“I said I’d come back for you, and I did. Now, there’s no time. Can you round up all your friends, and get them to follow me? Can you do that?”
He nodded and leapt from his bed.
“Darius,” Holly said, touching her ear. “Change of plans. Something weird is going on. This has been too easy. So, rather than send Elan through the way we just came, have them meet us at this back way you discovered. I’m gathering the kids. Tell me how to get to the back way so I can lead them out. We’ll hand them off to Elan and the teachers there.”
“They’ve been drugging the children with Yasoan song.” Odeon was horrified.
“At least it’s not an injection,” Charly observed.
“Go get the others,” Holly told them. “We’re taking them to meet the teachers. Back way.”
“Yeah, we heard, Holly,” Charly said. There was stress in Charly’s voice. It wasn’t for Holly, it was for the situation, which had them all nervous.
“Then move,” Holly said. “This has been too easy. It’s got to be a trap. But I’m not leaving the kids behind, even if it is.”
Jasper had done as she’d told him and now Holly had a room full of children staring at her, their expressions still appearing to be slightly drugged.
“I need you all to be very quiet. And to follow me. You’re going home.” They began to cheer and Holly put her finger to her lips to tell them to quiet down. They softened their cheers to a hush.
Holly led them out of the room into the narrow corridor. Odeon and Charly were in the process of getting the rooms of other children lined up and following them.
“The back way—head away from the main corridor, where you entered,” Darius said.
Holly directed the children to wait for her as she moved into the front of the mass of bodies. She exchanged words with Odeon who had now unlocked all the doors. Jasper and two other children were recruited to deliver the messages to the kids—be quiet, follow the humans and Yasoan, we’re going home.
Darius directed her further down the corridor until it intersected with a hallway running perpendicular to it. “Go left, Holly. Now, you’ll head about thirty feet that way until you come to a stairway. Take that down. It’s fifteen flights down to the main floor. But that’s the best way to move that many kids.”
“Have Elan meet me on the tenth floor,” Holly said. “The teachers can take an elevator up. He’ll take the lead, and I’ll bring up the rear. Estie and Val should be positioned in the middle of the kids. Have we got a count on how many there are? Charly? Odeon?”
“No idea. Does it matter?” Charly asked. Typical, Holly thought.
“There were one hundred kids per bunker hall. I counted twelve halls,” Odeon said.
“Twelve hundred children,” Darius said.
“Then we’ll want the teachers to be accountable for four hundred kids each. Let them know, Darius, please.”
“On it, Drake.”
She kept leading the kids down. Each floor had a massive number painted into the wall. She expected an ambush at any minute and kept part of her attention on her gun, snug against her back, and the rest of it ahead, scanning the area for someone waiting for them.
“I can see Elan,” she said. “You guys have the rear?”
“Yes, I’m here, Holly,” Odeon said. “Charly is positioned midway.”
Elan waited for her on the tenth level, as well as Val and Estie. Holly asked if they knew what to do. Darius had explained it. Elan exchanged a serious look with Holly. “Keep them safe,” she said to him.
“I will.”
He turned and continued down the stairs.
“Darius,” Holly said. “You got the team carrying out the rest?”
“Got it, Drake. Iain is waiting near the tanker. Shiro and Petra have planted the secondary device. I’m waiting for all the children to be ready in the wings. When they are, Petra will activate it. The children will run for the ship.
“Perfect.” She tried to feel hopeful, but there was a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. It was going so well. Too well. When would that change?
29
The last of the children passed her by and then Odeon was beside her. Estie took her position at the rear of the group, hurrying down the flights of stairs with them. As they went, Holly felt the worry in the pit of her stomach grow.
“Odeon. None of the teachers have weapons. How did that happen? I doubt Elan would have taken a weapon anyway. You and Charly, please go with them. Odeon, get to the front with Elan. Charly, get to the middle. I’ll stay here at the rear and keep Estie covered.”
They took off without a quibble, which told Holly that they too felt the eerie feeling that something wasn’t right. Holly continued down the flight of stairs slowly. She came to the ninth floor and saw nothing amiss. Each floor had corridors open to the emergency flight of stairs. Holly drew her gun her discomfort grew.
As she began down the stairs of the seventh floor, she could see the top of Charly’s head keeping the rear clear, sticking close to Estie.
Holly looked up and down the corridor and saw three figures coming toward her. An explosion behind her head told her she’d been seen. She ducked down into the stairwell and hurried down to the sixth floor, where she was able to take cover behind a stack of steel cube containers.
“Come out, Ms. Holly Drake,” a voice said. She recognized it. It was the Hand she’d already had contact with. “I have an aether cartridge with your name on it.”
She remained silent. Then he spoke to his companions. “She’s been messing with us. She’s the one. Everything bad that has happened to the Shadow Coalition for the last few months has been because of her.”
“What about the other one?”
“She’s minor compared to Holly Drake.”
“Really? I’m tired of Voss. I think she’s been harder to deal with. Especially when we’re on the base.”
Voss? So she was still around. What was that woman planning?
“Yoo-hoo, Holly Drake? I can see you. There’s a reflection in the metal cube.”
A projectile hit the cubes.
Over the comms, Darius was telling Charly and Odeon that Holly was under fire. Holly was grateful he could hear it and she didn’t have to try to speak. The cube burned away beneath the aether. Holly stood up and fired back at the three figures. One was a Driuviin. The other two were humans. “Three Hands? A Yasoan Hand?”
“I prefer Druiviin,” the Yasoan called back, laughing.
Holly ran further into the corridor looking for cover. Aether explosions continued around her. She sensed that they were toying with her. She found cover in an alcove and hugged the wall.
“I think we could actually get Holly Drake to join us,” said the familiar Hand.
“I doubt it. It didn’t work with Voss.”
“But she’s more of a simpleton. Drake is clever.”
Now Holly knew they were toying with her. Voss was no simpleton.
“Holly Drake, could you please get your friend Aimee Voss to leave us alone?”
“She’s not my friend!” Holly shouted, then moved to the opposite wall in the alcove. The place where she’d been standing suddenly lit up as an explosion rocked through it.
“Look, you’re a problem. She’s a problem. The thing that bothers me is that I’m pretty certain you want the same thing we want. So why not consider joining us.”
She wanted to defend herself, to deny to them that she wanted anything they wanted, but they only wanted her position so that they could fire on her again.
“Odeon is on his way, Drake,” Darius said over the comms. Holly wanted to scream no, but she bit her tongue.
“No,” she whispered. “Get the kids out of here. They’re the priority. Whatever happens to me, I can handle. But this is for the kids. Don’t fuck this mission up sending Odeon after me.”
She leapt away from where she’d been, moving deeper into the alcove. There was a door in the wall opposite from her. It was bolted wit
h a scanner-lock she saw, with a sinking feeling. She looked at her gun, realizing it was the perfect lock-pick.
“Yes, you want freedom from the Centau, correct? A stake in the 6-moons that doesn’t involve all of us being the servants of the Centau? We want the same thing. Join us.” The Hand that had been talking was the one she’d dealt with the most. He was arrogant and irritating. “So, we’re offering to let you join us. You can be a Hand, like us.”
“That’s not what I want at all. I’ll never sell out,” Holly called, then shot the lock on the door in front of her. The door opened and she jumped through just as the wall where her head had been exploded in fire. “Darius can you tell me where I am? I’ve got three Hands coming after me and I have no idea where I am. Some room off the back stairs on the sixth floor.”
“Let me check. Odeon is almost there,” he said.
“Odeon, wait for them to follow me into this room. We can box them in,” Holly said. “If you come up behind them, together we can trap them. They’re going to come after me into this room, which looks like a storage area.” There were stacks of chairs, and metal crates, and tables, as well as rolled up rugs and boxes with labels related to food.
“OK,” Odeon said. The sound of his voice relieved her.
“Bad news. There’s not another exit from that room, Drake, from what I can tell and if this schematic is right. Odeon is nearly there. I have to go. They’re about to launch the distraction for the tanker,” Darius said.
At least the rescue was still happening, even if Holly was pinned by the Hands. At least it was her that they’d trapped and not the children.
“I knew she was in here, didn’t I tell you she’d be in here?” The annoying Hand said.
“Do your friends ever get sick of you?” She called, crouched behind three layers of crates. She wanted them to come all the way in, so that when Odeon arrived, they were trapped in the room. “I would. That’s why I’d never join you.”
“I’m here, Holly, I have the door covered,” Odeon said.
How would they do this? At least one of them had a gun. Did the others have weapons?
“Can you see them?” Holly whispered. A crate exploded above her. The smell of peanut butter wafted down. “Are all three of them armed?”
“I only see two,” Odeon said.
“That means one of them is hiding or behind you.”
Odeon cried out.
Holly cussed.
“What’s happening? Ah, I see, you thought you could outwit us. Naive girl,” the head Hand said.
Holly leapt out and shot at him, her blood boiling. He was standing alone, which meant the other Hand was hiding. Holly rolled, assuming she was about to be shot at by the Hand she couldn’t see. She was right—the air snapped behind her where the projectile passed.
She came to a crouch behind a table and flipped it over to hide behind.
“Odeon!” Holly called.
“I’m ok, but busy,” he called.
She wanted to know what was happening. She wanted to know what was happening everywhere—were the kids getting away? Had Shiro’s distraction worked? Was he OK? Was Elan safe?
This battle needed to be hurried along. She would play their game back. “The Hands. So weak, I hear. The Heart has all the strength. Must suck being second to him. Or her.”
The Hands laughed, both of them, giving away their positions. Holly shot at the crate where one of them must be hiding. He cried out in pain. It was the Druiviin.
“I’m the Heart, Holly,” the arrogant Hand said.
“I’m sure you wish you were,” Holly said, shooting in his direction. She saw him jump and roll away from the stack of chairs he’d been hiding behind. Holly realized she only had two cartridges left in her gun. She knew one Hand was hurt and the other was fighting Odeon. She just needed to wound the other Hand and then she could go help Odeon, and then, hopefully, get the hell out of there.
She stood and shot again at the loud-mouthed Hand, hitting the chairs that he was hiding behind. She jogged to where he was hiding, using the momentary distraction to get close to him. He leapt out in front of her. His eyes widened, startled by her sudden appearance. She kicked him in the face. Holly wasn’t a trained hand-to-hand fighter like Charly was. Her skills were minimal and rusty, but with surprise on her side, she managed to knock the Hand down with the kick. He rolled away, but Holly aimed her gun at him. He snagged her foot and tried to pull it out from under her. She lost her balance and fell backwards, but twisted onto her feet again. She dropped to her knees and aimed her gun up at his face as he was bending over to pick up his own gun. He paused, the barrel pointed right at him, his fingers curling around the grip of his gun.
“I’ll fucking do it,” she said.
He grabbed his gun and tried to aim at her.
Holly dropped her barrel to his foot and pulled the trigger. He cried in pain and dropped his gun. She picked it up and slipped the Equalizer into her waistband.
“I’m taking this. By the way, you’re a monster. Enslaving children. Kidnapping them. Maybe the 6-moons will get lucky and you’ll die from the pain before you can get help for that foot.”
“You can’t leave me like this!” The Hand called.
Holly laughed, feeling just a slight pang by the accusation.
She went to check on the Druiviin Hand, sneaking cautiously around the obstacles in the room, careful to not walk right into a bullet from him.
She shouldn’t have been worried. He was unconscious. A ghastly burn mark across his right shoulder. She suspected he’d hit his head when he fell.
Holly then went looking for Odeon. She peered around the door. He wasn’t in the narrow alcove. She went to the edge of the alcove and peeked around the corners. He was in the midst of a fight with the other Hand, who had a sword. Odeon feinted and parried, using his staff to try sweep the Hand’s leg, but it was blocked and didn’t work.
“Odeon. I’m going to distract him. If it works, you should get a clear shot. If it doesn’t, I’ll want you to get out of the way while I shoot him.”
“Good idea, Drake,” Darius said over the comms, suddenly. “The children are mostly boarded. The tanker is going to be ready to go.”
“Well, don’t let them wait for us. Get them out of here. Odeon and I will figure something else out.”
“Odeon, ask that Hand who the Heart is. Where they are.”
“I’ll try,” Odeon said.
She heard him do it. The Hand just laughed. “No one gets to see the Heart.”
“Hey!” Holly called. The Hand flinched and looked back at her. Odeon used the momentary distraction to sweep his legs out from under him and disarm him with his staff, sending the sword clattering down the stairwell.
Holly ran to his side. She aimed the borrowed aether gun at his face. “The Heart. Tell me. Now.”
“You’ll have to kill me.”
Holly shot his foot, her favorite move to get baddies talking. He shrieked.
Holly gritted her teeth and smiled, attempting to seem crazy. “OK. I might. Don’t worry, it cauterizes itself. You won’t bleed to death, though you might wish you would. You want to rethink that?”
“He’s on Itzcap.” The Hand inhaled sharply through his teeth. “Not always. But usually. I’ve never seen him. I don’t know his name. I don’t know anything about him.”
* * *
Holly and Odeon raced through the base, not bothering to finish the stairs, following Darius’s directions to find an elevator back down to the main level. Iain Grant had successfully launched the tanker and left the base with the children aboard.
That was something, even if it meant that Holly and Odeon couldn’t get off the base for a while.
“Has Trip left?” Holly asked Darius.
“Yeah, she got out of there before the explosion happened. She didn’t want to get stuck there.”
“Are the bay doors closed?” Holly asked as Odeon hit the button to call the elevator.
Darius
’s voice when he spoke again was discouraged. “Yes.”
The elevator doors opened and Holly boarded. “OK. Still. We’ll figure something out.”
“Hey, wait,” Darius said. “The little harvesting ships. They’re not locked down.”
“That doesn’t help us much.” Holly paced in the lift.
“If you can get off the base, maybe Trip can intercept you.”
The elevator carried them down to the main floor. She made eye contact with Odeon, his vibrant gaze bright with something. The thrill. Fear. She wasn’t sure.
“Fine. Guide us to them.”
Darius took them through back corridors to the bay where they found the pods.
Odeon frowned. “They only fit one.”
“I guess we’ll have to split up.”
“But Holly, will you be able to?” Odeon looked at her, concerned.
“I haven’t got much choice. Unless I want to stay here. Darius, have you sent Trip back to find us?” Holly asked.
“Yes, she’s patrolling about a thousand clicks away.”
She took a deep breath. “Then this is it, Odeon Starlight.”
“You can do this. I’ll see you on the other side, Holly Drake.”
She swallowed her fear. Considering it was easy enough for a child to fly, Holly shouldn’t worry. She climbed in. The pod was about six times larger than she was with a huge canister system attached to the back. The hatch closed automatically. The pod powered up. As her pod guided itself out of the bay, Holly saw Aimee Voss appear in the bay behind her.
“Voss!” Holly cried.
“What?” Darius asked.
“I saw her too, Holly,” Odeon said.
The pod trembled as it left the base. Holly grabbed the control wheel and steered the pod away from Ixion, her breath coming fast. Her vision swam. She wasn’t going to make it. She was going to fall toward Ixion and die. Her pod wasn’t strong enough to fight Ixion’s gravity. The pod’s AI spoke, seeking a command and Holly gave it—fly toward Kota. Her stomach lurched. Her breathing sped up. The world was spinning. Or was that the pod?
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