Fading Light

by Nick Cook

  I nodded and hauled myself out of bed, my legs slightly unsteady but otherwise fine. Together with Chloe, we helped Clarke into a chair. He collapsed into it, groaning. The smell of strong antiseptic wafted from his arm.

  ‘Should you be out of bed?’ Chloe asked. ‘John said you needed lots of rest.’

  Clarke waved his hand. ‘There’ll be plenty of time for rest later. I have urgent information that you both need to hear.’ He grimaced and blinked hard. ‘Do you think I could have a drink of water?’

  ‘Of course.’ I poured him a glass from a jug by my bed. ‘So where have you been all this time? What happened to you?’

  He gazed into the flames in the hearth. ‘I tried, how I tried, to spread the word about what had really happened back at the Hopworth Science Park. At first no paper would run with it. But I can be pretty persuasive when I want to be.’

  ‘I can imagine,’ I said, handing him the glass.

  The inspector took it with a trembling hand and had a small sip. ‘I finally managed to persuade one journalist that it wasn’t some sort of massive hoax. In the beginning, he seemed really keen, but then he went cold on me. Then, before I knew it, a warrant had been put out for my arrest.’

  I dragged my teeth over my lower lip. ‘What? But you were trying to do good!’

  Clarke sighed. ‘Yes, gamekeeper turned poacher and all that.’

  ‘So what did you do?’ Chloe asked.

  ‘I dropped off the map and went on the run.’

  I gestured to his arm. ‘But by the looks of you, the Shade eventually caught up?’

  ‘Actually, it was more a case of me finding them. I called in a favour or two from an old snout of mine, a guy called Red, a criminal high up in a crime syndicate. He has his finger on the pulse and knows about things that the police never normally get to hear about. Red made a few discreet enquiries on my behalf and pointed me towards a government address in Whitehall. I got somebody I trusted to run it through the police database. Can you guess the name of the organisation registered to that address?’

  ‘If we’re discussing the Shade, you have to be talking about Genesis Security,’ I said.

  Clarke clicked his tongue. ‘Got it in one, Jake. That company is so secret that even the agencies like MI5 don’t seem to know about its real purpose – and I know that because I checked. Other than being a listed as a legitimate security business, it’s still completely off everybody’s radar.’

  Chloe clutched her elbows. ‘So what did you find out?’

  ‘I staked out the building for a few days, watched the comings and goings. I was about to give up when a chauffeur-driven black Jag appeared. A man got out and entered the building.’ Clarke gave me a long look. ‘It was our new prime minister – Joanna Whittaker, no less.’

  ‘So despite Langton’s death, it sounds like the Shade are still in charge of our government,’ I said.

  ‘I’m afraid so. I watched that building into the small hours. When Whittaker finally re-emerged, there was this guy with her doing his best to disguise his face with a broad hat. They stood talking on the pavement before they drove off in separate directions. Instinct told me there had to be something suspicious in a middle-of-the-night meeting like that, so I followed the Jag straight to Hampstead. And that’s when things got really interesting.’

  He took another sip of water. ‘It turned out the stranger was Archios in disguise.’

  ‘What a surprise,’ Chloe said.

  ‘So why was he in Hampstead?’ I asked.

  ‘It turns out he was interested in a young woman called Gemma,’ Clarke replied. He removed a small framed photo from his dressing-gown pocket and handed it to me.

  The image had been water damaged, but the woman with the curly hair slammed into my mind. ‘Bloody hell, it’s her – the one I heard calling out telepathically.’

  ‘How can you know for sure?’ Chloe asked.

  ‘Because I saw her in a dream last night.’

  ‘You did?’

  ‘I’ll explain another time.’ I returned my attention to Clarke. ‘So what happened to her, Inspector?’

  Clarke’s gaze fell to the fire. ‘Nothing good. A man called Mathews, working for the Shade, turned up the next day posing as a priest at her parents’ house. I found all this out when I arrived on their doorstep to discover that he’d already taken Gemma up on to Hampstead Heath. When her parents learnt the truth, they insisted on helping me track them down, which we did eventually. And that’s when Gavin arrived—’

  Chloe clasped his hands. ‘Gavin’s still alive?’

  ‘Only in the loosest sense of the word. I’m sorry to be the one to have to tell you, but I’m afraid he morphed into a Shade wolf and killed Gemma’s parents.’

  Chloe bit back a sob. ‘No!’

  So the Shade had finally turned Chloe’s ex Gavin into a murderer. I wrapped my arm round her shoulder as she buried her head in her hands.

  ‘And there’s still more that I need to tell you.’

  ‘Go on,’ I replied, squeezing Chloe.

  ‘Mathews turned into a flock of shadow crows. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, but they swept Gemma up into the sky.’ He sighed. ‘I tried to stop Gavin with a taser, but it only slowed him down. If I hadn’t run for my life, maybe her parents would still be alive…’ I looked down and saw Clarke’s knuckles standing out white on his clenched red fists.

  So he’d cracked, and I more than understood. ‘You were one man alone against a Shade wolf – a creature that even with our Awoken powers we’d find difficult to stop. If you’d tried to stop Gavin, he would have killed you too.’

  ‘But if I hadn’t taken Gemma’s parents with me to find her…’

  Chloe shook her head and looked at Clarke through tear-filled eyes. ‘Stop beating yourself up like this, Inspector. Jake’s right. You did nothing wrong. Yet again, this is all on the Shade. Human life means nothing to them.’

  Clarke’s attention locked on to the swirling flames of fire in the grate. ‘Maybe. But what I still don’t understand is why they targeted this particular woman in the first place. I ran some background checks, but all I could find was that she’d been studying economics at university. After some sort of nervous breakdown, she’d dropped out and moved back home. I can’t help but think that the Shade must have abducted her for a major reason. That’s why I’m here. I thought you and Sentinel would want to know straight away, so I tracked you down.’

  ‘How did you manage to find us?’ I asked.

  ‘I ran a trace on Allan’s mobile.’

  ‘You mean he’s been leaving it turned on, despite all the lectures Sentinel gave us when we first moved here?’ Chloe asked.

  ‘Only long enough for me to know which island you were on.’

  ‘Sentinel will give him hell when he finds out,’ I said.

  Clarke held up his hand. ‘I wouldn’t worry. I deleted all my search records so there’ll be nothing for anyone else to find.’

  Chloe’s gaze widened. ‘And when did this all happen?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Gemma being abducted?’

  ‘About thirty-six hours ago. Why?’

  I knew immediately where Chloe was headed with this. ‘You think she cried out for help during the abduction?’

  Chloe stared at the photo. ‘The timing certainly fits.’

  Clarke looked between us. ‘She’s like you then, one of the Awoken?’

  ‘We think so,’ I replied. ‘She managed to communicate with me using telepathy.’

  ‘She did it all the way from London,’ Chloe said. ‘That’s one hell of a distance to throw out a mental cry for help.’

  ‘Which means at the very least she has a powerful gift,’ I said.

  ‘So maybe that’s why she’s important to the Shade,’ Clarke said. ‘You should also know there’s a communication blackout about her disappearance on the media. It’s why I had to come here in person to tell you. But there’s another re
ason too…’

  I could tell by his tone that we hadn’t heard the worst of the news.

  ‘What is it, Inspector?’

  He took another sip of his water. ‘Red’s contacts turned up something else you need to hear about. He had an insider working at the dockyards at Dover – very useful when you’re actively smuggling things in and out of the country. Anyway, he found out about an interesting container that arrived recently.’

  ‘Interesting in what way?’

  ‘I’d asked Red to keep his ear to the ground for anything out of the ordinary. One of his men at the docks spotted the name Genesis Security on the paperwork for a shipment coming in.’

  ‘And what was in the container?’ I asked.

  ‘The custom manifest claimed it was a shipment of soft toys. However, the paperwork trail indicated that it came from a scientific supplier based in Switzerland.’

  I stared at Chloe, my hands clammy. ‘You’re thinking it could be the parts to make a new DEC?’

  ‘It has to be.’

  My mouth became dry. ‘Where was it headed?’

  ‘That took some further investigation – the listed delivery address in Brighton turned out to be false. I had an old colleague run the plates on the lorry and it’d been spotted by the Congestion Charge cameras entering central London.’

  My mind raced ahead. ‘London, the place sitting right under this dirty big storm.’

  Chloe gasped. ‘Oh my god, you mean you think this wild weather is linked to a new operational DEC?’

  ‘It has to be,’ I replied. ‘Based on the fact they abducted Gemma from Hampstead and did their best to cover it up, I think she has to be important in their plans.’

  ‘If nothing else, they can use her as a hostage to gain leverage over you,’ Clarke said.

  ‘That’s exactly the sort of thing the Shade would do,’ I said. ‘And think of what the effect would be, unleashing a new portal in London. It would have millions of people to feed upon as it expands.’

  ‘Shit, you’re right,’ Chloe said. ‘It’s going to make the original portal in the science park look like a pinprick in comparison.’

  Clarke’s face grew pale. ‘You have to stop them, whatever it takes.’

  ‘We will,’ I replied. ‘We have to get to London immediately, destroy this new DEC and somehow rescue Gemma.’

  The inspector pointed to the storm raging outside. ‘Trust me, no one is going anywhere until this storm stops. I was stupid enough to try it and you can see where that almost got me.’

  Chloe shook her head. ‘But you don’t understand, Inspector. We’ve both been developing our abilities, including projecting our consciousness. Thanks to Jake saving you with his TK ability last night, we may be able to use our abilities at a distance.’

  Clarke narrowed his gaze on me. ‘I have a vague memory of being lifted into the air from the boat. That was your doing, Jake?’

  ‘It was, although I’m not quite sure how.’

  ‘Then I owe you my life.’

  Chloe grabbed my hand. ‘Let’s get going. Sentinel has finished the update of Ember. My bet is, if we can track down Gemma, we’ll track down this new DEC too. I’ll see if Sentinel can trace her whereabouts like he did when people were going missing in Stoneham.’

  ‘Good plan. I’ll grab my clothes and you go get him on the case.’

  ‘I’m on it.’ She raced out of the room.

  ‘Just let me know if there’s anything I can do,’ Clarke said.

  I patted his shoulder. ‘The best thing you can do is rest and recover your strength.’

  ‘If I wasn’t such a stubborn man I might just listen to that advice.’ He disappeared out of the door.

  I shook my head at him and headed over to my wardrobe. I started pulling out a fresh set of clothes, praying to myself we weren’t already too late to stop the new DEC from destroying London.

  Chapter Seven

  Electric power had been restored to Eaglehurst, thanks to Kelly braving the hurricane out to one of the outbuildings to get the backup generator running. Now rain swirled past the windows of the tower as Chloe and I prepared to find Gemma.

  I glanced up at Sentinel’s avatar on the large screen. ‘So before we try this, any chance of locating Gemma using your time-rewinding trick?’

  ‘Unfortunately, without an internet connection, I can’t get a current location,’ the AI replied. ‘I did however build up a few hours of data before the storm, and it seems the Shade drove Gemma into central London.’

  ‘Just like the lorry…’

  ‘Seems your guess was right, Jake,’ Chloe said. ‘Everything is starting to point to London being the Shade’s next target.’

  I felt my blood run cold. Nine million people would be wiped out in an instant…and that would just be the start.

  I forced myself to focus. ‘At least now we know where to concentrate the search for Gemma. If we find her, hopefully we’ll find their new DEC too.’

  ‘Actually, I may have come across something to help you there,’ Sentinel said. ‘After some more research into the CIA Stargate programme, I found out their psychics often studied a photograph of either the person or location they were targeting before a remote-viewing session. And as Clarke helpfully brought that photo of Gemma with him…’ The photo replaced Sentinel’s head on the screen. ‘I took the liberty of scanning it with one of my webcams.’

  Both Chloe and I peered up at the image. I started to pore over every curve of Gemma’s face, imprinting it into my memory. Her dark kind eyes, how the tips of her curls were auburn like flames, her beautiful smile that lit up her whole face… The strange thing was that, even though we’d never met, it felt as if I knew her. I told myself that she probably just reminded me of someone I’d once known or maybe an actor I couldn’t place. Whatever the reason, she was as cute as hell.

  I swallowed the last of my coffee, the caffeine helping to sharpen my senses. ‘Ready to try this, Chloe?’

  She nodded. ‘As I’ll ever be.’

  ‘Then let’s do this.’ I pulled the headset with its sensors down on to my head.

  Chloe did the same and raised a thumb to Sentinel. ‘Jack us in when you’re ready, Sentinel.’

  His avatar reappeared and nodded. ‘Commencing in three, two, one…’

  My vision briefly flared with white and the HUD appeared again, but this time there was a small image of Gemma in the top right of my field of view. A nice touch from Sentinel, which would definitely help me focus on her.

  With a deep breath, I slipped into the swimming-pool-like waters of the Light Web. Around me, the tower flickered in and out of focus as the manor’s walls became semi-transparent. From our elevated position, I could see the growing swell of the sea. Outside, the energy patterns were weaving and flexing in a glowing network of power pulses over and through the ocean, all around the islands. I could see stars shining through the cobwebbed sea of light beneath the surface… Fish, I realised. Maybe some of them were the ones we’d seen earlier during our dive.

  I stilled my consciousness and floated up through the glass ceiling and out into the swirling storm.

  A green, glowing sphere of energy with a blue marker rose through the tower’s roof and the sheets of ghostly rain before joining me.

  ‘Would you like me to augment your view?’ Sentinel asked.

  ‘How exactly?’ Chloe asked.

  ‘Like this…’

  A perfect computer graphic 3D version of Chloe replaced the green energy sphere before me, modelled down to the individual hairs on her head. If anything, her avatar was almost too realistic.

  It was staring at me, wide-eyed. I glanced down to see my body looked just as lifelike, with even the freckles on my hands. From both of us, fine light-lines traced their way back to the anchors of our bodies inside the tower – blue for me, green for Chloe.

  ‘Whoa, this is seriously incredible. When did you code that in, Sentinel?’ Chloe asked.

  ‘Yesterday. I thought y
ou’d appreciate having some physicality when projecting your consciousness within these simulacrums.’

  ‘All I know is, this is very cool indeed,’ I said.

  ‘Thank you.’

  ‘I love it,’ Chloe said, a rare note of approval towards Sentinel in her voice. She extended her simulated arms, looking at her hands. ‘This is still the weirdest feeling to be in two places at the same time.’

  ‘Try not to overthink it and it’ll become second nature quickly enough,’ I said.

  She smiled. ‘I’ll do my best.’

  ‘OK, one last thing before you get started looking for Gemma,’ Sentinel said. ‘I need to run some additional calibrations to the system for your brains. And to do that it would really help me if you can push out from the island a bit further.’

  I thought of the pain I’d gone through the previous night. ‘I should warn you, Chloe, this is going to hurt a bit.’

  Chloe’s tone sharpened as she said, ‘You didn’t say anything about pain being involved.’

  ‘Don’t worry,’ I told her. ‘It doesn’t last long.’

  ‘Now you tell me…’ She sighed. ‘OK, bring it on.’

  ‘I’ll lead the way, but shout if it gets too much.’ I started to fly out towards England, Chloe close behind.

  In the Light Web, the energy patterns of our world flowed around us almost like an animated Van Gogh painting – whirls of a wild storm raging across the seascape. ‘I wish you could see what I can, Chloe.’

  ‘This Light Web thing again?’

  ‘Exactly.’

  ‘Actually, I may have a way for you to share your view with Chloe, Jake,’ Sentinel said.

  ‘How?’

  ‘Just give me a moment to make a few adjustments to my code, then we should be to give her a live feed from your Awoken ability.’

  ‘Sounds interesting,’ Chloe replied.

  We continued floating outwards. I kept glancing back over my shoulder towards Chloe to check she was OK.

  We were a good mile out from the island before I felt the familiar tension start to build in my stomach. I saw Chloe start to grimace.