by Eliza Green
It hadn’t quite gone down like that.
He sneered. ‘Well, I was there, and you’re so off the mark I’m embarrassed for you.’
Marcus strode over to one side window and looked out. He worked his jaw from side to side.
Except the guy hadn’t been off the mark.
The guard whistled at him. Marcus turned and the guard clicked his fingers. He pointed to a seat outside Ben’s room. ‘To your post, soldier. We’re here to protect this place. You’re here to watch the boy.’
Marcus gritted his teeth and sat down hard on the chair. The men continued to watch him. His stomach dropped when he realised Harvey had ordered them to keep an eye on him.
The guards laughed and returned to their posts. Back inside the room, Ben mumbled something.
What Marcus wouldn’t give for a Buzz Gun right now.
9
Bill stared at the former doctor to the Elite. ‘What the hell are you doing here?’
Jameson pushed past him and entered his apartment. Bill quickly shut the door and locked it. With the power down, the doors no longer had their usual security measures.
The doctor stopped in the middle of the room and turned around. He assessed Bill and Laura for a moment. ‘You two look like you’ve been through the ringer.’
‘You could say that...’ Bill folded his arms. ‘Where have you been conveniently hiding out?’
‘The hospital.’
Bill shook his head and smiled. ‘We were there. You weren’t.’
‘You didn’t look hard enough for me.’
‘Okay, so how did you get past the barricades? Nobody in or out of the city.’
‘You could say I walked in right under their noses.’
Bill didn’t understand. He uncrossed his arms. ‘Then how?’
‘The tunnel to the hospital?’
The hell he did. ‘Last time I checked the only way in and out was blocked and flooded with anti-gravity. As far as I could tell, that’s still in place.’
‘Bill, the anti-gravity machine broke down a couple of years ago. And the Elite sent their Conditioned to help me create a new tunnel around your blockade. I’ve been using that access route for as long as I’ve been treating the Elite. They needed me to have unfettered access in and out of the city.’
Laura sat down on the sofa. Bill slumped next to her, feeling weary all of a sudden.
Jameson remained standing. He stuck his hands in his pockets, looking unusually bright and ready for action.
The doctor hesitated a moment. ‘I... knew this was coming.’
Bill stood. ‘Excuse me?’
Jameson fanned his hands. ‘I’m not part of it, but I’ve been spending a lot of time with Harvey over this virus issue.’
‘Do you know where he is?’ asked Laura.
‘No, but I have an idea. New Tokyo.’
This was too much to process. Bill pulled out a chair from the dining table and slid it over to the doctor. He pointed for him to sit. ‘How about you go back to the beginning? Start with when you realised Harvey was up to something and didn’t tell us.’
Jameson dragged the seat closer and perched on the edge of it. Bill sat back down.
The doctor released a heavy sigh. ‘It was straight after we’d administered the vaccine. Harvey had his samples from the Indigenes and was keeping the vials under close surveillance. Wouldn’t let me touch them. Wouldn’t let them out of his sight. He kept quizzing me about the procedures I’d performed on the Elite and Conditioned.’
‘What does he want with that info, exactly?’ asked Laura.
‘I don’t know but he told me not to go anywhere, said he’s going to need me. I sensed something was up when he locked the door to the lab and told me to call him when I needed out. I think he may have had people watching me.’
‘If he needed you, why didn’t he take you with him?’ asked Laura.
‘He didn’t want to babysit me, I guess. He had a coup to organise, half a dozen base stations to take offline...’
Laura shook her head. ‘So he needs you for what—more experiments? On whom?’
‘Maybe and I don’t know.’
Getting inside the mind of Harvey Buchanan would take longer than they had. Bill sensed that whatever Harvey had planned, he would enact it fast.
‘Perhaps he wanted Jameson to work at his clinic,’ he suggested, but it sounded weak. ‘With the Elite dead, his skills could be put to better use elsewhere.’
Laura frowned. ‘You mean another clinic? Because the one we just checked was cleared out.’
Bill wished he knew.
To Jameson, he said, ‘Is he setting up operations in New Tokyo?’
‘He didn’t say.’
Bill returned to an earlier part of Jameson’s story. ‘We checked the hospital today and found the main door to the lab unlocked. How did you evade Harvey without tipping him off about the tunnel?’
‘After he locked me in, I picked the lock and made it look like I’d escaped. The Elite taught me how to make myself invisible.’
‘And you’re sure he doesn’t know about Deighton’s tunnel?’ Bill asked.
While Harvey would not have been on Exilon 5 when it was created, he must have known about Deighton’s obsession with safety.
Jameson shook his head. ‘Certain. He returned that evening and was livid. Kept asking his men where I’d gone. He didn’t even know to check for the tunnel in the containment room. Harvey has never gone in there voluntarily. I heard him working at the console. He was downloading files, I think.’
‘Or uploading something,’ said Laura. ‘The screens were blank. We couldn’t check what state he’d left everything in.’
Bill replayed the events of the last few days. ‘Things were too quiet. I assumed everything had returned to normal. Then Harvey paid me a visit yesterday. Spouting off his usual nonsense about how I owed him his clinics.’
Jameson grimaced. ‘Yeah, he returned to the hospital that day in a bad mood. He was throwing things around, making a nuisance of himself. I told him he’d helped all he could with the vaccine and I didn’t need him anymore.’
‘That must have gone down well.’ Bill leaned back.
‘He said I’d got it the wrong way around, that it was me who would be expendable soon. That’s when he locked me in.’
‘Did you leave straight away?’ asked Laura.
Jameson released a heavy sigh. ‘I hid all night in the tunnels. I didn’t know where to go other than the city, but without knowing what he needed me for, I couldn’t risk running into his men up top. So I stayed put. I waited for Harvey to return and say he was giving up on me. Except he didn’t show. Three of his team did—late this morning. It sounded like the power cut out. Someone said after that it was done. Then I waited a little longer until I was sure the coast was clear. I heard you and Laura come in and check the place, but I didn’t want to tip you off. For all I knew, it was you who’d commanded the power to be turned off.’
‘I wouldn’t do that,’ said Bill.
Jameson smiled. ‘I guessed as much.’
‘Then what, you headed for the city?’
‘I didn’t have much choice. I reckoned, with the power down, it would be chaos and I could blend in easier.’
Laura turned to Bill. ‘If Harvey doesn’t know about the tunnels, maybe that’s a good thing.’
Bill rested his arms on his legs as her thought sunk in. ‘So you’re saying we should use the tunnels to get around?’
‘Why not? It might give us an advantage.’
His hands shook. He could really do with a coffee right now—or something stronger.
‘One of the branches leads to an old water service entrance in the park next to the docking station,’ said Jameson.
That was one problem of how to get around sorted, but Bill hated not knowing Harvey’s real plans. ‘Tell me about his operation in New Tokyo.’
‘I don’t
know anything about it,’ said Jameson with a shrug. ‘He only mentioned it was easier to get lost in the bigger city.’
‘But you said he’s gone there. Is he commanding a team of renegades?’
‘That was the impression I got.’
‘What about the Indigenes?’ asked Laura. ‘Is he working with them?’
Jameson slid his gaze to her. ‘I don’t know. I never heard what they were planning after the power went out.’
‘They’re probably looking for you,’ said Laura. ‘That could be why the city is on lockdown.’
‘Possibly.’ Jameson nodded. ‘But I could be anywhere and they know it.’
‘So you came here...’
‘I took the chance you might know what he’s up to.’
Bill wished he did. ‘Harvey is on a mission. It might be a solo one, but with the base stations out from under our control, we’re all sitting ducks. He’s got us by the throats.’
Laura sighed. ‘So what do we do now? If we use the tunnel to get out of the city, then what? Where do we go from there? To New Tokyo? Should we take a team with us?’
Bill would not walk everyone into a trap. He needed more information. ‘Let’s hold here and wait for Gunnar to get in touch. Some of my ITF troops have sided with Harvey. I don’t know who we can trust anymore.’ He could use extra backup right about now—from a race with more skills than he had. ‘I wish I could reach Stephen, see what’s happening there.’
‘I could go check in with him?’ suggested Laura.
He hated the idea of splitting up. ‘Not now. Not while we’re surrounded.’
She refused to let the idea go. ‘They wouldn’t see me. I could use Deighton’s tunnel. I’d be out and back before you missed me.’
Her idea had merit, but the thought of her heading out alone sent a deep shiver down his spine. ‘No, if we use the tunnel, we all go.’
His DPad shrilled loudly, making him jump.
He checked the caller ID and whispered, ‘It’s Gunnar.’
His heart pounded thickly in his chest as he connected the call and enabled speaker mode.
‘Gunnar, we’re here and listening. What do you have?’
‘Bill, word is the residents are blaming the Indigenes and Conditioned for the power outage.’ That had always been a possibility. ‘If we don’t manage the message correctly, they’ll push back, possibly show up at the ITF.’
The residents weren’t his concern right now. ‘Let them think what they want. What about Harvey?’
‘No sign of him, Ben or Jameson.’
‘We find him, we find Ben. But a small bit of news. The doctor’s here, with us.’
Gunnar’s voice lifted in surprise. ‘There? How?’
‘A long story that we should discuss in person. Do you know what’s happening in the other cities?’
‘Similar lockdowns. One of our underground operatives reported back heightened activity near the entrance to New Tokyo.’
‘That’s where Jameson says Harvey was headed.’
‘So that’s where we go,’ said Gunnar.
‘That’s where I go. I need you here.’
Laura made a noise, like going alone wasn’t an option.
Gunnar made a similar one. ‘No way, Bill. You want to get into New Tokyo, you’re going to need me to do it.’
‘And me,’ said Jameson.
‘All of us,’ added Laura.
Bill stared at the doctor. He didn’t see how it was possible to move with him. ‘Harvey’s got people out looking for you.’
‘I know, but he won’t find me. I’ve been working for the Elite for years. I know how to disappear when I want to.’
The two men stared at each other, neither backing down.
Bill relented with a sigh. Leaving him here wasn’t an option, either.
‘Fine.’ To Gunnar, he said, ‘Ask the rest of your team to stay here. I want to know if anything changes in this city, if anyone tries to make a move against the ITF. Julie can handle things there but I’d feel better knowing they had support.’
‘Sure,’ said Gunnar. ‘And where will I be, Bill?’
‘Head to the ITF and speak to Jeff, the IT guy on the fifth floor. Ask him for data on any buildings raised by Deighton back in the day. They have the best security and probably have isolated power supplies. Susie should still have access to secondary information. There’s a service tunnel in New St James’ Park, close to the docking station. We’ll meet you there in an hour.’
‘Sure.’ Gunnar paused. ‘Who’s Susie?’
‘Don’t ask.’
10
A few hours of healing using a controlled group had fed some energy to the starved Nexus. Stephen, Anton, Serena and Arianna had brought Indigene volunteers to four different caves. They ranged from those who’d lost their skills to those who hadn’t been affected by the virus. After experiencing a new and basic version of the Nexus, Stephen had pushed for a small sample of different energies initially, to coax the Nexus back to its former state of health.
The sessions had returned some colour to the Nexus’ cheeks, and the tendrils didn’t float as listlessly as they had.
But the space was far from where it needed to be.
In their private quarters, he sat on the mattress next to Serena. The sessions, as well as his lack of sleep, had exhausted him. He should be getting rest but he couldn’t switch off.
‘What if we can’t return the Nexus to its former state?’
She rubbed his arm. ‘Give it time. This afternoon was a good test. The Nexus didn’t spook when we increased the numbers from two to four to eight. The more volunteers we give it, the faster it should return to full health.’
‘How long before we send in another group?’
‘I don’t know. We should give the Nexus a break between controlled groups. Too much too soon and it could make things worse.’
He hated how long this process was taking.
‘Don’t worry, the Nexus is showing positive signs of recovery.’
He took a deep breath in an effort to relax his tense body. ‘I hope you’re right.’
‘I am.’ Serena snuggled into his side. ‘Now, you need to take a break. You’ve barely slept these past few weeks.’
Stephen lay down and closed his eyes, but his mind refused to settle. It had been two days since half of his district had walked out. Before that, it had been the issue with the virus. Before that, the coordinated attack by the Elite on their district. If that wasn’t enough, Stephen couldn’t help but wonder what the dissenters were planning with Emile.
If they’d even gone with him. He had no proof.
Would they return here, try to take District Three away from him? Were the dissenters laughing with Emile right now at how bad a leader Stephen was?
What one Indigene had said to him in the Central Core played in his head: ‘We’ve all been struggling with the tension in this district for a long time.’
He had to admit it was less stressful to lead those who wanted him here. After a little time had passed, maybe he could coax some to return. Pierre and Elise would have tried to keep everyone together. Stephen had made a promise to himself to be half the leader Pierre was. Serena already had her role nailed.
His mate, exhausted from her early mornings, was snoring lightly beside him. He turned to face her. She looked peaceful on her side with her hands tucked under her face. He wished he could lie here forever and watch her.
He reached out and grazed her cheek softly, carefully, so as not to wake her.
A sharp, loud bang overhead jerked his hand away. The reverberation filtered through the conduit in the ceiling for light and rained stone dust down on him. He bolted upright and held his breath, listening out.
Serena grunted and jerked awake. ‘What was that?’
Another bang followed, then a rattle that extended into the floor.
With a frown, she sat up slowly. She was concentrat
ing, most likely on the sounds above.
‘What can you sense?’ he whispered.
The crease in her forehead deepened. ‘Activity above us. Angry minds.’ She huffed. ‘Damn omicron. I can’t get a proper read on them in here.’
A sharp rap on his door turned his pulse from raging to out of control. Stephen jumped to his feet and opened the door to see Anton waiting.
His friend’s wide-eyed expression alarmed him. ‘You need to come now. The entrances...’
Stephen followed him outside, expecting, hoping, to feel the usual rush of emotions. But still nothing. ‘What about them? What’s happening?’
‘There’s something going on up top. There are people up there. Some say there are similar groups gathered outside the other districts closest to us.’
He quickened his step, which now matched his pulse. ‘Human or Indigene?’
‘Possibly both.’
‘Both? Are you sure?’ It surprised him to hear that both sides might be working together.
Anton shook his head, as if to dislodge something there. ‘I can’t sense anything, but others—they say both.’
His friend led the way. Stephen wanted to outrun him, to reach the problem faster. Out of respect, he kept back. He heard Serena’s lighter footsteps following behind him.
Anton stopped at the door to their district. They weren’t alone; others had gathered there. Some were feeling the surface of the door, as if to glean extra information from the omega rock.
‘What is it?’ he asked a younger Indigene, who was frowning, his eyes closed.
He opened them, startled. ‘I... I sense them, close.’
‘Outside the door close?’
The Indigene shook his head. ‘Farther away. But close enough.’
Stephen needed to see what was happening for himself. With some help, he heaved the main door open, bracing for an attack, prepared to see a group gathered outside the door. But he found nobody. He popped in an air-filtration device and took the stairs to the surface slowly. With the hatch closed, the route up the stone steps was pitch black. Lacking his superior vision, Stephen felt the sides of the walls on the way up.
