“You may not like my methods but they work.” He sighed. “But fine, I’ll… try to be better, but the only way you’re getting out of here is with me. What is it that has you so scared of me? What is it that you’re hiding?”
My hand instinctively touched my pocket. What other choice did I have? “I’ll tell you but only on my terms.”
He crossed his arms. “Sure. What?”
“You must go back on the D400.”
“Fine—”
“Also no weapons. You are to listen to me from now on.”
Without dropping his stare, he handed his gun over.
I tucked the second pistol into my back pocket. “I’ll be in charge from now on. That means no killing without my say-so.”
This made his eyebrow perk. “Fine. Now, what is your secret?”
I took a steady breath and willed my voice not to shake. “I found another Soulless.”
It took two seconds for the words to sink in. Another two seconds for Diesel’s eyes to widen and his body stiffen with adrenaline. “Are you sure?” His voice dropped low.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Quinn, that woman from the beach. She belonged to the Blue Dons. The information we need is with them. I can lead the way back to their base.”
He nodded and turned to Rocko. He flipped the casing open to the back of its neck, and with a hard twist, popped the robot’s head off. Pulses of electricity jumped from the open wires dangling from the machine’s skull. Diesel shrugged at my confused look.
“I need it. And we will also need Vance.”
“But isn’t he—”
“I couldn’t risk you walking out there and being blown up so I set up a safety net. He’ll be fine, just dazed. Let’s go find us a Soulless.”
Chapter Fourteen:
Dusk bruised the sky, thickening the swell of purple and blue toward the horizon. I found Vance near the exit, but the train tunnels had collapsed on both sides. We took him, ammunition, food and all of the D400 we could carry back to Miranda’s escape route.
Diesel injected the drug into his arm, the small blue pill lodging itself in the bed of his muscles. That should last him at least a week. He winked at me, but I couldn’t swallow the unease of Krane’s presence. Behind the bookcase was a ladder on a sharp incline. It was cold with a whistling draft coming from the open end. It led us up to a small cottage with two of its four walls knocked down.
As soon as I popped my head up through the secret door in the floorboards, I was met with a gun. I shoved it away. “Riki, it’s me.”
Except it wasn’t Riki at all, but the missing cook from FRIM. Sweat dampened his hair and vomit saturated his discoloured shirt. Dried chunks still clung to his chin and whiskers. His lower lip trembled as though fighting back the urge to vomit again. Hound sat next to Riki and gently whined as I stood up. Diesel emerged from behind me and the cook quickly lowered his gun. He approached with his hand out, palms shaking. Diesel pulled a flask from his backpack.
“Clean yourself up,” Diesel said as he tossed a flask to the cook who immediately guzzled the contents. He dropped the gun in his desperation and Diesel quickly scooped it up. He went to pocket it but then handed it to me. “Your rules.”
I took the gun and eyed the cook. “Tell him to leave us.” Diesel did. The cook turned and fled the small cottage, stumbling in his exhaustion. “You poisoned him?”
“Only a little.”
“Was that the antidote?”
“That’s what he thinks.”
I approached Riki and unbound his restraints. Hound bounded up, panting and licking my hand. I gave the cook’s gun to Riki and the one in my back pocket to Vance.
“Nadia, what is he doing here?” Riki stepped closer to me, but Diesel quickly put himself between us, using Rocko’s decapitated head to push Riki back.
“Thanks for the toy.”
Riki pointed his gun at Diesel’s head. “I’d be careful what you say, Krane.”
“Enough! Riki, it’s fine. He promises to behave.”
“It’s hard to believe the words of a traitor.”
“They were not my people,” Diesel snarled. “Miranda made sure to kill all my men. Same as she tried to kill me too. But you knew that already, didn’t you, Riki? How much did you take?”
“What?”
Diesel reached out and grabbed Riki’s backpack. It rattled with pills. “D400, smart ass. How much have you taken?”
“They are not yours.”
“Pitter patter, pitter patter,” Vance mumbled.
“Guys, please? Can we just get on with it? It’s nearly night and we won’t be able to see much if it gets too dark. We have to head back to the Blue Don’s base.”
“They’ll be looking for us,” Riki warned. “They would have taken footage of our faces. Even yours.”
“But they wouldn’t have seen Diesel,” I suggested.
Diesel laughed. “Believe me, they would know my face. But no need. We have our secret key right here.” He reached around and pulled Vance closer. “An I.O.S agent.”
“They’ll welcome Vance in just like that?”
“Well, they won’t shoot him.”
I shrugged. “Vance? Do you think it’ll work?”
Vance jerked around. “What? Oh, the Dons? Yes, it should work. I.O.S and Dons have no issues dealing with each other.”
“We can discuss this on the way over. We don’t have time to waste.”
We walked closer to find there was no way we were going to sneak anyone in or out of the Blue Don base. Even under the veil of night, harsh floodlights brightened the crumpled ruins. There were more guards. Heavier machinery. Their numbers flooded the train tracks into the city. Bodies filled the streets, dead and dying. Helicopters roamed overhead.
“How on earth are the four of us going to get in there?” Riki whispered. We took refuge in the old amazement park, climbing up the woven pipes of what Riki referred to as the Ferris Wheel so we could see across the city.
“We don’t. Really, we only need one,” Diesel said.
“Vance won’t be able to find the Soulless and kidnap him alone,” I said.
“No, he draws them away. Makes them leave the base.”
Riki scoffed at the idea. “How could Vance draw the entire fleet?”
The idea pinged. “Of course. By telling them about FRIM. Vance goes out there, tells them he has escaped a terrorist organization in the tunnels. He can trick them into thinking there’s an entire army down there.”
Vance nodded. “I c-c-can do that.”
“And then what? We just walk through their front doors?” Diesel asked.
I spun to him. “Actually, I know a way in. It was the same way I snuck the drifter in, down the sewer pipes. But even if we get inside, I have no idea of their layout.”
Riki grinned. “Maybe I can help. Miranda has a map with their entire layout and she hid it along with the other stuff we stole, in one of the walls in the subway station.”
“But the station has collapsed.”
“No, not this part. Follow me.”
Riki took us back into the subway station where a black duffle bag stuffed with weapons was hidden in the cracked tiled walls in one of the abandoned men’s toilets. In addition to grenades, guns and ammo was paperwork detailing accounts of money. Diesel picked up one of the grenades and studied it.
“This could actually work.”
Riki took the map out and studied it quickly. He circled a large area with his finger. “The walls are heavier here. When I cut the power board, it showed a lot of power was being drawn to this area too. Could be worth checking out.”
“A high powered cage? Would that be necessary? It’s probably where they charge their robots,” I guessed.
“Even better. Get me in there and I can reprogram them.”
“Where should we meet back up?”
“The Ferris Wheel?” I suggested. Everyone nodded. “Okay, I guess it’s now or never.�
��
We loaded ourselves up on weapons, made it across the city and tracked along the dense forest. I led the others up the hill to the busted pipe. Vance approached a group of agents down by the train tracks. He looked like a small blur from where we crouched. He approached with his hands up. They quickly scanned him. We continued up the hill. The power cells weren’t that far from the collapsed garage and, with luck, there wouldn’t be anyone manning the area.
“Oh, you little fucker,” Diesel growled.
I turned toward the dark blur that was Vance to see him pointing up at us. The guardsmen turned, their guns lifted up.
“What is he doing?”
“Fuck!” Diesel tackled me. We hit the ground as the bullets kicked the dirt up around us.
Voices rose in shouts behind the cracking of gunfire. The floodlights turned toward us, sweeping the forest.
“What the fuck? Why?” I gasped.
“He’s a goddamn I.O.S agent, Nadia! We’re the fucking bad guys here.”
“Let’s just go. Run, run, run!” Riki waved us over and we sprinted toward the crack in the earth leading into the garage. We hit the ground sliding, shovelling dirt and rock with us. Hound stayed behind, whimpering and pacing the exit. The lights flickered on and off, straining to power the plantation. Our entrance made a loud bang, alerting the two men inside. Diesel quickly pulled a pistol from his inner jacket and shot them.
“Diesel,” I shouted.
He turned to me. “Oh come, on! You can’t be— Oh, fuck! Fine!” He tossed the pistol to me. “If I get shot, you’re carrying my dead body everywhere you go.”
“Riki, where do we go?”
Riki pulled the map out from his pocket. “Um, um, this way. Yes, this way.”
We sprinted after him into the hall, turning sharply left and right down the long tunnels. Sirens buzzed through the speakers and sweeping lights washed the halls in red. We continued to sprint through the halls until we clashed with incoming agents.
We managed to shoot many of them, despite being outnumbered.
I was suddenly grabbed from behind and pulled to the ground by my jacket. I dropped my gun when I hit the floor and scampered back, holding my hands up to protect myself. He saw my face and his expression dropped.
“Wait! It’s you,” he gasped, turning his aim away.
Diesel smashed the man’s face with Rocko’s head, breaking his jaw. Riki fired twice quickly after, just missing Diesel by inches.
“Watch it,” Diesel snarled.
My broken left wrist throbbed as I pushed off the ground.
“They know you, Nadia?” Riki asked, but before I could answer, five more armed guards rounded the corner.
We quickly took cover inside one of the rooms and barricaded the entrance. Inside was a laboratory filled with beakers, vials and test tubes lined up on racks. Bullets sprayed through the door panel and Diesel quickly overturned one of the tables and rammed it against the doorframe. We cowered behind the counter as glasses shattered and acidic water sprayed the walls.
“Are we close?” I shouted to Riki over the gunfire. His hand went for the map in his pocket to find it missing.
“The map! Shit, I must have dropped it!” He quickly ripped a poster down from the wall and turned it over. “Just let me think. Let me think.” He grabbed a pen and started sketching.
“Nadia! Gun?” Diesel shouted.
I slipped him one of the automatic rifles. He fired into the door. “We can’t stay here. We’re going to be overrun!”
“Oh fuck! Shit, shit!” Riki grabbed his hair in between his fingers. “I can’t remember. I think we went too far.”
“Wait! Riki,” I gasped and pointed up. In the room next to ours, through the window, I could see a lone boy in a water tank with an oxygen mask over his face. I pressed my face to the window, careful to stay low.
“It can’t be.” The boy looked the same as his hundred-year-old picture, making me think this must be his son. Diesel and Riki scooted closer.
“They’ve kept him in a cryotank,” Diesel murmured. “But he appears to be unfrozen now.”
“Great. But how do you expect us to get him out?” Riki asked.
“Leave it to me.” Diesel shot the security keypad off the door leading into the cryotank’s room and quickly went inside. We followed him in. The room was chilly and prickled our skin with frost. Diesel hit panels on one of the monitors as Riki watched the door. Large gaps had been torn in the wood, allowing the guards to see into the room.
Carefully, I placed my hand on the chilled glass, looking down at the boy’s sleeping form. He was like me. Another Soulless. I studied his features, wondering if he too had printless eyes. If he, too, was free from reincarnated memories. The machine kicked in and the water drained from the tank. Once emptied, the sides popped open from their hinges. I didn’t look away from the boy’s face. His eyebrow twitched. He was alive.
“Time to go, sleeping beauty.” Diesel pulled the tray out and disconnected the breathing tube from the boy’s mouth. Water saturated the floor by our feet.
The door was almost shattered through. I turned and pulled one of the grenades from Riki’s backpack.
“Heads up.” I tossed it into the room and the sharp pop detonated, exploding the tables and shattering the equipment into splinters. Smoke blinded us as fire quickly overtook the room. The overhead sprinkles activated, dousing everything with water but not enough to tame the flames.
“We have to go. Let’s go!” I helped Diesel unplug the rest of the wires and he pulled the boy up. Riki took the lead, clearing the path ahead as we dragged the unconscious boy from his tank and across the room. Fire ate the walls, pillowing black smoke into the halls. We got as far as the garage when a shrill voice stopped me.
“Nadia?” she called in an eerily familiar voice.
I spun around.
“Nadia? Help me!”
“Annie?” I stopped. The world stopped.
Diesel grabbed my collar and pulled me back to face him. “Nadia! Don’t! It’s a setup!”
“Nadia? Nadia, are you there?” Annie’s voice cried out. “Please come back. I’m scared!”
I turned back around, unable to shake her pleas. It was definitely her. She was here! But how? “Annie?” I screamed back. “Annie? Where are you?”
“Nadia!” Diesel dropped the boy and grabbed my face, forcing me to look at him. “Don’t listen!”
“They have my sister!” I shoved him off me.
“It’s a trap!”
“You have your Soulless now. Just leave with him. I need to go find her.”
Diesel’s eyes hardened. “I don’t want the fucking Soulless! I want you! I’m not leaving you here.”
“They will kill you, Diesel.”
“Nadia?” Annie’s voice drew closer. I turned around to find her standing at the end of the hallway. I sucked in a loud gasp. I almost couldn’t believe it. A large hospital gown swallowed her sickly thin body. Brown hair matted into clumps against her shallow face, draining colour from her cheeks and eyes. Her face lacked emotion, her green eyes faded by disease. Beside her stood Quinn with a gun in her hand.
“They are going to put in you a goddamn test tube,” Diesel tried to reason. “You will live forever inside a tank.”
“I can’t leave her here.” I shook my head. I couldn’t leave her. There’s no way in hell I am going to leave her.
Beside us, Riki ran forward. “Move, guys! Move!” He fired twice at Quinn, but both bullets tore through Annie. Her small body buckled as her blood splattered across the walls.
I froze, and then I screamed. Raw, cracked sounds involuntarily billowed out of my mouth. Sounds I had never made before, never heard before, tore out of my chest.
Quinn fired back. I don’t know if Riki had died, or if he had just merely fallen from an injury. Diesel used the Soulless to shield himself. I couldn’t see them in my tunnelling vision. I couldn’t move. I continued screaming, but I couldn’t feel my body w
hen I hit the ground. Annie didn’t move. Blood pooled where she dropped.
“Urgent backup needed at garage one. We have both of the Soulless and a hostile on the run,” Quinn reported into her earpiece as she ran toward us, her gun aimed but not firing. I couldn’t look away from Annie.
“Let’s go, let’s go!” Diesel pulled me around as he tossed a grenade in Quinn’s direction. She leapt for cover.
I stumbled after him on unbalanced feet. We ran out into the night. My mind broke. My chest restricted. I couldn’t breathe. I could only scream. I could only cry. I vomited. I fell. Diesel stopped to pick me up. The floodlights swept the forest but quickly lost us in the dense trees.
Torturous long hours passed when we eventually hit a small row of townhouses and collapsed. Diesel searched the unconscious boy. I buckled into the dirt. I could hear myself sobbing, but I couldn’t feel my body beyond the spurs of pain in my lungs. I strained to breath.
“Nadia, stop. Be quiet!” Diesel cut something out of the boy. Blood ran the length of his neck. He stomped on the tracking device, quickly smashing it. But I couldn’t stop. I felt myself die along with her. This must be death. I couldn’t explain it any other way.
Chapter Fifteen:
I was so cold. Numb. Broken. Water trickled beneath my face. I lay in the curve of a pipe, water pressed up against my ears. I couldn’t move.
I had lost her.
Annie.
Annie.
Tears swelled and choked. I had lost her. My little sister. The one person I cared for most in the entire world. I will never hear her laugh again. Never hold her hand. She died scared. She died reaching out for me to save her. I just stood there. I just stood there and watched while they killed her.
“Nadia?” A hand touched my back. I didn’t move. I didn’t know where I was. Behind the haze of my mindless staring, I could see brown. Dirt. Brick. Weeds. Glass. Light. Mud.
“I’ll get us some food,” Diesel said and then he was gone. Hazy. The world was hazy. Darker. Duller. Hours passed. I watched it in the shift of the sun, in the crawl of the shadows getting longer. I was jabbed in the back with a stick. Twice. I turned and swiped, grabbing the thin branch, and ripped it toward me.
Soul Finder (The Immortal Gene Book 2) Page 11
