Knile sat, stunned by this revelation. He felt like a fool, to have allowed himself to be manipulated so thoroughly yet again.
“You wanted Skybreach to succeed in taking over the Wire.”
“Yeah.”
“You needed someone to disable the security on the railcar so that you could get the explosives aboard. That was the only way to destroy the habitat.”
Hank smiled. “Attaboy. Now you’re catching up. I tried to make it happen a week ago, but that little pain in the ass Ursie got inside my head. Powerful psycher, that one.”
“Yeah, tell me about it.”
“She was a burr in my ass, I’ll tell you that much. I mean, I’ve been trained to defend myself from the likes of her, so I’m pretty sure she never figured out my true intentions, but she muddled my head, good and proper. Screwed up my ability to think straight. I didn’t get Aksel and his friends in Skybreach ready in time as a result.” Hank’s smile dropped away. “Listen, buddy. This isn’t anything personal against you. I’ve always liked you, Knile. It just so happens that you were the perfect tool for the job.”
“I’m not your buddy, Hank. And you can go fuck yourself.”
Hank pursed his lips and nodded amiably. “I guess I deserve that. But I thought you should know the truth about what’s going on, for old time’s sake. We had some good times together, you and me, and I’m sorry it had to end this way.”
“And you know what else?” Knile went on, ignoring him. “I can’t wait to wipe that smile off your face when your plan falls apart.”
Hank raised an eyebrow. “How’s that?” he said, perplexed. “You can’t prevent this, Knile. The railcar won’t stop, not once it’s been set in motion. The timer on the explosive is set to go off in” – he checked his wristwatch – “thirty-one minutes, right when the railcar docks at the habitat. You can’t jettison the cargo, either. It’s not part of the railcar design. Those are the facts.” He shrugged. “I wouldn’t be telling you this if the outcome wasn’t already decided.”
Knile set a timer on his watch, his mind still racing, and then his composure began to fray. He felt his cheeks flush with anger at the thought of coming so close to their goal, only to be betrayed at the last hurdle. His fists clenched and he leaned toward the terminal, irate.
“You think this is the worst problem I’ve had to overcome, Hank? This is fucking child’s play, buddy. You’re going to wish you never brought me back here. You hear that?”
Knile was rewarded with a brief flash of uncertainty across Hank’s previously calm visage, but the old man quickly recovered.
“I admire your spirit, but I’m sorry to say that this is the end for you, Knile. And the lovely Ms. Valen. Enjoy the view up there while you can.”
Knile killed the call and Hank’s smug countenance disappeared from view. Knile thumped angrily at the wall of his compartment, loosing a scream of frustration, then tried to calm himself. He took a deep breath.
“Yun?” he said finally. “Did you get all of that?”
“Knile.” Silvestri’s voice, flat and defeated. “We heard.”
“Sounds like the party is starting to warm up, huh?”
A pause. “What are you going to do?”
“Has Yun reestablished full comms with the habitat?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’m going to do the last thing Hank would have wanted. Get Yun to patch me through. I’m going to talk to Administrator Valen.”
42
The technician moved away from the view of the camera, and Veronica Valen herself took his place before it. She stared impassively at Knile for a moment, then turned to address someone off-camera.
“Has the authenticity been verified? Is he really aboard the OrbitPod?” she said. There was a muffled response, and then she nodded.
“Administrator Valen?” Knile prompted.
She turned back to the camera and gave Knile a haughty glare. “Yes. You have my attention.”
“My name is Knile Oberend, and I’m part of a crew that took control of the Wire several hours ago,” he said, knowing that there was no point being evasive. At this point he had no choice but to lay it all out there. “We’re on our way up to you right now.”
“Thank you for the courtesy call, Mr. Oberend,” Valen drawled sardonically. “My security team tell me that when our comms came back online a few minutes ago, they found a very troubling item in one of the cargo bays. You’re carrying explosives.”
“That’s correct.”
“What are your demands?”
“Well, here’s the thing, Administrator. The explosives weren’t planted by us. This is the work of one of your own people, a consul by the name of Jon Hanker.”
“What?” she said, startled. “Hanker died in the recent attack–”
“No, he didn’t. I just spoke to him a few minutes ago. He was gloating about the prospect of killing you and everyone else in the habitat. Said you two had a history, that you wouldn’t let him leave Earth, and this was his payback.”
Valen paled visibly. “That fucking bastard,” she muttered.
“My sentiments exactly. So, I’m calling to negotiate a deal with you.”
“A deal?” Valen said sceptically.
“Yeah. My companions and I aren’t here to destroy you. We only want safe passage away from Earth. In return for giving you forewarning about Hanker’s plan, I’d like you to jettison the cargo bay–”
“I don’t negotiate with filth,” Valen said, her eyes flashing. “And even if I did, there’s no deal to be struck here. The cargo bay doors can’t be opened in transit. If you don’t have a way to disarm those explosives, there’s no way to stop the detonation.”
“What? There has to be a way–”
She turned away again and spoke to someone beside her. “Raise a Code One. Full evacuation. We have less than half an hour before the OrbitPod arrives.”
“Don’t you have someone there who might be able to disarm it when we arrive?” Knile pleaded. “Or maybe some other idea?”
“I’m not willing to gamble the lives of my people on that slim chance, Mr. Oberend. Even if there was time to release the explosives through one of the waste chutes, my techs tell me that the shock wave from the explosion would still tear the habitat apart.” She pinched the bridge of her nose wearily, then spoke to the person beside her again. “First we have Redmen attacking and killing each other on the concourse, and now this. What next?”
“Administrator Valen–”
“I’ve heard enough from you, Mr. Oberend. You and your friends will get what you deserve.” She shook her head at him. “Do you realise what you’ve done? You’ve not only earned yourself a violent death, but you’ve also condemned all those still on Earth to wallow there for the rest of their days. No one will ever leave the planet again after today.”
“Let me speak to your technicians, we can figure something out. We can still save the habitat.”
Valen had slumped back, morose, and now seemed oblivious to Knile’s presence on the other end of the line.
“So many good people left behind. So many I couldn’t help.” Her eyes seemed to lose focus for a moment, and then she began to move away. “How long till the evacuation modules power up–?”
The call terminated, and Knile was left staring helplessly at a blank screen once again.
He was gripped by a real sense of despair for the first time. Maybe there was no way out of this after all.
“So that didn’t go well,” came Silvestri’s voice over the comms.
“No.”
“I’ve checked with Yun. There seems to be nothing we can do from this end. I’m sorry, Knile.”
Knile closed his eyes. He wasn’t prepared to accept defeat. Not now, when they were this close to their goal.
Then he realised there was perhaps one last option available to him. It was a long shot, but what choice did he have at this point?
He heard a dull thud somewhere inside the railcar, then an
other. Craning his neck to look around, he tried to locate the source of the noise. As another impact sounded, he realised what it was.
Lazarus was bashing at the perspex dome of the compartment in which he sat.
What’s the crazy bastard doing?
“Lazarus, cut it out,” he said. “That’s not going to get us anywhere.”
“If I am to die,” Lazarus said through his comms, “then I shall die in the light.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” There was no response, so Knile put the matter out of his mind and glanced back at the terminal. “Silvestri, can you put Yun back on the line?”
“Here, Knile.”
“I need you to patch through another call for me.”
43
Ursie lay on the cot sobbing as Tobias loomed over her, his kindly old face full of concern and empathy.
“What is it, kiddo?” he said. “What’s happening to you? You need to talk to me.”
Ursie wiped the tears from her cheek with cold, shaking fingers. She opened her mouth, but the words would not come out.
I’m a criminal. A murderer. A monster. You should get away from me while you still can.
These thoughts tumbled around in her head like garments in a clothes dryer, and yet she couldn’t bring herself to give voice to them. She didn’t want Tobias to hate her.
After all, he was the only person in the world who didn’t hate her.
It had been perhaps an hour since the incident with the Redmen out on the concourse. In the confused aftermath of the encounter, she had stumbled away and found herself back at Tobias’ apartment, clothes smeared in the blood of the men she had killed.
The men she had butchered.
In that time she hadn’t come close to dealing with the implications of what had happened. She was no longer concerned about being caught, or what the Consortium might do to her as punishment for her crimes.
No, those thoughts were behind her. Now she could only lament her own nature, the brutality of which she seemed capable.
Is this what I’ve become? she thought miserably. A killer like van Asch? A sociopath who destroys anything that gets in their way?
She’d tried telling herself that it was self-defence, that she hadn’t meant for it to go down as it had, but was that really true? Could she have prevented the deaths of those men? Men who were simply doing their duty?
I should have just let them take me. I should have let them lock me up. I’m a danger to everyone around me.
“Please, talk to me,” Tobias was saying. He raised his hand toward her cheek, and she jerked violently aside to avoid his touch.
“Don’t put your hands on me!” she hissed. “Don’t ever touch me!”
The look of hurt in his eyes made her feel rotten to the centre of her being.
“I’m sorry,” he mumbled, eyes downcast. “I should learn to keep my fool hands to myself.”
“No,” she said, her voice full of remorse. Everything she did, everything she said just seemed to end in ruin. “It’s my fault, Tobias. I just don’t want to hurt you.”
“Hurt me?” he said. “Well, a gentle soul like you wouldn’t hurt a fly, no?” His eyes fell upon the bloodied, discarded coat nearby, then back to Ursie. “Would you?” he said, a tinge of doubt in his voice.
She could only stare back at him helplessly, shaking her head while the voice in her mind told her: Yes. Yes I might.
A klaxon sounded suddenly in the room, causing Ursie to jump and glance about in alarm. A small light on the wall began to flash, casting the room in a deep vermillion hue.
Finally, they’ve come for me, she thought. She almost felt relieved.
Tobias got to his feet. “Well, that has to be a Code One–”
“Attention,” a voice sounded over the intercom. “Attention. Evacuate now. Repeat, evacuate now. All personnel make your way in an orderly fashion to the evacuation modules located on the western end of the concourse. Floor guides have been activated for your assistance. Follow the specified path and do not deviate. Evacuate now.”
There was a pause, and then the message began over again.
“What’s going on?” Ursie said.
“Something bad. Something real bad.” Tobias began to gather his things. “Never seen the like of it in all my time here. Come on, we need to hit the track.”
“No,” Ursie said adamantly, tucking her knees up under her chin. “I’m staying.”
Tobias frowned at her, confused. “What do you mean? This ain’t no drill, kiddo. We need to get out. My guess is a hull breach or some such, might be a decompression–”
“I’m not leaving, Tobias. Trust me, it’s better for everyone if I just stay behind.”
Tobias reached out to her again, intending to drag her to her feet, but just then the longwave on the side of the cot began to ring. Tobias glanced down at it, then over at Ursie.
“Your friends?”
“Maybe,” Ursie said noncommittally, not bothering to even look at the longwave.
“Bring it with you, and let’s get out of here.”
Ursie wasn’t sure if there was a point in answering the longwave. Assuming it was Knile, there wasn’t a lot she could do for him right now. She was in no position to start hunting around for more floorplans, or whatever it was he wanted. She just felt like curling up in a ball and shutting herself away from the world before she could hurt anyone else.
Tobias picked up the longwave and held it out for her.
“This might be the last chance you get to talk to ’em,” he said softly.
Ursie looked into Tobias’ eyes for a moment, then down at the longwave. Reluctantly, she reached out and took it from him, then answered the call.
“Hello?”
“Ursie, it’s Knile.”
“Hey. Uh, this is kinda a bad time right now–”
“I’m in the railcar.”
Ursie sat bolt upright in the cot. “What?”
“I’m on my way up to the habitat right now, along with some friends.”
“But… how?”
“Sorry, I don’t have time to explain that right now. I need your help.”
“Wait a minute, Knile. How are you–?”
“Ursie, I need you. I need your help, or we all die.”
The urgency in his voice cut through her stupor and she finally came back to her senses, her self-loathing and despair temporarily forgotten.
This was the moment she’d been waiting for, she realised. Her chance at redemption. Her chance to do something right.
“What can I do?”
“My companions and I were headed up the Wire to escape Earth, but someone planted explosives on the railcar without our knowledge. They’re trying to destroy the entire habitat.”
“Holy shit, that must be the reason for the evacuation.”
“Evacuation?”
“Yeah, there’s alarms going off all over the place up here. They’re saying we need to get out.”
There was a pause. “Look, I’m not going to lie to you, Ursie. What I’m going to ask of you is dangerous. The safe thing for you to do is to join the others and leave while you still can.”
“No, I’m in. I told you I wanted to help, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
“All right. Here’s the deal. The bomb is in the cargo hold of the railcar. It’s set to go off in less than thirty minutes. What I need is to talk to one of the techs who control the railcar from that end. I need to find out if there’s a way to get rid of the contents of the cargo hold before we arrive. I figured you might be able to use your abilities to get inside their heads, or whatever. You know what I mean.”
“Yeah, I can try,” Ursie said, getting to her feet with a purpose. “But I can’t guarantee anything.”
“I’m not asking you to.”
“How did this happen, Knile? How did you take over the damn railcar? What about the Redmen?”
“No time to talk about that now. I have a few more calls to mak
e. I have to go.”
“Okay.”
“You know where to reach me if you find anything.”
“Yeah. Talk to you soon.”
As she hung up, a part of her mind was screaming at her to stop, telling her that if she walked outside the tiny apartment, it would all end badly. That someone else would get hurt.
She stared down at her hands, at the fingers that had touched and violated the Redman only an hour ago.
How can you even think of using your powers again, you goddamn psychopath?
The door opened, and Ursie turned to see Tobias stepping out. He stood there waiting with the door held open expectantly.
“Tobias, what are you doing?”
Her gave her a smile that crinkled the lines around his eyes. “I’m coming with you.”
Knile called Yun again, his mind whirring with possibilities as he sought to find a way out of this predicament.
“Yun, do you still have those Consortium techs down there with you?”
“Yeah, they’re here, but if you’re hoping for a miracle fix for our little problem, you’re going to be disappointed.”
“Why?”
“They don’t know anything that could help. Silvestri has already interrogated them. They’re trained in manipulating the railcar from this end, but they don’t know much about what goes on up at the habitat.”
“You sure about that?”
“Uh, yeah. Silvestri was pretty thorough with them. Broke one of the guy’s fingers, threatened to throw the other off the roof. They’d have chirped if they knew anything.”
“Listen,” Knile said. “You guys should cut loose. If we can’t stop this explosion, and the Wire becomes untethered from this end, I wouldn’t like to think of what would happen to the Reach. It’s going to make a mess of the place if it comes down.”
“We’re not going anywhere yet, Knile. Hang in there.”
“Okay. Let me know if you hear anything else.”
Skybreach (The Reach #3) Page 32
