Tears of Glass (The Jana Darren Saga Book 1)

by Jessica Cole

  The pulse grenade went off. The wave of energy crackled through the room. It felt like being under forty meters of water in one second, then all the air was sucked out of the room. Glassware shattered, the chandeliers rattled and broke apart, and silverware shot across the room like needles to embed in the walls and furniture around them. Smoke billowed from the grenade. Jana opened her eyes, cheek pressed against the rough carpet. David’s face was difficult to read. She reached out and held his hand, covering her head with the other arm. She leaned in, pressed her forehead against his. They both knew the worst part was coming.

  Shockwave. Smoke. Shrapnel. Implosion. People screamed, ran for cover. Civilians didn’t have experience with pulse grenades. Don’t run. Hide. Please, hide. Jana braced herself. The third phase went off. Thousands of tiny metal tacks erupted from the grenade in an explosion of fire so fast that it made a high-pitched wheeze. One of the tacks went straight through the booth at floor level and hit her exposed calf like a hot iron. It took every ounce of willpower she had to not move at all. It’ll only make it worse. It’s okay. It’s okay. Jana grit her teeth and clenched David’s hand with all her strength.

  The glass from the chandeliers melted from the heat, dripping onto the floor in gloopy blobs and sizzled on the carpet. One drop hit David’s shoulder and he grunted. If the booth hadn’t been there to shield them from the heat blast, they probably wouldn’t have survived. Everything went quiet.

  Five.

  Four.

  Three.

  Two.

  One.

  Phase four. Implosion. It would all be over soon. She focused on the feel of the carpet under her, the gritty fabric poking her skin uncomfortably. The P4 grenade beeped twice, then screamed. The steel tack ripped itself from Jana’s skin, and she cried out.

  She felt heavy boot steps reverberating through the floor, running, yelling, and cries for help. Ignoring the pain, Jana scrambled to her knees and ducked her head around the edge of the booth. Through the smoke of a few rapidly spreading fires, she spotted small group of uniformed men at the lounge exit, blocking the path to the lobby.

  They weren’t soldiers.

  37. Glass Tears and Hand Grenades

  “David? David!” Jana hissed. She reached back with one hand and shoved him. He groaned and got up, coughing. His face was covered in soot, and his clothes were singed, but he looked okay otherwise. “Where is Lexi?”

  “I’m over here!” From around one of the other booths, Lexi crawled on all fours to them. Her hair was in shambles and her face was dirty. It looked like she’d taken at least three tacks over various parts of her body, and as she got close, she put her hand in one of the puddles of molten glass from the chandelier. Jana clapped a hand over Lexi’s mouth and motioned for her to stay quiet.

  “There’s men with guns over there. Looked like four, but it’s hard to tell. They have masks on, too. We need to find Aeronth and Gordon. Which way was the bar?” There were three entryways to the room. One for the lobby, and two more to adjacent rooms. “I think it was that one over there, but I’m not sure. I didn’t see which way they went when they left.”

  “Should we split up and look?”

  “This place is big. If we split up, we might not find each other again.” Jana eyed the burning curtains anxiously. “We won’t have a lot of time. Most of this place is covered in fabric. It’s obviously flame retardant, but once the smoke from the grenade starts to settle, this whole place is going up in flames. We have to find them and get out of here.” Jana tried to stop her hands from shaking, turned to Lexi, and said, “Give me your gun.” Lexi shrugged, one of the corners of her mouth turning up in a grimace. “How does a weapons specialist not keep a damn handgun on them?!”

  “Where the hell would I put it, Jana? Up my happy place?!”

  “Fine. FINE. We’re not going to be shanking anyone with a butter knife, so Lexi watch the men at the door. I’ll go ahead and make sure we have a clear path. Give me a signal if one of them starts coming over here. David, please tell me you have a way to contact someone.”

  He looked appalled. “Of course.” He held up his watch. At least someone’s specialty proved useful. Jana ignored Lexi’s furious expression. “But it won’t do much good if they’ve jammed the colony’s signal.”

  “We don’t need the colony’s signal. You need to get in touch with the military post here ON the colony. I doubt they’ve shut off local communications. Tell them what’s going on here, have them send an extraction team. Get the access codes for the power grid from them, then patch into the line in A Block. 135 South, 610 West. Number 73. Send a distress signal. No questions, just do it. Stay with Lexi, and don’t follow too closely. We need to go now.”

  She moved quietly through the debris. Broken tables and glassware filled her path, but Jana tried to brush it aside. The bodies were more difficult to avoid. Civilians who hadn’t gotten out of the way of the blast in time, or hadn’t been shielded. You can’t help any of them now. Keep moving. Her hands and knees were bloody from shards of glass, but she avoided the puddles. She could see Lexi and David in her peripheral, ducking and weaving to follow the path Jana took, stopping so Lexi could check the position of the masked men, who started to walk through the room towards the survivors.

  One of the gunmen approached a man whose leg was blown off by one of the blasts. He writhed in agony on the floor. The masked man knelt down, appeared to say something to the injured one, then stood and shot him in the head. The curtains dampened the sound from echoing, but it was clear, and loud. And terrifying. The remaining people who’d taken cover from the blast moved towards the door choking, coughing, crying. They didn’t make it far. The other gunmen grabbed the people, looked them over, and discarded them.

  They’re looking for someone. Jana thought back to her hotel room. Did they do that? This has to be about what happened on Earth. They’re coming for me. Jana made it to the big open doorway to the side room, and saw at least a dozen people huddled in the room behind chairs, tables, booths, and the long black bar counter at the back. Found it. Now where are they?

  She saw the swing before it connected and ducked out of the way. She rolled into the smaller room, grabbed a fallen butter knife in one hand, and pivoted. Aeronth and Gordon crouched on the other side of the wall from the main room, one on either side of the doorway.

  “Jesus Christ, Jana!” Aeronth pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her. Cold steel pressed against her side.

  “You have a gun. Thank god.”

  “Where are the others?”

  “Behind me. There’s four of them. Maybe more. They have masks on, and guns. They’re shooting civilians. Aeronth, I think they might be looking for me. David is getting in touch with the military presence on and off base.” Shortly thereafter, David and Lexi raced into the room on hands and knees and ducked behind the dividing wall.

  “Jana,” Lexi panted. “They’re coming this way.”

  Jana tried to steady her breathing. “Any luck yet, David?” Aeronth readied his sidearm. Jana held the knife close to her body, crouched down like a cat ready to pounce.

  “They’re patching in now to get the communication line out for additional support. There’s a team en route to our location. We just have to hold out for a few minutes.” He tapped the display on his watch. “I don’t know exactly how long until they get here.”

  Black smoke filtered into the room. Jana’s eyes watered and she knew they didn’t have much time. She yanked Gordon’s suit jacket off and frantically ripped the lining out of it and into strips. She used one of the black silk strips of cloth and wrapped it around her face, tying it behind her neck like a mask. The bar room had been spared of the incendiary, so there were no flames or pools of molten glass. The metal and stained glass vase centerpieces were also untouched.

  “Throw it.” She handed it to Aeronth. He hefted it, then hurled it across the room. It smashed into a table and shattered loudly. The insurgents immediately started
shooting at the area it landed, unable to see through the thick smoke. She turned back to the rest of her team, and the scared faces of the survivors huddled near the bar. “Get them out of here.”

  Jana never saw Aeronth in action before. As he leapt through the doorway, he rolled forward and recovered, gun flashing as rounds sailed through the barrel. Jana motioned to the others to follow her. Aeronth was four meters away from the doorway, ducking behind an overturned table and firing rounds off. One of the insurgents was already down; the others quickly took cover. Visibility was nearing zero.

  We’re running out of time.

  There was no way for her to approach the insurgents and guarantee that they wouldn’t hear her coming. She wasn’t worried about Aeronth; he could take care of himself. It was the civilians they had to protect.

  For once, her size played to her advantage. Jana navigated the maze of debris, moving with the swirling black smoke. Her eyes stung, but she continued to force them open. Her thumb rubbed against the smooth metal knife handle, and it was this she focused on to keep her grounded and focused. Any path directly around the outside of the lounge was impossible. The velvet curtain remains popped and dripped, spattering flaming synthetic material onto the carpet, where small sparks of fire began to catch.

  Jana thought of the warm, inviting campfire they’d made on Earth. The heat was becoming unbearable on her skin. Even through the mask, breathing was increasingly difficult. The sprinklers should have kicked in. The pulse grenade must have damaged the system. She cringed, thinking how similar this situation was to her simulator to become a TAME. On Earth, it was just Jana and Aeronth. This was her whole team she was putting at risk. And three of your team almost died in that simulation.

  From her vantage point behind a blackened, half melted booth, Jana could just barely make out Aeronth across the room. The insurgents were close by, taking turns popping off a few rounds in Aeronth’s general direction, away from the bar where the civilians were slowly crawling from, careful to keep under the smoke and out of line of sight. Sprinkler water lines were always filled, to react quickly when triggered.

  The knife in her hand was dull. This isn’t going to work. Nearby, she noticed a deep punch bowl that was only slightly tipped, red liquid sloshed over the side. How did it survive the pulse grenade? Inside, something shiny glimmered in the refracted firelight. Jana scooped it out of the bowl, a teardrop shaped piece of glass with a long, thin tail. There was a chandelier above the bowl, the molten glass had dripped down into the punch bowl, rapidly cooling it. A Rupert’s drop.

  It was big. The fattest part of the tear was larger than Jana’s palm. She was careful to avoid touching the delicate tail, knowing that if she broke it, she’d effectively be setting off a very large hand grenade. There was only one chance at this.

  Jana heaved the teardrop at the insurgents. She watched it sail through the air, then lost sight of it from the thick air. But she heard it explode, pictured the fragile little tail of the drop hitting the edge of a table. The insurgents screamed, and Aeronth didn’t waste any time. Jana lunged forward, charging through the debris.

  One of the enemies lost grip on his weapon as he fell back, startled by the impact. Jana snatched the rifle out of the air before it hit the ground. Behind her, pounding feet crossed rough terrain of the destroyed lounge and bolted out the door to the main lobby. She fired the weapon down at her feet. The kickback of the weapon felt good, grounding.

  That was the moment Jana realized they were trapped inside the burning building, quickly losing any hope of getting out. Aeronth kicked the other surviving insurgent at the base of their neck, grabbed Jana around the waist, and ran.

  38. Hostile Takeover

  The rest of the team was waiting in the lobby with a group of terrified civilians. Lexi had her nose pressed to the glass, trying to get a good view of the street without opening the door. The lockdown alarm sounded. Without hesitation, Jana slammed open the door and ushered everyone out. Certain areas of the colony had automatic lockdown procedures. When triggered, all exits were sealed and no one could come or go. Right now, it was important to get the civilians to safety so they wouldn’t be caught out in the open. There was no way of knowing the scale of the intrusion.

  She looked back at the building. The place would burn up from the inside, but it wasn’t a danger to the rest of the colony. The fire would be contained. Bigger problems were at hand.

  “We have five minutes to get them to a lockdown facility.”

  “Four minutes and thirty-nine seconds,” David corrected.

  “We need guns. But we can’t get to the nearest MP station and to a safe point in that little time.” The streets were already empty. She frowned. Think...think. It dawned on her. “I know where we can take them. David, get me a route...”

  “Already on it. The nearest Military Police station is about a kilometer away.”

  Jana counted the scared, injured people. Twelve civilians were all that made it. Seventeen people was a lot to hide, especially if the terrorists already had access to the surveillance system. That’s what they were now; terrorists. Their group would be sitting ducks. “It’s going to take us thirty minutes to get there with these people.” A few of them were badly injured; a woman in a satin dress was being supported by two men; her dress was ripped to shreds and her face was badly burned. They needed medical attention, and safety. The closest medical center was in the opposite direction from the MP station.

  Lexi needed medical attention, too. They could leave the civilians in an easily defensible spot and leave her with them for protection. She noticed an older man sobbing into bloody hands clutching a woman’s high-heeled shoe. Her stomach churned. Were they after me? Did all these people die because of me? You can’t think about all of this now.

  “There’s an access door to the reservoir near here. No one will think to look there, but there’s a ledge down a set of stairs that’s wide enough for you to hide safely. We’ll come back and get you when it’s all over. Lexi, you’re staying with them.” Jana directed firmly. “No arguments. You can barely move as it is.” Lexi pursed her lips but nodded anyway. The MP station was in relatively the same direction as the reservoir access. “How many guns do we have right now?”

  “Just the one I brought with me,” Aeronth frowned.

  “Give it to Lexi. Gordon, you’re going with them too. These people need medical attention and you’re the only one here who can help.

  He was so pale, almost shaking. “Lieutenant, a word?” He took her around the side of the building, out of earshot of the rest of the group, who were being herded under the awning of the building next door by Aeronth. Smart. Get them out of view from cameras. Gordon leaned in close, his catfish eyes brimming. “This doesn’t feel right. I don’t think the lounge was an isolated incident.”

  “I was thinking that, too.” There wasn’t another person in sight; the place was a ghost town. Colonies didn’t run 24 hour schedules like military stations did but there should still be people around this time of night. Even with the alarm, civilians should have been outside still. Something else was going on, and she fully intended to find out what it was.

  “My family.” It wasn’t a question. Gordon looked her straight in the eyes. “I need to find them. I can’t concentrate on my job if I’m worried they’re in danger.”

  “I will find them and get them to safety, I promise. You need to stay with these people.” She wrapped her arms around him firmly, held him for a few moments, and released quickly. “I’m not very good at comforting people,” Jana admitted. “Let’s go.”

  The group split up a block later. Lexi, Gordon, and the civilians hobbled and dragged one another down a side street on the way to the reservoir. Jana paused and watched them, praying she made the right decision.

  The silent colony, lit only by street lamps, was eerie. It reminded her far too much of the simulation from her TAME exam. The streets were immaculate, the buildings were dark, and they had no idea what
they were up against.

  Each of the buildings surrounding them were coated in a protective tint. As one, every loudspeaker on the colony roared to life with white noise. Jana clapped her hands over her ears and hunched over. Buildings started flashing white, then black again.

  “They’re enabling the emergency system!” Jana shouted over the noise.

  In times of crisis, the buildings of a colony could be used as a beacon. When power was lost, there was a window of time where the life support remained functional. Without the colony’s signal, it was easy to pass by without knowing there was a problem, or that the colony was even there. The coating on the buildings acted as solar panels to fuel the life support system, and their distress signal could be seen on scanners. But these intruders weren’t broadcasting the distress beacon; they were using the buildings as television screens.

  Jana looked up at the nearest skyscraper, trying to find any clue to where it was broadcasting from.

  The screen showed dark room in which a single light from a recording device illuminated a single figure with a mask on. It was a rough material, similar to burlap. A mouth was drawn on it with black paint, and narrow eyes watched out emptily. Jana remembered seeing pictures of scarecrows from old books about farming back on Earth. Don’t worry about the mask! Look at the room! Where are they? It was futile. The figure stood there, unmoving. The picture flickered briefly. A deep, tinny voice filled the once-quiet air.

  “Attention citizens of colony 32. You have been selected to assist in the destruction of the suppressive hold your government has on its people. This video will be rebroadcast, in time, with footage of our takeover, to the entire Network. In the meantime, we have shut off all outside communications. Thank you for your sacrifice. And to the government, we ask this; if a dog bites the hand of its abusive master, is it the fault of the dog, or the owner for not showing the animal enough care? Your time of imprisoning citizens to cold orbital rocks, monitoring the comings and goings of your people, and your death grip on commerce are over. No more will the people stand to be outcast and ignored, left to starve on outlying colonies because they can’t get licenses for trading while the warmth of your light shines upon the Hub. We are the Reconstructionists, and we will rebuild humanity by tearing you down.”