Time Salvager (48 page)
He was already fighting with eleven kinetic coils, the most he had ever controlled. Because his energies were so spread out, each coil lacked the power and strength to be completely effective. Yet it wasn’t enough. At one point, all the coils were in use and he was still fighting hand-to-hand, grappling with the arm of a young monitor and struggling to keep from getting a hole blown in his head.
He looked over just in time to see another monitor charge him from the side. He sidestepped and used the weight of the monitor he was struggling with to throw the second off balance. Two bursts struck the monitor while the third grazed James on the shoulder. Pain flared through his body, and he dropped to one knee, momentarily losing control of all his coils. He looked up just in time to see the monitor aim another shot. Then the man fell as a white beam tore him apart.
James looked up at a window where the white beam had come from and saw a wasteland warrior he did not recognize wave at him. “You are known, Chronman No More,” the man shouted out. “Oldest Qawol calls you worthy.”
James waved a quick thanks. Now he wished he had spent some time making an alliance with these warriors. They could be a formidable force if organized. It was too late now. No, it wasn’t too late. If James and the tribe survived this fight, he could still gather these people together. They had already shown that they were efficient and resilient. They just needed direction and a purpose. His thoughts wandered back to Elise. Right now, James had to fight, or he’d lose his purpose.
As the fight escalated, James noticed that others had joined in. They weren’t from ChronoCom, nor could they be from the Elfreth. Some of the other wasteland tribes living in the Boston area must have engaged the monitors as well. These survivors in the wasteland were proud, even of the little they had. For the first time, James felt a camaraderie toward them as they all fought against overwhelming odds. Even with their help, though, it was a losing battle.
Those odds climbed even higher when James saw an auditor, Geneese, land in the thick of the battle. The auditor made his presence felt as his exo tore through an entire fifth level of a building that housed some of the tribesmen pot-shotting the monitors. Once Geneese engaged him out in the open with a dozen monitors at his back, he was doomed.
James reassessed the situation. He was far too exposed in the open to continue this fight. He took off into the air. Lashing out with half a dozen kinetic coils, he was able to take out four monitors before he felt the attack of an exo. Geneese slid toward him at a frightening clip. Auditor’s exos were so much faster and more powerful than chronmen’s. The impact knocked James off course and he lost control and fell tumbling through the air. He recovered just in time to dodge another attack as Geneese, with momentum on his side, slammed into him again.
His levels were down to seventy within a matter of minutes. James was at a distinct disadvantage against Geneese in the open field. That, and Geneese, like most auditors, was much better trained to fight with exos than he was. Still, James had experience on his side as well, and he had picked up a few tricks along the way. He shot a thick coil straight at Geneese. As expected, the auditor met his coil with an even stronger one. Right before the two sources impacted—a melee that James would definitely lose—he split that coil in two.
Geneese had only a second to react. He was able to slice down on one of James’s coils, but took the brunt of the other in the chest. His shielding crackled and held, but the force knocked him back several meters. James took advantage of this momentary opening and lashed out, striking at three more monitors within reach. Then, with more monitors closing in on him, he sped away from the clearing and bounded toward the roof of the nearest building.
His levels were now under 65 percent. He couldn’t sustain a long fight with an auditor. The Elfreth had gotten their distraction, though. There had to be thirty monitors on him at this moment. Hopefully, that would dilute the attack on the communal fields enough for the Elfreth either to mount a defense or escape to safety.
James reached the rooftop of the nearest building and was bounding away a second later. Geneese and a dozen monitors followed close behind, not bothering to land as they gave chase. They didn’t have to worry about conserving their levels. Whether he was going to get away remained to be seen, though the odds were not in his favor at the moment.
Midbound, James changed course and zoomed downward toward one of the taller buildings. He entered through a window and ran across the floor to the far side. He heard monitors land behind him a few seconds later. Chances were that they would send only a few in to flush him out while the rest surrounded the air space around him to cut off his retreat.
It was a large building and James had options. He turned a corner and ambushed the first monitor, who had pursued too aggressively. A quick strike to the neck with his fist, followed by an elbow to the face, finished him off. James continued on, running two levels down the stairwell and turning south. There was an adjacent building nearby, and if James could jump into it without attracting attention, he could throw them off his trail.
Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be a window along the entire southern wall of the building, so James had to make his own. He crashed through the wall of the building and broke through the wall of the next. Above him, he heard several barks of alarm as the nearby monitors gave chase. Well, it had almost worked.
James continued running through the building, zigzagging through hallways, randomly running down stairs, making his way toward the ground level. The monitors had air superiority, but if there was a way to get underground, he could lose them and hurry back to the communal fields. There were simply too many nooks and crevasses in this jungle for them to locate him. It would buy some time for the Elfreth, at least.
He encountered another monitor and finished her off with the same brutal efficiency as with the first. He wondered at their foolishness for spreading out their forces like this, and then he realized that Geneese was probably using them as feelers. Every time James engaged and killed one, the auditor could pinpoint his presence.
James continued south, jumping through windows when the opportunity was there, making his own when they weren’t. He flew across city blocks, juked through side buildings, and finally came to a stop to assess the situation. Sometimes, staying in one place was better than running, after all.
According to the AI band, he was nearing the southern edge of the city and was quickly running out of tall buildings to hide in. At this moment, it was quiet, with only the sounds of the ocean waves crashing into the otherwise dead city.
He saw a shadow creep into the room across the hall. Another monitor, maybe. He slipped to the doorway and leaned his head in. It was a large room with the remnants of a rectangular table in the center. Assorted smashed chairs littered the floor alongside parts of a caved-in ceiling. The monitor was on the far end, moving toward the door on the opposite side.
A thought occurred to James. He powered on his exo and threw himself at the monitor, slamming into him from behind and breaking his neck. He immediately launched himself through the caved-in ceiling, powered down, and became very still. Minutes later, Geneese came in, exo powered up to half. He walked toward the fallen monitor and turned him over.
In a split second, James powered up whatever remained of his exo’s power and launched himself straight down on top of Geneese’s head. He missed his head, but at this range and power, it didn’t matter. The focused energy of a single thrust blew through Geneese’s shield and sliced him in half. Geneese only had a moment to look surprised, then he keeled over.
As a safety precaution, James linked his coils around Geneese’s bands and broke them. It was too bad he couldn’t procure the auditor bands for himself. Auditor bands were so much more powerful and had a much larger energy level reserve, but the same security precautions that applied to his chronmen bands applied to auditor bands as well. Once Geneese died, those bands were worthless.
James checked Geneese’s body for any other useful items and prepared to finish off the rest of his stalkers. Levin was going to fly into a rage when he realized that James had killed an auditor.
James’s levels were now under 40 percent. The rest of the monitors he would have to defeat without wasting any more power. He had a feeling he’d need as many levels as possible once he got back to Elise. James crept out of the room and bided his time to set up his next trap.
Elise huddled in a fetal position in the corner of the small, half-collapsed closet. The jerk was taunting her. Elise didn’t know if this Shizzu guy was toying with her or not. His voice came from all directions. One moment, it seemed to be coming from down the hall, the next, close by in the room beyond her. Then it would fade again. Twice, she saw his shadow pass by the small opening of her closet, and each time her heart beat against her chest so hard she thought he could hear it.
When his voice came close, she’d begin to sweat, her hands would shake, and it would take all of her focus to stay still. When his voice was far away, she had to fight down the urge to run out of the closet and make a break for the adjacent tower. Neither of these seemed like a good idea.
She wished James were here. She heard his voice briefly when he got to the battle. At first, she thought she had hallucinated it, that it was wishful thinking. Then, when she heard his words, she realized he couldn’t just find her like he usually did. He had warned her and Grace to stay silent because anything they said through their comm bands could be tracked. Not being able to reach out to him made the situation even more difficult, since there was nothing she could do to bring him to her. He had said in that message to use the emergency channel as a last resort. What emergency channel? She felt more alone than ever.
“You know, little mouse,” Shizzu said, “I know more about you than you think. You see, we’ve met. I remember you. We’ve spoken before.”
How could that be possible? Elise didn’t know what the hell this guy was talking about. What did he mean they’d met before? There was no way they could have met before unless he was one of those two assholes who tried to grab her at that hotel right before James saved her. It wasn’t as if she’d even seen their faces. They’d had those cones on their heads, after all.
Had he been hiding as one of the Elfreth? She gave a start; maybe he was a time traveler as well. James did tell her that there were others involved in Nutris’s destruction. Then it hit her; maybe he was the guy who planted the bomb that destroyed Nutris!
Elise bit her lip as she quivered in rage. This was the guy responsible for all her friends’ and colleagues’ deaths. Worst of all, if it wasn’t for him, the Nutris Platform team might have been able to cure the Earth Plague. She fought back the urge to stalk this jerk and shoot him in the face. Chances were, if he was anything like James, he would have that stupid force field around him that made him invincible. Or worse, with her terrible aim, unless he was in point-blank range, she would miss by five body lengths, and the only thing she’d accomplish would be giving away her location.
Be smart, girl,
she thought to herself. She settled down and waited.
Shizzu’s footsteps and voice faded, and after a while, Elise lost track of the time. The sun was setting and it was getting chilly. The evening breeze was wont to blow through the many openings of the building. She had turned off her atmos as soon as this Shizzu guy started stalking her. She wasn’t sure if he was able to track her through her band use, so she was afraid to turn any of them on.
As the minutes passed, she became restless. It had been a while since she had last heard anything other than the high-pitched whistle of the gray winds that blew through the corridors. There were still sounds of fighting off in the distance, punctuated by occasional explosions and screams, but little else.
A nearby crash broke the stillness. Elise froze. There was another crash, this time accompanied by the groan of metal and the sound of drizzling debris. Then another. The far wall of the room Elise was hiding in collapsed, kicking up a swirl of dust. Elise huddled into a ball and held her scream inside. This guy must be punching holes into walls and leveling the floors in order to flush her out. Elise’s first instinct was to flee the room and make for the bridge. But then she would fall right into this Shizzu’s hands. If she stayed, she risked being discovered or shot. There weren’t any good options. The crashes continued.
Elise decided then that she wasn’t going to stay there until he found her. She’d rather run and have a chance of escape than stay in place for him to scoop her up. Crawling one slow limb at a time, Elise inched out of her hiding spot and got her bearings. The last orange hue of the sky bathed the entire floor, and only a thin slice of the sun was left as it sunk into the horizon. Shadows from every corner grew by the second.
Staying low to the ground, she pawed her way through the darkness, slipping from cubicle to cubicle. There was no sign of Shizzu. Maybe he was tired of looking for her and had abandoned his search; maybe he was recalled to do something more important than hunt for little ole her. In any case, Elise was confident that if she could sneak across that bridge, she could get to another floor and get away. She reached the end of the room and peeked around the corner to her left. The hallway seemed deserted. Then she looked to her right. The path to the bridge was clear.
Elise took a deep breath and crept down the hallway. Behind her, two more explosions rocked the building. She reached the bridge between Farming Tower Two and Farming Tower Three and picked up her pace. The wind was strong enough here that it would mask her footsteps. She was also completely out in the open so the sooner—
The left wall of the bridge exploded in a shower of debris, knocking her off her feet. Elise turned and saw a dark figure in the hallway behind her. She took off and sprinted as hard as she could across the bridge, but she had no chance. There was no way she could outrun his bands. She was two-thirds across the sky bridge when an invisible force tripped her. Elise tumbled to the ground and felt something wrap around her ankles. It lifted her up by her feet until she hung suspended upside down.
