Skybreach (The Reach #3) (30 page)

“And then, suddenly, I was Siddiqui’s favourite.  I was his champion.”  He lifted the coin.  “He tossed this silver dollar in the dirt at my feet, told me I could keep it until I had been defeated.  I resented him and everything he stood for, and in truth, I wanted nothing more than to throw that coin back in his face, to tell him I wanted no part of it.  But I kept the coin and took it with me to every fight.  Soon it became my talisman.

“And so, every month thereafter he would send a new foe at me.  Sometimes I was handed a weapon, and other times it was given to my opponent, but one thing never changed – I always played the percentages.  I was no entertainer, I simply took what was on offer, striking at my opponents where they were weakest, just as I’d always been taught.  I felled them all, one after the other, and all the while Siddiqui would squat over the pit, his eyes glittering, watching me kill.

“Then, he grew bored.  It wasn’t enough that I should draw blood for him.  He wanted more.  The situations became stranger, more unpredictable.  Siddiqui would throw a pair of vipers into the pit, or a vicious, starving dog, just to see what would happen.  Then came my final fight.

“I waited in the pit that last day, a sword in my hand, the scars of the last fight barely healed
.  Siddiqui appeared above me, more gleeful than usual.  That glimmer in his eye seemed maniacal.  I could tell that something was about to happen, but I didn’t know what.”

Silvestri paused, a look of bitterness and revulsion on his face.  “It was worse than I could have imagined.  It was not a hardened warrior or fearsome beast that was lowered into the pit that day, but a child.  A boy of no more than five years of age.”  He sneered.  “They even put a little wooden sword in his hand to add to the mockery of it all.  As the boy stared across the pit at me, Siddiqui announced that only one of us would leave that day.  As always, the fight was to the death.

“For a moment, I thought I might do it.  I thought I might kill the boy to save my own skin.  But as that terrified child stared at me, I finally understood.  Siddiqui’s love of the pit had nothing to do with feats of strength, of speed or skill.  His motivation was far simpler.  He wanted to see the depths to which someone would stoop in order to prolong their own life.  He took pleasure in seeing a man strip himself of his decency, his integrity, the very things that made him human, all so that he might live to see another day. 
That
was where Siddiqui drew his sense of power, his enjoyment.

“I put the sword in my belt, then turned my back on Siddiqui and climbed out of that pit.  Siddiqui was enraged, his fury murderous.  He sent his men after me, declared me a dead man, but I fought past them.  I cut through not only those who stood in my way, but through the very walls of Speck itself.  I found myself out in the wastes, face to face with another kind of death.  And I kept walking.”

Silvestri drew himself up and looked at each of them in turn.  “That day I made a choice.  I decided that I would rather die on my own terms than go on living a life that I despised.

“It’s the same decision I came to earlier today.  I know that the odds may not be in our favour, but… there comes a time when one must risk it all in order to win.  Now, the game is rapidly approaching its end, and I’m ready to do that.  I’m ready to risk everything for the chance of winning.  I believe all of you are as well.”

His eyes fell on Talia, and she smiled, offering him a silent nod of approval.  Silvestri smiled thinly in return, obviously not relishing the retelling of the story.  Talia understood why he had done it, however.  He was attempting to step up
to
the role of leading Skybreach, of inspiring those around him.  She admired that.

“How did you make it through the wastes?” she said.

There was a chiming sound, and the elevator began to slow.  Silvestri gave her a wink.

“That is a story for another day.”

The others seemed to shake themselves out of their stupor, concealing weapons and neatening their appearance
as they prepared to leave the elevator.  Lazarus straightened at Talia’s side, causing the wheelchair to groan in protest under his weight.

“May the shadows flee before us,” he said softly.

“What?” Talia said, but before he could respond, the doors opened on the Atrium and the afternoon sunlight flooded the compartment.

29

Duran’s breath was ragged and his legs ached.  The flashlight beam bounced across the tunnel as he ran, sending shadows scattering before them.

He and Zoe were making one hell of a racket, he knew that.  The sound of their boots thumping on the tracks must have been reverberating for hundreds of metres in both directions.  It couldn’t be helped.  Oberend was somewhere ahead, skulking in the darkness of the tunnels, and Duran had to reach him before he could slip away again.

At least, Duran
hoped
Oberend was ahead of them.  Robson had failed to answer his holophone the last two times Duran had tried to call him, and at this point he had no way of knowing whether his target had left the transit system or not.  They’d been running for what seemed like an eternity, but which in reality was probably more like ten minutes.  They’d passed two waypoints, but both exits had been locked, so they’d had no choice but to keep moving through the tunnels.

“Do you think we’ve lost him?” Zoe said at his side.  Although she sounded somewhat breathless, she had not held him back during the run – she was in good shape and, if anything, Duran had held
her
back.

“He’ll be here somewhere,” Duran said adamantly, even though he had been wondering the same thing.  “Just keep going.”  He turned to look at her.  “Can you try Robson again?  We’re pretty much blind without his help.”

“Yeah, I’ll give it a shot.”  Zoe called the number on her holophone and put the call on speaker as it began to ring.  Seconds passed, then more, and there was no reply.  Zoe lifted her hand to terminate the call when suddenly it answered.

“Songbird,”
came Robson’s voice.  There was a hoarseness to it that Duran hadn’t heard before, and he and Zoe exchanged a curious glance.

“Switch, you haven’t been answering.  You okay?” Zoe said.

“Not really.  The
proverbial has hit the fan here.”

“Huh?  What’s going on?” Zoe said.

The was no immediate reply.  Instead they heard the sound of rustling fabric and a zipper being rapidly opened or closed.

“Some guests have arrived.”

“What are you talking about?” Zoe said.

“There’s a pack of assholes trying to smash their way into the hideout through the back entrance.”

“Who?” Duran said.

“How the hell should I know?  Probably more of those goddamn looters looking for another target.”
  There was another rustling sound and something clattered noisily. 
“I’m sorry, guys.  I have to get out of here.”

“Wait there,” Zoe said, lifting her pace.  “We’re coming back to help you.”

“There’s no time, Songbird.  Whatever’s going to happen will be over by the time you get back.”
  Another thump, then a dragging sound. 
“I can look after myself.”

“Switch, we need an update on the target,” Duran said.  “Can you tell us where he went?”

“I’ve been just a bit pre-occupied, Phoenix,”
Robson said ironically.
  “I lost eyes on him, but it doesn’t look like he’s still in the transit system.  I think he left through either Waypoint Forty, or Forty-One.”

“Which one, Switch?” Duran said.  “This is important.”

“If I had to bet, I’d say Forty-One, but I couldn’t say for sure.  I’ve just unlocked the doors to both, anyway.  You can take your pick.”

There was light up ahead, and Duran spotted a worn sign that designated the area as Waypoint Forty.  Zoe did not slow her pace as she diverted from the track and headed for the doorway, which, like the previous waypoints, had been covered outside by large amounts of hoarding.

“Stay on the line, Switch,” Zoe said.  “Keep me updated with what’s happening.”

“I’ll try.”

“Wait!” Duran shouted, clutching at her wrist.  He brought her to an abrupt halt and she turned to him, eyes blazing.  “Switch said that Oberend probably went through Forty-One.  That’s the next one along.”

“Fuck Oberend,” Zoe snarled, wrenching herself free of his grasp.  “I’m going to help Switch.”

Duran lurched after her and grabbed her again.  “He said he could take care–”

“Get the fuck off me!” Zoe all but screamed, swinging her fist toward Duran’s face.  He deflected the blow and pressed in closer to get inside the arc of any subsequent attacks.

“You’re not thinking rationally!” Duran said.  “Calm down for a second, all right?”

“You don’t get it do you, Alec?  I don’t care about your crusade against Oberend.  I don’t care about your vengeance.  I never did.  And I sure as hell wouldn’t let a member of my team die because of it.”

“Then why did you come along in the first place?”

Zoe pushed away from him angrily.  “Because I’m looking for a purpose, okay?  I’m looking for a reason to keep on going.”  She waved her hands helplessly.  “You’ve found your purpose.  That’s great, I’m happy for you.  But killing Knile Oberend won’t give me any satisfaction, so it looks like you’re going to have to do it on your own.”

“Zoe,” Duran said desperately as she turned to leave.  “You can’t go.”

She reached the glass doorway that led out of the waypoint and looked over her shoulder at him.

“Why not?”

“Because I need you.”  He thought desperately of a way to convey his feelings to her.  “I know this sounds stupid, but you’re the only good thing that’s happened to me in the last three years, okay?”

“Cut the crap, Alec.”

“Don’t ditch me here.  Not now.  We’re close to Oberend, so fucking close I can
taste
it.  Stay with me a little longer and help me finish it.”

“And what then?  What happens after you’ve finally put a bullet in his head?”

He shrugged helplessly.  “You and I can figure that out together.  We can find a way to make our own future, whatever that may be.”

She shook her head sadly.  “Unless you can let go of your obsession, you don’t have a future, Alec.  You’ve become a slave to it.  You can’t see reason anymore.”  She turned the handle and opened the door.  “I’m not sure what lies ahead of you, but I know that I’m not a part of it.”

She left without another word, allowing the door to close slowly behind her.  Duran stared after her for a moment, then let out a bellow of rage and frustration.  How could she make him choose like this?  Why now, when he was so close to finishing it?

He had to try again.  He had to convince her.

Duran ran to the door and turned on the handle, but it was stuck fast.  It wouldn’t budge.

Goddammit.  It’s locked again.

Duran looked out into the concourse, raising his hand to thump on the glass in order to attract Zoe’s attention, but he stopped dead, aghast.

Zoe was not far away, standing as still as a statue.  Two Enforcers were advancing on her, rifles raised.  They were shouting something at her that Duran couldn’t hear through the glass.

Beyond, Duran could see three more Enforcers wrestling with a man on the ground over by the far wall of the concourse, perhaps twenty metres away.  The man screamed in protest and turned his face as the men in black pinned his arms, and Duran saw that it was one of the members of Children of Earth.

There was something bulky strapped around his midriff.

Duran’s mouth dropped open.  “Oh, fuck…”

His eyes returned to Zoe, who was slowly walking back toward the glass door with her hands above her head, the Enforcers behind her shouting instructions with their rifles pointed at the middle of her back.

Duran yanked furiously on the door handle, tugging with such ferocity that his arms shuddered with each impact, but it was no use.

He stepped back and pulled out the .38 he’d taken from the stockpile at Scimitar and fired twice at the glass wall at the side of the door, but he only managed to put a couple of small rounded fracture patterns in the material.

Ballistic glass.  Fucking perfect.

He looked out at Zoe again, and he could see that she had lowered the hand carrying the holophone to her ear.  She was still on the call with Robson.

Duran thumped on the glass and pointed frantically at the lock, but she wasn’t paying any attention to him.