by Emery Hale
‘Nothing,’ Jess said, sounding like she was holding back a laugh.
The pair of us peered around the corner and I held my breath. The corridor ahead seemed to stretch on forever. The entire floor was mapped out in an L-shape with all the classrooms on the right-hand side – the walls were pure glass so the brick I’d hidden behind last time was nowhere in sight, shit. I knew getting down here was too easy, why did Harkness have to throw a spanner into our amazing but apparently flawed plan?
Jessica tapped my wrist signalling she was moving forward, and I followed suit. She paused every time we came close to a door, slowly observing the room before moving forward again. The only sources of light were the little ones lining the floor and the classroom at the end, and the dim light gave me the heebie-jeebies. Deep rumbling screams reverberated along the corridor but I carried on.
Jessica’s stance was poised, the gun by her side. How could she keep going? She’d lost her brother yesterday, and had been thrown into a cell for good measure.
Suddenly, Jess held up her hand in a fist and I stopped dead, catching the sight ahead of us. Blood dripped down the glass wall like a waterfall, but what lodged in my mind was the hand slowly slipping down until it slapped onto the floor, limp. Jess turned, pressing her back against the wall, but by her face I knew we weren’t going to get out of here as planned.
‘Do you need more time?’ Quinn asked, and I double-tapped my earpiece, before hearing a stressed sigh from her. ‘OK, I can try to get McKay to stall.’
As I glanced over to my friend it looked like her mind was working at a hundred miles an hour. We didn’t have a backup plan for this because the lifts were the only way out of the lower levels.
‘Give me your earpiece,’ Jess whispered, holding out a hand, but her eyes were solely fixed on the glass doors. Fumbling for a moment I gave it over. ‘Pilot, cut the power . . . yes, I know that means the whole school and the lifts, we only need a second.’
Cut the power? I remembered what Quinn said after last time – this floor worked entirely on an electrical system and in the case of a shutdown all the doors locked. Which would give us more time, but a power cut would look suspicious. The whole team was dotted all around the school, would other doors close? Would we leave someone behind?
‘Jess,’ I whispered, trying to get her attention, but she held up a hand as she listened to Quinn.
‘Pilot, I’ll give you thirty seconds to get out of your secured area, then you cut the lights,’ she said.
Start the clock.
Jessica gave the earpiece back to me with a nod, then inched towards the end of the corridor. Once we got past there it would be a sprint to the lifts, then we’d meet Grace and she’d take us to the getaway car.
That was when I heard Harkness yell.
‘What is operation Red Dawn?’ Smack. ‘Your daughter died, General, you saw her swing. You’ve got nothing left, tell me!’
Jessica’s body began to shake, and as I came around, her eyes fluttered open and shut, fear washing through her, taking over.
‘Hey,’ I whispered softly, taking her hand, trying to bring her back. ‘Jess, it’s going to be OK. He’s not going to hurt you.’
The weight of the world returned to her shoulders, every emotion I’d demanded from her bubbling to the surface. Part of me was proud, but the other part needed her to keep it together – she was the one with gun.
‘Come on,’ I squeezed her hand. ‘A little further.’
‘Lights are going down in ten seconds,’ Quinn said in my ear.
As she started the countdown I ushered Jess forward. Something clicked in her mind and so she raised the gun, inching towards the edge of the bloodied glass room.
Then everything around us plunged into darkness.
‘Lights down, three seconds.’
Jessica’s clammy hand grabbed mine and we ran.
We passed the room at the end unseen, but even as the lights flickered neither of us let up. I sprinted as fast as I could, overtaking Jess and frantically pressing the lift button. I thought we’d gotten away with it when a furious fist pounded the class door. Shit, he’d heard us.
I heard the lift come down with a groan, the gears groaning but the doors remained closed.
‘Doors will open in five seconds.’
‘What about the lift?’
‘Ten,’ Quinn said, her voice full of dread.
Jessica shoved the gun into her waistband, gripped the slit in between the doors with her fingers and started to pull. I darted to the other side, digging my nails into the cold metal and yanked it as hard as I could, the lift doors groaning and scraping as they started to move.
Then booming footsteps pounded towards us. I didn’t dare to look because I knew who it was – Harkness. The muscles in my arm started to spasm, my fingers red from the pressure – we had to get these doors open. Suddenly they rolled back just enough and relief swept through me as we both squeezed through the small gap.
As the footsteps came closer Jessica whipped the gun out and pointed it high – head shot. I threw my hand out and just as Harkness came into view, the bullet rang out – but instead of flesh it hit the floor. Jessica’s eyes widened, then Harkness’ hands slammed on the metal doors trying to pry them open.
‘Always a disappointment,’ Harkness snarled, looking directly as Jessica. She pushed my hand away but this time aimed a little lower, his shoulder. ‘You can’t do it, I created you.’
There wasn’t a single moment of hesitation.
BANG.
Harkness stumbled back, a hand clawing at his shoulder, blood seeping through his white shirt as, finally, the doors started to close. I pressed the button for the ground floor and watched as Harkness simply smiled at us. He didn’t try to squeeze in, just stood there shaking his head, as the doors closed.
As the lift started to move, Jessica started to yell. ‘What the fuck?’ She turned to me. ‘I could have killed him, we could have ended this.’
‘He’s better off alive, we need him.’
Jessica tucked the gun back into her jeans, looking at me like I was insane. ‘What exactly have you been doing?’ she asked.
‘I’ll explain later,’ I said, too stressed to answer, but then another thought hit me. ‘Pilot, you need to cut all communications in the Academy, Harkness saw us.’
‘All of them?’ Quinn asked. ‘I’ve not switched over to the independent server. It’ll cut ours.’
‘Do it,’ Grace said. ‘Pilot, that’s an order.’
A split second passed and Quinn’s voice disappeared. All I could hear was the growl of the lift as it ascended.
With a ping the doors opened and Jessica was immediately hauled out by Grace and Dr McKay – she let out a yelp, but fell quiet seeing who it was. Thankfully, no one stared – but they started to as soon as we reached the main reception.
Even though I pressed myself against Jessica’s back, keeping guard from behind, I clearly saw Helen and the two armed guards at her side. Abruptly, Dr McKay threw himself forward, pulling out a gun, shooting the two guards within a single second, then pointing it at Helen.
‘Move!’ he ordered, looking to the three of us, who had all come to a stop.
I grabbed Jessica’s other arm and took off, sprinting towards the main door, not looking back. Dr McKay had put his life on the line; I wasn’t going to let it go to waste. The three of us pushed the doors open and practically flew down the stairs, and just as we did a long black car pulled up in front of us, the window rolled down. Kayson and Lily were both inside with their guns pointed at the driver’s head.
‘Get in!’ Kayson yelled and Grace tore open the door throwing herself inside. I jumped in after but Jessica didn’t . . . Quinn.
‘Where’s Quinn?’ she said, looking around – but then, from inside the Academy, came rapid gunfire.
Beside me, Grace’s eyes widened, she looked ready to run back inside. Had they killed him? Was Dr McKay dead?
Then, light feet r
unning on the gravel drive came from behind. I spun in my seat, looking out the back window to see Quinn, bag in hand.
‘Quinn, come on!’ Jessica screamed – but that was when the tall front doors opened and Duke ran out.
Grace grabbed the handle and slammed the door shut.
‘What are you doing?’ I asked, horrified. I was about to throw it open but Grace stopped me.
As I looked back up Jessica had taken off, running round the back of the car, Quinn at her side.
‘The window!’ Lily exclaimed.
Kayson reached for the button, starting to roll it up, just as the door at my side was flung open and Quinn jumped in. The ping of bullets hit the car, all aiming for the doors and windows. My hands flew over my head and I ducked as a lone bullet shot through the window, glass spraying in my hair.
‘Drive!’ Lily ordered.
The car started to move, but Jessica wasn’t inside, I knelt down on the floor holding a hand out for her to take as bullets raked the other side of the car, now acting as a shield. As the car picked up speed so did Jessica, her breathing frantic as she reached out to take my hand. Then I grabbed it and yanked her inside, Quinn closing the door.
Lily pressed a black button and through the open partition I saw the big black iron gates open. It had worked.
‘Floor it,’ Lily said to the driver, and suddenly I was thrown back against the seat. We whizzed down the drive and before I knew it we’d made it onto the main road.
‘We did it,’ Quinn said, a small smile on her face. ‘We’re free.’
‘Not yet,’ Jessica shook her head as she sat up, ‘we’ve got a long way to go.’
* * *
The hours that passed before we reached the harbour were filled with running through back alleys and half-explained plans. We’d bought new clothes in cash, changed, gone over our inventory, set up the independent comm system and finally had a small break. I’d taken off the wig and makeup using a random shard of glass on the ground, it was a challenge to say the least. Lily was beside me at all times but I couldn’t help it, I kept looking back at Jess.
The once emotion-flooded face was now cold and stagnant. Once again the switch had been flipped, the professional Team Lead. How could she be coping through all of this? She hadn’t said anything, but we’d all drawn conclusions about her brother, and now she’d found out the true purpose of the Academy. I expected some reaction but there was nothing, just a nod of her head.
And now, I was crouched down behind some fishing crates at the harbour, rubbing my hands together to keep warm as the harsh wind whipped through me. The night sky was black as ink, but sadly the clouds obscured the stars. I really should have bought that jacket but, being me, I claimed the cold didn’t bother me. I could practically hear my mother’s voice nagging in my ear.
‘Carrier One, it’s approaching the agreed time and the boat is stationed to your left. You need to get on board and find whatever’s on it.’
Why couldn’t Lily go check it out? The boat was rusted and barely looked sailable – for all I knew there could be rats.
‘Carrier One you need to move, if Harkness is there at the agreed time we need to get there before it. Whatever this is, it’s big.’
I stood up from the crate, keeping low and running to the boat, making sure to watch my footing, didn’t want to fall in the water. If that happened I’d probably be labelled as the worst Carrier ever.
‘Lilith is in position at the entrance to the harbour,’ Jessica said.
‘Ronan is on the street across,’ Kayson added.
‘Blackbird standing by, at the back of the boat.’
‘Nightingale at the café opposite.’
‘OK everybody, this is in and out,’ Jessica said. ‘Naomi, we don’t have any cameras so you’re gonna have to speak as you see.’
Unfortunately, Quinn could only bring comms and her laptop given the emergency getaway – I wished we had some form of camera, even just one for me. I’d feel safer with one. Placing one foot in front of the other I clambered aboard, careful of the rickety wooden plank acting as stairs. The ship itself was rundown; if all of us had jumped on here it might have sunk. Small droplets of water fell through the patchy tin roof as the coastal wind flurried and whistled through my bones. Some floorboards were squishy and damp while others were hard and brittle; the metal walls were lined with rust and mould. However, the one thing that stood out was that the boat was empty. A few small crates had been pushed into corners, but from here they looked empty.
‘Are you sure this is the right boat?’ I asked, poking around to make sure nothing was hidden under a shelf.
‘It has to be,’ Quinn replied.
‘There’s nothing here, apart from multiple health and safety violations.’
As I ventured to the front of the boat, there was only a crate filled with wires and random metal parts.
‘Check under the floorboards, there’s a good chance something is hidden there.’
Pausing, I looked down to the floor, mouldy water gathering around my foot.
‘I am not touching that.’
‘Carrier One.’ Jessica’s irritated voice ran through my ear. ‘We don’t know what this is, you need to search that whole ship. Blackbird and Ronan, move in, give the Carrier more security.’
I slowly crouched down reaching for a floorboard that looked a little raised from the others – it was also the driest. Could I catch something from this? Was that possible? My knees scraped against the wood as my hands grasped the end of the floorboard and lifted it slowly at first, then jerked it.
SNAP
The wood broke in two, sending me flying back. Great, now my butt was wet.
‘Lilith, someone’s just entered the harbour.’
‘Is it Harkness?’
‘No.’
‘I’ve got movement from my side,’ Grace said quickly. ‘Five of them, maybe six, they’re grouped together.’
‘Blackbird?’ Jessica asked.
‘Shit, there’s eight of them coming towards me,’ Lily whispered.
I flung myself forward, then on all fours crawled over to the wooden crate and hid behind it. There were holes in place of windows, so if I stood up I’d be seen. My heartbeat thumped in my ears: I knew this was how Willow died. We were outnumbered.
‘Ronan, you need to get Carrier One out of there,’ Jessica said, but I almost didn’t hear her as shadows danced across the boat.
‘Negative.’
‘Blackbird?’
‘Negative.’
Jessica cursed and I sucked in a breath, my eyes squeezing shut. How could my life have led to this? Right, yeah, cause I ran back into this life, yearned for it, even. I felt a heavy stone slide down my neck and sit in the pit of my stomach, a sob catching at the back of my throat. Had I made a mistake?
‘Is there any way you can get Carrier One off the boat?’
‘Negative.’
A hand flew over my mouth to stop my frantic breathing. This meeting-place wasn’t just for Harkness; he’d brought a whole team. This was for Trojan.
‘Carrier One, remember plan B, stay hidden until told otherwise,’ Jessica instructed. ‘We’ll deal with this. Numbers, everyone give me numbers – how many hostiles are in the field?’
Everyone tallied off, adding up to thirty, which set a chill colder than death in my mind. Thirty agents, that’s how many students are in a year group. They’d brought people from the Academy.
‘Remember, they don’t know we’re here,’ Jessica said. ‘Stay hidden, this must be a meeting ground.’
Didn’t have to tell me twice.
As I opened my eyes a beam of white light flashed above my head. More people? How many agents were attending this meeting, and why were they so early?
‘Car approaching from the entrance, I’ve moved positions to the café,’ Jessica said. I heard some shuffling and clinking of plates from her end but my eyes were firmly fixed ahead.
Multiple heads, all in a line,
marched past the non-existent windows silently. If my eyes were still closed I wouldn’t have known they were there. Was this a shootout?
‘Carrier One, they’re moving in front of you, can you get a visual?’
‘Are you insane?’ I whispered harshly.
‘We need to know if Harkness or Gabriel is there.’
I bit my lip, holding back a groan, and grabbed onto the lid of a small wooden crate to pull myself up. Then I paused, looking inside. It was the crate I’d seen earlier, filled with wires and random metal parts, but now I took a closer look, it was anything but junk. A black box took up the majority of the space, the random wires connected into metal-rimmed ports, and as I moved some of them to the side a red glow of numbers shone through. Oh no.
Then I spotted a stamp on the outside.
HOLYROOD, SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT BUILDING
This crate was going to the Parliament, Trojan were going to use it to blow up the Scottish government.
‘I found the package,’ I said quietly, taking the lid off fully and placing it on the floor. ‘It’s a bomb, addressed to Holyrood.’
‘Their great plan is blow up the government?’ Grace muttered under her breath.
‘They have people on the inside, anyone working for the Pyramid Delegates could take it into the building,’ Jessica said.
Did that mean that the Pyramid Delegates were based in Edinburgh too? They had to be if they were able to take this crate inside without any questions.
‘Is it active?’ Kayson asked.
‘Well . . .’ I trailed off. ‘There is a red line going round in a circle on the screen.’
‘Right, it’s armed. Carrier One, don’t touch it,’ Kayson said, and my hands shot up.
OK, Naomi, you are sitting right next to an armed bomb, don’t trip or whack the box and hopefully it shouldn’t explode. Holy crap, I was sitting next to a bomb!
‘Ronan, get on that ship and disarm it,’ Jessica ordered. ‘We can’t have it going off.’
Seriously? Kayson could defuse bombs? Was that where he disappeared to at the theatre? Geez, and I thought he was going for a bathroom break.