Enemy Invasion (29 page)

“Thank you,” Good said, looking back at the major, who had stopped his circling and now stood right in front of him. A shadow passed over the American’s face, as if he was
experiencing an uncharacteristic moment of doubt. “I should really check on the readings…”

As Good retreated, Bright gave a sideways glance at Kotler, his second-in-command, and said quietly, “Of course, all alliances come to an end at the appropriate time. Usually when a partner
has outlived his usefulness. Make sure you keep an eye on Good and his people.”

Kotler grinned and stalked away. On the floor of the power station, the spider army began to surge towards the giant doors at the far end of the building. As the first of the spiders reached
them, the doors slid open automatically to allow them out into the city beyond...

“That’s Hack’s voice,” Wei confirmed.

Rachel Andersen said, “The phone this message was sent from has been located just two kilometres from where he says the base is located. There are reports coming in of a helicopter
attacking civilians in the same vicinity. We should assume this information is accurate and act upon it.”

Sarah nodded. Thankfully there was no messing around with suits like Wisher this time. The time for uncertainty was over – it was something they could just no longer afford.

Rachel continued, “Bright and Good need these two children. Why? To control the hypersphere?”

“That’s right,” Sarah replied. “If we take them, we take control of the sphere. Hopefully shut it down before they can release any of the machines.”

“It’s too late!” Dr. Fincher said, pulling up a new holo-window in the centre of the table. “Look what just came through!”

A live aerial view of the Thames appeared. Something was streaming along both sides of the river, sweeping between buildings and engulfing everything in its wake: a black mass, metres across and
apparently unstoppable. “This is being streamed live from an observation drone over the city.”

“What is that?” one of the HIDRA officers asked, leaning across the image. “Some kind of liquid?”

“No,” Sarah said. “It’s from the hypersphere. We saw this back on the island.”

“Spiders,” Louise said. “Thousands of them.”

“Millions,” Wei corrected.

The image zoomed in to a section of the river near the Tate Modern. People were running frantically as the mass of robospiders, none larger than the size of a man’s hand, swept along the
promenade towards them. The machines were so densely packed, the wave was almost a metre tall. As it engulfed people, they went down, lost in the swarming sea of machine legs. Here and there it was
possible to see men, women and children being bitten by the robospiders before they disappeared.

“Just like they did to Robert!” Louise said and Sarah nodded.

There were gasps of shock around the table as people tried to take in what was happening in London. Thousands of people falling victim to the spiders within seconds.

“How can we stop it?” Nestor said quietly. “There’s just so many…”

“We’ll stop them,” Alex said. “There has to be a way.”

Sarah met his eyes and nodded, although she wished she felt more certain. The spiders on the screen constituted an army. And it would take an army to fight them, wouldn’t it?

“Those spiders are spreading the fall virus with every bite, by the looks of it,” Fincher said as he focused on another stretch of the river. Here the robospiders had passed on,
leaving the bodies of unconscious people littered across the pavements. Sarah was reminded of a time when she had seen the survivors of a plane crash laid out in the desert, all victims of the fall
virus. She had to look away.

“What’s going to happen to them?” Wei asked quietly.

“They’re infected with the fall virus now,” Alex said. “When they wake up, they’ll be the slaves of the Entity. First the virus puts you into a coma, then it takes
control. Just like Makarov was doing in Russia. Remember the servants in the Spire? That’s what they’re going to become – servants of the Entity.”

Sarah nodded. She thought of Robert in the intensive care unit of the base. Would he too succumb to the power of the Entity? Was this new version of the virus powerful enough to turn even
superhumans like themselves – who had been immune so far – into slaves?

Rachel said, “Someone tell me there’s a military response being organized.”

An officer nodded. “I’m getting reports this is spreading to multiple locations around the city. The emergency evacuation plan has been put into effect.”

Sarah turned to Alex as the image cut to a different view of the city – spiders swarming down narrow streets, scuttling over everything in their path, leaving behind comatose bodies.
“It’s going to be chaos,” she said.

Alex nodded. “And at this rate the entire capital will be infected within an hour.”

“Current status?” Rachel demanded.

“The army is setting up road blocks on all major routes out of London,” the officer replied. “The RAF has just scrambled a squadron of Typhoons.” He listened to someone
speaking in the headset. “They’ve got orders to fire on the spider swarm.”

As they watched the screen, five arrow-like fighter jets zipped into view, flying low along the length of the Thames. They did a pass of the swarm moving along the river and then came round
again. Lining up into attack formation, the fighters each fired two missiles at the mass of tiny robots. Yellow-orange explosions ripped through the seething black swarm, but did nothing to halt
its progress.

“They’re just going to kill anyone caught inside the path of those spiders!” Sarah said.

The fighters came round for a second pass. This time, however, part of the swarm rose into the air to meet them.

“What is that?” Alex asked, but it was impossible to tell on the grainy image what was happening. All they could see was a black cloud.

The first of the fighters hit the cloud and immediately went into a spin. As it rocketed down and smashed into the river, a second fighter was caught. The pilot ejected seconds before his jet
exploded in mid-air. The third and fourth jets suffered the same fate. Only the fifth escaped, by conducting an extreme evasive manoeuvre and then retreating across the city to the west.

Then something dark flew towards the camera and the picture went to static.

“The observation drone just got knocked out,” an officer at the far end of the table confirmed.

“I’ve seen enough anyway,” Rachel said, looking around the shell-shocked faces of her officers. “We might not be able to fight these things, but we can make sure as many
people get help as possible. Prepare your teams to move out immediately: we’re going to assist in the evacuation operation.” She said to Dr. Fincher, “I need you to keep working
on a way to destroy these machines.”

Fincher nodded and rose as the HIDRA officers hurried out of the room.

“What about us?” Sarah asked.

Rachel turned to her. “I don’t know. What about you?”

Sarah looked around the faces of the other kids and saw they were waiting to follow her lead. “I want to take the stealth jet to Bright’s base. If we can get Hack and May, we can
shut down the hypersphere.”

“The jet will be refuelled and ready in fifteen minutes,” Rachel said without argument. “Do you want any HIDRA marines with you?”

Sarah thought of their attack on the island with Commander Craig and shook her head. “No, this is our fight. We’re the only ones who can stand up to Major Bright and the
Entity.” She turned back to the others, preparing to give them a speech about how they didn’t need to come along if they didn’t want to – but they were already all on their
feet.

That’s not going to happen,
Sarah thought, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

“Is there anything I can get you?” a nurse asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“No,” Sarah replied. “I just want a minute with my brother.”

“Take as long as you like.” The nurse padded back to her desk.

Sarah went to her brother’s side and took his hand in hers. She searched his mind, but sensed only confused, dream-like thoughts. There would be no telepathic communication with him, so
she spoke aloud…

“It’s going to be okay, Robert,” she said softly. “We’re going after Bright and we’re going to stop him. The Entity has the cure for the fall virus somewhere
and I’m not coming back until I’ve got it for you. I promise.”

Robert mumbled something in his sleep. Sarah squeezed his hand tighter. “Do you hear me? I’m going to save you, Robert, so hold on a little longer.”

From the doorway, Alex gave an embarrassed cough to announce his presence. “Sorry, Sarah,” he said. “It’s time to go.”

“What’s that?” Sarah asked as a technician deposited a suitcase-sized metal box in the back and hurried out again.

Alex gave her a sheepish look. “Uh…uniforms…”

“Uniforms!” Sarah exclaimed. “I thought I said no uniforms—”

“They’ve been developed by Dr. Fincher,” Nestor jumped in, defending his friend. “They’re made of a super-lightweight form of Kevlar. Highly resistant to bullet and
knife entry.”

“Water repellent,” Alex added. “And designed to offer maximum insulation against extreme weather conditions.”

“And they come in a choice of three colours,” Octavio sniggered.

“Whatever,” Sarah said, “I’m not wearing any stupid uniform. I told you before.”

She looked around the runway as the flight crew backed off. It was just them and the jet again – no heroes’ send-off, despite the fact they were about to take on the most dangerous
force in the world…and not just theirs. Unchecked, who knew how many other planets would fall to the Entity? How many other races would be enslaved? With the odds so high, it felt as if
there should be more fanfare. But perhaps this was what it was always like for people going to war, Sarah wondered. The celebrations were only for those who came back alive…and victorious.
She sensed the eyes of the others on her and turned to them.

“What?” she asked. “Do you expect a speech or something?”

Their silence clearly indicated that they did.

“Look,” she said reluctantly, “the Entity has the cure for the fall virus. That means saving Robert and our families. So, we’re going to get it and shut Major Bright down
in the process. Right?”

Louise grinned and cracked her knuckles. “Right.”

The others nodded too.

“Well,” Sarah said, “what are we waiting for?”

A couple of minutes later the stealth jet blasted into the morning sky, did a turn over the HIDRA base and then headed south at full speed.

30

A pall of smoke hung over London, fuelled by five major fires burning around the capital. Here and there explosions lit up amid the sprawl, whether from spiders attacking or
from army resistance, it was impossible to tell.

Sarah scanned the enhanced image on the cockpit HUD and dragged a finger round the collar of the uniform she’d finally been persuaded to put on. She’d originally envisioned something
like you’d see on an ice-dancing show, but had to admit that the uniforms were okay. Fincher had managed to work out their exact sizes for the creation of the dark-blue jumpsuit-like
creations. As Alex had said, the material was lightweight, but clearly incredibly strong. The HIDRA logo was inconspicuously placed on the shoulder, but best of all each uniform came with a pair of
very sturdy, but equally light boots.
Good for running,
Sarah thought. And, judging by the steel-reinforced toes, fighting. She hated to admit it, but you didn’t go to war in a pair of
jeans and trainers.

“Uniforms not so bad, huh?” Alex said, slipping into the co-pilot’s seat.

She gave him a hard look. He wasn’t going to get away with organizing the uniforms behind her back, even if it had turned out to be the right thing to do.

“I look like an idiot!” Octavio yelled through from the cabin.

“You always look like an idiot!” Alex shouted back and Sarah had to laugh.

Alex turned his attention to the HUD and called up an overlay showing significant landmarks around the city. A beacon flashed in the distance, showing the location of Battersea Power Station
– Bright’s base. Sarah sent the jet on an approach course from the east, following the winding course of the Thames for reference. She had grown up in London, gone to school there, but
all that seemed like a long time ago. So much had changed for her since they’d left. And now the city was changed too: smoke and destruction evident everywhere along the river. It pained her
to see her old home being torn apart, a place that had lived in her memory being invaded and defiled by the Entity and Major Bright. She gritted her teeth, all the more determined to drive them
out.