Bridge_Bridge & Sword_Apocalypse

by JC Andrijeski

  “––Looks like you disabled the gas lines,” Balidor added through the same channel. “We can see a lot more now, with the main grid down. That Barrier snapshot you sent us just got converted over. We have two of the engineers from Arc going over it now––”

  “––At least two armored vehicles approaching from the northern part of the city,” Hondo said in her English accent, from a different part of the hotel. “Declan and four of his team confirm. Majority of the unit is SCARB, non-New York, World Court branch. They moved here in the last few months. He said to expect military to follow. They have anti-aircraft guns on one of the units heading your way. Declan says to expect tanks––”

  Jon began filtering words out, catching fragments of other communications between the seers on the ground and those back at the hotel. He kept his light focused on Revik.

  As a result, he fell a half-step behind some of the back and forth. He was still wondering if they’d take the stairs, when Revik glanced at Wreg.

  “You feel it?” he said.

  Wreg nodded. “Twenty more. They’ve got teams at six different levels below ground now.” Wreg tapped his wrist. “Tick-tock, boss. They might be supplying an exit.”

  Revik nodded, once.

  Jon felt glimmers of what they meant.

  He saw seers and humans in combat uniforms filling staircases on the floors Wreg pointed out from behind the shield––many more than what Balidor indicated in preliminary reports.

  Jon felt Revik flash the same snapshot to Balidor, along with a brief impulse to the group.

  I’m taking out the mains. There are structural supports down there. Watch the floor.

  They’ll be impassable–– Jax pointed out.

  That’s the idea, Revik sent, giving him a sharp look. His eyes shifted to Loki, then to Wreg. Two teams. Loki, keep the split. I want Wreg with me.

  Wreg didn’t need to be told.

  The Chinese-looking seer was already jogging towards the nearest bank of elevators, whistling and gesturing sharply for Chinja and Neela to join him as he broke into a run to reach the row of silver-colored doors. Loki took Illeg and Torek to another set of elevator doors, two down from the one where Wreg and Chinja worked.

  Jon overheard them talking inside their own, smaller constructs.

  Start on number four, Wreg said to Chinja, indicating towards one of the elevators. Any with cars stuck on the upper floors.

  Shouldn’t we go for those with lower-level cars? Illeg sent.

  She didn’t slow her strides to Loki’s side. She grabbed hold of the opposite door from what Loki held, jamming her fingers into the crack between doors as he managed to separate them. She didn’t miss a beat in her conversation with Wreg as her muscles strained.

  What if they get the power up again? she sent. Easy way to knock us back out, to come down on our heads.

  Wreg shook his head, even though the other seer couldn’t see him. We don’t have time to fuck with getting around a car. We’re going all the way to the bottom, sister.

  Understood, she sent at once. We’ll do the same.

  Jon listened with part of his mind, watching as Jax joined Wreg, carrying some kind of crow bar-type tool. Torek had a second one when he joined Loki and Illeg by the other set of doors.

  Jax jammed the tool into the opening they’d created while Neela, Pagoj and Raddi covered both teams with rifles. Neela’s eyes had gone as hard as glass; Jon felt the anger on her, along with pulses of Garensche’s light.

  The two of them had been friends, Jon remembered.

  He swallowed, fighting back the revulsion he felt, thinking of the giant seer in the past tense.

  He continued to hold up the Glock, covering Revik from as many sides as he could while the others worked.

  It struck him again, how chaotic this was, yet weirdly synchronized.

  Normally, Revik planned everything down to the most minute detail. This op happened with almost zero prep. Plans were being made in real time, as events unfolded.

  He couldn’t quite wrap his head around what Revik himself was doing––not until the tiled floor began to shake under his feet. It got bad enough, the tremors nearly threw him into Revik’s back. The low, deep-feeling concussions grew rather than lessened as the seconds passed. They also started coming closer together. One of the more violent ones knocked framed art off the wall behind the security desk, and set off a distant fire alarm.

  The shaking stopped. All Jon could hear were the calls back and forth in his headset, and the pants of the seers jimmying open the elevator doors.

  Then an even heavier rumble shook the tile under his feet.

  Louder than the others, it shook the walls, hard, blurring Jon’s vision.

  He lost his balance for real, managing to not fall into Revik by falling into a potted tree. He let go of the gun with one hand to steady himself on the wall beside one of the elevators, still aiming the Glock in the direction of the security station as smoke began streaming from under the stairway access door.

  Jon could feel the screams now.

  Well, he assumed he could feel them and not hear them, since the seers and humans he could see looked far away, trapped inside that concrete set of landings.

  Revik had taken the time to melt the door locks on all of relevant floors.

  Most of those floors seemed to be under them still.

  “Fuckers,” Jon heard Jorag mutter from his other side. “Serves them right. Hope they rot in the filth of the Dreng when they reach the other side.”

  Revik gave him a swift, censoring look.

  He didn’t speak, though.

  With his glowing eyes, he looked ghost-like, almost unreal. He still throbbed with excess light. The Dreng hadn’t yet managed to find or cut off his source.

  Jon saw more smoke start to pour through cracks around the staircase door and shifted his eyes nervously around the giant, three-story lobby. Even if Revik succeeded in cutting off the other teams, Jon hoped Wreg and the others were almost done.

  Something was coming. He could feel it with his light.

  They’d already broken themselves back into two teams.

  Jon felt himself assigned to the first of those, along with Revik, Wreg, Jorag, Maygar, Jax, Neela and Chinja. The second team, led by Loki, included Torek, Illeg, Mika, Poresh, Garend, Raddi and Pagoj, along with Oli, who’d insisted on coming with them as well.

  Jon watched the second team as they continued to work over the open elevator doors, and wondered if he’d ever see them again, once they reached the bottom.

  Both Wreg and Loki had their respective elevator doors locked open by now. With the help of others in their teams, they began attaching heavy metal hooks to the side of the walls, embedding them there with what looked and sounded like a high-powered nail gun.

  “Structure’s holding,” Balidor reported through the link. “We count sixty dead. A number got through on sub-five––maybe two dozen. They’re looking for a way around now.”

  “Have they breached any of the elevators?” Wreg asked on the same link, peering down through the opening he’d created in the doors, his gun held out in front of him, pointed into the darkness. “We’re using shafts four and six for descent. That’s counting from the stairwell, south side of the building.”

  “So far, no elevators jacked,” Balidor said at once. “We’re not seeing any secondary power sources attached to those. We’ll keep an eye out for any movement in either direction, but we have reason to believe they can see you, even if they haven’t penetrated the shield. Look for flyers, if you can, but I wouldn’t tarry there long.”

  Tarry, Jon thought.

  Every now and then, Balidor sounded like he came from a different historical period, maybe a different continent.

  Then again, he did. On both counts.

  “What’s the progress of the group on the street?” Revik said. “The tanks you mentioned?”

  “Twenty minutes out,” Tenzi answered.

  “Any news o
n Surli?” Revik said. “Tarsi?”

  A brief pause sent the links into silence.

  “No,” Balidor said then. “We’ve got Ullysa working on that. Argo’s with her.”

  “Understood,” Revik said. “Let me know when you’ve got more on the construct below the sixth sub-basement level. And any exits. I need progress on that. Preferably before we walk into it blind. If they slip out of here, and out of range of our nukes, it’ll all be for nothing.”

  “Of course, sir,” Vikram said. “Right now, we can’t see past––”

  “Two minutes,” Revik said, cutting them off. “We’re leaving now. If we lose contact down there, I want you to start the evacuation.” Revik’s eyes swiveled to the pried open elevator doors. “Where are you with it Wreg? Loki? Are you making me a liar?”

  “No, sir,” Wreg said at once. “Never, sir. Ready now.”

  “Ready,” Loki affirmed.

  “Send your first people down,” Revik said. “Chain of command splits now.”

  Loki nodded, turning to Torek and Oli and motioning sharply with his hands.

  Chinja and Neela were already halfway into harnesses.

  Jon watched Chinja shove her arm into the last loop, right before she yanked on a nylon rope, testing its link to the metal lock on her belt. She nodded to Neela, who’d already backed towards the open shaft. Jon watched Neela disappear through the opening, right before Jax tossed the excess rope attached to Chinja’s harness down the same deep black shaft opening.

  Revik grabbed Jon’s arm then, startling him.

  “Are you ready for this?” he said.

  Jon nodded, almost before he understood the question. Revik had already averted that mesmerizing, pale-green, sparkling gaze, looking at the others.

  “Team one. Wreg and Maygar next. Then Jon and I. Jax and Jorag, you bring up the rear.”

  Everyone on both teams was already shoving themselves into harnesses.

  Jon pulled his own harness out of the small backpack he wore, holstering the gun briefly to get it out of the way so he could pull the nylon straps around his legs and shoulders. He locked up the front with shaking fingers, grabbing the rope Wreg handed to him right before the giant seer gave him a wan smile, squeezing his fingers briefly before he disappeared into the opening after Neela and Chinja. Jon watched him go, a sick feeling in his stomach as he realized Wreg could end up like Garensche before they reached the bottom.

  At the thought, he glanced at Loki’s group, right as Oli and Declan disappeared through the opening. Swallowing, he sent up a wish to see them again, too.

  He caught a look from Loki after he did it.

  The seer sent him a pulse of warmth, shocking in its intensity, as well as the emotion Jon felt behind it.

  Walk with the gods, brother Jon. I would see you again, in this world or the next.

  Jon didn’t have long to think about that, either.

  Revik caught hold of his shoulders, positioning him next to the elevator shaft with strong, uncompromising hands. He steered him into place, then tapped him sharply on the chest.

  “Go,” he said. “I’m right behind you.”

  Jon didn’t think.

  He jumped, gripping the ropes in both gloved hands.

  41

  PAINT IT BLACK

  IMMEDIATELY, EVERYTHING PLUNGED into darkness.

  Jon held onto the shield, seeing through sparks of his aleimi.

  Most of what he saw at first came from Maygar and Revik.

  He glimpsed two different areas of the elevator’s shaft, flickering behind his eyes as his light fought to adjust. The cord ran out fast, even with Jon guiding it with his hands. He used his feet to balance against the walls a few times on the way down, but mostly he followed the structures in his light, which told him more or less as he passed by each dark elevator door.

  He could smell smoke.

  Once he’d fallen a few floors below lobby level, smoke caused him to cough, worsening as he passed the next set of doors. He could hear nothing with his ears, see nothing with his eyes––nothing but silence and pitch black. His light picked up ropes hanging near him in the dark. He kicked off a little harder a few times to avoid running into them, or worse, getting stuck on one or getting it tangled around his harness or limbs.

  Pain met his light when he felt Wreg’s.

  For a few seconds, he felt like Alice falling through the rabbit hole.

  We can see you, brother, Wreg sent. Just keep doing what you’re doing. We’ll let you know when you get close.

  Wreg sounded nervous, though, and Jon felt the nervous flickers in his light.

  Looking up, he saw the faint light from the open shaft.

  It looked very far away now.

  He could hear a second rope next to him, and realized he could see Revik’s shadow periodically blocking that light. The other man seemed to be coming down a lot faster than he was, and Jon touched the crank at the edge of his belt, adjusting the small lever there minutely.

  Immediately, he began to fall faster.

  As he did, a grinding sound erupted around him.

  Lights flickered, then died.

  “More generators!” Jax shouted down. His voice echoed down the shaft, loud, but somehow more than anything emphasizing how far away he was from the rest of them.

  Got it, Revik sent.

  His mind felt utterly stripped of emotion. Jon could feel Revik gaining on him still, despite how fast the rope disappeared through his gloved fingers.

  Give me a minute to pinpoint the connection, Revik sent.

  Hurry, boss, Jax urged. Hurry. We can hear it up here. They’re trying to get the elevators up.

  Jon felt something, a kind of breaking feeling, as if from far away.

  I think I got it, Revik sent.

  A groaning sound erupted though, nearly cutting off his words. The lights flickered again, and that time, Jon was looking up. He saw Revik’s body, his sharp, green-lit eyes staring down at him. Revik was moving so fast it was difficult to focus on his face at all.

  Jax, Revik sent. You and Jorag better come. Now. Something’s blocking me from that second power source.

  Revik’s thoughts were calm, matter-of-fact, but Jon felt his heart jerk sideways in his chest once he made sense of them. His hands shook where they held the rope, but he felt the steadying pulse of Wreg’s light, coming from somewhere below.

  One minute, Wreg told him. He aimed his next thoughts at Revik. Boss, we’ve got company headed our way down here. They might be trying to box us in.

  It won’t matter, Revik sent. Not unless––

  But another voice cut him off.

  It came through loud, echoing up and down the shaft. Something about it felt nearly physical, like a punch to the center of Jon’s chest.

  “NOT UNLESS WHAT, BIG GUY?” the mocking voice said.

  Cass’s words reverberated down the very ropes Jon gripped in his hands.

  He found himself fumbling for his gun holster, even as he fell, feeling a panic break out in his chest, a thrumming in his veins that brought his breath faster, until he was hyperventilating.

  Jon focused up. It was too far for his eyes, but his light saw Jax jump down over the rim of the elevator shaft, even as another coil of rope fell through the chute towards him and Revik.

  Jon had to give the seers serious credit for the accuracy of their throws; Jax’s rope missed both Revik and Jon’s ropes and bodies entirely. Even so, the idea of the four of them falling through the same space at the same time made him nervous.

  He knew he was avoiding, though.

  He didn’t want to think about what she could––or would––do.

  “YOU SEEM AWFULLY MOTIVATED, SEXY MAN,” Cass called down the shaft, the grin still prominent in her voice. “WHAT DID YOU MEAN, THOUGH? IT DOESN’T MATTER UNLESS WHAT…?”

  Jon was still reacting to the familiarity of her voice, trying to get at his gun, when Cass’s mocking words came through louder, as if from speakers e
mbedded in the walls.

  “…NOT UNLESS THEY HAVE THEIR OWN TELEKINETIC SEER?” she finished with a laugh. The sound bounced off the walls, causing Jon to blink up at Jax and Jorag, willing them to come faster. “…IS THAT WHAT YOU WERE THINKING, BIG GUY?”

  Revik aimed his thoughts at the rest of them.

  Just get to the bottom. Follow what I told you before. Ignore her–– he sent.

  A second voice joined the first, cutting him off.

  “I don’t think it’s going to be so easy this time, Revi’.”

  Jon knew that voice, too.

  Terian went on, his voice holding regret.

  “…Although I do, as always, admire your optimism.”

  Before Jon could wrap his mind around what either of them meant, his fall stopped with a sudden, violent jerk.

  He let out a pained gasped, briefly sure he was dead.

  Then his feet rested on something hard.

  Muscular hands were on him, gripping him tightly, turning him around. In front of him, Chinja unbuckled the harness around his chest, working quickly to get the ropes away from him, along with the greased metal buckles on one side.

  Jon just stood there, letting the one pair of hands hold him, knowing it was Wreg, even as Chinja worked to get off the ropes.

  He still stood there, fighting to control his heartbeat, when Revik landed a few yards away, coming to rest on a metal beam about five feet above the platform where Jon stood.

  Unlike Jon, Revik seemed to have planned his landing.

  Now he moved quickly, unhooking the rope from the winch and eye at his belt, even as Neela helped him, yanking the harness down over his shoulders and down his legs. Within seconds, he’d moved into the alcove at the far side of the wall. Jon saw him touch his headset.

  “All in,” he said to Jorag and Jax. “They’re up there. You need to commit.”

  “Boss––” Jorag began.

  “We’ll catch you,” Revik assured him.

  Neither Jax nor Jorag felt that sure.

  Neither said anything more, though.