by Minton, Toby
"Hey, where are you going?" she whispered.
"A different way," he replied with a small smile. "I'll meet up with you, unless you get caught."
He ghosted off into the darkness before she could reply. Just as well. The words that jumped to mind weren't pretty.
Nikki took a second to get her blood flowing and let her muscles loosen up—she'd been lying still for a while—then she eased forward in a low crouch.
For the first few steps she sounded less like a fifty-something-kilo girl trying to be quiet and more like a one-ton moose trying to dance—a blind one. In her defense, it was a lot darker under the trees. Sam couldn't expect her to avoid every branch and twig and loose rock when she couldn't even see them. She didn't have to blunder into every single one though.
She stopped and eased down lower. Holding still, she watched and listened to everything around her for a few minutes, waiting for the inevitable shouts and blaring alarms. But none came.
When she started moving again she did so much more slowly, keeping her knees bent and her back straight, just like Sam taught her. She couldn't see what was under her feet, so she had to feel it out. Keeping her weight on her back foot, she eased the outside of her front foot down and gently rolled her weight onto it. Then she repeated the process with the other foot. If she felt something hard or unstable under her front foot, she stopped and shifted it to a new spot before she put any weight on it.
Sam was right; moving this way made much less noise. It was also insanely slow. Maintaining such a creeping pace took extreme patience—not exactly Nikki's strong suit. However, Sam had basically challenged her not to get caught, the way Nikki saw it, and rising above a challenge took mostly stubbornness—exactly Nikki's strong suit. So she crept on as slowly and carefully as she could.
Unfortunately, it took more than stubbornness and a light smear of grace to become a ninja. Nikki lost track of the number of crunched twigs, brushed branches, and dislodged rocks. The last of which tumbled at least a dozen paces down the hill, smacking against every other rock it could find along the way.
Nikki froze and waited for the clattering to die away, which took a while. Just when she thought the embarrassment was over, the rock started tumbling again, like it had only paused to teeter on the edge of its next drop. She closed her eyes but couldn't will the sounds to stop no matter how hard she tried.
It took a few seconds for logic to break through the embarrassment to tell Nikki what she was hearing couldn't be the rock. The sounds were coming closer, not moving away.
Nikki opened her eyes and scanned the thinning stretch of trees remaining between her and the base of the hill. The scattered floodlights mounted on the building backlit the trees, stretching their shadows into one another, making a thousand likely hiding places for whatever was approaching. It didn't take long to spot him though. A man for sure, judging by his silhouette—an armed man.
Nikki's heart rate double-timed, but she stayed motionless. If he hadn't spotted her already, any movement would give her away for sure.
He was no better at sneaking through the woods than Nikki, but that was little comfort. His lack of stealth did nothing to help keep Nikki hidden, and it proved he wasn't Sam.
The man stopped ten paces downhill from Nikki, his head turning as he searched the woods. Then he clicked on the light mounted on his machine gun.
So much for stealth.
Nikki closed her hand on one of the rocks under her and prepared to charge. If she could close the distance quickly enough, she could get inside his reach before the light hit her.
As soon as the man started to pan the light, he tripped and fell from sight. He dropped to one knee with a grunt, then tumbled into the brush as the loose rocks underneath him gave way. At least that's how it sounded.
Nikki was so surprised she held her charge. She recovered quickly though and lunged forward when the rifle dropped onto the rocks, the light going out with a crack. She abandoned stealth for speed, counting on the guard's thrashing to cover the sound of her approach.
The guard stopped his scrabbling by the time Nikki reached him, but not because he was getting up. He stayed motionless in the brush, or at least the lumpy shadow she thought was him stayed motionless.
She froze again, second guessing her night vision. If she'd lost track of him—
"I could use your help, if you're done with that rock," Sam's whispered voice said from the direction of the lumpy shadow.
The shadow moved, and the guard's body rolled out into the weak strip of light painting the ground near Nikki's feet. Sam followed, moving into the light in a silent crouch and fishing a set of zip ties from his small pack. He held them out to Nikki. "Secure his feet while I get his hands," he whispered.
"Little overkill, don't you think? Didn't you…" Nikki slid her finder across her neck.
Sam looked up. "He's just unconscious, and not for long."
Maybe it was the way the mottled light was hitting his dark features, but Nikki thought he looked offended, or even hurt, which made no sense. Sam had killed five of Savior's men in a matter of seconds the night she met him. Who knew how many he'd taken out when the team stormed Savior's compound to rescue her a few weeks later. Clearly he didn't have a problem putting holes into people.
His eyes disagreed.
"There was no need to kill him," he said, his voice low and even.
Nikki didn't know what to say. "Sorry" seemed like the right thing, but considering the situation, she just took the zip tie and set to work without a word. By the time she finished tightening the tie on the guard's ankles, he was starting to wake up. Being awake didn't improve his situation though. Sam already had him gagged and was tightening the ties holding his wrists behind his back. The guard started to grunt until Sam leaned close to his face and silenced him with a few low words Nikki couldn't make out.
At a gesture from Sam, Nikki grabbed the guard's feet and helped position him on his side against a stout tree, where Sam connected the wrist and ankle restraints behind the tree with another tie. Once Sam was satisfied the man was suitably immobilized, he nodded and started to move away, but Nikki caught his arm.
"That was close," she whispered. "How did we not see him patrolling out here?"
Sam looked over at her but didn't say a word. His mouth just quirked into a small smile.
Oh. Sam hadn't missed him at all. Just Nikki. Which meant…
Nikki's eyes widened and she barely kept her voice at a whisper. "You knew he'd hear me. You used me as a distraction."
"You did well," Sam replied in a quieter whisper. "You got closer than I thought you would before he heard you."
The praise felt good, really good, but she kept her glare in place. The fact that he'd counted on her failure had shifted the moral high ground back under her feet, and she wasn't done staring down from it.
Sam broke eye contact first and gestured for Nikki to follow. He led the way through the trees to the edge of the clearing surrounding the building, his steps slow and silent.
Nikki did her best to mimic his movements. She was more determined than ever to master this skill now, and spite was a hell of a teacher.
They stopped at the edge of the trees and crouched in the shadow of a tall pine. For several minutes Sam scanned the flood-lit expanse of uneven ground and the single plain door in the window-heavy wall ahead of them.
Nikki tried to do the same, but she couldn't help casting uneasy glances back up toward the hog-tied guard. Sam wouldn't be happy if she broke silence this close to their target, but having an enemy at her back was driving Nikki crazy.
When she couldn't stand it anymore, she leaned over to put her mouth against Sam's ear and breathed a whisper so soft even she could barely hear it. "Won't somebody find that guy if he starts making noise?"
Sam's shoulder tensed under her arm at the first word, but he didn't pull away. He waited until she finished then slowly leaned back to return the favor. His whisper tickled Nikki's ear, sending a
shiver from her neck all the way down, but she held still and kept her eyes on the clearing.
"He's the only sentry on this side. We'll be in and out before his next check-in."
Nikki met Sam's eyes when he pulled away and nodded her understanding. She felt a little better, but not completely mollified. Everything about this situation was making her jumpy. The sooner they got inside and found out what was going on the better.
"Ready," Sam whispered into the com.
After another few seconds, Sam looked back and made a gesture Nikki was pretty sure meant to stay put, but she looked at him blankly, mostly out of a futile hope he'd change his mind. He leaned over to whisper again, causing another tingle, and confirmed he wanted her to stay in hiding until he called for her.
Nikki nodded and eased down to the cool ground to wait. She wanted to argue, something fierce, but she'd made a deal with Elias. She either did what Sam said when he said it, or she sat this one out in the transport with Cole and Impact, who was nursing a cut back and a crippled attitude. That's the last place she wanted to be.
"Move in," Elias commanded through the com.
Sam stood and crossed the open ground in a casual stroll, his rifle held propped across the crook of one arm like he was…like he was on patrol. Nikki smiled as she watched him pay attention to everything except the building he was approaching.
He was good. He was Corso good, not that she'd ever say so out loud. Neither Sam nor Corso would be happy about that observation.
Sam walked straight toward the door, and Nikki held her breath. The red eye of the chip scanner winked from a small dome beside the handle. No amount of confidence or subterfuge would fool that thing. Which meant it was go time. Sam was about to break into action.
Nikki tensed and glanced at the windows on either side of the door. It was dark inside, but that could be just a ruse. If this place had automated defenses, those windows could be covering any kind of—
The scanner flashed green and the door popped open before Sam reached it. He stepped inside, stooping as he crossed the threshold to leave a rock in the jamb to keep the door from sealing.
"How the hell?" Nikki breathed to herself.
Kate. Maybe she'd hacked the place remotely somehow. Or…Nikki glanced back up the dark hill toward the tied guard, smiling again. Sam must have taken the guard's ID card without Nikki seeing. So the ninja.
She turned back to watch the building, but nothing was happening. No alarms. No gun fire. Nothing. The com was silent as well, which was her only comfort. If something had gone wrong, surely someone would have said so. Someone would have called the retreat or warned Nikki. Surely.
She considered asking Kate, who had to be watching through some satellite or another, but Nikki held her tongue. She breathed through her anxiety, willing her heart to slow.
She watched and waited, for an alarm, an explosion of gunfire, a regular explosion. She didn't know what she'd expected, but dark silence wasn't it.
After an eternity of nothing, the door swung open and Sam waved Nikki inside.
That was it? Nikki thought but got no response. Michael hadn't made an appearance since morning PT, not even during the creatures' attack on the cabin. She repeated the question to Sam when she slipped past him into a dim hallway.
"So far," he said quietly. "No resistance to speak of."
He didn't look happy about it. In fact, he looked more concerned than when they'd arrived. Apparently he didn't believe in easy any more than Michael did.
They made a couple of turns through the featureless hall, walking past open rooms Sam ignored, which had to mean he'd cleared them already. Their last turn led them into the main area of the building, the giant, wide-open main area. The entire front third of the building was one open atrium with a glass-domed third-floor skylight as the focal point. Balconies ran around the open area on three sides on the second and third floors, but the workstations dotting them had glass walls and frosted glass floors to not obstruct the view of the skylight and the solid wall of windows facing the front lawn.
The only furniture on the ground floor was a single round reception kiosk. Coop was leaned over the console of the kiosk, his weapon slung on his back, the single bound and gagged security guard face down on the floor behind him.
At the back of the room the clear cylinder of an elevator shaft stretched to the roof, the curved balconies on each level meeting up with it to form horizontal arches.
Gideon stood under the lower arch, staring up at the levels above, his expression fixed and unreadable. Elias stood nearby examining the scan screen on the elevator.
"Clear as well," Ace said, walking out of the hallway near Gideon, a mirror image of the one Nikki and Sam were leaving.
"Coop?" Elias asked.
"We oughta have a connection in a sec," Coop replied without looking up. "Kate honey, give a shout when you're in."
"Efficient," another voice said, but it wasn't Kate, and it wasn't over the com. It came from speakers somewhere in the room. Nikki's breath caught at the voice. She hadn't heard it in months, but she'd never forget it.
The reaction from the soldiers around Nikki was quick and consistent. Hands tightened on weapons. Eyes darted around to every window and doorway. All but one went on full alert and started backing toward the center of the room. All except Gideon. He simply blinked slowly and lowered his gaze from the roof to Elias. They shared a look, then Gideon looked at Nikki, his expression still wooden.
"And punctual as ever," Savior's voice said over the speakers.
The lights in the room came up to full level. Nikki saw Ace glance a question at Coop, but he was already stepping away from the kiosk, his rifle ready, shaking his head.
The elevator, which had been parked on the top level, started to lower toward the main floor.
Sam stepped in front of Nikki, gently but firmly pushing her back against the wall beside the door they'd entered. The others took up what defensive positions they could in the open room, training their weapons on the elevator.
All except Gideon. He just watched, motionless.
Nikki tensed when the elevator stopped, but the door slid open to reveal an empty car.
"Join me," Savior said. "Sub-level three. Please."
Chapter 36
Gideon
Gideon stepped out of the elevator into a memory. A memory carefully constructed of steel, concrete, and thermal tile. A memory populated with spartan workstations, spotless precision tools, and holographic displays. A memory tied to emotional responses he'd worked hard to purge decades before. A memory that served only to reinforce his instinct to take Nikki and flee this place.
In the subterranean levels of an unassuming building in remote Canada, Savior had rebuilt the lab he and Gideon had shared in the years following the Event. Though windowless and surrounded by mountain bedrock instead of perched on a hillside overlooking a shattered city, the lab before Gideon was in every other way a perfect tribute to a moment in time when he and Savior had shared a common goal. A time when they'd been allies. A time when they'd been friends. A time that could not be resurrected.
Savior stood near the center of the hexagonal room across a long exam table, his youthful face completing the illusion. Savior's appearance hadn't aged a day since the Event. Like Gideon, the energy he'd absorbed in the explosion gifted him with cellular regeneration that showed no sign of slowing more than half a century later. Unlike Gideon, his seemingly unchanged appearance was a blessing, not a curse.
Gideon's gaze dropped to the exam table, to the carcass in mid vivisection, with its unmistakable black chitinous skin and hooked talons. From this angle, split as the carcass was from groin to throat, Gideon could see only the right half of the creature, the two limbs nearly identical to his own, like this vision from the past was what could have been, what Savior might have done to him given time.
He looked up to find Savior watching him like he knew the path Gideon's thoughts were traveling. There had been a time wh
en words had been unnecessary for them as they worked together. They'd known each other so well. They'd been like brothers.
Savior's gaze shifted as the others filed out of the elevator behind Gideon. His eyes greeted each of them with a look of cool familiarity. He weighed, analyzed, and dismissed each with a second's glance. Until his gaze found Nikki.
He maintained his mask of detachment with Nikki, his veneer of nonchalance, but his gaze lingered on her a second longer, his blink came a heartbeat too late. Savior was a manipulator of the highest caliber with decades spent perfecting his art. He was master of his every gesture and expression. If the slightest emotion were allowed to reveal itself, you could be assured it was borne of calculated intent.
Gideon knew the man beneath the legend well enough to feel a splinter of hope, however. If Savior did feel something genuine for Nikki, Gideon might be able to use that connection, to exploit that weakness.
Gideon needed a lifeline. He was stumbling blindly in the face of Savior's latest assault, which could have been exactly his enemy's intent. The presence of the creatures prevented Gideon from indulging his visions, his strongest weapon. When the creatures were close, his alien side took over, a shift of consciousness he was powerless to stop.
Blessedly for all, his creature's rage was directed at its own kind. Its fury was for the other creatures alone until they were dead or out of range of its senses. Once they were gone, Gideon knew from experience the creature would turn on anyone nearby. Therefore, when the alien forced the shift, throwing him to the other side, Gideon couldn't afford to seek answers in the smoky eddies, as he had before. Instead he was forced to focus all his will on regaining control, so the second the other creatures were gone, he could take over and stop his rampage.
He'd seen nothing in the visions for weeks, nothing to give him a clue about what Savior was planning, no hint of why he'd grown these clones of the alien the creature and turned them loose, aside from their obvious effect on Gideon. He'd seen nothing about this day, this meeting. He was completely unprepared and at another's mercy, a feeling he didn't relish.
