The Resurrection Key

by Andy McDermott

  A potentially fatal drop. But she might have no other choice. The Nephilim were getting closer.

  Ten seconds. The baraka should have recharged by now—

  Nina looked for the nearest threat. The warrior to her right, partially exposed. She aimed the weapon at him—

  A glint at the edge of her vision. She instinctively jerked back as the other Nephilim’s trikan sawed through the air. It missed her – but hit the spear hard enough to knock it from her grasp. It spun over the edge into open air.

  The nearer warrior straightened, setting his trikan spinning. Nina ducked back behind the metal wall, only to see the other man vault into her channel.

  Nowhere to hide – and nowhere to go.

  A desperate glance over the side. The building was coming up, still thirty feet below – but light shimmered off something on its roof . . .

  The Nephilim raised their trikans—

  Nina leapt backwards over the edge.

  Both men reacted in surprise, one sending his trikan whizzing after her – but she had already landed with a splash in a rooftop swimming pool. The weapon smacked against the churning water. The warrior angrily recalled it as the gasping Nina resurfaced.

  Eyes stinging from the over-chlorinated water, she swam to the poolside. The vimana swept past above.

  She still had the key – and Gadreel didn’t know she had escaped. By the time the warriors returned to the throne room to warn him and the fortress turned back, she could be clear. If she lost her pursuers, she could ensure they never recovered the key.

  Dripping wet, she climbed out. She was about a mile and a half from the central skyscrapers, the fortress still heading for them. She ran to an exit and pounded down the stairs beyond.

  Eddie gave Macy the last set of ear defenders to shield her from the helicopter’s clamour. He was about to resign himself to deafness when he saw the pilots react in surprise to something. Cheng, wearing headphones connected to the cabin intercom, also looked startled. ‘What is it?’ the Yorkshireman yelled.

  ‘The fortress is moving!’ the young man replied. ‘It’s heading for the city – and it’s shot down two helicopters!’

  ‘What, it’s armed?’

  ‘Some kind of qi energy blast, according to Major Wu. And Colonel Wu is dead!’

  Eddie had little sympathy, but there were greater concerns. ‘What about Nina?’

  Even with the defenders, Macy still heard her mother’s name. ‘What’s happened to Mom?’

  ‘As far as I know, she’s still inside the fortress,’ Cheng told them. ‘So is Zan.’

  ‘How long before we get there?’ Eddie demanded.

  ‘A few minutes—’ He paused, listening to his earphones. ‘The pilot can see the fortress!’ he reported. ‘It’s heading into the city. Major Wu has ordered the other helicopter to pick her up.’

  ‘What about this one?’

  ‘We’ve been told to observe the fortress from a safe distance.’

  ‘How far is safe?’

  Cheng grimaced. ‘They, ah, don’t know.’

  ‘Great, so if its guns have a range of fifty miles, we’re buggered!’ Eddie held on to his daughter as the Z-20 banked towards the fortress.

  Nina rushed out of the apartment block. The city centre had been to the south; she found the sun and got a rough bearing. No sign of the fortress – yet. She needed to get away from her landing site before it returned.

  She ran across the park, ducking under trees for concealment. Down a flight of steps, through a gate and onto a street. A mixture of residential buildings and shops greeted her; the latter were all empty, some so newly built that tape crosses still adorned the windows. There were no people, no cars.

  Shaking off the sensation that she had arrived late to the end of the world, she ran on. Tall cranes were visible to the west, one lazily turning. She headed for them: a construction site was still her best hope for rendering the key irretrievable.

  The first proof that she was not alone came when she heard tyres screech about a block away. Considering the lack of traffic, it was less likely to be a near miss than someone seeing the huge flying dragon and skidding in disbelief. She hurried across the empty street to get under a long awning, then looked back—

  A huge shadow swept over the apartment complex.

  The sight, straight from an alien invasion movie, momentarily froze her. The fortress hove into view, its silence as unsettling as its size. It slowed, the fangs moving to point downwards—

  The building with the swimming pool blew apart.

  Nina screamed and ran as the pristine block disintegrated in a storm of shattered concrete, a seething grey dust cloud erupting like volcanic ash. Windows in neighbouring buildings shattered as hundreds of tons of rubble slammed to the ground.

  ‘Oh my God . . .’ she gasped, hoping the block had been as empty as the rest of the neighbourhood. Clutching the key, she kept running, trying to keep out of sight.

  ‘Stop!’ Gadreel roared as he saw the building crumble. ‘She has the key – we need it undamaged!’ A warrior at the altar passed on his urgent command through the speaking crystal. He stared down through the window, looking for movement. The city was like nothing he had ever seen before, filled with colossal towers and enormous roads, but bizarrely, it seemed deserted. Where had the woman – Wilde, his new servant had reminded him – gone? She could not have got far . . .

  Sidona had turned her attention to the machine at the central altar. She clicked her fingers to summon Zan. ‘What is this?’

  ‘It – it is called a qi tracker,’ the Chinese told her. ‘It shows us the lines of energy flowing through the world.’ He seemed about to say more, but hesitated.

  ‘And what else?’ Sidona demanded. ‘Speak! If you are of no use to me, I will have you cast down to the ground!’

  Zan looked at the floor. ‘It is . . . a weapon,’ he mumbled.

  Gadreel snapped around. ‘A weapon? Why did you not tell me before?’

  ‘I . . . It is a secret. I would be betraying my people . . .’

  ‘You have already done that,’ the Nephilim leader growled. He ordered his men to keep watch, then strode to the translator. ‘How does it work – and what can it do?’

  ‘It can send a surge of energy to any point in the world, and destroy whatever is there,’ said Zan uncomfortably under the couple’s intense gazes. ‘But it has never been tried. We did not have anyone who could channel the energy. Wilde can, but she is not one of us. She is from an enemy tribe.’ There was no direct translation for country. ‘And we did not have any undamaged crystals.’

  Husband and wife exchanged calculating looks. ‘Now you have both,’ Sidona told him coldly.

  ‘Then it is time to test your weapon,’ said Gadreel. ‘You need an undamaged crystal? The entire heart of this fortress is a crystal!’ He pointed to the mausoleum stairs. ‘Do what you must to make it work.’ A small smile at his wife. ‘Sidona is the most powerful priestess of the Nephilim. She will channel the energy for you.’ His expression became more predatory. ‘And send it to a worthwhile target.’

  ‘Ah . . . yes, yes,’ Zan stammered. ‘I will do all I can.’

  ‘Good,’ said Sidona. ‘Then bring it.’

  The translator looked in dismay at the heavy machine, then strained to pick it up. Sidona led the way to the stairs, Zan waddling after her.

  ‘My lord!’ called one of the warriors. ‘There is a beast down there!’

  Gadreel hurried to the window. At first he saw nothing but trees and strange buildings – then he glimpsed movement below the foliage. ‘Did you see it?’

  ‘Yes. A female.’

  ‘What colour was her hair?’

  ‘Red.’

  ‘It is her!’ Gadreel exclaimed. He looked beyond the trees to a structure with strange writing across its front. ‘Tha
t building – destroy it! Block her way and force her into the open! But do not shoot her,’ he added quickly. ‘We will land – and hunt her down!’

  32

  Cheng peered into the cockpit – and let out an exclamation. ‘What is it?’ Eddie shouted over the helicopter’s roar.

  ‘I can see the fortress!’ he replied.

  ‘Macy, let me up,’ the Yorkshireman told his daughter. She shifted so he could see for himself. Xinengyuan opened out before him, the endless sprawl of buildings and roads so new and clean and empty that the view seemed almost fake, as if a movie’s visual effects team had run out of time and money before adding the details.

  Even having seen the fortress on the video feed at the base, Eddie did a double take at his first sight of the real thing. ‘Okay,’ he said, regarding the UFO in astonishment, ‘that goes straight to the top of my weirdest stuff list!’

  Cheng nodded. ‘What do we do now?’

  Eddie watched the shimmering dragon glide slowly over the cityscape, turning as it moved away from a column of dust marking an apartment block’s ruins. If it had been a normal aircraft, he would have said it was tracking something on the ground . . .

  ‘It’s after Nina!’ he said with absolute certainty. ‘She got out of it somehow – and she’s taken something they need. Maybe that key.’

  Cheng looked at him in surprise. ‘How do you know?’

  ‘If she hadn’t, they wouldn’t bother chasing her. And also, well – it’s Nina! Getting into trouble and being chased by bad guys is kind of what she does. The archaeology’s just an excuse. Although don’t tell her I said that.’

  ‘Then what— Aah!’ The young Chinese jumped as another building exploded and collapsed, spewing out a dust cloud.

  ‘Jesus!’ Eddie growled. ‘They’re shooting at her!’

  Nina hurried beneath a row of trees along the roadside. The hovering fortress was visible through the leaves behind her, but she hoped she was hidden from it—

  A piercing roar – and a storefront exploded ahead, rubble and glass showering the sidewalk.

  ‘Shit!’ she gasped, shielding her face. They knew where she was – and her path was now blocked by fallen debris. Her only choices were to double back, bringing her closer to her pursuers, or run out into the open to reach an intersection. Neither appealed, but she couldn’t stay where she was . . .

  The key’s weight helped her decide. If they blasted her directly, they would destroy the very object they were desperate to obtain. They would instead try to channel her, trap her – but if she kept moving, she might still escape.

  She ran again, angling across the street. A glance back. The fortress loomed above the buildings – and was turning to follow.

  Another earth energy bolt hit a six-storey office block on the corner. She swerved clear as it collapsed, then held her breath as she sprinted into the swelling dust cloud. Her eyes stung, but the nearby buildings were just discernible enough for her to reach the intersection and round it.

  The air cleared. She coughed, powder caking her lips, but kept running. A road sign bore directions in both Mandarin and English. Straight ahead was Commercial Zone No. 4, which told her nothing, but heading left would bring her to something called Fair Rain Residential District. Again, the name was unhelpful – but she saw numerous tower cranes that way, suggesting construction was ongoing. It could be a good place to dispose of the key.

  Where was the fortress? She looked over her shoulder – and was shocked to see it descending, slicing through the mushroom cloud rising from the destroyed apartment block towards the park.

  It was landing. They were coming after her on foot.

  The hunt had become even more dangerous.

  Macy clutched at Eddie’s jacket as another building blew apart. ‘Daddy! We’ve got to help Mom!’

  ‘We will, if I can figure out how!’ he replied. The destruction had been preceded by a weird rippling distortion tearing through the air. ‘Those things under its nose that look like fangs – I think they’re guns. Cheng, you said those spears at the base were weapons, right? They must be bigger versions.’

  ‘They could be,’ said Cheng. ‘But how does that help us?’

  ‘They’re underneath it – so they won’t be able to point upwards! If we come in from behind and stay over it, your guys can blow the fu— the flip,’ he corrected, remembering that Macy was in earshot, ‘out of it with the miniguns and those rocket launchers.’ He gestured at the tubular weapons carried by some of the soldiers. ‘Tell the pilot to get above it!’

  Cheng quickly relayed the suggestion. It was not met with enthusiasm. ‘He says we have to wait for orders from Major Wu.’

  ‘Nina could be dead by then! Tell him I’ll lean out and fire at the bloody thing myself if I have to, but we need to shoot it down – or at least keep it occupied until she gets clear.’

  Another hurried exchange – this time with more success. ‘He’ll take us in behind it,’ Cheng reported as the pilot banked, bringing the Z-20 on an interception course. One of the gunners slid open a cabin door. Wind blasted in, Macy shrieking and shielding her face. The man hooked himself to a strap, then swung the minigun from its stowed position.

  ‘Keep a tight hold, love,’ Eddie told his daughter, before looking back over the pilot’s shoulder. The fortress had briefly landed, but now ascended again, resuming its hunt. To his alarm, he realised the helicopter was approaching the hovering dragon almost side-on rather than curving around to come in from astern. ‘No, no! Get behind it – they can still shoot at us!’

  But the Z-20 kept going, precious seconds lost as Cheng frantically translated the Englishman’s words. One of the fangs swung towards the helicopter. ‘Higher, go up, up!’ Eddie shouted—

  The gun fired.

  There was no flash, no smoke – rather a ripple, as if the air was being torn by intense heat. The pilot threw his aircraft into a hard turn as the energy blast rushed at them—

  It tore past with a crackle. The aircraft lurched as the bolt clipped it, a loud bang and a flash of sparks coming from the tail boom. Macy screamed, the soldiers yelling in fear. Alarms shrilled in the cockpit.

  Eddie clung to the back of the pilot’s seat. ‘Jesus! Are we hit?’

  The gunner shouted a frantic report. ‘It’s blown a hole in the tail!’ said Cheng. ‘He says something’s leaking!’

  Eddie couldn’t guess whether it was fuel, oil or hydraulic fluid, but from the pilot’s struggle to maintain control, it was something critical. Gleaming glass skyscrapers rolled into view through the cockpit windows. ‘We’ve got to land before we crash—’

  The gunner screamed a warning. The pilot slammed the stick hard over. The aircraft rolled, throwing the unprepared Englishman against the cabin wall as another energy bolt tore past.

  He recovered and manoeuvred himself around the soldiers, all clinging desperately to their seats, to look through the open hatch. The dragon had turned to follow them.

  The helicopter levelled out – and started to descend. Both fangs tracked it. ‘No, up!’ Eddie yelled. ‘They’ll keep shooting at us!’

  Cheng hurriedly passed the alert to the pilot, getting a harried reply. ‘He can’t keep it in the air much longer!’

  The skyscrapers reappeared ahead. Eddie’s eyes locked on to a tall mirror-windowed tower with a matching but somewhat shorter neighbour. ‘Go up, land on its roof!’ he shouted, seeing the edge of what looked like a helipad above. ‘If we go higher, they won’t be able to bring their guns up, and we can get down in the lifts—’

  He broke off as the minigun opened fire. Macy shrieked again, covering her ears. The gunner sent a blazing storm of metal at the pursuing fortress. The shimmering glow sheathing its hull flashed and rippled as hundreds of rounds hammered it.

  The pilot was fully occupied with keeping the chopper airborne, but the co-pilot shouted
into his mic. ‘Major Wu’s on the radio!’ said Cheng. ‘She says the fortress has a shield – but we can break through it with concentrated fire.’

  ‘A shield? What is this, Star Trek? No, more like Independence Day,’ Eddie corrected. ‘But we still need to land! Tell him to get on that roof!’

  Cheng did so, but the pilot was already gaining height. The two fangs tried to follow, only to be blocked by the hull above them. The minigun kept up its assault, hosing the fortress with fire. The gunner cried out in excitement. Eddie looked back. The flashes around the dragon’s eyes weakened, and debris flew into the air. Then he lost sight of it as the helicopter turned.

  The skyscraper’s roof came into view; it did indeed have a helipad. The Z-20 slowed for a landing, but the pilot was now battling to maintain control, red lights flashing on his instrument panel. He extended the landing gear. ‘Macy, hang on!’ Eddie said, taking hold of her. Just a few more seconds . . .

  A new noise reached Nina: the thud of rotor blades. She looked around, but couldn’t see the helicopter past the buildings.

  She saw the fortress, though. The shimmering dragon had dropped off warriors to pursue her on the ground, but was now airborne again – and once it spotted her, it would direct them to their target.

  The construction site came into view as she rounded a bend, a dozen unfinished apartment blocks rising into the sky. A girder swung wildly from a tower crane. Its operator had seen the sinister UFO approaching and abandoned his post. Dozens more men in hard hats scurried in panic at ground level.

  If she led the Nephilim to the site, innocent people would die. She had to find somewhere else.

  Tiring, lungs aching, she reached a crossroads. Going right, northwards, looked too open; those aboard the fortress would spot her with ease. Left would take her towards the city’s centre, where there were likely to be more people – but there were also more buildings, more cover. And everything had the almost fake, movie-set appearance of newly constructed properties. No goods in the store windows, no curtains in the apartments, no cars on the street.