“Come on, we’ll show you!” Rem and Lanny disappeared back out the door, leaving Selene and Rikkard to exchange a confused look.
“Damn, can they please leash the excitement? It’s the middle of the night,” Eria grumbled from the bunk on the other side of the room. She lay on the top, and turned over, pulling a thin sheet with her.
Darius slept soundly on the bunk below, and Flik was nowhere to be seen. Selene shook her head and got up, yanking on her boots and quickly flattening her hair with her hands before she followed Rem and Lanny down the hall to the cargo hold.
Rem had his worktable set up with three holoscreens and a set of holokeys glowing on the metal table. Lanny stood beside him, motioning at them to come and look at the screens, which cast cold blue light over the entire cargo hold.
Selene took what she assumed was once Lanny’s seat, and glanced between the three screens to discern what she was seeing. Two screens were filled with text: English words, alien symbols, and numbers. The middle screen had several windows open: security footage, a map of New Manhattan, building schematics, and security logs.
“Zoom in.” Selene motioned at the security footage. She squinted as Rem zoomed in, widening the screen before pressing play on the video.
Dark shadows moved down a hallway, two men emerging with a body held between them.
Selene gasped as the two Dominion guards dragged an unconscious Sav down the hall of what appeared to be a lab. His hair and clothes were soaked, and his head lolled to the side as they dragged him by his armpits. Selene’s heart ached as she realized where they were coming from.
A vat.
A chill washed over her arms and made her shiver. It was all too easy to call back images of the stark labs and glass vats filling with blue liquid. She shook her head to clear the images, and rubbed her arms to get rid of the goosebumps hiding beneath her suit.
“You found him.” Selene forced a smile. “That’s amazing. Where is he?” She glanced at the other screens as Rem minimized the security footage. He brought up an aerial view of New Manhattan and pointed at a large skyscraper in the middle of downtown.
“The footage is from this building,” he said. “The entire thing is mostly labs, but the real experiments are going on in the bunker below.” Rem flicked the screen away and brought up the schematics. The skyscraper was two hundred stories high with two sub-basement levels below ground, only accessible by one elevator or by an emergency tunnel that came out several miles down the street.
Selene’s eyebrows pulled together as she looked from the bunker up to the top of the building. Instead of labs, the top floors were designed as some kind of residence, a penthouse atop the Dominion laboratories.
Her heart skipped as she realized why the structure was so familiar. It was the same building she’d escaped from only days ago.
“Shit,” she hissed.
Her fingers balled into fists in her lap, and her shoulders stiffened.
“What is it?” Rem looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
“The top.” She shook her head, unable to believe it. “That’s Pate’s penthouse.”
Rem’s eyes widened. “You mean where he was keeping you?”
Selene nodded.
The others went silent as they stared at the schematics. It wasn’t just the fact she might have to revisit the very place that she’d fought desperately to escape from that worried her. No matter how badly she wanted to rescue Sav, she only had a couple days before her clone body started to decay. She needed to get her real body back soon, or she might not live to see the day Zelena Stein died.
But they still didn’t know who was in her body, or exactly how to get to Zelena. She was a well-protected public figure, and they’d have to be careful if they wanted to escape alive.
Having Sav could give them another leg up, another teammate to rely on, and another angle to explore. Selene bit her lip. They’d already saved Rikkard, and it wasn’t fair to Flik and Lanny to dangle Sav in front of them like this and not go after him. She’d made a promise, and she planned to keep it.
“All right, Sav. We’re coming for you.” Selene smiled, and Rem and Lanny met her gaze with toothy grins.
Rikkard’s fingers squeezed her shoulder, telling her what a bad idea this was, but Selene ignored him.
“What’s the plan?” Lanny asked.
Her mind raced with possibilities. “Well, we’ll need a distraction. A big one.”
Lanny raised his eyebrows. “I think I can help with that.”
With a well-developed plan and a list of supplies ready to go, Selene snuck off to the kitchen while the others packed their gear. They’d gotten a few hours of sleep, but something was on her mind she just couldn’t ignore.
Glancing back into the hall, Selene made sure no one had followed before she slipped her phone from her pocket—courtesy of Rem with a warning not to give it to any former enemies this time.
Selene flicked her fingers across the screen as she took a seat by the kitchen nook. She unlocked the thin screen and brought up Ivy’s information, or technically her old phone’s info. She hesitated between two icons: a small envelope to send a message, and another an ear with two curved lines beside it.
Should she call, or simply send Ivy a message? They were returning to the Dominion building after all. Ivy had to be stationed there at least part of the time since she’d been the only reason Selene escaped.
She gulped and hit the envelope button. She had no idea if Ivy kept a ringer on, or if she could answer right away. A message, even if vague, would at least serve to warn her to stay clear of Pate’s penthouse for the day.
Hey, she typed. It’s S.
She didn’t want to use her full name in case someone read Ivy’s message before she could. S should be vague enough.
Stay clear of the white tower today.
Selene bit her lip. She hoped Ivy knew what she meant. She didn’t think she could be any more clear while also trying to be cryptic.
Her phone dinged seconds after hitting send.
Got it, the message read.
Selene sighed, her shoulders sagging with relief. Though Ivy had tried to kill her multiple times, she had also saved her. Whatever this new alliance was, she hoped Ivy would return the favor should the time come.
Returning her phone to her utility belt, Selene snuck back outside the kitchen to join the others, hoping no one had noted her absence just yet.
Hot wind blew her hair around her face, whipping it against her skin. Selene sighed and pushed it back, trying to tuck it behind her ears for the millionth time. She missed the days when she had a wig. Though the hair wasn’t real, and was much shorter, it was so much easier to tame out in the desert.
The sun beat against her skin, making her sweat. Though she still had the suit provided by the pirates, it had no body temperature regulator built in, and as she well knew, black fabric attracted heat. Once this was all over, she’d have to insist Rem make her a new one, or she might die of heat exhaustion before their next mission.
“It shouldn’t be long before they get back,” Selene said. They’d already gathered supplies from town, so now they waited in the Outskirts of New Manhattan, crouched behind a bar. Where there’d once been shade when they arrived, the sun had since shifted, casting its harsh rays upon her back. Selene rolled her shoulders and shifted on the crate she sat on. Her legs dangled over the edge, her feet a few inches above the sand.
Rikkard leaned against the wall beside her; his arms crossed and sweat dripping down his temples.
After they’d made plans to rescue Sav, everyone had the chance to clean up, and get some new clothes. Lucky for Rikkard, he was similar in size to Flik, though she bet his t-shirt was tighter than he liked. Selene smiled as she assessed his well-built chest, the black fabric taut against his skin.
“This is taking too long,” Rikkard complained.
Selene sighed, glancing up at his face. “It’ll be fine.”
“This is the secon
d day isn’t it?”
She pursed her lips. “Maybe.”
Rikkard narrowed his eyes. “It is. That leaves you two, maybe three days until clone decay sets in.”
Selene sighed. She missed her old body. She never had to worry about clone decay, or life cycles before. As a nat she’d have simply lived, aged, and died, in a normal eighty to a hundred years. But as a clone, she could live forever, and Selene wasn’t quite sure she was ready for that kind of commitment.
“I know,” she said.
“You shouldn’t have agreed to this,” Rikkard added—not for the first time.
“I know.”
“This is time we could be spending getting a plan together.”
“I know.”
“And gathering information about whoever the hell Zelena Stein is.”
“I know.”
Rikkard huffed. “You make extremely foolish decisions when I’m not around.”
Selene opened her mouth.
“And don’t say, I know.”
She closed her mouth and smiled sheepishly. Talking to Rikkard when he got like this was like being scolded by a parent. He’d lecture her no matter how old she was, or how much of his viewpoint she understood. Eventually she hoped he’d realize she was still going to do what he called stupid shit, as long as it got the job done.
Rikkard shook his head, exasperated. “I should have known you were still alive. You’re far too stubborn to die.”
Selene grinned at the small joke. She couldn’t help it. It was seldom she got to see Rikkard poking fun. “Damn straight.”
Rikkard flashed one of his rare smiles, stirring butterflies inside her belly.
A shadow loomed overhead as a huge hovercraft tanker approached from the West, sleek and silver, light flashing off its smooth surface.
Rem leaned against the windshield, waving at them as Lanny brought the tanker down for a smooth landing twenty feet from where they waited.
“About time,” Selene said as she hopped off the crate.
The stolen oil tanker was a key part of the plan. She doubted it had been tough for Rem and Lanny to steal it since the ships were typically remotely operated. All they’d have to do was override the computer’s directive, and switch controls to manual. Though oil wasn’t used much anymore, the Dominion did like to gather up the fumes that remained and dispose of them safely.
Selene walked toward the tanker as the door to the small cockpit opened. Though it was a huge vessel, stretching nearly forty feet in length, the actual command station was rather tiny. She assumed it was because no one usually manned the thing.
Rem stepped out as a set of stairs unfolded from the side of the cockpit, about ten-feet or so off the ground. He descended quickly to join Rikkard and Selene by the small cruiser waiting nearby. While Flik and Darius had taken the other, Selene and Rikkard ‘borrowed’ one from town and filled it with their supplies.
“Took you long enough,” Selene said. Though they were pretty much on time, Selene couldn’t help teasing Rem. His reactions were always priceless and she wasn’t disappointed when his eyes widened and he held his hand to his chest in mock-offense.
“I’ll have you know we are perfectly on time,” Rem said, abashed.
Selene grinned. “If you’re on time, you’re late!” She led the way to the cargo hold of the small cruiser. It had no kitchen or living quarters, only a small cargo bay, a bathroom and a four-man cockpit. It would do for an alternate escape vehicle. They were coming prepared, just in case things went awry.
“Bullshit,” Rem scoffed.
Selene laughed as they all took their seats in the cockpit, Rikkard taking the pilot’s seat, and Selene manning the co-pilot one while Rem took up a passenger seat.
“This feels so wrong.” Rem shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
“You shouldn’t have gotten used to running the ship.” Selene chuckled. “You knew the boss was coming back, and that’s his favorite part.” She winked at Rikkard, who only rolled his eyes at their banter.
“Ready?” Lanny’s voice buzzed through the coms stuck in her ear.
Selene held her finger to the talk button. “Ready.”
Rikkard’s hands flew around the command console as he booted up the engine and revved the hovercraft blades on either side of the cruiser.
“See you there!” Lanny said as the huge tanker lifted from the sand and back into the sky.
Selene saluted Lanny from the window and buckled in as Rikkard closed the cargo hold doors. They lifted from the desert, and joined Lanny in the sky, heading straight for New Manhattan.
Selene crouched beside Rikkard and the rest of their crew, absent Lanny. They huddled together by the mouth of the alley between two old business buildings with the smell of seafood wafting up her nostrils. Selene wrinkled her nose and glanced over her shoulder. When she chose this spot to hide, she hadn’t realized it was directly behind a seafood restaurant.
Sighing, she faced the four-lane street. Traffic wasn’t quite as thick this far away from downtown, but they still had two lanes to cross to get to the median between highways. The road between highways dipped, pavement descending into a concrete cave with two armed guards, and a huge metal door.
That was their ticket inside the Dominion bunker. While Lanny’s distraction went off, the rest of them would wait, and in the chaos they’d take out the guards, and Rem would hack their way inside.
The tech whizz sat on the opposite side of the alley beside a large dumpster. His eyes narrowed in concentration at the small holoscreen and remote keyboard sitting on his lap. His fingers raced across the keys. He hadn’t spoken a word since he sat down. While Lanny covered the distraction, and the rest of them were the muscle, Rem had to oversee the entire operation, watching Lanny’s trajectory while surveying the Dominion building, security, and the street, plus finding time to hack their way inside.
It was a huge job—one she couldn’t imagine entrusting to anyone else.
“How’re we doing?” Flik asked Rem. He crouched beside Selene, while Rikkard and Darius waited behind them.
Rem didn’t even glance up. “Lanny is en route. He should arrive at the end of Main Street any second.”
Good. They were right on schedule.
As another waft of seafood snuck up her nose, Selene peered out the end of the alley. As promised, the huge oil tanker turned down the street, thirty feet above the road, and picking up speed. Her pulse raced as the tanker’s shadow darkened the pavement.
Selene glanced down the opposite end of the street at the Dominion laboratory building, and the place she’d narrowly escaped. She took a deep breath, and placed her hand on the cold metal of her laser pistol. The assurance it gave her was astronomical. She hoped she’d never have to feel its absence again.
“On my way,” Lanny said over coms.
“We’re in position,” Selene replied.
“Picking up speed.”
They all waited in hushed silence. It was a straight shot down Main Street to the Dominion building. There was no going back now. Selene’s heart raced as she watched the tanker fly, quickly passing their hideout, and gaining on the building. Ten blocks from the lab, Lanny would eject and the tanker would crash into the building. She couldn’t imagine a better distraction than toppling an entire building.
Her heart squeezed. Part of her felt bad for destroying it—not because of the structure itself—but because of the people that’d inevitably get hurt. She shook her head, reminding herself it was the weekend, and only security should remain inside. Security that most likely knew what went on in the basement and the penthouse, and still kept it to themselves. Her fists clenched as she recalled Pate’s guards hauling her back into her room, tossing her on the floor. They’d known she was there against her will, and yet they did nothing.
No. Whatever guards perished today, she wouldn’t waste her time feeling sorry for them. She quit her scan of the building, her gaze lowering to the vault-like door to the bunker. At l
east Sav would be safe in the basement, which from the schematics might be better described as a fortress.
Taking a deep breath, Selene refocused on the mission. “How are we doing, Rem?”
“Two minutes until impact,” Rem said, almost mechanically as he continued to type with a speed she could hardly follow.
The tanker flew faster and faster, rising slightly as Lanny aimed it directly at the fiftieth floor. They didn’t want to bring down the entire building—not right away at least. As long as they could pull as much security out of the bunker as possible, that was the goal.
“Wait, something’s happening,” Lanny said.
Selene’s eyebrows furrowed. “What’s wrong, Lanny?”
“I can’t move the controls. It’s stuck on autopilot.”
Selene looked at Rem. “What’s going on?”
Rem’s eyebrows cinched together as he concentrated on his holoscreen.
“Rem?” she tried again.
He didn’t answer.
“Rem, what the hell is going on?” Flik stood and took a step towards Rem.
“I can’t do anything!” Lanny shouted, his voice rising with fear.
Selene’s heart raced as the tanker grew closer and closer to the lab at the end of the street. There couldn’t be more than sixty seconds left. Lanny’s deploy point was coming up fast.
“They locked us out,” Rem balked, his eyes wide and his fingers pausing over his keyboard. “The control tower couldn’t bypass my firewall, so instead of taking back their ship, they locked the controls.”
Selene stood. “There’s got to be something you can do!”
Rem froze, his fingers shaking as he stared at the screen.
“Rem!” Flik shouted. “Do something!”
“I can’t eject!” Lanny cried in her ear.
Her mind raced and her eyes burned as she watched the tanker. Twenty blocks. Fifteen.
“I can’t fucking eject!” The sound of Lanny slamming buttons came through loud and clear. His voice caught and his breathing grew ragged. He gasped with every breath, sobbing as he tried desperately to eject from the tanker.
The Zahkx Alliance: A Sci-Fi Dystopian Adventure (Dominion Rising Book 2) Page 15
