Aftershock (20 page)

‘I need to know what’s happening down there,’ Nero said angrily. The images from the G.L.O.V.E. spy-sat had cut out at the precise instant that they had lost communications with Raven.

‘I am currently re-tasking all available G.L.O.V.E. surveillance satellites,’ H.I.V.E.mind replied calmly. ‘Estimated time until the first available asset is on target is one hour, three minutes and fourteen seconds.’

‘Still nothing on comms,’ Colonel Francisco said, shaking his head. ‘I can’t tell if we’re being jammed or if there’s just nobody there.’

‘Let’s hope it is the former,’ Nero said with a sigh. ‘Where are our nearest tactical teams?’

‘We have assault teams in China and Poland that can be on site in a few hours but we may as well send an assault team from here. We’d get there just as fast and we’re better equipped,’ Francisco replied.

‘Do it,’ Nero said with a nod.

‘I already have,’ Francisco said. ‘We’ll be in the air in ten minutes. We’re just prepping an assault Shroud for launch.’

‘I should have sent some escorts for the transports,’ Nero said, shaking his head. The armed assault Shrouds were rarely used for such simple transport missions as they were slower and less agile than the normal Shrouds due to their heavy armour and weapon systems.

‘We weren’t expecting trouble, Max,’ Francisco said. ‘There was no reason to send an armed escort.’

‘They were waiting. This was a pre-planned ambush,’ Nero said angrily. ‘How did they know where the Hunt was going to take place? We kept the details completely confidential to avoid a situation just like this. The only people that knew the location were me, Raven and H.I.V.E.mind. So how the hell did they find out?’

‘Harrington,’ Chief Dekker said. ‘He had access to the file with the operational details of the Hunt for a short time. He must have somehow transmitted the information to them.’

‘I suppose it’s possible,’ Nero said. ‘I want him interrogated. Chief – see to it personally. If he’s responsible for this I’ll make sure that he lives just long enough to regret it.’

seventeen years ago

‘Again,’ Pietor Furan barked as the three boys picked themselves up off the ground and advanced cautiously towards the girl. Natalya stood in the centre of the enclosed ring, her breathing slow and steady as her eyes flicked between her attackers. The three boys were much larger than her physically but they were also slow and predictable. All that she had to remember was to use their own size and weight against them. The first two boys lunged at her simultaneously while the third held back looking unsure. She pivoted on one leg and swung the other leg upwards, driving her heel straight into the first boy’s stomach. He doubled over and Raven spun behind him, driving an elbow into the small of his back and sending him to his knees. The second boy almost stumbled over his fallen comrade and Natalya seized the opportunity. Taking two leaping steps and, using her downed attacker’s back as a springboard, she launched herself into the air and drove her foot into the centre of the second boy’s chest. He collapsed backwards, gasping for breath, all the air knocked from his lungs. Natalya turned towards the third boy with a growl, taking a single step in his direction. The boy backed away, holding up his hands in surrender. Natalya stopped and looked in Furan’s direction.

‘Finish him,’ Furan said. ‘Or I will finish you.’

Natalya said nothing – she just stared back at Furan.

‘You three, out of the ring,’ Furan said as the two injured boys helped each other to their feet and staggered towards the rope ladder that had been dropped down the wall of the pit. Furan pulled off the camouflage jacket he had been wearing to reveal a white vest underneath and then jumped down into the pit.

‘You
will
learn obedience,’ Furan snarled as he stepped towards Natalya. She dropped into a defensive stance as he advanced.

‘Not before I take your other eye,’ Natalya replied with a cold smile.

Furan raised a hand to the star-shaped scar that surrounded his blind, milky white right eye. It had been six months since Natalya’s last unsuccessful attempt at escape from the Glasshouse. She had made it past the fences and was fleeing through the woods that surrounded the facility when Furan and his men had tracked her down. She had taken his eye that day and he had shot her in the shoulder, a wound that she had only recently fully recovered from.

‘Enough talk,’ Furan said, cold fury in his voice. He moved with a speed that was at odds with his size, aiming a series of blindingly fast punches at Natalya’s torso. She moved just as quickly, her arms moving in a blur as she deflected the flurry of blows. She countered with a flat-handed jab, her fingertips aimed at his throat. Furan caught her hand just millimetres from its target and twisted. Natalya grunted in pain and Furan swung a knee into her side, winding her. Furan took advantage of the opening and delivered a vicious blow with his forearm to the side of her head. Natalya staggered away from him, seeing stars and shaking her head. Furan kicked with almost impossible speed at one of Natalya’s shins and she collapsed to one knee, gasping in pain as he put a foot on one of her shoulders and pushed her flat on her back. He loomed over her and pressed his boot down on her neck.

‘No smart words now, my little Raven?’ Furan said as he pressed down harder with his foot. Natalya clawed at his leg, fighting desperately for air.

‘Pietor!’ a voice bellowed behind him. He turned to see his sister Anastasia looking down into the ring with a furious expression. He took his boot off Natalya’s throat and she rolled over on to all fours coughing, her chest heaving. Furan looked down at her with a dismissive sneer before he turned and climbed out of the ring.

‘She may very well be the best natural fighter I have ever trained but she is too strong-willed,’ Pietor said, gesturing towards Natalya, who was now slowly climbing to her feet. ‘I still think we should dispose of her.’

‘I know you are angry because of what she did to you,’ Anastasia said, gesturing towards his ruined eye, ‘but she is not to be eliminated. I have something very special in mind for her, you know that.’

‘And when it is done?’ Furan asked, looking over at Natalya as two guards motioned for her to climb out of the other side of the pit.

‘Then you may do whatever you want with her,’ Anastasia said with a smile.

Natalya lay on her bunk curled into a ball. She did not want to sleep – her sleep was still haunted by nightmares, vivid dreams of her dead friends. It had been nearly a year since Dimitri had been executed and she had been forced to kill Tolya and she was still haunted by the memory of the look of recognition in his eyes as he died. She knew that in that instant he had seen exactly who it was who had killed him, she had seen his confusion, his fear, his disbelief. It had left its mark. Since the events of that day she had found that she had no desire any longer to try to socialise with the Glasshouse’s other trainees. There was no point in making friends with people who you may then be ordered to execute at any moment. Something had changed inside her, she knew that. When she looked at the other children now she no longer saw people but instead she saw weak points and vulnerabilities. That boy favoured his right-hand side, that girl was easily distracted, that guard had a slight limp from an old wound. She was being turned into a weapon and the tiny voice inside her that used to howl in protest at that fate was growing quieter with each passing day.

‘It wasn’t your fault,’ Dimitri said, sitting down on the edge of her bed.

‘Leave me alone, Dimitri,’ Natalya whispered quietly. ‘I don’t want to talk to you any more.’

‘You have to talk to someone,’ Dimitri replied. ‘It might as well be me.’

‘I’m going to kill her, Dimitri,’ Natalya said quietly, her eyes closed. ‘Madame Furan, I’m going to kill her for you.’

‘It won’t make it better, you know,’ Dimitri replied. ‘It won’t bring anyone back.’

‘I don’t care,’ Natalya replied. ‘I just want to be the last thing she ever sees.’

‘Natalya, this is not you. You are not a killer. Don’t let them turn you into one,’ Dimitri said sadly.

‘Go away, Dimitri,’ Natalya said angrily. ‘I said I don’t want to talk to you any more.’

‘Why not?’ Dimitri asked.

‘Because you died!’ Natalya sat up and screamed at the empty space at the end of her bunk. ‘And so did I!’

There were murmurs from the bunks all around her.

‘What’s going on?’ a voice from a bunk further down the dormitory asked.

‘Go back to sleep,’ a boy called Valerian said from the bunk opposite. ‘It’s just Natalya acting crazy again.’

Something finally snapped inside Natalya as all of the casual cruelty, all of the heartless brutality of the Glasshouse finally took its toll. She stood up and sprinted across the room, leaping on top of Valerian and pinning him to the bed. She clamped her hands around his throat and squeezed hard.

‘Please, Natalya, no . . .’ Valerian gasped.

‘My name is not Natalya!’ she screamed as she felt the wildly thrashing boy’s windpipe collapse beneath her thumbs. ‘My name is Raven!’

‘The boy needed an emergency tracheotomy,’ Pietor Furan said as he looked through the glass at the girl cuffed to the bed in the cell on the other side. ‘He’s lucky to be alive.’

‘The attack was unprovoked?’ Anastasia asked, studying Natalya.

‘Apparently he made some sort of vaguely insulting remark and she attacked him,’ Pietor replied. ‘The other children said she was like an animal. She was apparently yelling at the injured boy that her name was not Natalya but Raven.’

‘Excellent,’ Anastasia said, a broad smile spreading across her face. ‘She is very nearly ready.’