by Jack Heath
Six reflexively took cover—but the tank didn’t seem to be the target. He looked out the rear window and saw Harry’s arm tear off at the shoulder as the depleted uranium bullets shredded it. Another volley stripped the synthetic flesh off his leg—and a single round thudded into the center of his chest, where the heart would be if he were human.
Harry beeped, the same as the robot Six fought earlier had done when its exoskeleton had been pierced. Then the C-4 inside Harry detonated, blasting pieces of circuitry out of the exhaust valve. The electric luster drained from the silver eyes, and Harry hit the ground face-first with a lifeless clank.
ESCAPE
“Six,” Kyntak said.
Six didn’t respond. He stared out the window at Harry’s broken body, waiting for him to move. He didn’t.
“Six!” Kyntak shouted. “We have to keep moving!”
Six slid to the floor. He heard Kyntak’s words, but he wasn’t sure how to respond to them. He kept watching Harry, his room-mate of eight months, his rescuer a dozen times over, the last of his kind.
Kyntak swore and grabbed the controls of the tank. Six heard him shove the levers forward, but the sound seemed to come from a distance. The left treads spun much faster than the right ones, which had been crippled by the fire from the EMU, and the tank plowed crazily through the bunks of the barracks.
Harry’s dead, Six thought. Two is dead. Methryn Crexe is dead. All the soldiers killed by the sniper in the Timeout are dead. Half the soldiers in this room could be dead by now. Everyone was alive this morning, and now everybody’s dead. And we’ll be joining them any second…
Overbalanced by the mismatched speeds of the treads, the tank slipped over sideways. Six was thrown backward against the wall; he barely felt the impact. Kyntak screamed as the side of the tank scraped across the concrete floor. The shouts of soldiers could be heard as they were knocked out of the way, and Six made out the noise of a few more shots spitting out of the EMU before it was crushed beneath the sliding tank.
Thump! The cabin shook as the tank collided with something, and then everything was still. Six sat on the wall. Crow and Eagle bullets were still pinging off the hull, but all seemed to be focused on the underbelly of the tank; Six could see the soldiers taking aim through the holes left by the EMU.
Kyntak was opening the hatch. “Get up,” he said. “We’re nearly out.”
Six didn’t move. There was no way out. He’d be beaten up and shot at, blown up and thrown off things until the day he died. The upside was that today was probably the day.
“Six,” Kyntak said. “The tank has blocked off the entrance to the armory. We have a clear run to the elevator. We can be on the surface in minutes.”
Six looked up at him. Kyntak was covered in grit, blood, and broken glass.
“I know you’re tired,” Kyntak said urgently. “But, please, Six, trust me. Do what I tell you and you’ll be glad you did later.”
Six nodded. He did trust Kyntak. He hadn’t always, but he did now. He got to his feet.
“Good,” Kyntak said, and he grabbed Six’s arm and dragged him through the hatch. The noise of bullets hitting the tank faded as they stepped into the darkness of the armory.
Kyntak was right. The tank had completely blocked the doorway between the armory and the barracks. There was no way for the ChaoSonic or Vanish soldiers to get inside, unless there were more coming down in the elevator at the other end.
Kyntak pulled him through the armory and pushed the button to call the elevator. He handed Six into the shadows beside the racks of helmets. Six slid to the floor again—Kyntak didn’t stop him; he just stood on the other side of the corridor. Six sat staring at his hands.
The doors slid open. The elevator was empty.
Kyntak ran towards it. “Come on!”
Six climbed to his feet and followed Kyntak to the elevator. The doors closed behind them. “Is there a button I have to push?” asked Kyntak, scouting around.
Six shook his head. The elevator started moving a second or two later. He glanced up at the surveillance camera—the lens had been smashed, probably by a gun butt. The ChaoSonic soldiers presumably didn’t want Vanish to know how many troops were being transported down into the facility.
“Six,” Kyntak said. Six turned to face him. “Are you all here?”
“Who?”
“You,” Kyntak said. “Do you remember who I am?”
“You’re Kyntak,” Six said. He remembered Kyntak.
“I’m scared, Six. I’ve never seen you like this.”
The doors slid open. Kyntak peered out into the warehouse; it looked empty to Six. Some corner of his mind told him that the soldiers must all be going in through the abseiling hole now.
They stepped out. “Almost there,” Kyntak reassured him. “The Deck agents will—”
“Freeze!”
Six did. Kyntak turned his head quickly from side to side.
“Cockroaches,” he hissed. “One on either side, three meters away, one Crow each.”
“Put your hands on your head,” said a voice on Six’s left. He did, and Kyntak followed suit.
“If we duck, will they shoot each other?” Six asked. The question was automatic. The part of his brain used for situational analysis had taken over.
“No,” Kyntak replied. “They’re not quite parallel.”
“Turn to face the elevator,” said the soldier on the other side of Kyntak. Six turned, and heard Kyntak do the same.
“On your knees,” the soldier said. They both complied.
“I didn’t come this far to be shot by a couple of grunts,” Kyntak whispered.
“You didn’t come this far?” Six muttered. “I did all the work.”
“Shut up,” one of the soldiers said. There was a long silence.
They’re deciding whether to execute us or take us prisoner, Six thought. Presumably mouthing the words, or doing one-handed sign language. He breathed deeply, and the City air filled his lungs. Someone had opened the giant warehouse door, so air from the outside was blowing in gently. The polluted fog in it was overpowered by the sweetness of the predawn chill. Six couldn’t look at his watch, but he guessed it was probably around 6:00 am.
It wasn’t perfect, as far as last breaths went. But nothing ever was—and maybe it would do.
Six took a moment to remember all the good things in his life. Making King proud of the work he had done. Saving lives in the City, be they good or evil. Watching Nai rise from a crawl to a walk for the first time. Seeing Earle Shuji’s remorse, and realizing that people could change. Cheating death a thousand times, because he still had work to do—but maybe now he’d done enough.
That was more or less all of them—Six hadn’t often been happy in his life. But those few things were rewards for his suffering, and perhaps now he could finally rest.
He turned his head slightly to meet Kyntak’s gaze. Kyntak’s eyes were narrow, and his mouth was a hard line. At last, Six thought. My brother has finally grown up.
Two shots echoed through the night. Six and Kyntak dropped to the floor and lay still.
FLOWN THE COOP
For a moment, the world was completely still.
“Are you hit?” Kyntak whispered.
“No,” Six replied. “What happened?”
They scrambled to their feet. The two cockroaches were lying facedown on the floor. Each had a single bullet wound to the head.
Six stared around the warehouse. It was deserted. The cars sat around the jet, dark and empty. The giant door was open. There was no movement in the night outside.
“The shots were separate,” Kyntak said, confused. “They can’t have shot each other.”
“No,” Six agreed. He started searching the bodies of the cockroaches. “It was a sniper.”
“Deck agents on the perimeter?” Kyntak said skeptically. “That’s a long way.”
“No.” Six thought about the girl who’d been at the apartment building and followed him to In
somnia. “I think it’s my guardian angel.”
Kyntak frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“There’s a girl who’s been following me all day,” Six said. “I don’t know who she is, or why she’s doing it. But she’s saved my life a few times.”
He pulled a phone out of one of the soldiers’ pockets and dialed.
“Who are you calling?” Kyntak asked.
“Queen of Hearts. I need someone to get the clone out before ChaoSonic finds him. The Spades must be almost here, but I can’t let them see him or they’ll find out about Project Falcon. Queen was outside when they initiated the lockdown, so she can do it.”
“How’s she going to get to him?”
“Through Vanish’s escape tunnel,” Six said. “It must come out on the surface, or there would be no point building it.”
“Then why don’t we go back for the clone?”
“Vanish has got to be here still,” Six said. “After escaping from the cell, he wouldn’t have left the facility altogether—he figured his soldiers would be able to trap us. And by the time the cockroaches arrived, there would have been no way out. Even if he could get past them somehow, there will still be a line of Spades between him and freedom.” He continued searching the warehouse with his eyes. “Queen can get the clone. We have to find Vanish.”
Queen answered immediately. “Who is this?” “It’s Six.”
“I figured I’d be hearing from you,” Queen said. “I just called King. He said Kyntak was kidnapped eight hours ago, you’ve been missing since seven PM yesterday, the Spades called lockdown and then left, and the Deck’s funds have been almost completely depleted somehow. Something about a beacon being used to track ransom money piercing the firewall. Why didn’t you tell me what’s going on?”
Six’s jaw dropped. He remembered Grysat explaining that he had put an irremovable time-activated beacon on the ransom money for Kyntak, which would broadcast the name and password of the account it was in at 6:00 am—ten minutes ago, he saw, looking at his watch. When Vanish hadn’t delivered Kyntak to the Timeout, they had put the money back in the Deck account—and its details had been broadcast instead.
Vanish had been a step ahead of them the whole way. He had known they would bug the money, and he’d used it against them. Now the Deck was broke.
“I’m fine, and Kyntak’s fine. I’ll explain it all later,” Six said. “Right now, all you need to know is everything will be okay if you do what I say.”
“I’m listening,” she said. Technically she shouldn’t have been taking orders from Six. But apparently she had decided to sidestep that rule.
Six told her the coordinates. “It’s a warehouse by an airfield. There’s a war raging underground, and the Spades will establish a hidden perimeter, which you’ll need to avoid. But that shouldn’t be too hard—they’ll be looking for people trying to get out, not in.”
“How do I get inside?”
Six was remembering something. When he’d first arrived at the warehouse, the construction vehicle he’d used as a ramp for his motorcycle had seemed to be in mint condition—but the lights on the dash hadn’t worked, implying that the battery was dead.
A car, never used, hand brake on, no battery. Obviously not intended for driving. And the area was otherwise completely featureless and empty.
“I think there’s a secret entrance under a vehicle parked outside near the warehouse wall. It should lead you down to a cellblock three levels below the surface. I think it’ll be deserted, but be careful.”
“Got it,” Queen said. Her voice was as calm as ever. “What do I do once I’m in there?”
“There’s a clone of me, probably in the sixth cell from the south end. I need you to get him out.”
There was a pause. The one time I’ve managed to surprise Queen, Six thought, and I don’t even get to see her face.
“Okay,” she said. “How will I know him? Will he look just like you?”
An image of the clone’s frightened face appeared before Six. “No,” he said. “He only has one arm and one eye. He doesn’t speak English and he might not want to follow you. But you’ll be able to overpower him.”
“Anything else?”
“Come quickly,” Six said. He hung up.
“Six,” Kyntak said. “Vanish had a sample of my blood with him when he left.”
Six rubbed his hand over his eyes. “So he’ll be able to get your DNA from it?”
“Best-case scenario, he uses it to grow another clone,” Kyntak said. “Then he uses the clone for whatever he wanted from us. Worst-case scenario, he sells the DNA to ChaoSonic afterward.”
“Then finding him is even more important than I thought,” Six said. “But there’s no way out past the Deck agents on the perimeter, and the airfield is crawling with cockroaches. If I’m right, and the tunnels do lead to an exit under the vehicle outside, he’s probably hiding somewhere in this room.”
They started moving through the warehouse, peering under the cars and in the tinted windows. There aren’t many places he could be, Six thought. If we can’t find him in here, we’ll have to check outside. But if he’s not there either, then we’ll have to go down into the tunnels ourselves to search.
The warehouse suddenly blazed with light, and Six squinted against the reflections from the walls. The headlights of the jet plane had clicked on, and the blades in the engines were starting to turn.
He’s in the plane, Six thought. He forced his tired legs into a run, his boots slapping against the concrete. Kyntak was in front, apparently not as exhausted. But the plane was already accelerating at a reckless pace towards the door. They were losing ground.
The plane shot through the door and its left wing almost scraped the asphalt as it wheeled around to face the runway. Six and Kyntak gained on it as it turned—Six could see Kyntak racing towards the left wing as though he intended to jump onto it and run along it until he reached the body of the plane. He remembered seeing Kyntak run across the top of the wall and jump into the helicopter less than eighteen hours ago, and had a sudden horrible feeling that if Kyntak got onto the plane, he would never see him again.
The plane was facing the runway now, and the pilot had turned the engines on full blast. The wheels thundered across the tarmac and the air behind the plane melted into a dark haze.
Kyntak and Six stopped running. Kyntak hung his head and rested his hands on his knees. Six stared as the plane lifted off the ground farther down the runway.
“What do we do now?” Kyntak asked him.
“There’s nothing we can do,” Six said. “He’s gone.”
“We can call the Deck,” Kyntak said, walking towards him. “They can track the plane on radar.”
“Neither the Deck nor ChaoSonic has noticed Vanish using this airfield before,” Six replied. “He must always fly under the radar and have some way of shielding the thermal signals.”
They watched the plane. It was now curving around back the way it had come. Six thought for a moment that it was going to attack them, but he knew that made no sense—the plane didn’t have weapons. It was just changing course to get to where Vanish wanted to go.
“But he’s right there!” Kyntak roared. “Right there!”
“There’s nothing we can do, Kyntak,” Six said. “He’s gone.” He stared down at the tarmac under his boots.
Kyntak was rapping his knuckles against his bald skull. “We can follow him. There must be something we can do!”
Six shook his head. “No. He won.”
Kyntak stared at Six for a long moment. “What happened to ‘there’s always a way’?”
“Not this time,” Six insisted. “He’s gone. It’s too late to change that.”
“But what about the vial of my blood—our blood—in his pocket? What about when he sells it to ChaoSonic and the City is flooded with super-soldiers? Is it too late to change that?”
“What am I supposed to do?” Six was shouting now. “I tried my best and it was
n’t good enough. Okay?”
“Think harder!” Kyntak shoved him in the chest. “We can’t always win, but we can’t just give up! There must be some way we can follow that plane.”
Six shoved him back, with force that would have knocked a normal human flat. “Like how? It has a top speed of more than nine hundred kilometers per hour—about nineteen times as fast as I can run.”
“Six!” Kyntak bellowed. “We’re following that plane, even if I have to pick you up and throw you after it!”
There was a long silence. Six stared at the jet as it finished its curve and started heading back towards the opposite side of the warehouse, flying low, under the radar.
Hope was dawning in Kyntak’s eyes. Yes, Six thought. This could actually work!
“Hammer throw?” he asked.
“Hammer throw,” Kyntak confirmed.
We have to hurry, Six thought. The plane will pass the warehouse in less than a minute. They both sprinted to the cadmium ladder welded to the side of the building. Six reached it first. He started climbing, slamming his hands and feet against the rungs at a blistering pace. Kyntak jumped on after him as soon as there was room, and the ladder started shaking under their combined weight.
Within seconds they had reached the top. The plane was coming closer; the whining of the engines was already painful. Six ran to the corner of the warehouse roof closest to where the plane would pass if it continued on its current trajectory. He dropped into a push-up position, and Kyntak grabbed his ankles.
“Where did Vanish put the blood sample?” Six yelled over the screaming of the approaching jet.
“In the left front pocket of his trousers,” Kyntak shouted. “Are you ready?”
“Ready.” Six hoped that Kyntak knew what he was doing; Six weighed sixty-nine kilograms more than the average throwing hammer. And the timing was important. If Kyntak let go too early, Six would be hit head-on by the approaching jet, which would kill him as surely as free-falling a kilometer and landing on concrete. But if Kyntak let go too late, Six would fall short of the plane’s tail and plummet to his death on the tarmac. He hoped Vanish didn’t pull up. The plane was only about fifteen meters higher than them, but that was about as high as Kyntak would be able to throw him.