Falling (10 page)

“Uncle Jonas…”

“Uncle?” I ask, looking back and forth between them. There isn’t a resemblance that I can see. “Jack, is
everyone
in the Underground related to you in some way?”

Jack smiles. “Not quite everyone. Sorry, Celes, I should have introduced you. It’s just that I haven’t seen Uncle Jonas face to face since… well, I don’t know how long it has been.”

“You were eight,” the other man supplies.

“Jonas is my mother’s stepbrother,” Jack explains. “We’re not related by blood, but…”

“But sometimes you don’t have to be,” Jonas finishes for him. “We’ve kept in touch through messages over the years, and I’ve tried to keep an eye on Jack’s career for Jacqueline’s sake.”

Jack nods. “Uncle Jonas, this is Celes.”

Jonas extends a hand to me, and I take it. His grip is firm, but measured. His gaze is slightly more disconcerting. He looks at me closely, as though he’s trying to spot something about me.

“Do I have something in my eye, or something?”

Jonas laughs. “No, sorry. It’s just that… well, you don’t know how excited I am to finally meet someone like you. Someone like Jacqueline was.”

That’s enough to make me feel a little strange. I know that the whole Underground thinks of me as special. I know that I have special powers. It’s just something else to meet someone who is that obviously interested in what I am.

“Sorry,” Jonas says. “I’m making you uncomfortable, aren’t I?”

“Just a little bit,” I reply.

“It’s just quite an exciting day. I get to see Jack again after all these years, plus I get to meet you. Jacqueline… well, I always knew that Jack’s mother was special, but Sebastian and I only found out quite how special when she died, by which time it was too late to learn more directly.”

“That didn’t stop Sebastian trying,” I say, remembering how interested the Location Six leader was in me.

“No, it didn’t,” Jonas agrees. “Sebastian got a little obsessed after Jacqueline’s death, and I have to admit that I wasn’t much better. It’s… well, you can imagine how important some of the implications are. You’re very special, Celes.”

I shrug, still not entirely happy with that way of thinking. Not happy with some of the situations being what I am has put me in, either. “So far,” I say, “being special has gotten me shot at, forced me to change my identity, and given me a power that means I kill people.”

“But it’s so much more than that,” Jonas insists. “That’s why I went along with Sebastian, trying to find others like Jacqueline. Like you. It’s not just that Jacqueline was my sister, it’s that her existence shows that there is more to the universe than just humanity. Than just Earth. The whole parameters of our thoughts have to change to take that in.”

Jack moves me gently away from Jonas a little. His uncle doesn’t seem to take any offense at it.

“And now, of course, Jack has found you. I had started to worry that perhaps he was all that was left. That he was the last, lonely remnant of… well, whatever you both are. Which we will of course be able to find out far more about, now that Jack has brought us the rock for analysis.”

So Jack has brought the rock over with him. I wonder how he managed to persuade Lionel to do that. Or maybe he didn’t tell him. I have to say that, in spite of his over-eagerness, I quite like Jonas. There’s something about him that’s almost infectiously warm and curious. It reminds me a bit of my little brother, but it’s more than that. I like the warmth Jack has towards his uncle. It’s a total contrast to the stiff formality of his relationship with his father, and it makes me wonder how they got so close when they’ve met so little.

“I’m pleased to meet you, Jonas,” I say. “I hope I can do something that will help with your research. I’d like to know where I come from as much as you do.”

That makes Jonas grin, and he moves forward to pull me into a bear hug. “You know, you remind me of Jacqueline. She was so much the same as you, even down to her smile. And it’s good to see Jack happy for once too. Even over his video messages, I’ve been able to spot the rosy glow of love, you know. You two are obviously made for one another.”

I pull back. I get the feeling Jonas could be a bit intense in anything more than short bursts. Maybe that’s why he’s out here on his farm, away from the rest of the Underground. Still I can’t help liking the compliment. Jack and I
are
perfect together. At least, I think so, and I want to keep things that way.

Jack rolled his eyes. “Ah, Jonas, it’s time to get together with Lancaster and go through the final preparations. The Fortress of the Others is something else, and we all have to be prepared.”

TWELVE

I
t’s dark by the time we finally make our move on the Others’ compound. I guess that makes sense. Darkness means an easier time of sneaking in, not to mention fewer people around who might potentially cause problems. That’s important, because this is meant to be a rescue mission, not an all-out assault. Even so, I’m under no illusions about the danger we might be walking into. Jack makes me wear a flak jacket before he agrees to let me come, and gives me a pistol for self-defense. It has a silencer, which makes me feel like an extra out of a spy movie, but also serves to drive home just how dangerous the situation we’re walking into is.

Of course, if that hadn’t, then the sight of the Others’ base would have. It’s a big, ugly, windowless building three stories tall, sitting behind enough barbed wire to make it clear that no one sensible would want to go near it. There are armed guards patrolling the perimeter with dogs. I’m not sure how we’re going to get past them as I crouch at the top of a small rise not far from the compound, along with Jack, Grayson, and the others involved in the rescue.

What surprises me is how close this place is to ordinary homes and houses. It’s less than a mile from the heart of suburbia, yet it even
looks
like a secret base.

“I thought you said that the Others disguised their bases better than this,” I say to Jack, keeping my voice low.

“Normally, they do,” he whispers back. “The Fortress is a special case.”

“The Fortress,” Lionel puts in, moving closer almost silently, “is one of their most secure locations. We didn’t know where it was until now.”

I look down at the place below us in surprise. “How could you not spot
this
?”

“It could have been anywhere in the world,” Jack points out. “Besides, it might not look like a house or a business, but if you didn’t know what it was, wouldn’t it just look like a secure warehouse? Or maybe something run by the government?”

“But wouldn’t a government facility have signs outside, telling you what it is?” I ask.

Beside me, Lionel laughs softly, “You obviously haven’t worked at the same ones I did, dear. Now, enough talking, we go on Jack’s signal.”

Jack talks into a radio ear piece. “Everybody ready?”

Voices come back, saying yes, one by one. Everybody around me looks ready. I’m easily the least heavily armed of the group around me. Everyone else has either a submachine-gun or some kind of elaborately modified rifle. Everything has sound suppressors fitted. Additionally, most of the people there have backpacks, undoubtedly containing a whole host of extra gear.

“Then we go in three, two, one. Go!”

The sentries and their dogs fall almost simultaneously. I look at Jack questioningly.

“Tranquilizer darts,” he explains, “now come on.”

We run for the fence as quickly and quietly as we can. The fence is electrified, but it isn’t a problem, apparently. Jack says something else into his radio, and in the distance, I see half the lights in the area go out. The Underground has cut the power, I realize. Even while I’m thinking it, Lionel and Grayson move up to the fence, hacking a hole in it at lightning speed. In a matter of seconds, there’s a gap big enough to walk through.

“Just in time,” Jack says. “The emergency power will be on in a moment.”

“Do you think they know that we’re here yet?” Lionel asks.

“They would have to be very stupid not to, but we’ll take precautions anyway.”

Jack signals to another of the Faders, who brings forward a computer. The Fader taps in a series of commands before looking around at Jack. “I’m in their camera feeds now. I’ll only be able to freeze a few at a time, but I should be able to mask your movements.”

Jack nods. “That’s good enough.”

We move to a door, looking around for potential threats. I spot someone moving out of the shadows, gun raised, but as fast as I react, Jack is faster. He brings up his submachine gun, and gets a silenced shot off in the dark. The figure falls. No one comments.

The doors to the Fortress go with its name. From a distance, they don’t look like much, just ordinary loading doors to let trucks drive in, the way people would have at just about any warehouse. Closer too, though, I can see that they’re reinforced steel. There’s a retinal scan lock similar to the ones back at the Underground base.

“Time to see if this works,” Jack says. He takes a small box from his backpack, opens it, and then presses something to each of his eyes in turn. I realize that he’s putting in contact lenses. He bends over the scanner, and a light goes green, before those great metal doors slide open in near silence.

The Faders move through them, checking the space beyond. This is obviously the most dangerous point of the mission. Even I would want to ambush us here, and I don’t know anything about military tactics. Jack and Grayson, who obviously know far more, stay by the doors until we get the all clear to move in further.

The room beyond is some kind of loading bay, and we get out of it quickly, leaving a couple of Faders behind to keep our escape route secure. We move deeper into the Fortress, following corridors that have no signs beyond a few stenciled numbers and letters. Presumably, the Others know what they mean, but we don’t. We’re left trying to find our way around the base by trial and error.

It’s a total maze. If Location Six was confusing because of the amount of things that had to be fit into it, this feels like it is almost deliberately so, with corridors taking twists and turns for no apparent reason, while doors lead off at the sides at random intervals. We have to check each one we come to, just to make sure that we aren’t leaving a whole bunch of potential enemies behind us. For the most part, there isn’t anybody there.

That changes quickly when we round a corner and almost run straight into a guard in the Others’ traditional black clothing. Jack reacts before any of the rest of us, spinning him around and putting him in a choke hold that has the guard slumping into unconsciousness in a matter of seconds. It’s quick, it’s quiet, and it has me wondering what I’m doing there. I can’t keep up with that kind of thing.

The guard isn’t the only person we run into. A little further on, we find a lab, with toughened glass windows facing out onto the corridor, and plenty of expensive looking pieces of machinery inside. There’s also a woman in a white coat bent over a microscope, apparently making notes as she works. She appears to be in her mid-twenties, with long blonde hair tied carefully back and glasses. Jack starts to open the door to the lab. What is he planning?

Jack moves quickly over to the woman, putting his gun to her head. “If you call for help or reach for a weapon, you’re dead, understood?”

The woman freezes in place. “I… I…”

She’s panicking. She’s going to try something stupid, like screaming. I know I have to do something, so I move forward, level with her. “What’s your name?” I ask.

“Teri. Oh God, please don’t kill me.”

“We aren’t going to kill you,” I promise her. I hope that’s true. I know how much the Underground hates the Others. “We need information, Teri. We need you to tell us where Sebastian Cook is being held.”