“Sorry,” I said sheepishly.
“What happened to you?” Cain asked, inspecting the back of my head.
“Red roosters… they’re everywhere,” I said, reliving the ordeal with a great deal of horror. “They - they’re not human. I couldn’t hurt him. He snapped my blade in half with his hands!”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he interrupted. “Not human?”
“I think she’s in shock,” Argon said irritably.
“No!” I cried, holding out my hands which were covered in the white blood. “This is from him! My blades did nothing but make him give out sparks!”
“Were you hit on the head?” Argon asked. “It looks like half of it has been taken off.”
Cain stared at me with a half-incredulous, half-worried expression. He took out a handkerchief and cleaned my hands off. “Had this been a few months ago, I’d say you were hallucinating, but I do know the tech labs have been experimenting with new defensive equipment-”
“No, it was in him!” I cried. “In him! It’s like you said, Argon! What you joked about, cyborgs, but this is no joke! It’s real!”
“Human enhancement?” Argon asked skeptically. “Those experiments were dubbed a failure years ago. But… this would explain the creation of a new, elite brotherhood amongst our ranks. I never did understand how Fenn survived the chemical attack. Are you saying that your blades had no effect on him?”
Cain threw the handkerchief he had just sniffed at Argon. “Smells like diesel. Anyway, enhanced or not, we still need to get further in. Which way did you try to go?”
“The upper floor halls,” I said as he examined the deep cut on my cheek. “I almost got to the entrances to the main floor but he came out at me. He was reading some new orders from the base. I saw the letterhead, but not which general it came from.”
That troubled them both. “So… we have government-mandated super freaks in our way? Ones that are guarding the nuke?”
“But it's the truth,” I declared vehemently, sensing their disbelief. “I swear!”
Cain frowned at me, clearly weighing whether he believed me or not. In the end it didn't matter. He shook his head. “I guess we’ll find out. Up is out. I say we get in the way the animals do.”
Argon’s face fell into disgust. “In the slaughter chutes? There’s got to be a better way! All they have to do is turn on the machines and we’re done for!”
“If you have a better idea-”
No one got any better ideas or had the time to as bullets rained down on us through the walls. Cain dropped down next to me and then Argon hit the deck, too. We crawled toward the open window. Glass shattered and poured down on us like snow.
Cain quickly reared up on his knees and sank back down again. “There’s no way we’re going to jump that. It’s eight stories.”
Thinking quickly, I removed my dagger and handed it to him. “Take these and climb down by hacking into the sides of the building. You both have the mandated knives. They’ll do-”
“That’s not going to fly,” Cain said. “They won’t hurt us if we pretend we’re on the same side. You go down. Get help.”
“From who?! There is no one!”
He thrust his knife at me. “Out!”
I took one look at his face and then at Argon who was cursing and pulling on his shades again. Their plan made sense… but only if it worked. I could hang down below the window and listen to make sure it did. I nodded, stood, and put one leg over the edge as the door began to bang off its hinges.
I staked one of the blades into the wall and dropped down. I stabbed down the other and removed my hand from the ledge. Cain peered over for a second and then disappeared inside. I heard the door burst open and then voices, but thankfully no gunshots.
I couldn’t distinguish the words over the dull roar of the wind in my ears, but the voices faded. I looked down at the dizzying descent below me. Not the best way down. It would take me far too long to climb. But to my left I saw more windows. Provided they weren't alarmed, they seemed like a better option.
I staked the daggers in foot by foot until I was directly below the nearest one. By that time, my arms were burning something awful. I peeked in. It was to a stairway. Even better. I broke the window with one of the blades and hauled myself in. No alarms went off. Just how poorly designed was this place? I decided to head for the area I had been in previously before the rooster had attacked me. I sprinted up the stairs two at a time.
At the top, I ducked in the door. There were a few people up there around computers. None of them were military and all of them failed to be moved by my appearance. Only a few even bothered to pay me a passing glance. I nodded at them like I was supposed to be there. “Nasty people about. The intruder clocked me over the head but good. Have you sent security down?”
I didn’t wait for their reply and headed into the next room. It turned out to be a huge atrium. And much to my relief and sinking disgust, in the center of the great hall sat the nuke. It was smaller than I had expected. In looks it reminded me of a giant bullet. And it was overheating. The air around it was shimmering like the air did over hot pavement. I could feel my blade being drawn toward it like a magnet. It applied pressure along my back.
Much to my confusion, next to the nuke was Emma Gene. She was on the phone, totally unaware of me, which was good considering I had nowhere to hide. “Yes. No, Cain will not screw this up. Fennley is getting to him now.”
I couldn't hear the reply from the other line, but alarm shot through me. She was working with the terrorists. They were going to kill Cain and probably Argon, too. But she wasn’t finished.
“Yes, I haven’t forgotten the plan. Do I seem forgetful?” she sneered into the phone. “The soldiers will take it in, thinking they have confiscated it, and then we’ll detonate it in the slums. No, the activation keys and code are here with it. Yes, we got lucky.”
I was petrified. They were going to use the soldiers to get it in without suspicion. No one would check a squadron transporting goods into the base, especially if the contents were correctly marked and guarded. No one would suspect a thing until it was too late!
What a horrible, brilliant plan. Most likely, there was absolutely no way I could stop it, nor could Cain and Argon. I needed to speak to Greyson Rogee if I could. He was the only one who could stop this madness. He was the prime minister and if anyone had a desire to keep the city intact, it was him.
I turned for the door I had just come in, still reeling inside from what I had just learned. But just as I was about to turn the handle, I heard her snap her phone shut. I turned from the door just as she was turning to look at me. I plastered a relieved expression on my face. “Emma, you found it! Great work.”
“Save it,” she snapped. “I knew you were there the whole time. I could see you in the reflection of my speaker.”
She prowled toward me as I squared my chin. “You know, I had wondered who I would pin this all on after it was rumored you were dead, but here you are. The plan comes back to its original bones. You’re still the perfect scapegoat to pin the blame on. I didn’t anticipate Cain falling for you, but that’s easily remedied. Broken hearts are easy to mend once they have another set of arms to fall into and mine are always open.”
“As are your legs,” I spat, wondering how I could have possibly been the one they planned to blame it on the whole time. She shrugged. “Have you no shame? No heart? You’re going to terminate an entire population.”
She laughed softly. “Only those who don’t matter.”
I didn't argue with her. She was evil to the core if she didn’t see anything wrong with this. I strode up to her. I laughed, too, as she drew her gun and pointed it at me. “That won’t work. Not in here with your precious bomb.”
“This isn’t a normal gun,” she sneered and then fired.
It hit me in the neck. But it wasn't a normal bullet. I yanked it off and saw an injector dart leaking a dark fluid onto my palm mixed with my blood. Drugs probably. Bu
t I was immune. I threw it at her laughing face and it bounced off her forehead. “Nice try, bitch. Looks like you stocked a dud.”
She stopped cackling with a smug expression. “Not at all. It’s fissile nuclear waste. I’m part of the cleanup crew. If anyone checks you before you die, you’ve been contaminated by the bomb. And if you’re that severely contaminated, you had to be in contact with it several times. I gave you a concentrated dose, sweetheart. You’ll be a carcass for the dogs by dawn.”
I felt nothing. No horror, no terror. This bypassed both by far. I knew what happened in past history to those who died by radiation poisoning. It was gruesome. So inhumane that our world had banned its use on each other. And she had given me a concentrated dose. I would be dead within hours if not less.
I felt empty inside as I weighed my options. Keeping her talking was my best option. Then I would go in for the kill. “Hmmm. How unfortunately well planned. How long has this been in the works for? And what general has been bought off? I’ll bet his bunker has been padded very nicely. He’ll need a padded cell to match his insanity!”
I stuck my hand into my pocket, fumbling for my dagger. She cocked her head. “Shouldn't you be running right about now? Planning your casket design or something? Insulting me is so very unfulfilling for those about to die. Sing the praises to your ‘God’ and maybe he’ll save you.”
Her words were mocking. My fingers made contact with the handle. It was hard considering they were shaking. My vision was blurring in and out as I heard a door opening somewhere nearby. “My God will be too busy making sure the devils overrunning His land are dragged to hell and you with them!”
I dragged the blade from my pocket and poised to throw it. But the explosion of a bullet leaving the chamber of a gun proceeded the second it left my fingertips. Mind blowing pain hit me as my own blood splattered on my face. The dagger fell from my hand and went to my feet as I clutched my wrist and screamed, falling to my knees.
Crimson blood poured through my fingers as I tried to stop it from escaping my body. A broken sob escaped from my lips as I looked up at Emma who was staring at something behind me, presumably the one who had fired. I didn’t care how they had managed to get a gun to work in here with the nuke. I had failed. I probably had another bullet aimed right at my brain. I hoped it was. That would end me right there and I wouldn't have to suffer.
She brought her hand to her mouth, feigning distress. “She was going to kill me! I caught her talking to someone on the phone. She’s behind this! She’s been leading you all astray so they could sneak it past us! Thank you, Cain. You saved my life.”
My heart crumpled into a ball like a piece of smashed tin foil. I turned back, biting back another scream. Cain was standing there, gun pointed at my back with a look of utter hatred and fury on his face. This one bypassed all the contemptuous looks he had sent me at the beginning of our journey. The open hostility, revulsion, and disgust on his features caused what was left of my heart to disintegrate into dust. It was more painful than I could have imagined.
So this was what a broken heart felt like. It burned worse than a thousand suns could. I barely noted Argon and the fellow I had kicked earlier standing with him. All three of them had what looked like antique weapons, ones that ran off of gun powder with no electricity in them.
“Did she hurt you?” he asked her, dark eyes never leaving me. I turned away. I couldn’t bear the way he was looking at me.
“No,” she trilled, sashaying forward. “But she would have if you hadn’t gotten here in time. My hero.”
“You bet I would have killed her,” I growled, wounded animal that I was. “Lies, all lies! She was the one on the phone!”
“Save it,” Argon snapped. “Fennley told us how you attacked him. You’ve been deliberately leading us in a wild goose chase this whole time! You murdered Jennings for the codes-”
“I don’t have the codes!” I yelled, hysteria giving way in my voice. “I didn’t know he had any codes until Cain told me! I only killed him to stop him from murdering more slaves. You know me!”
But he obviously didn’t believe me when he continued, “You were working with the terrorists and you’ve been stringing Cain along because you needed a soldier to escort the device back into Nacin without drawing suspicion to yourself!”
That stopped me. I tuned out the rest of his tirade. How clever this all had been. There were still a lot of holes in that explanation, but it sounded so convincing compared to the idea that one of their own could be behind this that they had fallen for it. I took the perfect fall. No one would be the wiser until it would be too late.
“Where are the others?” Cain demanded in a voice like ice. “We know you had help.”
“Ask her,” I moaned. “Emma Gene has the keys - the activation codes! Search her! They will set it off in the city! You must-”
I cried out as a blunt object hit the back of my head. I collapsed forward into a shivering mess, not caring who had hit me. I openly cried. I couldn't help myself. It was all too much.
“She’s lying. The activation codes and keys are still missing. I’ll bet she knows where they are, though, considering she stole them in the first place.”
“I’ll deal with this,” Cain said, cocking the gun again. “Coordinate with the others and get ready to transport it back to the city immediately. There will be a team and cooling unit waiting for the nuke there.”
“Yes, General,” she said, sweet as poisoned honey. “Just don’t be too long. I’m so very sorry she got to you.”
“Go,” he said in a deep, gruff voice that allowed for no more talk. “You, too, Argon.”
I heard the door open and footsteps recede, but only two. Argon spoke so softly that I could barely hear him. “You don't have to do this. I can do it. I know what she means to you-”
“Go.”
The door shut. I bowed my head as I heard him come closer, one footstep at a time. I stayed still as I felt the muzzle of a gun press into the back of my skull. The dull ache of where the skin had been sheared off was nothing comparing to the intense emotional pain I was in.
“Do it,” I whispered.
He wouldn't believe anything I said, so why try to sway him? I didn’t want him to suffer over this, though. My death shouldn’t haunt him. Even if he hated me now, I knew this would still pain him. He spoke so low I could barely hear him. “It’s all about the money, isn’t it? You got me hook, line, and sinker with the manufactured lies. The whole bit about how you were a slave… You killed Tiranshyck to cover your tracks. How could I have been so blind? It was false… A lure to tug on my heartstrings!”
More tears crashed from my eyes as I heard how upset he was. He was hiding it well with anger, but it was there. This was costing him every bit as much as it was me. I heard the click of the safety being released. “Any last words?”
“Just shoot,” I whispered. “She injected me with nuclear waste. I’ll be dead within hours anyway.”
“I just want to know why! Why would you do this?”
“I wouldn’t,” I cried. “Stop them! They’re using you and the other soldiers to transport it into the city!”
“You’re too dangerous to leave alive,” he murmured, ignoring me. “You’ll escape. You’re full of nothing but deceit.”
“Then kill me!”
I shuddered as the gun pressed further into my skull and I heard him pull the trigger. I tensed, waiting for the end, for the bullet to shred through my existence. But God must have decided to torture me more. All that came was a click, registering the chamber was empty.
Cain cursed and the gun withdrew. “You know what? I’m not going to waste my time and another bullet on you. That would be too good for your kind. Get up!”
I stumbled to my feet, not looking at him. Snapping a handcuff to my uninjured hand, he dragged me to the railing overlooking the hall in which the nuke sat at the center. He attached the other cuff to it. “There. You can either bleed out or radiation will get to yo
u.”
“You’re going to your death,” I said with a shaking voice. ”I can't stop you or them. Only you can do that now. Don't let them anywhere near the city. Stop them… Please,” I sobbed.
He didn't respond to my final plea. He strode away, leaving me there to die and I watched him go. He didn’t look back, which was good. Let him be free of the emptiness I felt. The door slammed and I lost my view of my one and only friend… and probably something more, too.
I brought my blood-soaked knees up to my chest and curled into a ball. I had no more tears left to cry as I heard the last of his footsteps fade into the distance. All I could do was gather what was left of my soul and wait for the end to come.
Chapter Twenty Four ??:??:??:?? to nuclear explosion
Ten minutes… Twenty… An hour passed.
I was dying and I knew it. I felt hot. Even the desert couldn't muster this torturous heat. The fever had come. But the usual delirium that accompanied it did not. I could literally feel my body giving in to death one iota at a time and I wasn't fighting it very well.
My previous thoughts were haunting me now. All the fighting I had done to stay moving through life was for naught. I wanted to die. I didn't want to live with the knowledge I had failed eight million people or the parting look of revulsion and hurt from the man I now realized I loved. He would die, too. There was nothing I could do to stop it.
Another hour passed and I still hadn’t expired. What a sick joke. I was in such excellent health to begin with that my body wouldn't give up. I had watched as they removed the nuke from the hall and began transporting it out of Micalar. Cain had been there. He had glanced up once to where I was. I had looked away. It was cowardly but I didn't care. He probably thought I was watching in disgust as my plan came crashing down.
When I was finally alone, I found myself praying. I was talking to God. Oh, no, I wasn't praying for myself. I was long past that. I was praying for everyone else. Miracles happen every day, or so they said, and Nacin needed a whopper right now. I prayed that the nuke would be a dud; that the keys were the wrong ones. Maybe the gate would lock itself shut and wouldn't open. I prayed that the activation code would fail.
War Machine: Book One in the Destiny In the Shadows Series Page 31