The Phoenix Variant: The Fifth Column 3 (21 page)

‘Parapsyche Ares—’ Czarina whispered ‘—erased.’

Sophia let out a small breath. She lowered her Glock.

Then Czarina bucked, her head smashing into the doors behind her. Czarina threw her body against it, limbs writhing. She screamed—a tormented, impossible scream.

Sophia took aim. Her arm trembled. She lined the sights with Czarina’s head.

Czarina cried out. Shrieked.

‘Stop!’ Sophia yelled. ‘Stop it!’

But Czarina didn’t stop. She wrapped a hand around her own neck as though she was trying to choke herself. She collapsed onto her elbows. Sophia watched her face turn white.

‘No.’

Czarina released her grip. She sat there, staring at her open hands, silent.

Sophia remembered to breathe. ‘Echo status,’ she said.

Czarina didn’t move. ‘Parapsyche Celaeno active.’

Sophia looked down to find herself on her knees. She let her head rest against the pole beside her. Its cool touch was refreshing.

‘Long had paled the sunny sky,’ Sophia said. ‘Echoes fade and memories die.’

Czarina met her gaze with renewed intensity. ‘All parapsyche backups erased.’

Sophia had two choices.

To either put Czarina back in her neopsyche—her programmed personality—or attempt to switch her into her real, original personality. Long before she was ready. It was the first time Sophia had tried this so soon. Even when she deprogrammed Damien and Jay in the field, she’d spent twenty minutes on each of them. And when Leoncjusz had taught her how to deprogram, he’d cautioned her that switching them before properly deprogramming was dangerous.

She didn’t have time to go any deeper. And she couldn’t take Czarina back to her neopsyche—she would just try to kill her.

‘Load archeopsyche,’ Sophia said.

There would be no further commands now. This was it.

Sophia swallowed. Waited.

The train remained still. There was no sound. They were alone in the tunnel together.

Czarina looked up at her. For a moment it seemed like she was almost choking. She cleared her throat and blinked.

‘Czarina?’ Sophia said.

‘I waited for you,’ Czarina said. ‘But you never saved me.’

Suddenly Czarina threw herself back, pressing against the cabin door. Then her fingers balled into fists.

‘It’s OK.’ Sophia holstered her pistol on her belt.

Czarina started to laugh softly. As though Sophia had missed an obvious joke. Czarina didn’t look up. But when she spoke, her voice cracked.

‘I went through two rounds of retraining because of you,’ Czarina said.

Sophia gripped the pole in front of her to keep herself steady. ‘What do you mean?’ she said.

‘I wasn’t convinced.’ Czarina shook her head. ‘Wasn’t convinced. Never convinced.’

Sophia rose slowly to her feet. She remained behind the pole.

‘What weren’t you—?’

‘You were a traitor.’ It brought a smile to her face.

Sophia slipped her hand back to her pistol. ‘Is that what you believe?’

‘It’s what they
made
me believe.’

‘Do you want to kill me?’ Sophia said.

‘Some wanted to,’ Czarina said.

‘I see,’ Sophia said.

‘Others wanted to be with you,’ Czarina said. ‘Some wanted to
be
you.’ She looked up, inspecting the advertising banners on the ceiling.

‘And what about you?’ Sophia said.

Czarina met her gaze. Sophia could feel it. A serenity that seemed out of place.

‘I wanted you to save me.’

‘I’m here now,’ Sophia said.

Tears made Czarina’s eyes shimmer. They spilled onto her cheeks.

Sophia wriggled the ruck from her shoulders. She laid it on the floor, pulled the zips, peeling it open so she could access everything inside. She picked out a scalpel knife, a cigarette lighter and a tube of Dermabond.

‘What are you doing?’ Czarina said.

‘Denton might know you’re with me,’ Sophia said. ‘Your RFID chip isn’t just a passive beacon. It has a geolocation transmitter as well. Once you’re above ground all they need is a satellite to pick you up.’

Sophia showed the map on her iPhone.

‘But none of his Blue Berets have seen us together,’ Czarina said. ‘At least none that are still alive.’

‘I know,’ Sophia said. ‘And the masked ones are not his. But I don’t want you being trackable, end of story.’ She held the scalpel under the flame of her cigarette lighter. ‘Will you do the honors or shall I?’

Czarina screwed her face up in protest. ‘Fine. I’ll do it.’

Sophia handed her the scalpel and stepped away. She couldn’t pick up on any hostile pheromones from Czarina, but she kept a safe distance to be sure.

‘Once you’ve thrown the implant out the window, we move to the next station,’ Sophia said. ‘I need to get above ground so I can get in touch with everyone.’

Czarina made the incision over the RFID implant in her forearm. ‘And then what happens?’

‘I’m working on that,’ Sophia said.

‘Can I ask you something?’ Czarina said. ‘What’s it like?’

‘What’s what like?’ Sophia said.

‘Not being an operative.’

Sophia shook her head. ‘Ask me later,’ she said. ‘Just get rid of that implant first.’

Jay checked his pink iPhone. No missed calls or messages. Damien was to take the Marauder north, away from Hurricane Isaias. The north end of Manhattan was their best chance of escape, across the Harlem River to the Bronx. The Harlem wasn’t actually a river but a tidal channel and estuary. Even in Jay’s condition, he figured he could swim it if he had to.

But instead of going north, Damien had taken the Marauder in the opposite direction: right into the hurricane as it shattered downtown. With the rear doors finally closed and one of its wheels ripped and dislocated, the Marauder somehow managed to continue at top speed. Jay had strapped himself into the seat nearest the driver’s cabin. While there was glass between them, he could still speak to Damien and Damien could still constantly check on him to make sure he hadn’t passed out or whatever. Which he hadn’t. At least as far as he knew.

The rain was lighter than he expected, drumming against Damien’s windscreen. Around them, cars were fractured wrecks, streetlamps bent and twisted, storefronts obliterated. And Damien was moving even further into the epicenter. The Marauder could withstand the most powerful of land mines and explosives, but Jay wasn’t sure it had been tested against a Category 5 hurricane. Despite its weight, it shuddered under the pressure of the wind.

Jay had lost track of how far south Damien had taken them but he recognized the wrought-iron fences of the square park. During his short stay a couple of years back he had gone there a lot, with and without Damien. He remembered the dogs always outnumbered the owners. He’d never had a dog, but there were plenty of strays around where he grew up.

This park stuck in his memory though. He used to grab a takeout mac ‘n’ cheese—mostly because he didn’t want to be seen eating alone in the restaurant—and instead be seen eating it alone in the park, picking at a cardboard box with a plastic fork. He’d order the gluten free version—mostly because Damien would guilt him into at least partially keeping within the operative diet—but he made sure to get three types of meat and a fair shake of Tabasco.

Now, the park was empty. The many dogs and their owners were long gone. Damien turned right and worked his way around the perimeter, dodging collapsed streetlights. Jay figured he was trying for Williamsburg Bridge. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

He’d urged Damien to search the dead driver next to him for a radio but the masked Blue Berets had switched frequencies already.

‘What’s the plan?’ Jay said, knocking on the glass.

They made it as far as a shuttered-up flowers and fruit market before Jay noticed something strange ahead. It was hazy, indistinct.

‘Get out of range,’ Damien said. ‘Which unfortunately means—’

‘That?’ Jay said, staring ahead of them.

‘Shit,’ Damien said.

Water rushed toward them. An angry surge of white foam whipped up by the hurricane wind. Damien couldn’t do anything about it. The Marauder was a slow stopper and a slow starter, and its turning circle was pretty shit too. Damien did the only thing he could do.

He went straight through.

The wave hit the Marauder with a thud. It was louder than Jay expected and for a moment he thought the armored vehicle would be ripped apart. The windows were filled with fierce white. He couldn’t see anything else, but he held on as the Marauder bucked and shuddered through the collision.

The Marauder lifted off the road and tumbled—only to land violently on the road again. Jay gripped his seat and the handrail above, elbows and knees bent. He braced himself. The white cleared from the water. It became a dark, almost impenetrable color. He could hear—and feel—the water surging over them, around them.

Damien’s eyes were wide. He looked unnerved. Jay relaxed his hands and knocked on the glass.

‘Hey,’ he said. ‘You OK?’

Damien took a moment to snap out of it. ‘I don’t know.’

‘It’s fine, the water will drop,’ Jay said. ‘OK?’

Damien nodded, not convinced.

The Marauder was back on the road, at a standstill.

Around them, the water’s surface lapped past the Marauder, past the side windows. The wave was gone and the water dropped below the windows, below Jay, below his legs, and found its level somewhere around ankle-height.

‘That might make it difficult for them,’ Jay said.

Damien was back to normal now. He tried to start the vehicle again. It didn’t sound promising.

‘Engine block’s flooded,’ Damien said.

Damien’s phone started vibrating. He put it on speaker. Jay could hear Sophia’s voice.

‘Do you have the meteorite?’ Sophia asked.

‘We’re doing great, thanks,’ Jay called out through the partition glass. ‘We have your rock too, by the way.’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ Sophia said. ‘Denton only needs one more rock and the masked Blue Berets have it. I’ll need your help to—’

‘We’re having enough trouble keeping their hands off this one!’ Jay said through the glass partition.

There was a pause.

‘Who?’ Sophia said. ‘Who is trying to track you?’

‘Fuck me,’ Jay said, ‘Who isn’t? The masked dudes, the operatives—’

‘That doesn’t make any sense,’ Sophia said. ‘How long since the operatives were chasing you?’

‘They almost got us near Grand Central,’ Jay said. ‘You’re tracking them, take a look for yourself,’ Jay said.

There was a short pause.

‘Every operative on the island is moving in your direction,’ Sophia said. ‘They’re not too close yet but that doesn’t make any—shit.’

‘You there?’ Damien said.

‘Denton’s misdirecting us,’ Sophia said. ‘He doesn’t want the meteorite from Peru at all. He wants the meteorite from the museum. The one you have. Aviary, are you there?’

Aviary’s voice came through the channel. ‘Yeah, we’re here.’

‘Good. Damien, Jay, where are you now?’ Sophia said.

‘East Village,’ Damien said. ‘But we have a problem.’

‘No, we have multiple goddamn problems,’ Sophia said. She didn’t sound happy. ‘What’s this one?’

‘Jay’s hurt,’ Damien said.

‘How badly?’ Nasira called out, her voice tinny as she spoke from somewhere near Aviary.

‘Took a round through the stomach,’ Damien said. ‘Look, it’s OK. He’s healing but he can’t really—’

‘Move,’ Sophia said. ‘I understand.’

‘Hey guys, I need you to hit the location button on your screen,’ Aviary said. ‘Right now.’

Jay peered over and saw that Damien was on a conference call with two people—one was Sophia and the other he figured was Aviary. They were labeled with the first letters of their names and they lit up whenever they spoke.

Jay could see there were six buttons on Damien’s screen:
mute
,
keypad
,
speaker
—that button was already highlighted—
add call
,
voice activated
and
location
. Damien hit the
location
button.

‘What now?’ Damien said.

‘Swipe from the top down,’ Aviary said.

Damien swiped down, pulling a new window over the top. It was a map with markers for both Aviary and Sophia. Jay could see Aviary was around Grand Central while Sophia was further west, in the theatre district. He could see their own location much further south, near the east coast of Manhattan.

Below that, Jay noticed a string of characters.

18TWL8584008819

It was Damien’s MGRS—Military Grid Reference System. The first two digits were the grid-zone designation, the rest narrowed the precision level to one meter.

Damien started rummaging around in the Marauder’s glove box. He grasped a hands-free with earphones and mike that plugged into the phone.

Aviary hadn’t given Jay or Damien any wireless earpieces, so a hands-free would have to do. Jay considered checking the rear cabin for a hands-free of his own but couldn’t be bothered. He knew he wasn’t going to be running around for a while.

Damien slipped the wire under his shirt, pulling his bow-tie off. He left the mike on a bit of slack around the collar so he could talk into it.

‘Damien, what’s your condition?’ Sophia said.

‘I’m fine,’ Damien said.

‘Good, because right now you’re the only person who can stop Denton from—’

‘Collecting all the Pokémon,’ Aviary said.

‘What’s that?’ Jay said.

‘A joke lost on an entire generation of operatives,’ Aviary said. ‘As you were.’

‘Aviary,’ Sophia said. ‘I need a favor.’

‘You got it,’ Aviary said quickly.

‘Can you find the nearest train for Damien?’ Sophia said. ‘Plot a route between us. I need an RV somewhere in between. A tunnel, a station, whatever. We need to do a handover and we need to do it quickly.’

‘On it,’ Aviary said.

Jay could hear the rhythmic drum of keys and mouse clicks as Aviary did her computer thing. The only other sound was the rain and wind battering the Marauder’s armor.

‘You’ll have to leave Jay somewhere,’ Sophia said.

Jay shrugged at Damien. ‘I’d just slow you down anyway.’

Damien looked at him, those big eyebrows narrowed.

‘You’re coming with me,’ Damien said.

Jay shook his head, but Sophia said the words for him.

‘He can’t,’ Sophia said. ‘He won’t make it.
’

‘You have to go. And you have to go now.’

‘Damien,’ Aviary said from the phone’s speaker. ‘I found a train at a platform. Second Avenue, a few blocks south of you.’

‘I have a better option,’ Damien said. ‘Williamsburg Bridge. It’s less than a mile from here. If I make it across—’

‘No,’ Sophia said.

‘I can do it,’ Damien said.

‘They’ll have it locked down,’ Sophia said. ‘There’s no question.’

Jay watched him plug the hands-free in, lock the phone and shove it into his pocket.

‘Second Avenue, got it,’ Damien said. ‘Jay, what about you?’

‘The sooner you get the fuck away from me the better my chances.’ Jay eyed off the .50 cal platform above him. ‘And that doesn’t hurt either.’

Damien shook his head. ‘They’ll look here first, the least I can do is get you off the street.’

Damien was already eyeing off the six-story building on their right. He pointed to an apartment entrance squeezed between a Thai and Mediterranean restaurant. The Thai restaurant’s roller door was closed, scrawled with graffiti, while the Mediterranean place was all glass, half submerged in dirty water.

Jay rolled his eyes. ‘Fine, hurry up then.’

Damien jumped from the driver’s cabin, carbine in both hands, and waded through the leftover water and battering wind. Jay landed in the murky water with his leather shoes. His stomach was on fire once again. If there was any fresh bleeding around his stomach Damien hadn’t noticed it yet. Instead, Damien cut a swift path through the water, toward a little red apartment entrance on the other side of the road.

Jay looked up. Deep gray tendrils curled the sky. The rain pressed his shirt to his skin and the wind made him falter with each step. He covered his face with one hand to keep debris from his eyes and waded after Damien, dodging a cluster of trash bags that floated past.

‘I’m guessing the carbine doesn’t work,’ Jay called out to Damien.

Damien slammed the butt stock into the glass door, shattering it. ‘Works for me,’ he said.

Jay ducked under the metal handlebar. His body seized up, pain flaring along his leg and through his stomach. He clenched his teeth and tried to remain upright.

‘Do you have picks?’ Damien said.

‘Yeah,’ Jay said. ‘The only thing I
am
carrying in this monkey suit.’

Damien was also still wearing his complete tuxedo, missing only his bow-tie. He handed Jay the carbine. Jay wasn’t sure what he could use it for except maybe to bluff someone. The better option was finding and raiding a police station for a shotgun or even a working carbine. At least they wouldn’t be fingerprint protected and he could actually shoot something for once.

Damien was about to leave. He checked his phone, then hesitated. Before Jay could walk up the stairs Damien reached through the door and gripped his arm. But he didn’t say anything. He knew he had to leave.

‘Go,’ Jay said.