Boy X (22 page)

Isabel took a chunk of HEX13 from Thorn's pack and moulded it round the end of the spear. She put one of the small silver detonators into the putty and switched on the handset.

‘I still think we are stronger together.' Rainwater dripped from her lips.

‘I know.' Ash could see the fear in her eyes, smell burnt rubber in the air around them.

‘I hope you are right about this.' She nodded at the lump of HEX13 on the end of his spear.

Ash wiped away the beads of rain that clung to his
eyelashes. ‘Just remember; channel seventy-two. Titan Down.' He had to believe that if Thorn had been honest about the syringe in his pack, then he was being honest about everything else.

Isabel looked at Ash, as if she were about to say something, but then just turned her eyes to the device and bit her bottom lip. She held the handset close to the detonator and pressed the button. A pinprick of green light appeared at the tip of the detonator, and the screen illuminated Isabel's face as she selected the ‘smoke' option and touched the ‘confirm' button. She cleared her throat and swept the wet hair out of her face. ‘It's ready.'

‘OK.' Ash's stomach lurched.

‘It'll be thick. Hard to breathe. You need to put something over here.' She held a hand over her mouth and nose.

Ash glanced around, then drew his knife and cut a strip from the hem of his shirt. He held it away from the cover of the tree, soaking it in the weakening downpour. ‘This will have to do.' He wrung it out and tied it round his neck like a scarf.

Isabel stood and took Thorn's survival pack when Ash offered it to her. She fastened it so it was hanging by her hip. ‘I'll set it off in five minutes.' She pointed at the small lump of HEX13 on the end of the spear. ‘Good luck.' She came forward and gave Ash a hug. She wrapped her arms right around him and held him for a moment before breaking away. ‘Five minutes.' She glanced at her watch, then turned and disappeared into the night.

Watching her go made Ash feel empty inside. They had
been a good team. Together they had managed to make it this far, but alone, things would be very different. He hoped he hadn't made a mistake.

Lying in the undergrowth, he began to count. It was the only way he had to keep track of time. He listened to the beats of his own heart, thinking each one to be a second from the other, and told himself he was Ash McCarthy. He was strong. He could do this.

It's going to fail. You'll never do it.

He tightened his jaw and banished the voice to the darkest part of his mind. He concentrated on counting. On what lay just a few metres through the trees.

Three minutes left.

Scooping up more wet dirt from the ground, he reapplied his camouflage, just to be sure, then drew his knife from its sheath and hefted it in his left hand. The spear was in his right.

Two minutes.

He glanced up at the howlers sitting in the branches. They were more tense now, as if waiting for something to happen. Even during the downpour, they had made no attempt to seek shelter, but remained at their posts, fur flattened against their bodies so the muscles rippled in their shoulders. Not one of them had followed Isabel.

Ash took one last look at them and crept forward, following the smell of the fire, inching closer to the camp.

One minute.

There it was. The fire. Orange light flickering through the trees.

He pulled the damp cloth up over his mouth and looked at the HEX13 stuck to the tip of his spear like an oversized lump of chewing gum. The tiny green light was barely visible from just a few centimetres away, but when Ash looked at it, the light clicked red and he knew that somewhere in the forest, Isabel had triggered the handset. There was a hiss like a match being struck, and the end of the makeshift spear was engulfed in a thick, white, blossoming smoke.

Now.

Ash leapt to his feet in a single powerful movement. He sprang forward like an animal, his footsteps light, his muscles strong as he sprinted through the undergrowth. He ducked overhanging branches and leapt over protruding roots. He
flowed
through the forest as if it were his natural home.

Above, the monkeys began to howl.

The swirling, pulsating, all-powerful sound rippled across the forest. A continuous wave of growling, whooping and grunting from at least fifty monkeys that was answered first by the one imprisoned inside the crate in the clearing, then by others deeper in the forest. The agitated howlers jumped from tree to tree, rattling the branches, showering leaves and bugs and fruit onto the forest floor.

It was an aggressive display but Ash felt no threat from them as he hurtled on towards the spot where he and Isabel had hidden to watch the camp. As he reached it, he spotted Cain getting to her feet, shocked by the sudden eruption in the treetops. The other soldiers were doing the same, raising their weapons, pointing them into the forest.

Ash didn't waste a second. He drew back his right arm and launched the spear as hard and high as he could. At school he had never managed to throw a javelin more than a few metres, but this one sailed up like a rocket, leaving a trail of dense white smoke. It passed between the trees as it rose higher than Ash could have hoped. And when it reached its highest point, it slowed, then tipped and began its descent.

It couldn't have been a more perfect shot. The spear landed slap bang in the middle of the camp, spewing smoke, smothering everything in a thick blanket that curled out into the surrounding vegetation like a prehistoric mist.

Immediately, the soldiers were engulfed in it and Cain began issuing instructions as it invaded their lungs, making them cough. Dark shapes stumbled about in the clouds, some of them heading towards the spot where Ash had been, but he was already moving. As soon as the spear began its descent, he shifted the knife into his other hand and broke to the right, circling the camp, racing towards the spot where Pierce was sitting.

The howlers formed a seething circle in the canopy around the clearing. They clung to the branches, shaking them, creating a storm of sound that merged with their fierce growls and whoops. They tore nuts and fruit from the trees and flung them down in a hail that disappeared into the smoke.

‘Thorn?' Cain's voice lifted above the haze. ‘Is that you? What the hell are—' Her sentence was cut short by a powerful attack of coughing.

Ash kept to the shadows, moving quickly.

‘We had no choice, Thorn,' Cain called when she had recovered, but her voice strained against the smoke that ravaged her throat. ‘You know' – she coughed – ‘how these things work.'

When Ash came to the rear of the camp, he stepped into the smoke and got down on his stomach where it was less dense and easier to breathe. As soon as he was engulfed in it, disappearing from view, the howler monkeys stopped as if someone had flipped a switch. They settled in the treetops, becoming still, peering forward and watching in silence.

The smoke stung Ash's eyes, but the damp cloth kept the worst of it from his throat. He crawled on and on, wriggling through the plants, grazing his knees and elbows on the rockier surfaces of the ridge while Cain and her men tried to regroup and organize themselves.

‘Young and Petersen go left.' Cain was still coughing. She couldn't see her men, but she issued orders, hoping they could hear her. ‘Winter and Jacobs go right. Spread out. Five metres.'

‘What the hell was all that noise?' someone asked. ‘What
was
that?'

‘Was that
monkeys
?' said another. ‘Was that—?'

‘Follow my orders,' Cain interrupted. ‘And watch the trees.'

‘Watch the trees? What the hell is going on here? Why's it gone so quiet?'

Their voices were close, their shapes moving in the white
smoke, but Ash used the light of the fire to find his bearings. The flickering glow danced and twisted in the haze, turning the forest into an alien landscape of moving shadow and light.

And there was the crate. Right in front of him. A hunching darkness, with Pierce's shape standing beside it, coughing, turning this way and that, trying to see into the fog.

Now!

Ash jumped to his feet and ran towards Pierce. He covered the distance in a fraction of a second, lowering his head at the last moment and ramming his shoulder into the scientist's lower back.

Pierce had no idea what hit him. He let out a hollow ‘oof' as his breath went out of him and he was propelled through the air, raising his arms to protect himself from the fall. The palms of his hands struck the ground first and he crumpled onto his stomach. Before he had time to recover, Ash was on him, grabbing the back of his jacket and spinning him round.

He then yanked the cloth away from his mouth so Pierce could stare up into his mud-covered face.

‘You!' the scientist snarled. ‘You can't have it.' He wrapped his arms around his chest, gripping the bag tight. ‘Help! Cain!'

Ash reached down and grabbed the strap of the messenger bag. He tugged hard enough to lift Pierce clean off the ground, but Pierce still held onto the bag, refusing to let go.

‘Cain!' he shouted again. ‘Get over here!'

Ash put the point of his knife against Pierce's stomach and looked the scientist in the eye. ‘Let go, or I'll bleed you like a pig.'

Pierce's eyes widened. He lifted both his hands. ‘All right, all right. You can have it.'

As Ash pressed the blade up against the thick strap of the messenger bag, preparing to cut it loose, there was only one thing going through his head. He was going to save Mum. He was going to save everyone.

‘I don't think anyone's going to bleed like a pig tonight,' Cain said from behind him. ‘Unless it's you, of course.'

04 hrs and 47 mins until Shut-Down

I
told you it wouldn't work
, the voice sneered.
You're useless.

‘Drop the knife,' Cain said. ‘And let him go.'

Ash kept the weapon where it was and looked back through the thinning smoke to see Cain a few metres away. Her carbine was pulled tight against her shoulder, and she was aiming down the barrel at him. Ash knew he was fast, but he wasn't
that
fast. Not faster than a bullet.

He raised his eyes and glanced at the dark shapes in the treetops. The monkeys sat hunched as if ready to explode into action at any second, but they remained silent and still.

Do something!
Ash willed them to move. He needed help but there was no one to give it.
Help me!
Perhaps if
the monkeys would call again, they would create enough of a distraction to—

‘I'll only ask one more time,' Cain said. ‘Let him go.'

Ash lowered his gaze. There was no use wishing for help from the monkeys. They were just animals, after all.

He sighed and let Pierce go.

‘The knife.'

Ash tossed it to one side.

‘Good boy. Now get down on your knees. Put your hands behind your head and lace your fingers together.'

Ash did as he was told.

Pierce got to his feet and came forward. He put a boot against Ash's chest, intending to shove him into the dirt, but Ash grabbed his foot with both hands, twisting hard so that Pierce's whole body rotated and lost balance. Before he knew what was happening, Pierce slammed face first onto the ground. It took a second for him to recover, but as soon as he did, he scrambled over, grabbing Ash's discarded knife. Once he was on his feet, he moved around behind Ash and put his left hand on the boy's forehead, pulling it back. With his other hand, he reached around and pressed the blade against his throat. ‘Useless kid. You were such a disappointment.'

As he said it, something shifted in the crate, thumping hard against the inside of the lid. Pierce whipped his head round in surprise, staring at the wooden box, but was distracted by a grunt from somewhere among the trees surrounding the clearing. He looked up in the direction it had come from, seeing the dark shapes squatting in the
branches. The largest of them came forward on its perch so that its features were half-visible. Shards of moonlight glowed on the glossy black fur. The streak of grey shone like silver.

‘What are you looking at?' Pierce snarled at it.

The monkey grunted once again and bared dagger-like incisors.

Pierce watched for a few seconds, a confused expression passing across his face before he turned his attention back to Ash. He threw another nervous glance at the monkey, then tightened his grip on the knife and adjusted his footing as if he were about to cut the boy's throat.

‘Stop.' Cain kept her weapon raised as she came into the light. ‘Put the knife down.'

Pierce ignored her and leant forward so he was speaking in Ash's ear, spittle flecking against Ash's skin. ‘Do you have any idea how much trouble I've gone to over the past months? Your mother was so damn stubborn. After all the work we did together, she had me shut down and then she tried to keep this away from me. Wanted it to be her little secret. Then the helicopter, and traipsing through this godforsaken jungle. And now you think you can take it away from me? Did she send you? Did she think you could save her?'