The Black Tide

by Keri Arthur

  Personally, I doubted she would want to flee with us, if only because her actions at Chaos spoke volumes of where her loyalty now lay. “And if she doesn’t want assistance or help? What will you do?”

  “I don’t know.” He looked away. “I honestly don’t know.”

  I squeezed his arm and then let my hand fall. And hoped, with everything I had, that he would not be forced to make a decision similar to the one I’d been faced with in the sand base. Where are they being kept, Bear?

  In the secure bunkhouse at the far end of the corridor.

  All seven are awake and aware, Cat added. In fact, one of the boys spoke to us.

  I blinked as Jonas opened the storeroom door. What did he say?

  He wanted to know who we were, Bear said. And why we were there.

  What did you tell them?

  That we were exploring, Cat said. I think he thought we were real.

  I frowned. Meaning he saw you as flesh and blood?

  I think so.

  That was interesting if true, because even with my ability to both sense ghosts and communicate with them, I rarely saw my little ones as anything more than a shimmering sparkle. Only when they were playing in dust did they momentarily gain human shape.

  And the other laboratories? I asked. Anything—anyone—in them?

  Scientists. Bear hesitated. And embryos.

  I briefly closed my eyes. I’d been hoping against hope that we wouldn’t find another creations lab in this place, but I guess it wasn’t surprising that the evil trio had stretched their developments across all facilities. It made it easier to keep projects going if one or more of the labs got hit—which they certainly had.

  There is no one in the intrauterine pods, Cat said. And the cots and restraint cribs are also empty.

  Relief surged. That, at least, was going to make things a little easier. What sort of security have the labs and the bunkroom got?

  Two guards remain at the door up ahead, which is scanner locked. There are five in the corridor behind that, positioned at regular intervals between the labs.

  The bunkhouse is also scanner locked, and there is video monitoring, Cat added.

  How far is the first guard from the main door? Jonas asked.

  It took me a moment to realize he hadn't said that out loud. Obviously, the on and off nature of our communications were currently on—and it would certainly make things easier if it continued to be so, even though we could still communicate through the ghosts if it didn’t.

  He's not in the sightline of the door guards, Cat said. But there’s a body scanner in the door.

  Meaning no matter what we did now, the alarm would be raised the minute we went through it.

  We stepped into the storeroom and let the door close again. “Best move behind the rear shelves,” Jonas said. “Just in case they do a quick check of every room on their way to the med center.”

  They are close, Cat said. Their guns are drawn.

  Jonas responded by drawing his. I shoved the bloody bit of flesh holding the RFID chip into the coat’s pocket, then moved to the opposite end of the shelving and peered around. The door opened and a man stepped through. I pulled back, my breath catching in my throat as I waited, body tense, for any indication that they sensed our presence. Footsteps echoed as he moved cautiously into the room.

  Should we knock them out? I asked.

  Jonas didn't reply. I glanced over my shoulder and saw his frustrated expression.

  He says it's a toss-up, Cat said. Because alarms are going to be raised regardless once you both go through that door.

  All of which was going to make it even more difficult to get those kids out. And that, above everything else, had to be our priority right now. As the guard took another cautious step into the room, I said, Cat, Bear, can you go see if there's another way out of this place? Perhaps check the roof, and see what's up there?

  They raced away. The guard paused and then retreated. The door closed again and silence fell. I cautiously peered around the shelving, but it was no trap. The room was empty. I sighed in relief and stepped out. Jonas joined me near the door.

  “How do you want to play this?” I asked.

  “As quietly as possible.” He paused. “Is there enough light here to draw a shield around you?”

  I nodded. “I could possibly include you within its confines.”

  “Have you done something like that before?”

  “No, but I hadn't carried anyone with me in shadow until I did it with you in that bunker.”

  “Not an experience I want to repeat in any sort of hurry.” He scrubbed a hand across his jaw. “You shield. I'll play it straight, and we'll see what happens.”

  I called the light to me. Once I was concealed behind its brightness, I cautiously stepped out into the corridor. The guards weren't visible, meaning they had to be investigating one of the other rooms.

  We moved on, only slowing our pace once the corridor swept us out of the immediate sight of the two investigating guards. Even so, the tension in me didn't ease. It was something that wasn’t likely to change in the near future—not when we’re walking into a situation there might be no getting out of.

  There was no darkness to hide in here. And while I more than likely could conceal Jonas behind the light shield, it was only a shield. A trick of the eye. It wouldn’t allow me to rise above gunshots nor would the bullets go right through me without causing major trauma to my flesh—and his.

  The corridor finally straightened and the guarded doorway came into view. A heavily armed man and woman stood either side of what looked to be more a double-width blast door than the sort of door you'd normally find in non-military buildings such as this. There was also what looked to be an updated version of the eye and blood scanners that were still in use in my old bunker on the wall behind the female guard.

  And that meant if either our stolen RFID chip or the guards weren't authorized to go through that doorway, our rescue mission was dead in the water.

  I tucked in behind Jonas, keeping him between those guards and me just in case one of them was alert enough to catch the soft shimmer of the shield.

  The woman took a step forward and raised her gun. “Halt and identify yourself, Doctor.”

  “Medic Theodore Hasham,” Jonas said easily. “I've been called into facility three.”

  The woman frowned. “We've not been notified, and that's highly unusual.”

  Jonas continued to head toward her. I moved across to the other guard, doing my best to move silently—a near impossibility on these floors. Thankfully, the guard was watching the known threat rather than the unknown.

  “You know what control is like,” Jonas said easily. “The left hand never knows what the right is doing.”

  “Nevertheless, I'll have to check.” She paused and the sharp sound of a safety clicking off bit across the air. “Please come no closer, Doctor Hasham, or I will have to fire.”

  Go, came Jonas's whispered order.

  I lunged forward, grabbed the guard, and smashed his face against the blast door. His nose shattered and blood flew, and he made an odd sound that was part surprise, part pain. I repeated the blow, let him fall to the ground, and swung around. Jonas had disarmed the woman and had an arm wrapped around her throat.

  “If you want to live, you’ll obey every order.” His tone was flat, emotionless, and all the more terrifying because of it. “Understood?”

  The woman nodded, though she looked far from happy. But no matter how well she'd been trained, her skill set would never match his, even if they had been of equal size. He had the war and a hundred years of experience behind him. She did not.

  He unclipped the comms from her ear and put it around his own. “What's your partner's call sign?”

  “Seven-two.”

  It was little more than a gasp. Jonas hadn't eased his hold on her any.

  “Can you open this door?”

  She nodded.

  “Is it possible to switch off the
body scanner within the door?”

  She hesitated. He tightened his grip, and while her breathing became even more of a struggle, her expression became angrier.

  When he eased up again, she all but spat, “Yes, but neither of us have the appropriate code. And control's not likely to provide it. We haven't the clearance.”

  “The hard way it is then.” Jonas shoved her forward. “Open the door.”

  She did so. As the blast doors slowly responded, he knocked the woman out and then glanced at me. I might have been wrapped in a light shield but his gaze came unerringly to mine.

  “Drop the shield and save your energy. We're probably going to need it later.” He drew a second gun. “Ready?”

  “Yep. Let’s do this.”

  As the light shield disintegrated around me, he went through the door. An alarm immediately sounded, the claxon sound sharp and loud in the silence of this place. I followed but swung on the other side to shoot both the scanner on the wall and the one in the door. If they worked along the same lines as the old blast doors in my bunker, then taking out the scanners would immediately kick in the secondary defense system, and the door would be sealed.

  As sparks and smoke flew, a red light flashed and the door began to close again. Blast doors were notoriously hard to reopen, meaning we’d gained some respite from the additional forces that were undoubtedly on their way up. All we had to worry about now were the ones stationed on this side of the door.

  I ran after Jonas, but we were barely halfway down the corridor when two men appeared. Jonas took one out; I took the other. We jumped over their bodies and ran on. From the other end of the corridor came the echoing sound of bootsteps—four more guards were approaching us.

  Jonas slid to a stop, forcing me to do the same. “You want to try wrapping us both in that light shield?”

  I held out my hand. Once he’d twined his fingers through mine, I reached for the light and dragged the power of it through me—and through him via our clasped hands—creating a shield faster than I’d ever done before. It made my head spin and my heart race, and for several seconds, it was only Jonas’s fierce grip that kept me upright.

  With the shield in place, we moved across to the other side of the corridor to wait.

  The four guards soon came into view, the two on the far side of the corridor slightly ahead of the two on our side. Neither of us moved; we simply waited for them to come to us.

  A hollow boom bit through the air. I glanced around and saw dust pluming from the walls either side of the blast door. They weren’t making any attempt to get through it—they were instead trying to get around it. And that meant we once again had less time to get those children and get out of here.

  Other side came Jonas’s comment, then he squeezed my fingers and released my hand.

  As the light shield shimmered and went down, I raised my guns and shot the two guards on the far side of the corridor while he took out the two closest. The poor souls didn’t have a chance, but little sympathy stirred. They would have done exactly the same thing to us.

  I reloaded my guns and followed Jonas. The booming behind us grew stronger, and the nearby walls shook. We had minutes, if that, left.

  Cat, Bear? I said, as the corridor straightened and revealed six doorways. You got anything to report?

  They didn’t immediately reply, but a few seconds later, Cat’s energy whisked around me, her excitement making the air spark. We found two air scooters and a hauler.

  “Are they being guarded?” Jonas asked, passing a door without bothering to stop and check it.

  With time now at a premium, the children had to be our priority.

  Yes, Cat said. There are five men—two at the entrance onto the roof and one at the ramp of each vehicle.

  “I don’t suppose any of them have drivers inside?” I asked.

  No, Cat said.

  Jonas glanced at me. “That’s going to make things difficult. I can probably rewire the hauler if it’s an older-style vehicle, but it’ll take more time than I suspect we have.”

  “Have you heard anything from Nuri?”

  “Yes, but they won’t get here in time to be of any use.”

  “Then we’ve no choice but to make time.”

  Time for Nuri’s forces to get closer, time for him to rewire the hauler.

  “I’m not sure we have enough ammo to do that.” His voice was grim. “Cat, what’s our best way of getting up to the roof?”

  There’s an emergency exit opposite the room that holds the children, she said. It’s alarmed, so they’ll know you’re coming.

  “Not if I shadow, they won’t,” I said.

  Jonas glanced at me. “How can you do that when there are absolutely no shadows in this place?”

  My answering smile was flat and without humor. “With a whole lot of effort. But it’s not as if we have much choice.”

  He hesitated, and then said, “I guess not.”

  We reached the end of the corridor and the two doors of interest. I dragged the doc’s RFID chip out of my pocket and placed against the scanner guarding the door into the children’s bunkhouse. Unsurprisingly, the red light flashed and the door remained firmly shut. I spun around and tried the exit door, but the result was the same.

  I grimaced and dumped the bit of flesh to one side of the door. “Cat, do you want to go inside and see if you can convince—”

  I stopped as the bunkhouse door slid open. Standing in front of it was a black-haired, black-skinned boy who had the most amazing eyes I’d ever seen. They were tri-color, but the colors weren’t mixed. Instead, there were distinct rings of brown, blue, and silver. Though he looked to be no more than five or six, he very much reminded me of little Raela. There was a very old soul shining out of those eyes.

  “Are you here to rescue us?” he asked.

  It wasn’t until that moment that I realized that unlike the other children we’d rescued, his lips had not been sewn shut—and I couldn’t help but wonder why not.

  Jonas squatted in front of him and said, “Yes, we are, but there’s no guarantee we’ll be successful.”

  The child’s gaze solemnly switched from him to me, and then returned. “We’ll take that chance. But there are two problems.”

  I could feel Jonas’s surprise and amusement. “Those being?”

  “There are two who are too young to walk.”

  “They can be carried,” Jonas said. “The other?”

  “The other is that they’re all not only control chipped, but it’s attached to an incendiary device,” I said before the child could. “Foot or heart?”

  The kid’s gaze came to mine. There was little emotion to be seen in either his expression or his strange eyes, and I had to wonder just what had been done to this kid—whether he’d not only been a victim of their drug regime but also perhaps some sort of physical alterations in the form of DNA or even brain manipulation. In some ways, he reminded me of the soldier déchet, though he was very obviously capable of thought and reason.

  “Foot in six. Under the ribs in one.”

  “The latter being you?”

  He nodded. “It cannot be removed here. There is no time.”

  No, there wasn’t. Not if the noise coming from the other end of the corridor were any indication.

  Jonas glanced at me. “None of the others we rescued had any sort of incendiary or control devices placed in them.”

  “They were placed in our bodies very recently,” the boy said.

  A crash echoed and dust drifted toward us. Jonas swore and then said, “Tiger, you take care of the guards up top. I’ll remove the devices from the kids’ feet and then bring them up. Cat, can you go down the corridor and let me know when the soldiers down there break through?”

  As Cat sped off, I took a deep breath to gather my strength and then called the light to me once again. This time, however, I didn’t just have to create a shield, but one that was thick enough to block out all light even as it continued to reflect everythi
ng around it.

  And I had to do it quickly.

  A storm of light and energy shimmered around me, sparking brightly as it grew thicker and denser, until the corridor had all but disappeared from my sight and darkness claimed the space in which I stood. I reached for that darkness, sucking it in, letting it surge through every part of me, ripping flesh and muscle and bone into nothing more than particles in seconds flat.

  I would pay for that swiftness. But right now, I had work to do.

  I drew in the shield until it was little more than a tightly wrapped bubble around my particles and then slipped under the door and up the stairwell. The topside door was both metal and scanner locked, but there was enough of a gap between the bottom of it and the concrete top step for me to slip through.

  Bear? Where are you?

  I rose on the other side of the door and paused just in front of the two guards. My body was beginning to pulse—a warning that my strength was slipping away faster than time. I moved farther away and shifted back to flesh. For several seconds lights danced in front of my eyes, and it was all I could do to stay upright. I gritted my teeth, ignored the pounding in my head, and kept a fierce grip on the light shield.

  Next to the hauler, he said.

  Do you think you can take out the guard there?

  Of course.

  His tone was indignant, and I smiled. Good. Wait for my signal.

  I carefully unclipped the dart gun, moved closer to the first guard. He, like his friend, was wearing body armor and a full helmet, so I aimed for his thigh instead. The dart embedded deep into his flesh and he slapped at it, driving it deeper rather than dislodging it.

  I fired at the second man—who almost instantly pulled it free and raised it to study. “What the fuck?”

  “What?” the other man said.

  “Some bastard just hit me with a dart!”

  “Where the hell did they come from?” the first man exclaimed.

  “I don’t fucking know.”

  I crossed mental fingers that the dart had been in long enough to knock the second soldier out, and headed for the scooters and their guards.

  “Control,” the first man said, “There’s some weird shit happening up here.”