Rage

FORTY-ONE

Raine looked at the fence in front of him, and at the gun turrets that dotted each section of it. As he approached, they didn’t move at all, all pointing aimlessly at some spot back by the carrier.

Power down. Good.

But for how long?

Inside, he saw the main buildings of the Capital, and they were not the haphazard collection of shapes and leftover pieces of Wasteland junk. These were stories high, forming a sleek metal fortress.

Now dark.

No backup power kicking in?

If only he could stay that lucky.

He pictured the layout that Elizabeth had showed him, and which building he had to get to.

Already he saw figures running all around the inner area. Enforcers kicking into action while the power got restored.

Raine had debated blowing a hole in the fence-but with the Enforcers already on the move, that would bring them right to him. So he took hold of the steel mesh and started climbing right near one of the inactive gun turrets. It dawned on him that the fence was probably electrified as well.

Without power, though, the way into the Capital lay open.

At the top, he swung over, climbed down the other side for a few feet and jumped to the ground.

Without light he’d be hard to see. And if anyone did spot him, hopefully they wouldn’t at first be able to tell him from one of the scrambling Enforcers.

He started running.

To the prison building… and a massive shaft that pumped out exhaust from the kitchens below.

But the shaft was quiet at the moment, and if the plans were right, it provided a hole that led into the belly of this building.

Raine looked over his shoulder and saw Enforcers by the fence, guns lowered but on alert. Other Enforcers had to be heading to the generator on the carrier.

If there were power backups, nobody had thrown the switch yet-or maybe they were dedicated to the complex’s vital, internal systems.

He turned on the headlamp Elizabeth had given him and climbed into the exhaust shaft.

It went down, then horizontal, wending its way deeper into the building.

He moved as quietly as he could, the space too tight for anything more than a crawl. And when he hit a part that led straight down, he wedged his legs and arms against the sides and painfully inched his way downward.

Back and forth, like navigating a maze, every now and then hearing sounds outside the shaft, knowing from the plans that he was cutting through the Enforcers’ barracks.

Hoping they were all outside dealing with the crisis.

A few feet down, his arms and shoulders gave out and he slipped for a few frightening seconds. He pressed his legs to the sides and stopped the fall.

But this also produced a loud scratching sound. He paused, waiting to hear if this tight air shaft was about to be his final resting place.

Nothing.

A breath, then he went farther down.

When he hit bottom-when the shaft turned flat-that would be where the cells were.

If the layout that Elizabeth had was accurate.

It had been up to this point. But if it wasn’t… who knew where he’d end up.

His feet touched bottom and he had just enough room to bring his head down and start crawling forward.

Now to find an opening, some place where the shaft could be kicked out and he could get out of the shaft.

He didn’t let himself think that he’d gotten into the Capital.

But he couldn’t help but think: How the hell will I get out?

Farther along, he came to a square panel in the shaft, his headlamp picking up the screws that held it in place. It didn’t look large enough for him to crawl through.

But it looked like the only option.

He dug out a knife from his pack and went to work on the screws, the pointed end of the knife chewing up the metal head of the screws as much as it unscrewed them.

But taking his time, slowing a bit so he didn’t completely strip the screws, he got them out.

When the last screw fell to the floor of the shaft, he gave the panel a nudge.

It could be pushed free.

But where was he? Who might be there to see the panel fall out?

Surprise!

One thing he knew, one change to the plan: there was no way-if he did find Marshall-they would be able to get out this way.

Might as well just surrender.

Checking that he had a handgun in a side pocket, he wriggled the backpack free and nudged it down to his feet. His pack would have to trail behind him if he had any hope of getting out. He’d have to perform a circus trick to do it, pulling the pack along with his feet as he fell.

He thought of turning the headlamp off.

No, he thought. Better to leave it on. Could be a useful distraction.

If someone is down there waiting for me.

All right then, he thought. Time to go.

He gave the metal panel a firm push and it popped free, flying out, followed by him rapidly crawling through the newly made opening.

He tumbled to the floor.

Raine’s hands broke his fall, the pack landing on his body. He quickly rolled and sprung to his feet.

To see: cells. The corridor dark.

The right place. Jeez, the prison. He did it.

Then, a voice.

“Hey, who’s there? Hold on.”

The headlamp rendered Raine the only bright spot in the blackness, but it also shot out a light that let him see-and made it difficult for anyone looking at him.

Such as the Enforcer holding a rifle standing in front of him, the light in his eyes.

Raine pulled out his gun. No time to worry if the Enforcer had anyone with him. He fired three quick shots, the sound echoing in the narrow corridor.

The Enforcer went down.

And then Raine heard an unexpected voice. A familiar voice.

A female voice.

He moved down the row of cells, whipping his headlamp left and right.

Coming to a cell holding Loosum Hagar.

“Loosum? How the hell did you-”

“I’ll save the story for later, Raine. Go get that Enforcer’s keys and get me out of here. Whatever took out the power, it won’t stay down for long.”

Raine ran back for the keys and returned to the cell, letting Loosum out.

“Thanks for the rescue,” she said. “Didn’t know you cared.”

“Afraid I’m not here for you,” he said unapologetically. “Is there someone else down here?”

Could the Authority have taken Marshall, begun the process of breaking him down in the middle of the night? Could the Resistance leader be dead already?

“There’s someone down the other end. Looked like a bloody mess when they brought him back last time.”

Raine ran there. A man was curled on the floor of a cell. The headlamp picked up the dried splotches of blood. The man’s lips were cracked, bloody as well. He had been well worked over.

But he lifted his head up when he saw someone there, then opened his eyes.

Raine thought: Good… he can move.

“Captain John Marshall?”

“Yes.” Despite his battered state, the man sat up, blinking at Raine. “Is it time? Already?”

“Captain, I’m Lieutenant Nicholas Raine.” Then, as he had done dozens of times before-and because it seemed right-he added: “Reporting for duty.”

And he saluted.

Loosum ran up to Raine as he got Marshall’s cell open.

“We got to get moving. As long as we have this darkness, we have to take advantage of it.”

On cue: the lights in the corridor flickered, then came on.

“Shit.” He turned to Marshall. “ That changes things. You okay to move, Captain?”

Marshall nodded. “Yeah. Got a gun for me?”

“One for me, too,” Loosum added.

He handed the shotgun to Loosum and the rifle to Marshall. He’d make do with the handguns for now.

“Come on,” Loosum said.

Raine gave her a look. “Hold on.” He looked at Marshall. “Captain, one more thing. I brought a hard drive. From the Dead City. Lassard has cracked the Ark override code. It’s on there. But we need to-”

Marshall shook his head as if trying to understand what the hell Raine was talking about.

Then a half smile. “God, yes. Have to get into their system. That means we’re not quite ready to leave. Good thing everyone must be outside looking for you.”

“We’re not leaving?” Loosum rolled her eyes.

“There’s a terminal… down there.” Marshall pointed up the hall. “It’s gotta be tied into the central computer. If we can dump what you got on their computer system, that should do it.”

Marshall started walking, limping even as he tried to hurry.

Raine shot a look at Loosum, both of them seeing that escaping with the captain wasn’t going to be easy even without the detour.

But Marshall marched ahead, ignoring his pain, and got to the terminal.

Raine heard voices from above.

Someone has got to come down here, sooner or later.

“Give it to me,” Marshall said. Raine dug out the drive. Marshall tilted it back and forth, seeing where he could connect it to the terminal.

“Okay. We got to get that cover off.”

Raine took out his knife again and used it to pry open the metal siding of the computer. It popped free, exposing the terminal’s insides.

Marshall leaned forward and stared at the array of boards and wires.

“All of this is our tech here,” he said to himself. “Early twenty-first century. Meant for the future.”

Raine stood by the captain’s side as he continued to mutter. “God, I wish Lassard was here. Need to just get it linked so the terminal can read the drive. Then-maybe-we can upload it.”

The voices from above were getting louder.

Loosum leaned close to Raine and whispered, “I’m going to go stand by the stairs.” She gave the shotgun a shake. “In case we get company.”

Raine nodded.

“All right. Just need a fucking USB port. Buried in here. There. See one. Okay, that should do it.”

He watched Marshall pull out a wire and attach it to the drive. Then his eyes moved toward the terminal’s monitor as it registered the attached drive.

“When it copies the data, it will go right on the main servers drive, then all through the system. If Lassard did his work well, it will act like a Trojan Horse.”

“A virus?” Raine said. “Nasty. Good goddamn thing Cross doesn’t have his hands on the best computer scientists that were buried. Not yet, anyway.”

Marshall turned and gave Raine a smile, some light coming back into his eyes. “They’re still to come. And now-maybe, with luck-we’ll get them.”

He hit some keys on the computer keyboard. A screen asked for approval of a data upload. Another click. No viruses found.

Lassard had created a clean program. And after a few seconds a welcome notice on the monitor:

Data Uploaded.

Marshall backed away. “That’s it. Christ, that’s it.”

Noise from the stairs.

Loosum hissing at them.

“Here comes… someone…”

Marshall nodded at Raine, and they went to the stairs.

From the steps of the heavy boots on the stairs, there had to be at least three Enforcers.

Had the power come back on from the backups? Or maybe they had the main feed already up and running?

Going to be fun getting the hell out of here, Raine thought.

“On-” Marshall coughed, the sound too loud “Shit. On my go.”

The boots started to hurry, hearing the voices.

The Enforcers came to the turn in the stairwell, and now the three could be seen racing down, guns at the ready.

But sitting ducks for Raine and his companions.

They all fired and the Enforcers went tumbling down the stairs like wooden targets.

“You okay, Captain?”

“Just get moving, Raine.”

They began to hurry up the stairs, climbing over the soldiers.

When they reached an upper area, a half-dozen Enforcers were already taking position, firing at the opening that led out of the stairway.

“No fucking way,” Loosum said as she kept leaning out and firing the shotgun.

They had no choice, though. Raine saw that they had to keep their cover, buried as they were under the Enforcers’ fire.

Probably the only reason they hadn’t tossed an incendiary was because they were under orders to keep Marshall alive.

But how long before their resolve to obey that order vanished?

Raine reached into his pack, ignoring the ping of bullets bouncing all around them.

He pulled out a dart.

“What the hell is that?” Marshall said.

“New toy, from Kvasir.” He grinned. “Give me as much cover as you can.”

Loosum and Marshall both started firing full out at the barracks room already filled with gun smoke.

Now or never.

He stood up and saw one Enforcer with a bit too much of his body exposed. He threw the dart.

And missed.

He quickly ducked down, reaching into his pack and yelling at the other two, “Keep firing!”

They kept up their covering fire, and once he had another dart, he let it fly.

This time it hit the Enforcer, who immediately stood up.

He made a gesture with his hands as if to remove the dart but then started stumbling around, the nanotrites’ overload coursing through him.

“Wow,” Loosum said. “That’s something. Nice throw, by the way.”

“Taught by the best,” Raine said.

He fingered the dart controller, and now his pet Enforcer moved back and forth, soaking up shots meant for the three of them, Raine using him like a human shield.

Waiting until the guy was ready to blow.

“Stay down,” he said to Marshall and Loosum.

They pulled back, and a second later he heard the massive explosion as the Enforcer exploded.

The bullets stopped.

The way to the outside was open.

He caught Marshall looking at him. Marshall was the captain. But for now, that look between them said that this was all his operation.

And Raine just hoped he didn’t fuck it all up.