Project Northwoods (108 page)

A second red light appeared on the globe. “Secondary satellite data acquired.”

Dark Saint took a step forward, holding his arms out triumphantly as the clock ticked down past a minute. “Yes, yes!” he said, positively ecstatic. “The new age shall dawn! Heroes returning to their rightful role in history!”

Arthur struggled to stay conscious. His head was lolling, his eyelids heavy. Thick strands of blood and saliva trickled out of his mouth, but he didn’t care. Dark Saint turned back to him, smiling widely. “This is how it was always going to end, Arthur: your struggle a mere footnote to the glory of my magnificence.” The words sounded cold, hollow… lacking the life of his father’s earlier megalomaniacal harangue.

Overseer flickered. “Tertiary satellite data acquired.” The iris whirled in place. “Auto-targeting completed.”

“Overseer, show me the target,” Dark Saint demanded as the timer clicked past thirty seconds.

Arthur’s attention went straight for the screen as it revealed a large, X-shaped structure in the middle of a field. His eyes shut as he was overwhelmed. Despite the agony, the knowledge that he had failed, confirming it, was too much. He cried.

Julia staggered up to the first floor. Her head was swimming from all the movement, but she couldn’t stop. If her father caught her, she was as good as dead… even if she didn’t quite care what that really meant at the moment. Bracing herself against the wall, she moved toward the lobby.

“Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven!” Dark Saint was chanting in unison with Overseer. A note of laughter tinged his voice as he continued: “Six! Five! Four! Three! Two!” With a final, triumphant roar, he cried out: “One!”

The timer hit zero.

The building shook. Dark Saint’s eyes went wide as he stumbled.

“An attack on the Guild has been detected. Data backup for transfer to secure location commencing,” Overseer announced.

Dark Saint panicked, his mind reeling. “Overseer, what’s going on? Who’s attacking us?”

“I am presently occupied with securing data. All personnel should evacuate immediately.”

He whipped around to look at his…

Daughter? No, Julia had left… how did I end up here anyway? Why didn’t I track her down by now?
His head felt heavy, as though trying to remember something was taking a physical toll.

A pillar of brilliant light smashed through the ceiling in the room, searing his vision and sending streams of dust to the floor. “No!” he screamed as the destruction of the Villains’ Guild replayed in his mind’s eye.

Stair hefted Arthur’s weight as best as she could; the shuffling, bleeding, and barely conscious oaf leaned on her so much that she feared he would crush her. She was out the door, heading down the hall on Mollie’s orders to get to the basement exit. For the final time tonight, Mollie had taken up residence in the backpack-secured laptop, safe from Overseer.

“Keep him talking,” Mollie chided.

“Arthur, tell me where you live,” she asked as she readjusted his weight on her shoulders.

“In… a building,” he responded.

“Do you have any siblings?” she asked, knowing full well the answer.

“J… Julia… she’s a hero now…” he continued as the hallway filled with light, the crashing of the ceiling sending a wave of dust in front of them.

“Good, good,” she said. “What’s her… uh… hero name?” she said, readjusting his arm on his shoulder.

“P… Pony Exp… Expre… Express…” he muttered.

“Take the next left,” Mollie urgently cried.

Weston Marsh had finished loading Athena onto the helicopter. Agent Mast helped him in as he gave Cleese a rap on the shoulder to let him know he was inside.

“I think we’ve already seen the ending of this story,” the pilot said, lifting off the roof. “Tray tables and all that!” he shouted with a laugh. Another bolt of coherent light slammed down in front of them, before an increasing hail fell from the sky. The perimeter flashed and the carving beam of brilliance began to form the curtain of blinding photons around the edge.

Dark Saint slammed his fist into the console, screaming in rage. “Stop the weapon! Stop it!”

“Unable to comply. Freedom’s Sword was designed…” Overseer was cut off as a bolt of white energy crashed down on the console, exploding the air around it and sending Dark Saint hurtling backward. He landed in a crouch, realizing he had no choice but to escape. He sped toward the door, the effort of keeping himself alive and utilizing another power on top of that taking a toll on his ability to focus.

He collided against the door and tried to open it. It did not respond to his protests as he slammed his fists against it. “Damn!” His eyes trained toward the ceiling, the glowing holes from the attack providing an escape route. He leapt onto the computer towers, then to the gantry.

“Data corruption detected,” Overseer said, his voice drawn out and slow. “Emergency virus sjjjrhkkkf,” it gurgled before the sound snapped off completely.

Mollie seemed to snicker in Stair’s ear as she reached the room, dragging Arthur in first before she shut the door. The crashes were getting louder and more frequent. “What’s so funny?” she asked, nearing their escape route.

“Yeah… Tim… what’s so fun… funny?” Arthur drooled.

“I left a present for Overseer,” Mollie explained. “Teach him to mess around with villains.”

Stair reached the wall, propped Arthur against it, and reached into her pocket for the keycard. She slid it into the reader and it chimed, releasing the pressure lock.

The curtain was nearly finished when Jack noticed a young lady running in vain toward the diminishing hole. He brought the helicopter around, narrowly avoiding a bolt of energy that whizzed by the cockpit. “What are you doing?” Marsh shouted.

“I can’t leave a damsel behind!” he said with a laugh as the copter began a fairly steep dive, rolling out of the way of a few of the energy lances.