Sniper Squad

by Meg Buchanan

  “I saw the scar. Where’s Nick now?”

  “He couldn’t come. He had things he had to sort out.” He pulled her closer, and she leaned in and kissed him. “I missed you so much,” she said, and he could hear the tears in her voice. “I really thought I’d lost you.”

  “Me too,” he said. Then he realised that’s what he’d said a year ago when she’d wanted him to say he loved her. “God, I love you,” he said on a sigh, and Ela giggled.

  “That’s twice you’ve said it now.”

  He grinned back. “And you haven’t said it back.”

  She leaned forward and whispered in his ear. “I love you too.”

  “Good,” he said and settled her more comfortably. “Now what the hell are you and Nick doing blowing up Administration buildings? How could you be so bloody stupid?”

  “We aren’t.” Ela moved back a little. There was distance between them again. He guessed she didn’t like being questioned like that. “We don’t blow up buildings.”

  “That’s what it looked like to me. And then you go and get yourself trapped in a parking building. What if it hadn’t been me that found you? What were you going to do?”

  “You weren’t meant to be there,” said Ela. She moved further away from him. “We were supposed to Haze and leave without being seen.”

  “But what were you doing?”

  Ela sighed again. “I can’t tell you, Jack. But what we’re doing is important.”

  He let out an irritated breath. “Did you get Jacob’s order to stop all terrorist actions?” What the hell was he risking his life for passing messages to Jacob if no one was paying any attention?

  Ela nodded.

  “And you both ignored it?” Now he was really annoyed with her and Nick, he could hear it in his voice.

  Ela looked nearly as cross as he sounded. “Jacob said to just do that. It was the last thing. We had to do it.” She kissed him on the cheek. “Do you get time off?” she asked.

  He nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be off duty for a few hours this weekend.”

  “Come and visit. We can talk more. You won’t tell Jacob it was me, will you?”

  He grinned and pulled her close again. “So, Jacob doesn’t know.”

  “Not that I helped Nick, and I think we should leave it that way. But we’re finished. It’s finished.”

  He studied her face in the gloom. Was she telling the truth?

  If she wasn’t, he wouldn’t be able stop her doing what she wanted to do anyway. She’d never been good at doing what she’d been told. “Promise?” he asked.

  She nodded. “Promise.”

  He kissed her again then stood up. “See you in a few days. Now, are you going back inside first, or am I?”

  Chapter 15

  ELA LEFT JACK IN THE ALLEY and went back into the noise, flashing lights, and dancing kids. She wove through the crowd and the lights and the movement until she found Amon, Isabelle and Lucan.

  “We’re ready to go,” said Izzy.

  “Where were you?” asked Amon.

  “Over there.” Ela waved her arm at the bouncing kids in the middle of the hall. “I got pulled into a chain.” One of those things that happened sometimes, a line of dancing kids would start up, and someone would drag you in.

  “Well, you’re here now.” Amon put his arm over her shoulders and walked with her to the exit behind Izzy and Lucan. She looked up at Amon. They’d never kissed. They’d been friends for years, even before she met Jack, and now they were friends again. If he’d been near when Jack kissed her, he would have been as shocked as the rest of the kids who saw it happen.

  Now she had to find a way to ditch Amon and the others and go and find Nick.

  She walked slowly through the streets to the Monorail platform with Amon, Isabelle, Lucan. It had been strange night. Talking to Jack after all this time. Stranger still to see him in a Vector uniform. And for the last year he’d been in the City all the time? Why hadn’t he just come and visited?

  A million questions tumbled into her mind. She wanted to go and find Jack and get answers to all the questions she didn’t think to ask.

  When he’d kissed her, it felt like it always had, a mixture of gentleness and fire. She touched her lips. But it had felt so right. In some ways, it had been like they’d never been apart. He’d taught her about the Local’s way of showing you loved someone. Kissing and holding each other had been strange at first.

  Isabelle turned back to look at her. “Did you see the VTroopers?” she asked.

  Ela shook her head. “Where?”

  “At the Rave.” Amon wrapped his arm over her shoulders and squeezed. More like he was putting her in a hold than hugging her, but maybe that was the way he dealt with wanting to be close. “A bunch of thugs,” said Amon.

  “Thugs?” she asked.

  He nodded. “Vector Troopers. A bunch of them.”

  “What were they doing?” Well, Jack was looking for her, he didn’t say why the other squad members were there.

  “Nothing,” said Lucan. “They took a bit of Bliss. Kept to themselves. Then after they’d hung around for a while, they left.”

  Ela untangled from Amon and looked up at him. “I thought they always went to the Viaduct.” So different to Jack. They were probably the same height, but Amon had blue eyes and blond hair. Jack’s eyes and hair were brown. Amon was all bounce and noise. Jack was serious and silent.

  “You’re quiet.” Amon’s arm slid around her shoulders again.

  “I’m tired.” She smiled up at him. He was nice. And uncomplicated. He liked to have fun, he liked being fit, he worked hard enough at his studies to pass and keep his father happy, and that was about all there was to him. He wasn’t tortured and angry and passionate like Jack.

  She couldn’t believe Jacob had told Jack that Nick and Curly were dead. That was so cruel. They were Jack’s best friends.

  Amon laughed and pulled her closer to him again. Maybe Amon wasn’t that uncomplicated. When he did stuff like that it always felt like he wanted more but didn’t know how to make it happen.

  “Too much study makes you boring,” said Amon.

  Isabelle was holding onto Lucan’s arm like it was the most natural thing in the world to do too, but she’d never seen anyone kiss or hug since her father was killed.

  “I don’t mind boring,” said Ela and looked up at him. Holding and kissing was second nature to Jack. If Jacob’s plan did work and Humicrib wasn’t needed to make babies anymore, the Elite kids were going to need InstructionVids on how to get close enough to make their own.

  

  Jack watched the harbour flash by as the train took the squad back to the Barracks. Maybe he’d got away with being with Ela. The glow from the City lit everything up. Maybe the Administration kept it that way so the DroneCams could spy on the residents. At the old University, it had been so dark the Cams would have needed infrared, and he didn’t see any red dots, so hopefully there was no surveillance out there.

  From across the aisle, Jeron shook his head at him. “Fuck you took a risk to see Nobody. She must be something special.”

  Jack shrugged. He couldn’t think of a single thing he didn’t like about her. Ela was perfect. “She’s all right.” Except maybe her complete inability to do what she was told.

  “Who is she?”

  “Ela Hennessey.”

  “She’s Elite?”

  “Yeah.”

  “How did you meet her?”

  “Used to work for her granddad.”

  “How does that work?” asked Jeron. He probably knew Elite never left the City.

  “It’s complicated.” He wasn’t going to explain that even though Ela might be Elite, her father had been Local. It was one of the things about her that made her different.

  In the distance, he could see the start of the Humicrib complex and the SkyVid with the Humicrib babies bumbling past. Humicrib, the Cradle of the World, the Vid announced.

  Had Ela, Nick and Curly even
considered that if they did damage the Administration’s infrastructure, the babies in Humicrib wouldn’t survive and that they were Local babies?

  Yes, they would have considered that. Especially Nick. One of those babies was his nephew. Joe and Lucinda’s kid.

  No, it had been a year since the Administration took the baby from Lucinda. It would have been viable months ago and would be adopted out by now.

  He still couldn’t work out what Nick and Ela were trying to do.

  Finally, the train stopped at the Monorail Platform at Devonport, and the squad spilled out of the carriage and headed for the lift.

  He stepped out of the lift behind Jeron and Levi. Only a short walk back to Barracks and he could get some sleep. It had been a huge day.

  “Jack Fraser?” he heard.

  “Yes?” He could see four VTroopers and an officer from the VectorGuards, the military police, standing there, near a Cobra, the StealthHover the MP’s used to get around. The troopers were fully armed and alert like they expected trouble. And all their attention was focussed on him.

  The VectorMP gave the nod. “You’re under arrest,” he said, and the four troopers surrounded him. His wrists were grabbed and cuffed behind his back.

  Fuck. This had to be because he let Ela and Nick get away during the raid. Somehow, Vector had found out. Someone must have reviewed the Vid. Or maybe one of the messages he’d sent to Jacob had been intercepted and traced back to him. Whatever the reason he was in shit.

  “On what charge?” asked Jeron.

  “Violating the protect and respect creed,” the officer answered.

  Jack breathed out slowly. Kissing Ela. Someone must have taken a Vid of the kiss, and he’d been identified. His third strike. A spell in ReEducation. Not good, but better than any of the alternatives.

  “Don’t worry Jack,” said Levi as Jack was marched past him. “We’ll get Leach onto it. He’ll sort it.”

  Not much chance of that. Third strike and some of it was bloody Levi’s fault. The wings on the Cobra lifted, and he was assisted inside.

  

  “Look at this.” Curly pushed his Tablet across the table to Nick.

  “What?” Nick pulled the Tablet closer so he could read it. It was all memos from Vector. “What are you doing monitoring the Vector control centre?” asked Nick.

  “Don’t want any more surprises.” Curly sipped at his hot chocolate and waited.

  Nick read it through twice, then pushed the Tablet back. “They’re deciding what to do about missing us at Humicrib.”

  Curly nodded. “I think the Administration is about to get tough.”

  Nick bit his lip. “It looks like it.”

  “What does it say?” asked Ela.

  “Curfew for Locals in the City,” said Curly.

  “Lucky we’re finished and got away with it. Now we wait for Jacob to make his move.”

  Ela nodded. Nick was right. They’d got away with it. They were still here, and she had lectures in half an hour.

  “I think they’ll lock the University down, and not much else,” said Curly. “We should just wait it out. Jacobs going to move in a few days anyway.”

  “What about the kids from the University that are here now? Someone will notice they’re missing,” said Ela. “They won’t be able to go back, and there might be trouble for their families.”

  “They should have the choice. We need some of them to monitor the DroneCams, but we don’t need many.” He stood up from the table and went out into the control centre. “Listen up,” he said.

  Most of the kids at the screens swivelled around so they could see him.

  “We’ve just intercepted a message from Vector. It looks like the University will be on lockdown for a while. You need to choose. If you stay here, you won’t be able to go back. If you don’t want to stay, you’d better leave now. I don’t know how long you have to get there.”

  “How many of us do you need to stay?” asked Scott.

  Nick looked at Curly.

  “Twenty maybe; said Curly. “Just enough so we can work in shifts and still monitor all the feeds. We don’t want any surprises.”

  The kids looked at each other, and three of them stood up.

  “I think I should go back,” said Sally. “I don’t want to make trouble for my family at home.”

  “Fair enough,” said Nick. “Anyone else?”

  In the end about half the kids decided they should leave.

  “That leaves us with thirty-four,” said Curly. “That’ll be enough, it’s only a few days if Jacob does his thing.”

  “Go now,” said Nick. “I’ll open the door. Haze. Go fast and get back to where you’re meant to be. If Vector is twitchy it’s not a good time to be caught somewhere unexplainable.”

  He put the code into the pad by the door and the doors slid open. The kids Hazed one by one and Ela watched the disturbed air go up the ramp.

  “Will they have time to get back?” she asked.

  Nick slowly released his breath. “Yeah. They’re scared. They’ll hurry.” He went back to the screen that monitored the DroneCams between the Station and the University.

  Ela leaned over his shoulder and watched what he was watching hardly daring to breathe. Nick followed the disturbance in the air. Switching from Cam to Cam. They really only had another five minutes and they’d UnHaze whether they’d got there or not.

  Then she heard, “Fuck.” from Curly. He’d been watching the monitor that covered the Harbour and Viaduct.

  “Look at this!”

  Ela and Nick moved over. On the screen in front of Curly, the sky was filled with StealthHovers.

  “Mambas,” said Nick. None of them in stealth mode. All in plain view, so the sky looked black.

  The other kids started to leave their monitors to come over and look at what Curly had seen.

  “Fuck,’ said Nick. “That’s not just locking down the University. That’s war.” He looked at the other monitors. The Mambas were starting to cover them all.

  “Get back to your posts,” he said to the kids. “Watch and report.”

  “What are we going to do?” asked Curly.

  “Nothing we can do. We can’t fight Vector on that scale.” Nick turned to the monitor where he’d been watching the kids returning to the University.

  “Did they make it?” Curly asked.

  “Looks like it. The door just opened. They should be in their rooms in a couple of minutes. This is just Vector trying to frighten us. They won’t hurt those kids. Humicrib is still going to want their DNA.” he scrubbed his hand through his hair. “I didn’t expect this.”

  “Yeah.” Curly switched the screen, so it showed the feed from all the Cams in the University campus area. The sky was still black with Hovers. Three had landed in the grounds, and the Troopers were pouring out. They set up their perimeter just inside the boundary of the university grounds, facing in, lasers ready.

  “It’s a fucking prison now,” said Curly.

  “Looks like it.” Nick flicked the screen to a Viper and a squad dressed the way Jack had been when he saw him in Humicrib’s carpark was leaping out the side door under the wings. “They’ve even brought the sniper unit. What the fuck are they going to do against a bunch of kids?”

  This time as he watched, instead of taking up positions high on the building, the unit split into five groups of two and went into the entrances of the different sleeping halls.

  “What now?” asked Curly.

  “No idea,” said Nick. He flicked through the different feeds to see if anything had changed. Half a dozen more men came out of the Cobra.

  “Looks like VectorGuards,” said Curly.

  Nick nodded. They had the same look as Vincent and his sidekick had. Bulked up and hard. “Why would they be there?”

  Ela watched each screen as it flicked by. For a while nothing changed, the air was still black and menacing with the Mambas sitting there above the University. The three that had landed sat with their
wings up. A thousand of VTroopers stood around the boundary of the grounds and the area in front of the sleeping quarters stayed empty.

  Then she saw the first three kids come out of the dorm, hands linked behind their heads. As they walked down the steps, followed by another three and another three kids, they all looked around at the show of strength in front of them.

  The groups of three kept coming and coming, and as they got to the pathway, they lined up facing the Hovers. She watched as the square in front of the dorms filled up with row upon row of students. They stood there confused and frightened and silently waited to be told what was happening.

  “They really are being treated like prisoners,” said Ela.

  Nick nodded. Then he turned to Curly. “Keep monitoring the feed between the Admin and Vector, we need to know what this is all about. This is retaliation. We caused this. I just hope no one gets hurt.”

  Finally, one of the dorms must have been completely emptied of kids. About a hundred kids were standing there. All ten of the troopers sent to get them out were standing on the steps. Then one of them walked from one pair to the next, asked a question and got a nod of confirmation.

  After he’d got to the last pair, he waved an all clear at the VectorGuards waiting near the Cobra.

  “How many kids at the University?” asked Ela.

  “Every kid in the country between eighteen and twenty-five,” said Nick. We figure it has to be just on half a million. You need a lot of DNA to repopulate the world.

  Ela watched the kids standing there. “I wonder why those ones have been picked out.” She couldn’t recognise any she knew. She had to know a lot of them, she met so many here at the Station. But they were lost in the sea of faces.

  Five of the Guards standing by the Cobra marched towards the waiting ranks. All the kids still had their hand on their heads. Their arms must be aching by now.