The Reckoning: Quantum Prophecy Book 3

T
HE
D
ISCOVERY

“How many soldiers would you say are on this base? Including the ones down inside?”

“A couple of hundred, maybe,” Danny said, looking over the edge.

“Five hundred and forty,” Razor said. “There’re also seventeen armored personnel carriers, twenty-four jeeps, eight choppers, and in about two weeks we’ll be getting some big guns. There’s no way on Earth anyone is going to get in here without ending up looking like Swiss cheese. Swiss cheese with a
lot
of ketchup.”

Renata dropped back to the roof. “And it’s all for our protection?”

“That’s it,” Razor said. “You superhumans don’t really
need
protection, but the rest of us do.”

“Then let’s look at the facts. We’re surrounded by hundreds of highly trained soldiers. There’s a huge fence that even I’d have a tough time getting past. When the big guns arrive they’ll be active at all times, right?”

“That’s right,” Razor said. “Much as I hate to admit it, this is going to be a very safe place.”

“Then you’re looking at it wrong, Razor. All that firepower will be great at keeping people out. But it’ll be just as effective at keeping people
in
.”

Danny swallowed. “I think you’re right. Sakkara isn’t a fortress. It’s a prison.”

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THE

RECKONING

TEN YEARS EARLIER…

Her eyes streaming from the smoke that billowed from the burning battle-tank, Energy limped across the shrapnel-strewn battlefield to where Titan was sitting propped up against an overturned jeep. The hero was tearing his blue cape into strips—he’d already used several to bind a stick to his broken right leg.

He looked up as Energy approached. “Hey…You OK?”

“I’ll live.” Holding on to the jeep to steady herself, Energy carefully sat down next to him. “Just so you know, the medics are bringing their own bandages.”

Titan forced a smile. “Had to keep busy. Didn’t want to pass out.”

“So, did we win or lose today?”

Titan dropped the shredded cape and took hold of her hand. “I don’t think that’s something we’re going to know for a long time.”

Energy nodded, then paused. “Diamond didn’t make it. She was in her crystalline form when it happened. Without her powers, she wasn’t able to change back.”

“God… what was her name? Her
real
name?”

“She never told me. Max said he didn’t know either.”

“How are we going to find her family, tell them what happened?”

Energy didn’t answer.

Titan leaned his head back against the jeep. “She was just a kid.”

“I know.”

A voice called, “So how are you guys doing?”

They looked up to see Paragon striding toward them.

“We’re alive,” Energy said. “Thanks to you.”

“That’s all part of the job description.” Paragon unclipped his jetpack and checked a tiny readout on the back. “Damn. Left thruster’s just about blown. Not that it’s worth repairing now. If it’s true that you superhumans have all lost your powers, then I’m going to quit the business too.”

Titan began, “No, you should—”

Paragon raised his hand to his helmet. “Hold it.… Go ahead, Max…. Got it. I’m on the way.” Slinging his jetpack back into place, he said to Energy and Titan, “He thinks they’ve just found Ragnarök’s base.”

He soared into the sky.

Energy activated her communicator. “Paragon, you’re crazy! You can’t go after him without your armor!”

His voice came back. “Dioxin destroyed most of it. But maybe he did me a favor; the armor slows me down. Without it, I can get there a lot faster.”

“I’m on the way, Max,” Paragon said. “Tell me everything.”

“Ragnarök’s battle-tank was built a hundred and fifty kilometers west of here, big warehouse outside Westmoreland. My people have been checking the satellite images and traffic records. Their analysis shows a large SUV making regular trips between the warehouse and Sherman’s Bay, Chautauqua Lake. Same SUV
came back today, arrived in the warehouse an hour before the battle-tank emerged.”

Paragon said, “Max, that doesn’t mean it was Ragnarök!”

“They also detected a vapor trail from Ragnarök’s escape craft going in the same direction. They were able to pick it up by analyzing—”

“Skip the details,” Paragon interrupted. “Just give me the exact location.”

“I’m sending you the coordinates now.”

Paragon glanced at the map that was projected on to the inside of his visor. “I see it.”

“Checking it against the city’s ordnance database. It’s…Good Lord…. It’s an apartment block. We’ve been searching for this maniac for
years
and he’s been living in an ordinary apartment block!”

The army ambulance raced over the rough ground, hit a furrow and bounced. Inside, lying on the stretcher, Titan gasped as the pain in his right leg flared up again.

“Take it easy up there!” Energy called to the driver. She turned back to Titan and checked the temporary splint on his leg. “You OK?”

Titan gritted his teeth. “Not really.”

The truck bounced again and Energy grabbed a handrail to steady herself. “You’re going to be off your feet for the next few months.”

“I know.” He nodded. “Look, if our powers never come back—”

“We’ll survive.”

“Yeah, but—”

The ambulance swerved sharply to the left.

“Hey!” Energy shouted. “Watch where you’re going!”

“That wasn’t me!” the driver called back. “Something hit—”

Titan was thrown from the stretcher as an explosion ripped through the side of the ambulance.

“Paragon, this is General Piers. Backup is about ten minutes behind you.”

“I’m not waiting,” Paragon said. The visor’s readouts showed that the jetpack’s shuddering was being caused by the left thruster.
Just hope I can get there before this thing shuts down completely.

He dropped down to fifty meters—high enough to avoid the power lines, but not as low as he’d have preferred to fly with a malfunctioning jetpack. He knew that even if he’d still had his armor, hitting the ground from this height would be fatal.

OK. There it is.
The visor’s map showed the apartment block less than a kilometer ahead.

The homes and gardens of Sherman’s Bay streamed by below him as Paragon steered himself toward the building.

“General, I can’t see the craft…. Either he’s already gone or—” Paragon’s jetpack suddenly sputtered, lurching him to the left. “Hell. Jetpack’s on the way out!”

“Pull out, Paragon!”

“No, it can run on only two thrusters…” The apartment block loomed up ahead. “Just not very well.” Paragon angled upward, slowing as he neared the roof, and switched his helmet to infrared. “I’m getting two heat patterns in there. Neither of them big enough to be Ragnarök. Could be pets. General, better get your people to
widen the search radius. Ragnarök’s long gone.” He touched down on the building’s flat roof. “What’s the intel on this place?”

“He’s been living in the penthouse apartment for six years,” Piers replied. “Seems that the building manager thought he was a European rock star living in tax exile. Paid a lot of money to leave him alone.”

Paragon stopped in front of the door to the stairway and pulled a small device from a pouch on his belt. “Scanning…I’m picking up a lot of sensors on the door. Could be booby-trapped. I’ll check the windows.” He walked to the edge of the roof and stepped off, activating his jetpack at the same time.

He hovered in front of one of the large windows. “Sensors on the window too…. The infrared shows—”

The general’s voice interrupted, “Paragon. We’ve just heard that the ambulance carrying Titan and Energy has been hit. It must be Ragnarök!”

“All right, I’ll …Oh my God…. That can’t be right!”

“What is it?”

Paragon didn’t reply. He aimed his armor’s grappling gun and fired it directly at the window. The small but heavy hook plowed through the thick glass, showering the room inside with crystal fragments.

He kicked out at the window, widening the hole, then pulled himself through.

Ahead of him, six large glass canisters were mounted on a workbench. Cables ran from the canisters to a small monitoring computer.

Paragon swallowed. “General…better get your people in here. Right now.”

“Talk to me, Paragon! What is it?”

“I…I don’t…four of them are empty. But the other two…”

“For God’s sake, man! Just
tell
me!”

“They look like they’re about three years old. They’re suspended in some sort of fluid…. There’s…” Paragon walked around the canisters, staring at them.
How could he have done something like this?

Floating inside the nearest canister, the black-haired baby girl reached out and placed her hand against the glass.

Paragon stared at her.

She stared back.

And smiled.

A ripple of pain tore through Titan’s body, bringing him back to consciousness. He opened his blood-caked eyes to see a shadowy figure standing over him.

“You’re awake. Good.” Ragnarök leaned close, baring his teeth. “I didn’t want you to die without knowing who’d killed you.”

Titan looked around wildly. The ambulance was more than twenty meters away, burning. “Energy…”

“She’s unconscious, but alive. For the moment.” Ragnarök locked his massive fists around Titan’s neck and lifted him off the ground. “You ruined
everything.
I spent over a year working on that machine. I would have been the only superhuman left.”