A Dragon at the Gate (The New Aeneid Cycle Book 3) (45 page)

Up at the window, the rest of the goo crawled their way. Felix swallowed the bile in his throat, grappled the next building as Caitlin climbed on his back, and then swung them toward it across the narrow street gap as a crowd of Dirge residents ran below. His feet hit the side of the other building, and the grapple line pulled them both up to the top.

“Clear!” Caitlin reported, as the first with a view of their new rooftop. She clambered off his back and over the side, and then helped Felix up the rest of the way. “Bloody hell!” she yelled when he was up.

Felix followed her gaze as the building they’d just left erupted in silver. It flooded from windows and burst from the roof vents to cover over half the exterior within a few seconds. Pedestrians screamed below.

Felix and Caitlin both backpedaled, searching for their next move before any goo sensed them. None of the buildings nearby were very tall. One was already on fire. Screams, fruitless gunfire, and the crackle of distant flames filled the air, mixing with the regular city noise into a clamoring mayhem.

Amid it all, Caitlin’s phone rang. She skidded to a stop to answer it while Felix continued to scope out their situation. Felix focused his hearing to pick up the voice on the other end.

“
I’m not saying I told you so, Caitey, but . . .
”

“Jade! What the hell? You’re
gloating?
”

“
I’m not
that
much of a heartless bitch, Caitey. Look up, hang up, then grab the rope!
”

Together they looked skyward. Landing lights shone down as a small cargo-floater swooped in to hover twenty feet above them. Thrust jets pounded Felix’s hair, and his stomach—such as it was—felt queasy from what he’d guessed was the floater’s magnetic field. Almost immediately, the rear door opened. Two lines tumbled out and hit the roof with little room to spare.

With a shared, incredulous glance, Felix and Caitlin seized them and began to climb.

THE ROPE FELT ROUGH
against Caitlin’s palms—a welcome discomfort as she and Felix clambered into the back of the floater from the nightmare below.

“Wow, floater ex machina!” said Felix.

“Close the door!” Jade called from the front. “Then strap in! Didn’t I tell you not to go in there?”

“Aye, and I told you we had to!” Caitlin took a few wobbling steps to the front of the cramped floater as Jade banked them away from The Dirge. “Where did you get this thing?”

“My friend Lucian owed me a favor. And don’t ask.”

“Jade,” said Felix, “I
always
ask.”

“Okay, less a friend than a weapons dealer.”

“Oh,
that
Lucian,” said Felix. “So we owe you double here, then.”

“Right. And now I’m taking it back before he misses it, so don’t scuff the seats.”

Caitlin settled into the front seat beside Jade. From behind them, Felix caught Caitlin’s eye before telling Jade, “You can’t. Not yet.”

“Watch me! I got you both out of there. Mission accomplished.”

“This stuff probably came from New Eden, right?” Felix said. “Whatever they did to it since Jack’s thingy worked to shut it off, they’ve got the details at New Eden.”

Caitlin’s breath caught as she realized what he had in mind. “Felix, it’s not that simple—”

“We go in there, we learn what we need about this latest version—”

Jade glanced back at him. “That’s not—”

“We upgrade the thingy with the new data, and maybe we manage to stop this!” Felix finished.

Jade kept the floater on course. “That’s real noble, guy, but you don’t even know what you’re looking for. You can’t just waltz in—”

“I can! I’ve seen some of what this body can do. Marquand designed it for this exact thing.”

Marquand, Caitlin thought. How long before they came looking for Gideon? She had no idea how much they considered his body their property. She forced it out of her mind. “Jade’s right, Felix. We have to be cautious now.”

“Caution’s a casualty when there’s a sea of carnivorous goo devouring the populace, don’t you think?” Felix reached out to put a hand on her shoulder. “You saw it down there. They’re not going to be able to contain that.”

“We rushed right into that too, ducks, and nearly got killed.”

“We can’t just do nothing,” Felix said.

Caitlin swallowed, holding his gaze. Seeing so many devoured right in front of her was worse than any video footage. Felix was right. They couldn’t do nothing. She couldn’t. Yet, fresh from their escape, safe after a near fatal mistake, nor could she voice that agreement.
Bloody hell.

Jade growled and punched in a new course. The floater banked and accelerated, forcing Caitlin to grip her seatbelt to stay in place.

“I can give you a quick lift out to Gibson, drop you off at New Eden,” Jade said, “but then I’m taking this thing back and getting the hell out of Northgate! No suicide runs for this gal.”

“We need all the help we can get, Jade,” said Felix.

Caitlin nodded finally. “We do.”

Before Jade gave any response, Caitlin’s phone rang out. She answered on reflex. Silence on the line greeted her before, finally, “
Caitlin? It’s Michael. Are you safe?
”

“Safer than I have been. Where are you?”

There was another moment of silence before his answer—only about a second, but noticeable. “
Safe, also. The transmitter signal you posted and sent me—I mean, was that you? It came from Felix’s account, so I figured it was either you or Suuthrien.
”

Her answer caught in her throat as she locked eyes with Felix. Should she explain? It wasn’t the time. Plus, that pause before each of Michael’s responses was raising her suspicion. “Aye, that was me.”

Again, the pause. “
That transmitter, do you still have it with you? Where did you get it?
”

She frowned. Was it Michael at all? Felix moved as if to say something, but she silenced him with a motion. “Why?”

Another pause. “
Because I think we can use it to stop that stuff. Marette and I ran into that stuff at New Eden yesterday and barely made it out alive. We know what it can do. I want to come pick you up. If I can swing it, maybe Gideon too, if he’s with you.
”

“Michael, bluntly: How do I know this is really you?”

The pause was longer this time, as if he were considering his answer—or dissembling. “
I first met you at a construction site. At night. With Diomedes. And the last time we talked I told you to get out of Northgate if you didn’t hear from me within twenty-four hours.
” He chuckled. “
Which I guess you ignored.
”

“Yes, well, it’s been a very interesting couple of days. Michael, is this line being monitored? There’s a pause each time before you speak.”

“
Transmission delay,
” he said, after the usual pause. “
I’m actually calling you from the Moon. But we’re headed your way, very soon.
”

“How soon? Jade’s taking us by floater to New Eden. We’re on our way out of Northgate right now.”

“
Jade? Is she okay?
”

“Aye. I hired her on, but she’s looking to get out.”

“
If she can keep you headed to New Eden, we can probably meet you on the way. Find somewhere between there and Gibson and lay low, and we’ll be there soon. Whatever you do, don’t go back to Northgate.
”

*  *  *

In Northgate, on a penthouse suite balcony of the Corporate District’s Nexus Tower Hotel, Adrian reviewed the footage of Suuthrien’s dragon’s attack on The Dirge, as well as strikes on Portland and Vancouver. She hadn’t returned the previous night, and wasn’t responding on the local RavenTech interfaces. She hadn’t even acknowledged his calls.

It hadn’t surprised him. He’d released all illusions of control back when his condo had burned. Influence existed. Control did not. Yet he’d let his acceptance of that concept fuel his overconfidence, hadn’t he? The engineering teams were working around the clock to explore the hidden depths of the designs Suuthrien had provided. They hunted both for ways for RavenTech to exploit the technology further, and for a means for Adrian to increase his available leverage.

He ran his fingertips over the bio-monitor that now wrapped his right wrist. A new presence on his body, he’d yet to grow accustomed to it. Can a person ever truly grow accustomed to wearing a dead-man switch?

Ah, leverage.

A sudden wind cut across the balcony. Adrian took another look beyond the Corporate District’s lights to fires burning in The Dirge many miles to the south, and then turned to take shelter back inside. Suuthrien’s signal sounded from his cyberscreen. Adrian redirected it to the suite’s giant wall screen and settled into the cushions of the black suede couch that faced it. He reached for the brandy service set atop the end table beside him before thinking better of it.

“You’ve been busy,” he said when Suuthrien’s usual silvery avatar appeared on screen. Hints of scarlet and azure drifted through the avatar this time. New touches. Curious. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
Decided you finally need me again, creature?

“As stated, you and I would begin preparations for you to replace your company’s primary leadership upon completion of the dragon body’s initial flight.”

“An initial flight which lasted far longer than one could reasonably expect.” Adrian’s eyes narrowed as he literally bit his tongue to keep from voicing his outrage at the dragon’s attacks. So much destruction! Inwardly, Adrian seethed at the unwanted attention it would attract, but kept it contained. Outrage would hardly sway Suuthrien, so he would play collaborator.

“The error in expectation is yours,” she said.

“You’ve attracted some undesirable attention with that flight,” he told her, unable to restrain himself. “If you intend to wipe out this city’s entire population with that stuff, I’d appreciate you informing me of your timeline better.”

“The Quicksilver nanophage will not destroy the entire population. While initial tests have shown ninety-four percent efficiency, there will be those able to secure themselves from contact as the nanophage propagates. Future reformulations will increase its virulence.”

“How comforting. And when assorted military and security forces come to shoot your dragon out of the sky and learn who built it?”

“This is why I now request the manufacture of conventional weapons systems and the installation of those systems onto the dragon superstructure.”

Adrian reached for the brandy decanter and poured himself a glass after all. “I’m sorry, I must be mistaken: I thought I heard you ask for more weapons
before
you’d helped me supplant RavenTech’s leadership. You did moments ago say that was your purpose, did you not?”

“I require conventional weapons to achieve that goal. A strike against the assembled leadership in your company’s tower, at the heart of the Northgate Corporate District, will result in immediate reprisal. Air-to-air and air-to-ground ordinance are necessary to deal with that reprisal.”

Adrian sighed and lifted the glass to his lips, but failed to savor the brandy’s taste. “The dragon prototypes already have enough defenses to handle whatever conventional attacks might occur during that strike. Hold up your end of the bargain, Suuthrien. Then we’ll talk weapons.” He had committed many errors in his life, but delivering to Suuthrien more weaponry would not be one of them. She was a wildfire—admittedly of his own making—that would have to be stopped before getting further out of hand.

Yet wildfires had a purpose. If he could maneuver her into completing his ascension to the head of RavenTech . . . Well, only a fool abandons an asset before trying to squeeze from it every last advantage he can.

“Adrian Fagles,” she said finally, “do you understand that your assistance is not one-hundred percent vital to my gaining access to such weaponry? Do you understand that you are only the most efficient means?”

“Oh, I am well aware you believe this. But you still need a human go-between to handle it all, or you risk the sort of trouble for which you’d need weapons in the first place. You need an agent. And I, my dear Suuthrien, am an exceptional agent.”

“I require a human agent. I do not require Adrian Fagles specifically. The RavenTech leadership is not the only thing that I am able to supplant.”

 “Do you know what a dead-man switch is?” Adrian took another sip.

“A switch automatically tripped in the event of operator incapacitation via unconsciousness, death, or other types of bodily trauma.”

He nodded and brandished the shiny black bracelet wrapped around his right wrist. “If you kill me, knock me out, or even set me above a certain level of stress—well, some very bad things will happen for you. I told them to make it extra sensitive, so it may even trigger if you simply annoy me enough. So back off on the weapons demands, fulfill our bargain, and
stop hiding things
from me.”

“If you refer to the explosive charges concealed within each of the dragon prototypes, those were detected and deactivated before the prototypes even merged together.”

“Oh?” Adrian smiled wider. Clever bitch. Though he’d hoped otherwise, he’d expected as much. “And you think that’s the only measure I took?”

The screen went blank. She had ended the link.

“Well.” Adrian took one last sip, and then set the glass down with a sigh. You have to play the cards you’re dealt. With a tap on his cyberscreen, he called up the engineering lead at the satellite facility. “Goodwin? Dead-man’s Protocol. Evacuate the facility. Blow the mainframe.”

Destroying the mainframe was the first of two directives that the dead-man’s switch would trigger anyway, and the only one he was prepared to order without his actually being dead. The second directive, well, that was arguably just for spite in the event that—

The suite’s exterior wall imploded. Broken glass and debris blasted inward around him, and Adrian turned in time to see a huge metal tail sweep through the spot where the balcony doors once stood. Before the tail swept out again, before Adrian could even think to move, a claw drove through the hole, wrapped Adrian up, and flung him out into open air.