Alien Storm (10 page)

Octavio started forward to attack the newcomer, but Sarah caught his arm.

Easy
, she said.
We know where he is now. No hurry
. She looked at the boy and said aloud, “Who are you and why are you here?”

“My name's Alex Fisher,” he said. “I'm just like you. I'm a friend.”

“Just because you're like us,” Louise said, “doesn't make you a friend.”

Alex looked at her. “If I wanted to hurt you, I wouldn't have made myself visible. Would I?”

Louise's eyes sparkled dangerously. “What makes you think you could hurt me either way?”

Louise
, Sarah warned.

“Don't mind her,” Octavio told Alex with a smirk, “she likes to fight with everyone she meets. Her way of getting to know people.”

Sarah gestured for the others to relax. “Calm down, all of you.” She rounded on Alex. “Make it good.”

As the group turned their attention towards him, Alex swallowed heavily. Suddenly his mouth was dry.

“I know two of you have been kidnapped by this Major Bright guy,” he said. “I can help. I know where you can find him.”

“We
know where to find him,” Sarah replied. “The ANZAC shrine. Tomorrow morning at dawn.”

Alex shook his head vehemently. “That's a trap. Go to that meeting and you'll never come back. I can lead you to Bright's hideout. You keep him distracted while I slip in the back and release Robert and Wei. With my powers, it shouldn't be a problem.”

Sarah frowned. “How do you know so much about us?”

“You wouldn't believe me if I told you,” he responded with a laugh, turning the iPod over in his hands as he did so.

Sarah put her hands on her hips. “Try me.”

13

“Ouch,” Louise said as Sarah inserted the needle in her arm. The plastic chamber of the sample-taker filled quickly with blood.

“Sorry,” Sarah said as she removed the needle smoothly and wiped the insertion point on Louise's arm with a ball of cotton wool. “We need the blood to stop Bright from getting suspicious when I go in the hideout. Promise it's the last time for a while.”

Sarah removed the vial and wrote Louise on the side with a black marker. Finally she placed it in a plastic box, along with the blood samples she'd already taken from Nestor and Octavio.

“Do you trust him?” Louise asked, looking through the bathroom door at Alex, who appeared to be dozing in the armchair.

Sarah looked round also and shrugged. His story about Makarov had been far-fetched and when he'd handed her the iPod, all she'd heard was silence on the earphones. However, after everything that had happened to them in the months since the meteorite strike, she wasn't about to judge anything as ridiculous. As he told it, Makarov was some kind of billionaire genius who wanted to help them. Something about a war coming and the suggestion he had some information about a cure for the fall virus. Whether that was true or not, she knew that Alex's ability to
fade out
would be invaluable to them against Major Bright.

“Right now he's probably our best bet to help Robert and Wei,” she admitted.

Louise reached out and laid a hand on Sarah's shoulder. “We're going to get Robert back. He'll be okay.”

Sarah nodded and stood up. “Make sure you get all your stuff out of here. One way or the other, we're never coming back to this place.”

Louise went to the bed to check her bag as Nestor and Octavio walked in through the door to the motel room.

“The truck's ready to run,” Nestor said. “We should get going. There's only a few hours until dawn.”

Sarah walked over to Alex and kicked his foot. He snapped awake with a grunt.

“Time to go,” she said. “Let's see if your story is true or not.”

The sky was becoming light in the east as the truck pulled through a deserted industrial park. Nestor was behind the wheel again, managing to control the HIDRA truck like an expert – he'd had plenty of practice when they'd escaped from Major Bright the first time. Sarah sat beside him, with Alex to her left, anxiously listening to instructions from the iPod.

“Take a left here,” he ordered and Nestor spun the wheel.

“How much further?” Sarah said. She was starting to feel nervous. Dawn was approaching now and the arranged meeting with Bright at the ANZAC shrine. If Alex's story about being able to find the hideout was a lie, they wouldn't even have time to make that meeting. And she didn't want to think about what that would mean for Robert and Wei.

“We're here,” Alex replied. “Stop the truck in this parking lot. We don't want to get too close.”

Nestor manoeuvred the truck into the empty lot and killed the engine. Alex pointed across the road.

“That's the warehouse where Bright's holding your friends,” he told them. “They're in a workshop area to the back. I'll go in that way.” He turned to Sarah. “You go in the front and keep Bright distracted long enough for me to get them out.”

Nestor sucked air through his teeth. “I don't like this plan. Why don't we all just go in the back way?”

“Haven't you ever heard of a stealth mission?” Alex replied.

“He's right,” Sarah agreed, turning to Nestor. “You stay here with the truck. If we're not out in fifteen minutes, get to Tullamarine airport.” She removed the envelope containing the passports and the tickets from under her seat and placed it on the dashboard. “You have all you need there. Get Louise and Octavio as far away from Bright as possible.”

Hey!
Louise protested, sticking her head through the window to the back.
We're not going anywhere without you!

Sarah smiled at her.
You don't have a choice in this one, I'm afraid
.

With that, she gave Alex a nod and he opened the door. Grabbing the box of blood samples, she jumped out after him. The plan was to keep Bright distracted while Alex went in the back to rescue Robert and Wei. For that, she'd need the blood.

“Good luck!” Nestor said as she slammed the door.

Okay, let's go
, she told Alex and they ran across the street, side by side. As they ran, he began to fade out and by the time they reached the pavement opposite he was completely invisible.

You'd better be right about this
, she told the night where she thought he was standing.

Trust me
, Alex replied out of thin air. His footsteps sounded on the pavement as he ran off.

That's the problem
, Sarah thought to herself.
I don't
.

Alex skirted along the side of the warehouse. Although he was invisible now, he still had to be quiet as he squeezed through a gap in a chain-link fence and moved towards the workshops at the back.

“That's it, Alex,” Makarov encouraged through the iPod earphone. “You've earned their trust. Now you must bring them to me.”

Alex crouched by the side of the building and paused a moment.
I don't think they trust me a bit
, he thought.
As for bringing them to you, that's not going to happen. They've already got their own escape plan
.

Makarov laughed. “Flying out of the country on a commercial airliner using forged passports? Even without the intervention of Major Bright, they would never make it.”

You've got a better plan, I take it
.

“There's a small airport just a few kilometres from your present location,” Makarov said. “My private jet is en route to it as we speak. When you get out of the warehouse, direct the others to the airport and I'll fly you out of harm's way.”

They'll never go for it
, Alex replied with a shake of his head.

“They will,” Makarov insisted. “Circumstances will demand it. Now – go and rescue the kidnapped boys.”

The iPod went dead. Alex placed it in his pocket and looked round the edge of the building. The door to the workshops was just a couple of metres away and he moved fast. Trying the handle, he found it locked, but the window beside it wasn't. Sliding up the old wooden frame, he eased himself through. Thankfully, the room was deserted – from what he'd heard the others saying about Major Bright in the short time he'd known them, the man wasn't someone he was eager to meet.

Alex moved through the workshop and into a corridor with four doors. He went to the nearest one – Makarov had told him that was where Robert and Wei were being held – and looked through the small viewing window. Sure enough, he made out the shape of two boys bound to chairs in the half-light. This door was unlocked and he pushed it open gently to minimize the noise as it scraped against the concrete.

The head of the Chinese kid, Wei, snapped up at the sound. “Who's there?” he asked fearfully, straining to see.

Alex moved swiftly to his side. “It's okay. I'm here to help.”

Wei looked around in confusion. Sensing the boy's fear, Alex reluctantly allowed himself to become visible again. There was no point in freaking the kid out any more than necessary.

“That's a cool trick,” Wei whispered as Alex reappeared and began untying the rope around his wrists and ankles. “Who are you?”

“I'm with Sarah and your friends,” Alex said. He finished with Wei's bonds and moved on to where Robert was slumped in his chair. “What's wrong with him?”

“He's been drugged.”

Alex crouched before Robert and gave his shoulders a shake as Wei ran round to untie the ropes. Robert's eyes flickered open and he mumbled something unintelligible. Wei released Robert's bonds and he flopped forwards. Alex caught him and hoisted him onto his shoulders in a fireman's lift.

“This is going to make getting out of here tough,” Alex told Wei as they turned to the door.

“And it just got even tougher,” Eco announced from the doorway.

Alex and Wei froze. The skinny kid had a gun in his hand.

14

Sarah shivered in the cold, early morning air as she walked through the front door of the warehouse. The building was a wreck, with holes in the ceiling and rusting pieces of metal strewn here and there in the massive, empty area. It looked as if it hadn't been used in many years. In the far corner stood a Range Rover with a dent in the front. There was something sad and lonely about the place. Sarah hated to think that Robert was being held somewhere within the building, but she kept her mind focused.

“Sarah, you're early,” the unmistakably deep voice of Major Bright echoed from the darkness at the back. “And at the wrong meeting place. But I forgive you.”

She looked ahead and saw his hulking figure emerge out of the shadows. He was dressed in his HIDRA uniform still, but it was ragged in places, as if he'd been in a fight recently.

“I sense you've brought what I requested,” he said, stopping beside one of the crumbling concrete pillars that held up the roof.

Sarah raised the box of blood samples.

“That's good,” he said, producing an object from his pocket and tossing it on the ground between them – an empty syringe gun. “Because I'm all out of super-juice.”

Sarah jumped back as Bright teleported from the column to within a metre or so without warning. Close up, she could see his red-tinged pupils and the sheen of sweat standing out on his closely cropped hair. It reminded her of the last time she had faced the major and how the serum had driven him into an insanely violent rage. Reaching out, he snatched the box from her hand and opened it eagerly.

“Why are there only four samples?” he demanded.

“Because there's only four of us,” Sarah replied. “You kidnapped Robert and Wei, remember?”

Major Bright laughed and banged the side of his skull with his palm. “Right. Right. I get confused. The serum can do that.”

Sarah took another step away as he closed the box.

“It won't do you any good,” she said, trying to keep her voice calm and in control. She needed to keep Bright busy while Alex got to Robert. “The untreated blood won't give you our powers again.”

Bright grinned. “You underestimate me, Sarah. Colonel Moss left the research files from
Project Superhuman
in an online storage dump. Any fool with a basic knowledge of chemistry and a centrifuge machine can recreate the serum mix. All I need is a constant supply of blood and that's where you come in. From now on you're going to keep me stocked with samples from your friends if you want to see your brother again.”

Listening to him made Sarah's skin crawl. “That wasn't the deal you promised. I want Robert and Wei back now.”

Bright sneered at her. “Do I look like the kind of guy who keeps promises?” He cocked his head to one side. “No. Of course I don't. That's why you're here and not the ANZAC shrine, right?”

Sarah could sense his mind scanning hers and then searching beyond the walls of the warehouse.

“Also, you didn't come alone,” he added. “The other three are sitting across the road in a truck. You're the one who's broken the deal.”

Sarah glanced in the direction of the entrance. “You've got what you wanted, Major,” she said. “Now let my brother and Wei go. You know you can't take us all on.”

Bright's eyes blazed with anger and his thoughts invaded her mind.

CAN'T I?

His anger was like an invisible force, driving Sarah backwards onto the ground. She hit the concrete and crawled away as Bright advanced towards her.

MY DEFEAT IN THE DESERT WAS A FLUKE. I'M MORE POWERFUL THAN THAT NOW
.

His words screamed through Sarah's brain. She raised a hand in a futile effort to shield herself from him. Reading his thoughts, she sensed only a tumbling stream of hate-filled images.

Alex
, she cried out with her mind,
have you got Robert and Wei?

A door at the back of the warehouse screeched open and Bright paused to look round as Alex and Wei emerged, supporting Robert between them. Sarah pushed herself up. Alex looked at her and shook his head.