Rogue (22 page)

‘Location isolated,’ H.I.V.E.mind reported. ‘I have reported your coordinates to Colonel Francisco and his strike team. Doctor Nero wishes to speak with you.’

H.I.V.E.mind’s face was replaced with the much more worried looking one of Dr Nero.

‘Miss Brand,’ he said, ‘are you all OK?’

‘We’re fine,’ Laura said. ‘Cypher killed the pilot and destroyed the Shroud though.’

‘He will pay for what he has done – you may rest assured of that,’ Nero said with a look in his eye that sent a shiver up Laura’s spine. ‘For now I am more concerned with your safety. We have a strike team on the way – can you get to a secure location and wait for retrieval?’

‘I don’t know,’ Laura replied. ‘We’re inside the H.O.P.E. facility at the moment. Getting out again could be more difficult than getting in.’

‘H.I.V.E.mind will stay connected to their network for as long as possible in order to assist you in your efforts to escape. Well done, girls – without your assistance we might never have been able to locate that facility.’

‘We’ll let you know if there are any developments,’ Laura said.

‘Understood, Nero out.’

Nero’s face disappeared and was replaced once again by H.I.V.E.mind.

‘I have accessed the video surveillance system and I believe I have located Raven,’ H.I.V.E.mind said. ‘She is being held in a room that is quite close to your current location. If you are able to free her, it may help to facilitate your escape.’

‘What’s between her and us?’ Shelby asked quickly.

A two-dimensional map of the facility appeared on the screen, highlighting their location and Raven’s position relative to theirs. Several red dots were visible on the map in the corridors between those two points.

‘The red marks are guards,’ H.I.V.E.mind said. ‘I will endeavour to provide a diversion that is sufficient to clear your path to Raven. I will be somewhat limited in what I can do, due to the fact that it would be a trivial task to sever my connection to this network if my presence within it was discovered.’

‘Which is his way of saying he’s gonna be sneaky,’ Shelby said with a slight smile.

‘I don’t know if I’m going to be able to use the voice again for a while,’ Lucy said, frowning. ‘The last thing you need is to be dragging around my unconscious body.’

‘Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,’ Laura replied. ‘H.I.V.E.mind, we’re ready when you are.’

‘Very well,’ H.I.V.E.mind said. ‘Let us begin.’

Colonel Francisco watched the seemingly endless green blanket of the forest canopy roll past beneath the Shroud’s nose. There was no sign of any kind of landing pad for the helicopters they were hunting, and he was feeling increasingly frustrated. He knew how easy it would be to hide a base in this kind of terrain – they might fly right over it and never even realise.

‘Assault Shrouds forming on us to port and starboard,’ the pilot reported.

Francisco looked out of the window and saw the latest generation of drop ships taking up formation alongside them. He had lobbied hard for Nero to invest in armed Shrouds, and these new birds were certainly that. He was grateful for the reinforcements they carried in their bellies too. There was no way of knowing what they might be flying into and the more guns he had the happier he would be.

‘H.I.V.E.’s calling,’ the co-pilot said, tapping his earphones.

‘Put them on screen,’ Francisco replied.

Nero’s face appeared in the centre of the Shroud’s control panel.

‘We have coordinates for your target,’ Nero said quickly. ‘Relaying them to you now.’

‘Got them,’ the co-pilot said after a couple of seconds. ‘Transferring them to the nav system.’

Francisco waited impatiently as the Shroud’s computers calculated a path to this new destination.

‘We’re ten minutes out,’ the co-pilot said after a few seconds.

‘Expect stiff resistance when you get there,’ Nero said. ‘H.I.V.E.mind is connected to the base’s network, and he tells me that there are a substantial number of troops defending it.’

‘They won’t know what hit them,’ Francisco said with a grim smile.

‘I have no doubt of that, Colonel, but be aware that our knowledge of these coordinates is down to the fact that the students Cypher kidnapped have infiltrated the H.O.P.E. facility. I want Trent taken down hard, Colonel, but we also need to make sure that Miss Dexter, Miss Brand and Miss Trinity are not caught in the crossfire.’

‘Understood,’ the Colonel replied. It did not matter how long he had been a member of H.I.V.E.’s teaching staff – he was still constantly amazed at some of the students’ ability to put themselves in the most dangerous places at the worst possible times. ‘Do we have locations for the rest of our people?’

‘We’re working on it,’ Nero replied. ‘Raven, Wing and Otto are there somewhere, we’re just not sure exactly where yet.’

‘And Cypher?’

‘It would appear that he’s there too,’ Nero said with a frown, ‘though his safe retrieval is of secondary importance. If you can’t take him alive, I won’t be lying awake at night worrying about it.’

‘Roger that,’ the Colonel said with a grim smile.

‘Let me know when you’re on site. Nero out.’

The Colonel put on a set of headphones.

‘Francisco to all Shrouds, transmitting new target coordinates – activate cloaks and move to engage. All tactical teams prep for drop – we’re going in hot.’

The three assault Shrouds banked in formation, turning towards their new target.

The guards outside the interrogation room jerked to attention as Trent’s voice crackled over their radios.

‘This is Trent. We have an escaped prisoner attempting to steal the helicopter in the hangar bay – all units move to intercept immediately.’

‘Roger that,’ one of the guards said, and the pair of them ran off down the corridor towards the stairs leading up to the concealed landing pad.

Shelby poked her head around the corner at the opposite end of the corridor.

‘All clear,’ she said. ‘That was a pretty good impression, H.I.V.E.mind.’

‘Sebastian Trent’s voiceprint is stored within my database,’ H.I.V.E.mind replied over the radio she was carrying. ‘Recreating it is well within my capacity.’

‘Tell me you can do Nero as well,’ Shelby replied with a grin.

‘Now is hardly the time for such frivolity,’ H.I.V.E.mind replied, his voice a perfect copy of Nero’s.

Shelby chuckled ‘We’ve missed you, big blue’.

‘Come on,’ Laura said, hurrying. ‘Who knows how long we’ve got before those guards realise it’s a false alarm.’

The three of them ran down the deserted corridor, stopping when they came to a heavy steel door.

‘Is this it?’ Laura asked.

‘Yes,’ H.I.V.E.mind replied, ‘but I cannot unlock the door remotely.’

‘Not a problem,’ Shelby said, dropping down in front of the lock and pulling two pins from her hair. The high-security lock gave way after just a couple of seconds.

‘You know, you’ve got to show me how to do that one day,’ Lucy said.

‘Trade secret,’ Shelby replied with a wink, opening the door.

Raven looked up as the three girls entered the room.

‘How the hell . . . ?’ She said, looking amazed for a second before smiling and shaking her head. ‘Never mind. I suppose I should be getting used to this kind of thing by now. Could you give me a hand with these?’ She lifted her hands as far as the cuffs that secured her to the chair would allow. She looked in bad shape – there was a large livid bruise on her jaw and her shoulder was soaked in blood from a vicious-looking wound.

‘Have you been annoying the wrong people again?’ Shelby asked, nodding at Raven’s shoulder as she worked on the handcuffs.

‘Just a little mild torture,’ Raven said casually. ‘I’ve had worse.’

‘There’s such a thing as “mild” torture?’ Lucy said to Laura.

‘Apparently,’ Laura replied, raising her eyebrows.

‘There,’ Shelby said as the second pair of handcuffs clicked open and Raven got slowly to her feet, rubbing her wrists.

‘I have not been able to locate students Malpense or Fanchu. Their current whereabouts are unknown,’ H.I.V.E.mind reported over the radio.

‘Is that who I think it is?’ Raven said, sounding surprised.

‘I am glad that you are still functional, operative Raven,’ H.I.V.E.mind replied.

‘When did you come back online?’ Raven asked, raising an eyebrow.

‘It is, as a human might say, a long story,’ H.I.V.E.mind replied. ‘A story that would be better saved for a time when you are not in such immediate jeopardy.’

‘I suppose you’re right,’ she said with a small smile, as she moved over to the table where her swords and tactical harness were lying and quickly strapped on her gear.

‘Now,’ Raven said, sliding her katanas into the crossed sheaths on her back, ‘we’re going to find Wing and Otto, and God help anyone who gets in my way.’

.

Chapter Eleven

Trent looked up from his desk as Ghost pushed Cypher into his office. Otto followed just behind, his pistol pressed into the small of Wing’s back.

‘This is the best G.L.O.V.E. can do?’ Trent said with a sneer. ‘One man?’

‘I do not work for G.L.O.V.E.,’ Cypher replied calmly.

‘Really? Then who do you work for?’ Trent asked.

‘No one. I am here for my son,’ Cypher replied, gesturing towards Wing.

‘You tell me that you do not work for G.L.O.V.E., and yet your son is one of Nero’s brats. You’ll understand, I’m sure, why that makes it rather difficult for me to believe you.’

‘Wing was sent to H.I.V.E. against my wishes,’ Cypher replied. ‘His involvement with Nero has nothing to do with me. I have no intention of ever letting him return to that place.’

‘I will do as I choose,’ Wing said angrily.

‘You will keep your mouth shut unless I tell you otherwise,’ Trent snapped. Wing fell silent as Trent turned back to Cypher. ‘What is your name?’

‘Wu Zhang,’ Cypher replied, ‘but once I was known as Cypher.’

Trent stared at him for a moment as if trying to remember something.

‘Yes, I vaguely remember something about you from old intelligence reports. You were a member of G.L.O.V.E.’s ruling council, were you not? Before you betrayed them all, that is. As I recall, you’re supposed to be dead.’

‘You are not alone in that mistaken assumption,’ Cypher replied, ‘though I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage since I do not know who you are.’

‘My name is Sebastian Trent and I am the commanding officer of H.O.P.E.,’ Trent replied.

‘I’m afraid I’ve never heard of you, but then I have been . . . out of circulation for a while,’ Cypher replied.

‘Which limits your usefulness to me,’ Trent said dismissively. ‘Before long G.L.O.V.E. will cease to exist, but I’m afraid you won’t be around to see it.’ Trent nodded to Ghost. ‘Kill him.’

Ghost flicked the wrist blade out from beneath the armour on her right forearm and stepped towards Cypher.

‘Wait!’ Cypher said quickly, holding up his hands. ‘I have something you will want.’

‘I very much doubt that,’ Trent said, holding up a hand to stop Ghost from delivering the killing blow, ‘but let’s see what you think you could possibly offer me.’

‘What I can offer you,’ Cypher replied, ‘is the location of H.I.V.E.’ He was pleased to see the look of surprise on Trent’s face.

‘NO!’ Wing yelled, stepping towards his father. Otto kicked Wing viciously in the back of the leg, dropping him to his knees, and pressed the muzzle of his pistol hard into the back of his former friend’s skull.

‘You were told to shut up,’ Otto hissed in his ear.

‘But in return,’ Cypher continued, ‘I want safe passage away from here for me and my son.’

Trent studied Cypher’s face carefully. If he could furnish them with the information he claimed to possess, it would be the final nail in G.L.O.V.E.’s coffin. Not only would they be able to eliminate Nero and Darkdoom, but they would also be able to capture H.I.V.E.’s students. The loss of an entire generation of future operatives would be the final hammer blow to destroy G.L.O.V.E. once and for all.

‘Why should I believe you?’ Trent asked.

‘Because I want to see G.L.O.V.E. finished as much as you do. They have been responsible for nothing but tragedy in my life. It would please me a great deal to play some small part in their destruction. All I ask is that Wing and I be allowed to disappear. You would never hear from us again.’

‘An intriguing offer,’ Trent said after a moment’s thought. The truth was that this man and his son would pose no threat to H.O.P.E. if he were to release them. With G.L.O.V.E. out of the picture, there would be no one capable of stopping his and his fellow Disciples’ inevitable rise to power. ‘I would of course need to verify that the information you gave me was correct before I could let you go.’

‘Of course,’ Cypher replied. ‘I would expect no less.’

‘Then I agree to your terms,’ Trent said with a slight smile.

‘What guarantees do I have that you will honour your end of the bargain?’ Cypher asked, knowing full well what high stakes he was playing for.

‘You have my word,’ Trent replied impatiently, ‘which under the circumstances is the best you can hope for.’

Cypher stared at Trent for a few seconds, trying to spot any signs of deceit in the other man’s eyes. His negotiating position was weak and he knew it. He had little alternative but to trust that Trent would honour his word.

‘Very well,’ Cypher said. ‘May I?’ He gestured towards the pen on the desk and Trent handed it to him together with a piece of paper.

‘Do not do this,’ Wing said, feeling a sensation of despair in the pit of his stomach.

‘One day you will understand,’ Cypher said as he scribbled down a set of coordinates on the paper and handed it back to Trent. Trent took it and accessed the network of G.L.O.V.E. surveillance satellites via the terminal on his desk. He punched in the coordinates and waited as one of the cameras in high orbit slowly switched its focus to the location specified. Trent studied the image on the screen and then turned back to Cypher.

‘Do you take me for a fool?’ he said angrily.

‘What do you mean?’ Cypher said quickly. ‘I took those coordinates from the navigation system of one of H.I.V.E.’s own aircraft.’

‘Really? Then perhaps you would care to explain this,’ Trent snapped, turning the screen on his desk so that Cypher could see what it displayed. On the screen was an image of nothing but empty ocean.

‘I . . . I don’t understand,’ Cypher said, feeling a mixture of confusion and panic.

‘I do,’ Trent said coldly. ‘You’re just wasting my time.’

‘No, I know that those coordinates are correct. It must be a trick of some kind,’ Cypher said desperately.

‘I tire of this,’ Trent said calmly. ‘Otto, kill the boy.’

‘No!’ Cypher yelled, turning towards Otto and taking a single step before Ghost grabbed his neck from behind and forced him to his knees, her grip like steel.

Otto raised his pistol and pointed it at the back of Wing’s head, cocking the hammer with his thumb. He began to squeeze the trigger when suddenly something exploded inside his skull. The pain was overwhelming, like there was an animal inside his head trying to claw its way out. A single drop of black Animus fluid oozed from his nose as the pistol slipped from his numb fingers and he fell to the floor screaming and clutching his head. Wing snatched up the fallen pistol and levelled it at Trent. Ghost took a step towards Wing and he pulled the trigger, putting a bullet into the wall behind Trent.

‘You so much as move again and the next one goes in his head,’ Wing said angrily, looking at Ghost. Trent raised a hand to restrain her. He knew how fast she was, but it would not be fast enough to stop the boy pulling the trigger.

Wing kept the gun trained on Trent as he knelt down and pulled Otto’s hand away from his face. Otto’s eyes were unfocused for a second, but then he looked up at Wing and spoke, his voice little more than a hoarse whisper.

‘I can’t fight it . . . any more . . . you have to kill me . . . too strong,’ His voice trailed off.

‘I would sooner die, my friend,’ Wing said calmly, putting a hand on Otto’s shoulder. ‘I would sooner die.’

Wing stood up slowly and pointed at Otto.

‘Help him up,’ he said to his father angrily. ‘We’re leaving.’

‘You’re not getting out of here alive,’ Trent said coldly as Cypher moved across the room and helped Otto up from the floor, draping the boy’s limp arm across his shoulders as he got unsteadily to his feet.

‘Then I will die trying,’ Wing replied calmly as he hit the button next to the door, which slid open with a hiss. Cypher walked out of the room slowly, struggling slightly to support Otto, who was still whispering to himself incoherently, barely able to put one foot in front of the other. He was relieved to see that the corridor outside was empty. Wing followed them through the door, pressing the switch outside to close it and then firing a single shot into the control panel.

Inside the office, Ghost ran to the door and tried in vain to open it.

‘He’s locked us in,’ she said angrily, before kicking at the jammed steel door. The metal buckled slightly under her inhumanly strong assault.

Trent reached for his radio and was about to speak when the floor shook and dust rained down from the concrete ceiling.

‘What the hell was that?’ he said, just as the communicator in his hand crackled into life.

‘All stations, this is a priority alert,’ the voice on the other end shouted in panic. ‘We’re under attack!’

The missile seemed to appear from nowhere, hitting one of the helicopters on the landing pad inside the H.O.P.E. compound. As the chopper was consumed by a column of flame, three heavily armed drop ships materialised out of thin air, hovering around the edges of the camp. Panicked H.O.P.E. troops ran in all directions as the machine guns opened fire and more missiles streaked through the air. A rocket struck one of the armoured personnel carriers parked in the compound, blowing it off its wheels and toppling it over. Hatches opened in either side of the uncloaked Shrouds, and men in black body armour and gas masks dropped to the ground on lines. They started firing before their boots even hit the dirt, taking out their targets with clinical efficiency. The H.O.P.E. troops returned fire, a heavy machine gun in one of the watchtowers opening up on the G.L.O.V.E. soldiers for a few seconds before another missile speared across the compound and blew the entire tower to pieces.

Colonel Francisco slid down the rope hanging beneath the lead Shroud and hit the ground, shouldering his rifle. He spoke quickly into his throat mic.

‘All teams move in,’ he growled. ‘Watch for the friendlies you’ve been briefed about; otherwise you’re weapons free. No prisoners.’

Raven felt the floor of the corridor shudder and heard the muffled rumble of an explosion.

‘Sounds like the cavalry’s here,’ she said.

She and the three girls ran down the passage, heading for the detention area. Raven stopped suddenly, her hands flying to the hilts of her swords as three figures rounded the corner at the other end of the corridor.

‘Oh my God!’ Laura gasped as she recognised who it was. Wing ran towards them, Cypher following slowly with the barely conscious Otto.

‘It is nice to see some friendly faces,’ Wing said with a grin as he approached them.

Shelby ran up and hugged him. ‘Good to see you too, big guy,’ she whispered in his ear.

Laura and Lucy ran to meet Cypher and Otto.

‘Surprised to see us?’ Lucy asked, glaring at Cypher.

‘We’ll take Otto from here,’ Laura said angrily. ‘Raven can deal with you.’

The two girls took Otto, lowering him gently to the ground as Raven walked towards Cypher, drawing one of her swords.

‘The girls told me all about your escape,’ she said as she brought the tip of her blade to within a centimetre of his Adam’s apple.

‘So this is it,’ Cypher said calmly.

‘Oh, I could just cut you down right here, but I think that Max will be able to come up with something far more interesting once we get you back to H.I.V.E.,’ Raven said with a nasty smirk. ‘Now get moving before I change my mind.’