2041 Sanctuary (Let There Be Light)

by Robert Storey

  ‘I did. The FBI has heard everything. Bic’s transmission will have been traced and you’ll all be going to prison for a very long time.’ Brett looked at her phone. ‘And according to this, they’re almost here.’

  Chapter Forty Seven

  ‘You bitch!’

  ‘What can I say?’ Brett said. ‘I want my job back.’

  Jessica rushed to the front of the truck, heart racing. In the distance the lights of a vehicular convoy approached at speed. Turning the key failed to start the engine and she tried again.

  Nothing!

  Brett appeared behind her. ‘Having trouble?’

  Jessica turned the key again and the engine spluttered to life.

  Something cold pressed against the back of Jessica’s head and she turned to see the barrel of a gun an inch from her eye.

  ‘I can’t let you go, I’m afraid,’ Brett said, as Eric approached the FBI agent from behind, the heavy canister of laughing gas raised to strike.

  ‘Take another step, mein capitan,’ Brett said, ‘and she’s dead and you’re next.’

  Eric froze mid-step.

  The lights drew closer before a roar of noise shot past overhead, closely followed by two more, the sound rattling the truck’s panels.

  ‘I didn’t know the FBI had fighter jets,’ Jessica said.

  An oscillating ringtone emanated from Brett’s phone and she frowned. Keeping her gun trained on Jessica, she accepted an incoming video call.

  A face appeared, one Jessica didn’t recognise, but judging by Brett’s expression, one she did.

  ‘Ah, Agent Taylor, isn’t it?’

  ‘What do you want?’

  ‘My my, agent – or should that be ex-agent? – I expected a less frosty welcome than this. I am in a position, after all, to restore your privileges and more besides.’

  ‘I don’t want anything from the likes of you.’

  The angular face turned towards Jessica. ‘Ms. Klein, we meet again.’

  ‘I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure.’

  The man’s mouth contorted into a repulsive smile. ‘Forgive me. My name is Malcolm Joiner, I’m the GMRC Director of Intelligence. I have to admit, I had hoped you were dead, but it seems you just keep coming back – like a bad penny.’

  ‘My director will have your job for this,’ Brett said.

  Joiner laughed. ‘FBI Director Flynn can’t tie his own shoes without help. And besides, you’ll all soon be six foot under and you’ve given me the greatest prizes of all, the cyber terrorist, and another chance to say goodbye to an old friend.’

  A bullet tore through the windscreen to punch into Brett’s chest. Her gun fell to the floor and she slumped sideways.

  Jessica slammed the truck into reverse and hit the accelerator. ‘Eric, grab Bic’s console!’

  More bullets peppered the truck as they reversed at high speed. Keeping low, Jessica swung the truck round and floored it.

  Eric returned to her side, device in hand, and Jessica glanced in her mirrors to see military humvees bearing down on them. ‘Bic, we need you!’

  He didn’t answer.

  ‘Jesus Christ, where is he?!’

  Eric pulled aside Brett’s shirt to reveal a bullet-proof vest. ‘She’s alive.’

  The agent’s eyes blinked open.

  ‘And what were you thinking?’ Jessica said to Brett. She saw a sign with a picture of a plane on it and made a sharp right turn. The truck leaned and wheels screeched.

  Brett winced and struggled into a sitting position. ‘You’re all terrorists, I was doing my duty.’

  ‘And look where that got you!’

  A bright light appeared in the sky ahead.

  Jessica slammed on the brakes and something hit them from behind, throwing them all forward.

  ‘Take a left turn!’ Bic’s voice said.

  Jessica heaved on the wheel and the truck lifted onto two wheels. Moments later it dropped back down with a jolt.

  ‘Where have you been?!’ Jessica said.

  The noise of helicopters above drowned out Bic’s reply. Blinding lights suddenly illuminated the brush and trees outside and a message appeared on Bic’s screen.

  I’ve been preparing, Jessica Klein. Keep going straight, you’re almost there _

  An explosion in the air turned into a fireball, followed by another. Black GMRC drones shot past overhead.

  ‘What’s happening?!’ Eric shouted.

  Jessica didn’t know; scared out of her wits, she kept her foot to the floor.

  Closed gates appeared ahead. Smashing through them, the coroner’s truck careered into the airport.

  ‘Where’s our plane?!’ Jessica said.

  Straight in front of you _

  ‘You’re kidding, right?’

  A sleek military jet waited on the dark runway.

  It’s a hypersonic VIP drone transport. Hurry, you don’t have much time! _

  Jessica drove up to the aircraft, slammed on the brakes and jumped out. Behind, five GMRC drones hovered in the air by the gates, guns blazing. The military that had been in pursuit took evasive action and returned fire. Bic had done it again, hijacking more UAVs to buy them time.

  Running to the back of the truck, Jessica threw open the doors and jumped inside. Grabbing the disorientated professor, she helped him to the floor.

  He grabbed her arm. ‘Leave me, save yourself.’

  ‘Don’t be stupid.’ She half-dragged him onto the tarmac. ‘Besides, you’re too valuable.’

  He grimaced in pain. ‘I’m touched.’

  ‘Eric, get Bic’s device!’

  With the old man leaning on her shoulder, Jessica stumbled toward the plane, the noise of the firefight driving her on. Eric appeared alongside with Brett following.

  ‘Where do you think you’re going?!’ Jessica shouted at the FBI agent.

  ‘With you.’

  ‘Like hell you are!’

  Brett ran ahead to the plane and Jessica cursed.

  A massive explosion shattered the air.

  The coroner’s truck disappeared in a ball of flame, followed by the thunderous roar of a fighter overhead.

  Their transport drone hummed to life, its engines whining to a crescendo.

  No sooner had they hurried up its ramp than its hatch closed behind them. Sealed inside the cramped area, red lighting all around, the jet blasted forward and Jessica fell back against a wall.

  Deafening noise made her ears ring while g-force pinned her arms to her sides. She gritted her teeth as the sensation increased. Her body felt like a five tonne elephant.

  Seconds later the discomfort lifted and Jessica retrieved Bic’s console and, leaving the professor with Eric, went to seek out Brett. Squeezing past a bulkhead, she found herself in the craft’s cockpit. The duplicitous FBI Agent sat in one of the seats with a mind-boggling array of holographic screens all around her and a large head-up-display in the centre.

  ‘Who’s flying?’ Jessica said.

  Brett looked round and pointed at Bic’s console in Jessica’s hand.

  A message appeared on the cockpit screen.

  You may want to sit down, Jessica Klein. We have company _

  Three dots appeared on the screen’s radar image, closing fast. Jessica scrambled into one of the pilot seats and struggled into its harness. ‘I thought this was a drone?’ she said, seeing a joystick before her and a black-visored high-tech helmet suspended above.

  It’s a dual system. Hang on. This may get bumpy _

  A beeping alarm sounded and Jessica saw six more dots materialise from the first three. A message flashed on-screen.

  WARNING!

  MISSILE LOCK

  WARNING!

  Jessica heard Brett swear. Flying close to the ground, their plane rolled right and up and Jessica felt her stomach leave her.

  The flashing warnings continued and their aircraft released a spray of blazing flares.

  Two explosions rocked Jessica in her seat. The four remaining dots c
losed on their position and Bic banked the aircraft up and then dived down. The horizon line on the HUD spun as the plane ducked and weaved. More flares were released and three more explosions buffeted them.

  Skyscrapers of a floodlit city appeared ahead and Jessica’s eyes widened.

  Engines screaming, the aircraft tore through the narrow streets at low level, shattering glass with its passing. The final rocket closed before the aircraft turned at the last minute, dodging a building.

  The missile on the radar disappeared and Jessica fought down the urge to vomit. ‘Bic, never do that again!’

  ‘I’m afraid I can’t comply with your request, Jessica Klein.’

  The three fighter jets chasing them reappeared ahead. Rockets fired and their plane angled up. The same warning message appeared as six more rockets homed in on them.

  A new alarm buzzed in the cockpit and a sheath of material curled over Jessica’s legs and waist. The helmet that had hung above her lowered to muffle her ears and the dials in its visor blazed to life. A single message appeared before her eyes:

  SABRE ENGINE ACTIVATION IMMINENT

  The missiles drew closer.

  ‘Have you ever wanted to be a record-breaker, Jessica Klein?’ Bic said.

  Jessica’s fingers dug into her seat. ‘Not really!’

  The plane levelled out. ‘That’s a shame, as you’re about to become one.’

  ‘What!?’

  Another message appeared:

  SABRE ENGINE ... ENGAGED

  A deep rumble exploded into deafening noise. A flash of light, and the aircraft went hypersonic.

  ♦

  The lights from roads and towns flashed past, faster and faster, blurring into lines. Behind, the missiles fell back as their drone passed Mach 6.

  A host of systems tracked their craft as it shot south across the continental United States. Missile batteries on the ground fired and tracer rounds lit up the air.

  Bic angled the plane left, right and into a series of heart-stopping barrel rolls. Teeth rattling, Jessica clung to consciousness as the world span out of control, upside down and inside out. They levelled out and soon after they were over the black swell of the Pacific Ocean, which tore past below. The drone dropped lower and calm waters exploded upwards in their wake. Another alarm sounded. The United States North Pacific Fleet unleashed its weaponry, lighting up tranquil seas in a blaze of fire.

  Bic banked the plane up, while multiple rockets chased them through dark skies.

  Jessica closed her eyes. ‘I thought planes couldn’t fly through the dust cloud!’

  ‘We’re about to test that theory,’ Bic said.

  A blaze of light, a sound like thunder, and the craft thrust forward. Jessica thought of her family as they entered the upper atmosphere to disappear into the great cloud.

  ♦

  Some time later Jessica opened her eyes. I must have passed out, she thought. Ahead the dust cloud thinned and a shimmer of light exploded into a blaze of glory. The sun’s rays bathed the cockpit of the military drone before its engine stuttered to silence.

  Jessica’s body felt light. ‘Are we in space?’

  ‘Just brushing its fringes,’ Bic said.

  The sensation continued a while longer before gravity returned and the plane sank back into dark swirling obscurity. Warning messages and symbols covered the displays.

  ‘The craft’s engines are no longer in operation,’ Bic said, ‘I’ll have to glide you down.’

  ‘Have we dodged the missiles?’

  ‘Yes, their tracking systems would have been disrupted by the dust and this craft’s defensive technology. We will have to hope the military units in South America are too occupied in their civil wars to worry about one lone plane entering their airspace.’

  Skimming down through the heavens, the streamlined craft plummeted back to Earth.

  Lightning dazzled as they passed through an enormous storm. Dust and rain battered them while thunder cracked the sky open like the hammer of God.

  A bolt of lightning struck a wing, plunging the plane into a flat spin. Warnings sounded and lights flashed red.

  Jessica’s breathing sounded ragged to her ears as they dropped like a stone. Sounds and lights swamped her senses. Unable to move, she managed to say one word: ‘BIC!’

  The plane continued to fall out of control. The cyber terrorist didn’t reply and Jessica felt consciousness slip into the abyss of nothing.

  Chapter Forty Eight

  ‘Jessica.’

  ‘Hmmm?’

  Hands shook her shoulders. ‘Jessica, wake up.’

  Jessica opened her eyes to see the face of Eric peering at her. ‘What’s going on? Did we make it?’

  Eric gave a nervous laugh and looked around the cockpit of the military aircraft. ‘It looks that way.’

  ‘Where are we?’

  ‘I have no idea.’ Eric helped her up from her seat.

  ‘Where’s Brett?’

  ‘She took the professor into the building.’

  ‘Building?’

  Eric led Jessica out of the plane and pointed to a large structure nearby. Shrouded in darkness, a single light emanated from one of its many ground-floor windows.

  They moved towards the glow.

  ‘This way,’ said a disembodied voice.

  Jessica adjusted course to find the shadowy form of Brett holding a door open for them.

  They entered and the FBI agent pushed past to lead them down a dim corridor and on into a brightly lit room. Jessica looked around what appeared to be some kind of operations hub. Long, curved desks stood spaced out in rows before a large wallscreen, each one sporting a host of computers and banks of intriguing electrical equipment.

  The still form of Professor Steiner lay on one of the desks.

  ‘Is he okay?’ Jessica said.

  Brett followed her gaze. ‘He’s alive, if that’s what you mean.’

  ‘He must have passed out like the rest of us.’ Jessica walked over to see that his chest rose and fell in the rhythm of life. Nearby a printer lay idle, a continuous sheet of paper hanging down from it in folds. Jessica studied the data that had printed out. It was a mass of meaningless numbers and graphs. ‘What is this place?’

  ‘We’re at the radio telescope array,’ Brett said.

  ‘We made it to Chile?’

  Brett moved to a window and pulled up a blind. Outside, sat the grey bulk of the military drone, its shape just discernable in the lights of the building they now inhabited.

  Eric rubbed a shoulder. ‘I thought we were goners.’

  ‘Me, too,’ Jessica said. ‘Bic must have regained control somehow.’

  The pocket of her coroner’s uniform vibrated and she withdrew Bic’s console.

  ‘You are correct, Jessica Klein,’ Bic said. ‘But it was touch and go, you are all lucky to be alive.’

  ‘No thanks to her.’ Eric gestured at Brett.

  ‘I was doing my duty.’

  Jessica ground her teeth. ‘Did you believe anything we said?’

  ‘You’re convincing,’ Brett said, ‘I give you that. But whatever is true, it doesn’t change the fact you’ve committed multiple crimes.’

  ‘And your career comes first, is that it?’

  ‘Of course. I’m not about to let a bunch of terrorists determine my future.’

  Jessica bunched her fists. ‘You don’t have a future, none of us do!’

  ‘According to you.’

  Jessica let out a screech of frustration. She’d never met anyone so pig-headed.

  Brett leant against the window. ‘I don’t know why you’re so surprised.’ She pointed at Steiner, who stirred awake. ‘He’s told us nothing. You really expect me to let him go? That my father escaped justice is bad enough, but for them both to get away with mass murder – no way. I can’t let that happen.’

  ‘And so you decided to offer us up,’ Jessica said, ‘just like that?’

  ‘Pretty much.’

  ‘Didn’t w
ork out though, did it?

  Brett ignored the comment and returned her gaze to the darkness outside.

  ‘Who the hell was that man, anyway?’ Jessica said. ‘What did he call himself?’

  ‘Malcolm Joiner.’ Brett glanced back. ‘He’s on the GMRC Directorate.’

  Jessica thought back to his words. I had hoped you were dead. He obviously knew her. He must have been the person behind her fall from grace. It made sense. Her on-air rant about the GMRC back in New York would have ruffled more than a few feathers. That it attracted the attention of the Directorate should be no surprise. But now he knew she was working with Bic, she’d become the terrorist, fighting against the system she’d once enabled. She massaged her face, trying to make sense of it all. One thing is certain; Bic has taken me even further into the rabbit hole.

  Professor Steiner groaned and sat up.

  ‘Are you okay, Professor?’ Eric helped him to his feet.

  ‘Apart from a blazing headache, it seems so.’

  ‘So, what happens now?’ Eric said.

  Brett faced them. ‘Well, it looks like your theories are out of the window.’

  ‘How do you figure?’ Jessica said.

  ‘The skies are clearing.’

  ‘What?’

  Brett pointed outside. ‘Look for yourself. The dust cloud is lifting, light is filtering through.’

  ‘Where?’ Jessica moved to the window.

  The twenty-four hour night they’d been enduring had shifted to a darker shade of brown and a flat desert landscape was just visible, as if illuminated by the dying embers of dawn.

  Brett stared out at the concave dish of a nearby radio telescope. ‘So much for your doomsday theory, they said as soon as the light reappears the dust will disappear exponentially.’

  ‘And who told us that?’ Jessica said. ‘The GMRC. I’d rather trust you.’

  Brett scowled at the inference before Bic’s console beeped. ‘I’m picking up a signal, Jessica Klein.’