by Darrell Pitt
“I’m not getting anything.”
“Maybe the phone’s switched off.”
“We should still be getting a signal.” The agent drummed her fingers on the desk. “That makes no sense.”
“Why is there no signal?” Ebony asked.
“I can only think of a few possible reasons,” Palmer said. “Possibly the phone has been destroyed.”
“Destroyed?” Dan didn’t like the sound of that. “How would that happen?”
“There are other possibilities,” Agent Palmer said. “The phone could simply be out of range. It might be too far underground for us to trace, or maybe it has developed a fault we’re not familiar with.”
Dan realised his headache had dissipated. He was relieved it was gone, but now he began to worry that it might have a more tragic implication.
“You don’t think Brodie’s dead – do you?”
“Let’s not jump to conclusions here. How long has she been gone?”
“Since this morning.”
“Even local law enforcement wouldn’t do anything until she’s been gone twenty-four hours,” she said. “Let’s give her till tonight.”
“And then what?” Ebony asked.
“Then we’ll start a search for her.”
Chad frowned. “How?”
“How what?”
“The Agency is a secret organisation,” Chad said. “You’re hardly going to contact the police. Are you?”
Agent Palmer shrugged. “This is all hypothetical. Right now –”
“It might not be hypothetical in a few hours’ time,” Chad said. “How are you going to explain to the police that Brodie is living here? That she’s part of The Agency?”
“I know you’re upset –”
“Just answer my questions.”
The silence hung between them like a curtain.
“All right.” The agent looked uncomfortable. “You might as well know that The Agency has been liaising with the US government since the United Nations revealed mods to the world. We have established a memorandum of understanding between us.”
“What does that mean?” Dan asked.
“A deal.” Chad glared at the agent. “Nice of you to tell us.”
“We don’t have to tell you anything.”
“Like hell,” Chad said. “My sister and I aren’t even US citizens. We’re Norwegian. We can leave at any time.”
“I wouldn’t advise it.”
Chad looked like he was about to explode so Ebony grabbed his arm.
“We’re all a little wound up, right now,” she said. “We’re worried about Brodie. Let’s just deal with one thing at a time.”
Chad didn’t say anything, but he nodded.
“I’ll keep on trying her phone during the afternoon,” Palmer said. “We’ll call in reinforcements if she doesn’t turn up by tonight.”
The group silently marched out of her office. The secretary at the desk outside gave them a severe look, but they ignored her. Ferdy drew close to Ebony as they walked down the corridor.
“Brodie is missing,” he said.
“That’s right. Brodie is missing.”
“She is Ferdy’s friend.”
“She’s a friend to all of –” Ebony stopped. “Wait a minute.”
The others looked at her.
“Where the hell is Axel?”
Chapter Ten
It’s a good thing cell phones are so versatile these days, I thought. This would have been impossible ten years ago.
Dislodging the grill from the air vent, I pulled it into the cramped space next to me. Using my powers, I levitated the cell phone so it hovered only a few inches below the camera. I used it to take a picture of the room. The next step was the most dangerous. Keeping the phone just below the camera, I focused on the light illuminating the room. Fortunately it was a simple fluorescent tube set into the ceiling. By compressing the air at one end of the light, I was able to break the contact, causing the light to flicker.
In that brief instant, I levitated the phone upward before the camera. Even if someone was watching the camera, they would probably assume the light was starting to fail. Hence the flicker. Hopefully they would fail to realise they were now looking at a photo of the room instead of the room itself.
Sliding out of the ventilation shaft, I dropped down to the floor below. I had to remain focused on keeping the phone completely stationery before the camera. This was difficult, but not impossible; The Agency had trained me well over the last few months. I crossed quickly to the enormous door, examined the keypad and inserted the code.
Bingo!
I heard the clunk of metal rods sliding back into place as the lock disengaged. I opened the door.
Now for the Stonekiller.
The room was lined with shelving on each side. I felt a tinge of guilt at my betrayal. Stealing other people’s possessions was not something I had ever engaged in, but it had to be done. Keeping an eye on my phone suspended before the camera, I quickly scanned the shelves. Graal had shown me a picture of the gun. The device was similar in shape to a normal handgun, but the body and barrel were about three times the size. There were several objects lining the shelves. Nothing looked like the Stonekiller.
I felt a rising sense of panic. What if the weapon wasn’t here? What if it lay in some other vault of The Agency? What if I had to return to Graal empty-handed?
A sound came from the outside chamber. Glancing through the door, I saw nothing. The elevator doors remained closed. I was imagining things.
A new thought struck me as I returned my attention to the shelves; the gun was probably not sitting by itself on one of the shelves. It was probably enclosed in a container. On a shelf second from the bottom lay a small, grey carry case with a moulded handle.
Opening it, I found the gun inside. It looked terribly innocent when I considered the terrible power it contained.
They are unable to move a muscle, yet they remain alive, locked within the rock for all time…
How terrible. I tried not to think of the repercussions of handing this weapon over to Graal, but I could not allow Brodie to be harmed. Once she was safe, I would retrieve the weapon and then –
Another sound seemed to come from the chamber outside the vault. I stepped toward the open door, but at the same time caught a glimpse of a flashing light above the doorway of the vault. I had not seen it when I entered the room as it was above my head, but now I stared at it in absolute horror.
A camera lay above the door and it was trained directly on me.
I swore.
Another sound came from the chamber outside, but this time I recognised it. The elevator was descending. I bolted from the chamber with the case in my hand. My attention left my cell phone completely. It crashed to the floor as the doors of the elevator slid open. Four security guards with rifles burst through. Their guns narrowed on me.
“Drop the case!” one of them screamed. “Lay down on the floor –”
Sorry. Not today.
I threw up a shield and ran straight at them. They fired. Bullets ricocheted. I leapt into the air. Dove over them straight into the elevator. Spinning about, I slammed the button for the top floor. The men spun about. Fired again. Several of the bullets hit my shield. Crashed into the walls of the elevator. The doors slid shut.
Falling back into the wall of the elevator, I felt my heart beating crazily in my chest. I felt light-headed. The Agency knew about me now. They knew I had the Stonekiller. Nothing would ever be the same again.
The elevator shuddered to a halt. The lights dimmed. I focused on the ceiling and smashed it into pieces. I flew upward through the debris. An alarm began to ring. I rose up about a hundred feet. Reached a pair of elevator doors. Wrenched them open with my mind.
The passageway beyond had a pair of scientists walking down it straight toward me. I flew toward them. They dove to the floor. I had no idea what level I was on. I just had to find a way out of here. A sign whizzed past me. B12. I wa
s still twelve levels down. Damn. This wasn’t going to be easy.
An elevator shaft lay at the far end of the corridor. I didn’t bother waiting for a ride. Possibly all the elevators were stopped now anyway. I forced the doors open. Stepped into the shaft. Flew straight up. An elevator was heading straight down toward me.
“Sorry,” I said.
I slammed into the bottom of the elevator. Pushed it upward until I reached the top of the shaft. Another pair of doors lay before me. I took a deep breath. Focused on the doors. Forced them open. Twenty armed guards with rifles surrounded the doors in a tight semi-circle. They opened fire. I started forward, releasing the elevator behind me. Bullets slammed into my shield. I flinched. Fell back. Pushed my way through the barrage. One of the guards started forward and I used my mind to pick him up and throw him toward the centre of the squad. They fell about in a heap as the firing continued. It was a deafening roar. I leapt into the air above them. I had reached the concourse. Now I needed the street.
I could try going up another elevator shaft, but bursting out of a hotel in the middle of Las Vegas would leave The Agency completely exposed. I could not do that. A better option was the exit shafts that led to the desert. I streaked through the air across The Hub, found one of the tunnels and zoomed down it.
It was all completely surreal. Only a few hours before I had returned from a mission as part of a team. Now I was leaving all that behind. How could I ever be part of The Agency again?
“Hey!”
The voice came from behind me. I recognised it immediately – and ignored it. Within seconds I reached the outer doors of the tunnel. Forcing them open, I flew out into the warm air of the desert.
The cry came from behind me again. I turned to see Chad about fifty feet behind me riding on a surfboard of fire. It was a technique he had been trying to perfect for weeks. More often than not, he had fallen straight out of the sky.
“What the hell are you doing?” he screamed.
I looked at him in dismay as I flew backward across the desert. I struggled to speak.
“I can’t tell you!” I yelled. “You have to leave me alone.”
“I can’t do that.”
“You’ve got to!”
He drew his arm back to create a ball of fire, but I was faster. In an instant, I built up a gust of air and threw it at him. He fell sideways off his fiery surfboard and plummeted downward. Just before he hit the ground, I used my powers to soften the impact.
He did not move.
What had I done?
There was no time to find an answer to that terrible question, so I turned and flew away.
Chapter Eleven
“This is outrageous!” Agent Palmer slammed her fist into the table. “I demand an explanation!”
Ebony was sitting in Agent Palmer’s office in the same seat she had occupied only a few short hours before. She stared helplessly at the other members of the team. There weren’t many other eyes that stared back. Brodie was still missing. Axel was gone. Chad had chased after him and now he had also disappeared. All that remained was herself, Dan and Ferdy. Dan looked completely bewildered. Ferdy calmly met her gaze before looking up at Agent Palmer.
“The domain extension for websites in Romania is dot RO,” he said.
Palmer’s face went a brighter shade of red. She had been standing, but now she collapsed back into her seat and didn’t speak for a long time. It occurred to Ebony that she was probably counting to ten.
Finally the agent swallowed hard and leaned forward. “Let’s go through what we know. When was the last time you saw Brodie? And Axel?”
Ebony went through the day’s events again. There was little to add from what had been previously discussed. Brodie had been missing all day. Axel had completed the mission that morning. Palmer asked her a few questions.
“Did he seem strange?”
“Not at all,” Ebony said.
“How about nervous?”
“No.”
“Has he ever expressed any particular hatred for The Agency?”
No more than any of us, Ebony thought.
“No,” she said.
“Any strange calls?”
“No.”
“None?”
“Who would ring us?” Ebony asked. “We only know each other.”
Dan spoke. “This all started when Brodie went missing.”
Agent Palmer considered this. “In that case, her disappearance has escalated into something far bigger.”
“Like what?” Dan asked. “What’s going on?”
The agent seemed to consider her words carefully before continuing. “Axel has broken into a vault below the complex and stolen a weapon. A very dangerous weapon. How he came to know of it is a mystery. What he intends to do with it is also a mystery.” She drummed her fingers on the desk. “I can only assume that Axel has been turned.”
“Turned?” Ebony asked. “Into what?”
She had images of him morphing into a bug.
“By a foreign power,” the agent said. “He’s a traitor.”
“That’s ridiculous!” Ebony snapped.
“He would never do such a thing,” Dan said. “He would never betray us.”
“But it appears he has.”
The voice came from behind them. A man stood in the doorway. It took Ebony a moment to recognise him. It was Twenty-Two.
Agent Palmer looked flustered. “Twenty-Two. I was about to file a report –”
He shook his hand. “Don’t worry about your reports, Agent Palmer. Matters would seem to be moving rather more quickly than that.” He regarded Ebony and the others with an even gaze. “I think I would like to hear about the day’s events from our young friends.”
For what now seemed like the hundredth time, Ebony related what had happened. The alien listened to her in silence.
“So it would seem that Brodie and Axel have betrayed us –”
“That would never happen!” Dan said.
“– or Axel is being blackmailed somehow,” Twenty-Two said.
“Blackmailed?” Ebony asked. “With what?”
“With Brodie. She may have been kidnapped.”
Ebony let the idea sink in. She found it hard to imagine that Brodie could be kidnapped. She was so powerful, after all. Yet any of them could be overcome under the right circumstances.
“No matter what the situation,” the alien continued, “we must treat Axel as a hostile force.”
“Hostile?” Dan said.
“Until his loyalty can be verified,” Twenty-Two said, “Axel must be treated as an enemy of The Agency.”
“That’s not fair!” Ebony said.
“Life is often unfair,” the alien responded. “I must ask you to remain in the compound until this situation is resolved.”
“But we haven’t done anything!”
“You must remain here for your own protection.” Twenty-Two turned to Agent Palmer. “Continue with your investigations. The Stonekiller must be recovered at all costs.” He gave everyone a final nod before leaving the room.
“What is the Stonekiller?” Ebony asked.
With a weary sigh, Agent Palmer described the weapon to them.
“Axel would have no reason to ever steal such a thing,” Dan said. “And what would he do with it?”
“It’s not what he would do with it,” Palmer said. “It’s what a foreign power would use it for.”
“But –” Ebony began.
The agent held up a hand. “That’s all for now. You are confined to the compound. Whether Axel and Brodie have turned or are acting under duress, we need to keep you under lock and key until this situation is resolved. Our security cameras show Chad was in pursuit of Axel. I assume he will be returning shortly. The same rules will apply to him.”
There seemed to be very little to say after that. Ebony led the others from the room. She remained silent until they reached the concourse.
“We’re going to find Brodie and the others,” Ebony
said.
“But Agent Palmer said –”
“Forget Agent Palmer! We’re not trained sheep! It looks like Brodie’s been kidnapped and Axel is trying to save her. And why hasn’t Chad returned?”
“Chad often acts in a highly independent manner,” Ferdy said. “Sometimes he is a painful individual.”
“He is still your friend.” Ebony laid a hand on his arm. “He still cares about you.”
“Ferdy knows this,” the boy acknowledged. “We must help our friends.”
“Absolutely,” Ebony said. “Now we just need to find a way out of here.”
Dan started. “But Agent Palmer said –”
“We’re going to escape from The Agency,” Ebony interrupted him. “We’re going to steal a Flex Fighter and fly it right out of here.”
Chapter Twelve
The last light of day creased the horizon as the Tagaar fighter ship slowly descended into the valley. The craft had been invisible during flight, but now the cloak was deactivated for landing. Dust and desert scrub were blown about by the exhaust of the ship as it settled onto the dry earth. Finally the rear of the vessel opened and Graal stepped down the ramp flanked by a team of warriors.
The Tagaar leader perused the landscape. They had sighted a long dirt road from the air and followed it to the abandoned shack with its leaning porch and broken windows. T’bar, his second in command, appeared at his side. They drew their weapons as they peered into the gloom.
“Is this the place?” T’bar looked about. “There seems to be nothing here.”
“This is the right place.” Graal remained motionless as his men fanned out into the surrounding desert and circled the shack. “A signal has been emanating from here for several days.”
“It cannot be an accident,” T’bar said.
“It is no accident.”
Graal shivered, not from fear, but from the cold. This air was too chilled for a Tagaar warrior! His people needed hot, steamy environments in which to flourish. The climate of this world was unnatural – it even had ice at its poles!
He knew the inhabitants were currently in the process of heating its atmosphere, but it couldn’t happen fast enough as far as he was concerned. That process would accelerate once the planet had fallen under Tagaar control.