by Kim Curran
I hopped up on one of the beds and allowed Frankie to administer to my wound. Aubrey watched me the whole time, smiling. I desperately wanted to be alone with her again. But we’d have to wait.
“I go out for five minutes,” Zac strode through the doors of the infirmary, “and I miss all the excitement.”
“What excitement?” Frankie asked, threading the needle through my skin.
“Just Tyler saving the world. Again.”
Frankie looked at me as Zac, Aubrey and I burst out laughing.
It was one of those perfect moments. The three of us together. I felt the warm glow of good friendship. Or maybe it was the drugs kicking in. Whatever, I felt more at peace that I had done in days. Perhaps even months.
Frankie shook her head and finished tying off the last of the new stitches.
As if the moment couldn’t get any better, I saw the door open and two small figures walk through. It was Katie and CP. Katie hesitated at the door as if she wasn’t sure if she should be there.
CP pushed her forward gently. “Get in there.”
I pulled Katie into a tight, shameless hug as soon as she was within reach.
“They said you nearly died,” she whispered into my neck, her voice chocked in emotion.
I didn’t correct her that we had all nearly died and tightened my hug. “It’s OK,” I said. “Everything is going to be OK.”
I had my sister and my friends around me. Life was good.
Which was when I heard the first explosion.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
A second explosion followed quickly after, shaking the walls of the infirmary. Dust rained down on the white floor. We all stood there staring up at the ceiling.
“What the…” Zac said.
Plans and backup plans, that’s what Ladoux had said. It appeared the Red Hand had yet another in store.
“We have to get to the command room.” I jumped off the bed, ignoring Frankie’s complaints that I needed to keep the weight off my leg, and ran for the door, Zac, Aubrey and the others trailing after me.
The Hub was a flurry of activity as everyone in S3 prepared for attack. I watched them as they armed themselves, checked their equipment and tried to stay focused and calm as yet another explosion rocked overhead. Some of them had clearly been woken and were still pulling on their uniforms. How many of them could be trusted? How far had the Red Hand infiltrated our ranks?
Everyone stopped as another, louder explosion was quickly followed by the sounds of screeching metal, as if a great beast was clawing at the doors overhead.
I crossed the Hub, ignoring the red stain where Hedges’ body had been, and pushed open the doors of the command room.
The scene that greeted me was one of barely contained panic. The intel officers were scrambling around, pushing buttons. The large screens were broadcasting feed from the security cameras showing what was happening on the streets meters above our heads.
On the live footage I saw the Emperor’s helicopter on its side, blades still turning, clawing gashes in the side of the building. Swarms of figures in red scarves surrounded the entrance to the Hub, armed with machine guns. The Emperor’s security force were putting up a good fight, but they were outnumbered. We watched as the last of them fell to the bullets of the Red Hand. And then a tank rolled into frame, a large Red Hand painted on its side.
“The bastards,” Zac said. “That’s one of ours. They could at least have the decency to not kill us with our own bloody tanks.”
I wondered if this was a touch of irony from Ladoux, revenge for the friendly fire that had killed her husband.
The only thing stopping the Red Hand from getting into the hangar was ten inches of steel. Only minutes ago, I’d been praying for those doors to buckle, cursing them for not letting me in. Now I was praying that they would hold and keep our enemy out.
The turret on the tank twisted, pointing straight at the doors. They’d withstood a rocket launcher, but could they stand against a tank shell? No one breathed as the tank fired. The impact shook the walls again and plaster rained down on our heads.
“How long will it hold?” Cain had entered the command room.
“Honestly,” one of the intelligence officers said – his name was Philips, I seemed to remember – “I don’t know.”
Cain slammed a red button with his hammer fist. A blasting klaxon sounded and all the lights in the Hub turned red. Not that anyone needed the level five protocol to let us know we were in deep shit. “Radio the army,” Cain said. “We need backup.”
“The network is down,” Philips said.
I’d forgotten about how I’d not been able to get through to Aubrey earlier. And now it seemed we were unable to get any messages out.
“Then get them back up again!” Cain shouted, pounding his fist on a table.
Phillips ripped a panel off the wall. Red, black and blue wires spilled out like guts. He started trying to trace the wires back.
“What other means of communication do we have?” I asked.
The intel officers all shared a look. None, it seemed.
“What about Morse code?” Katie stepped forward. “I was trained on it last week. Mr Morgan said it was how messages were sent in the old days.”
Philips jumped up. “Yes! I think I know where there’s a hard-wired transmitter left over from the last war.”
“Then get a message through to Morgan. Tell him the Hub is under attack and we need help.”
“I actually don’t know Morse code,” Phillips said, shame turning his cheeks pink.
I looked at Katie. “I only know SOS,” she said.
“Then send that,” I said.
Katie and Phillips ran out of the room as we all turned back to the screens. The tank was firing over and over. The doors would give any moment, and then they would be heading for the lift. We would have to be ready.
“How many of S3 are here?” I said, turning to Cain.
“All of them.”
Three hundred trained men and women. Most of them Shifters. Up against an army. Only, all our heavy artillery was in the hangar above our heads.
“What weapons do we have?” I asked.
“Let’s go find out.”
The shelling was almost constant now; a deafening pounding that shook my teeth. We were all covered in plaster dust, and great cracks had appeared in the ceiling.
The armoury was empty. We’d handed out every last gun, grenade and knife. And the men and women of S3 were bristling with an arsenal of weapons.
“What can we do, sir?” Williamson said, stepping forward, slipping his head through a belt of quantum grenades. His dark eyes glittered with a mixture of fear and excitement. Unwin stood next to him, the straps of at least three guns criss-crossing over his chest. His jaw worked frantically at a piece of gum.
“You can start building a barricade in front of the lifts, in case they get through.”
“Message sent,” Katie said, skidding to a halt in front of us. “I don’t know if it got through, though.”
“We’ll just have to hope it did,” I said, pulling her into a half hug.
“What’s going on?” Vine appeared, Tzen at his side. They were covered in dust.
“We’re under attack, sir,” Zac said, stating the obvious.
“You and the Emperor need to get into the Igloo and lock yourself up. It’s the safest place here.”
“I do not hide,” Tzen said.
“You do today,” I said. “Without you, this treaty will crumble and everything we have been fighting for will have been for nothing.”
“But I can fight.”
“I know you can,” I said. “You are one of the best fighters I’ve seen.” I remembered how the two of us had gone up against each other in the golden tip of the Pyramid while his father watched. “But a great warrior knows when to pick his battle. And this is not yours.”
Tzen sucked on his bottom lip, suddenly looking like the young boy he really was. He was scared and fi
ghting not to show it. Just like we all were. He breathed in and then nodded. “I will go.”
I turned to Vine. I still hated him for everything he had done. For the way he’d tried to use my love of my sister to manipulate me. But his safety was more important than my desire for revenge. “Take your most trusted men with you. When they break through, they will head for the Igloo.”
“I am looking at my most trusted man,” he said.
I shook my head. “I’m staying here.”
“Then I am sure I have nothing to fear.” He reached out his hand.
Even now, when there was an enemy army breaking in overhead, he was still worried about appearances. I took his hand and shook it, taking pleasure in squeezing it as tightly as I could. If we made it out of here, I was going to make sure that Vine went down.
But first, I had to stay alive.
Vine led Tzen to the Igloo and I turned back to my squad. I was about to issue an instruction when a huge lump of masonry crashed down in the space between Williamson and me. We looked at it for a moment. It had narrowly missed our heads.
“They’ve broken through.”
“And they’ll bring the whole place down on us at this rate,” Zac said, looking up at the large hole in the ceiling. “We’re sitting ducks down here.”
“You suggest we take the fight to them, Captain?” Cain said.
Zac blinked. I knew he was calculating the odds, plotting the outcomes. “Only ten at a time can go up through the lifts.”
“We’d be cut to shreds as soon as we stepped out of the box,” Aubrey said.
What other choice did we have? Sit down here and wait to be crushed under falling bricks, or try and take a few of them out with us?
“If I could get to the Rhino,” CP said. “It’s DNA-coded to me, so they won’t be able to access it.”
“There’s no way you’re coming up with us,” I said.
“Maybe the lift isn’t the only way up.” Katie pointed up at the airshafts. They were only a foot wide. Only enough room for a small child.
“No,” I said, realising what she was suggesting.
“Yes!” CP said, catching on. “Someone get a grappling gun.”
“Cancel that,” I said, grabbing CP by the shoulders. “It’s not going to happen, Finn,” I said. “That’s an order.”
“Well, with the greatest of respect, sir,” CP said, digging her small fists into her hips, “but screw orders.”
“The shaft comes out at the rear of the hangar,” Zac said, following the path of the silver tube as it twisted along the walls and up. “She might just make it.”
“And if not, I just Shift. It’s what I was trained for, Com.”
I hesitated and then realised she was right. “OK. Get the grapple.”
“I’m going with her,” Katie said. I looked down and saw she was pulling on a pair of oversized gloves.
I was about to protest when she punched me in the arm. “Stop acting like a brother and start thinking like a solider. They’ll have Shifters on their side too, right?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Then CP will need a Fixer to cover her. And unless you can squeeze through that hole, I don’t see another Fixer around here, do you?”
“She’s right, sir,” CP said. “And I promise, if it doesn’t go to plan, I’ll get us both back here to safety.”
I looked from CP to my little sister. I crouched down so that she and I were on eye level. “I want you to think about this moment. Right here and now. I want you to really think about your decision to go up there. That goes for you too, CP.”
CP pulled off her salute: two fingers brushing against her long fringe. “Yes, sir.”
Unwin and Williamson seemed to be fighting over who would get to fire the grappling gun. Unwin won and took aim. The hook soared through the air, dragging the rope behind it, and slammed into the brickwork a few inches away from the shaft opening. Williamson rolled his eyes, there was that ripple as a new reality took over, and suddenly, Williamson was holding the gun. He pulled the trigger and the harpoon shot clear through the hole and to the top of the shaft.
CP tugged on the rope. It held. Unwin and Williamson helped the two girls clip on. Acid bubbled in my throat as I watched CP work her way up the rope and disappear inside the shaft.
Katie was up next. Williamson tightened the clip on her harness. I could see her hands were shaking too much to do it herself.
“Remember, Katie,” I said, checking over the harness myself, “the slightest hint–”
“And I Shift. I get it.” She pushed my hands away. “They retested me, you know? This time, I didn’t try and fail. I scored a twelve.”
Unwin chuckled next to me. “She beat your record, Com.”
Katie beamed. I leant forward and kissed her on the forehead. “Show-off,” I said.
Williamson lifted her up so she could grab hold of the rope, and we watched as she winched herself into the air.
“Break some balls,” Unwin said, just as she eased her way inside the shaft. She winked back down in response.
“OK,” I said, taking a deep breath and trying to forget about the danger my little sister was about to face. “We’ll give the girls five minutes, and then we’re going up. A squadron at a time. Starting with Thirteen.”
The men and women of S3 split off and began organising themselves into their squads. Of my squad, there were only Aubrey, Zac, Williamson, Unwin and Turner left. I was overwhelmed by a sense of pride and love for each and every one of them.
“You appear to be a few men short.”
I turned to see Sergeant Cain. He was fully suited and carrying a shotgun. He pumped the forestock, slotting a round into the barrel. “Permission to volunteer for the Lucky Thirteens, Commandant.”
I smiled at my old instructor. “Permission very much granted.” I reached out my hand and he shook it.
“Two minutes and counting,” Zac said, handing me a gun.
“Weapon check.” I said
“Check,” Aubrey said,
“Check,” Zac said.
“Check,” Williamson and Unwin said in unison.
Turner was the last to speak up. She was tucking a gold medallion under her shirt. I recognised it as the one Cooper used to wear. “Check,” she said finally.
I ran through the process of ensuring my gun was loaded and not jammed without even thinking. “Check,” I said at last.
Whatever happened next, we were ready. “Thirteen squad. Are you ready to break some balls?”
“Yes, sir!” they echoed.
The rest of S3 were equally primed. Zac had been right when he said they were the best of the best. Today, they’d prove that to the world.
I heard a high screech and whoomp from above.
“You gotta love the Rhino’s plasma cannon,” Unwin said.
“They made it!” Aubrey said, clutching my arm.
“Now! Now! Now!” I shouted and we ran towards the lift.
“Wait!”
I turned to see a red-faced Carl jogging towards us.
“Unless you’re joining us, Carl, I suggest you take cover.”
“That’s not the only way up.” He bent forward, clutching his knees, fighting to get his breath back.
“We know about the shafts,” Zac said, pulling him to standing by his arm.
“Not them.”
“Then why the hell didn’t you tell us? My sister is up there right now and you’re telling me there’s another way?” I grabbed him by his damp Led Zeppelin T-shirt.
“Because I was getting it ready,” he squeaked.
I let him go. “Getting what ready?”
He held up what looked like a remote detonator in his hand. “The platform.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“The whole floor rises up?” Aubrey said, looking down at the tiled pattern beneath our feet.
“It used to. But when the place was shut down after the last war, they had the pistons concreted up. I did t
ry to tell you,” he said, fixing me with an irritated look.
“So, how do we get it operational?” Cain said.
“Four controlled explosions at the base of each of the pistons might – might, I stress – clear the cement from the mechanism. I’ve already set one of them.” He waved the detonator again.
“Williamson, take two more men and get Carl here to show you where to place the explosives. You’ve got one minute and then we’re going up anyway.”
“I need more time,” Carl said, a drip of sweat rolling down his forehead.
I rested my hand on his shoulder. “I trust you, Carl. You can do it.”
His lips tightened in a line of determination. He nodded and pulled off the worst salute I’d ever seen. “Sir, yes, sir!”
He jogged away with Williamson and two more members of S3.
“All right, listen up,” I shouted, my voice carrying across the assault still raging up above. “In under a minute, this whole floor is going to rise up and we’re going to face the enemy. There are people up there who believe that Shifters are an abomination. That we should be wiped off the face of the planet. And they are willing to do anything and everything to make sure that each and every last Shifter is destroyed. But we are not going to allow that to happen.
“I wish I could promise that you will make it. But I’m not going to insult you by lying. Some of us will die today. Even those of us who have the power to change our decisions will be forced to make the ultimate choice.”
Fear and emotion made my words crack. I looked down at my shaking hands.
You can do it.
I looked around to see who had said that. Then realised it was him. He was here again. Only this time, instead of sneering at me, judging me and criticising me, he was willing me on. And I realised with an overwhelming certainty that he cared about the people in this room as much as I did. Unsurprising, now I thought about it. He’d fought alongside them all these years. He’d gone into battle and led them home time after time. He was the one that they believed in.
Every choice he’d made, whether I agreed with it or not, he’d done to protect them. To protect what this place and the people in it stood for. Whereas I was willing to sacrifice my life for the people I loved, he’d sacrificed his soul. Did that make him a better man? I didn’t know. It made him a better soldier. He was focused and ruthless where I was distracted and driven by emotion. But maybe, just maybe, together we might be worthy of leading these men and women.