Skybreach (The Reach #3) (36 page)

He began to pray.

Jozef Gudbrand sat calmly behind one of the plasma shields as his soldiers carried out their part in his grand scheme.  In some ways he was surprised that things had gone as smoothly as they had.  He’d figured that sooner or later his luck would run out, that the Enforcers or the Redmen would do something out of character and surprise him.  However, up until this point, that simply hadn’t happened.  Every element that he’d designed had slotted neatly into place like th
e cogs in a finely tuned watch.

Now, it was all drawing to a close.  The final moment had arrived without a hitch.

Jozef felt elated.  He thought of how far he’d come, how all of those years of planning and toil and sacrifice had finally paid off.

He could die with contentment in his heart and, after, his spirit would slip into the loving embrace of Mother herself.

How proud she would be.  How grateful.

Grenades soared overhead and tumbled across the Atrium, sending the Redmen scattering in all directions.  Moments later they went off, a deafening clamour that repeatedly shook the very air around them.

Behind the plasma shield, Jozef and his followers were safe.

He checked his wristwatch one last time, then a serene smile came across his face.  He knew that those grenades had been a signal.  They
indicated the moment at which the point of no return had been crossed.

The payload had arrived.

Jozef waited for a few moments, but he simply could not contain his joy.  He got to his feet, fearless, in full view of their enemy.  A couple of the Redmen had already retreated.  Stepping around the plasma shield, he began to stride across the Atrium toward the Stormgates.  The Redmen who had remained were still recoiling from the grenade attack, and at least one of them was injured, being dragged away by one of his comrades.

Jozef kept walking as bullets whizzed around him.  He felt untouchable, as if he were somehow above the battle, watching it as a grand master might survey a chess board, rather than being right there in the thick of it.  Time seemed to stretch out, each footstep spanning a minute, an hour, an entire day.  The last moments of Jozef’s existence seemed to pull taut at the whim
of some supernatural force, perhaps even by Mother herself; a final gift to her most favoured son, a moment in which to savour victory.

There was a flash in the late afternoon sky outside, and then a distant roaring sound.  The entire Atrium seemed to heave, and Jozef fought to remain on his feet.  Huge chunks of steel and mortar began to rain down around him, and suddenly the gunfire stopped.  The explosions stopped.

The floor shifted under his feet, and the massive arches of the Stormgates groaned and twisted, and, astonishingly, the blue energy fields inside winked out.

Jozef felt a surge of exultation.  It was done.  He had succeeded.  He and the other Children had done the impossible.

He raised his arms and lifted his face, roaring in triumph. 
“Mother, watch over–”

The final utterances of his mantra did not pass his lips.  A massive wall of flame thundered across the Atrium, a tsunami of heat and turbulent fire that destroyed everything it touched, roasting the screaming Redmen in their metal suits and reducing everyone else, including Jozef himself, to
little more than ash.

34

Knile grappled at the controls of the RECS, forcing it along the smoke-filled corridor as quickly as he could manage.  Manipulating the machine was a steep learning curve, but he was slowly getting the hang of it.

Still, he wasn’t moving as quickly as he would have liked.

Just ahead, Duran and his companion, Zoe, were leading the way toward the elevators.  Duran had glanced back at him constantly, not through impatience, Knile figured, but rather through mistrust.  He could imagine what was going through Duran’s mind – that Knile was simply waiting for the opportunity to double-cross him – which was to be expected.  After all, Knile had the advantage.  He could use the RECS to crush the two of them as easily as grinding his boot heel on top of a bug.

Knile, however, had no intention of doing that.

In reality, he did not hold any great sense of animosity toward Duran.  Although the inspector had proven to be a constant
pain in the
ass over the years, Knile understood that he was simply trying to do his job.  He was a hard nut – tenacious, relentless – and he could obviously hold a grudge, but those were not necessarily bad qualities to have.

The problem was that Duran did not view Knile in the same light.

It was evident from Duran’s baleful glares that he hated Knile to the core.  His passion radiated out from his eyes with such intensity that Knile could almost feel the heat of it every time Duran turned in his direction.  Knile had been surprised when Zoe had been able to defuse the situation back at the transit station doors.  The way Duran had been looking at him, he would have sworn there was nothing that could have prevented him from pulling that trigger.

Duran obviously held this Zoe in high regard, to allow himself to be influenced that way.

Knile had escaped death back there, but he knew that wasn’t the end of it.  He suspected that, given the chance, Duran would give in to his hatred and seek to destroy him at a later time, perhaps when Zoe was occupied elsewhere.

After all, Duran seemed to have convinced himself that Knile was some kind of arch villain.  Had he seriously considered the notion that Knile was working with Children of Earth?  The idea was laughable, and yet Duran had thought it to be true.

He’s trying to give himself more reasons to kill me
, Knile thought. 
It’s a way to justify his crusade.

Knile didn’t want to kill Alec Duran, but if it came down to a matter of survival, he knew that he might have to do just that.

“Elevators just ahead,” Zoe called over her shoulder.

“Take the next left,” Knile said.  He heard his own voice amplified and projected through the external speaker on the RECS, an unusual sensation.

A rearview video feed was projected onto the interior of the RECS, and Knile could see Roman and Remus lumbering along not far behind.

“How’re you doing back there?” he said.

Roman manipulated the claw on the RECS into a makeshift ‘thumbs up’ gesture.

“All good.”

Damn.  Roman’s making me look like an amateur.

They headed around to the left, then the elevators came into view a short distance further along.  Knile had thought that reaching them safely would somehow lift his spirits, but instead his heart sank.

They all came to a stop before the elevators and stared in dismay.

There were perhaps thirty sets of doors lined out before them, an ample selection.  However, from each and every one poured thick black smoke.  As Knile watched he saw angry red tongues of flame slip through the cracks in the doors nearest to them, scorching the metal.  He could also smell burning plastic and rubber even from inside the RECS.

“What the fuck happened?” Duran said.

“Doesn’t matter,” Zoe said.  “We’re not going anywhere in these.”  She turned back to Knile.  “Any ideas?”

“Let’s check the next elevator bay,” Knile suggested.  “Hopefully the ones further to the north haven’t been trashed.”

They got moving again, making their way past the array of smoking doors and heading along the corridor that led to the next bay.  Roman increased his pace and moved his RECS alongside Knile.

“Did you get through to Talia or Team Omega?” Roman said.

“No, there was just static on the line last time I tried,” Knile said.

“So we don’t even know if they’re still alive.”

“Probably just some relays knocked out,” Knile said, trying to sound calm even though he was wondering the same thing.  After the massive explosion from earlier, the loss of comms to the others in Skybreach was an unsettling development.  The condition of the elevators wasn’t particularly reassuring either.

Piecing all of those facts together, Knile couldn’t see any kind of positive outcome.  He wondered if this whole exercise of trying to find a working e
levator was perhaps a moot endeavour.

Had the game been lost already?

He decided he couldn’t think that way.  They had to press on and find a way up to the Atrium.  In the meantime, they could only hope that the other members of Skybreach had survived.

In a matter of minutes they reached the next elevator bay, which was in a similar state to the first
.  Smoke spewed from the elevators, clogging the air with stinking murk.  There were people gathered here, citizens with tools and hastily gathered belongings trying desperately to force the elevator doors open.  At the sight of the RECS thundering toward them they turned and fled into the depths of the Reach.

“Keep going,” Knile said without slowing down.  “Next bay.”

Duran turned to glare at him again with disdain.  Even though he said nothing, Knile could decipher his thoughts easily enough.

This is a waste of time, Knile.  We’re getting nowhere fast.

Knile ignored him and they proceeded on.  He considered suggesting that they head back to the transit tunnels and cut across to the other side of the Reach, but there was no real justification for it.  For all he knew,
all
of the elevators were
toast.  At least by moving sequentially across the bays they could rule them out one by one, rather than choosing random locations and hoping they got lucky.

Several minutes later, they came to the next bay.  Things looked decidedly better here.  No black smoke, no acrid taint of burning plastic and rubber.

However, that was where the good news ended.

People were everywhere, hundreds of them spread out across the waiting area like flies on a day-old carcass.  Many were arguing or calling out to each other, whilst others bashed away at the elevator doors as they tried to force them open.  Knile saw a team of men and women lowering a thick rope down one of the open shafts, while others seemed be cobbling together some kind of makeshift harness.

“Well, this is a right pretty mess,” Remus said.

“It’s a mass exodus,” Duran said.  “They’ve seen enough.”

“Who can blame them?” Knile said.  “The Reach is falling apart around them.”

Zoe stopped and looked around.  “So what now?”

“Let me try Talia again,” Knile said, even though he knew it was probably a lost cause.  “We aren’t going anywhere if we don’t get the elevators unlocked.”

Knile worked his arms inside the cramped confines of the RECS cockpit, hitting the redial button on his holophone.  He waited, expecting no answer.  Instead of static, however, he now heard a dial tone.  That was progress, but it didn’t–

There was an abrupt scratching sound, and then Talia’s voice flooded the compartment.

“Knile?”

“Talia!  Damn, it’s good to hear you.  Are you okay?”

“Yeah, we’re okay.  How about you?  Is Roman there with you?”

“All present and accounted for.  Where are you?”

“We made it to the roof.  I’m looking at the railcar right now.”

“Is Team Omega there?  Have you heard from Iris?”

“No, nothing.  We’ve lost contact with them.”

“What the hell happened?”

“We don’t know for sure.  There was an explosion, and the whole place shook like it was going to fall apart.  The Wire made a horrible screaming sound.  I thought for sure it was going to snap, but somehow it held.  Now there’s smoke out to the west, but we can’t see the damage from up here.”

“Is Aksel there?  We need an elevator unlocked.  Can he still do that?”

There was a pause. 
“Yeah, he’s here.  He said he’s back on the Consortium network.  Give me the details and I’ll pass it on.”

Knile looked around at all those who had gathered before the elevators.  He couldn’t imagine the pandemonium that would ensue should one of these elevators suddenly come to life.  No one seemed to have noticed the approach of the RECS amid the din, but he had doubts they would be able to intimidate this many people even with the machines in their possession.