“It would be good to have someone less… unstable in charge of the conference,” Ulrika said.
“You mean me?” Burnett seemed to become aware of his behavior. He stopped tearing at his hair, wiped the sweat from his brow, and adjusted his collar. He visibly calmed himself and stood straighter. “That is of course what they want. Turn it into them versus me, instead of what it really is, which is them versus INSH. It’s not about me. If you want to get rid of me, you can do it when this is all over. For now, we have to deal with these terrorists before they take control of the Conference. Give me the authorizations I require. I need that nuke.”
“Something tells me it won’t be so straightforward to depose you once this is all over,” Ulrika mused. “But I agree that we can’t just let non-INSH leadership take over without a fight.”
“They have chosen a good time to strike,” the Indian leader said. “Our people are ready for peace.”
“Which is why my proposal is the only option,” Burnett said. “It seems drastic, but if this Celeste organization is allowed to take over, you will be forced to destroy the whole of the American Conference. Cut off the finger to save the arm.”
“I agree,” Ulrika said. “I hate giving such a weapon to a person who has bumbled from one cock-up to another, but it’s what must be done. Sam, don’t let us down.”
“Up yours, Eshenback,” Burnett muttered under his breath.
“What was that?” Ulrika asked sharply.
Burnett sat to type at the console. “I’m opening secure channels to each of you. Send the authorization codes directly to me. Kolette, how long until we are within range of New York?”
“Hold on, checking,” Kolette said. “Under four minutes.”
Burnett nodded to the INSH leaders. “This will all be over within five minutes. We’ll discuss further later. Target on screen.”
The front screen changed to show a distant view of New York. In one corner was a red number 220, then 219, then 218. Counting down the seconds until we were in range.
“Get me the terrorist leader on screen.” Burnett had lost the sheen of frenzy that had taken over him earlier. He was all purpose. “Let’s see if she can be reasonable and allow this to end without bloodshed.”
I leaned close to Will. “You can’t stand by and let this happen.”
Will looked straight ahead, ignoring me.
“Do you know something, Will?” I whispered. “He almost had me fooled, too. I thought that Burnett talked sense. But it’s clear now that he’s mad and that this whole system is crazy. Forget about the words; think about what he’s actually doing. He is planning to destroy Under Nyork and everyone who lives there. A soldier’s duty to follow orders has limits.”
“Just shut your mouth,” Will snarled.
Larsen took a step closer, tightening the grip on her gun.
Burnett became aware of the talking, and he walked to the front of the command center then turned around to face us all. “I hope everyone in this room understands why this has to happen. It might seem drastic if you don’t look at the bigger picture. Festering wounds must be cauterized for the good of the body. If we don’t take this action, INSH will have to destroy the Conference. If that doesn’t happen, the world will revert back to its previous state where humanity was on a headlong path to its own destruction. I have many friends in Under Nyork, as I’m sure you all do, too, but we hold the future in our hands. We must be strong—for the sake of our whole race. It’s not just me who feels this way. The entire INSH leadership is in agreement with my plan.”
I looked to either side to see if others were buying into Burnett’s future. Kolette nodded with bright-eyed eagerness, Arianne showed disgust and horror, and the rest hid their feelings behind neutral expressions.
Chapter 7
The main screen divided in two: one side showed the distant image of New York and the countdown clock, and the other showed Zirconia again.
“I hope you aren’t wasting my time,” she said. “Have you decided to agree to our demands?”
“Bring the son forward again,” Burnett said. Larsen reached for my arm, but Will grabbed me first and pushed me forward until I stood beside Burnett.
“I hope you don’t intend to try and use my son as a hostage again,” Zirconia said. “We’ve been over this.”
“No,” Burnett said. “I have a much bigger hostage now. The city of Under Nyork and everyone in it. Jordi, would you read the red number on the other part of the screen?”
“One hundred thirty-five seconds,” I said.
“And explain what will happen after that time has elapsed,” Burnett said.
I didn’t see a reason not to do as he said—Zirconia needed to know what was coming. “He’s activated a nuclear missile on board the Roosevelt,” I said. “Burnett intends to blow up the whole undercity. Mother, he’s not bluffing; he’s serious. Hundreds of thousands of lives are at stake.”
“Nuclear technology has been lost,” Zirconia said.
“So you don’t know everything,” Burnett said. “It’s for emergencies and can only be activated if the whole Grand Council agrees. The payload is embedded in a rock-burrowing missile—another piece of technology that no one else has—that can penetrate one hundred meters below the surface.” He glanced up at the screen. “Now one hundred fifteen seconds. If you and Darius admit on public broadcast that you are terrorists who are trying to take over the Conference, I’ll hold off on launch. Time is ticking.” Burnett pressed a button, and Zirconia was replaced by a full-screen image of New York. I could see distinct stories in the skyscrapers—we were getting closer.
“Kolette, monitor public broadcasts from the Conference. Let me know if the terrorists comply.”
Will pulled me back toward the wall. Arianne must have done or said something, because Larsen kicked her in the back of her leg. Arianne fell to her knees, and Larsen lifted her wrists, contorting Arianne’s back and forcing her shoulders down until Arianne’s head almost touched the floor.
Before I could react, Will pushed me chest-first against the wall. “Don’t think you can get away with trying that on me,” he shouted.
“I didn’t…” I snapped my mouth shut as I realized what Will was doing. I glanced over my shoulder and watched as Will pointed his gun down at the chain joining the cuffs. He pulled the trigger, and in a flash of red light, the cuffs came apart.
“What’s going on there?” Larsen demanded. Will had been shielding what he had been doing with his body, but Larsen craned her neck to see. “He’s releasing the prisoner,” she shouted.
Then, holding Arianne’s wrists in one hand, she raised her other one and pointed her gun directly at me. “Good. I’ve been looking forward to this.”
I swallowed, frozen on the spot.
She fired.
The only person who reacted was Will. He threw himself at me, shoving me aside. The shot missed me and went through him.
He fell. I crashed against the wall and stumbled.
“Very brave to die defending your friend,” Larsen looked down at where Will lay. “Stupid, though. I’m still going to kill him.” She aimed her gun straight at my chest. “For Christina.”
Arianne sprang upward, jerking Larsen’s arm. The shot went high, and Arianne twisted out of the other woman’s grip. Larsen was bringing her hands back down for another shot when Arianne’s knee snapped up, hitting Larsen’s wrist and sending the gun flying. Arianne head-butted the Bureau chief in the nose. Larsen collapsed to the ground.
I knelt in front of Will. “It was my turn to save you,” I told him.
His skin had a sickly pallor. “Don’t worry about me. Save the undercity. Stop Burnett.”
He was right. I couldn’t help him. Spotting Will’s fallen gun, I ran over and picked it up. “Hang in there,” I shouted to Will.
Arianne had thrown herself to the floor and was contorting her body. When she stood up, I realized what she had been doing. She had managed to get her handcuffs from t
he back to the front. Larsen was scrambling for her gun, and as soon as Arianne got to her feet, she raced after her.
I turned Will’s gun toward Burnett, but he had ducked behind his console. Kolette and the other technicians drew their weapons. I dived behind the nearest empty console. Pulses of red laser soared over my head, hitting the wall behind me. Smoke began to rise in front of me, and alarms blared.
I glanced up at the screen where the broken city loomed ever larger and the red numbers continued to count down. Only eighty-five seconds left until we were within range.
“The captain has ordered a unit to take control of this room,” Kolette reported.
“Go into lockdown,” Burnett ordered. Heavy reinforced doors descended over the exits. I stuck my head up to shoot at the central consoles again then ducked down as Kolette returned fire.
“Damn her to hell,” Burnett shouted over the clamor of the alarm. “All the rest have sent their codes, and nothing from that Eschenback woman.”
I peeked around the side of the console then pulled my head back as more laser pulses flew. The smoke inside the control center thickened as naked flames spouted from the damaged electronics in front of me. At least the full codes hadn’t been received yet. Burnett had to be stopped, and I wasn’t sure I could do anything while trapped behind the console. Perhaps Ulrika Eschenback had experienced a change of heart. A loud knocking came from one of the exits. Or perhaps Captain Hollister would find his way inside in time.
A screech drew my attention to the left. Arianne and Mari Larsen were intertwined, struggling against each other. Larsen shoved Arianne against the wall and hit her in the face with an elbow. Then Arianne grabbed hold of the other woman’s shoulders and hooked her leg behind Larsen’s calf. They went down, and in the scramble, Larsen ended up on top. Arianne punched her in the stomach from below but got caught by a right hook in the jaw. The point of my gun wavered back and forth, but I couldn’t shoot at Larsen without risking hitting Arianne.
I glanced back at the screen. Fifty-six seconds. Shit! I couldn’t worry about Arianne any more than I could worry about Will. I also couldn’t rely on anyone else to stop Burnett. I had to do something.
The console in front of me was burning up, and the overhead sprinkler systems had turned on. From my position, it was hard to get a good shot in. So I took a deep breath, and keeping my head low, I raced toward another empty console. I held my gun out to the side and shot blindly in the general direction of Kolette and the other technician, hoping to make them keep their heads down. Black smoke stung my eyes. I ignored the return fire, concentrating on getting back to cover as fast as possible. I dived the last few yards, making it just as a flurry of red laser pulses flew past me.
I leaned back against the console, coughing out mouthfuls of smoke. A weird sensation in my leg made me look down, and I saw a neat hole in the fleshy part of my left thigh. It was only after seeing it that the pain grabbed me—a searing agony that made me gasp. There was no blood, so there was nothing to do to treat it. I squeezed my eyes shut and ordered my brain to ignore the pain, then I opened them again and poked my head around the side of the console.
I did have a better angle on the technician, at least, and he was momentarily distracted piloting the ship. I carefully aimed then fired. The shot went high, and the technician ducked instinctively. I cursed under my breath then fired three more times. The last shot seemed to hit home, because the technician slumped down, but I couldn’t be sure as Kolette fired at me, forcing me to pull my head back.
A shower of sparks fizzed from the console in front of me, and I covered my face. I was drenched with water, but it was doing little to quench the fire raging all along the wall to my left. Pieces of the ceiling fell with a crash, feeding the flames even more. On one exit, a line of red-hot metal showed where Hollister and his crew were trying to force their way in. Several holes decorated the front screen, and flames licked one corner of it. The red number was still visible. Forty-three seconds.
The sound of the alarms hadn’t decreased in intensity, but they had faded to the background. I glanced back to see Larsen run into a far corner. Arianne charged after her and grabbed her arm just as Larsen reached for a gun. It spun out of both their reaches. Not far away, Will still hadn’t moved. No one else would get to Burnett in time. It was down to me. But I didn’t see how I could get to the central area of consoles without being shot.
Thirty-four seconds.
“Yes,” Burnett screamed. “She sent the codes. Eschenback, I could kiss your ugly mug. All is forgiven. We have authorization.”
The ship lurched hard to the left. Then the number paused at thirty-one then flickered out to thirty-two.
“Kolette, what’s going on?” Burnett shouted.
“The pilot is dead,” she shouted back.
“Take over then.”
“I can’t do that and hold off the rebels at the same time.”
“Slide the gun over to me. I’ll take care of them.”
This is my chance. Maybe my only one. I peeked around the side, and when I saw Kolette bend down to slide the gun across, I scrambled toward Burnett’s console. My left leg screamed at me in pain, threatening to buckle at every step, but I couldn’t allow myself to fall. I reached Burnett at the same time as the gun did. He was bending down to pick it up, and I came in from the side and kicked it away. My left leg gave way beneath me as I kicked, and I fell at Burnett’s feet.
Burnett straightened with a snarl on his face. Nothing of his usual composed persona was present. His eyes were wide and bloodshot, and his fingers were curled into claws. “This has to happen,” he said.
I got back onto two feet, leaning on my right, and a punch crashed into my jaw, knocking my head back. The ferocity of the strike surprised me; I hadn’t expected Burnett to be so strong. I didn’t fall, though. “The future of humanity depends on it,” he told me.
I lowered my shoulder into Burnett’s midriff and charged, driving him across the control center, and rammed him into the far wall. My thigh burned with pain, and I used Burnett to support my weight as much as I could. He clawed at the back of my neck, trying to wrench me free.
I held on tightly, but Burnett was a man possessed. “I am only doing what must be done,” he said. “It is the only reasonable option. The other way lies chaos.”
“If destroying a whole city and all its inhabitants is the reasonable option, I choose the side of the madmen,” I managed. “Wherever that may lead.”
“Devastator is back on course,” Kolette shouted over the blaring alarms. “Thirty seconds until we are in range.”
Burnett fired a knee into my stomach. My breath caught in my diaphragm, and my grip on Burnett relaxed. He wrenched himself free and hit me in the chin while I struggled for breath.
“Twenty seconds,” Kolette said.
Burnett tried to pull away, but I managed to grab hold of his shoulder, twisting him around. Burnett threw an elbow, which caught me flush on the nose. A spike of pain shot up into my forehead, and my eyes watered. I stumbled back, and he broke free.
I hobbled after him as he ran to his console. The screen was flashing red numbers with the words danger and nuclear standing out. Just as I was about to reach Burnett, he turned around and punched downward, hitting me directly in the left thigh. My vision went white, and I collapsed to the floor.
Burnett hit the engage button.
“Out of range,” the voice of the console computer said.
“Kolette?” Burnett shouted.
“Five seconds.”
I exploded upward, throwing myself at Burnett. He fell against the side of the console, with me on top of him. He shoved his hand into my face, twisting my head back. I clung to him, concentrating on covering his body with mine, keeping him away from that engage button.
“We are in range,” Kolette announced. Through the smoke, the broken skyscrapers of New York loomed large on the main screen. The red number zero flashed on and off.
Burne
tt threw me off him and reached for the console screen. I grabbed his arm and dragged him back. Burnett punched me in the face again and again, but I barely noticed. My whole body was an ocean of pain, and each new blow was just another drop. I couldn’t let go. It just wasn’t an option. I gritted my teeth and pulled with all my strength.
Burnett ran out of energy before I ran out of resolve. He stopped hitting me and fell to the ground on top of me. I thought I had won, but he wasn’t done yet.
“Kolette,” he shouted. “Engage the nuke.”
Through the hazy smoke, I saw Kolette move from her console to Burnett’s. This time, I could do nothing. Even if I had the strength, I was too far away. I could only watch in horror. Then a second figure materialized out of the smoke. Arianne blocked Kolette’s path. She looked haggard with scratch marks across her cheek, and her still-cuffed hands hung limply in front of her. She also looked as though it would take an army to move her.
Kolette took one look at Arianne then ran away. A second later, I realized what she was doing. Kolette knelt in front of the dead technician and picked up his gun. She raised it up, but Arianne was there in front of her, swinging two-handed across Kolette’s arms, knocking the gun free. It skittered across the floor, stopping short of my reach.
The floor shuddered, and a loud bang rocked the command center. Light streamed into the room from the corridor outside. The lockdown door had been breached. Soldiers holding rifles ran in from the corridor, followed by the captain.
“Everyone put down your weapons. I am taking back control of my ship,” Captain Hollister said.
With a roar, Burnett freed himself from me and staggered to his feet.
“Stop him,” I shouted, but everyone seemed frozen in place. He ran at the central console. I couldn’t catch him, so instead I scrambled to my left. I reached Kolette’s gun, picked it up, and fired at Burnett. I shot four times. Bright-red pulses streamed after the running statesman. This time I didn’t miss with the first shot. I didn’t miss with any of them. The first pulse went through his lower back. The other three went between his shoulder blades.
World War 97 Part 5 Page 5
