It had been more than an hour since she’d left the Deck, but Nai could still feel a cold pressure inside her chest. The unexpected run-in with Vanish had rattled her.
You’re going to be my next body.
She’d only been that close to Vanish once before. She’d been hiding in the bathroom of an aeroplane while Six of Hearts fought him in the cabin. She was scared then, and she was scared now – though on the plane, she stayed in the bathroom until she regained her composure. She refused to let Six see her fear.
How interesting. You two don’t get on? I would have thought you’d have lots in common.
Vanish wasn’t the only reason for her nervousness. She was going to have to tell her father that she had failed her mission. It hadn’t been her fault – Vanish had showed up instead of her contact – but the fact was that she didn’t have the disk Lerke asked her to retrieve. And she knew what he would say: ‘A good operative plans for the unplanned.’
1460 metres below surface.
1465 metres below surface.
There was something else worrying her, too. But she wasn’t sure what. She was so unwilling to acknowledge her fear that it was shoved way down into her subconscious, where it could only manifest itself as a vague sense of unease.
It was Six’s voice that rustled through her mind this time. His only interest in you is that you’re supposed to be lasting proof of his genius.
N
ai gritted her teeth. ‘Get – out – of – my – head!’ she hissed.
1860 metres below surface.
1865 metres below surface.
She pulled out her phone and dialled her father’s number. They usually spoke in person – phone conversations were too easily intercepted. But the lift was deep enough to be behind Lerke’s firewall now. It should be fine. She hit send.
There was nothing she needed to say which couldn’t wait until she reached his office. But she needed his voice to drown out her memories.
‘The person you are calling is unavailable,’ a woman’s voice said. ‘Please –’
Nai hit cancel.
2560 metres below surface.
2565 metres below surface.
She bit her lip. Calm down, she told herself. Don’t let him see you like this. You have to be strong.
The hydraulics gasped as the lift started to decelerate. Nai’s knees fiexed under the extra gravity. She drew her pistol and ejected the magazine – Lerke kept a weaponry rack next to the lift door.
2795 metres below surface.
Level B2.
The lift boomed to a halt, and the doors parted. Nai walked out, dumped her gun on the rack next to the others, and started to walk down the cold grey corridor –
– whispers. Someone was talking up ahead.
No-one else was supposed to know about this place. If someone was here, they were almost certainly hostile.
Nai turned back to the gun rack and grabbed her pistol. She slapped the magazine into the grip and pulled the slide back until the first round clicked into the chamber. Then she turned back to the corridor.
The murmuring up ahead rose to a sudden shout, and then there was silence. A few seconds later, the whispering returned. Nai couldn’t make out the words – they were muffied by thick walls.
The gun was perfectly steady in her right hand. With her left, she drew a knife from her belt. If her father needed her, she would not fail him.
She listened momentarily at a door on her right. Nothing. That wasn’t where the noise was coming from. She crept onwards.
Had she been followed? Had Vanish tracked her back here? No, that made no sense – anyone following her would have arrived after she did. But how else could someone find this place?
Another door, and the sound was getting louder. Nai squeezed the handgun tightly, rested her finger on the trigger, and grabbed the doorhandle with her knife-hand –
– wait. What? There was only one voice. And it was her father’s!
Nai exhaled deeply. He must just be on the phone, she thought. That explains the ‘unavailable’ phone message. She was about to open the door, when she wondered who he could be talking to. She had thought only she had his number.
Her deeply buried secret fear made her press her ear against the door.
‘But I kept my word!’ Lerke was saying.
A pause.
‘That’s not my fault! I don’t know anything about any giant soldiers.’
Nai could hear the faint crackle of the voice on the line.
‘What happened after delivery was not my responsibility,’ Lerke insisted. ‘I sent her there, you were supposed to do the rest.’
Nai’s heart turned to stone.
‘No! You leave Six alone! That was the deal!’
She staggered back from the door.
‘Please don’t hurt my son!’
Nai raced back to the lift. Her worst nightmare had come true, and she couldn’t keep it buried any longer. Her father had abandoned her. In one agonising flash, she had become orphaned, homeless and unemployed.
She dived back into the lift and pushed the G button. As the lift started to rise, she became dizzy. She leaned sideways against the hand rail, and then she fainted dead away.
‘So you eat this for dinner every night?’ Ace asked as she spooned the soup into her mouth.
‘Lunch and breakfast too,’ Six replied. He wished he had more to offer. And he wished his house was more hospitable. What sort of home is prepared for nuclear war but not for guests?
‘So you’re a vegetarian,’ Ace said.
‘Am I?’
‘Is there any meat in this?’
‘Well, no, but –’
‘There you go. Don’t you know a varied diet is essential for your health?’
Six said defensively, ‘This is varied. It’s got ?bre for digestion, protein for muscle building, complex carbs to store energy, vitamins B and C for –’ He broke off, remembering that Ace was a doctor. She would know all this.
‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘I didn’t mean to offend you, it’s–’
‘I’m not offended,’ Six said hastily, ‘I’m just –’
‘Just making conversation,’ Ace said. She stared gloomily at the table. ‘Me too.’
Six sipped another spoonful. The humming of the fridge suddenly seemed very loud.
‘Does it get lonely?’ Ace asked.
‘I used to have a flatmate,’ Six said. ‘A robot.’
‘What was that like?’
Six shrugged. ‘It never left any dishes in the sink.’
Ace smiled. ‘Where is it now?’
‘Dead,’ Six said. ‘Or broken. Whatever the correct term is.’
Ace’s smile faded. ‘I’m sorry.’
Me too, Six thought. ‘It was just a machine.’
A pause.
‘How long do we stay here?’ Ace asked.
‘Until tomorrow.’
‘Where will we sleep?’
Six thought about it. He had no couch. ‘You can sleep on my bed.’
‘What about you?’
Six shrugged. ‘I spent two hours unconscious this morning.’
‘That’s not as good as natural sleep.’
‘It’ll do. I need to stand guard.’
Ace nodded. ‘Then we’ll take it in shifts. What time do you want me to take over?’
‘I can –’
‘Six.’ Ace looked stern. ‘Thanks for saving my life today. But let’s not forget all the times I’ve saved yours. You’re still my patient, and I’m telling you that you need to sleep. Clear?’
Six sighed. ‘How about 6 am?’
‘Deal.’
Six stood up and took the bowls over to the sink.
‘Thanks,’ Ace said. ‘What’s for dessert?’
She must be joking. ‘Frozen soup?’ Six suggested. ‘With sugar stirred into it?’
‘I’ll pass.’ Ace chuckled, but there was a quiet desperation in the sound. A need for mirth. ‘Do you even have sugar?’
‘No,’ Six admitted, and he laughed along with her.
After he’d finished washing up, he took a folded towel and a change of clothes out of his closet. He showed Ace the bathroom and the bedroom and gave her the towel. He couldn’t think of any other hostly things to do, so he said, ‘I’ll be right upstairs if you need anything.’
‘Thanks,’ Ace said. ‘Not just for that. Thanks for this whole day.’
Six stared at her. ‘This has been an awful day.’
‘It would’ve been a lot worse without you.’
Six stood in the doorway for a moment, unsure what to say.
‘Goodnight, Six,’ Ace said.
‘Goodnight,’ he replied. She shut the door and he climbed the stairs to the attic.
He changed into the fresh clothes. It was good to finally get out of the tuxedo. There was a laser pointer on a tripod facing the window – Six switched it on. While he couldn’t see any outward change, he knew that a bright red dot was now glowing on the second-floor bathroom window of Kyntak’s house, four kliks away. The message: I need help.
Sitting down on his rickety chair, he stared out the window. Knowing that Ace was in the room below him made him feel self-conscious and on edge, but somehow comfortable too.
He shook his head, stretched his shoulders and tried to focus on the road outside.
An hour passed.
Then two.
Then Six heard a doo
r click open downstairs. Footsteps, soft against the carpet. He turned to face the stairs, and saw Ace standing on the third step.
She said, ‘Sorry.’ Her hand rested on the rail.
Six said nothing.
‘I can’t sleep,’ she said. ‘Sit with me?’
Six walked down the stairs and followed her into his room. She lay down on the bed and pressed her face into the pillow and he sat next to her, looking at the way her hair fountained out over her cheek. Then her breathing grew ragged and suddenly he realised that she was crying, staining his pillow dark with tears.
He reached out and found her hand and squeezed it gently. It seemed like the right thing to do. Soon her sobs ebbed away and the tears stopped flowing and he listened to her slow, deep breaths and realised she was asleep.
He sat in silence, watching her shoulders rise and sink, and thinking of nothing at all.
INVASION
It was nearly 6 am when Six thought he heard a noise outside. The night had been quiet – as quiet as the City ever was, anyway. Just distant cars and aeroplanes and the throbbing of trains passing below. But suddenly he heard a brief rustling, perhaps a stray dog, or just a light breeze stirring the grass.
Or perhaps not. He wasn’t leaving anything to chance, not tonight.
He couldn’t see the front yard from the bedroom window, so he slipped his hand out of Ace’s, stood as quietly as he could, and left the room, closing the door behind him.
He checked the front door first. Locked, three times over. Nothing but darkness on the other side of the peephole.
Six walked into the lounge room and found the switch that controlled the lasers. He turned them off, and watched darkness flood into the room until there was nothing else. Then he flicked the switch next to it, turning off the electrical current running through the windows, and the glass became transparent.
The security floodlight was on, but the front yard was empty. No cars parked on the street. No pedestrians. No anything. Six hit the switch again, opaquing the windows.
He walked back to the stairs, climbed them, and looked out the attic window. Nothing suspicious. Whatever the sound had been, it was gone now.