Authors: Sarah Alderson
I risked a glance sideways. My dad was standing in the doorway of the cell and he was carrying something in his arms.
‘Lila, the door!’ Alex shouted.
I slammed it closed again, catching an arm and hearing a high-pitched scream. I ignored the sound, struggling to keep my attention on the door when what was behind me was all I cared about.
‘Come on, this way!’ Alex was pulling and tugging on my arm. I stepped backwards, through the far door, and into yet another corridor, the whole time keeping my focus on the bullet-riddled glass door in front of me.
‘Wait here,’ Alex said, running past me at a crouch and back into the room. With a fluid movement, he bent and hefted Sara over his shoulder. Then he ran in a crouch back towards me.
Jack waited until he was through then sealed this second door shut before shooting out the control panel. With a gasp, I let go of the first door. The Unit burst through in seconds, sprinted across the room we’d just been in and started hammering and firing at the second door.
Jack took my arm and we started running. I didn’t dare glance over my shoulder to see. Every single step I braced myself for the pain and for the fall, my attention on my dad, up ahead of us. Just so long as he got out. Just so long as he got my mum out, it wouldn’t matter.
Jack’s grip on my arm tightened as he forced me into a sprint. We slammed through the door at the end of the corridor just behind Alex.
‘Dad?’ Jack yelled, pounding up the stairs ahead of us both.
‘Here!’ my dad shouted. We flung ourselves up the first flight and found him on the landing, kneeling over a body. I threw myself towards him and he caught me by the shoulder. ‘Careful, careful.’
She was dead. My mum was dead. She was lifeless, whiter than white, her lips as colourless as glass. She was lying across my dad’s lap, wearing a white hospital gown that blended with the colour of her skin. Jack dropped down next to me and took her hand.
‘Mum?’ he said, his voice choking.
Her eyes flashed open, startling me. It was as if all the colour within her was concentrated solely in her eyes. They were burning green, filled with life, with memories, with hope, with relief and joy.
‘Jack,’ she whispered, and a smile flitted across her lips. Her eyes travelled over Jack’s face and then to me.
I threw myself forward, feeling Jack at my side, my dad’s arms coming round us both.
‘Mum, Mum, Mum, I missed you so much,’ I sobbed.
Her hand reached up and stroked my hair, my cheek, and gently brushed away the tears that were falling. And then I felt another tug on my shoulder pulling me backwards.
‘Lila, come on, we’ve got to get out of here,’ my dad said, leaning down to scoop my mum up once more.
I realised only then we were still in the stairwell. Alex was leaning against the wall, resting Sara’s weight. His face was tight; beads of sweat had broken out on his forehead. His focus was on the stairwell below, the gun in his free hand trained on the door.
Jack pushed me up the stairs behind my dad. ‘Go, go!’ he ordered.
I started running, pausing to make sure the others were following. Jack had dropped back behind Alex and was covering him. I wished he’d just drop Sara on her head so he could go faster.
At ground level, I heard Alex yell at me to wait, but it was too late, I’d already thrown the door back. It hit the wall and my dad who was ahead of me stepped through into the wide-open space of the lobby.
‘Ahhh, there you are.’
I staggered back a step. Richard Stirling was standing in front of us. At his side was Robocop. He was aiming a gun straight at my dad’s head. My dad stood frozen, holding my mum in his arms as though she was a sacred offering. Her head was thrown back against my dad’s shoulder, her eyes were shut and one arm was dangling so low it was almost scraping the floor.
‘Going somewhere?’ Stirling asked.
The others burst through behind me. I heard Jack swear and then I felt Alex at my side, breathing hard, Sara’s body still hanging over his shoulder like a limp sack. I glanced over at him and our eyes caught for a second – his filled with a warning.
Don’t do anything crazy
, he was warning me.
Alex turned back to Richard Stirling and the expression on his face shifted, darkened. He raised the gun in his spare hand and levelled it at Stirling’s head. As he did so, he took a step in front of me. Jack moved at the same time to stand in front of my dad, shielding both him and my mum. He had his gun pointed straight at Robocop. It was a stand-off.
I took a deep breath. Then pushed past Alex.
‘Just let us go,’ I said, walking towards Stirling.
‘Lila,’ I heard Alex growl under his breath.
‘Let you go?’ Stirling answered with a bemused smile. ‘Why on earth would I do that? Right here in front of me I have several hundred million dollars’ worth of weaponry in the form of you and your anatomy. A few tweaks here, a little experimentation there and—’
‘And you can go to hell maybe?’ I finished the sentence for him.
‘Oh, Lila, quite the temper, haven’t we? It’s a struggle for you, isn’t it? Keeping control, I mean? We’ll need to look into that. I have to say, though, I am impressed. I completely overlooked you, but that’s some skill you have.’ He turned his attention away from me to Jack. ‘And you, Jack,’ he said, ‘now that’s something I never even imagined. When we finally got Dr Roberts talking, we were all quite intrigued and eager to get our hands on you.’ He shook his head, his eyes lingering hungrily on Jack’s chest.
Jack’s reply made me wince.
My dad’s response made me wince even more.
I thought about Dr Roberts and what they might have done to him and suddenly felt like I was going to throw up.
Richard Stirling just laughed. It was an eerie sound, rebounding off the high ceiling and marble floor. ‘Listen, you played your cards, you lost. I’m just a better poker player. When Demos and his little friends arrive in a couple of hours’ time, I’m going to have a full house.’
Hope exploded in my chest almost igniting me. Richard Stirling didn’t know that Demos was in the building. He thought he was in Washington. Our bluff had worked! And the alarm hadn’t gone off again. I wasn’t writhing on the floor in agony. Which could only mean one thing – Demos and Harvey must have deactivated it.
‘The building’s in lockdown, Lieutenant,’ Stirling continued, ‘and right behind you coming up those stairs is your old team. So I think maybe you’d be wise to put your guns down now, turn around and walk back the way you came, down to prisoner holding.’
Alex sighed loudly then took a step forward so he was standing by my side. ‘I’ve a suggestion,’ he said. ‘How about you turn around and walk back the way you came in and we’ll follow you out.’
Richard Stirling looked at him, stunned, before smiling tightly. ‘Yes, OK, when you’ve finished being funny, you can do as I say or I can shoot you.’
A sly smile began to form on Alex’s lips. ‘You could try,’ he said.
Richard Stirling’s eyes narrowed again, confusion passing over his face. But then it blanked out. His eyes glazed. Beside him, Robocop froze.
I looked up, startled. Demos was standing in the doorway. Harvey strolled out of the shadows behind him.
‘You took your time,’ I said.
‘Made it, didn’t we?’ Demos answered with a grim smile.
Demos circled Richard Stirling and backed towards my dad, letting his attention slip only for a second while he dipped his head to look down at my mum. I didn’t miss the way his face softened when he saw her or the way my dad’s hands tightened reflexively round my mum. Then, with a grim face, Demos marched straight towards Richard Stirling.
It was only then that I noticed Alicia standing halfway between us and the door, caught mid-step, her hands clutched at her sides. She was staring at Demos, looking like she’d just taken a bullet in her heart.
My attention was diverted by Jack who marched over to Robocop. He dropped the clip from Robocop’s gun into his pocket. ‘What about the men downstairs?’ he asked, crossing to the door that we’d come through, his gun aimed.
It was a good point. They should have broken through the door by now.
‘They’re trapped down there. I activated the lockdown on that floor,’ Harvey said with a little cough.
‘But we can’t just leave them in there,’ I said, ‘they won’t survive.’
‘It’s a nuclear bunker – they’ll be fine,’ Jack replied tersely.
I stared at him. ‘What?’ he replied, shrugging at me. ‘They will be fine. The fire department will find them in a few days’ time once it cools.’
‘He’s right,’ Alex spoke up, looking at me reassuringly. ‘They will be fine down there. It’s built to withstand a whole lot more than a fire.’
‘Everyone happy, then?’ Demos interrupted. ‘Great, then get out of here and off this base before the entire military figures out what’s happening in here. I’ll hold these guys until we’re all set.’ He nodded at Richard Stirling and his bodyguard. ‘Lila, are you ready?’
‘Yes,’ I answered, stepping forward.
‘I’m staying with her,’ I heard Alex say behind me.
‘Me too,’ Jack said.
Of course they were.
I watched as Alex hefted Sara off his shoulder and it was only then that I noticed the drips of crimson raining down onto the tiles and pooling by his feet. My eyes flew to his face, my heart lurching. His T-shirt was stained dark over his left shoulder and for a moment I thought he’d been shot, but then he handed Sara over to Harvey and I saw that Sara’s white top was soaked through with blood.
Harvey stared at her like she was roadkill, his lip curling in distaste. He took a long drag on his cigarette and finally nodded. Alex let go and Harvey held her, letting her hover half a metre off the ground, her fingernails scuttling on the marble floor, her head almost bent double on the slender stalk of her neck. Alex strode to me, his eyes holding mine, checking I was OK, trying to read me.
‘Be careful.’
I turned in a daze to look at my dad, his arms locked round my mum. ‘Be careful,’ he said again. I nodded at him in response and he smiled at me. I watched him leave, following after Harvey.
A few seconds after they disappeared, someone else appeared in the doorway. A flame-haired ghost wearing sleek black jeans, boots and a black sweater. Amber scanned the room quickly and then strode straight towards us, her heels clicking on the floor, her eyes shrouded dark grey. She stopped in front of Richard Stirling.
‘What are you doing, Amber?’ Demos asked quietly.
‘I wanted to see the man behind the Unit,’ she answered, not taking her eyes off Richard Stirling. ‘What are you going to do with him?’
‘We’re going to walk him out of here and hand him over to the police.’
Amber wheeled round to face Demos. ‘That’s
it
? That’s your big revenge? After everything he’s done. You think that’s justice?’
‘Amber,’ Alex said in a voice as smooth as rain. ‘Amber, we talked about this. This will destroy him.’
She looked at him almost pityingly, like he couldn’t possibly understand. ‘It’s not enough, Alex. How can you think that’s enough?’ She looked at me for back-up and my breath caught in my chest. I couldn’t argue. I was on her side. I wanted revenge too. I glanced at the gun in Alex’s hand. It would be so easy to flip it up and fire one shot. Just one shot. That’s all it would take. Just the lightest pressure in my mind and it would be done. All that pain Richard Stirling had caused, all the badness, wiped out with just a thought, the smallest of intentions.
My eyes met Amber’s – the grey swimming like a wet, winter sky. I could do it for her, for Ryder. And for my mum. And for Thomas.
Then I felt the warmth of Alex’s gaze on me. I felt his hand rest gently on my arm and my eyes were drawn to his face. He knew exactly what I was thinking. He could see it in my eyes and more than that – he knew me. He knew how my mind worked.
He wasn’t trying to stop me, though. There was no judgement in the way he was looking at me, only calm assurance that he was there. That he was leaving it up to me. But his touch did what it always did. It balanced me. It brought me back. Alex was right. I wasn’t going to let Richard Stirling turn me into something I wasn’t. I knew who I was now –
what
I was. I wasn’t going to be hunted anymore. But neither did I want to be haunted by memories.
‘Amber,’ I said, turning back to face her, drawing in a deep breath. ‘It’s not worth it. He’s not worth it. We’ve beaten him.’
Her eyes flamed for a moment, as though my betrayal had torn through her and ripped a chunk from her heart. Then, with her bottom lip trembling, she turned back to Richard Stirling’s frozen face. For a moment I thought she’d ignored me and was going to shoot him anyway. The gun shook in her hand. I glanced at Demos. Would he stop her? But his gaze was focused on Richard Stirling and his guard, his attention on holding them frozen. I wondered if I could spin the gun out of her hand. But before I could, Amber dropped her arm and let the gun fall to her side.
Jack was the first to move. He put his arm round Amber’s shoulder and bent to whisper something in her ear. She half turned, collapsing into him. Jack wrapped both arms round her waist to keep her from falling. He held her until her shoulders stopped heaving, one hand on the back of her head. Alicia then stepped forward and gently pulled Amber out of his arms before leading her out of the room.
When she had gone, Demos spoke to me. ‘Lila, are you ready?’
I took a deep breath. ‘Yes,’ I said, nodding. ‘But you should get out of here, Demos.’
‘I’ll wait until the others are clear,’ he answered. I was going to argue, but I felt Alex tugging on my arm.
‘Where are we going?’ I asked as we started jogging across the lobby.
‘Third floor. Where the labs and the server are.’
I nodded. Jack joined us at the elevator.
‘I’m not sure it’s safe for you two to be with me when I do this,’ I said.
‘Yeah?’ Alex asked as the elevator doors opened. ‘Well, I think we’ll take that chance.’ He bundled me inside and pressed the button for the third floor. I stood there, pressed between Jack and Alex, and closed my eyes, feeling both their arms rubbing against my shoulders. This is where I always wanted to be – where I always felt safest. Between the two of them. It’s how it had always been, but I had a sudden sense of foreboding that it was going to be the last time.