The Power of Five Oblivion (68 page)

He shouldn’t have come to Antarctica. At the time, based in Pensacola, Florida, he had been a man on a mission – saving not just his country but the world. It didn’t matter that he had received no official orders. As far as he could tell, there had been nobody left in a position to give them. While his ship had been idly docked there, a quarter of his men had abandoned ship, simply getting up and going home. With every day that passed, more had followed. The United States of America was falling apart, driven by catastrophic food shortages and riots. The politicians had spent years blaming each other but doing nothing and in the end they had simply disappeared, no longer relevant. It was men like David Cain who had to take command. At least, that was what he had persuaded himself on the day he had lifted anchor and made his way south. Now he wasn’t so sure.

He hadn’t been prepared – but then nothing on this earth could have prepared him for what he had found at Oblivion. The strange thing was that Cain didn’t think he had made any mistakes. He had launched an attack that had lost almost half his army. He had met the one person who might have helped him – the leader of the Gatekeepers – and had delivered him straight into a trap. But neither of these things had been his fault – that is to say, anyone else would have done the same. He was convinced of that. The Old Ones were more powerful than anyone could have guessed. David Cain had been going to church for fifty years, but it was only now that he had actually learnt what the Devil really was.

There was a knock at the door.

“Come!” he called out.

The door opened and three men walked in. One was a fairly junior officer on the
Pole Star
, an ensign by the name of Paxton. The other two were dressed in the dark blue uniforms of the Royal Navy – a captain and a sub lieutenant. The captain, Johnson, had been hurt in the fighting. He was still leaning on a crutch.

“Gentlemen…?” Cain came out from behind his desk. There was no small talk, no pleasantries between them. They were all exhausted. There was nothing left to say.

“We’re leaving, Commander,” Johnson said. “There doesn’t seem to be any point in staying here, so I’ve come to say goodbye.”

“I understand that, Captain.” Cain extended a hand. “It’s been a privilege serving with you.”

“There is just one thing before we go,” Johnson went on. “We’ve managed to effect repairs on board the
Percival
. My men have been working 24/7 and they’ve done a terrific job. What it boils down to is that we now have limited nuclear capability restored to us.”

“You can fire your missiles?

“We can deploy five Trident missiles, sir, with twelve nuclear warheads. We could hit the fortress of the Old Ones in a little under six hours. There are still a few people camped out on the ice … mainly the medical staff and their patients. But it would be possible to order an immediate evacuation. The
Percival
, the
Pole Star
, the
Pintada
and the
Duc d’Orléans
can easily cope with the extra passengers. Of course, there are a few casualties who are too sick to be moved…”

“And there’s Matthew Freeman,” Cain added.

“If the Old Ones have him, my view is he’s probably dead,” Johnson said. He paused. “There’s every chance that a nuclear strike will do no good. After all, as it turned out, your aircraft were ineffective. But we’re leaving here anyway and I thought we might as well leave a calling card. And you never know. We’ll vaporize the mountains and melt the entire ice shelf. Even the Old Ones may not be able to survive that.”

“Why are you telling me this, Captain?” Cain asked.

“You’re still in command of this operation, sir. I don’t think I’m telling you. I think I’m requesting your authorization.”

Cain considered. The last two decisions he had made had both had disastrous consequences. And here he was, facing a crisis for the third time in a single day. The nuclear option. If Matt Freeman was still alive, he would certainly die. And the journalist with him. The girl, Scarlett Adams, was still on the ice. Would she even agree to withdraw while the other Gatekeeper was held captive? And then there were the wounded to consider, the survivors. Even if all the ships left immediately, not all of them would get far enough away…

But they had nothing left.

This was it.

“We’ll evacuate Oblivion as quickly as we can,” Cain said. “As to the timing of the missile launch, that’s entirely up to you. But if you want my authorization, you have it, Captain. Let’s give it one last shot and see if we can’t send the Old Ones back to hell.”

“Everyone is leaving,” Lohan said.

“I’ve seen.”

Scarlett had been numb with shock and disbelief ever since she had heard that Matt had been captured. She was sitting with her legs curled up and half-covered by a blanket in the upper cabin of the airbus. The temperature inside the plane had dropped several degrees but even if she could have done anything about it, she no longer cared. For the last few minutes her face had been pressed against the window, watching the last passengers make their way across the ice shelf before climbing down to the waiting ships. She still found it hard to accept that everything could have gone so wrong. When she had seen Matt in the dreamworld, it had all seemed so easy. The five of them would come together at Oblivion. They would form a gate. The Old Ones would be banished. End of story.

Except that must have been a different story. Scott really had turned against them and Matt had been taken … for a second time. He and Scarlett had been prisoners together in Hong Kong but then it had been different. They had known all along that Lohan and his men were on the way to get them out. This time there was no one. Richard, who had been such a friend to her in Egypt and Dubai, had also been captured and he was probably dead. Apart from the bodies, buried underneath a thin coating of snow, the ice shelf would soon be empty. Nobody cared about the survivors any more. Despite its grand name, the World Army was scurrying away like a dog with its tail between its legs.

“We should go,” Lohan said.

“What do you mean?” Scarlett stared at him.

“We can’t fly out of here, even if we had enough fuel. But there’s plenty of room on the boats. If we can get to Australia…”

“I’m not leaving here, Lohan,” Scarlett said. “Not without Matt.”

“Matt is dead.”

“He isn’t.”

“How can you know?”

Very briefly, Scarlett hated Lohan for the way he had asked that. He reminded her of a sulky child. “I can’t explain it to you,” she said. “He’s one of the Gatekeepers. So am I. If he had been killed, I think I’d know.”

“Then maybe it’s worse than that.” Lohan’s face was hard. “If they’re keeping him alive, try to think what they might be doing to him. They’re certainly not going to let you get anywhere near him. Either way he’s finished. You might as well leave.”

Scarlett’s temper flared. “You go if you want to,” she said. “It’ll only be the second time you’ve walked out on him. You go and save your precious skin, Lohan. You can go to Australia, or what’s left of it. I’m sure you’ll manage to survive quite a long time before the Old Ones find you. Thanks for your help. It was great knowing you.”

There was a long silence. Lohan seemed to be examining the floor in front of him. Then he looked up. “Matt told you about Serra Morte.”

“Yes.”

“It’s not how you think. I wasn’t going to leave him behind.”

“Really?” Scarlett didn’t hide her contempt. She looked out of the window again. There were fewer people on the ice, the last of them moving steadily towards the edge. “Well, you’re leaving him behind now. And me. You’d better hurry up and get down the cliff face. You’ll miss the last boat.”

“What will you do?”

“Why should you care?”

“Tell me.”

Scarlett shrugged. “I’m going to find my way into the fortress.”

“That’s not possible.” When Scarlett didn’t reply, Lohan went on. “The doors are locked. The walls weren’t even cracked by the air bombardment. And you saw that other trick they played. There could still be hundreds of them camped out on the ice.”

“Who says I’m going in that way?” Scarlett stood up and let the blanket slide onto the floor. She was still wearing her outdoor gear. “From what I understand, Scott appeared on the beach – at Skua Bay – on his own. And the fly-soldiers dragged Matt and Richard away.”

“What about it?”

“Well, unless Scott has learnt how to fly, he must have walked there. There must be a path that nobody saw, leading from the beach through the cliff face. Maybe it goes right into the fortress. I’m going to get a Zodiac and go round and find out for myself.”

“That’s madness, Scarlett. If there is a path, it will be guarded. And if it leads into the fortress what good will it do? You’ll be walking into a death trap.”

“You’re right, Lohan.” Scarlett pulled on her gloves. “But I’m too tired to argue with you, and anyway, I don’t want to waste any more time. Thank you for helping me get out of Hong Kong. I hope you get back there and find your dad and all the rest of it. Maybe I’ll see you again one day. Maybe not.”

She brushed past him and took the spiral staircase down to the lower deck. The plane door was open, a few flakes of snow spinning round outside. She climbed out and crossed the ice shelf, following the last stragglers, suddenly one of them. She took one look back at the distant fortress … the great walls, the barbican, the four towers. In her heart, she knew that Lohan was right. She had no hope of saving Matt and if she was discovered that would probably make everything worse. But at the same time she was certain that if she simply left without trying, she would never forgive herself. The Old Ones might have defeated the world. But she wasn’t going to give up and let them beat her too.

It took her an hour to reach the beach. There were officers from the various navies ferrying passengers out from the edge, many of them being lifted in on stretchers. Most of the smaller boats had already gone, motoring or sailing towards the horizon, disappearing into the Antarctic mist. Eventually she managed to find an American marine who had just pulled up in a patrol boat. There were already a dozen or more people on board and there was little space left. The water, freezing cold and silvery grey, lapped close to her feet as she waved across the shingle.

The marine saw her. “I’m with the
Pole Star
,” he shouted. “Climb on board and we’ll get you out of here.”

“I’m not coming!” Scarlett shouted back. “I need a Zodiac.”

“There are no Zodiacs! And you can’t stay here, miss. We’re pulling out.”

“You don’t understand. I’m with Matt. I have to go to Skua Bay. Please, can you help me…!”

“You have to come with me,” the marine insisted. “This is my last run. If I leave you behind, you’re on your own.”

“Get in the boat, girl!” one of the passengers called out. It was a woman who had been hurt in the fighting. Her face was streaked with blood and she was shivering. Scarlett was keeping them waiting.

“Where can I find a Zodiac?” she cried.

“You can’t. Are you coming?”

“No.”

“Then – good luck!” The marine pressed down on the throttle. The water foamed behind the boat and then it was away, rapidly dwindling into the distance.

Scarlett looked around her. In a few minutes, she would be alone on the beach. Already, the cliff face, with its twisting ice columns and pathways, was empty. With a feeling of complete misery, she realized that Lohan had been right. For all her fine words, there was nothing she could do. There were no spare boats. If she tried to swim to Skua Bay, she would freeze to death before she had completed a dozen strokes. She couldn’t walk across the ice shelf. She had no choice but to abandon Matt. She couldn’t help him. It was time to go.

And then she saw a boat – a Zodiac – skimming across the surface towards her. It had appeared from nowhere and, unlike all the other vessels, it was empty, with just a single driver hunched over the outboard motor. She couldn’t recognize him – like everyone else, he was wrapped up in weatherproof clothes – but as he pulled in he looked up and she saw (she had already guessed … at least, she had hoped she had guessed) that it was Lohan. He must have found a faster way down the cliff, somehow arriving well ahead of her. She had no idea where he had got the Zodiac from. Knowing Lohan, it was probably better not to ask.

He brought the boat up onto the shingle and for a moment the two of them stood facing each other.

“I have behaved dishonourably,” he said. “Always, from the earliest age, it was my father’s teaching that I should consider myself and my own safety to be of paramount importance. But that is not the same thing as acting like a coward. I tried to leave Matt at Serra Morte. It was a bad thing to do. And I almost did the same thing with you today. I will take you to Skua Bay and we will go together to the fortress. I am certain we will die there. But better that than to die like a rat, hiding in Australia.”

“Thank you, Lohan,” Scarlett said. “I was about to give up. I didn’t think there was any way.”

“We must hurry. I think we have very little time.”

Scarlett climbed into the Zodiac and the two of them pulled away.

Scott was ashamed of himself.

No. It was worse than that. He felt himself being sucked into a pool of guilt and self-hatred like nothing he’d ever known. He remembered the day following the death of his foster father. Scott had blamed himself – and rightly – for the man’s death. He had actually ordered him to kill himself and he had been horrified and sickened by what he had done. It was true that Ed had been an alcoholic, violent and abusive, but even so Scott hadn’t meant to do him harm. But in the end he had lived through it. Part of him had even been glad that things had turned out the way they did.

This was different. He must have been mad, throwing in his lot with the Old Ones. He thought of Pedro in the Castel Nuovo. He saw now that he had taken out all his anger on the Peruvian boy just because the two of them had been left behind in Peru. Pedro was smaller and weaker than him but he had never complained, he had never shown any fear. In his own way, he had tried to help. It was true that Jonas Mortlake had played tricks on Scott’s mind, using drugs, magic, hallucinations to break down his defences. But he had stood back and cold-bloodedly decided that Pedro could have one of his fingers broken simply so that he, Scott, could have a decent night’s sleep.