The Covert Academy (5 page)

The two remaining soldiers caught up to their comrade.

‘Whoa did you see that? Where’d he go?’ one of them said, coming to a stop where the downed soldier lay.

Joshua tried to catch his breath as quietly as possible under the vent. He could reach out and touch the soldier’s feet. He shivered.

‘Jim, Jim! Are you okay? Come on man, wake up!’ The other soldier crouched down with his back to Joshua and checked on the incapacitated man. If he turned around...

‘Check the thermals
,’ the standing soldier said.

‘Nah system’s down, must be too cold up here. Jeez man, the little bugger took ou
t Jim with his own damn Stunner! Give me a hand with him already, we’ve got to get him back to the Colonnade.’

‘Hey, you feel that?’

‘What?’

‘Wait for it.’

There was a pause. Joshua was sure they’d hear his racing heartbeat.

‘...Oh right! Ha ha, we’ll find him now no problem.’

Joshua heard it before he realised what it was.
Splat, splat, splat.
It was raining. His eyes bulged. Huge raindrops were pelting down thick and fast in a torrent now, it wouldn’t be long before Joshua’s hiding spot was flooded. He inched backwards on his stomach, water already gurgling around his mouth. They’d see him as soon as he got out of there, no matter what he did. It was that or stay under the vent and drown on gutter water. He backed out of the end of his cover, returning into the pale light of the drone, completely exposed.

The two guards turned and looked him in the eye. They smiled victoriously and raised their Stunners.

A slim shadow danced across the rooftop. There was a flash of shining metal, and the drone above crashed to the roof with an almighty blast, sending a wave of heat and debris over the men.

The entire area suddenly went dark.

The short sword sliced neatly through the dense inner workings of the drone. There were no explosives in this particular model, just computer components and the huge number of compact rounds of ammunition in various modifications. All this clattered to the roof as the drone fell apart, the volatile incendiary ammo setting off a thousand tiny explosions at once.

Sarah finished her
six-metre jump and landed softly and silently with the help of the half-weightlessness created by her suit. She deftly moved to intercept the last two goons that had the boy cornered by the air vent.

By swiping her fingers across the palm of her hand
, she switched her jumpsuit’s power from anti-gravity to strength. Instantly the material hardened and stimulated her muscles. With the power coursing through her arms and legs, she felt as though she were a 180kg gorilla.

She crunched into both soldiers with arms outstretched in a clothes-hanger style. They toppled head over heels and landed on their backs on the hard concrete, winding them
selves. Sarah jumped down with her elbows outstretched to finish them off. She caught one over the forehead, a jarring blow, but Sarah’s suit reduced the pain to a dull tingle. It would probably bruise anyway. The soldier didn’t fare nearly so well. He wouldn’t be getting up for days, if at all.

But the other had rolled away and got to his feet. Sarah switched back to anti-gravity and jumped to her feet in a flash of motion. She glanced over at the boy just a few metres away. He stared back mouth agape.

‘Watch it!’ he directed her attention back to the soldier who had raised his Stunner.

He fired.

The air around Sarah turned electric, magnified by the heavy rain. She just stood there. The soldier and the boy both stared, as Sarah raised her sword. The soldier started to back up, fear in his eyes. Sarah leaped through the air and changed her suit’s power back to strength as she came down on the hapless man. The impact knocked him to his knees.

‘No don’t...!’ Joshua burst out.

Sarah was already mid-swing. She brought the sword up and around , twisting her wrists to slice open the man's throat under his helmet. Blood gushed out while the soldier gasped and reached reflexively at the wound. He toppled backwards; dead by the time he hit the ground.

Sarah looked back at the boy. He had his hand up, palm out, in a gesture of defence for the man’s life. He dropped his hands in defeat at the sight of the mangled soldier.

‘They were chasing you,’ Sarah said. ‘Probably would have taken you to the Colonnade. You don’t even want to know what they’d do to you in there. And they were trying to kill
me. But you would have me spare them?’

‘I would.’

Sarah smiled. ‘Well you’re a very forgiving person then. What have they ever done for you?’

He looked lost in thought for a moment, then sho
ok his head. ‘It doesn’t matter,’ he sighed, and shrugged. ‘I’m Joshua. Thanks for taking this lot out for me.’ He gently kicked a dead soldier with his toe. Somehow he almost looked shy through all the dirt and muck.

‘Well, that was some impressive work yourself,’ said Sarah. ‘Evading a drone and three soldiers, plus you got one for yourself. She prodded
the guard that Joshua had attacked, still twitching on the ground from the Stunner shot.

Joshua perked up. ‘Actually, there were five soldiers and two drones. You got this one drone here and these two fellas.’ He pointed. ‘There
is a disabled drone down in that alley with two more soldiers I left behind.’

Sarah gave him a sceptical look.

‘See for yourself, if you don’t believe me,’ he finished.

Sarah walked over to the edge of the roof and looked down. She zoomed in with her iPC and saw the drone Joshua
had disabled flopping around like a fish on dry land in its attempts to take off.

Casey spoke up in Sarah’s ear.

‘Jensen, we’re lookin’ at a live drone there. You know how much that could help our R&D?’

Looking over
from the opposite building’s roof were two soldiers. One shook his fist at Sarah, the other was talking into a communicator and gesturing wildly.

Sarah looked up over the expanse of the Colonnade to the horizon. A troop carrier rose up out of the depths of the Colonnade and slowly flew towards them. The distance was deceptive, Sarah knew. It was actually moving at an incredibly high speed.

‘No time for it Casey, but I think I’ve got something better,’ she said softly over the comm. She turned back to Joshua. ‘We’ll compare scores later. Were they chasing you for that eye you were holding? Did you take it from the guy in the dumpster?’

Joshua held up the General’s iPC device. It twitched and wiggled in his hand.
Was it doing that by itself?

‘I guess this is why you’re here,’ he said. ‘For this? It scanned my face earlier. I’ve never seen an iPC do that before.’

Sarah nodded.

‘But this is worth a l
ot of money to the right people,’ Joshua continued. ‘I’d never need to be hungry...’ He trailed off lamely, blushing.

‘Tell you what,’ said Sarah. ’You hang on to it for now. All I ask is that you give me the chance to set you up with a
very
interested buyer.’

‘Oh... who? This “Casey” person?’ Joshua struggled on the words, still reeling from the simple embarrassment of being poor and dirty. ‘I don’t even know your name.’

The carrier swooped past the rooftop and circled around for the two stranded soldiers, and to send out more fresh soldiers after this kid, once they’d made their report.

‘I’ll tell you on the way.’

Sarah led Joshua around the chaotic fruit market using back alleys. He had been surprisingly quiet so far, no doubt thinking through his questions
and saving them for later.

‘The person I’m taking you to controls a small, exclusive organisation in the Pacific,’ she began. ‘It was formed during the war and has been dedicated to training people like me for espionage tactics.’

‘People like you,’ he echoed.

Sarah came up short. ‘Yes. And you. I saw you take down a soldier and the remains you left of that other drone. To be honest, the disabled drone alone would have got me a round of drinks from our tech boys in R&D. But I left it there because I believe I’m bringing back two far more valuable assets.’

She looked at him and he lifted his gaze too suddenly, his mind having been focussed on two other valuable “assets” below the neckline.

He tried his best to change the subject. ‘Fine, fine, but what do you actually
do?’

Sarah shook her head and sighed. ‘Don’t tell me you haven’t heard of the Academy?’

‘Yes, but everyone I know thinks it’s just a myth. Some super secret cult out in the Pacific Ocean, lofty ideals of bringing down the Confederacy... the most advanced technology research imaginable, completely run by volunteers... and to top it off, brutally training toddlers from the day they can walk to become... well, ninjas!’ He gave a short chuckle. ‘What is this Feudal Japan? Ha! They should be training Samurai. No one has a shred of honour any more.’

Sarah looked at him. ‘I hope you don’t really think that, you’ve only just met me.’

Joshua shut up.

Their walk had taken them to the edge of the lake. The crowd was particularly busy here and both Sarah and Joshua blended in in their own way. Sarah with her jumpsuit set to display a casual but earthy brown top and dark blue pants, Joshua with his filthy rags. They could have passed for any number of the indentured servants with their contract owners that walked past them. Many people had been reduced to living as a slave just to stay fed, but it was better than living out on the icy streets their whole lives. There were millions of people who had no alternative. Unless it was the Confederacy who chose to employ someone, the job market was incredibly sparse.

A small set of drones hummed
overhead, staying low to the ground as they scanned the crowd for signs of discord. Sarah saw most people flinch as they flew by or duck out of the street, but Joshua looked up at them.

‘I think I hate these more than the ones that were shooting at us,’ he said.

Sarah opened her mouth to ask why, when the four drones stopped and hung in mid-air. They’d stopped their automated patrol. Sarah had never seen them do that unless they were about to attack. Joshua had seen this performance before.

The drones just hovered there. After a tense moment, they tucked away their crowd scanners by folding the attachment inside their chassis. The front of the drones shuffled a series of
panels like a jigsaw puzzle to form a flat picture frame. An image of a man appeared with light coppery hair, his pinched mouth forced into a tight condescending smile that didn’t extend to his eyes.

Sarah took an instant dislike to him. She glanced at Joshua who had hung his head as if preparing himself for some inevitable discomfort. Before she could ask what the problem was, the man on the monitors spoke.

‘Hello,’ his voice boomed through the street. ‘Hello, citizens of the Confederacy. My name is Simeon Warner. I address you today as the newly appointed leader of our fine community. It is with a humble heart that I have accepted the position, and hope to continue the years of peace afforded by the hard work of the men and women of this first unified government of planet Earth. Many of you may be wondering, “Mr. Warner, how can I help the Confederacy? I’m just one person.” Well fear not my faithful citizens, if you have a skill you believe may be of assistance to us, or you know someone with suitable skills who has not come forward, simply speak to your nearest friendly Confederate guard. Don’t miss the opportunity to upgrade your classification and become eligible for clean housing, hot water, clothing, food rations...’

At those words, p
eople in the street turned to listen to the drones. Some glanced at their neighbours as though they were a free meal, just waiting to be claimed.

Short-sighted fools
, thought Sarah.

The voice repeated the message as the drones moved on, the noise fading as Sarah took them along the beach of the lake. It might have been romantic, if not for the piles of garbage that had collected there. The gulls defended their territory, almost as dangerous as the endless sea of the homeless, many of whom looked eagerly at Sarah. Her clean clothing, and her well-nourished, toned body was a sign of skill the Confederates would be interested in putting to use. The beggars' desperation sickened Sarah, but she felt a stab of pity after she gave them a harsh glare. They slunk back to their makeshift sleeping holes in the rubbish piles, ashamed.

Finally Sarah and Joshua reached the spot she was looking for.
She retrieved a small raft from underneath a decrepit old wharf, and pushed it into the lake. The water parted before her jumpsuit like magic as she waded after it. She hopped out of the water and into the raft, still dry as a bone.

‘How...?’ Joshua gulped. ‘You have a plan, I assume?’

The lake seemed to stretch on into infinity.

‘Always,’ said Sarah, patting the seat next to her.