20 Years Later

by Emma Newman

  He pulled Zane down a street that connected to one parallel to the street that Jay was beginning to lead the others down.

  Callum followed silently, keeping in the shadows. He was horrified by Titus’ actions, certain that his desperation to find Lyssa was clouding his normally logical mind. “Stupid boys,” he muttered beneath his breath.

  A half moon high in the sky gave just enough light to avoid obstacles, but not to see much detail very far ahead, Zane’s teeth chattering all the while despite the relative warmth of the late summer night.

  “Titus,” he whispered. “Has Erin talked to you about the Gardner she killed?”

  “Not now, Zane,” Titus whispered back, concentrating on tracking the Hunters and Jay. He needed to focus; the sense of others nearby was easy to lose. Ever since the day the Gardner came to Miri’s square he’d been practising how to do this, but it was much harder when those he tried to follow weren’t a threat.

  When he concentrated, he had a sense of their movement, just as one might have an awareness of another person in the same room, only this was over a street away. Also present was the sense of Zane next to him, and Callum close behind them, but he was paying much more attention to tracking the others. As they weaved through the streets, he realised that his feel for Zane and Erin was much stronger, to the extent that occasionally he would have an intuitive grasp of her emotional state as it fluctuated between excitement, fear, and also pride. He had to force himself not to be distracted by that, or by the palpable fear that radiated from Zane.

  At the end of that street Titus stopped and pressed himself flat against the wall of the high building that they had reached, pulling Zane to do the same beside him.

  “We’re close now,” he whispered to Zane, who nodded back, taking a deep breath to try to control his nerves. “I think the others are climbing up higher,” Titus continued, Zane too nervous to question how his friend might know that.

  A minute passed, Zane shaking and Titus tense and alert, straining with all of his senses to determine what was happening. They both jumped when a soft metal clang ricocheted down the street that ran perpendicular to their position.

  “It’s the Giant,” he whispered to Zane after a moment’s concentration, “and they’re coming towards us down the road around this corner.”

  “I hope the others can see him,” Zane whispered back.

  “They can–they’re up high,” Titus replied, tuning into Erin’s anticipation.

  They remained silent for few moments, listening to the muffled sounds of the Giant’s metal shoes in the dust that occasionally made contact with something firmer. The footsteps grew steadily louder.

  “What are we going to do?” Zane whispered urgently, fighting the urge to run home immediately.

  “Wait until they get a bit closer, then …” Titus reached into his rucksack and pulled out a pocket knife, holding it up to Zane.

  Zane frantically shook his head. “No!” he hissed. “We can’t get close to them!”

  “They won’t be expecting it,” Titus whispered back. “And they’ll be too scared to risk me puncturing their clothes. No-one else is with them. It’ll be fine.”

  “Let Luthor or Jay do it,” Zane pleaded, “This is stupid.”

  Titus ignored him, flicking out the blade from his knife and readying himself as they could both hear the movement getting closer and now the mechanical wheeze of his breath.

  Zane saw the knife and panicked, convinced that Titus hadn’t thought this through at all, he was so set on getting Lyssa back. He didn’t know whether to try to drag Titus away or just run or even alert the Giant so that Titus wouldn’t have the opportunity to endanger them. But he was so paralysed by indecision that before he could decide, the Giant rounded the corner.

  Chapter 27

  HARD BARGAINING

  “Stop!” Titus yelled, stepping in front of the huge figure as he jabbed the knife out in front of him, having it stop only inches away from the yellow outer shell of the suit.

  The Giant stopped so suddenly that he nearly fell forward, and both boys heard a loud gasp from behind the smooth dark faceplate.

  “Don’t move or do anything unless I tell you, or I’ll pierce your suit,” Titus said loudly, keeping his voice steady despite his fear.

  The Giant remained still, the only change being that the wheezing breaths increased in speed. Zane was relieved that he didn’t seem to have any kind of weapon; he was only holding a small plastic case that looked large enough to carry some papers, or something else flat, but nothing more. He heard Jay swear from somewhere high above them and looked up to see his and David’s faces peering over the top lip of the building that he and Titus were standing against.

  Zane swallowed hard and looked to Titus for his next move, when the darkness was torn apart by an arc of blue lightning. It slammed into the wall of a building that was only metres from where he stood.

  Zane yelled out in terror and Titus started, completely caught by surprise. He’d been so confident that no-one else had been with the Giant, but now he realised that he had been too focused on that one individual to the exclusion of anyone else. He looked in the direction of the lightning source but saw no-one, too shaken to be able to get a sense of where they might be by other means.

  He clamped down on the fear broiling inside him, pushed it away from his thoughts. With his free hand, he pulled Zane close to him and took a step closer to the Giant. “They won’t risk shooting him,” Titus yelled at Zane. “Calm down!”

  Zane trembled and looked wide-eyed all around him, not having the same ability to cut off his emotions as Titus did.

  There was movement on the roof above them and the sound of arrows being loosed. “There!” Luthor shouted and then another volley. Their arrows slammed into a figure only made visible by the violent movement as the bolts hit. The person was dressed completely in black, impossible to see until the red-flighted arrows stuck out of him as he crumpled to the ground.

  “Guardian down, Guardian down!” the Giant shouted, voice high with panic. “Hex? Hex! Guardian down!”

  Titus frowned at the Giant, but then Callum was beside them, pulling Zane’s arm towards a doorway in the building.

  “In here, now!” he said, “I think more are on the way.”

  Titus allowed himself to be steered into the corridor of the abandoned office building once he had gone behind the Giant and ordered him to walk ahead, reminding him of the knife he held to his back.

  “Zane, there are candles in my pack,” he said once they were off the street.

  Zane rummaged blindly, retrieved one, and followed Titus’ direction to the matches held in his shirt pocket. The candle was quickly lit, revealing a dingy corridor with several doorways leading off it. Callum had gone ahead and appeared at the one to the first room on the right.

  “In here,” he said, beckoning to them all. “There’s no window.”

  Zane hurried towards Callum, Titus urging the hostage on ahead to follow him.

  “Oh God, oh God.” The Giant wheezed rapidly as he entered the room after Zane, closely followed by Titus. His heavy steps were hesitant as they took in the surroundings, the suit he wore so cumbersome that he had to twist the whole of his upper body simply to be able to look from side to side. The candlelight didn’t penetrate the shadows at the edges of the room, but there was enough light to reveal a desk and chair and a dusty floor covered with yellowed pieces of paper. The smooth glass of the faceplate reflected back the candlelight, making it impossible for any of them to make out any features.

  “Sit in that chair,” Titus ordered, but the Giant didn’t move.

  “I can’t,” he replied, the voice tremulous and higher in pitch than Zane had expected. “There might be splinters.”

  Zane gave his candle to Callum, took another from Titus’ pack, lit it, and mustered all the courage he could to approach the massive man. He held it up to the smooth front plate of the helmet and peered at the face shielded within.
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  “You’re a woman!” he exclaimed.

  Large dark brown eyes, wide with fear, blinked at the flame and the boy. “Please, keep that candle away from me.”

  Zane drew back, still surprised to find that it wasn’t someone as big as Luthor housed within the suit. Instead, the woman’s pale face suggested a slender build beneath the layers. It was mostly the helmet that added to her height, that and the thick metal soled shoes that left the familiar footprints in the dust of the room.

  In the moment he looked at her face, Zane immediately felt guilty. She was clearly terrified; her breathing was rapid and left a little patch of condensation on the glass between her and the world. He couldn’t help but imagine how it would feel to be her, and he tried his best to smile reassuringly.

  “We don’t want to hurt you,” he said gently and then Titus stepped in front of him, taking the candle from his hand to hold it up to her face again.

  “But we will if you don’t help us,” Titus said in a flat voice that was somehow more frightening than one modulated by anger.

  “I don’t have much air. It was only going to be a short trip,” the woman replied shakily.

  “Don’t waste it then,” Titus replied unsympathetically. “Where’s Lyssa?”

  The skin above the bridge of her nose wrinkled as she frowned. “Lyssa? Who’s that?”

  “The one you took from Jay’s territory!”

  Zane watched a droplet of sweat run down between that furrow on her face. “I don’t know anyone called Lyssa. I don’t know where that territory is. Please, just let me go back–they’ll be sending Guardians out right now. There’s no need for there to be any more bloodshed.”

  Titus didn’t flinch. “One month, three weeks and four days ago, some of your gang took my … took a young woman and killed some of the Boys in Jay’s gang. We want her back. If you don’t give her back, we’ll keep you here until your air runs out.”

  Zane fidgeted, not wanting it to come to that at all.

  “Please, you have to understand that I don’t have clearance to do what you’re asking.”

  Titus frowned. “Who were you talking to outside?”

  “She probably has a radio link back to her people,” Callum said quietly.

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means they can hear what she says and they’ll be able to talk back to her.”

  Titus scowled at her. “Is that true?”

  She looked at the knife point and nodded slightly. She looked away briefly, clearly thinking as fast as possible. “Look, if you want this Lyssa, you’ll have to let me go back to get her for you.”

  Titus took a step forward, looking like a small child next to the suited woman. His voice, however, was far from childlike; it was cold and measured. “Don’t try to trick me or I will puncture your suit and watch you die.”

  “Titus!” Zane exclaimed, appalled at his friend’s words.

  Titus turned, fixing Zane with such a fearsome glare that he was silenced. He then looked back at the woman. “Speak to your gang. Tell them what we want–tell them if she’s released, you’ll be returned unhurt. She’s called Lyssa, she’s got violet eyes and brown hair and is a head taller than me. If you say anything else, you won’t leave this room.” He watched her glance down nervously at something strapped to her wrist. “You’d better hurry,” he added, noting the dial and the one hand on it moving towards an amber segment.

  She cleared her throat and said in a louder voice, “Hex? This is Radley. Do you copy, over?”

  Then there was a pause, her eyes flicking up at the ceiling as she seemed to hear a response that was inaudible to anyone but her.

  “No, the situation has worsened and … and they’re making a demand in return for my release.” She proceeded to give the details as Titus had said and then listened intently. Zane noted how much she was sweating, how her eyes darted from a spot on the ceiling to the knife held in Titus’ hand. Then she looked at him. “They’re … checking on her status. It may be a few minutes.”

  Titus simply stared back at her. “I’m not the one who has to worry about the time,” he replied coldly, and then went to lean against the wall.

  Zane swallowed hard, his stomach twisting with tension. “Um … is your name Radley, then?” He asked in as friendly a voice as he could muster, making the question seem ridiculous in such a situation.

  The woman blinked at him and then swallowed. “Yes … Dr Radley.”

  “Doctor!” Zane exclaimed. “You heal people too?”

  “Zane.” Titus’ voice was lowered to a warning tone. “Don’t talk to her.”

  Zane threw an annoyed glance at his friend and then looked back at Radley.

  “I … I’m a doctor of microbiology,” she replied nervously, blinking away a droplet of sweat that had slid into the corner of her eye. She then frowned at Zane. “You look familiar,” she mumbled and Zane was filled by a heady mixture of excitement and dread.

  “Zane!” Titus said his name so forcefully that he moved away from Radley, shaken by her comment.

  Titus moved swiftly to take his place in front of her helmet. “Why did you take her? What have you done to her?”

  Radley spread her hands, looking desperately confused. “I don’t know who or what you’re talking about,” she said shakily. “Please believe me.”

  Titus stared at her, taking in the minutiae of her face. With frustration he realised that she was actually telling the truth.

  “I don’t know much about what happens in the other spokes,” she continued. “That’s the –”

  She cut off and looked up as she attended to something else. Then her eyes shut and she let out a long sigh of relief. “They have someone that fits that description, and they’re willing to make an exchange,” she paused and then a frown started to form. “I copy, Hex, stand by.”

  “What is it?” Titus demanded, his tension leaking into his voice.

  “They say that she’ll die if she’s brought up now,” she replied hesitantly. “They didn’t say why.”

  Titus lowered his head, frowning. Could it be true? Lyssa had looked ill in the dream, but not so ill that moving her would kill her. But then, maybe she was worse now, and what did he know about that kind of thing anyway? He considered the Giant, considered Hex. They had stolen Lyssa, presumably because they wanted her for some reason. If they wanted her then, they probably wanted to keep her now and would lie to do so. Then he remembered Zane. Hex didn’t know what he could do, so even if it was true, and Lyssa was that ill, Zane would be able to help her.

  “I don’t believe them,” he said steadily. “They just don’t want to let her go. Tell them you’re running out of time.”

  As Radley responded Callum went to the doorway and looked out into the corridor. “I think the others are looking for us,” he said to Zane. “Wait here.” He hurried out of the room and within moments returned with Jay and Erin.

  “What the hell is going on!” Jay yelled.

  “They’re bringing Lyssa for the exchange,” Titus replied.

  “She’ll be at the end of the street outside in eight minutes,” Radley said in a tremulous voice.

  “There are other ones, wearing black, that have the lightning,” Erin reported rapidly. “We’ve killed three, and we think there are more coming but they’re hard to see.”

  Titus flicked his eyes back to Radley after taking this in. “Tell them that we can kill these ‘Guardians’ and we’ll kill you if they send any more.”

  Radley obeyed as Jay nodded respectfully at Titus.

  “Erin, Jay, can you keep an eye on her?” Titus asked. When they nodded, Jay drew one of his knives while Titus beckoned to Callum and Zane to step outside the room with him.

  “You’re playing a dangerous game, Titus,” Callum said softly but Titus didn’t respond.

  “Will they really bring Lyssa?” Zane asked, the fear evident on his pale face.

  Titus looked at him, sharing his concern. “We have to hop
e so. But I don’t think they’ll want us to get away. I think we need to have Radley in view, with one of the Hunters aimed at her so that if the Unders, or Hex–or whatever they’re called– know that if they try anything, we can take her down.”

  Zane grimaced. “I don’t like this,” he muttered.

  Titus ignored that. “I think we should tell them to leave Lyssa where Radley is, then we collect her and go.”

  Callum rubbed his chin. “I think we should exchange them near this building, seeing as we’re committed to this now. I know this block–there are routes between the offices that I’ve made that they won’t know about.” Titus nodded and Callum continued. “I’ll wait nearby to collect Lyssa. I don’t think you or Zane should be too close, and I think Jay should be with you.” When Titus looked as if he were about to object, Callum held up a hand to stop him. “No arguments, Titus. I know the fastest ways to get out of the area without going into the street any more than necessary. I’ll get her into Jay’s territory and you can meet me there.”

  Titus frowned as he considered Callum’s words. “I could send Erin back up to Luthor and David to let them know the plan. They’ll be able to defend you against those Guardians from up there, won’t they?” At Callum’s nod Titus added, “I need to stay long enough to make sure it’s Lyssa, then I’ll go with Zane.”

  Callum exhaled with relief. “Good. I won’t leave her behind, Titus, don’t worry.”

  Titus read Callum’s face and was satisfied. “I’ll go and tell Erin and Jay the plan, then I’ll give Radley instructions.”

  As he went back into the room, Zane leant towards Callum and whispered, “I’m so glad you’re here.”

  Minutes later, Titus stood with Radley and Callum outside of the building they had hidden within, with Zane and Jay waiting further down the street. Occasionally he could hear the creaks of bows being readied on the roof above Callum but no arrows were loosed. There was a brittle tension in the air, the only other noise being the mechanical wheeze and click of Radley’s oxygen supply. The hand on the dial worn on her wrist was now reaching the end of the amber segment and he could see from her face how terrified she was.