by Meg Buchanan
Leach waved at the screen. “Here’s the footage of the explosion at Vector Admin.” A Vid of a live stream from a DroneCam came on.
Jack watched the explosion then smoke billowing, a dust cloud, people running and one end of the building slowly subsiding. When the dust and smoke settled bodies lay on the ground in amongst silent chaos, rubble and crushed vehicles. That was the way it had looked when the squad arrived.
“We found the bomb,” Leach said. He waved his hand at the VidScreen. It showed the bomb debris, exploded fuse, jagged and ripped casing.
He pointed at a bit of junk in the middle. “It had a timer. The bomb could have been planted there anytime and set to detonate when it did. That explains why we didn’t get the perpetrators. And somehow the DroneCams missed them leaving.”
Jack folded his arms. He reckoned Jeron was right, those Drones missed them leaving because it was all a training exercise. It was the first time Vector had set up anything this elaborate for the unit. But maybe that was because this was getting near the end of their training and they’d set a test like a final exam.
“Any idea who’s doing this sabotage?” asked Levi like he bought into the scenario. Levi was sitting on the other side of Jeron.
Leach shrugged. “We might get some DNA off the bomb.”
Jack looked at Jeron. If they got DNA off that bomb, he’d bet it’d be from the Vector technician they used to set this up. Jeron gave a bit of a grin like he was thinking the same thing.
Did the other squads get a debrief too? Or was it just this squad? Jacob said it sounded like they’d been trained as a specialist sniper unit and that was why they were treated to all this special attention.
Leach waved at the screen again, and it moved on to the next scene. The squad sitting in the Viper like soldier dress up dolls. “This is what the last six months of UrbanCombatTraining have been about,” he said, still in debrief mode. “This was your first mission, the first time you’ve been let out. We didn’t get who did this, but we did well. There are just a couple of things to tidy up.”
Jeron looked at him. ‘Training exercise,” his eyes said again. Jack nodded. After six months of basic training at the Outpost, the ten of them got transferred, and suddenly there was just them and they were in this compound in a disused town. Leach had them sliding around pillars, kicking in doors, crawling up to windows, across parapets, hiding behind vehicles, leaping to their feet, and firing at cardboard cut-outs of saboteurs, rioters, thugs mugging old ladies or attacking young girls, as they ran to the next lot of cover.
Then there was the endless time in the shooting range perfecting the shot, taking out the same cardboard cut-outs, prone, or standing or leaning on something, taking careful aim for the perfect long shot.
A fun way to spend six months, doing something you were good at with a group of guys that got on.
Leach was strict, but it wasn’t too hard to stay in line after Jacob got him used to obeying orders. Bloody Jacob would talk it to death if you got something wrong. Leach told you when you got it right. He slapped you on the shoulder and could even say ‘well done’ occasionally.
In the Vid, Jeron looked over at Jack, and he remembered he couldn’t see Jeron’s eyes through his visor, just the one side of his mouth twisted up in a grin.
He could see the way the whomp, whomp, whomp vibrated the hover. Inside the Viper, the beat wasn’t as loud, but it was the same insistent sound.
He saw himself look across at Jeron sitting facing him leaning forward, forearms crossed, laser across his knees, studying nothing, waiting for the Viper to settle and the wings to lift so they could get started.
Leach talked through this part of the Vid like it was just an introduction. “And now the VTroopers leave the hover and prepare the ground so we can do our job,” he said.
Watching the Vid, Jack saw himself unlatch his harness and grip his laser. The Vid switched to another Cam and the VTroopers streamed out of the Mamba, then another Cam switch and he watched Leach give the signal and the unit jog-march out and assemble around him.
Leach gave them their orders, and he took off with Jeron to the east, Sharpe and Hood went to the West, Levi and the others jogged in a bunch through the ranks of the nearest VTroopers.
He watched himself follow Jeron to the building and remembered he couldn’t figure out what was going on, then he’d realised the building hadn’t really been touched by the blast, he saw debris but no real damage. That was the first clue that maybe this was just an exercise.
In the Vid, Jeron edged around the wall, peered inside the doors, and then pulled back. “Clear,” he breathed, and they both slid inside.
Jack watched Jeron not to shoot the girls in the foyer.
It was no surprise that Leach froze the Vid at that moment.
“Explain that decision,” he said to Jeron, real silky. “You were first in, so you made that call.”
“They were just kids, sir,” said Jeron, “And the way they were dressed, no chance of concealed weapons.” Jack could feel the suppressed laughter in the room, like the others in the squad would have smirked if they dared. The ripple stopped when Leach spoke.
“Not your call,” he said. “Do what you’re trained to do. Strike one.”
Jack looked at Jeron shocked. Strike one? In a training exercise? Jeron seemed as shocked as he was.
Fuck, if Jeron got a strike against him for that he wasn’t going to get away with the woman and the kid.
Leach turned back to the Screen and with a wave started the Vid again.
Jack watched Jeron shout at the girls, “How do you get to the roof?”
Then they moved through the foyer, ignoring the lift, taking off up the service stairs. Another wave from Leach as he paused the Vid again.
“Good call there,” he said. “Too much risk of being trapped in the lift.”
That was the way Leach did it, handed out the shit sandwich, commend, recommend, commend. They made it to the roof without meeting any resistance. Maybe everyone had been evacuated before this kicked off.
Jack watched them set up the lasers. The noise was still suffocating, and he remembered there was that smell. He saw Jeron focus on the shattered ground, then ask, “Who do you think did it?”
“Radical insurgents, extremists, militants, nuts, enemies of the human race,” the Jack on Vid said, and he could hear the sarcasm in his voice because by then he was really convinced this was just a training exercise.
Leach waved, and the bloody Vid paused again.
“Fraser, and that was?” he asked.
“Sir, light relief in a tense situation, Sir,” said Jack and got a snigger.
Leach nodded at the Vid paused on the wall. “There were dead people in there.”
“Yes Sir,” Jack said. Though from what he remembered the bodies were all in the carpark.
Leach let that pass because he probably knew Jack committed a bigger crime than just making fun of the indoctrination a few minutes later.
The Vid started again.
On the wall in front of them, Jeron asked, “Got anything?”
“Nah, nothing happening here.” He saw himself go back to sweeping the area. Then he swung the laser around. “Over there.” And waited while Jeron matched the coordinates.
“A kid,” Jeron confirmed.
He remembered the drone in his ears got louder and louder and more insistent. Then the mother in a blue cloak raced over to the kid and scooped him up. He watched himself close his eyes and rest his forehead against the stock.
The Vid stopped again.
Fuck.
“What happened there, Fraser?” asked Leach. “More light relief?”
“No Sir, the sun was in my eyes.”
In the Vid right on cue, Jeron asked. “You all right, Jack?”
‘Yeah, just resting my eyes, got a bit of glare.”
“Use the googles.” Jeron twisted to reach his backpack, got the goggles out and handed them over.
“Str
ike one,” said Leach.
Jack gave a slight nod of acceptance. That was always going to happen, but the strike would time out in a month. He’d just toe the line until then.
Leach fast forwarded through twenty minutes more, and they saw nothing else.
In the Vid Jack’s Com lit up on his wrist.
The recall.
“Time to go?” asked Jeron.
“Yeah.” He stood up and finally, the Vid flicked to Sharpe and Hood.
For the next hour, Leach went through the whole mission for each member of the unit, point by point, and even with the bodies lying around, this had to just be a training exercise because each team member had done predictable things wrong and right. It all had to have been planned to test their strengths and weaknesses.
Jack wandered out of the debrief room with Jeron.
“Still going for a run?” asked Jeron.
Jack nodded. Jacob would be waiting for his report, and over the last few days, he’d noticed more men at the Base, more Mambas, at last count there’d been twelve, instead of the usual three or four, and more urgency about everything as if something was brewing. He needed to tell Jacob that because if the Cell in the City was planning anything, they needed to delay it until he knew more about what was going on.
And he needed to blow out some cobwebs after that debrief. Leach had been more thorough with his feedback this time. And even if he’d expected that strike it didn’t mean he had to like it.
“I’ll see you in the Rec in about an hour,” he said. Sometimes if he was going for a run Jeron would come with him, but he didn’t want that this time. He needed to pass on this information to Jacob. He’d contacted him from the Base before and hadn’t been caught so the shields around his Com must be as good as Jacob said they were. Between the shields and the self-destruct on the messages, reporting to Jacob was reasonably safe, but he still had to be careful.
He went back to the room and changed and made sure he had his Com with him, jogged towards the perimeter fence and then followed it for about fifty metres where a patch of bush had been left. Maybe to make the place a bit less stark. It wasn’t like there was a hell of a lot of landscaping on the Base, but there was this acre or so of trees.
Once he was out of sight of the buildings, he slowed to a walk then fished his Com out of his pocket and hit Jacob’s message icon. He could see from the green dot Jacob was online, so he was waiting to be contacted. Jacob didn’t spend time online unless he needed to.
And Jacob didn’t waste words. “Report.” The order flashed up on the screen and then disappeared immediately.
He typed back. “Training stepped up. Bigger numbers on Base.” That was another thing, nothing audible that could be picked up by DroneCams. He walked fast as he messaged. Anyone watching the Cam feed wouldn’t notice anything strange, they couldn’t see him because he was going through the bushes and if the heat sensors picked him up, he was just going slower than before. He typed the couple of bits of info he had to pass on then flashed the numbers and times of the troop movements to Jacob.
Finally, he typed, “Something has changed in the last day. End,” and waited for Jacob’s response.
“Will suspend any action until you know a bit more about what’s going on. End.” Came back at him.
Good, if Jacob could keep the Cell in line for a while, he’d feel safer. Because if that wasn’t a training exercise and someone from the Cell was involved in the sabotage and they got caught and interrogated everyone would be in the shit. He’d seen the InterrogationVids. The squad got shown them, a couple a day, low dosed with something that would make them accept the violence. Leach said it was to ‘desensitise’ them, so they could do their jobs.
The Vid Jacob and Fitzgerald showed him to force him to join up was amateur hour compared to what he’d seen since. But they’d made him watch a couple of Vector officers Interrogate his best friends and then kill them. What they did was nothing compared to what Vector was willing to do to prisoners if they were trying to get information from them. Jacob said, “You’re only given a low dose of the drug so you can survive it if you hold onto what you believe in. Don’t give into it.”
Fuck that would be all right if after all the indoctrination he still knew what he believed. What if the scenario in the Vid with that mum and kid was for real, and he’d killed them? He shoved his Com back in his pocket and picked up the pace again. Running the perimeter fence was a gentle workout. It took just under an hour and only had a gradual gradient here and there. Probably wouldn’t be enough to keep you fit if that was all you were doing, but it was a good way of winding down and letting off a bit of steam after something had happened.
He came out of the trees near the perimeter fence then stretched out, ran harder and took the final corner heading back to the barracks. He couldn’t tell if the indoctrination was working. Maybe it was possible to fight it. He hadn’t shot that kid and mother today, and according to both Leach and Jacob, he should have. Not often his two masters agreed.
But not shooting that kid and mum did him no good at all. He should have done it to keep Leach off his back because he knew they had to be images. What mother would let a kid out on the street with a couple of hundred VTroopers armed with lasers searching the place?
And that noise around them all the time, it set your teeth on edge. Where was that coming from? And why would the two girls be in the foyer still when the rest of the building had been evacuated?
He headed back to the barracks. He hadn’t been shot or arrested so he’d got away with contacting Jacob again.
He had some leave this weekend. He might go home like his mother wanted him to and go and see Jacob and tell him he was quitting. He’d had enough of this. Not knowing what he believed anymore. Taking risks.
He changed into the base fatigues then went to the Rec Room to find the others.
Chapter 3
ELA CAME OUT OF the lecture room and hugged her Tablet as she looked around for Isabelle. Her lecture was meant to finish at the same time Izzie’s did and they’d planned to meet up with Amon and Lucan and go and find something to eat.
She watched the other kids wander past all hugging Tablets. All the girls were wearing the same blue cloak she was and looked as if they were floating.
The cloaks were silly things always getting in the way, but all the Elite wore them. Maybe as much to say they were Elite as for any other reason.
She turned and studied the path that led into the gardens. Maybe Isabelle had got out early and gone for a walk?
No that didn’t sound like Isabelle, if she’d finished her lecture early, there’d be a Txt to tell her and Isabelle would be sitting on the steps of the lecture theatre waiting for her.
She turned back to check she hadn’t missed her. The theatre building soared, twenty storeys of the shiny silver glass. Inside it was light and airy like all the new buildings in the City but outside it looked like it had sunglasses on, and you couldn’t see its eyes.
The grey tile steps at the entrance were deserted. All the medical students in the lecture with her must have had somewhere to get to.
Then she spotted Isabelle coming towards her with Amon and Lucan.
“Hey,” said Isabelle. “Look who I found.” She had her cloak flicked back over her shoulders, and her little black boots and white tutu looked cute. The red satin bustier with black lacing was a bit over the top. But that was the way Isabelle dressed. Sexy. She’d topped it all off with plenty of makeup, dark eyes, ruby red lips, and crystal teardrops formed a meandering line down one cheek. All the Elite girls dressed sexy with tiny clothes and extreme makeup, but Isabelle took it to a whole new level.
Amon was carrying his cloak. He hardly ever wore the thing but didn’t forget to have it with him either like he was making some sort of stand but could back away from it if he had to. His pants and top were red and seemed to have zips everywhere. More decorative than useful.
He grinned at her. With blond hair and blue eyes
, he really was lovely looking. Then draped his arm over her shoulder and turned the gesture into a headlock. “Miss me?” he asked
Ela got herself out of the hold. “I only saw you yesterday. And we talked to last night. You don’t give me much of a chance to miss you.”
“You can’t count a Hologram, I’m better in person.”
Ela laughed.
Amon looked hurt for a moment. “I see I’ll have to play harder to get,” he said.
“If I wanted to get you, you’d know,” she told him.
Amon clutched his heart. “Now, I’m really hurt.” That’s what it was like with Elite boys, all flirting and teasing but strictly no touching. Amon recovered and grinned at her again. “Are you training with me tonight?”
Ela shook her head. “No, I have to study.” She held her Tablet up. “I have so many notes from today’s lecture. It's going to take me hours to get them all organised.”
“Skip it. The notes still be there tomorrow,” suggested Amon. “We’d have fun on Velodrome.”
Ela shook her head. Usually, she would have gone with him, but she had to meet Nick at the Station. He wanted her there for some reason.
“You’ll just have to bike on your own tonight. Tomorrow night I’ll come for a run with you.” She liked being Amon’s training partner. It got her out of shopping and talk about makeup and clothes and all the other things she was meant to be interested in if she was going to be Sweet and Elite all the time the way her mother and Jacob wanted her to be.
“At least you sound like you might miss me tonight.”
“No Hologram then?” she asked. She hated lying to her friends all the time, but they wouldn’t understand. They were true Elite. She was only keeping up the pretence of it to keep safe.
Amon shrugged. “I could Haze and sneak into your house and visit you. No one would see me.”
She laughed. “I thought your father made you take the HazeApp off your Com.”
Amon shrugged. “I put it back on just for you.”
She laughed again. Amon was fun. Sometimes he acted like he thought he was more than her training partner. Like he wanted to be her boyfriend, but apart from the odd headlock or arm around her shoulders, he never touched her or kissed her. Elite didn’t do that. No physical contact. Sex was a disgusting thing people used to do. Amon seemed to have bought into that bit of indoctrination and believed what they’d been taught, making love was just how babies used to be made. Now Humicrib made them, and Humicrib babies were always perfect. The SkyVids told them that all the time. Those Humicrib babies bumbled across the sky, and Humicrib’s slogan floated around the babies, Humicrib, Cradle of the World.
