The Search for Sam (11 page)

There it is
.

I let it rip.

The ground beneath me and Malcolm remains still, but I can see the watchtower rumble,
erupting with tremendous force. The generator, sundered from the ground, shoots sparks.
Then the tower collapses.

Malcolm turns to me, shocked, amazed. Proud.

He smiles. “Touchdown,” he says.

We creep over the fence, no longer electrified. We know that the generator’s explosion
and the collapse of the watchtower must’ve attracted the attention of the base’s perimeter
guards, and in fact we’re banking on that to be able to run aboveground without interference.
If they’re too distracted by the explosion to maintain sufficient ground cover along
our path, we’ve got a shot.

Our optimism pays off. We make it close to the compound without anyone seeing us.
Most of the guards have been drawn to the watchtower; if they’re even aware of a breach
in their perimeter, they probably think it’s all the way over there.

Then I stop. On the other side of the sprawling compound, over the horizon, there
is chaos. Noise. Explosions. Smoke. Weaponry firing.

I turn to Malcolm. “Weapons testing?” I ask.

Malcolm shakes his head.

Something is going down at the base. Something
big
.

I have a strange hunch. Something inside of me says the Garde is here.

“What do you think it is?” I ask Malcolm, wondering if he has the same feeling I do.

“I don’t know. But I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth. The base is massive.
If some kind of battle is going down on the other side of it, that means they might
be spreading their resources a bit thin on this end to compensate. We might be able
to catch ’em off their game, even once we’re inside.”

He resumes his march to the rear of the compound. I follow.

We position ourselves behind a parked Humvee at a side entrance. We can still hear
the distant sound of chaos, erupting half a mile away at the other side of the compound.
We lie in wait as a young soldier flies out of the door, running towards the Humvee.
I wonder if he’s been dispatched to the other end of the base, like Malcolm guessed.

In a flash, Malcolm ambushes him.

I’ve never seen Malcolm in combat before. Clearly he’s not trained for it, but he
has two things going for him. First, the soldier was distracted, in a hurry. But even
more important, Malcolm knows he’s getting closer to his son, and his determination
to save Sam lights him up. Malcolm swings wildly, an uncoordinated assault that nevertheless
catches the young soldier off guard.

Malcolm manages to knock him out. We drag the unconscious soldier behind the Humvee.
Malcolm rips an access card from his chest, then takes the soldier’s gun for good
measure.

“Just in case,” he says, awkwardly wielding the gun. I can read the hesitation on
his face: he doesn’t want to kill anyone. I know he’s relying on me to use my Legacy
skillfully enough that he won’t have to.

We creep to the side door. Malcolm swipes the card through the access panel. After
a second, a green light flashes and the lock disengages. We take a deep breath and
open the door.

It’s worse than I’d imagined. A long corridor opens up before us, leading to a small
alcove with a desk clerk. There are at least five soldiers in the area and six or
seven other military personnel. And they’ve all turned in unison, seeing us at once.

One of the soldiers shouts. “They’re coming from both sides!” They think we’re part
of the same invading force attacking from the front of the compound.

I have no time to consider that, and send a blast out in front of me, shredding the
concrete floor of the hallway. And another one. And another one.

Soldiers and workers are knocked off balance or thrown against walls as we rush forward
through the fresh rubble.

I know I’m causing pain and injury; I can only reason that at least I’m saving them
from gunfire. More important, I’m keeping Malcolm safe.

We round the corner by the desk alcove, only to be confronted by three more soldiers.
I let loose another seismic wave, sending them hard against the walls behind them,
knocking the wind out of them, breaking bones.

I cringe inwardly at what I’ve done, even as I feel a creeping exhilaration at my
own power. I didn’t realize I was capable of such tremendous force.

Malcolm dives forward to the overturned desk, scrabbling through its scattered contents,
all while struggling to keep his gun-wielding arm raised. I circle Malcolm. He searches
for a compound map, or something to give us a clue as to where Sam is being held,
while I keep an eye on the fallen soldiers, ready to blast anyone who manages to get
to their feet.

“Got it,” he says, leafing through a large binder. “Compound directory.”

“Hurry,” I say, still scanning the fallen soldiers, my fists raised.

A soldier clambers to his feet, hugging the wall, out of breath. We lock eyes as his
hand drifts to his gun.

I shake my head.
No
.

He looks at me, confused, helpless.

He’s seen what I can do. To my own shock and amazement, he puts one hand up and then
tosses his weapon aside with the other.

“There’s a cell cluster in Wing E, this way,” says Malcolm, pointing in one direction.
“But there’s another cell cluster at the other end of the compound.”

Malcolm tosses back and forth through the pages. He’s torn, unsure of which way to
go. I can see him beginning to melt down, to lose his cool. The closer we get to Sam,
the higher the stakes, the more likely it is that one false move could mess everything
up.

“There are also interrogation rooms in Wing C. He could be there.” Malcolm clutches
his forehead. “He could be anywhere.”

Watching Malcolm on the verge of a breakdown, I know what I have to do.

I leap at the soldier, grabbing him by the collar. He whimpers at my touch.

“We’re looking for a captive. Sam Goode. Where is he?”

The soldier bites his lip, closes his eyes. Surrender is one thing, but to give up
information to an invading force is a step farther than he is willing to go.

“Tell me,” I say, with menacing calm. He keeps silent.

I will a seismic rumble, right beneath our feet.

He gasps.

“Tell me,” I say. I increase the rumble’s force as the concrete beneath us goes liquid,
waving and rocking and cracking beneath our feet. I maintain an even intensity, but
it’s a terrifying sensation, for me as well as for him. “Tell me now or I’ll make
this floor rise up, chew us up, and drag us straight to hell.”

He whimpers again, tears streaming down his cheeks.

I increase the intensity.

“Wing C!” he screams, giving up. “He’s in Wing C! He was kept away from the others.
He’s the only prisoner being held in those cells.”

I release my grip, and the soldier falls to his knees, crying.

I know I’ve done a terrible thing, completely humiliating an adversary who had already
surrendered. But there’s no time for guilt.

I turn to Malcolm. “Wing C,” I shout.

Relieved, he tosses the binder aside and races through a door to our right. After
doing one last sweep of the fallen soldiers, I join him.

We enter another long hallway.

“Wait!” I yell.

I turn back to the door we’ve come through. The last thing we need is for any of those
soldiers to follow and assault us again. So I target the doorway with my Legacy, and
knock out the stone structure. The doorway collapses in a noisy heap of rubble.

That should keep them.

We race down the passage for what feels like a mile. The tunnel gets narrower and
narrower, darker and darker, the farther we get.

We finally arrive at a locked door. Either the soldier whose keycard we swiped didn’t
have clearance for this area, or some kind of security override has kicked in in the
wake of our assault.

“Stand back,” I say, an idea quickly forming.

I reach deep into the earth below the compound. I’ve never had to use this much precision
with my legacy, and the amount of focus it requires is going to create an excruciating
headache. I force the earth upwards, up against the door frame. The stone floor erupts
and the steel door is blown from its hinges.

It’s not an ideal entrance—we have to climb up the rubble and then crawl through the
half-blocked doorway—but it works.

We get up off our knees on the other side of the door.

We’re in the base’s armory, a warehouse-like space filled with shipping containers
and crates. Judging by the warning signs emblazoned on the crates, they contain powerful
explosives. I never would’ve used my power in such close proximity to explosives if
I had known what was on the other side of that door. We are lucky.

Malcolm grabs my arm, leading me forward through the armory. We come to another set
of double doors. Malcolm tries the keycard: this time it works. “Lucky swipe,” he
says. “That soldier must’ve had access through another route than the one we took.”

We step through the doors and enter a massive, multistoried prison-like structure,
cold and oddly damp.

Now that we know there’s another way in, we’re certain that more soldiers will be
coming soon. We have to hurry.

We race along the corridors, past rows and rows of empty cells, and start calling
out Sam’s name at the top of our lungs.

I hear something, a rustle from above, off the second-story gangway.

I run ahead of Malcolm, up a stairwell, and along the gangway, running past cells.

I arrive at Sam’s cell. His hands grip the bars of his cage, eyes blinking against
the light of the complex. He looks like he’s been through hell.

I’m speechless.

“Who are you?” he says, eyeing me suspiciously, backing into his cell. “What do you
want?”

He senses it. He knows I’m a Mogadorian.

“We’re here to help,” I start. But explanations aren’t necessary: Malcolm appears
behind me and plunges his hands through the bars towards his son.

Sam stares at him, speechless. “Dad?” he says, incredulous.

“I’m here, Sam. I’m back.”

This reunion isn’t about me: it belongs to Sam and Malcolm.

I slowly back away from the cell. Alone again.

That’s when I hear it. Something Malcolm and Sam are too caught up to hear: the sound
of marching soldiers.

Staring out over the gangway, I see soldiers pouring in from multiple shadowed doorways,
from every corner of the complex.

Worse still, these are not human soldiers. They’re Mogs.

“Guys,” I say, shaking Malcolm’s shoulder. “We have company.”

I act without thinking, pulling Malcolm away from the bars and shouting to Sam, “Stand
in the center of your cell and cover your head!”

Sam is confused, unsure of what I’m about to do, but he’s smart enough to know we
don’t have time for explanations: he quickly assumes a huddle in the middle of his
cell.

I reach my hands through the bars, sending feelers out to the other side of the cell’s
wall. I find the wall, the floor, then I sense the entire structure of the wall.

And then I blast.

The wall behind Sam crumbles, seismic shock ripping straight up its seams. But this
whole structure is connected, and the impact sends aftershocks through the concrete
floor beneath Sam. The floor of the cell juts out against the gangway, banging it
so hard it almost buckles.

Sam tumbles forward and Malcolm and I are knocked hard against the gangway’s railing.

The Mogadorians are getting closer.

I turn back to the cell, where the dust is beginning to settle. There’s now an opening
for Sam to get through the wall to the other side.

“Go!” I say. “Run!”

Sam picks himself off the floor, looks at me, then does as I tell him.

I look around. The floor beneath the cell has fissured, warping the cell bars enough
that I think we can squeeze through them. I push Malcolm forward, but he struggles
to get through the bars.

Mogadorians have completely swarmed the complex now—there must be at least thirty
of them, with more coming, and they’re already making their way up the stairs to the
gangway we’re standing on. We have thirty seconds, max.

Malcolm finally squeezes through into the cell, then turns to me.

“Hurry!” he pleads.

I look back at the approaching Mogadorian swarm. In the rear, in commander’s attire,
I see Ivanick. The only person in this world I fear as much as my father.

The General said he had been promoted, that he was working in the Southwest. And here
he is.

My blood runs cold.

I step to the bars, about to squeeze through. Then I stop.

“What are you doing?” Malcolm begs. “Adam?”