Nexus n-1

by Naam, Ramez

  The hand hit him again, hard. Kade could feel the rage and fear and hatred of the mind behind it.

  All because of you, Kade thought. All true. All true.

  The serenity package had kicked in. He was empty, now. He was cold. He was nothingness.

  Another man came forward. Thai. Angular. A large hooked nose.

  "How do you do this?" he asked in accented English. "How do you have so much Nexus in you, for so long?"

  The Nexus. That's what it had always been about. He wasn't going to tell them. He shook his head.

  The new man's hand clenched around Kade's testicles, squeezed hard.

  "You're going to tell us," he said. "Or we're going to kill you." He squeezed even harder. "Slowly." Again. "Painfully." And again.

  Kade shook his head, screamed his anger at them, screamed it from throat and mind. "NO!"

  He saw the man in front of him recoil from it, felt Suk wince in pain. They had Nexus in their minds. He could hurt them.

  The thug stepped forward, rammed his fist into Kade's face again, into the burnt and bruised and swollen side. The pain made the world go hazy for a moment.

  Suk stepped closer again. "Tell me."

  The thug grabbed Kade's left hand, took his pinky finger, wrenched it backwards until it broke.

  FUCK!

  Kade knew what he had to do then. Emptiness consumed him. Hatred. "I'll tell you. I'll tell you! Stop! Please!"

  The thug grabbed his next finger, bent it halfway back, enough to hurt. Coldness descended over him. The pain was nothing.

  "Please! Stop! I have to show you. Please."

  He opened his mind for them to suck them in. They came closer. Kade showed them the first discoveries, he and Rangan's first experiments. Suk and the other one lapped at it eagerly. He showed them more. Whizzed them through memories – fast fast faster. They came closer, hungrily, sucked up as much as they could from him. He was giving them more than they could possibly keep up with. He wanted them as close and as open to him as possible.

  "Wait, wait, slow down!" the angular one said.

  Kade could feel him now. His mind was faint. His name was Tuksin. He was a monk. He was here to steal these secrets, free himself of Ananda, become the lord of Nexus. His mind was twisted and foul to the touch.

  Kade sucked them in deeper, showed them the synthesis for Nexus 5, the molecular structure of the individual components, how they fit together. It was still too much for them, too complex all at once. They needed more bandwidth. They came even closer, almost touching him, opening their minds as fully as they could to absorb what he was giving them.

  And then he showed them hell.

  [activate nd* pri: max]

  He blasted them with the Nexus disruptor, the signal the ERD had bombarded Rangan's brain with, the way they'd disrupted all thought in that cell. It was pain more intense than anything they could ever have imagined. They screamed with it, both of them, screamed and fell to their knees. Even through the filters in his mind the barest fraction of it took Kade's breath away.

  The thug turned, saw them writhing in pain, hesitated for a moment. Kade kept pounding the signal into their brains. The big man wheeled on him, smacked Kade hard enough that it knocked him out of the chair, onto the floor. The pain stunned him.

  He held on, kept jamming the signal into their brains. The thug kicked him. Pain exploded in Kade's abdomen. Still he held on. There. Yes. There. Suk and Tuksin were writhing in agony, all thought gone from their minds.

  Kade stopped the Nexus disrupter. He needed to focus entirely on something else. There was a gun on the thug's hip. Kade was in Suk's mind now. Push/pull. He was the master of it. He always won.

  The gun. The gun. The gun.

  The thug kicked him again. Something cracked inside him.

  Shoot him. Shoot him. Shoot him.

  The gun was in Suk's hand. The thug turned, his eyes going wide. Suk fired, enormously loud in this space. The thug's kneecap exploded. He roared. His leg gave out. He collapsed, hauled himself half up, reached for Suk to slap the gun out of his hand.

  Suk fired again. The bullet took the bigger man in the belly. He grunted, still trying to move forward, almost prone now.

  Suk fired a third time. The bullet entered the top of the thug's head, split it open like a melon.

  Suk blinked in surprise. Tuksin tackled him. The gun went off again, without Kade's willing it this time. Tuksin coughed, and blood came up out of his mouth.

  Suk scrabbled backwards, away from Kade, pulled himself up on his feet, pistol still in hand, backing away rapidly. Kade could feel his hold slipping as Suk put distance between them. Kade tried to stand; pain lanced up his left leg and it buckled under him. He crashed to the floor. Fuck.

  Suk was at the other end of the room now, maybe forty feet away. He was pointing the gun at Kade. His hands were shaking.

  "What are you?"

  Kade tried pushing at his thoughts, got nowhere. He was too far, too far.

  "You're a devil! A devil!"

  Suk fired, missed at that range. Kade felt a bullet embed itself in the floor near him. He scrambled back with one leg and both hands. Suk fired again, missed again.

  Kade looked around for anything to hide behind, anything to use as a weapon. The thug's submachine gun was against the wall. He crawled for it as fast as he could, rough pain shooting up from his insides with every motion. It was so far away. Everything hurt so goddamn much. Suk's hands were steady now.

  "You go to hell!" the Thai man yelled at him, taking careful aim.

  The outside door burst in. Sam stood in the doorway. Suk saw her, dragged his gun around, fired on her. Sam rolled, flinging something at him as she did. Something sharp cut Suk across the left arm. He moved forward, gun trained on Sam. Fired, missed.

  Kade got his fingers around the submachine gun. Suk was at thirty feet. The Thai man fired again, but missed Sam.

  Kade brought the gun around, pulled the trigger. The recoil knocked him back, pinned him into the wall, brought agony to his broken rib. The shots went wild, too far to the left. Suk turned back towards him, fired. Kade felt a searing pain in his left arm, kept the trigger down, tried to bring the muzzle around to bear on Suk. Suk fired again, missed. Kade's bullets tracked from Kade's left to right, took Suk across his gun arm and then into his chest, knocked him off his feet. The gun clicked. Empty. Silence ruled again. Then sirens, sirens from outside.

  • • • •

  There was silence in the C&C onboard the Boca Raton. Nichols couldn't believe what had just happened. A dozen agents dead, at least that many civilians, many of whom were still alive when they'd initiated Protocol Thirteen.

  Nichols looked down at his lap, shaking his head.

  Then Jane Kim spoke up. "Sir?"

  Nichols looked up. "What is it, Jane?"

  "Sir… Canary is still up, sir. And Blackbird… most of her channels went dead, but we still have a GPS feed from her phone. And… it's moved, sir. She's outside of the building."

  Nichols looked at the bank of screens. It was true. The feeds had collapsed from the twelve members of the assault team, but not from Lane. And from Cataranes, most of them had died, but died after recording a location just outside the building. Her phone was still uploading GPS data even now. As he watched, it moved again, from the alleyway into the building that Lane was in. Their positions converged. She was moving.

  There. On the video feed from Lane, that had been a flicker of Sam. Unmistakably so.

  Shu directed as Feng drove. Traffic control was hers. Police routing was hers. Street cameras were hers. The Opal barreled down the street at a hundred and sixty kilometers per hour. The streets were nearly empty in the pre-dawn gloom. Every light was green for them. Bangkok Metro Police vehicles rushed by on parallel tracks, never to see them.

  She knew the position of Lane's phone to the meter. It was no longer in the conflagration. It was less than ten meters away from the burning apartment, but that was all the differ
ence in the world. She only hoped the boy was with his phone.

  This was foolishness, she knew. She should just let the boy die. But she wasn't going to, not if she could help it.

  Here, Shu told Feng. They crashed a pedestrian barrier, entered the alleyways, barely wide enough for the Opal to drive down, forbidden to motorized vehicles.

  Here again, she sent him.

  Feng expertly skid-braked the Opal, turned into the perpendicular alley. Lane was climbing, gaining elevation.

  Here, she repeated.

  Feng brought the Opal to a skidding halt. Lane was about to reach the rooftop of the building directly in front of them. She could feel his mind at this range. He was still alive, wounded, in pain. She reached out to him and the Cataranes girl, told them help was coming. From here it was up to Feng.

  And there were two more minds running Nexus on the first floor, both fading into oblivion. How interesting…

  Sam picked up the submachine gun from where Kade had dropped it, ejected the banana clip and reversed it, slammed the full one home.

  "You OK?" she asked.

  She could feel his mind. The Nexus was frazzled from the shocks she'd taken, but not as badly as a few days ago. She could still feel Kade through the static. He had the combat adrenaline in him. He'd just killed a man for the first time. That was going to stick in his head for quite a while, along with everything else about tonight.

  Kade nodded, tried to get up, collapsed immediately as his leg gave out again. Pain radiated from him. His lungs were burning. Ribs were cracked, sent horrible pain as he tried to move. His leg wouldn't take any weight. He shook his head, coughing feebly. Blood came up when he did.

  Sam bent to pick him up. They had to get out of here.

  There was a noise at the door. Another thug appeared in the entrance. Sam yanked the gun up, fired a burst. There was a curse and the thug disappeared back out the doorway.

  There was another door at the other end of the room. "Come on, Kade." She picked him up, heaved him over her shoulder. Agony flared out from him. She ignored it, limped and ran towards the other door. Fuck, that hurt. She got to the door, kicked it open with her good leg, turned and fired another burst at the door the thugs had appeared in for good measure, then smashed the door beside her open with her shoulder.

  The door led into a stairwell. Sam tightened her grip on Kade, jerked her body up, felt Kade groan, moved up one painful step at a time. The door at the first landing was locked.

  She fired a burst into the lock, slammed the door open with her shoulder to confuse them, kept climbing.

  She was at the second landing when she heard them enter the stairwell. She froze. Kade moaned. She shushed him with her mind. The men on the first landing were talking in Thai. Three of them. Maybe four. They were moving carefully. She heard clips being checked, replaced. The voices went away.

  She counted to five, then continued up.

  A voice yelled out. Fuck, one of them had stayed behind. Shots came up the center shaft of the stairwell. Sam threw caution to the wind, threw pain to the wind, sprinted up the stairs, felt muscles in her damaged leg protest painfully on each step, didn't fucking care. Pain racked Kade's body from his broken ribs with every step. She ignored it. She had no choice.

  The thugs were all yelling now. They were running after her. They were top-heavy, strong as five men, but pathetically weak in the legs in comparison. Their oversized muscles sapped their cardio ability. Sam was smaller of heart and lung, but built for speed. Even with Kade on her shoulder, she was faster.

  She passed the third landing, the fourth, the fifth, got to the rooftop access, blew off the lock, rammed it open. God, she'd kill for grenades right now. She looked around for cover. There was a giant rooftop air-conditioning unit on the far corner. Sam sprinted for it, dropped Kade behind it with a thud and a staggering surge of pain, crouched down out of view herself, checked her ammo. Almost empty. She flipped it to single shot. She had to conserve the ammo she had left.

  KADE… CATARANES… WE ARE HERE… STAY ALIVE… FENG IS COMING TO YOU.

  Su-Yong Shu's voice boomed huge in Sam's head. Kade gasped out loud. Holy fuck, what was that woman?

  Automatic fire burst from the other side of the roof. Bullets penetrated the AC unit. A spray of metal pieces shot out, lacerating her arms, her legs, her chest. Kade moaned in fresh pain. The thugs kept shooting, firing now on one side of the unit, sending sharp shrapnel out where Sam crouched. She rolled towards Kade. Supports inside the AC unit gave, and the damaged side slumped down. Sam slouched lower, pulled Kade with her. The thugs were eating away at their cover.

  Their guns went silent, Sam popped up, fired three rounds at one of them, saw two hit him in the chest, dropped back behind cover. One down. Three left. Sam popped her clip, checked the ammo again. Two rounds left. Fuck.

  Could they jump from the roof into the alley? Would Kade survive?

  The guns opened up again, aimed at their hiding place, pulverizing the last of their cover. More shrapnel sliced through her arm. Sam rolled, came up at a different spot, fired her last two rounds, took one of them in the gut. The others brought their guns around towards her. More shots fired out, pistol shots, six of them, and both men's heads exploded. Their lifeless bodies slumped to the ground.

  Behind them, in an impeccable black chauffeur's suit, stood Feng, a smoking pistol in each hand. He raised an eyebrow at her in greeting. Sam breathed a sigh of relief. She'd never expected to be saved by one of these men, but she'd take it. By god she'd take it.

  Feng strode over to the man she'd shot in the gut. He was still moving. The Confucian Fist put two rounds in his head, did the same to the first man she'd shot.

  Sam crouched over Kade. He radiated pain. His skin felt charred from the flames, flayed from the shrapnel. He was alive, though. Cut up, broken, one of Suk's bullets in his arm, but still alive, still conscious. Feng joined them.

  "Time to go, yeah?" the Chinese soldier said. He was smiling.

  Kade tried to speak, coughed up blood for his troubles, nodded instead.

  Feng bent to pick him up.

  Sam raised a hand to stop him, crouched down herself.

  "You're hurt," Feng said.

  "I'll carry him," she replied.

  Feng nodded silently, holding her eyes. He understood.

  Sam hauled Kade over her shoulder, ignored his pain. They made their way down the stairs and to the black Opal, Sam limping painfully every step of the way.

  "That's a Confucian Fist," Nichols said.

  Williams and Kim both nodded.

  "What the hell is one of them doing there?"

  40

  RUNNING

  Feng reached the Opal ahead of Sam. The driver's side back door was open. Sam limped up to them, peered inside to find Su-Yong Shu in back. There was a massive first aid kit next to her.

  "Give him to me," the Chinese woman said.

  Sam tightened her grip on Kade.

  "Come on, you ride up front with me," Feng told her.

  "I'm sticking with him," Sam replied.

  "Miss Cataranes," Shu said. "I'm medically competent."

  "So am I." She held the older woman's gaze.

  Shu stared back at her.

  "We have to go," Feng said. "Can't stay."

  "Fine," Shu said. She opened her door. "Get in back with Kade. I'll ride in front."

  Sam eased herself and Kade into the back seat. He groaned in pain. Feng started moving as soon as the doors were closed, driving deeper into the maze.

  Sam inspected the kit. Chinese special forces field medical issue. Top of the line. She'd trained on one of these. There, antiburn respirator, a mask and pressurized can loaded with growth factors for the lungs. She pulled it out, got it over Kade's face, felt him relax as the cool soothing mix flowed into him.

  "You're bugged," Shu said from the front seat. "Your contacts, the bugs in Kade's clothes, both of your phones. They have to go."

  Shit, Sam realized. She
's right.

  She rolled down the window, tossed her phone out, popped her contacts into her palm and flung them out as well. Kade was struggling to reach the phone in his pocket. His broken finger was in the way. Sam reached inside for him, pulled out his phone, tossed it out the window as well. There were bugs planted all over him…

  "We need to cut his clothes off," she announced. "They're half melted to him anyway."

  Feng held his hand up, eyes still on the road. A knife flicked open in his palm. Shu took it, passed it back to Sam. The woman did something with her mind, and Sam felt Kade's pain recede a bit, felt him relax into a more peaceful state.