Numbers Ignite (35 page)

“Why didn’t I bring the rifle?” I muttered, keeping my head down. Footsteps crunched in the gravel, coming toward me. Probably about a dozen.

The group from above was approaching as well. There were too many footsteps to count. They descended in all their might, yelling to each other in Chinese as they jogged down the trail. Once they reached the battle, it would be over. NORA simply hadn’t brought enough soldiers.

And then they would turn on the settlers again.

The dozen soldiers arrived first, their footsteps slowing as they got nearer. There was no doubt they knew exactly where I was. The group probably intended to separate, to circle me on both sides. It was a maneuver I’d used often when we cornered smugglers. Now I knew exactly how the smugglers felt.

The front line of reinforcements came just then. A woman spoke, and another soldier whispered back. I could imagine what they were saying. “There’s one hidden behind the rock. We’ll surround him and take him out all at once.” I looked around, but there was nothing but gravel. Not even a large stone. I would be dead in seconds.

A dark shadow passed over the sun.

I looked up to see a huge black hovercraft with four rotors slide over us, completely soundless, and then slow to a stop.

I blinked, but it was still there. The NORA choppers below it were like kittens beneath a grizzly. I’d worked in the NORA military for two years, and I’d never seen that monstrosity before. It had to be Chinese.

The foreign soldiers shouted as one and sprinted down the trail.

I waited a moment, then peered over the boulder. Chinese soldiers streamed down the trail, not even pausing when they saw me watching. They rushed downward, looking almost concerned.

Then it was quiet. The entire valley was tense, watching the hovercraft, unsure what it planned to do. I climbed out from behind the rock and saw what was left of the NORA soldiers positioning themselves along the valley walls, readying for the wave of Chinese soldiers they expected to descend. It was the most logical thing to expect.

They were wrong.

In a heartbeat the black aircraft sent a ball of fire at the nearest NORA chopper. Its reflective surface instantly exploded in flames. Its rotors whipped around, sending what was left of the chopper sideways and plunging into the lake. Another massive shot and a second chopper bit the waves.

This battle would be over in less than a minute. No wonder the Chinese were gathering.

The sight of NORA’s choppers being shot down one by one sent the valley into a frenzy again. Settlers screamed and ran away, realizing that NORA was falling. I caught sight of Anton gathering some kids into a building. He turned back to watch another NORA chopper burst into flame and plunge downward.

There was nothing I could do. It was a horrible realization. There wasn’t a thing in the world that could take the black monster down. NORA’s technology was ridiculously behind when it came to fighting other countries. They’d just recovered from battling themselves decades before.

It was over.

“Were those really NORA helicopters?” Mandie asked, looking out the window. “Are they killing everyone?”

“Get down,” I told her, but I couldn’t resist the urge to peek out myself. “They’re out there, but they’re fighting on our side this time.” I couldn’t believe it. How had they known?

“Ours is the only unarmed group still out there,” a woman said, covering her young son’s eyes with both hands as she peered through another window. Her voice rose in pitch. “A group just came down the trail toward them. Oh, stars—they’re going to shoot!”

“Somebody has to stop them!” another woman said.

“They’re on their own,” I said. My stomach lurched as a huge company of Asian soldiers surrounded our little group of defenders. I could make out Coltrane down there near the edge of the group, still fiddling with something in his hands.

I gasped as the soldiers raised their weapons. The settlers slowly lifted their arms skyward.

At my gasp, Mandie jumped up again to see, but I pulled her into my shoulder instead. “Don’t look.”

And then something happened.

All went quiet, and a single shout went up. I turned back to the window just in time to see an incredibly bright light flash across the entire mountain, like an exploding star. The sound hit next, a whoosh that sent my hair flying. The families in the home with me shrieked in surprise, and then it was over.

The valley was silent now, as if the light had pulled everyone away with it.

I rose and looked out. The scene was similar to what we’d seen earlier, only the settlers had lowered their arms. They stood there, looking at each other in amazement.

I gaped. The Asian soldiers writhed on the ground, their bodies convulsing and flopping around soundlessly. Every. Single. One. Only the settlers and NORA soldiers dotting the valley floor remained on their feet.

And in the center of everything stood Coltrane. He held something small and rectangular in his hand and lifted it triumphantly.

“It works!” he yelled.

A deep groaning from the sky tore my eyes away from the source of the flash. The black hovercraft slowly tilted to one side, then tipped the other way. One rotor failed, then a second, and it was completely sideways. Then it began to fall. On its way down, it hit several NORA choppers, setting them instantly aflame.

I scanned the ground around the lake quickly for people, but it seemed the settlers were smarter than that. Seconds later, the huge black aircraft smashed into the choppy water, sending up a gigantic splash. It must have sprayed the ground for half a mile. Soon, pieces of fiery metal carnage floated across the water. The edge of a rotor sat just above the surface, still rotating as if in a final death rattle.

That wasn’t even the strangest part. Bodies in dark gray uniforms blanketed the entire valley. Whatever had taken down the aircraft had also overpowered the Asian soldiers’ weapons.

My clan was safe. We had won.

I fell back against the boulder and slid to the ground, absently running a hand through my hair. No.
They
had won. I had lost—undeniably, irrevocably.

Hot tears came unbidden, and for the first time in years, I allowed myself to mourn what should have been.

Two hours later, after Coltrane’s community was settled in, I began the search for Vance. I found him sitting at the edge of the platform where we’d separated, staring at the ground. His eyes were bloodshot and his shoulders hunched. By the dried blood on his shoulder, his wound had torn open.

But the pain in his expression seemed unrelated to his wounds. He looked as if he’d just visited the darkest depths of existence. I hesitated, unsure whether to join him. But then he looked up, and a tired smile spread across his face.

Warmth settled in my chest. “And to think you almost had this party without me.”

He chuckled, and the darkness in his expression fled. “Wouldn’t dream of it.” He opened his arms for an embrace. I gave him a coy look and grabbed the back of his head, pulling him down for a long kiss. He nearly slid right off the platform in his surprise, then he grinned against my lips and pulled me in closer.

We were so lost in each other that I barely heard the chopper approaching. We pulled apart as the shiny aircraft, one of the larger ones, emerged from above the rim and descended carefully, setting down gently on the ground in front of us. The settlers who had begun cleanup watched it warily.

Vance put a protective arm in front of me, but I shook my head. “It’s just Denoux,” I called out over the noise of the blades. He had probably circled the mountain, watching and waiting for NORA to win the battle before swooping in. Even if the chopper was packed with soldiers bent on destroying the settlers, we were armed and ready. I patted the NORA stunner in my pocket. Several settlers headed our direction, pulling out their own weapons.

The helicopter’s motor cut out, and its rotors slowly came to a stop. The door slid open. But instead of the troops Vance had expected, a lone soldier jumped down and headed toward us. I felt my eyes widen. Major Murphy, Commander Denoux’s assistant. He’d been the one to introduce me to Vance when I was commissioned into the empress’s task force. Had it really only been a few weeks since then?

He didn’t react at all when he saw Vance and me embracing. Instead, he said, “We want to talk with your settlement leader. I’m assuming you two know who that might be.”

“That would be Vance,” a blonde girl said, stepping out of the shadows. She shot Vance a bright smile, but he didn’t return it. Instead, he watched another woman approach, a dark-haired woman with two boys at her heels.

“Indeed,” the woman said, stopping to face Vance. “That is the general consensus among the survivors. Hawking, we would be honored if you would represent us in these negotiations.”

Vance swallowed hard and nodded, pulling me more tightly against him.

Coltrane walked up, still clasping his device in both hands. I had a feeling he wouldn’t let go of the thing for a very long time. He noted Vance’s arm around my waist and looked at the ground. “Um, Amy, I think you should go as our representative. Ruby is resting. I think you know exactly what we need.”

“Why not you?” I asked, and he looked away. It was then I realized how red his eyes were. “Oh, no. What happened?”

“I found my dad.” He gave a weak smile. “His body, at least. He’s the one who caused all this.”

My hand flew to my mouth. “Fates. You mean Mills, don’t you.” It wasn’t a question. It all made sense now—Mills’s integration, his reluctance to return to his family after killing for a living. It was tragic, but to a degree I could see his reasoning. “Oh, Coltrane. I’m so, so sorry.”

Coltrane shrugged and released a sigh. “It’s okay. I barely remember him. It’s just—it’s just ironic that both my parents died within days of each other. My mom never got the chance to find out what happened to him, you know? And I never got to—say good-bye.”

I pulled away from Vance to give Coltrane a hug. “Your parents are gone, but you still have a family here. Your settlement loves you.”

“I know.” He sniffed and waved at the chopper. “Enough of this. You have a job to do. Don’t let them push you around.” He grinned as if to say,
We both know that isn’t possible.

Vance turned to me. “Sounds like we have an appointment with the Demander. You ready for this?”