Code Breakers Complete Series: Books 1-4 (101 page)

“Will it be a problem?” James asked, reaching for his slate, ready to help hack it.
 

But even as he moved to the ladder, the panel flashed blue, and Enna gave a little cry of triumph.
 

“Okay, gentlemen, I need one of you to lend your strength and get this cover open.”

Before James could react, Ghanus had dashed forward and climbed the ladder like a monkey. While the Upsider grunted at his task, Enna addressed the others, “I got a message from Petal. She’s closing in on Cemprom’s location, and Malik’s on his way with a squad. We should rendezvous in the next few minutes—”

Ghanus gave out a sharp roar as he finally thrust the cover up from the exit hole. A street lamp opposite their position shone through the gap. James breathed the recycled air deeply, grateful for not having to breathe any more dust.

“Let’s get to it,” James said. “I’m sick of this place.”

Elaine hefted Omega up to Ghanus, who stood above the hole. He placed it to the side and reached a hand down, helping each person up until the group had exited the tunnel. They huddled away from the light, sheltering in the shadow of a building—a huge stone affair that stood proud of the rest of the buildings and raised a few hundred metres into the darkness of the Dome’s sky.
 

Enna looked around and consulted her slate. “We’re not far from Cemprom. It’s minutes that way.” She pointed away from the stone tower to their left. Another street ran perpendicular to their location. As James committed the layout to memory, he saw movement in the darkness.
 

A group of ten ronin, heavily armed, turned into their street.
 

He and the others shuffled as far back into the shadow of the building as they could, but he still felt incredibly exposed. There were no alleys or other streets, and the hole back into the old metro tunnel was right in the middle of the spray of light from the street lamp.
 

“The cover,” he whispered. “They’ll see it.”

Ghanus and Liza-Marie stepped back from the group and raised their rifles.
 

Enna put up her palm and whispered, “Wait, we can’t take them all. Let’s not give away our position if we don’t have to.”

With a tense silence they stood as still as possible, barely breathing, as if the slightest noise would alert them.

As a group, they hung around at the end of the street until one of them turned and looked directly towards James. The rest followed, and they started to amble down the street, their weapons drawn.
 

One of the group raised her hand and waved it as though she were greeting James and the others. That couldn’t be. He turned his head, looking down the other end of the street. A second group, at least five in number, had exited a building no more than a hundred metres away.
 

Fuck. We’re trapped... He looked to the hole, wondering if they could make it in time. But with the enemy encroaching on both sides, they’d never have enough time. The others seemed to sense it too. They all eyed the open hole, then cast a look forward and back again.
 

“We’re fucked,” Ghanus whispered.
 

“Might as well go down fighting,” Liza-Marie said. “We’ll cause a distraction. The rest of you try to get Omega clear.”

Before James could say anything, the two Upsiders darted from their position and sprinted across the street with their hands up, screaming, “We surrender.”
 

The ruse worked.
 

The two groups focussed on Ghanus and Liza-Marie and dashed to surround them, their weapons trained on the pair. There was no way they could fight out of that.

Enna and Elaine were equally as paralysed as James.

Before they could act, two loud explosions roared out from within the gathered group. A thick belch of black smoke plumed out, surrounding the group, sending them spreading out, coughing. Some dropped their weapons while others shot blindly into the thick, black smoke.
 

That’s when James saw two figures cut away from the chaos and slip into the shadows opposite their positions. Ghanus waved his arm and then pointed to James and the others to head to Cemprom. The two Upsiders moved into position and waited for a moment before they shot at the disoriented insurgents, taking them down one by one.
 

“Come on,” Elaine said, finally realising their opportunity. She broke away from the shadow of the tower, lifted Omega onto her back, and sprinted for the end of the street. Enna joined her, and James followed, wishing his legs didn’t feel like they were made of heavy Polymar.

Halfway to the end, James halted. A group of six ’droids, their rifles raised, entered the street and marched directly towards him.

James backed away as the armed ’droids continued to stalk closer. They aimed their rifles at him, Enna, and Elaine. The ’droids came to a stop and spread out, stretching across and closing off the street.
 

Ghanus and Liza-Marie were still fighting behind them; he could hear the distinctive suppressed noise of their guns and the screams of confused, disoriented ronin. The screams were getting closer, though. James stole a look behind him to see a group of three men running at them, their faces blackened with smoke, mouths twisted with hate. They raised their pistols and shotguns.

Oh crap, we’re done, James thought.
 

As they came closer, James closed his eyes, waiting for his death from either side.

A volley of gunfire exploded from in front of him. He jumped and tensed at the sudden noise. His ears rang. He held his breath, waiting for the pain to come, waiting for death to take him.

Seconds later, and nothing happened. He opened his eyes. The ’droids still stared down at him, their blank metal faces showing no emotion. Smoke rose from the barrels of their weapons. Enna and Elaine still stood beside him, their faces a picture of shock.

Behind him, the insurgents lay in a variety of pieces, dead on the ground.
 

Two ’droids in the line stepped forward, and from behind them came two shapes.
 

“Petal!” James yelled.
 

She wore a crooked smile. “You guys gonna just stand there?”

Enna rushed forward and hugged her tight. A short, hunched figure watched on. His eyes seem to bug out from his head. He looked... unhinged.
 

“Who’s your friend?” James gave the strange man a wide berth. He didn’t like the way he waved his rifle around so casually.
 

Before Petal could respond, her hunched friend spun on his heel, barged James out of the way with his shoulder, raised his rifle, and took down the last two ronin who were running from Ghanus and Liza-Marie.
 

“We can get acquainted later,” Petal said. “Right now, we need to get to Cemprom. With Gerry’s help we’ve pushed the insurgents and Fuentes back. They’re camping in the tower. We’ve got the bastards cornered. You brought Omega, I see. Good. Follow me.”

Petal turned and jogged to the end of the street. When Ghanus and Liza-Marie caught up, they all followed. The ’droids turned and silently obeyed their new leader, wherever he may be.

James felt his confidence swell. With the firepower on their side, and with Petal and Gerry working together, they might just stand a chance at ending Elliot’s madness.
 

They turned into the main street that led to Cemprom’s tower. A ten-metre-high archway created an impressive entrance to the building. A pair of ’droids stood guard at either side of the arch, their weapons trained on the two huge glass doors. The lights were on inside, and shadows darted from window to window.
 

At the other end of the street, James saw a familiar face: Malik. Using his crutch, he shuffled ahead of his five-person squad. They all grouped together by the arch, using its heavy Polymar construction for cover.
 

After a brief introduction, the group readied their weapons and prepared to storm the building.

“We’ll send the ’droids in first,” Petal said, taking control of the situation. “Malik, you and your squad follow up behind. You and the ’droids are to secure the lobby, buy us time. Ghanus, Liza-Marie, I want you two to hang back and take out anyone trying to flank us. The rest of you, I want you to follow me to the data-centre. That’s our number one priority. Got it?”

James and the others gave various sounds of affirmative. His chest tightened and his guts squirmed now that they had come to this. It felt like certain death as they stood on the razor blade of fate. If he survived this, he knew he’d leave this damned city. Go back to Criborg where he belonged: safely underground. But before that, he owed Sasha, and everyone who had died at the hands of Elliot’s influence. As Elliot’s only living descendent, he felt tainted by genetic association, as though this whole horrifying ordeal was his problem.
 

“Go!” Petal said, as fifteen ’droids burst from their positions by the archway and stormed through the glass doors, smashing them as they sprinted into the foyer. Gunfire erupted immediately.

Malik’s team followed closely behind, joining the firefight inside the building. Bursts of light popped like fireworks. Smoke started to fill the air.
 

Finally, Petal and the others moved. At first James’ feet wouldn’t respond, protesting against the clearly obvious danger that lay ahead. Xian, Enna, and Elaine sprinted past him, backing up Petal. Ghanus and Liza-Marie, calm as anything, put their hands on his shoulders, urging him gently forward.

“You’ll be fine,” Liza-Marie said. “We’ve got your back.”
 

He closed his eyes for a brief moment, thought of Sasha, and moved to the entrance, his hands trembling with fear.

Chapter 39

Petal gritted her teeth and fired a burst from behind a squad of five ’droids, taking out an insurgent firing down from one of three escalators that dominated the foyer. The other two, at either side, were guarded at the base and the top by more of Fuentes’ loyalists. They were a mix of Libertas Security and Cemprom workers—the latter completely inadequate in such a situation, indicated by their frantic and fearful movements.

Petal watched the ’droids, under Gerry’s influence, split into three squads of five. Two took the flanks and battled with the Fuentes’ force by the escalators. The third group set up an arc in the middle of the foyer, using the reception desk as cover. From their position they covered from one side of the foyer to the other, and more importantly gave Malik and his team sufficient support to lay down fire as the situation changed.
 

On the second floor, standing behind the armoured Plexiglas, Fuentes stood with her hands on hips, surveying the battle zone. A young scientist was next to her, talking frantically, gesticulating at the heavy losses they were suffering.
 

Malik spotted her from his position behind the ’droids. He fired a few rounds at her, but the bullets bounced off the barrier. It still made Fuentes jump back. She was clearly nervous. Petal felt that tide turn. And Gerry must have seen it too.

The two ’droid squads at each side of the foyer moved up, pushing the insurgents higher up the escalators as they scattered to find cover. The gunfire sounded like the tornado back on the plains: a never-ceasing roar that rattled right through to her bones.
 

Xian was by her side, keeping watch, firing when an insurgent dared to fire upon their position.
 

She turned to see James, Enna, and Elaine join her behind a Polymar barrier that the insurgents had initially used for cover, until the ’droids overwhelmed them and forced them back. Petal and the others ducked down below, their backs to the barrier.
 

Over the thunder of gunfire, Petal shouted to them, “There’s an entrance at the back of the foyer that’ll lead us to the main part of the building.”
 

James shook his head. “There’s too many of them. Even with the ’droids, we’d never make it across the open ground without getting shot down.”

“There’s another way,” Elaine said. She hefted Omega off her back and took out a slate from within her security jacket. “I worked here for years. There are a number of private, security corridors that allow workers to get from one place to another without going through the public spaces. There’s one over there.” She pointed to a spot on the right-hand wall.

All Petal could see was a line in the tiles.

“Are you sure?” Petal asked.
 

“Absolutely.”

A grenade exploded ten metres to their right. Four of the five ’droids in that squad fell to the ground, various limbs bending in the wrong way, wires and pistons hanging out, sparks flying. A flood of insurgents rushed down the escalator and secured a position behind one of the barricades.

“Fuck it!” Petal said. They’d never get to the door with the insurgents covering that side of the foyer now. She connected to the network via her transceiver. Since Gerry had left her, she’d felt the buzz of a connection in the back of her mind but hadn’t wanted to risk joining it in case Elliot was lurking somewhere, waiting. But now was the time she needed to act.