Fault Lines
Page 34
“I said you were worth it,” Chambers replied. He rested his head against the bomb and closed his eyes.
“We better get this seen to by an expert.” She glanced up and spotted the security card. Her arm still throbbed as she bent to pick it up. She looked around. The gun was gone. There was a shot, and a cry of pain from Chambers.
She spun around to see Hubbard on his knees. He aimed at Hanson and pulled the trigger. She stood stock-still, feeling the shock roll over her body. She held her hand to her stomach. Blood dripped through her fingers. She twisted sideways and fell to the ground, watching in horror as Hubbard aimed at Cally.
The gun jammed when he pulled the trigger.
Chambers crawled up onto his knees, then his feet, and charged at Hubbard. Both men staggered back and forth, trading blows and wrestling. Hubbard smashed his fist into Chamber’s wounds, driving him back under the pain. Chambers had no defense against Hubbard’s specialized training.
Hubbard rammed Chambers’ head against the bomb until Chambers collapsed to his knees, and went in for a decisive blow.
Hubbard was pulled backward. Hanson dragged the edge of the security card across his throat. It cut deeply. He spun around, clutching at his neck. His eyes opened wide as he came face to face with the pistol barrel.
His hand snapped out at the button on the nuclear bomb.
She fired.
Hubbard’s head exploded.
An automated voice intoned: Five minutes to detonation.
Hanson ran her hands over Chambers’ wounds as he lay on the ground. They were extensive. The bullet wounds were bleeding. One eye was already closing under the heavy bruising. He needed medical attention immediately. She helped him stand.
The display read 04:30.
Cally picked up the device.
“I can do this,” Chambers whispered.
“No,” Hanson said, “you’re coming with us.”
“If I don’t do this none of us will survive. We don’t have time. If I do it, you’ll get another chance. Please go.”
“Not without you.”
“If I come with you, who will defuse the bomb?”
She held onto Chambers, feeling like a big boot was stamping down on her.
Chambers folded his arm around her body. “You know we were brought together by fate, to protect Cally. But on the way we got a little lost.”
“It was a diversion well worth it,” she said.
“If I’d had a lover, I wish it’d been you.”
“Don’t say that now.” Her voice cracked.
“You have to go,” Chambers said.
“No!” she cried.
“We all changed. We all stepped aside from who we were to keep him safe. Don’t give up now. Please go. Save Cally.”
Four minutes to detonation.
Cally stood by silently, watching the envisioned events unfold before him. He could say nothing and do nothing except let the future arrive.
She succumbed. Her tears flowed as she held his face. She leaned forward and kissed him. Then she was up. Clutching at her side, she reached for Cally and they made their way to the exit. She swiped the card, and the door opened to reveal a long corridor flanked with weapons. She ran back to Chambers, giving him one last passionate kiss.
She placed the card in his hand. “Use it to follow us when you’ve saved the planet.”
She pulled Cally into the corridor.
70
THE SEEMINGLY ENDLESS corridor curved gently to a small military stockpile before straightening and heading directly north.
“They’re here,” Cally said.
“Who?” Hanson pulled open the armory door, revealing rows of rifles, boxes of bullets, and grenades.
“The aliens. They’re going to destroy this place.” Cally stared down the corridor with a blank expression.
“How do we defeat them?”
“We don’t. We can’t.”
Hanson stopped and stared at him.
“But there is a defense. There’s a weapon,” he said, “in Switzerland.”
“Switzerland? The land of cuckoos and chocolates?”
“There’s something else there. It’s big and circular and underground.”
“You mean CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, the particle accelerator? But that’s only for testing high-energy physics.”
“It isn’t now. If I can get there,” he glanced at the black device, “I can hurt them.”
“A great black circle in the earth,” she whispered. “What are you going to do?”
“What I need to do.”
Hanson picked up a machine gun, several clips of ammunition, and a ribbon of grenades. They stumbled into the depths of the long corridor.
Chambers’ fingers flicked over the bomb controls. He traced the wires behind the board, matching the patterns. Another distant explosion was immediately followed by heavy gunfire. He placed his fingers behind the circuit board and ripped it free. The wires tumbled out. His eyes flicked over the array. He smiled as the ignition pattern became apparent.
One minute to detonation.
He held the security card against the wire and pulled. The card slowly ripped at the rubber, slicing through it and severing the wire. The display flashed and went dead.
He let out a sigh of relief. The pain of his injuries was becoming crippling. He had to catch up to Hanson and Cally. When he tried to turn, he fell, catching himself on a Jeep’s hood. Another burst of gunfire. He lay on the floor, staring up. He was completely numb, unable to feel anything.
A man stood above him, waving a gun over his head. “I told you to get out of Stein’s way.” Stein aimed the gun at Chambers’ head and fired.
Stein signaled for the others to follow him down the corridor.
Hanson leaned against the wall, trying to catch her breath. The pain was taking its toll.
Cally was staring at the device. The glowing green display read zero.
“What is it?” she said.
“I don’t know yet. I might never know. I’m only looking after it. Someone else is going to come. It’s my heirloom to them, my gift to the future. It’ll save us and damn us all.”
Gunfire erupted behind them. Another bullet hit her, punching through her leg this time. She cried out, wheeled around and fired the weapon back down the long corridor. She staggered forward, stumbling from step to step.
Cally raced ahead, continually checking the walls. Her vision blurred as she fought to keep her eyes on the doorway. Her bullet wounds throbbed. She held up her hand. Blood was thick over her fingers. She clamped it back down over the injuries.
Another bullet passed through her shoulder, forcing her to drop the weapon. She collapsed to the floor, her back against a barrier constructed from pallets of ammunition containers. Clutching at the machine gun, she fired a random, undirected burst. She examined her wounds. The damage was extensive. She let out a small cry. Her training told her she wasn’t going to make it.
Cally kicked frantically against the door, but it didn't budge.
Pain rolled over her. She gasped and closed her eyes, then opened them again and glanced up at Cally. “Can’t you EM it open or something?”
“I don’t want to.”
“You know what’s going to happen. Am I going to make it?”
He looked around wildly before spluttering a response. “I don’t know.”
There was another round of gunfire, and Cally dived back behind the pallets. Hanson returned fire randomly.
“Don’t give me that. You have to tell me. It’s the only way I can help you.”
“Sometimes the cost of truth isn’t worth it.”
“That’s a bit profound for a teenager.”
“Sometimes not everyone is how they appear.”
She laughed. “I’ve learned that, too. So, why won’t you EM the lock open?”
“I’ll see a future that I don’t want to believe in. Seeing it makes it happen.”
“Even if it’s one that s
aves you?”
Cally looked into her drawn and pale face. She was barely conscious. “Even if it’s the only one,” he said.
“That”—she coughed and brought up a mouthful of blood—“isn’t your decision. As your elder, I command you to open it.” She dragged a trembling hand across her mouth.
He glared at her.
Shouts echoed from down the corridor. More gunfire. She fired, and was rewarded with a scream.
“Please,” she added softly.
“Nothing is certain until it happens,” he whispered. He turned and faced the lock. He wanted the blink to be as quick as possible. He was learning to deal with the physical pain, but this was going to be worse.
- blink -
Tracy lying on the ground with her head blown through … running … a black circle in the earth … a mouth open and gaping with sharpened metal teeth … fire … eternal space … the warrior in red …
“No,” he whispered.
A tear rolled down his face. The lock fell open. He rested his head against the door. The handle turned under his grip and cool air hissed in.
“Go,” Hanson said, her voice hoarse and barely audible, “while I still have …”
He turned around and dived at her, wrapping his arms around her. She spluttered up more blood. “I’m so sorry,” he cried.
“It’s all right, Cally. I wasn’t even meant to make it this far, was I?” He shook his head. “So, thanks for that. We managed to cheat fate together, and in our own way we won. At least I’ve done something useful now. Dad would be proud.”
Hanson slowly turned her head and stared up the corridor. She could make out a figure approaching. More gunfire. She pushed Cally away and urged him to leave. She looked into his eyes. “Everything’s going to be all right,” she whispered.
Cally didn’t know if it was a question, a statement, or a wish. All he could do was respond honestly. “In the end.”
Hanson pushed him away. “Don’t look back.”
He ran toward the exit.
She pulled a grenade free of the ribbon. A bullet went through her shoulder and she dropped the explosive. Another bullet punctured her chest. She arched her back and her arms went wide as a final bullet sliced through her head. She folded backward onto the ground.
The mob, led by Stein, ran up to her.
A metallic clink echoed in the small space. The pin dropped free.
The explosive detonated, commencing a chain reaction. The corridor buckled and twisted under the pressure, causing the roof to cave in, engulfing the men and blocking the exit.
Cally was thrown forward by the air and rubble exploding out of the small doorway. He rolled across the wet grass, coming to a halt dozens of yards away. He wiped his hand over his eyes, clearing away the blood. The exit was destroyed. No one was coming out. Cally felt the grief roll over him.
He knew the past and hated it. But now he knew the future and it was worse.
The future was always going to be uncertain, but only when it was a long way off. He always knew she was going to die, as well as he knew his own fate.
We’re all going to die.
“I’m so sorry.” He held his head in his hands as he rocked back and forth on his knees.
We’re all going to die, but not today.
Eventually he got up and ran, heading north across a wheat field. The moonlight shimmered on the undulating grain, and he disappeared into the light.
When the sun rises tomorrow, it’s going to be a different day …
… I promise.
If you enjoyed this, don’t forget you can get book 1 in the series for FREE.
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I write, and have written, a lot over a long time. Not much of it is interesting. Even if it sounds interesting, it isn’t. For those who are interested, further comprehensive and quality insights about my past, and future publications, might be found at: mark-mywords.co
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Acknowledgements - A special round of thanks for my awesome launch team:
Toryanna Williams, Nathan Benjamin, Frank Ramirez, Christine Adams, Kerry Chorvat, Al Burdekin, Bianca McCartney, Ben Fitzgerald, Andrew Western, Jenn Cockrell, Damon Hatton, Richard Aaroe, RedMan Aragon, Alex Slater, Randy Boman, Alan Rogers, Stephanie Carter, Duncan Whittington, David Cook, Betsy Payne, Krysi Joseph, Daria Tarrant, Sophie David, Krystal McAllister and Cameron Clear.
Also by Mark Lingane
Para-Noir-mal Detectives
Beyond Belief
Sucker
Das Metro
Tesla Evolution
(MG/YA Science Fiction)
Tesla
Decay
Faraday
Fusion
Hadron Damnation
(Science Fiction)
Fault/lines
Blink
Fracture
Short Stories
NT-5
The Second Story Girl
Floored
Notes
1. A machine that reads the strength of gravity; check it out at http://ligo.caltech.edu.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Copyright
Praise
Free Book
Dedication
Prologue
PART 1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
PART 2
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
PART 3
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
Watchout
About the Author
Other Novels
Notes