PILLARS OF LIGHT AND FIRE: THE COMPLETE SERIES, page 76
“Hey, girl,” Ed said in Kai’s ear. “I got the best news.”
“Kinda busy, Ed.”
“Jeri’s back.”
“Oh yeah? How is she?”
“Great, and she’s got the cutest—”
“I’m a little busy, Ed. How are you?”
“One-handed,” Ed replied. “You sure this is the right thing to do?”
Kai closed her eyes. She was sure that Ed was back on Camelot now. At least he was safe. “It is.”
“You do this, and we’re not presumed terrorists. We’re actual terrorists.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Just giving you the line.”
“Thanks, Ed.”
“Don’t die out there. Who am I going to pine for?”
“Your other hand?”
“Cold, Kai.”
“No promises, but let me think about Arthur first.”
“Always. Take care.”
Sam clicked over. “They’re approaching the bridge.”
“Let’s go,” Kai said. The truck lurched into slow motion as it shifted gears and gained in speed.
“Field’s up,” Birgitte said. Kai felt her suit systems respond to the focal magnifier. She raised her hands almost effortlessly, although she heard the whine of the micromotors. Talos II was a new power suit the Three Sisters had been working on since they had left Avallach. They had to abandon Talos I when Avallach was destroyed; it was simply too heavy to move and since Sam was the only person who could operate it, they’d left the suit and taken the design and its prototype focal magnifier. Kai hadn’t planned on using the suit at all, but there had always remained the possibility they would need it. She stood up and turned to the dozen members of Echo team.
“Paladins!” she yelled. They all wore black n-suits, sleek and superhero-like beneath the tarpaulin. “Are you ready?”
LEDs lit on their sleeves as they activated the KE shield systems as one. “Paladins ready!” they responded.
“It’s going to be chaotic. Stay focused and get to the van. Blueshift at all times. We’re going to hit Chevalier resistance who won’t hesitate to kill. Disable them if you can. They have numbers, but you have better training and shields.”
The truck tires squealed and bullets pinged on the hull and plow as police tried to stop the driver, a Paladin who was impervious to bullets.
“Stand by!” Hector said. “For Arthur!”
“Convoy on the bridge,” Janus said in Kai’s ear. She tapped the mechanical switch, and the faceplate shut and the AR system gave her a view of the outer world through cameras. The Talos II face looked like a blank smooth mirror. There were explosions and the thump of helicopter rotor blades. The truck swerved, but she held on to the straps bolted to the inside walls of the hauling box. There was a heavy thump and jerk as the truck plowed through the police barricade and swerved onto the bridge. Kai hit the door and it cracked open, lowering the ramp as the large plow truck slowed to a halt on the bridge, shot to a standstill.
“Good luck,” Sam said in her ear.
“Won’t need it,” Kai said, clanging down the ramp, leading the charge. Bullets fell away from the KE field enveloping her suit. Stray bullets hit the KE fields of the Paladins around her. Hector, who’d been training with Ed and the other special forces members of Echo, motioned for the group to break into two teams. Waveblades were summoned, bright blue beacons everywhere. Police and SWAT team members shouted for the Paladins to freeze. The Paladins swarmed through them, running as fast as they could, waveblades flicking into bodies left and right.
Kai saw the van and ran toward it. The Talos II suit motors whirred and picked up speed, drawing energy from the focal magnifier. Bullets pinged, but her KE field kept the suit moving without being impeded by the transfer of kinetic energy. Police lights flashed everywhere in the dying sunlight.
Then she saw the white waveblades, the glinting badges, and the gauntlets and gray suits of these Chevaliers. Their suits flickered red and blue as if they were a policing force.
“Here they come,” Hector said. He didn’t even sound out of breath running next to Kai.
“Stop them. I’m going to the van.”
“No problem,” Hector replied.
“Don’t get killed. Indy’d be pissed off if I let that happen to you.”
“What about me?” Hector grunted as he passed a fallen police officer. From behind an SUV, a SWAT team pulled out a rocket launcher.
“I got it,” Kai said, changing trajectory to intercept in a spiral that led away from any people. The rocket went off and Kai leaned back, her suit moving almost faster than she’d wanted. Her back wrenched, but the RPG missed, sailing out over the river and splashing harmlessly. Heavy-caliber rounds from the helicopter overhead started peppering her, tearing chunks out of the bridge pavement.
Then the Chevaliers and Paladins engaged.
“Here I come, Art,” Kai said as she closed in on the van. She felt a peculiar flip of her equilibrium, as if gravity turned on and off. The feeling was familiar, but it wasn’t the jitters of combat.
“Alert—” Janus began, but was cut off when Kai was thrown in the air.
OVER THE POTOMAC RIVER, WASHINGTON, DC—
“Have I told you how great it is to see you again?” Percy said in Ellen’s ear as they hovered beneath the Fourteenth Street Bridges. The shadow and black of their suits and steeds made them seem nearly invisible.
“Only about a hundred times,” Ellen replied.
Percy kept watch on the patrol craft out across the water. The icy wind pulled at them, portending snowy weather.
“Time,” she said. Ellen floated down, her hands free, maneuvering with her knees. She held on to something the size of a small volleyball. “Here goes!” Ellen said, throwing the device as hard as she could into the air in front of her. The black filament tether unreeled as it arced up, but at the zenith, it pulsed and then continued to shoot upward. Ellen’s body glowed with power as she transmitted it through the device. It continued until it nestled in the girdered underbelly of the bridge. Ellen sent a surge of power through the tether into the device.
Percy felt his stomach flip as gravitational waves washed over him through the material of the bridge. Dust and orange metallic rust drifted down as if the bridge were shaking itself. It was, as Percy understood it, one of the gravitic drive prototypes developed before the days of Indiana’s training and flight on the Archimedes. They were using it as a diversion; as designed, it would only operate as a gravitic bomb.
There was a fwoosh! as Percy watched an RPG round splash off into the water. “Jesus,” he whispered. “Better work soon!”
“Hang on,” Ellen replied. She was focused on the device, channeling power to it from a thin tether. Percy’s stomach flip-flopped and he was ready to throw up. The air pulsed around them.
There was a boom that rattled his teeth and knocked his steed downward from the gravitational push. Ellen’s steed rolled back and down and the tether fell into the water. They took a moment to adjust themselves. Percy rolled away as chunks of bridge splashed down into the water. One of the pylons had cracked and the support for that section of the bridge buckled. “Holy shit.”
“Down!” Ellen said, rolling her steed down toward the water.
Percy nosed his steed in the same direction. “Are they going to be there?” He swept out from under the bridge and raced along toward the District side of the Potomac. His eyes were fixed on the bridge’s edge.
“Trust me,” Ellen said.
“It’s not you I’m worried about.”
“Trust Anora, then,” Ellen replied.
Police helicopters circled the bridge while news helicopters orbited farther away, trying to record the rapid turn of events. They’d focused on the gravitic buckle. Percy flew up higher, his enhanced vision not seeing anything.
“Down,” Ellen repeated. There were flashes all over the bridges, flicks of blue and white lights as Paladins and Chevaliers fought each other.
“I see them.” Percy saw the slim shapes of Isolde and Anora hop over the outer wall of the bridge. Isolde was looking down and Anora was watching their approach. There was a high-pitched whine as the steed’s alarm system went off and the grid collapsed. “Fuck!” Percy yelled as they plummeted into the icy Potomac.
* * *
The water shocked his entire body as Percy hit the river. With only the magnets holding on to him, the impact jarred him loose from his steed. He was already heading down toward the riverbed. He held on to one of the handles and the pontoons activated. The steed popped up like a cork and ripped from his grip. He kicked toward the surface as hard as he could. He gasped as he broke the surface. He was glad for the n-suit, which protected him from the water and cold like a wetsuit. Only his head and hands were bare and already his teeth were chattering. He reached out, but there was no field. The battle on the bridge had drawn too much again.
“Ellen!” Percy called. She popped up a hundred feet or more away. She waved to him.
“I’m here,” she said into his ear. “Did you see Anora and Isolde?”
“Yes, and they hit the water near me. I’m looking.” Percy grabbed on to his steed and swam with one arm to where he’d seen Anora and Isolde jump. Anora bobbed up a few feet away from him, gasping and moaning in pain. He swam over to her and pulled her toward the pontooned steed.
“What happened?” Anora asked, her teeth chattering with the cold.
“Grids overloaded and the steeds took a nosedive,” Percy explained.
“Damn it, Kai,” Anora hissed, her teeth chattering. “You have a terminal?”
“Of course,” Percy said, pulling the steed close by. Anora put an arm on it. Percy handed her the waterproof terminal.
“Can you get Isolde?”
“She was with you.”
“You didn’t see her come up?” Anora asked.
As if on command, Percy saw her bob up downstream. Her body was limp.
“I’m going for her.”
Anora nodded and spoke to the terminal. “One?”
“I’m here,” One said.
“Status?”
Percy pulled out his own tether, tied it to the steed, knifed into the water, and swam toward Isolde. She was facedown, her arms splayed out. She must’ve hit the water at the wrong angle. He swam hard. We save, we don’t kill, he reminded himself.
A few powerful strokes and he grabbed her hand, then her body, and slowed her down, turning her upright. He rolled onto his back, lifting her out of the water slightly. He slapped her face. It was cold and clammy, like a fish. His fingers were already numb.
“Come on, dummy,” he said, squeezing her lungs in a sort of pumping motion. She coughed water and breathed. “Izz, you gotta swim.”
Isolde groaned, then came to as the icy shock of water hit her. “God, that bitch pushed me off the bridge!”
“You can tell her yourself,” Percy said, hauling himself on the tether to draw the steed to them. The current was gentle but steady. The bridge fighting seemed to have stopped but it was hard to make out what was going on from down there.
“So cold,” Isolde chattered.
“We’ll get you warmed up.”
“Where’s the field? It vanished a second before I hit the water.”
“There’s a huge fight on the bridge.”
“We really need to fix the problem of all these little grids collapsing,” Isolde sighed. “Thanks for rescuing me. Again.”
“Again?”
“Crazy bitch fight.”
“Which one?”
Isolde chuckled and they swam toward the steeds.
“Longinus online in three minutes,” One announced.
“That’s an awfully long time,” Anora said.
“Best I can do and satellite is pre-positioned.”
“Send the activation codes once it’s online,” Anora said to One.
“Understood.”
“You pushed me off the bridge?” Isolde yelled as she came close.
“Big baby,” Anora said, trying to warm her hands by placing them under her armpits. No part of her was warm. “You had a KE field.”
“My field went out just before I hit the water. I want to stab you right now.”
“You’re welcome to try.”
“Bitch,” Isolde said, and turned to Percy and climbed on the steed that floated in the river. They were a good ways from the bridge. Evening crept on quickly. Helicopters still hovered around but didn’t follow them, choosing to circle the smoking plume left by the gravitic prototype. They saw some fighting on the bridge. It was hand-to-hand now, at least from their standpoint.
“I should be up there,” Percy said.
“We both should be,” Ellen said.
“Stay focused,” Anora said. “One, report on the tracker, please.”
“Still heading south. It’s stopped at a bridge.”
“Patrol boat approaching. They spotted us.” Percy tensed as Isolde huddled against him for warmth.
“One, can I get the satellite to activate any faster?” Anora said.
“Unidentified vessels,” a bullhorn echoed. “Do not move or attempt to depart. You will be fired upon.”
“No,” One replied. “Thirty seconds.”
“Janus, what’s the cycle time in the steed grids?”
“Three minutes.”
“Okay, we’re not going to be in range of Longinus long, but it’ll get us going.” Anora’s plan could still work.
“I only brought a knife to this gunfight,” Percy said.
The patrol craft sped toward them. Men had machine guns trained on them. A fifty-caliber weapon was pointed at them as well.
“Stall,” Anora said. She raised her shaking bluish hands, and the three of them followed suit.
“Evening, fellas,” Percy said as the patrol craft pulled alongside. “I have no weapons.” He looked around. Ellen’s steed was unmanned. “One of our Jet Skis flipped over—”
“We’re coming alongside and bringing you aboard. Show your hands and do not make any sudden moves.”
A crew member leaned over and pulled Percy’s steed alongside. Percy helped Isolde onto the boat, and then Anora. Another crew member tied off the steed and got Percy pulled aboard. By the time he got onto the deck, Isolde and Anora were zip-cuffed and surrounded by crew members with guns. They’d been placed on their hands and knees with their ankles crossed. It was a difficult position for them but made it easier for the crew to maintain a watch. Percy sighed.
“Hands behind your back,” the crew member said, and Percy complied, putting his hands behind his back. He looked at Anora, who stared at the deck in front of her. He knew she hadn’t thought of this.
This did not go as planned, Percy thought. Trust Anora, Ellen’s voice echoed in his head. He looked up at the pilothouse and saw the Chevalier in a gray suit and silver badge, looking down at them.
44
Burnout
FOURTEENTH STREET BRIDGES, WASHINGTON, DC—
Kai had one thing the Three Sisters had customized for her—the new Talos II had to account for the loss of field power, so the magnifier also charged a backup system. It was enough for maybe ten minutes.
After the bizarre and unsettling explosion, more Chevaliers drew on the system, and even the nearby heavy grid in the snowplow was overloaded with manifest power channeling through it. It was a multilayered paper-thin blanket that ripped apart with the first poked hole of overextension. Kai had estimated the amount they’d need but didn’t know how many Chevaliers they’d encounter. The grid went down for the third time in a day.
Alarms warbled in her helmet and she silenced them. Yellow parts of her suit blinked in her heads-up display, but it was all minor. She’d been thrown clear of the blast and landed on a squad car face up, crushing the hood in. She was dazed for a moment.
“Internal power,” Janus said automatically. “Systems operational for ten minutes.” A counter blinked in her peripheral vision.
“I got it,” Kai said, sitting up and wrenching herself free of the hood. Police all around her were recovering. One shot at her. The bullet’s impact slowed her now that her KE field was gone. Remember thou art mortal, she reminded herself.
She needed to get to Arthur. Janus reoriented her. She checked behind her. She’d been separated from the rest of the group. Chunks of the bridge were collapsing into what looked like a sinkhole. In the bridge? Who did that? Was it a Chevalier?
“Hector?” Kai said.
“We’re here,” Hector said. “Keep going. Hand-to-hand, now. We need a grid.”
“They’re resetting. Five minutes to burn off the overload,” Sam reported.
Kai ran at full speed toward the van. A Chevalier swung at her. She batted him out of the way with her armored forearm, the micro servos whirring in response to her commands. He flew back and off the bridge. Maybe I broke his neck, Kai thought idly. Bullets pushed her from her trajectory and she had to compensate. Talos II was armored but not impervious. If they got a lucky shot into a joint or motor, she was screwed.
She waded through cars and people. The FBI and police wisely got out of her way. She got to another two-car barricade and launched herself over it. The pavement cracked where she landed and she nearly toppled over from the heft of the suit. The motors whined and she saw the timer clicking down, flashing lower as she used more juice.
She pushed police out of the way to get to the van, sweeping them back when they came in with their batons and Tasers. She was less merciful to the Chevaliers, who, without manifest power, were only protected by lined Kevlar. After the tangle with the first two, the remaining handful of them gave her a wide berth. The police, for their part, tried to do their job. She had a splitting headache. She’d burned through five minutes of power in no time. Was she suffocating in the suit? She checked her vitals. Except for the lack of power and suit damage, she was unharmed.
“Kai, the police are taking Paladins now. They have guns,” Hector said.
“Don’t resist unless the grid comes back.”
