Code Breakers Complete Series: Books 1-4 (76 page)

This strange means of communication made her think: what if Gerry’s consciousness being inside her mind wasn’t harmful? What if he wasn’t mutating in a bad way? What if he, like Mags, his AIA, was fusing with her mind, bringing them together as one?

She started to think she didn’t want Alpha fixed, didn’t want them to try to drag Gerry out of her. She wanted the conjoining and knew instinctively he wanted it, too, perhaps was already making it happen.
 

“Hold on!” Gabe screamed.
 

“What?” The craft jolted and began to drop, losing altitude at an alarming rate. She checked the holoscreen: nothing. VTOL engines: nothing. “No power!”
 

“EMP,” Gabe said. “That goddamned bitch Shelley.”
 

The ground rushed up to them, the world a blur.
 

“We gotta bail.” Petal’s stomach lurched.

Gabe just nodded, his face serious. They both reached up to the red switches directly above them. Petal checked her straps were tight. “Ready?”
 

“Let’s do it, girl.”

“What about the server and the—”

The top of the cabin flew off and twisted away into the air. Their seats exploded out of the cockpit, sending them up and away from the falling craft. Two seconds later the parachutes activated, jolting Petal in her seat. Her eyes streamed with tears in the rushing cold air.
 

Gabe had angled his parachute to move him away from the falling craft. Petal followed as she watched their only form of transport smash into the ground.
 

The stub wings holding the VTOL props came away. The fuselage split across the middle, tipping the tail and cabin away from each other. As she glided down to safety, she saw the server and the transcendent hanging from the straps from the storage area at the rear of the craft.
 

Secure fuel tanks prevented it from exploding. They had upgraded them after seeing how easily they exploded on impact during their battles with the Red Widows. Enna would be furious that they had managed to get one of their few remaining Jaguar’s shot down and destroyed.
 

As she pulled on the parachute wires to bring her seat to a safe landing, she looked up and saw someone standing outside of the fence that lined the perimeter of the scrapyard.
 

Shelley was smiling and coming closer, armed with a shotgun.

Chapter 8

Tears streaked down Sasha’s cheeks. She couldn’t get the sight of Malik’s face, screwed up with pain, out of her mind as his leg came away from the trap. She was paralysed, watching him crawl away towards the darkness of the tunnel ahead.
 

It took the sound of shouting voices to wake her from her stupor. The rabble of voices sounded far away, muted is if underwater. And then they grew louder, rushing to her like a torrent.
 

She snapped her head round. Saw the beginnings of flashlights penetrate the darkness. They were coming. She still had her flashlight tucked into her belt and a single pistol, plus the rifle. She slung its strap over her neck, letting the rifle slide over her back.
 

“Come on, then, let’s get to it,” she whispered to herself.

Malik breathed heavily; sweat dripped down his face. The fabric she’d wrapped around his leg trailed behind him.

“We’ve got to get out,” he said weakly.
 

“Yeah, I know that,” Sasha said. The guards or whoever they were would be on them in a minute. Then she had an idea. Bending down to grip around Malik’s waist, she hoisted him to his one leg. “You’re gonna have to hop. I know it hurts like hell, but we’ve got to go.”

He gritted his teeth, nodding his head.
 

Sasha grimaced when she saw the blood dripping from his leg. She didn’t know how much he’d lost, or how long he could continue, but so far, he’d remained resolute and focussed. She couldn’t afford to delay any more. Together they made their way down the tunnel, heading for the chimney room.

She heard the people behind her stop and discuss what might have happened.
 

“Where are we going?” Malik said, leaning against Sasha for balance as he continued to hop.
 

“A way out.”

“I don’t think I’ve got long,” he said.

“You’ve got plenty of time, just focus, and keep going. We’ll make it.”

She said it more for her benefit than his, not confident of their chances. If they weren’t hunted and caught, they’d likely perish in the flames of the chimney. Still, if she were to die, she would do it trying.
 

A scream pealed out down the tunnel, followed by panicked shouts and cursing.
 

Sasha smiled with grim satisfaction. One of the fuckers had got caught.
 

Spurring her on, she lifted Malik, taking the weight from him, and sprinted the last twenty metres to the chimney door.
 

“In there?” Malik said just as a ball of flame erupted. He saw it through the small glass window.

“It’s the only way,” Sasha said. Before he could protest, she had already opened the door and pushed him inside. A narrow walkway followed the circumference of the room.

Sasha held Malik against the wall as she closed the door. She could see the flashlights moving slower now; no doubt they were looking for more traps. It seemed they had left their compatriot behind.
 

Sasha studied the lock mechanism. A rounded wheel turned a mechanical steel block. It wouldn’t budge, but the brace on the frame remained clear. She wedged the rifle between the wheel and the brace, using it as a makeshift lock. She tested it; it felt solid.
 

By the time Sasha had secured the lock, three ronin guards approached. They pointed and ran towards her. The impact made a clanging noise that reverberated around the chimney, but the door and rifle held as they tried the handle. A man at the front of the pack pushed his face against the glass. He was shouting something at her, but all she could hear was a muffled sound.
 

“We can’t wait,” Sasha said. “I don’t know how long it is before the flames come.”

“How?”

“There’s a ladder over on the other side.” She sidled up to Malik and gripped him around the waist while he threw an arm over her shoulders. She lifted the weight off his leg and sidestepped around the walkway until they reached the ladder. It was only wide enough for a single person. It had scorch marks going up almost the entire way. The rumble of machinery continued below them. She looked over into the grating. Smoke rose up, bringing the stench of burning oil.
 

“You go first,” Sasha said. “I’ll be right behind you.”

Malik looked at her. His face was grey, slick with sweat. “I’m not sure I can—”

“I don’t care what you think you can or can’t do, Mal. You ain’t got a choice. Now get up that ladder.” Sasha helped him secure his foot onto the ladder as he gripped onto the rungs above him. Hand over hand, he pulled himself up as Sasha held on to his leg and helped push him up with each step.

It was slow progress, but at least he was moving, climbing.
 

The crashing against the door increased, as did the vibrations beneath the grating. She couldn’t tell if it was just her imagination or whether the smoke smell was getting stronger. Her head felt lighter for sure, but whether that was due to the smoke inhalation or just the panic she didn’t know.
 

When Malik and Sasha reached a quarter of the way up, the ronin smashed the window and were shouting at them. Stealing a look behind her as she waited for Malik to climb higher, Sasha watched the ronins reach through the window and try to remove the rifle from the lock and brace. One of them, a sharp-eyed woman, aimed a pistol through the hole, but she couldn’t quite get an angle. She would once they opened the door, of course.
 

Twenty metres from the top, the sun was shining down, blinding her as it reflected off the metal chimney. The scorch marks were thinning out this high up, but they were still there in patches. To remind her of their predicament, a belch of black exhaust shot up the cylinder, engulfing them in thick, choking ash.
 

Malik missed his footing as he coughed; his foot slipped, and he fell down, hanging from his arms. Sasha just dodged his dangling leg. She too coughed, but held on tight, waiting for it to pass. A few seconds later, the entire chimney vibrated. A great roar like thunder erupted, and she felt the heat beneath her.
 

She gripped Malik’s foot, placed it back on the rung, and screamed, “Go, go.”

His arms shook with the effort of lifting himself until Sasha moved up a rung and helped to lift him up and onwards.
 

The flames beneath only approached halfway, but with each thunderous roar, they licked a bit higher. On the upside, the heat and the flames had stopped the guards from trying to remove the rifle. They had backed off, unable to stand so close to the flames without the window to block the heat.

Malik stopped about ten metres from the tip of the chimney.
 

“What are you doing?” Sasha screamed, feeling the searing heat getting closer.
 

“I can get a signal from here. I’ll be able to call for help.”

“Do that when we’re out of the burning cylinder of doom, yeah?” She slapped at his leg. “Keep going.”

With a grunt and a groan, Malik hitched himself up again.
 

Each agonising step brought them closer, but she wanted to scream for him to hurry up. The flames were now licking at the chimney walls just inches from her. The steel of the ladder was hot beneath her hands. It took all her strength and patience to remain calm and keep going.
 

“I’m there,” Malik said as he reached over the lip of the chimney and hauled himself out.
 

Sasha hurried after him. The chimney shook, swayed, and a deafening roar echoed up. She felt the flames scorch her feet, then her bare legs. She screamed out, closing her eyes. Her back felt alight, and then she smelled burning hair and skin. Paralysed, she held onto the ladder, clenching her eyes shut. A hand gripped hers.
 

“Move. Now,” Malik said, heaving her up. She scrambled the rest of the way as the fire below roared once more.
 

As the flames reached her, Malik pulled, lifting her clear of the ladder and out onto a metal platform on the outside of the chimney. She fell on her front. Malik had taken off his jacket and whipped at her back, putting out the flames, each strike making her yelp.
 

Behind her, a great flame erupted up into the sky, missing her by inches. Malik, now sitting down, leant forward to pull her further along the platform and away from the fire.
 

Together they lay crumpled.

Pain burned into every part of her, and she could do nothing but weep with the agony.

When she finally opened her eyes, she realised they were about fifty metres in the air. She could see the entire warehouse district and people coming and going into the buildings. It wouldn’t be long before someone would spot them.
 

“We’ve got to get down,” Sasha said through gritted teeth.
 

“Let’s take a minute,” Malik said between pained breaths. “That was... horrendous... I need help. There’s a signal out here.”

Sasha took a deep breath of the cool noon air. The breeze started to cool the burns on her legs and feet. Her shoes were melted to her skin. How the hell had she let this get so out of control? Malik had leant against the metal-wired fence of the platform. It extended out a few metres. A motorised cage hung beneath. A set of controls was on a standing lectern, and a ladder ran from the platform down through a small gap into the elevator cage below.
 

While Malik was talking with the security department, explaining their position, Sasha tentatively stood on her toes, where the pain wasn’t as bad as the heels. Still, each step flared with the agony of the burns. She tried the controls and figured out how to make the elevator rise and fall. At least it worked.
 

“They’ll be here in ten minutes,” Malik said. “We should probably stay here. I’m not exactly up for running about.” Malik closed his eyes.
 

Sasha could see the fatigue and pain was too much. She gripped his shoulders and shook him gently. She checked his jacket pockets and found a small emergency med-kit containing a single shot of ’Stem. Now that they were out of the tunnel and didn’t need him fully alert, she could afford to inject him and let the ’Stems deal with the pain and clot the bleeding from his leg.
 

Before he even realised what was happening, she injected the ’Stem into his thigh.

He mumbled something and drooped his head as the ’Stem solution aggressively took hold.

“Stay with me, Mal, just for a bit longer. We can’t stay here. We have to go down, find cover.”

“I’m so tired. And cold.”

“I know. Just stay with me.” She lifted him up on to his good leg and shuffled over to the door to the elevator car. Malik slumped against her, but she bore his weight. They entered, and they both slumped to the base of the car, resting their backs against the cage. She watched through the metal grate that made up the base. Still no one had gathered beneath them. She hit the controls, and the car descended. Perhaps they would have a head start over their pursuers.