Boy X (27 page)

01 hr and 05 mins until Shut-Down

T
he wind lifted his shirt and snatched at his hair as he zipped out over the endless chasm.

The fear of it grabbed Ash like the devil had thrust a hand through his chest to take hold of his heart and squeeze. No breath would enter him. No sound could escape him. All he could do was force every last drop of strength into his fingers and grip the wire like his fists were made from the hardest granite.

He couldn't let go. Whatever happened, he could

NOT

LET

GO.

His eyes watered as he stared at the drop below his
dangling feet. The black cliffs sped away behind him, and then he was hurtling more than a hundred metres over the rocky beach with only the strength in his hands to keep him alive.

Tears streamed away from the corners of his eyes.

I am strong. I can do this.

He repeated the words over and over in his head as he gathered speed. The cable hummed above him, the wire whizzing along it, rasping like a giant zip unfastening. The wind howled in his ears and pummelled him as he started to swing from side to side.

Despite his strength, his hands were burning. The pain was excruciating, and when something jarred him hard the wire tugged tighter, biting into his hands. It threatened to cut through the bandages and slice into his skin like cheese wire. Ash opened his mouth and howled as another bump made the wire dig deeper, slipping further. It was uncoiling from around his fist like a snake, trying to slice through the skin as it went.

He looked up at the wire to see what was jolting him, but the speed and height made his head reel and he had to fight to stop himself being overcome by dizziness. He was moving so quickly it was impossible to fix on anything above him, so he looked ahead, seeing the kinks in the cable. And then he hit a pair of them, two in close succession, making the wire rip further from his fists. Ash yelled out in pain and fear. Too many more and he would lose his grip. Too many more and he would fall to his death.

But he was moving like a bullet, already past the cliffs
and out over the water, rocketing towards the concrete bunker that was sunk into the gleaming black sand. If he hit the roof at this speed, he probably wouldn't survive anyway. The impact of hitting the concrete would be immediate and deadly. Ash had to release before he reached it. He had to let go when he was still over the sea.

And then the world dropped into delicious slow motion as his heightened reactions kicked in. The air no longer screamed in his ears, but hummed a low and tuneful melody. The wind caressed his face and he felt the treacle-like motion of the wire slipping thought his fists. Below him the shimmering sea moved with a dreamy slowness, while above him the wire zipped along the cable without haste. He could see and prepare for every approaching crimp, and he could look below to focus on choosing the best and safest place to drop.

There?

Just a little further.

The cable purred and the wire rippled.

‘NOW!' He shouted the word as loud as he could, the sound tearing from his throat, but his hands refused to let go. The world resumed its normal pace with a rush and a pop, and once again Ash was hurtling to his death, his fists locked tight, as if they were fused to the wire.

‘Let go!' Still they clung to the wire. ‘Let go! Now!'

He let out a long, loud yell and focused everything into his hands, forcing his fingers open so that the wire skidded through them, slick with blood and sweat.

Then he was falling, momentum carrying him forwards as
he dropped.

‘Yes!' he shouted as his narrow frame crashed into the waves and cut deep into the sea.

The salt water bubbled and foamed around him, catching him in its tow, but as soon as his feet touched down, Ash pushed hard and shot to the surface. He broke through the waves and gasped for breath, treading water as he wiped his eyes and looked back at the tower. Isabel was there, standing in the window, so he raised a hand to her and she waved back. As he watched, though, a shadow appeared behind her.

Isabel's hand dropped and she whipped round, but she was too late. Arms came out of the shadows and grabbed her, pulling her into the darkness of the room. In an instant Isabel was gone, and Ash watched in horror as Cain's face came into the dark rectangle and looked down at the sea.

Acting on instinct, he took a breath and ducked beneath the waves, turning and swimming as fast as he could. His mind was filled with the awful things that Cain would do to Isabel, terrible images flashing through his thoughts as he swam to the small jetty he had seen from above. And when he reached it, he stopped beside one of the wooden struts until his breath ran out, then rose slowly to the surface and looked back.

The window was just a dark rectangle once more, and the clifftop was clear.

01 hr and 04 mins until Shut-Down

O
n this side, there was no obvious way to board the boat from the water, and the jetty was too high to reach. Ash swam around to the stern, where the name ‘
Olympian
' was painted in bold black letters, and spotted a low swimming platform. He pulled himself onto the boat, throwing the messenger bag and survival pack onto the deck beside him, and lay face down with his cheek against the wet fibreglass.

He was terrified for Isabel. He had no idea what Cain would do to her, but had seen enough to know that it wouldn't be good. All those bodies in the BioSphere, the blood . . . He had to put it out of his mind. All he could do was find the radio and use Thorn's distress call. Hope that
Cain would keep Isabel alive for a while longer.

‘Come on,' he told himself between breaths. ‘Keep moving.'

He struggled to his feet, weighed down by wet clothes, grabbed the bags and climbed over the stern to drop into the boat. He crossed the deck and peered through a glass door into the cabin and galley. Plush cream leather seats were fixed in an ‘L' shape to Ash's left. Beyond them were the wooden worktops of the galley and a set of steps descending deeper into the boat.

The
Olympian
swayed with the motion of the sea, groaning and creaking as Ash scanned for evidence of a radio. Seeing nothing, he stepped back and noticed a ladder heading to the level above. Ash rattled up the ladder and found himself on the bridge where a pair of leather seats were bolted to the floor in front of an array of controls. In the centre of the panel was what looked like a radio.

Ash went straight to it and pulled the handset away from the dash. He put it to his mouth and pressed the button on one side. ‘Hello?'

Nothing. Not even a hiss of static.

‘Hello?' he said again, keeping the button held in as he studied the main radio unit. There was a digital display on it, but it was dead – just like all the other screens on the dashboard.

‘Power,' Ash muttered. ‘How do you—' He spotted the ignition, close to his knees, with the key still in it. A metal ‘O' hung from the key ring, swinging gently from side to side.

Ash took hold of it and closed his eyes.

‘Please work.'

When he turned the key, the engine stuttered and jumped into life. He had not expected it to work first time, so he was filled with a surging sense of victory. He was now one step closer. Soon, this would all be out of his hands and he could let someone else take control.

The screens and dials lit up and the radio let out a long, sharp hiss.

Pshshshshshshshsh.

‘Yes!' Ash reached across to the main unit and pressed the channel button repeatedly, his fingers shaking, blood running from the cuts on his palms.

When the readout finally displayed a large 72, he tried the handset once more.

‘Hello?'

Pshshshshshshshsh.

His heart began to sink. Thorn had been lying.

‘Please.' He held the button down again. ‘Please. Titan Down. There has to be someone there. Please.'

Pshshshshshshshsh.

Click.
‘Er . . . say again. Over.'

The voice made Ash jump and a burst of excitement shot through him. ‘I said, Titan Down. Titan Down.'

Pshshshshshshshsh.

Nothing.

Ash pressed the button again. ‘Titan Down. Did you hear me? Please. Titan Down.'

Click.
‘Reading you five. Loud and clear. Titan Down. Please stand by.'

There was a long pause filled with static and Ash looked up towards the clifftop, seeing no movement. The window in the tower was still just a dark rectangle. ‘Anyone there?' he said, pressing the button on the handset once more. ‘Titan Down. Titan Down.' He kept his eyes on the clifftop, wondering where Cain was now. ‘Titan Down. Titan Down.'

Click.
‘You can stop saying that now.'

He froze.

‘Sit tight. I'm on my way.' Thorn's calm voice was unmistakeable.

Ash tore his eyes from the clifftop and stared at the handset. How on earth could Thorn reply to his radio message? Wasn't he supposed to be stuck in a dark hole in a bunker in the middle of the jungle?

‘We'll be there in five minutes,' Thorn said.

Ash watched the handset as if it might hold some answers to his questions, but he caught movement out of the corner of his eye and looked up to see Cain and her men jogging along the road by the mansion.

Isabel was with them, surrounded so she couldn't escape.

‘Hurry.' Ash spoke into the handset. ‘They're coming. I have
Kronos
and
Zeus
.'

‘Just stay calm,' Thorn replied. ‘I'll be there in five and we'll get off this godforsaken island.'

‘After we help my mum.'

Pshshshshshshshsh.

‘I said, “after we help my mum”.'

‘Yes,' came the reply. ‘Of course, after that.'

On the clifftop, Cain and the soldiers were waving their arms as they ran, as if to attract his attention. They were forcing Isabel to do the same, trying to trick him.

Ash scanned in front of them, seeing how far they would have to travel before making it down to the beach. Five minutes, he guessed. That should be enough. Thorn would be here by then. But it bothered Ash that Thorn was on the other end of the radio.

He pressed the button and spoke into the radio handset. ‘Thorn?'

‘Right here.'

‘Are you in a helicopter?'

‘Affirmative.'

‘How?'

Pshshshshshshshsh.
The static hissed into the quiet morning before Thorn came back on. ‘I have a locator and health monitor implanted under my skin. I hadn't moved for a long time, and my vital signs had dropped, so my people thought I was in trouble. They got worried and came looking for me. It's all good, Ash, it means they got here quicker.'

This
was
good news. It meant that help was already here and they could fly straight to the BioSphere to save Mum. Everything was going to be OK.

But for some reason it felt wrong.

Ash watched the figures running along the clifftop and remembered what Thorn had told him about how Dad had died and about how he was here to stop Pierce and Cain from getting their hands on
Kronos
.

And then it struck him.

It was so obvious. How had he not realized before?

If Thorn had wanted to stop Pierce and his team from getting
Kronos
, why had he allowed them to bring everyone to the island? Hadn't Mum already destroyed
Kronos
? Why give her the opportunity to recreate it? And why had Thorn sounded so cagey on the radio just now when Ash mentioned rescuing Mum?

There were just too many questions, and trying to unravel them all made Ash's brain hurt, but something told him not to trust Thorn. There was only
one
thing he could know for certain: people were prepared to do anything to get their hands on
Kronos
. And that meant he had to be prepared to do anything to stop them.

He had to accept that he was alone, and that no one was coming to help.

54 mins until Shut-Down