Strike (18 page)

“Scottie!” I called out.

“She can’t hear you,” Feit said. “Or see us.”

The door opened again and another Retro entered. It was Bova. Nothing good ever happened when that guy showed up. He walked to the invisible wall that separated the two rooms and gave a small nod.

“He knows we’re watching,” Feit said. “Now, tell me, what exactly is it that the Sounders are planning?”

Tori and I exchanged nervous looks.

“We don’t know,” I said. “Olivia didn’t get the chance to tell us.”

Feit stared me right in the eyes as if trying to read my mind.

“You saw how easily we obliterated Las Vegas,” Feit said. “Developing weapons like the one we used there was one of the few legacies from the past that have proved useful. There was money in war back then. The technology we used against Las Vegas is the same as you see in there. So, tell me, what can we expect from the Sounders?”

Tori started to shake with growing anger. She gave a quick glance at the frightened woman strapped into the chair, then made a move toward Feit.

“You can’t do this,” she said as she took a step forward, but the Retro guard grabbed her and held her back. I made a move to help but the guard quickly raised his pulser toward me.

“I’d rather not harm your friend in there,” Feit said calmly. “But it’s up to you. Tell me what you know about the Sounders.”

“Nothing,” Tori cried. “We met a few of them and heard that something is going to happen but they didn’t tell us what it was.”

“It’s true,” I said quickly. “Olivia’s apartment was attacked before she could tell us.”

Feit lifted his pad and pressed it.

Bova nodded, turned to Scottie, lifted his leg up, and put his boot on the arm of the chair.

Scottie screamed with terror. She glanced behind her at the glowing light then back to Bova. She said something to him that we couldn’t hear. It had to have been a plea for her life.

I’d never felt so helpless and frightened, even when bombs were flying around me. Scottie had helped me, twice, and now I held her life in my hands.

“Don’t!” Tori begged. “This is monstrous.”

“I can tell you something,” I said. “Scottie has nothing to do with the Sounders. That much I know for sure.”

Feit let out a bored sigh.

“This isn’t about her, it’s about
you
. I could have put your mother in that chair but that
really
wouldn’t have been cool.”

I lunged at Feit and instantly felt a sharp jolt of pain in my back that knocked me to my knees. The guard had fired a pulse of energy at me. It wasn’t strong enough to injure me, but it sure hurt.

“The choice is yours,” Feit said. “Tell me everything or . . .” he punctuated the statement with a shrug as if it were out of his hands.

I was near panic. We really didn’t know anything, other than the name of Colonel Pike and the fact that we were supposedly the last piece in the puzzle of the Sounders’ plan. Seeing Scottie’s terrified face tore my heart out. Would the little information we had be enough for the Air Force to stop the Sounders’ plan? If we gave up Colonel Pike, would she be the next one sitting in that chair?

“Last chance,” Feit warned in a singsong voice.

Tori gave me a tortured look. She was as torn as I was.

“Please don’t hurt her,” I said, lamely. “I swear we don’t know anything.”

Feit pressed his pad.

Bova kicked the chair over.

Scottie opened her mouth to scream as the chair fell back through the curtain of energy between the silver poles. Her body was enveloped in white light. An instant later, she was gone. The chair tilted back to its upright position, empty.

Tori let out an anguished cry.

I think I did too. I can’t say for sure. The agony of knowing I was the cause of an innocent person’s death, someone who had risked her own life to help me, was too much to bear. I had witnessed untold death and devastation over the last few weeks but this was personal. Nothing had compared to this.

Bova turned back to us, showing no emotion. He was as cold-blooded as Feit. The monster stood there, waiting for instructions.

“Tell me, was that worth it?” Feit asked.

“You can’t justify this,” I said, trying to keep from crying with anger. “You can look back in time and blame people for whatever you’d like, but you can’t claim that what happened in the past is anything like cold-blooded murder.”

My anguish was quickly turning to rage. I looked to Tori and said, “I would push that button. I would push it until every last one of these bastards was blown away.”

Tori dropped her head in total anguish, and defeat.

“Let’s continue,” Feit said and pressed his pad again.

The door in the next room opened and two more Retro soldiers stepped in, headed for the death chair.

With them were Olivia and Kent.

“S
top it, now,” Tori demanded.

“No problem,” Feit replied casually. “Tell me about the Sounders.”

For one brief moment my mind flashed forward to what was about to happen. Who would be put in the chair first? Kent or Olivia? Probably Kent. Olivia’s knowledge of the Sounders would make her too valuable to execute. What would I do? Would I give up Colonel Pike to save Kent? Would I admit that the Sounders had a plan to stop the Retros, even though I had no idea of what it was? Would that be enough to save him? Or would it just hurt the Sounders’ chance of success?

I truly didn’t know what to do.

Olivia and the Sounders did.

The two Retro soldiers pushed Kent and Olivia toward Bova.

As soon as they were released, the two soldiers faced us and put their hands on their hearts.

Sounders.

I shot a look to Tori.

She gave me a quick nod.

It was time to go.

I threw myself at the soldier behind us. He was so surprised that he didn’t have time to defend himself. I grabbed for his pulser while pumping my legs, forcing him backward until he slammed into the wall.

Tori launched herself at Feit, who had his communicator up, probably to sound an alarm. He didn’t get the chance. Tori tackled him and bent him back over the desk.

In the next room, the odds had changed dramatically. Bova and two Retro guards were fighting two more Sounders, along with Olivia and Kent. It was no contest. Surprise is a powerful weapon.

The Sounder soldiers first fired on the two Retro guards. One was hit and fell to the floor; the other was knocked into the white light and instantly vaporized. Bova ran for the door to escape but Kent tackled him.

Olivia grabbed the pulser of the downed guard, calmly aimed at the invisible wall, and fired.

The room next door was no longer silent. The ear-splitting sound of shattering glass erupted as the invisible wall between us was blown away, falling to the floor in a mass of sharp fragments.

Feit pushed Tori away and ran for the door.

Olivia quickly adjusted the power of the pulser and fired at him, knocking him off of his feet and throwing him into the map of the new world.

I continued to wrestle with the Retro guard until Olivia calmly stepped up to him, jammed the pulser into his back, and fired. The guard stiffened, let out a gasp, and fell unconscious.

In ten seconds we had gone from being at the mercy of murderers, to having two choice prisoners.

“How?” Feit moaned, barely able to lift his head.

Olivia strode over and looked down on him. “You have no idea how many Sounders there are. We’re everywhere and we’re coming for you.”

She jammed the pulser into Feit’s gut and fired.

Feit grunted, stiffened, and passed out.

I wished I had been the one to do that.

“He’s not dead,” Olivia said to me. “In case you were wondering.”

Kent entered the room, pushing a sniveling Bova with both arms twisted behind his back.

“You will all die for this,” Bova said.

“Really?” Kent replied. “Shut the hell up . . .
please
.”

He punctuated this by twisting Bova’s arms up further, causing the prison commander to cry out in pain.

The two Sounders stepped through the broken wall and into the office. One went directly to Kent and Bova.

“I’ll take him from here,” the soldier said.

Kent hesitated.

“It’s okay,” Olivia said calmly.

Kent gave in and allowed the soldier to take charge of Bova.

The other soldier said, “We have to move.”

“You realize this place is full of Retro soldiers,” I said to Olivia.

“And not all of them are loyal to the Air Force,” she replied. “Besides, we’ve got protection.”

She patted Bova on the cheek and said, “Isn’t that right, you little weasel?”

“You’re a traitor,” Bova growled.

“I am,” Olivia said with a flirty smile. “And you’re a sadistic killer. I win.”

“How are we going to get out of here?” I asked.

“Follow me,” the first Sounder soldier said and went straight for the door.

The second soldier followed, pushing Bova along. We left Feit unconscious in the office. We didn’t need the dead weight.

Kent, Tori, and I followed. The last to leave was Olivia, who had her pulser weapon poised and ready to fire.

As soon as we hit the corridor we were faced by several surprised Retro soldiers. None of them were armed. They stood still, not sure of what to do or how to react.

“Stay calm,” the first Sounder announced. “Stand back.”

The stunned soldiers moved out of the way, clearing a path for our desperate little group.

“Do something!” Bova screamed.

Nobody dared to make a move. They must have realized that as soon as they tried to stop us, Bova would be dead.

We made our way to the end of the corridor with Olivia to the rear, walking backward, ready to fire if anybody dared to attack.

The Sounders seemed to know exactly where they were going and pushed through doors that led to stairs.

“Move, now!” the first Sounder commanded.

He didn’t have to say it twice. We all ran down the stairs as quickly as possible with Bova being dragged along.

“Is there a plan or are we just winging it?” Kent asked.

“Little of both,” Olivia replied.

“Speed is our best friend,” the first Sounder called back. “We’ve got to get out before the place is swarmed.”

“I thought a lot of the soldiers were with the Sounders?” I asked.

“They are,” Olivia said. “But we’re still outnumbered and we don’t want to get into a full-on battle. At least not yet.”

“So we’re just going to go outside and run down the street?” Tori asked.

“Not exactly,” Olivia said. “Trust us.”

“I do,” Kent said. He meant it, too.

We kept descending, dropping down to a level that was significantly cooler and seemed to be below ground. When we reached the bottom, the first Sounder stopped at a double door and turned back to us.

“Head for the nearest car,” he said. “Load in and hang on.”

“Car?” Kent said. “We’re not all going to fit in one car.”

“Sure we will,” Olivia said with a wink. She looked to the first Sounder and said, “Go.”

He raised his pulser and pushed the door open.

We were instantly fired on from the other side with energy blasts that hit the walls all around us.

“Split up!” the first Sounder commanded.

I grabbed Tori’s hand and pulled her off to our right as lethal shots of energy flew everywhere, hammering the cement walls and ceiling, blasting out chunks of material that filled the air with dust and debris. I pulled her behind a wide column for a moment of protection.

Peeking around the edge, I saw that we were in a subterranean train station, though the vehicles didn’t look anything like the subway trains I was used to. They were individual, round cars about the size of an above-ground swimming pool with windows all around. A dozen were lined up next to one another with their doors open, ready for passengers.

The station looked like a shipping depot, with crates and equipment piled everywhere.

“Which one do we get on?” Tori asked.

“Wait until the Sounders choose,” I said. “This is their show.”

The battle continued, with Olivia and the first Sounder firing from behind stacked crates while continuing to move closer to the cars.

I didn’t think there were many Retros, based on the number of shots that were being fired. That wouldn’t last. More would be coming soon.

The Sounder with Bova made the first move. He boldly dragged the prison commander out from hiding and pulled him toward the cars. He must have thought the Retros wouldn’t risk shooting at him.

He was wrong.

He got halfway across the floor to the train cars when he screamed and fell back, letting go of Bova. Someone had taken a very good, or very lucky, shot.

Bova took off screaming, “Shoot! Shoot them all!”

Olivia and the other Sounder went on offense. They ran out from where they were hiding, firing multiple shots at the stacks of crates the Retros were using for cover. It was a frightening barrage of energy as the crates were hit with such violence that they exploded into a cloud of debris, forcing the Retros to back off.

“Move!” the Sounder screamed back at us.

“That means us,” I said and pulled Tori out from behind the pillar.

Kent appeared from the far side of the depot and we all ran for the round train cars.

On the far side of the station, more Retros came running with their pulsers drawn and ready. It was going to be close.

All around us the floor was blasted apart by stray pulses of energy. The Sounder and Olivia continued to fire at the Retros as they ran, but speed was everything. We had to get in a car and out of there before more Retros arrived.

The Sounder chose a car in the dead center and the rest of us followed him aboard. He went straight for the controls, which were on the opposite side from the door. Olivia jumped on next followed by Tori and me.

“Hang on!” the Sounder commanded.

He hit the throttle just as Kent stepped on board. The door wasn’t even closed as the car shot forward.

“Hey!” Kent shouted.

I grabbed him by the shirt and held on tight or he would have fallen right back out. When I pulled him in the door slid shut and was instantly pummeled by rounds of energy being fired from the station.

“Jeez, he wasn’t kidding about hanging on,” Kent said, his eyes wide with exhilaration.

“What about the guy we left behind?” Tori asked, breathing hard.

“He’s dead,” the Sounder replied. “They were shooting to kill.”

“I’m sorry,” Tori said.

Olivia put her hand on the Sounder’s shoulder in sympathy.

He didn’t take his eyes off of the tunnel ahead but gave her a brief grateful smile.

I stood next to him to see we were flying through a dimly lit subway tunnel that wasn’t much wider than the car we were on. The control panel was a large computer monitor touchscreen that the Sounder kept his fingers on. There was another monitor next to it that looked to be a map of the subway tunnels. A small moving light showed us where we were in the system.

“What kind of train is this?” I asked.

“It rides on a contained cushion of energy,” Olivia said. “There are no tracks so there are multiple routes and tunnels to take.”

“Yeah, well, let’s take a tunnel they’re not expecting because they’re coming after us,” Kent announced.

Behind us, the lights of another train car could be seen.

“What’s your name?” Tori asked the Sounder.

“Sokol,” he replied. “Captain Sokol.” He looked at Tori and added, “Kenny.”

He was a big guy with jet-black hair and dark eyes to match.

“How well do you know these tunnels, Captain Kenny Sokol?” Tori asked.

Sokol took his eyes off of the tunnel long enough to give Tori a wink.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll give ’em a run.”

We were flying through the tunnel. Literally. I didn’t know how safe it was to be moving with such speed, but it didn’t look as though we were getting any further away from the train that was chasing us.

“Hold on to something,” Sokol warned.

I reached up and grabbed on to the overhead railing.

“Why?” Kent asked.

We reached a fork in the tunnel and Sokol took a sharp cut, sending us into the tunnel to the right.

Kent was the only one who hadn’t grabbed the railing and was thrown to the deck.

“That’s why,” Sokol said.

“Jeez! A little more warning next time!” Kent shouted back.

“You okay?” Olivia asked.

Kent got to his feet, more embarrassed than hurt.

“I’ll live,” he said. “Won’t I?” He directed that to Sokol.

“Doing my best,” the Sounder replied.

Behind us, the chasing car made the same turn.

“Didn’t lose them,” I announced.

“We’re headed for a multiple juncture,” Sokol said. “Let’s see how good they are.”

This time Kent gripped the overhead rail.

“Never tried this before,” Sokol said. “Should be okay.”

“Should?’” Kent asked, nervously.

I glanced at the monitor to see a series of intersections coming up. It reminded me of something straight out of a video game. A life-or-death video game.

“Here we go,” Sokol announced.

He threw the car into a quick right turn, flew forward for a few seconds, then hit another hard right turn.

“I doubt these junctures were designed to be taken at this speed,” I said.

“They weren’t,” was Sokol’s matter-of-fact reply.

Enough said. I watched our light on the map moving quickly as we approached several more intersections.

“Another one,” Sokol called out.

He made a sharp left turn. Too sharp. The flying car bashed the wall, sending a shudder through the speeding vehicle. The circular car spun and for a second we were flying sideways. Sokol made a few quick adjustments and we spun back around until the controls faced forward again.

“I may puke,” Kent said.

“They’re still coming,” I said.

I pointed to the monitor, where the image of the other car was on the map. They had followed us through every turn.

“I guess the answer is they are very good,” Tori said.

“They have the same monitor,” Sokol said. “They know every move I’m making.”

“Eventually we’re going to reach the end of the system,” Olivia warned.

“We’ll have to stop and make a stand,” I said.

Sokol kept his eyes on the track. He no longer bothered making ridiculous turns. Instead, he increased the throttle.

“We can’t outrun them,” Tori said.

“I know, I just want to put a little distance between us,” Sokol explained.

“Why?” Kent asked.

“We need a station,” Sokol replied.

I looked at the monitor, searching for one.

“There,” I said. “There’s a juncture up ahead to the right. There’s a long straightaway and then the tunnel widens. Is that a station?”

Sokol gave the monitor a quick glance, and smiled.

“It’s perfect,” he said.