The Gathering

by Michael Carroll

  “This is not a drill! All nonessential personnel will be evacuated immediately following this meeting,” Josh said.

  On one side of the briefing room, Colin stood with Danny, Renata, Yvonne, Mina, Razor and Butler. On the other side were Josh and Solomon, wearing his Paragon armor.

  “Until further notice,” Josh continued, “we run with a skeleton-crew only. I’ll be honest: we don’t know exactly what we’re facing. We don’t know when it’s going to happen, but we do know that it’s not going to be good. What bothers me most is that outside of this building, only a handful of people know where we are. I would trust each one of them with my life. They will never talk. No one else even knows that this place exists. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, you’re all currently somewhere in New York City. But somehow our security has been breached. It can’t be by someone on the inside because we monitor all communications in and out.”

  “So how do you know that there is a breach?” Danny asked.

  “Because of this…” Josh hit a switch on his console and a large screen lowered from the ceiling. “Last night, a small airport in Nevada…” The screen showed security camera footage of eight well-armed men bursting into the airport. They fired indiscriminately and continuously. Then a ninth man entered, looked around and seemed pleased with the results.

  “Two survivors. Almost one hundred fatalities,” Josh said.

  “My God…That’s…Who are they?”

  “We don’t know, Renata. They came out of nowhere. Whoever they are, they knew exactly what they were doing. This was not a random strike; from the security camera footage it’s clear that they knew the layout of the place and where all the staff would be. The man with the serious facial scarring appears to be the leader, but we don’t know anything else. The National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security are at the scene now, but it’s doubtful they’ll turn up anything useful.”

  Renata said, “If these people were professionals, why did they leave all the security cameras running?”

  “They wanted us to know,” Solomon said coldly. “They did it because they wanted us to know that they could do something like this, that they were willing to do it and that they know about us.”

  The screen showed a large white wall, with a single word spray-painted on it: SAKKARA.

  13

  JOSH LEFT THE ROOM TO PREPARE everyone for the evacuation, but Solomon remained behind to talk to the teenagers. “They know where we are. We don’t even know who they are. Façade believes that the attack was a deliberate attempt to provoke us and I’m inclined to agree with him.”

  “So if these killers know about us,” Renata said, “then that might mean that someone on the inside told them.”

  Razor said, “Sol, this might sound dumb, but…Couldn’t it be a coincidence? For all we know there could be an old rock band called Sakkara.”

  “Think about that for a minute, Razor…A team of ruthlessly efficient, highly trained soldiers attacks an airport and murders almost a hundred people just so that they can spray-paint the name of their favorite band on the wall. I really don’t think so.”

  “They’re going to come here,” Danny said. “We have to prepare for war.”

  Colin—who had remained silent throughout the meeting—said, “We have to assume that they know everything about us. Everything. I don’t think that it’s a good idea to evacuate. That only means that we’d have to protect our people somewhere else. They’re better off here, for now.”

  “So what do you think we should do?” Butler asked angrily. “This is a textbook terrorist strike: they come out of the blue, hit a random target and disappear.”

  Solomon held up his hands to halt the discussion. “This is not a debate, people! We don’t know where—or if—they’re going to strike next. We’ve got the NSA and the FBI feeding us everything they have about the airport strike, but the chances are that we are going to hear about further attacks only when it’s too late to do anything about it. I want you guys training around the clock. Razor, get back to the workshop. We’re going to double-shift on the armor. Mina? I’ve been reading about these bursts of strength you’ve had. I want you working with Warren and Caroline on that. We need to find a way for you to trigger your strength whenever you want. Danny…I don’t care what problems you and Façade have had in the past: he knew more about Quantum than anyone else, so you’re working with him. We’re going to see if it’s possible to get your speed back. Renata? You’re with me for now. The rest of you: hit the gym.”

  As the others filed out of the room, Renata asked, “What do you need me for?”

  Solomon hesitated before answering. “There’s been a…development. Some of the others didn’t want you to know about this, but we knew you’d find out sooner or later.” He reactivated the screen. “This message appeared on the Trutopians’ cable channel about an hour ago.”

  The screen showed Reginald Kinsella standing in his office, talking to the camera. He looked exhausted and was shaking slightly. “Last night’s horrendous attack on the airfield in Nevada was an unforgivable act. It’s my sad duty to confirm that seven Trutopians lost their lives. Their names are being withheld until all their relatives have been contacted. The only positive news I have to report is that the two survivors—Trutopians—are responding well to treatment. They were seriously wounded but are expected to recover. They’ve been transferred to the Trutopian hospital in their hometown of Breckin Falls, Cleveland. They are…”—Kinsella glanced down at a sheet of paper—“Maria and Julius Soliz.”

  Renata’s face turned pale. “Oh my God! That’s my mom and dad!”

  Colin and Danny were in Danny’s room, standing still. Colin had his eyes closed, frowning in concentration, using his highly developed hearing to listen to what was being said in the Ops Room. “She says she has to go to them.” A pause. “Josh is refusing to let her go. He says it’s too dangerous.”

  “How does she sound?” Danny asked.

  “A bit scared…Actually, so does Josh…Now Sol’s sticking up for her. He’s offered to take her to see her family. Josh says that we can’t spare him. My dad agrees with Josh.”

  “Damn.”

  “All right, now Façade has said he’ll take her.”

  Danny nodded. “Good idea.”

  Colin opened his eyes and looked at his friend. “You trust him?”

  “I guess. What are they saying now?”

  “OK…Josh is trying to argue that there’s no point in Renata going to see her parents because she’d never be allowed into the hospital.” Colin smiled. “Renata’s just said, ‘Allowed? Like they could stop me!’ Now my mother’s whispering something…Oh.” Colin’s face fell.

  “What is it?”

  “She’s just whispered, ‘Colin, you’d better not be listening in to this.’”

  “Doesn’t matter. Listen anyway. You can always lie about it later.”

  “Hold on, someone’s coming,” Colin said.

  There was a knock on the door. Danny opened it and found Stephanie Cord standing there. “Is Colin with…? He is. Colin, can I talk to you for a minute? Uh, alone?”

  Danny said, “I’ve got to say good-bye to my mother and Niall anyway.” He left the room.

  Stephanie closed the door behind him and stepped up to Colin. “I don’t know where they’re taking us. Somewhere safe, Josh says.”

  “I’m sure everything will be fine.”

  “Promise me something, OK?”

  “Anything,” Colin said.

  “Promise me that you’ll keep my dad safe.”

  “I will, of course,” Colin said. After a pause, he added, “Was…Um…Was there anything else?”

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know.”

  She smiled. “I want you to keep yourself safe too. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

  Colin looked away. “I guess.”

  “If anything happened to you, I’d probably miss you a bit. For a whil
e. But don’t worry on my account; I wouldn’t dwell on it. I’m sure I’d get over it pretty quickly.”

  “Well…that’s good.”

  Stephanie smiled again, winked at him and moved toward the door. “Look after yourself, Colin. I’d hate to have to find someone else to pick on.”

  14

  IN THE EARLY HOURS OF CHRISTMAS EVE, the helicopter carrying Dioxin’s strike team touched down in the football field of a high school in the small town of Morgan in Utah.

  Dioxin himself broke into the school and planted the explosives, while his mercenaries emptied drums of kerosene in a precise pattern over the field.

  They moved on to a second school, then a third and a fourth.

  The explosives all detonated at the same time, destroying the buildings and igniting the kerosene patterns on the football fields.

  In each case, letters of fire spelled out the same seven-letter word: SAKKARA.

  Nine hours later, in a large shopping mall a few miles south of Fort Collins, Colorado, cheerful families and panicking last-minute shoppers bustled about to the tinny sound of “Jingle Bells” and other holiday songs.

  A bag slung over his shoulder, Dioxin walked in through the mall’s main entrance, not caring that people were staring at his scarred face, that parents were herding their children away.

  The crowds parting ahead of him, he walked up to the enormous Christmas tree, where a fat man dressed as an elf was unloading brightly wrapped presents from a sack.

  “Hi,” Dioxin said.

  The elf turned around and gasped when he saw Dioxin’s face. He quickly regained his composure. “Sorry, I didn’t mean anything by that.”

  Dioxin smiled. “I get it all the time. Listen, all us guys down at the fire station made a collection: we got some more presents for you to hand out.” He passed over the bag. “Yeah, this guy whose house we saved last year made a huge donation, so we thought we’d spread the happiness around. Just hand ’em out to any little kids you see. No charge! And tell them they’re not to open the presents until tomorrow morning!”

  “Will do. That’s real good of you, thanks.”

  “It’s our pleasure,” Dioxin said. He smiled and walked away.

  He hung around the mall for the next few minutes, keeping one eye on the elf as he began handing out the small presents to eager children.

  As Dioxin had expected, it wasn’t long before one little boy was too eager to wait for Christmas morning. He tore into the wrapping on the present and pulled out a white plastic cube with a large red button on the top. The boy pressed the button.

  Dioxin immediately held his breath. He covered what remained of his nose and walked out into the parking lot.

  Through the doors, he could see the little boy lying on the ground. Within seconds, everyone around him had also collapsed. Dioxin turned and walked slowly toward his car.

  The invisible gas contained in the boxes wasn’t fatal, but it caused temporary blackouts, headaches and extreme nausea that would last for days.

  In eight other shopping malls throughout the state of Colorado, the same thing was happening.

  In each case, Dioxin’s mercenaries made certain to leave the bags behind. At the bottom of each bag was a simple note: “A gift from SAKKARA.”

  In Sakkara’s Ops Room, Solomon Cord stared at the large video screen. Warren and Caroline Wagner sat on either side of him. Josh Dalton hit the video’s “Play” button.

  Reginald Kinsella appeared on the screen. “The destruction of the four schools in Utah by this ‘Sakkara’ group is a deliberate attack on this country’s young people! Thousands of students are now without schools and hundreds of faculty members may lose their jobs. But this morning’s attacks on nine different shopping malls—all of them within Trutopian communities—was nothing short of an act of terrorism against our organization!”

  Joshua Dalton’s cell phone rang. He hit a key to pause the video, then answered the phone. “Dalton…Yes, I’ll hold…” A couple of seconds later, he said, “No, General. No warning whatsoever. There was no way we could have anticipated…Yes, I understand. We’ll keep your people informed.” Josh put his phone away and looked around the Ops Room at the others. “That was General Piers, our liaison with the military. He has ordered us to stop these terrorists by any means necessary. He stopped short of blaming us for the attacks, but only just.” Josh sighed. “Unfortunately, we have absolutely no leads. These people could strike again, anytime, anywhere. Someone give me something to work on!”

  Caroline Wagner said, “Kinsella’s becoming quite a powerful man. It seems to me that whoever is behind these attacks wants to set him against us.”

  Her husband nodded. “Our enemy is making more enemies for us.”

  “Either that,” Solomon said, “or someone is trying to elicit sympathy for the Trutopians.”

  Josh continued: “Luckily, all of those schools were empty, but the cost of repairs is going to cripple their communities. As for the attacks on the malls, the latest report is that hundreds of people—most of them children—have been hospitalized. No fatalities, thank God, but what if these attackers had used a lethal gas?”

  “What else does Kinsella have to say?” Caroline asked.

  “Just the usual stuff about how great his organization is. No crime, everyone lives without fear. Until now.”

  “No word on how these perpetrators managed to get inside their gated communities?”

  “Not as such, but he went to great lengths to explain that the attacks were the work of outside forces.” Josh dropped into a chair and buried his face in his hands for a moment. “All right,” he said, looking up. “That’s bad enough, but the really bad news is that somehow the name Sakkara has been directly connected with us. It’s out there on the Internet. There’s nothing we can do about it, short of shutting down the entire Internet. And believe me, if we could do that, we would.” He began tapping at a keyboard and the television picture was replaced with a website. “Conspiracy theories for beginners, this one. It’s a very simple site, run by a fifteen-year-old kid in Devon, England. Look at this…” He clicked on one of the page’s links.

  The screen showed the words “Sakkara—the New Heroes’ Headquarters!” complete with a rough drawing of the building.

  “Thankfully, it doesn’t give our location,” Josh said, “but it’s got a lot of the facts right.” He looked around the table. “I have absolutely no doubt now that someone connected to this organization is a traitor.”

  Everyone looked around at each other.

  “Any ideas who?” Warren asked.

  “Yes. All this started to happen after you arrived,” Josh said.

  “You’re not saying that it’s me, are you?”

  “No. But it could be someone else who arrived at the same time: Façade.”

  Later, sitting on the edge of the roof of Sakkara and looking west toward the city lights of Topeka, Danny and Renata listened to Colin as he related the highlights of the discussion that took place in the Operations Room.

  “We know the traitor isn’t one of us three,” Renata said, scooping up a pile of snow into a ball. “And Josh is sure that it’s not one of his people. Could it be Façade?”

  “No, I don’t think so,” Danny said. “Even when he was working with Max, he believed he was doing the right thing.”

  “He was a criminal before Max recruited him,” she reminded him.

  “True, but that was a long time ago.” Danny looked at Colin. “How well do you know Razor?”

  “Well enough to know that he’s happier here than he ever was before. He’s not the traitor. He’d never betray Sol.”

  “Butler then,” Danny said. “He’s always swaggering about like he’s better than the rest of us.”

  “Just because he’s a scumbag doesn’t mean he’s a traitor,” Renata said. She got to her feet, then stepped back and threw the snowball as hard as she could. It disappeared into the darkness. “How’s that?”

  “The
farthest one yet,” Colin replied. “Got to be half a mile, at least.”

  Renata sat back down again. “What about Mina or Yvonne?”

  “Not likely,” Danny replied. “They’ve been here all their lives. They wouldn’t throw that away.”

  “They might if they hated the place. They’re both a bit weird anyway. Mina’s only said about four words in the whole time we’ve been here, and all the stuff about her being able to see people’s auras? Give me a break!”

  “You don’t believe it?”

  “Not for a minute. And you know what else is weird about her? This superstrength she’s supposed to have from time to time. Well, I know we haven’t been here that long, but I haven’t seen any evidence of it. Have you?”

  Danny and Colin shook their heads.

  “So, since we don’t know for certain that she’s got any powers, how do we know she’s a superhuman at all?”

  “That’s a good point,” Colin said.

  “Yeah,” Danny said. “And here’s another thing…Why have they been here all their lives if superhuman powers don’t kick in until you hit puberty?”

  Colin said, “Maybe they were just more likely to develop powers. Maybe one of their parents was a superhero.”

  “Or a supervillain,” Renata said. “Ragnarök, maybe, or Slaughter.”

  “Y’know, that could be why Butler is afraid of Yvonne,” Colin said.

  The others looked at him.

  “You didn’t notice that? When he’s around her he’s always very careful not to upset her and he does whatever she says.”

  “Maybe he’s in love with her,” Renata said.

  Danny nodded. “Could be. She’s certainly good-looking.”

  Renata raised an eyebrow. “Is she really?”

  “Um…”

  “Look, I’m not saying that Yvonne or Mina is the traitor, but if I was them, I’d be anxious to get away from Sakkara. I mean, they’re practically prisoners. We’ve been here only a couple of days and I’m going stir-crazy already.”

  Colin said, “You’re going to go and see your family, aren’t you? Even though Josh doesn’t want you to.”