Nobody to get hurt. She went left, quickly reaching the cover of another building—
The helicopter suddenly grew louder.
She looked up as it clattered overhead. It was in trouble, struggling to hold course. The Nephilim attack had caused damage – she saw something break loose from the fuselage and spin down towards the ground. It was not going down without a fight, though. Tracer fire blazed back at its attacker. The aircraft headed towards the city centre, disappearing behind an apartment block.
Nina ran after it. The fortress was not yet in sight behind her. Another intersection ahead – another chance to throw off the hunters. Keep going—
A siren’s rising wail reached her. Maybe she was about to get some support . . .
A shout from behind.
The voice’s inhuman echo warned her even before she turned that the Nephilim had found her. Two figures rounded the corner: giants in colourful yet aggressively decorated armour, bearing deadly spear weapons. Fear overcame fatigue, driving her onwards as fast as she could go.
It was not fast enough. The warriors were almost twice her size, their longer legs eating up the gap at a terrifying pace.
The wavering helicopter slid towards the pad, minigun still blasting fire down at the fortress. One of the throne room windows finally exploded under the relentless barrage. The gunner yelled in victory—
A loud crash of grinding metal as the tail rotor’s gearbox ran dry, oil spurting from the damaged boom – and the chopper swung sharply around.
The tail rotor counteracted the main rotor’s enormous torque; without it, the fuselage would spin like a top. Eddie threw himself over Macy to protect her, but he knew that if they didn’t land in the next few seconds, they would both die—
The pilot shoved the collective control lever down hard. The Z-20 dropped – onto the pad.
The landing gear had lowered, but the impact was so fierce one of the hydraulic legs collapsed. The fuselage tipped sideways, belly screeching across the pad as it spun. The gunner was thrown out, swinging on his safety strap to slam against the helicopter’s side – then was crushed beneath it as it rolled.
The main rotor blades smashed against the pad and disintegrated in an explosive blizzard of carbon fibre. Dozens of razor-sharp shards impaled the two soldiers closest to the open hatch. More debris ricocheted around the cabin, one piece slashing Cheng’s cheek and another cutting the back of Eddie’s head.
The fuselage lurched back upright. With the main rotor destroyed, it quickly ground to a stop. Macy sobbed quietly. ‘Are you hurt?’ Eddie asked. The response was a barely audible no. He raised his head, seeing the twitching, lacerated bodies of the soldiers by the open hatch.
Outside was nothing but empty space, the wrecked helicopter hanging over the tower’s edge.
Nina ran, breath burning in her throat. But she couldn’t outpace the Nephilim. The two warriors were rapidly gaining, about to catch her—
The approaching siren reached a crescendo – and a police car powered into the intersection.
It skidded to a halt as the driver saw the Nephilim and braked in shock. The two warriors also hesitated, unsure what to make of the wailing vehicle. Nina ran towards it as the cops scrambled out. ‘Help! Help me!’
The sight of a panicked woman fleeing ten-foot armoured demons overcame any language barriers. Both men drew their guns. Nina hastily swerved from their firing line as they shouted commands at the invaders.
The Nephilim responded by bringing their barakas to bear. The cops opened up—
Bullets spanged from the armour, earth energy flaring. The two giants staggered – but didn’t fall. The metal was not even dented. One recovered and angrily unleashed his weapon. A cop exploded in a bloody haze, spraying the car a sticky crimson.
His partner kept firing, hitting the attacker’s helmet. The Nephilim’s head snapped backwards, and he crashed to the ground. The cop switched his aim to the second warrior—
The baraka roared. The energy bolt exploded the officer’s legs and most of his torso. What was left of his upper body slapped down on the car’s hood.
Nina cried out at the carnage – but instinct sent her running to the car. She had ten seconds before either Nephilim could fire again. The driver’s door was open. She leapt in. Three pedals; it was a manual. She stamped down on the clutch and jammed the stick into first, revving hard before releasing the pedal.
The tyres shrilled. The cop’s remains slithered off the hood as she hauled hard on the wheel, powering away from the warriors—
Another burst of earth energy – and the back of the roof ripped open.
The car lurched and slewed around. Nina screamed, but managed to counter the spin. Into second, the car picking up speed. A look back. The roof’s entire rear end was gone, along with the trunk lid, ragged fingers of twisted steel surrounding the new void.
The car had shielded her, taking the blast – but now she was exposed.
And the downed Nephilim sat up, raising his weapon—
She turned hard, wheels squalling over the asphalt. Another bolt clipped the vehicle’s tail as it sped out of the intersection. The rear wing shredded like paper – but the car kept going.
Nina raced up through the gears, still accelerating. The Nephilim were lost to sight as she followed the curving road. The central skyscrapers rose before her. Smoke curled from the top of one of the towers; the stricken helicopter had landed on it.
Where was the fortress? She looked back. Her now-unobstructed view revealed it clearing some buildings – and turning to pursue her.
‘There!’ barked Gadreel. He had sent nine men to the ground, and a flurry of action told him some had found their prey. Colourful armour stood out clearly on a grey road, as did two bursts of blood – and something was moving quickly away from them. ‘In that . . . chariot.’ He frowned. A chariot without horses? ‘Follow her!’
The fortress changed course to pursue the fleeing redhead.
Eddie cautiously rose. Wind blew in through the open hatch, the vertiginous cityscape far below. ‘We’ve got to get out of the other side,’ he said. The Z-20 rocked with the shift of weight. ‘Macy, look at Cheng, okay? When we open the door, you go through.’
To his relief, his daughter did as she was told, not looking at the corpses. A surviving soldier pulled at the hatch on the opposite side of the cabin. It slid back – then stopped. He and a comrade strained harder, but it didn’t move. The forced landing had buckled the runners. There was just enough room for the passengers to exit one at a time.
The closest man squeezed through to clear the way. The next gestured to Cheng and Macy. ‘Get her out,’ Eddie told the young Chinese. Cheng took Macy’s hand and clambered to the hatch, letting her through first. The soldier already outside helped her down.
Metal creaked as the student hopped out after her. The soldiers started to follow, some in such a rush that they left their weapons. The fuselage rocked again. Eddie gripped a seat until the movement stopped, using the moment to look for their attacker. The fortress seemed to have resumed its search for Nina, advancing ominously over the city. Its guns still couldn’t traverse high enough to target them. Maybe it was at its maximum altitude . . .
The minigun had definitely damaged it, one of the eye-like windows blown out. He briefly considered taking over the weapon to finish the job, but moving that far over might unbalance the chopper and send the whole thing plunging to the ground.
Instead he took weapons from the dead men. The first was a Type 95, the standard assault rifle of the People’s Liberation Army. The second would be more use against the fortress: a Type 08 rocket launcher, an olive-green tube with a grip, a simple sight, a shoulder strap and very little else. It was a one-shot, disposable anti-armour weapon that could be used with little more training than knowing which way to point it. If a minigun could damage the fortress, a
kilogram and a half of high explosive should cause it some real trouble.
If he got the chance to use it. His highest priority was getting Macy to safety. He crossed the cabin, one of the remaining soldiers letting him through the hatch.
‘Daddy!’ Macy cried as he emerged. ‘Come on, quick!’
‘I’m here, love,’ he said, jumping down. The co-pilot climbed from the forward door, the pilot sliding across the cockpit after him. ‘We need to get to the lifts and—’
The Z-20 shuddered again, battered underbelly rasping over the pad – and slipped over the edge.
Eddie grabbed the soldier behind him, yanking him through the hatch. ‘Get out!’ he shouted to the men still inside – but it was too late.
The helicopter tipped tail-downwards, throwing its remaining occupants to the back of the cabin. Fuselage panels were torn away as it slid over the building’s side, but not even the shrill of tearing metal could drown out the screams of those inside.
‘Shit!’ Eddie roared, running to the edge in the hope that the Z-20 had caught on some lower balcony – but the tower dropped vertically all the way to the ground. The helicopter and its reflection in the mirrored glass fell in tandem, shrinking, shrinking – then smashed like a dropped egg on the plaza below.
The Englishman stared helplessly at the wreckage before snapping his gaze back up to the fortress, still hovering menacingly a few blocks away. He felt the Type 08’s weight on his shoulder, and almost unslung it – but family came before revenge. He ran back to Macy.
His daughter gazed wide-eyed at where the helicopter had been. ‘There – there were still people in it . . .’ she whispered.
‘I know,’ Eddie said, crouching to hug her – and turn her away. ‘I know. But we’ve got to get out of here.’ A stairwell led into the building’s central core, some soldiers already heading down it. ‘Let’s get to the lifts.’
He took her hand and ran to the stairs, Cheng shouldering his pack and following. The other soldiers hurried along behind them. Into the tower, and they reached a bank of elevators. A man held one open, urgently beckoning them in. Eddie and Macy rushed into the car, Cheng and the rest behind them. The doors closed, and the lift started its descent.
33
Gadreel watched with satisfaction as the wrecked flying machine plummeted to the ground. Before he’d left on his fateful mission, there had not been a weapon in the world that could damage the vimana – but the humans had somehow found a way, piercing its shield and shattering one of the crystal windows. He narrowed his eyes against the gritty wind now blowing through it. All the machines sent against him had been destroyed, but the beasts had others . . .
They needed to be made afraid of the Nephilim, to deter them from attacking again.
He looked back up at the mirrored tower, just one of many gargantuan structures at the vast city’s heart. He could not even imagine their purpose – but despite their size, he did not believe they were indestructible. Smaller buildings had been utterly obliterated by the fortress’s weapons; now it was time to see their effect on their larger cousins.
He faced the men at the altars. They were still guiding the vimana after Wilde, but since its weapons could not be used directly against her, they should be turned against another target . . . ‘The tower ahead of us, where the flying machine fell – charge the lightning spears and destroy it!’
‘Yes, my lord,’ one of the warriors replied. He relayed the order into the speaking crystal.
Gadreel returned to the window. The guns were hidden from his view by the vimana’s prow, but it would take only moments for the gunners to aim them and fire—
Twin bolts of energy lanced out and slammed into the tower’s side. Mirrored glass exploded into sparkling fragments . . . but the building remained standing.
The Nephilim leader frowned. He had expected to see stone or metal behind the surface, both of which would have been blasted to pieces, but instead, empty space was revealed beyond the gaping hole. A couple of floors were visible, but no supporting pillars. How was that possible?
‘Fire again!’ he ordered. A short wait for the weapons to recharge, then two more bolts struck their target. Another swathe of glass was ripped away, exposing more floors within – but the building didn’t even shudder.
‘My lord!’ The oddly accented shout drew his attention away from the tower. The human, Zan, stood at the top of the mausoleum stairs. ‘There is something Sidona says you must see.’
Another frown – even if it was at his wife’s request, Gadreel did not like being summoned by a human, and he considered the beast both obsequious and cowardly – but he crossed the throne room. ‘Keep firing!’ he ordered, then descended into the chamber below, where the rest of his people still waited in their sarcophagi. He went straight to Sidona. The tracker was beside her, cables connected to the glowing crystal wall. ‘What have you found?’ he asked.
Her eyes shone with excitement – an almost predatory awe. ‘I . . . I can see the whole world,’ she said. ‘When I touch it, I can see everything!’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I cannot explain it. But this thing, this machine – it shows me the flows of energy, everywhere. And I can guide them!’
Gadreel indicated Zan. ‘He said it was a weapon. Can you make it work?’
‘I think so. This picture,’ she indicated the laptop’s screen, ‘is a map. The human showed me how it works, and chose a target – and I could feel where it was. If I focus, I can direct the energy to that place, make it stronger and stronger . . . until it explodes.’
‘That is what he told me,’ Gadreel confirmed. A moment of thought, then: ‘We will test it. I have a target – the tower in front of us. The beasts have forgotten the Nephilim. It is time to remind them of our power!’
Eddie watched the lift’s floor counter tick down. The tower was eighty-three storeys high, which would have put it in the upper ranks of New York’s skyscrapers. Sixty floors to go, and then he still had to find Nina before the Nephilim—
The elevator jolted. Macy gripped her father’s hand. ‘Daddy! What was that?’
‘They’re shooting at the bloody building!’ Eddie cried as the car shook again. Its guide wheels squealed against the vertical tracks. ‘We need to get out of this thing.’
‘We’re over fifty floors up!’ Cheng protested as the Yorkshireman shouldered his way to the control panel. ‘It’ll take ages to get down the stairs!’
‘Better than being trapped inside a metal box if it gets stuck – or falls.’ Eddie checked the counter. Floor fifty-three, and still descending. He reached out to push the button for the fiftieth floor—
Another impact outside, more powerful – and the elevator car lurched as if struck. It stopped abruptly, emergency brakes shrieking against the tracks. Everyone staggered, an unprepared man falling. The display screen flashed up Mandarin warnings.
‘What does it say?’ Eddie demanded.
‘An evacuation alert. It’s telling us to get out at the next floor,’ said Cheng.
‘Well, I would if the bloody doors’d open!’ The counter had just flicked past fifty-one, but the lift was now stationary. Eddie pushed the control to open the doors, to no avail. ‘Must be between floors.’ There was a red emergency button on the panel; he stabbed repeatedly at it, but nothing happened.
‘Maybe there’s an exit in the roof?’ Cheng suggested.
‘If there is, it’ll be locked from outside. This isn’t Die Hard.’ He shoved his fingertips into the narrow gap between the doors, pulling with both hands. The space widened a little, but then the mechanism caught.
The soldiers quickly came to his assistance. With several pairs of hands hauling at them, and one man using his rifle’s barrel as a makeshift crowbar, the doors finally surrendered. A concrete beam with the number 50 stencilled above a downward-pointing chevron greeted Eddie as the
y opened. Below was the shaft’s blank wall – then the top of the doors to the level below.
He put down his weapons and reached into the gap between the car and the doors. A metal rod ran diagonally across the barrier: the release bar. He tugged at it. A clunk, and it shifted. He forced his hand into the gap and pulled. The doors slowly rumbled open.
Another boom shook the shaft. Eddie heard windows shatter. Right now it seemed the fortress’s blasts were only hitting the tower’s outer skin, but if they got through to the central core . . .
‘Everyone out,’ he barked. Even though he was not an officer, or even speaking the same language, the soldiers instinctively responded to his order, forming up behind Macy and Cheng. Eddie squeezed through the gap feet-first and dropped to the floor. ‘Macy, come on,’ he said, holding out his arms.
His daughter quickly emerged. He lowered her, then looked back up – to find Cheng holding out the rifle and rocket launcher. ‘What’re you doing?’ he asked in surprise.
‘You might need them,’ the student replied.
‘I need everyone out of the lift,’ he said, impatiently, taking and shouldering the weapons. ‘Move, quick!’
Cheng passed out his backpack, then clumsily worked himself through. He got halfway – then stopped. ‘Oh. Oh! I’m stuck!’ He kicked and wriggled, trying to squeeze his midsection through the gap.
Eddie grabbed his feet and pulled, two soldiers shoving at his shoulders. ‘Did you only eat bloody cheeseburgers since coming to America? Suck in that gut!’ The young Chinese popped free with a yelp, falling to the floor. ‘Okay, come on!’
The soldiers started to slip out of the lift. Eddie checked his surroundings. The fiftieth floor was apparently unoccupied, a wall directory devoid of any company names. That was a relief, meaning no civilian casualties; hopefully the other floors were just as empty—
A lightning-bolt crackle – and another burst of earth energy hit the tower.
More glass exploded, the shock wave ripping through the empty offices. A wall blew apart in an eruption of wood and plaster. Eddie reeled from a concussive blast, shielding Macy with his body as debris flew past. Everyone staggered, the floor shaking—
The Resurrection Key Page 36
