Enemy Invasion (34 page)

“Yessir,” Kotler replied. “I’ll lead the—”

A high-pitched yelp interrupted him. They both looked round as Marlon Good staggered into the centre of the building. His jacket was soaked with sweat. The explosive collar was clamped firmly
around his neck.

The collar beeped loudly.

“Somebody do something!” he screamed. “Get this thing off me!”

“Where’s the key?” Bright asked with minimal interest in Good’s fate.

Good looked at him, wild-eyed, perspiration pouring down his face. “They’ve got the key! And they’ve got the other collar. Don’t you understand, you idiot? They’ve
got the only key!”

A rare smile passed across Bright’s lips. “You only made one key? And you’re calling me an idiot?”

The beeping rose in intensity until it was almost a constant tone.

“It’s gonna go off!” Good cried, starting to run around the mercs and technicians, who stood watching in terrible anticipation. “Help me!”

People stepped back, not wanting to be close to the walking bomb. He fell against a merc, who pushed him away roughly.

“Please!” Good begged. “Somebody do something! Somebody…” He fell to his knees, closed his eyes and clasped his hands before him, almost as if praying.

The beeping stopped. Good gave a spluttering cry of relief. He opened his eyes and looked around wildly.

“I have to find the other collar,” he said manically. “I have to find it…”

Without another word, he turned and bolted towards the other end of the power station. Kotler moved forward, raising his rifle to take him down, but Bright shook his head.

“Let him go,” the major ordered.

“Why?” Kotler demanded, clearly itching to take the American down.

Bright looked at his second-in-command as if the question was stupid. “Because it’s amusing. Haven’t you ever heard of poetic justice?”

“I don’t like poetry.”

Bright sighed and said, “Prep a team to track down those kids. They can’t have got far in that chopper.”

Kotler nodded. “I’ll prepare the elite force.”

Without another word, Bright strode towards the edge of the landing pad, where Sarah Williams sat cross-legged on the floor, eyes closed, apparently oblivious to everything happening around. As
he approached, she spoke…

“You have done well, Major Bright. You will be rewarded.”

The girl rose to her feet and looked around the interior of the power station. She flexed her fingers, as if testing them out. “Yes, this mind will be a much more suitable channel for my
powers. Now I will be truly unstoppable on this planet.”

“Where’s Sarah Williams?” Bright asked. “What happened to her?”

The girl’s head turned and those evil eyes regarded him in a way that made even Major Bright shiver.

“I have sent her someplace far away,” the Entity said. “And trust me, she is never coming back.”

She has long since given up calling out for help. There is no one here to hear her. No one to help. The memories of the battle against the Entity are fading. Her friends. Even her name.
Everything is becoming cloudy, obscured…

Finally, just as she has given up hope that there is anything but herself and black space left in the universe, a light pierces the dark. A light so brilliant it’s almost impossible to
look at. The light grows, becoming a single beam stretching for ever. White tendrils stretch out from the beam, reaching across the universe for her.

Unable to resist, Sarah allows the tendrils to wrap around her body, drawing her closer to the beam, which is shining more intensely than the sun…

“Sarah,” a voice says as she is drawn closer. A voice she recognizes, but can no longer remember where from. “At last. You have returned to me.”

She has the strangest feeling that she should draw away, but it is far too late for that…

The tendrils pull her into the beam and she clamps her eyelids shut to avoid being blinded. She opens her mouth to scream as the white light burns away her clothes, her hair, her skin, and
everything she ever was...

36

The helicopter made it less than ten kilometres along the river before Alex was forced to put down, picking the one safe spot he could see: an open space in the midst of a
sprawling scrapyard. It was a bumpy landing and the terminal-sounding screech as one of the slowing blades collided with the shell of a van suggested that the Black Hawk wouldn’t be going
anywhere in a hurry.

Leaping out of the cockpit, Alex looked around the mountain of junk with a despairing expression. The wrecks of cars piled on top of one another in stacks ten high towered over them. Piles of
vehicle parts, smashed computer components and broken white goods were littered all around.

“Very appropriate,” he said. “We’ve ended up with the scrap.”

Hack appeared at his side. “There must be a working vehicle somewhere in this dump. It’s only a matter of time before the robospiders find us. Or worse: Sarah.”

“What about Sarah?” Louise snapped, jumping off the helicopter and stepping into the middle of the boys. “We’re not leaving her!”

Alex placed his hands on her shoulders. “Sarah did what she did so we could get away. The Entity is just too strong now. We can’t risk letting Hack and May fall into its hands again.
It’s what Sarah wanted. The professionals can take care of this now.”

“Leave the fight to the army?” she said incredulously. “You know they’re no match for the Entity. We’re the only ones who can stop it!” She looked around the
others as if they just weren’t getting it. “Come on!”

Wei looked down at his feet. “Maybe they’ve got a point, Louise,” he said.

Her eyes flashed anger. “Fine. Run away. But I’m staying here. I’m not giving up on Sarah.”

Wei took a step towards her, but she turned away. At the helicopter, Hack helped May to her feet.

“What about you two?” Louise demanded.

“We’ve fought enough for one day,” Hack said.

Louise’s head jerked round at him. “We came to save you. But I guess you’re free now you’ve got your collars off.”

Hack sighed. “Now that the Entity has bonded with Sarah, it doesn’t even need us to control the hypersphere any more. It’s over.”

“What do you mean?” Alex asked.

“I sensed it when I was linked to the hypersphere,” Hack explained. “With enough psychic energy it can become a portal. A link to the Entity’s home-world. Combined with
Sarah’s power, the Entity can use it to bring a limitless number of machines through into this world. An infinite number of robot armies. And no one will be able to stop them. Not even
you.” He looked around the yard. “I’m going to find somewhere for May to rest and try to find a way out of here.”

With that, he helped May walk in the direction of a mobile office. Wei hesitated a moment before following them. Alex moved closer to Louise and put his arm around her shoulder.

“It’s okay,” he said to her softly. “We won’t give up. There has to be some way to stop this.”

She nodded. But when she looked up at him there were tears in her eyes. “I’m not leaving Sarah,” she said resolutely.

Moving to the edge of the train, she cranes her head round the side. The old-fashioned wooden carriages stretch ahead, too many to count. There is no end to the bridge in sight. It seems to
go on for ever.

“Nice day,” a voice says behind her. There’s something about the clipped accent that she recognizes. She looks round at the man leaning against the opposite rail. His face
– short hair, firm jaw, determined eyes – is strangely familiar, but she just can’t place him…

“Do I know you?” she asks.

The man smiles. “We’ve met before. You don’t remember me?”

She shakes her head.

“It’s okay,” he continues. “You just have to concentrate more, Sarah. Hold onto this for me, will you?”

He reaches out and deposits an object into Sarah’s hand: a white stone the size of a penny. The stone is perfectly smooth, almost warm to the touch.

“What is…” she says, looking up, but the man is gone. She moves to the other side of the viewing platform and looks round, half expecting to see him hanging off the side of
the train. He isn’t there. Just the endless view of the carriages stretching ahead into the distance.

Turning the stone over in her hand, Sarah opens the door into the carriage. There’s plush carpet on the floor and people sitting on leather couches in old-fashioned dress. Like
something from the early twentieth century. Her jeans and T-shirt stand out in the crowd, but no one seems to notice as she walks past people drinking at the bar, towards a table at the
back.

An old man is sitting, facing away from her. She can tell he’s old because of the thin, grey hair stretched over his scalp and the hunch of his shoulders. Moving past his shoulder, she
notices the object on the table before him: a wooden board with a grid of squares and various white and black stones laid out. The stones are identical in shape and size to the one she has in her
hand.

“Were you talking to someone back there, my dear?” the old man asks, not looking away from the view of the bridge passing the window.

Something tells Sarah to keep the stone a secret, so she slips it inside her pocket before taking the seat opposite.

“Just some guy,” she says.

“You shouldn’t talk to strangers,” the old man says, turning to face her. His skin is pale and lined, the texture of old paper, but his eyes are intelligent and alive. Sarah
tries to remember who the man is as he begins to remove the black stones from the board, putting them into a velvet bag on his side of the table. She starts collecting the whites. There’s a
bag for them as well.

“What is this?” she asks, meaning the board. “A game?”

“Yes. A very old game. It’s called Go. I first came across it in eighth-century Japan.” With the board clear, the man removes a black stone from his bag and lays it on the
board at a point where lines intersect. “It looks very simple. But it fact, it’s incredibly complex.”

Sarah leans forward and examines the board. It’s old – an antique. “What’s the game about?”

The man’s thin lips stretch into a smile. “War. Would you like to play?”

“Does it take long?”

“Don’t worry,” the old man says softly. “We have all the time in the universe.”

She frowns again, trying to remember something. Something she had to do. With a shake of her head, she removes a white stone from the bag and places it on the board.

It can’t have been that important anyway.

In the distance there was a flash of lightning followed by a rumble of thunder. The temperature had dropped several degrees in the last few minutes and there was humidity to the air which
suggested the coming of a storm. Another flash in the distance. More thunder. Alex turned his attention to Hack and May, who sat in the doorway to the yard office. Hack had found a blanket from
inside and had draped it over the girl’s shoulders in an attempt to stop her trembling.

“Is she going to be okay?” he asked.

“She’ll be fine just as soon as we get out of here.”

“Well, make yourself useful then,” Alex said, waving a hand at the engine.

Hack rose and walked over. He placed his hand against the battery and electricity sparked around his fingers. “Try it now,” he said.

Wei turned the key and pumped the gas again. The SUV protested, but the engine fired and kept turning over this time. Hack grabbed the edge of the bonnet and slammed it down.

“It won’t get us far,” he said. “Maybe just to the edge of the city.”

“That’s far enough,” Alex said, moving to the driver’s door. “We need to get back to HIDRA. Regroup and work out some way to stop all this. Let’s get out of
here.”

Hack returned to May and helped her to her feet. They climbed into the back of the SUV as the first giant drops of rain began to spatter against the van roof. Wei slid across into the passenger
seat as Alex took the wheel.

“What about Louise?” he asked.

“I don’t think she’s coming with us, Wei.”

“Then neither am I.” Wei half-opened the passenger door, but Alex placed a restraining hand on his shoulder.

“We won’t help Sarah by getting ourselves caught or killed today,” he said. “Sometimes the best thing to do is retreat. She understood that.”

As Wei thought this over the downpour started – a waterfall of rain fell over the yard, turning the ground into mud in seconds. Finally, the younger kid hauled the SUV door shut against
the storm. Alex breathed a sigh of relief. He had no intention of leaving Louise behind, but he was certain that she would come with them the moment she saw them driving out of the yard. It was his
instinct to go after Sarah as well, but rationally he knew this was not an option. They’d lost Nestor and Octavio already. Now Sarah. Who would he lose next? For the first time he was
beginning to realize what Sarah had gone through all those months. The responsibility of being in charge. The fear of losing members of the team. Of putting them in danger.

Alex threw the vehicle into gear. The ageing tyres spun in the mud before finally finding traction. The SUV’s broken suspension threw them around inside as it bumped over the uneven
ground. Alex turned round a stack of semi-crushed cars and headed towards the open gates leading out to a road…