Down

by Brett Battles

  “I’m not seeing any targets, sir,” his new marksman said.

  “Keep firing!”

  Letting a small amount of the beam out between his fingers, he moved it across the undercarriage—a heavy-duty frame, axle mounts for the eight sets of metal wheels, and the back sides of the platform’s plates.

  A barrage of rifle cracks, two from his man and the rest from above.

  His shooter groaned. “I’m hit.”

  “Can you still shoot?”

  “I…I think so.”

  “Then fucking shoot!”

  Vintner moved the light again, but saw nothing that would—

  Wait a minute.

  In the center of the beam was a thick metal rod that ran from one axle group to the other. The brackets holding it in place were more like cradles that allowed the rod to move back and forth. He scooted closer and traced the system with the light. If he wasn’t mistaken, the mechanisms at both ends controlled a set of emergency brakes that could be deployed in the event the train broke away from the cable that hauled it up and down the tracks. There was probably an activation switch on one of the platforms, but with the power out, it probably wouldn’t work. Not a problem, though. Folded against the rod was a handle that, when extended, stuck around the side of the platform so that someone riding the car could operate it.

  It would be a wild ride to the bottom, especially if he couldn’t reengage the brakes, but he’d rather take his chances than have his team sit here and get picked off one by one.

  He found the bracket connecting the train to the cable. It was not designed to be easily disconnected, and without the right tools, he wouldn’t be able to do it anyway. But that wouldn’t be a problem, either.

  Since he’d been unsure what to expect when his team arrived at Dream Sky, he had brought along a variety of explosive devices. Some were powerful enough to blow apart the base’s main entrance, while others were only strong enough to kick open a security door. A couple of the latter should do the job.

  He located one of the men carrying the explosives, took two of the small devices, and attached them to the bracket. Moving back over to the emergency brake, he extended the handle and moved it into the on position so that the car wouldn’t immediately start racing down the hill.

  He then said in a voice loud enough for his squad to hear, “Everyone back on the train as quickly as you can.”

  “We’ll be sitting ducks,” someone argued.

  “What do you think we are right now?” Vintner said. “Get on and hold tight.”

  While his men climbed aboard, he set the timer on the detonator to fifteen seconds, and then scrambled onto the platform himself. Bullets flew over the car as the others shot at them from both directions. He grabbed the lever, counting down the seconds.

  The double thud of the blast was milder than expected. As he pushed the brake lever forward, the train didn’t move. Was the bracket still in place? Had he not used enough of a charge?

  But then, as the lever reached the full off position, the car began to roll.

  More shots rang out, bullets ricocheting off the walls and ceiling. Vintner saw muzzles flash as they raced past several recesses in the wall. Suddenly the tunnel lights came on and the gunfire ceased.

  He eased the brakes back on to slow their descent, but the bottom was still coming at them too fast. He yanked harder, and finally their speed slowed enough that the walls rushing by were no longer blurs.

  He smiled. It was going to work.

  Ten feet farther down the rails, the handle snapped.

  __________

  RENI HAD NO idea what Vintner was thinking by ordering everyone back onto the platforms. Did he not understand that would get everyone shot? She stayed on the ground where she knew it was safe.

  A double pop knocked her into the wall, stunning her. Blinking, she realized the car had started to move. She flailed out at the railing, trying to grab it, but the car was already going too fast. Before she could pull her hand away, one of the support poles whacked it and bent her wrist impossibly backward. She crumpled to her knees, intense pain screaming up and down her arm.

  Around her, bullets pinged off the walls, several striking the ground only a few feet away. Needing someplace to hide, but unable to see anything in the darkness, she clutched her injured wrist to her chest and felt around with the other hand for one of the recesses she’d seen earlier.

  The wall beside her was solid, so she moved as best she could up the slope, checking again every few feet. Her boot knocked against something lumpy. As she leaned down to see what it was, the overhead lamps came on, and she found herself trapped in a shadowed area between two of the pools of light, hovering over one of Vintner’s dead men. The nearest recess was a good twenty feet away and in the light. No chance she could get there without being seen.

  She looked back at the dead man.

  Unless…

  Tucking in next to the corpse, she arranged herself in a way that she hoped made her look dead, and then, ignoring the pain in her wrist, closed her eyes and waited.

  __________

  AS SOON AS Ash saw the men climbing back onto the train, he ordered everyone to open fire. They were able to hit several before the car unexpectedly began moving again.

  What in God’s name were they thinking? The power was off. Their momentum would only build.

  When it was clear his people were wasting bullets, Ash ordered them to stop and flipped the power back on, illuminating the tunnel once more. He, Chloe, and the others watched the train racing down the slope.

  “They’re slowing,” Chloe said after a few moments.

  “We have to get down there as quickly as we can,” he said. Powell had taken a Resistance team from inside Dream Sky to the bottom as a backup, but now they’d be on the front line. Ash didn’t want to leave them there alone.

  As he started over the edge, he heard a distant pop and twisted around to look at the train again. It was once more gaining speed.

  “They’re not going to stop in time,” Chloe said.

  Ash shook his head. “They’re not going to stop at all.”

  __________

  VINTNER LEANED OVER the side and grabbed at the nub that was all that remained of the handle. It flapped back and forth against the rod, slipping from his fingers several times before he was able to get hold of it. He pulled it with all his strength, hoping he could get even a little bit of traction. The rod moved, but the brakes didn’t engage. So it wasn’t just the handle that had broken. The whole system had failed because it had never been designed to be used like he had used it.

  The bottom was coming quickly, and he knew the resulting crash would kill him. The best he could do was face it with honor.

  But the crash was not responsible for his death. That job went to a pillar he smashed into as he pulled himself back onto the platform.

  __________

  IT TOOK ASH, Chloe, and the others just under ten minutes to reach the bottom and join Powell and his team.

  Only three of those who’d been on the runaway train were alive, though none was likely to last long. The bodies of the dead were badly mangled, making it impossible to tell who’d been killed by the crash and who by gunfire.

  “Did you get a count?” Ash asked Powell.

  “Sixteen,” he said.

  Plus the four who’d been guarding the entrance, and the three bodies along the tracks where the car had stopped, made twenty-three. That was all of them.

  Ash walked over to where Robert, Estella, and a few others were checking out the car. It was a tangle of twisted steel plates and broken rods and bent wheels.

  “Don’t think we’ll be using that anytime soon,” Ash said.

  Robert nodded. “Would be easier to build a new one.”

  The loss of the train was unfortunate. Getting everyone out through the hut was going to take a lot longer.

  “Ash?” Chloe called from across the room.

  When he looked over, she tapped her e
ar, indicating his radio. He turned it on.

  “What’s up?” he asked.

  Instead of Chloe answering, it was Sealy’s voice he heard. “I have a little present for you.”

  Ash looked up the tunnel. He’d left Sealy and a few others there to watch the entrance. Though Ash could see light at the top, the distance was too far to make out anything.

  “What kind of present?”

  “Not all the bodies you passed on the way down were dead. Found one trying to slip by us and get outside.”

  “Is that right?” Ash said. That was good news. He’d been hoping to keep a few of them alive to question, but he’d thought the crash had eliminated that possibility. “Faster if you bring him overland to the other entrance. I’ll meet you in the control room.”

  “Her.”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “She’s a woman.”

  22

  DREAM SKY

  7:25 AM EST

  SEALY AND THE woman were already in the control room when Ash and Chloe arrived.

  Ash had assumed the prisoner was one of those who’d come with the Project Eden team, but he recognized her from footage Harden had shown him of the Dream Sky security guard who’d escaped.

  Once they were settled, Ash said, “Do we have a name yet?”

  Harden, sitting at the main control desk, said, “The database identifies her as Reni Barton.”

  Ash smiled at the woman. “So, Ms. Barton, I believe you’re part of the security department, correct?”

  She stared at him.

  “She hasn’t been very forthcoming,” Sealy said.

  “I’m sure she’ll change her mind,” Ash said, looking at the woman.

  She sneered.

  “Remaining silent is definitely an option. If you choose to do that, however, know that we also have options. A whole room full of them down in your barracks. We’ll simply kill you and wake up one of your friends. I’m sure we’ll eventually find someone willing to cooperate.”

  “Bullshit,” she said.

  Whether or not he was telling the truth didn’t matter. He’d gotten her to speak, which meant he’d already won.

  “Shall we begin?” he said.

  Her face remained blank.

  “First question, who sent the men you were with?”

  She shrugged.

  “How many more are coming?”

  “Hundreds, at least.”

  Chloe tapped Ash on the shoulder, employing the strategy they had worked out on the way up. “May I?” she asked.

  He moved to the side.

  Chloe smiled as she stepped forward.

  The woman chuckled. “You’re not going to get any answers, either.”

  “Unlike my friend, I don’t have any questions.”

  Chloe’s punch came out of nowhere. Ash heard a crunch as the woman’s nose broke. She stumbled backward, blood pouring over her mouth and chin.

  Chloe hit her again, an upper cut to the abdomen this time. The Project Eden guard doubled over, one hand on her nose, the other covering her stomach. Chloe grabbed her by the jacket and pulled her upright, then power-walked her backward and slammed her into the wall. The woman’s head bounced off the concrete and her eyes glazed over for several seconds.

  Ash moved in behind Chloe. “Who sent those men?”

  The woman blinked, trying to focus. Chloe slapped her face hard. “Answer him.”

  “I…I’m not sure,” the woman said.

  Chloe slapped her again.

  “I don’t know. Really.”

  Chloe pulled her hand back for another shot, this time closing it into a fist.

  “Wait! Wait!” the woman pleaded. “He talked to someone on the phone. A Director…um…Johnson, I think. Yeah, that was it. Director Johnson.”

  That jibed with the phone call Harden had fielded.

  “How many more men are coming?” he asked.

  “Commander Vintner never said anything about more men.”

  “Vintner? He was the one in charge?”

  “Yes.” She hesitated. “He’s dead, isn’t he? The crash?”

  Ash ignored her question and said, “Are you sure he didn’t mention anyone else?”

  “He didn’t. I swear.”

  Though he thought she was telling the truth, he questioned her some more, pushing hard, but her story didn’t change.

  When he was done, they left Harden alone in control and took an elevator down. Sealy and the woman got off on four, where the main detention room had been set up.

  Before the doors closed again, Ash said to Sealy, “If you’re feeling generous, you can have one of their nurses look at her, but I’ll leave that to your discretion.”

  Ash and Chloe rode the car all the way down to level ten. Most of the others were still there, clearing away debris in case the tunnel would be needed.

  Raising his voice, Ash asked, “Did anyone find a satellite phone?”

  “I think I saw one over there,” Estella said, pointing across the area where dozens of items had been set side by side.

  A sat phone lay between a Glock pistol and a closed pocketknife. It was a compact model that was nicked but otherwise undamaged.

  Ash pushed the power button but nothing happened. He checked the battery, found that it had come loose, and clicked it back into place. The phone turned on.

  He opened the outgoing call list. Right at the top was an entry labeled NB016.

  He and Chloe exchanged looks.

  “I’ll bet they’re wondering how things are going here,” she said.

  “I’ll bet they are.”

  __________

  THEY GATHERED BACK in the control center. Present were Ash, Chloe, Sealy, Powell, Harden, Curtis, Tamara Costello, and a sore and annoyed Bobby Lion. Ash had also asked Robert and Estella to join them. They were the de facto leaders of the Isabella Island survivors who made up much of the force that now occupied Dream Sky.

  Now that Harden understood how the Dream Sky communications system worked, he was able to use it to call Ward Mountain and pipe it through the control-room speakers.

  “May I help you?” The voice that answered was understandably wary, since the call’s ID would be unknown to her.

  “Crystal? It’s Ash.”

  “Captain? Where are you?”

  “Dream Sky.” Before she could ask anything else, he explained what he wanted.

  “It’ll take a few minutes. Let me put you on hold.”

  No one said anything as they waited, the room tense, expectant.

  When the line connected again, it was Rachel’s voice they heard. “Captain Ash?”

  From the echo, he could tell she was also using a speakerphone.

  “Who’s with you?” he asked.

  “Dr. Gardiner and Caleb Matthews are in the room, and we’ve got Pax patched in on a line from Los Angeles.”

  “Morning, Captain,” Pax said, his connection a bit weaker than Ward Mountain’s.

  “Pax, great to hear your voice,” Ash said. “How did it go out there?”

  “Better than we’d hoped. I can tell you all about it later. The important question is, how did it go there?”

  “We’ve neutralized the counterattack. Dream Sky’s still ours.”

  “Any casualties?” Rachel asked.

  “A few injured. One dead.”

  “Who?”

  “Gordon Blake.”

  “Damn, he was a good man,” Pax said.

  Rachel said, “Make sure you bring him home.”

  “We will.”

  “So, is Dream Sky really as important as you thought?” Pax asked.

  “More so.” Ash told them what they’d found, and had Wicks add details of the base’s purpose when necessary.

  “You have a thousand sedated people?” Dr. Gardiner asked, astonished.

  “I think the number is actually twelve hundred,” Ash said. “That’s why I wanted you on the call, Doctor. We need someone to oversee their revival. I can’t think of any
one better for the job than you.”

  “That’s…going to be a massive job.”

  “Bring as many people as you think you’ll need. There is medical staff here and some of them can probably be convinced to help, but they’ll need to be watched.”

  “Of course,” Gardiner said.

  “I’ll make sure he’s on his way within the hour,” Rachel added.

  “Good,” Ash said. “So, tell us how the disruption effort went.”

  “It’s still going,” Rachel told him. “So far our people have taken over about thirty-five survival stations and Project bases. More have been severely crippled, and even at those that received only modest damage we’ve seen Eden personnel abandoning their posts.”

  “We experienced some of that here in L.A.,” Pax said. “A few tried to fight back but most either surrendered right away or ran for the hills.”

  “You’ve taken the stadium?” Ash asked, surprised.

  “Field needs a little work, but should be ready if the Dodgers ever get back together.”

  “I haven’t told you the best news,” Rachel said. “Our friends in India have kidnapped Director Mahajan.” She described what Sanjay, Kusum, and Darshana had done. “There’s a plane picking them up in…less than ninety minutes. Once the rescue team’s sure Sanjay’s stabilized, it’ll fly him, his friends, and their hostage to our base in Dubai.”

  Ash glanced at Chloe and raised an eyebrow, wanting to make sure she thought they should go ahead with the idea they’d discussed after finding the sat phone. He interpreted the look she gave him as, Why is it even a question?

  “Captain, are you there?” Rachel said.

  “I’m here.” He paused, then said, “Rachel…everyone, we’ve already cut the Project’s legs off by taking Dream Sky and, from the sounds of it, we’ve severely crippled it elsewhere, too. If we stop here, we will be giving the leaders a chance to regroup. I think we need to finish this now. Today.”

  “How do we do that?” Pax asked.

  “By cutting off its head.”

  The silence that followed was finally broken by Rachel. “I assume you have a plan?”

  “I do.”

  23