“This had better be important!” Lev Quintan thundered, his eyes blazing and his tone the angriest Jenna had ever heard. Jenna swallowed, her throat suddenly so dry she couldn’t get a word out. Suddenly Mr. Quintan seem to process who was in the hologram before him.
“Ms. Donnell?” he asked, his tone shocked. “What are you doing in Marah?”
“Zane sent me here through the gate,” she said simply. Quintan frowned thoughtfully.
“Are you well?” he asked, his tone still brusque, though at least he wasn’t shouting.
“I think so. Zane followed me here. The security officers took him into custody,” Jenna offered. She wasn’t sure how much of the night’s events Mr. Quintan would want to be public knowledge, so she left it at that. Quintan grunted in disgust.
“Well, I planned for that contingency, though I thought even Zane would not be so foolhardy. I am glad to know that he is safely contained. Now if you’ll excuse me, I am in the middle of some rather pressing matters . . .”
“Did you know that the gate is under attack?” blurted Jenna, terrified that Quintan would end the connection before she could get to the whole point of her comm.
“What?! Marah is under attack?” Quintan cried, his eyes widening until they almost seemed to pop out of his face.
“No, not here. The gate at the QE,” Jenna clarified, her voice shaking. “There were invaders that came through the Tower.” Surely he knew—was Jimmy all right? Was Lilah? What about Jaxon?
Quintan didn’t answer her; he had turned and was shouting questions at someone out of her view. He got an answer back and then ordered a comm opened to the QE. Suddenly, the connection broke off, leaving Jenna and the rest of the room staring at empty space.
“What happened?” Jenna screeched, her nerves stretched too thin to keep her composure.
Ahna frowned at her terminal screen. “I don’t know. The connection was lost at his end for some reason.”
Had Quintan just wanted to immediately get to defending the gate? But that implied that things at the QE could be disastrous.
“Well, at least the Edge gate is well guarded,” Ahna observed, her voice no less calm than before. “Any attack should be repulsed, though we should shut down our side to be sure.”
Brennan cleared his throat nervously and then spoke, “If the Edge gate is attacked while it is being powered, we could experience some potentially catastrophic energy releases here, even if we shut it down on our end.”
“That’s why the gates are guarded,” Ahna reminded Brennan in a long-suffering tone. “Show some backbone. It’s no different than any other day since we got the gates up and running.”
Jenna’s stomach was clenched so tightly from fear that she forgot the nausea. “It’s not guarded right now,” she stated quietly, gripping the sides of the doctor’s jacket so hard that her knuckles whitened. “When Zane took me through the gate, there was no one besides the tech who operated the gate and the single officer who came to tell us that the Tower had been invaded. I think that’s why Zane came through after me.”
At that the doctor started, then looked at her assistants. “Then we need to evacuate the area as soon as possible!” All three of the medical personnel didn’t wait but started moving toward the door.
“But if one of the gate engineers was there, wouldn’t he have shut the gate down after sending Mr. Zane through?” Brennan protested. Ahna moved to the next panel and stared at it, shaking her head. “For whatever reason, he did not. The panel shows that the other side of the gate is fully powered.” Brennan’s face drained of color. The medical personnel abandoned all pretense of dignity and rushed out the door. Only Ahna kept her brisk professionalism. “Then, Brennan, you must return to shut down the Edge gate. I can operate this side of the gate to send you there.”
Brennan shook his head frantically. “I’m a lab tech, Ahna. Not a lab rat. Nor am I a soldier. What good would it do to walk right into some kind of a battle?”
“You spineless little weasel!” Ahna snarled. “You’d risk everyone’s lives on both ends of the gate, risk losing all our research and our hard work, for fear of jaunting after we’ve seen two people successfully do so right in front of us?”
Jenna had had enough. They were running out of time. “Can I shut down the power to the gate? Is it something I could manage to do?”
Brennan and Ahna both turned to her as if they’d forgotten she was there. Ahna recovered first. “Yes. Let me show you.” She strode to the far wall where a flat palm-sized crystal was embedded in a sensor mounted to the wall. “It’s designed to have a quick shutdown in case of emergencies. Grip the crystal, give it a quarter turn to the right, and then slide it out the side. It will break the circuit and shut down the power supply instantly.” Jenna repeated the directions to herself under her breath. It was pretty straightforward. She should be able to do that.
Ahna frowned. “I can’t tell you where the crystal is located on the other side, though. I’ve never been to the Edge gate.”
Jenna grimaced. “Hopefully it’s obvious. Anybody have a weapon here? Just in case I run into a sticky situation when I arrive?”
Ahna lifted her shirt and unhooked an atlatl gun from a holster on her belt and passed it to Jenna. “Perfect! My own model is a bit smaller, but I should be able to do just fine with this,” Jenna observed. She lifted it up and aimed at the wall, trying to get a good feel for the new weight.
“Are you sure you want to do this, Ms. Donnell?” croaked Brennan. “There has to be a reason the engineer didn’t shut down the gate, and I can’t think of one that is good.”
“Well, as soon as I go through, shut down the gate on this side and then get as far away as possible, just in case,” Jenna suggested as she walked back up to the platform. Her head still seemed to spin a bit. Hopefully, the effects of the jaunt wouldn’t double when she went back through, or she would be useless on the other side.
“But you won’t be able to get back!” reminded Brennan, in a last ditch effort.
Ahna answered for her, and her tone was respectful. “She won’t be able to get back no matter what, Brennan, if something has happened to the engineer. She has no one to operate the Edge gate for her.”
Jenna smiled grimly at her just in time for the world to fade to black again.
20. Quintan Crisis
“Marshall Titan’s pits!” swore Grier dramatically. Jimmy looked at him speculatively. He’d never heard Grier use so much as a mild oath, let alone language that would make an asteroid miner’s ears flame.
“I take it getting attacked was not part of the plan,” Jimmy observed wryly. He glanced at his brother. Jaxon, incredibly, was lying down in the backseat of the transport, his hands over his ears and his eyes squeezed shut, ignoring everything as if it wasn’t happening. Just as well.
Grier didn’t answer. He was busy speaking quickly into his transmitter while pulling up a map on the front dash screen.
The back loading dock area of the QE was surrounded by transports. Soldiers wearing dark clothing fired shoulder missiles into the back of the building. Judging by the spectacular flashes of light, the nuclear shield was in place, and they were attacking it directly. There was no return fire that Jimmy could see, no sign of Quintan’s security.
“The main guest entrance is under attack too,” reported Grier’s driver, tapping at his earpiece. “The shield is holding well, though. Why are they wasting their firepower on a nuclear shield?”
Jimmy wondered why too. Nuclear shields were nearly impossible to bring down, and no one could pass through them. Not by attacking them directly. But as long as there were people attacking, the shield would have to stay up, which meant no one could get out of the QE either. There would be a lot of angry, frightened patrons tonight. Quintan would be doing damage control for the next year.
Where was Jenna? Still in Jax’s lab? Trapped in
the QE with the psycho version of Zane? Or out here somewhere, at the mercy of some ruthless competitor?
“What did Zane want with Jenna?” Jimmy demanded urgently. “Where would he have taken her?”
“I do not know what Mr. Zane would have done with Ms. Donnell,” Grier began, but then some of the troops attacking the building spotted their transport. Grier cut off as the driver immediately reversed course and headed back away from the QE. “Better take us out of the Red Zone,” Grier advised sharply. “We can regroup and find somewhere safe to take Mr. Jaxon.” Jimmy glanced at his brother. Miraculously, Jaxon had fallen asleep. His chest was rising and falling rhythmically, and he was snoring gently, his mouth fallen open. Maybe Jax just hadn’t psychologically been able to take any more tonight. If so, sleep was his best friend.
“Any sign that Quintan Tower has been breached?” Jimmy asked in dread.
Grier grimaced. “Our internal comm net has been hacked or jammed; I can’t communicate with anyone inside either the Tower or the resort.”
“They wouldn’t attack the Tower,” the driver asserted confidently. “The Tower is outside the Red Zone. That would be inviting the Armada to step in and squash this whole mess.”
“Mr. Quintan wouldn’t like that either,” Grier observed. “It’s possible the Red Zone could lose its designation altogether if the Armada stepped in.” Jimmy considered the implications of that. If the Red Zone lost its exemption status—if it had to obey all the same laws as the rest of the planet—Quintan-Forrest Enterprises would suffer a severe financial setback that it would be difficult to recover from. He knew that Quintan—and his father as well—in those circumstances would rather lose this battle to a competitor than lose the Red Zone charter. They could always rebuild.
Within seconds they reached the boundary of the Red Zone, where they found themselves facing a blockade of Armada troop transports. A masked figure in full riot gear stood at the head.
“Here we go,” Grier breathed. “At least they are still sitting at the boundary.”
The driver stopped the transport, and the lead soldier came to the window.
“I’m sorry, sir, but the Red Zone has been placed on lockdown because of the present unrest. If you wish to leave you must first be scanned for weapons. Any weapons must remain in the Red Zone until everything settles down again.”
The driver had a fake smile plastered to his face. “We understand, just give us a moment to decide what to do.” He turned to Grier. “Well?”
“The transport has to go back. We can’t just leave our firepower to the street. I’ll walk Mr. Jaxon and Mr. James out of the Red Zone and call another transport to take them to safety,” Grier decided. Jimmy smiled slightly. Grier was probably enough of a walking weapon in himself. He wouldn’t need to be armed to keep Jax safe.
The driver turned back to the waiting Armada officer. “Has the . . . unrest . . . spilled out of the Red Zone at all?”
“No, the boundaries are secure. We have been posted to make sure it stays that way. The skiffs are patrolling every street into the Red Zone.” The officer was providing both information and a warning. Don’t think you can sneak your weapons around us, he was saying. The driver agreed, and Jimmy turned to Jax. Here came the hard part. He had to convince his brother to dare to leave the transport and go walking down the street.
“Jax!” he called softly. He shook his brother’s shoulder, and Jax suddenly sat straight up, his eyes wide.
“Where are we?” he whimpered.
Jimmy took a deep breath. “We have to walk for a little while, Jax. We can’t take the transport all the way home,” he explained, his tone soothing.
“No!”
“Jax, it won’t be that long, I promise.”
“No!” His voice was strong and deep. The whimper was gone. Jimmy swallowed his frustration. Letting any anger show would just make his brother dig in his heels even harder. Jax was strong enough that there would be no way to force him to do anything anyway. Persuasion it would have to be. He could see Grier and the driver watching him silently, and the impatient Armada officer who had his laser in hand now. He was getting uneasy with the delay. So was Jimmy, for that matter. He itched to get moving. Someone needed to get into the Tower. Someone had to find Jenna before she got slammed between a nanospeed-addled Zane and the unknown assailants bent on . . . what? Torching the QE? Stealing the secrets of the gate?
Or destroying the gate.
Jimmy had one last option to try to get his brother out of the transport. Hopefully, it didn’t backfire on him. “Jax,” he began, his voice pitched low. “We have to get out or we can’t get back to check on the gate. I’m worried about it.” Jax’s head snapped around, his eyes staring over Jimmy’s shoulder and out the window of the transport. Jimmy had Jax’s full attention now.
“The gate is fine. The gate is always fine.” Jax’s voice was tinged with worry, belying his words.
“I know, but tonight has not been normal. I am afraid someone may be out to destroy your gate, maybe even your whole lab. We have to get out and let these officers scan us so that we can go find out.”
The effect of that statement was immediate. Jax shoved his way to the door of the transport and forced his way out, stumbling to the ground. Jimmy scrambled out after, Grier right behind him. Jax looked around frantically. He didn’t have a clue which direction to take, or Jimmy was certain that he would have already bolted down the street.
“Get scanned first, Jax,” Jimmy reminded, heading over to the officer, who had stepped away from the transport. He had a thick plastic wand, which he methodically passed along Jimmy’s whole body. Jax was so eager in his fear that he shoved Jimmy away before the officer had quite finished. The officer glanced at Jimmy, then turned to Jax warily. Of course, his scanner found nothing. Jax didn’t wait to hear from the officer, but rather turned away and started to run, his loping gait surprisingly coordinated for someone who didn’t exercise.
“Thank you,” Jimmy tossed politely at the officer, hoping that any snipers perched on the roofs of the buildings decided they weren’t a threat. Then he ran after his brother, who in his haste was already heading the wrong way.
In less than a minute, Grier was jogging at Jimmy’s side.
“We can’t let your brother head back to the Tower,” Grier said, his voice totally calm. Apparently, rushing headlong down the street didn’t even make Grier breathe hard. Jimmy already panted from the effort. Jax couldn’t possibly keep this up much longer. “Without comms, I can’t verify that the building is secure.”
“Well, you’re going to have to sedate him again, then,” Jimmy said breathlessly. “Right now he doesn’t care about anything but making it back to his lab. He won’t be calm if he doesn’t get there.”
“I’ve called another transport. It should be here to pick us up shortly. I can tranq him if needed.”
“Good,” Jimmy answered. He hated the thought of Grier drugging his brother, but Jax couldn’t be allowed to rush back into the Tower if it might be under attack. However, Jimmy himself had no intention of heading off to some safe house with Grier, not without Jenna. Hopefully, Grier understood that his priority had to be Jax’s safety and would let Jimmy go.
When the transport pulled up beside them, Grier quickly cleared the driver and then put on a burst of speed. He pulled out a small medical injector and quickly pricked Jax’s neck. Jax kept moving for two more steps, and then he stumbled. Jimmy jumped to his side and helped Grier ease him over to the open transport door. Jimmy waited until Grier was preoccupied with helping the driver pull Jax into the transport to turn and bolt in the direction of the Tower. Grier shouted after him, but Jimmy didn’t even look back.
He just had to trust that Grier would keep Jax safe. Jenna needed him.
At the main entrance to the Tower, the glass doors wouldn’t slide open. He peered in the windows at the dim lob
by and then looked up at dark floor after floor looming above him. He muttered an oath. They were in. The power was out. There was no way that was a coincidence. Not with everything else that had happened that night. Jimmy gritted his teeth and started trying to pry the sliding doors apart. It didn’t take much effort; of course, the doors must have been designed to be opened manually if there was an emergency. The lobby was lit only by the emergency globes that cast a red glow over the security desk, except for a little light filtering in from the streetlamps. It was empty as far as he could tell, which surprised him. Shouldn’t the other people who lived in the Tower be trying to escape it as quickly as possible? The answer was staring him in the face. As his eyes adjusted to the dimness, he could tell that the blast doors had been closed between the lobby and the rest of the main level. No one would be getting in—or out—through the lobby, not unless they were chucking massively destructive missiles at it. But it was a clear indication that the building was under attack somewhere.
Taking a deep breath, Jimmy hurried to the security desk, hoping to find something he could use to protect himself. He stopped short right as he reached the far side. In the eerie blood-red light, he could just see the slumped form of the security guard who had doubled as a doorman. Dropping to one knee, Jimmy quickly ascertained that the man was dead, shot with a diffusing laser. The building was definitely under attack. He frantically checked the security guard’s form, hoping that the attackers hadn’t taken his weapon from him. His side holster was empty, but under the desk Jimmy discovered a large-caliber laser clipped into a charging mount. He yanked it out and quickly pondered his next course of action. He couldn’t go back in through any of the transport entrances to the parking levels because he didn’t have a remote that would open the shield doors. They were probably locked down at this point anyway. Like any other big building, there were multiple emergency exits around the sides, though. They normally couldn’t be used to get into the building. They had been designed to be invisible from the outside, concealed to lessen the risk that someone would try to break into the Tower that way. He would find one only through sheer luck. Perhaps someone would be fleeing the attack and Jimmy could time it right to get in, though. No matter what, he had no choice but to try.
The Quintan Edge (Roran Curse Book 2) Page 23
