The Fires of Yesterday (The Silent Earth, Book 3)

by Mark R. Healy

  “Clever,” he muttered. He looked back at me. “You’re very clever. And I guess you’re right. This will all happen more quickly if there’s cooperation.”

  “Done,” I said. “But I need your word that you’ll hold up your end of the bargain. Once we give you what you want, you’ll let Arsha, Malyn, the children and I go free. You won’t come after us again.”

  Cabre stewed over the offer, stroking his neck, then nodded. “Done.”

  Targen cursed under his breath, obviously not happy with the outcome, but Cabre ignored him.

  “I’ll take you to M-Corp myself,” I said. “That’s where the Grid data is stored.”

  “No,” Arsha said suddenly, and I gave her a wilting stare. She just shook her head at me. “You’re not going to do that.”

  “Arsha, what the hell are you doing?”

  “You’re not taking them to M-Corp,” she said, stepping forward. “I am.”

  “What? Why?”

  “Because I have access to the repository,” she said simply. “Remember? I was the one who showed it to you? I have the access code.” I began to protest, but she held up a hand. “It’s my turn to go this time, Brant. Don’t try to be a hero, all right?”

  “I don’t care who it is, as long as you make a decision now,” Cabre said, eager to be on the way. “If we’re going to do this, let’s do it now.”

  Arsha looked back at the children and gave them a weak smile. “Stay with Brant, okay, guys? I’ll see you again soon. I’m going to take a little drive with our visitors.”

  They nodded timidly, clinging to Mish as if their lives depended on it.

  “Just one other thing, Cabre,” Arsha said, striding over toward him. “I want proof that the children are unharmed when I turn over the goods.”

  Cabre rubbed at his forehead. “They’re not coming. Don’t even think about that.”

  “I want a video link back here to see that they’re okay. There’s a flip in the workshop at M-Corp that we can use from that end.”

  Cabre waved over one of the soldiers. “Get one of the flips we brought and set it up here, and hurry up about it.” The soldier nodded and began to move away, and Cabre called after him. “And get word to the spire. We’re going to need the spire online for the next hour at least for the video connection and to get the data uploading. Make it happen, no matter what.”

  “Yessir.”

  “Gunrix, you and I will head in to M-Corp,” Cabre said. “Targen, Liv, Wilch and Barke, stay here with Brant.” He turned and looked at the darkened cityscape, where M-Corp rose into the sky, tall and slender and distinguished. “Let’s open the door to the future,” he said.

  30

  As the two Humvees sped away, Targen strode over toward us with a distasteful look on his face. He glared at me with such hatred that I wondered for a moment whether he might rebel against Cabre’s orders and put a bullet in my head right there.

  “Get on your fucking knees,” he growled, thrusting a finger at the ground before me. I did as instructed, and then he swung the finger toward Malyn. “You too. Now.”

  “Keep it in your pants, Targen,” Malyn said, slumping down beside me. “We’re cooperating, okay?”

  “Wilch,” Targen said, “get the flip set up. Barke, I want these two secured.”

  “Yessir,” Barke said, pulling a pair of white flexicuffs from his belt and moving around behind us.

  “Hey, what the hell?” Malyn said, shying away. “Cabre didn’t say anything about tying us up.”

  Targen leaned in close, using his bulk to intimidate her. “You traitorous bitch. You’re lucky I don’t ram my hand down your throat and rip your fuckin’ core right out of your body. You deserve nothing less.”

  “Major General,” Liv said, stepping forward, “we’re under instruction from the General that these clanks remain unharmed–”

  “Back off!” Targen yelled, causing Liv’s stride to falter. “You don’t tell me what to do. You don’t ever tell me what to do.”

  Liv averted her gaze and stepped back, making a pretence of scanning the slope down toward the city where the Humvees had disappeared to cover her embarrassment. I could still hear the sound of engines, and imagined they must be close to the freeway already. It would only take them a matter of minutes to reach the city.

  The children began to whine and cry, upset by seeing Arsha taken away by strangers and also by Targen’s booming voice. Mish attempted to comfort them, but it wasn’t doing any good.

  Targen eyed them irritably. “Shut those cabbages up,” he muttered to no one in particular.

  “They’re children,” I said. “They’re frightened. There’s not much you can do about that apart from leaving us alone.”

  “Yeah, right,” he said sarcastically. “I know something I could do.” He glared at them with murderous intent, but I gathered it was more to make me squirm than anything. “I don’t want to hear their bullshit. Barke, put the kids back in the house, for fuck’s sake. If I can still hear them from there, I’m going to start gagging them, or worse.”

  Barke finished tying Malyn and my hands behind our backs, and then went and shooed at the children as if they were sheep.

  “Go on,” he said awkwardly, not knowing quite how to handle them. “Move over there.”

  “Take them, Mish,” I said over my shoulder. I nodded to her reassuringly. “It’s okay.”

  Mish bit her lip, fighting back her own fear, and gathered up the children, guiding them inside the door as she attempted to hush their protests. Atlas looked over at me and I gave him my best smile, throwing in a wink for good measure, but the tears continued to stream down his cheek unhindered.

  Wilch had set up the flip on a tripod before us, and after fiddling with it for a few seconds he straightened.

  “There’s no Grid connection yet, Major General,” he said.

  “Do you think I give a shit?” Targen said. “I didn’t come here to watch goddamn sitcoms. Let it stay down for all I care.”

  “You better hope it comes up,” I said. “Otherwise Arsha won’t give Cabre what he wants.”

  “Good,” Targen replied. “Then we can do things my way. The way it should have been done from the start.”

  In spite of Targen’s wishes, there was illumination to the north a few minutes later as the spire came online, and Wilch returned to kneel before the flip. He scrolled through menus and tapped on the display and then hummed happily to himself as he achieved success.

  “We’ve now established a connection, sir,” he said.

  “Hooray for that,” Targen said humourlessly.

  The radio at Targen’s belt came to life, but the volume was too low for him to hear clearly.

  “Say again?” he said, lifting it to his face and adjusting the knob.

  “We’ve reached the target. Standby. Over.”

  “Roger that. Over,” Targen said. He looked down at me. “I hope your friend’s got something worthwhile to show us.”

  “She does. Everything Cabre wants is right there waiting for him.”

  The radio sounded again. “Targen, come in.”

  “Targen here. What’s the deal?”

  “Targen, it’s Gunrix. I’m trying to connect with your flip. Do you have it up yet? Over.”

  “Yeah, the damn thing is sitting here waiting. Over.”

  “Well, I don’t… no, wait. I think this is it. Yeah, there it is. It looks like I have you now, over.”

  A video feed appeared on the flip, jerky and indistinct, and for a moment I thought the connection was breaking up. Then I realised Gunrix was carrying his flip up a flight of stairs, swinging his arms back and forth and causing the feed to jump.

  “Terrific. I can see a picture of someone’s ass,” Targen said, and Wilch laughed.

  “Few flights to go, hang on. Over.”

  They continued to ascend, and I looked out past the flip on the tripod and over to the city, imagining Arsha and the soldiers climbing up the interior of M-Cor
p right now. With the groups separated, I decided it was a distinct possibility that Targen might take matters into his own hands if he didn’t get what he wanted. It seemed clear that he was out for blood. He wanted to dominate, to impose his power. To kill. I wouldn’t put it past him to risk Cabre’s ire by putting a bullet in my head after the information was downloaded. He had come here to do violence, and I had the feeling that he wasn’t going to leave until that bloodlust was satisfied.

  I stretched and wriggled at my bonds. They were firm enough, but maybe if I kept at it I could get free. That might at least give me a fighting chance of defending myself if he turned on me.

  Gunrix’s grinning visage filled the flip. “This looks like it,” he said. “The promised land.”

  Targen returned the radio to his belt now that the flip connection had been established, and he stood back with his arms folded to watch as events played out.

  “How long is this going to take?” he demanded.

  “There’s a lot of data,” I said. “It depends. Could be a while.”

  Gunrix proceeded through a couple of doors and then his face drew close enough to see the pores of his skin. He fiddled with something around the edges of the flip, making scraping and scratching sounds and causing the video feed to jump. As he drew back it became clear that he had mounted it on the wall of the data centre, as I could see the familiar view of the room clearly – the smooth metal strips of the rack-mounted servers glinting behind the main console.

  Cabre and the other soldiers appeared, and then, appearing small and fragile in contrast, Arsha strode between them and up to the console. Without waiting for instructions, she sat and began to type, turning in the seat to point something out to Gunrix. Her voice was drowned out by Cabre, who stepped up to the flip to look at us.

  “How’s everyone doing over there?” he said amiably.

  “Wonderful,” Malyn said disdainfully. “Your friend here tied us up for no reason.”

  “I trust Major General Targen’s judgement,” Cabre said. “If he took action against you, I’m sure there was good reason.”

  “Remember our deal, Cabre,” I said. “We all get out of this unharmed, and everyone’s happy.”

  Cabre inclined his head. “I remember what was said, Brant. No need to remind me of it.” He looked about him. “In truth, I expected something more inspiring than this. For a place that contains the future of the world, it’s awfully mundane.”

  “You should have told us you were coming,” I said. “We could have spruced the place up for you.”

  Cabre gave me a wry grin. “Well, I guess it doesn’t matter now, does it? It’s the information that’s important.” He turned back to Gunrix, who had hunched forward toward the display screen. “Gunner? How’s it looking?”

  “Wait,” I heard Arsha say, peering at the flip. “Where are the children? Brant?”

  “They’re okay, Arsha,” I said. “They were taken inside. We’re unharmed.”

  “All right, then,” she said. Through the video feed she looked stiff and pallid, nervous. Being in the presence of those large and imposing soldiers was obviously making her uncomfortable. “I’m going to proceed,” she announced.

  Gunrix watched over her shoulder as she accessed the system. The two of them scrolled through a number of menus, accessing files and viewing their content.

  “There’s a lot here, General,” Gunrix said. “Brant wasn’t lying. This… this is the mother lode.” He made no attempt to keep the excitement out of his voice.

  “How long till we get it downloaded? I want a local copy to take away as well as an upload through the Grid.”

  “Shouldn’t take more than a few minutes, General.” He tapped on the screen. “I’m kicking it off now.”

  Cabre gazed into the flip again, his face filling the screen. “I’m glad we had this opportunity to help one another, Brant. I have to admit that I didn’t expect things to go quite this smoothly.”

  “I’m glad too, General,” I said, realising for the first time that we might make it through this unharmed. “Is it okay if we–”

  Gunrix reached out suddenly and gripped a handful of Arsha’s hair, hauling her unceremoniously off the chair and swinging her around violently. She shrieked in pain as she was thrown across the room, thumping noisily against the wall and going down in a heap, dazed from the impact.

  “Have a seat until the transfer finishes,” Gunrix said with a laugh.

  “Cabre!” I yelled, struggling to my feet. “You said no one would be harmed!”

  Cabre shrugged. “Corporal Gunrix was just making sure your friend here doesn’t do anything to impede the data transfer.”

  “Bullshit! That was–”

  “Sit him down,” Cabre said curtly, and Targen strode forward, clouting me on the side of the face with enough force to lay me flat on my back. I groaned, feeling like I’d been run over by a shuttle.

  “Cabre,” I said, wriggling back onto my knees with a great deal of effort. My jaw felt loose from the blow. “We had a deal!”

  “I don’t make deals with traitors. I don’t make deals with my enemies.” He shook his head disparagingly. “What did you take me for, Brant? An idiot? I’m holding all the cards. You lost my trust during our first meeting, and once lost it can never be replaced.” He turned and looked at Arsha squirming on the floor. “I’m going to take your friend back to AC and see what else is in that head of hers. And I’m going to do the same to you.”

  “You fucking liar!” I yelled, distraught.

  “Targen. Kill Malyn,” Cabre added. He paused. “Execute the children. They won’t survive alone. Put them out of their misery.”

  “Oh, fuck yes,” Targen said. “Finally, some action.”

  “Cabre, you sonovabitch!” I screamed, trying to get up, but Targen knocked me down again as if I were nothing but a child. He indicated to Wilch to bring him a rifle, his eyes lingering on Malyn with what could only be described as lust.

  “Cabre!” I yelled again, but the man in black simply gave me a little half smile and turned his back on me, as if done with me for good.

  Arsha continued to squirm on the floor, unnoticed by Cabre, Gunrix and the others as they watched the data flick across the display screen. Cabre clapped a hand companionably on the Corporal’s back and whispered something. They both laughed.

  I saw Arsha reach into her pocket, pulling out the little black box. She turned to look at us, tears streaming down her cheeks, appearing even paler than before. I wondered numbly why that box meant so much to her.

  “Brant, take care of them,” I heard her say weakly, sounding hurt and disoriented. She looked right at me, her eyes pleading. Her face was more desolate than the farthest reaches of the wasteland.

  I looked around helplessly at Targen and the other soldiers, wrenching at my wrists, but they were held fast. Take care of them? How could I do that? I was as powerless to stop Ascension as she was. I was only one clank against so many.

  “Arsha,” I said, my voice cracking with emotion. “There’s too many. I can’t–”

  Then I understood. She wasn’t asking me to take care of the soldiers.

  She was asking me to take care of the children.

  Her thumb flicked something on the black box and she squeezed her eyes shut, sobbing.

  The feed on the flip went black.

  Down the slope, the stillness of the city was interrupted by a gout of dust and mortar and flame, erupting silently from one side of the M-Corp tower like a volcanic blast. It sprayed out through the air, an arc of brown and black debris that cascaded outward and down the side of the building like a river.

  The ground shook and Targen looked up from his newly acquired rifle with a disconcerted grunt.

  We all sat stunned, not quite believing what we were seeing, and then a few seconds later the sound assaulted us like a thousand firecrackers going off at once, a resounding boom that shook the very air around us.

  31

  “The fuc
k?” Targen gaped, disbelieving.

  I watched the fire and black smoke billowing from the ragged tear in the side of M-Corp as the noise subsided, struggling against the shock that was crowding my mind. That little black box Arsha had taken with her wasn’t some memento destined for the graveyard, I realised. It was a remote detonator. Somehow she must have planted explosives in the M-Corp data centre.

  But how? When?

  Targen staggered as another explosion made the ground vibrate, and then he began to recover his poise, realising what had happened.

  “She rigged the place!” he said. “That backstabbing little bitch!”

  Liv stood horrified nearby, a hand to her face, unable to tear her eyes away from the awful spectacle. She blinked and gave a little shudder, then gathered herself and looked around the street as if emerging from a dream.

  “Wilch, Barke,” she said hoarsely. “We need to get a rescue team together. We need to go and look for survivors–”

  “Survivors?” Targen said with a guffaw. “Were we watching the same thing just now? There’s nothing left over there. That bitch blew half the building apart.”

  Liv raised her radio regardless. “Scout team, are you there, over?” There was no reply. “Gunrix? Cabre? Is anyone left alive–”

  “Put that down,” Targen ordered. “We’ll go look in a minute.” He turned back to Malyn and me. “After we’ve taken care of business here.”

  “Throw them in the transport and take them back to Ascension City,” Liv suggested. “How else are we going to get the information Cabre wanted?”

  “We’re not going to do that,” Targen said, looking me right in the eye. “We’re going to finish them off, just like Cabre ordered. But before we do that, we’re going to need to teach them a lesson first.”

  I tried to think of something I could say or do to avert our fate, but nothing came to me. By the look on Targen’s face, nothing was going to sway him from his desired course of action.