‘You can ask.’
‘Why did you do it?’ he asked. ‘Was it for money?’
‘My girlfriend’s being held hostage,’ I said. ‘Look, the world is in real danger. If I don’t—’
‘Danger?’ Tasker laughed. ‘I’ll say. The US is at Defcon Two. We might all be eating radioactive burgers for dinner.’
‘The Russian President—’
‘Don’t you worry about him. He’s absolutely fine, and we intend to keep him that way. He’s just the icing on the cake. A bonus.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Let’s just say we have some contacts that will buy him from us,’ Tasker explained. ‘They’ll resell him back to the Russians.’
‘Buy?’ I said in amazement. ‘Sell?’
‘Sure,’ he said. ‘Stint don’t do hostage negotiations. We don’t have the contacts, but we’ll pass him onto someone else who does.’
‘And what about us?’
Tasker looked uncomfortable. ‘Yeah, that’s a shame,’ he said. ‘Someone paid us good money to take you down. They want to do some crazy experiments on you. Take you apart to see what makes you tick.’
To see what makes us tick?
‘You’re probably not gonna survive it,’ Tasker said, shaking his head regretfully. ‘Sorry. It’s nothing personal. It’s just business.’
I struggled to put all this together. These people were mercenaries who had kidnapped us at the behest of someone else. They had nothing to do with our kidnapping of Alexi Kozlov. He just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I’ve really made a mess of this.
Could things get any worse? I should have gone to Agent Palmer in the first place. The Agency would have helped me. Because of the way I’d handled this, Chad and I were in this alone.
‘Don’t look so glum,’ Tasker said. ‘It’s an eat-or-be-eaten kind of world.’
‘That makes me feel a whole lot better.’
The mercenary got up and crossed to the pilots. He asked them about the flight plan. I looked at each of the two guards opposite. They didn’t look pleasant. I desperately tried to think of some way out of this, but nothing sprang to mind.
‘You kids aren’t so tough without your powers.’ The blonde one looked like he’d trodden on something unpleasant in the street. ‘You wouldn’t last a minute in a real fight.’
Then he spat on me.
‘You—’ I started forward to hit him, but the chain stopped short.
The redhead laughed at my desperate attempts to break free. ‘You modifieds look good, but you’ve got no real staying power.’
Chad groaned. ‘My head…’
I looked over at him. He hadn’t spoken the entire time I’d been conversing with Tasker. Now his eyes fluttered about wildly.
‘Are you okay?’ I asked.
‘My head…can't think straight…’
He sagged so far forward his head almost touched the floor. I yelled. Tasker walked back towards us. The other two guards were still laughing, but Tasker looked serious.
‘We don’t want that kid dead,’ he snapped at the other men. ‘He’s not worth anything dead.’
He pulled Chad’s body back into an upright position. Much to everyone’s amazement, Chad’s eyes were wide open, and he had a small gun in his hand.
‘Surprise,’ he said.
He fired the weapon and shot out the two zeno emitters. He tried shooting Tasker, but the man was too fast. The older man knocked the gun from his hand and drew back his fist. I focused on the air within the vessel and blasted the rear doors open. Exerting pressure on the floor of the cabin, I pushed the back of the vessel down.
The blonde guard fell out through the rear. Tasker brought his fist down to slam it into Chad’s head, but by now I had an invisible barrier up. He hit the barrier. Recoiled in pain. Chad focused, and an instant later the man fell sideways to the floor—encased in ice. The redheaded guard fired his weapon, but by now the bullets were simply bouncing off my barrier. The craft leveled out.
‘Let’s get out of here,’ I yelled. The aircraft was filled with a hurricane of freezing cold air. I broke the handcuffs, and they clattered to the ground.
Chad pointed menacingly at the other guard. ‘Where’s the other Lifter?’
The redheaded guard looked petrified. He pointed vaguely out through the rear of our craft. A small vessel trailed several hundred feet below.
One of the pilots turned around with a gun in his hand. Chad directed a blast of fire at him. The man screamed, and the entire front window exploded outward. I felt a tinge of sympathy for the man, but there was no time to reflect.
‘Come on!’ I yelled.
The block of ice encasing Tasker shattered, sending shards in all directions. Chad threw up an ice wall. I knew that would only hold for a couple of seconds at most. I glanced towards the front of the craft and saw the remaining pilot desperately trying to get the ship under control. He was fighting a losing battle. The landscape drew closer with every passing second.
We were about to crash.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Brodie sometimes had to remind herself that Ferdy had a multitude of abilities. Not only was he a genius, but he had super strength. She watched in amazement as Ferdy leaped from a standing position straight into the ceiling. Hanging by one hand, he tore a hole in the roof and climbed through. He reappeared a moment later.
‘Ferdy has found guns,’ he said. ‘Lots of guns.’
‘That’s great, Ferdy,’ Brodie said. ‘We’ll come up and join you.’
The chamber they were standing in was becoming more crowded by the second. It seemed the entire population of Sartaria had decided to participate in the impromptu revolution and had escaped the vast slave city in one enormous wave.
They followed Ferdy to the room above. It turned out to be an enormous supply chamber filled with boxes. Someone broke one open and found food supplies. They began to distribute them to the crowd while Brodie and the others stacked a few boxes and used them to climb up into the next room above. It quickly became apparent that Ferdy had discovered the mother lode. It was a full armory with hundreds of rifles lining the walls. People started up the makeshift ladder after them.
Brodie realized they needed a plan, and they needed it quickly.
‘We need to take command of the bridge,’ Zena said. It turned out she’d been a military officer on Corrida. ‘Once we have control of this ship, we can go wherever we want.’
‘How do we find the bridge?’ Bax asked.
Ferdy brought up a schematic on the wall displaying a diagram of the ship. While Bax and Zena studied it, Brodie assembled her friends. The last few hours had been so chaotic. It seemed a million years since they had been able to speak.
‘How is everyone holding up?’ she asked.
‘I’m fine,’ Dan said. ‘I’m part of a rebellion taking place on an alien ship orbiting the Earth. What more could a boy want?’
The group laughed.
‘I’m okay,’ Ebony said. ‘A little tired, but still on my feet.’
‘What about you, Ferdy?’ Brodie asked.
‘Ferdy is having fun,’ he said.
‘Fun?’ Dan said.
‘Ferdy likes to be with his friends.’ The boy placed his arms around them, and they all huddled closer together. ‘We will meet later with our friends Chad and Axel. We will play some games.’
‘I’m sure we will,’ Brodie said.
The mention of Axel’s name made Brodie realize how much she missed him. During the last few, crazy hours, she hadn’t had a chance to think about him. He’d been sent on a mission by the Tagaar to create disharmony. What did that mean? Was he all right? Was he even alive?
She sometimes wondered about her feelings for him. He had never used the L-word. What did that mean? Maybe they weren’t in love. Maybe they were just friends. Indeed, he often seemed preoccupied with his own thoughts. She’d noticed he spent a lot of time with Ebony. Maybe
that meant—
She stopped herself.
Shut up, she thought. And focus!
Bax and Zena rejoined them.
‘We have a plan,’ Bax said. ‘We’ll make our way through the ship until we reach Engineering.’
‘Why Engineering?’ Ebony asked.
Zena spoke. ‘Controlling the power supply will give us control of the ship.’
‘Then we need to advance.’ The voice came from behind them. It was Ragin. ‘You should know that I regret my previous actions. I can see we should not have agreed to hand you over to the Tagaar.’
‘Don’t blame yourself,’ Brodie said. ‘You were doing what you felt was right for your people.’
‘I think we need to keep moving,’ Dan said. ‘This room is getting pretty full.’
He was right. The surge of people from Sartaria hadn’t slowed. The armory was almost full to overflowing. More and more people were streaming up the makeshift ladder into the room with every passing second.
Zena yelled a few commands to several of the armed citizens. Someone carefully opened the door leading to the corridor beyond. It was deserted. The crowd swelled through the gap and started pouring down the corridor. Brodie found herself being carried along with it. She caught sight of Ebony and grabbed the girl’s arm.
‘Stay close,’ she said. ‘I’m not sure if this is such a good idea.’
‘What do you mean?’ Ebony asked.
‘There are too many people,’ Brodie said. ‘We need to—’
At that moment, she saw the light above the elevator flash at the far end of the corridor. A cry went up among the people, and several armed resistance fighters readied their guns to fire. The doors opened to reveal—nothing.
‘What’s going on?’ Dan asked. He was shorter than the others and couldn’t see over the sea of heads.
‘It is empty, Dan,’ Ferdy said.
The crowd continued to drive them forward.
‘We need to stop,’ Ebony said, feeling claustrophobic in the confined area. She turned around to yell. ‘Stop! Everyone stop!’
At the same moment, Brodie saw someone step into the elevator. There was a sudden flash, and then bodies and pieces of metal were flying towards them. The shockwave of an explosion followed. Brodie felt the impact of the blast hit her and throw her sideways. Everything went dark for a few seconds. When she opened her eyes, she was on the ground, surrounded by bloodied and screaming people. She struggled to her feet and saw Dan.
‘What happened?’ he asked. The boy had a mixture of tears, blood, and mucus on his face.
‘It was a bomb,’ Brodie said, her ears still ringing. ‘A trap.’
People were all over the ground and all over each other in the confined space of the corridor. Screams and crying emanated from every direction. Blood covered the floor. It seemed everywhere Brodie looked, she saw death and pain.
‘We need people with medical knowledge!’ she screamed. ‘We need doctors! Please, we—’
Ebony grabbed her arm. ‘Breathe,’ she said. ‘Just try to breathe.’
Brodie realized she was on the verge of hysteria. And only barely conscious. The world shifted around her, and she fell back into Ebony’s arms. She stared up at the ceiling. Someone moved past her field of vision. It was Tomay. He looked down at her.
‘Are you all right?’ he asked. ‘The blast has killed many people, but—’
Brodie forced herself out of Ebony’s arms. She gave her friend a grateful look and struggled back to her feet. Somehow, medical care was being given to the victims of the blast. People were still working together amid the carnage. The people of Sartaria were fantastic.
‘I’m okay.’ She searched for Bax. The woman had survived the blast unharmed, although she was covered in someone’s blood. Brodie stumbled over the field of bodies to her.
‘It was a bomb,’ Bax said. ‘A trap laid by the Tagaar.’
‘I thought so,’ Brodie said. ‘Where’s Zena?’
Bax’s face fell. ‘Zena is dead. She was directly in the path of the blast. She was trying to stop them from entering the elevator, but—’ The woman’s face threatened to crumple into tears. ‘Anyway, we must regroup. We must continue.’
At that moment, an alarm began to sound in the corridor. It stopped after several seconds and was replaced by a growling voice.
‘This is Commander Graal,’ it said.
The moaning and crying in the corridor subsided enough for them to be able to hear his voice.
‘I have taken command of this ship,’ he continued. ‘You will return to the lower decks. You will be treated fairly if you resume your work.’
‘And if we don’t?’ Bax asked.
The commander’s next words could have almost been in response to her question.
‘You will return within the hour,’ Graal continued. ‘If you don’t, we will kill every slave aboard this vessel.’
Chapter Twenty-Nine
I grabbed Chad’s arm. I was so disoriented by our journey towards the ground that I dared not try to save the vessel. Forming an invisible barrier, I aimed it at the nearest wall. At the same instant, Tasker started towards us. Dragging Chad out of his path, I flew us towards the gap. One second we were in the heart of the twisting, out of control vessel. In the next, we were out in the freezing cold air and soaring into the sky.
I peered back to see the Lifter slam into the ground. A roar of flame erupted from the ship. I tried not to think of the men aboard the craft. We landed among a clump of trees a short distance away.
‘You did good, Axel,’ he said.
‘Thanks.’ I was still thinking of the men aboard the jet. ‘Do you think anyone got out?’
‘Who cares?’ His face hardened. ‘They were going to use us for medical experiments.’
‘Who do you think was behind it?’
‘No idea.’ He shook his head. ‘Just another weirdo.’
Another thought occurred to me. ‘And where did you get that gun? Since when did you start…’
‘Packing?’ he laughed. ‘You know how many times we’ve been taken down by those zeno emitters?’
‘Lots?’
‘Dan helped me with his Jedi powers to buy it from a pawnbroker in downtown Vegas. I thought it might come in handy.’
Peering into the sky, I could just make out a tiny dot in the sea of blue. ‘We’ve got to get going.’
‘How are we doing for time?’
My eyes shot to the display on the wrist compass. I stared at it in horror, unable to make a sound. I couldn’t believe my eyes.
0:00
We had been unconscious for a long time—more than six hours. The rendezvous time had come—and gone. Chad grabbed my arm as I reeled on my feet.
‘You did your best, man,’ he said. ‘You risked everything for her.’
Brodie is dead. I couldn’t even conceive of it. I did not feel hatred or anger. Only shock. An all-consuming numbness.
‘Axel?’ Chad’s voice came from a million miles away. ‘There’s still the Russian President.’
It took me a minute, but I eventually came to my senses. ‘Sure,’ I said, absently. ‘You’re right.’
I’d dragged Alexi Kozlov into this mess. Now I had to get him out of it.
‘I’d better move,’ I said.
‘It looks like the Lifter was using some sort of tractor beam to tow our Flex behind it,’ Chad said. ‘I saw it crash into the woods as we came into land.’
‘Do you think you can find it?’
He nodded. I rose into the air without another word and sighted the second Lifter. It had retaken to the air. The Lifter was a fantastic vessel, but it didn’t have the speed of one of our Flex Fighters. Before long, I’d almost caught up with it. Drawing near, something erupted from the rear of the craft.
A missile.
I fired an invisible projectile at it, and the device exploded in mid-air. Its remains tumbled to the ground. More missiles fired from the vessel, and I spent the next few mi
nutes destroying them as I closed in on the aircraft. Finally, I damaged one of the wings, and the vessel went into a slow dive. I placed a platform under it and gently lowered it towards the earth. It looked like they had either run out of missiles or motivation because no more weaponry erupted from the craft.
Landing several feet away from the craft, I heard footsteps behind me.
‘I found the Flex,’ Chad said. ‘It’s ready when we are.’
We cautiously approached the downed vessel.
‘Don’t forget about that other mod who was with them,’ I said.
‘You mean the guy with the energy beam?’
Almost in response, the rear doors of the vessel were blown outward. Chad and I leaped to one side as a beam of purple energy zoomed past.
‘That’s who you mean?’ Chad asked.
‘That’s him.’
I threw up a shield and hoped it would work. Jumping to my feet, I started forward as Purple’s energy beam slammed into my shield. It held, but the impact still threw me back into the undergrowth.
Chad fired a barrage of icy cannonballs straight at Purple, but he simply deflected them. Chad ducked and hit the ground next to me as the energy beam cut through the air again.
‘We need a plan,’ I said.
A moment later, Chad retreated into the forest behind us as I stood up and threw a mini-hurricane at Purple. He staggered and fell, but quickly retaliated with his power beam. This time I stood my ground and increased my shield strength. I slowly advanced as he redoubled his efforts. Within seconds I found myself struggling against a purple haze of light and energy.
I can’t keep this up much longer. If Chad doesn’t move in soon—
The energy beam died.
It took several seconds for my eyes to clear, but Purple still hadn’t moved; now, he was completely encased in a block of ice. Chad was advancing on the rear of the Lifter. I opened my mouth to yell a warning to Chad, but at that instant, gunfire broke out.
Chad dropped to the ground.
No.
No!
Racing forward, I threw a series of invisible cannonballs into the rear of the craft as well as a blast of hurricane air. By the time I was finished, the vessel lay on its side. A single gunman leaped from the back and fired a few times, but I took him down with a single shot of air. I turned back to where Chad had fallen. To my amazement, he was on his feet and laughing.
Teen Superheroes Box Set | Books 1-7 Page 43