Armageddon, page 13
part #5 of Liars Series
Then he jumped.
For a second he flew, legs kicking the empty air. The wind slowed him down, but the rocket was more streamlined, so it kept accelerating downwards, leaving Jarli alone in the sky.
The rocket SLAMMED into the clifftop. Shrapnel flew everywhere. The sharp bang reached Jarli a split-second later . . .
And then he hit the drone.
Something snapped inside one of his legs. The drone tipped sideways, engine screaming at the extra weight. Jarli scrabbled for a handhold. He managed to grab one of the wings—
The drone was in a death spiral, turbines screeching—
Jarli fought to hold on—
But the drone dipped under him, rolling him off the wing—
The world spun around him, faster and faster—
The clifftop rushed up—
TOO DISTURBING TO AIR
. . . THE BOY, WHO CANNOT BE NAMED FOR LEGAL REASONS, REPORTEDLY DEFUSED A BIOLOGICAL WEAPON IN MID-AIR, SAVING THE SMALL TOWN OF KELTON FROM A POTENTIALLY DEVASTATING ATTACK. POLICE HAVE RECOVERED THE WEAPON, AND SAY IT IS INTACT. TRIBUTES TO THE BOY ARE FLOWING IN FROM . . .
. . . OTHER FOOTAGE TOO DISTURBING TO AIR SHOWS A SCHOOL NURSE HOLDING THE BOY AT GUNPOINT BEFORE SHE IS FATALLY SHOT BY A SUSPENDED POLICE OFFICER. EVIDENCE RECOVERED FROM THE NURSE’S HOME AND OFFICE INDICATE THAT SHE WAS THE CRIMINAL MASTERMIND KNOWN AS VIPER. SHE IS BELIEVED TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR MURDERS, IDENTITY THEFTS, AND EVEN A PLANE CRASH, ALONG WITH MANY OTHER . . .
. . . AN EXTENSIVE DOSSIER ON THE MINISTER FOR DEFENCE, AARON FISHER, IN VIPER’S OFFICE. FISHER APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN THE TARGET OF THE ATTACK. HE HAS DENIED ALL THE ALLEGATIONS IN THE DOCUMENT, AND SAYS THE WORDS OF A VIOLENT CRIMINAL SHOULD BE IGNORED. BUT HIS DEPUTY, ASSISTANT MINISTER SANDRA RIZVI HAS MADE A STATEMENT SUPPORTING SOME OF THE ALLEGATIONS.
I’M DANA REYNOLDS, AND YOU’RE WATCHING NATIONWIDE.
KELTON SAYS GOODBYE
It was the same chapel where Doug’s funeral had been held. But this time the coffin was open, and there was a body in it, surrounded by flowers. Hidden speakers played acoustic guitar music. Packets of tissues rested on all the empty seats.
Jarli guessed that Scanner, being an undercover agent a long way from home, probably hadn’t had many friends. And since his work undermining Viper hadn’t been made public, no strangers had showed up to pay their respects.
Anya saw Jarli and hugged him. She was dry-eyed. ‘Thank you for coming.’
‘Of course. Mum and Dad are here too, and Kirstie—they’re just parking the car. Where should I, uh, sit?’
Anya pointed to where her mum sat alone in the front row. ‘Up there, if you like. There is room—and you are family now.’
Jarli nodded, and limped slowly up the aisle. He passed a curly-haired woman with a glittering necklace, and a dour-looking man sweating into his suit. Jarli didn’t recognise them, and wondered if they had worked with Scanner. They didn’t look like spies, but he supposed that was the point.
Jarli sat near Anya’s mum, leaving one chair in between for Anya. Anya’s mum wore black and white, like she was an old photograph.
She looked at the medical boot around his foot, and the brace on his broken wrist. ‘Jarli, yes?’ she said.
Jarli nodded stiffly. ‘I’m sorry for your loss.’
‘Thank you.’
Bess, her mum and her brother entered through the double doors up the back. Bess beamed at Anya and gave Jarli a cheery wave—with anyone else it would have seemed disrespectful, but as usual, her confidence made it seem OK. When she had visited Jarli at the hospital and seen his foot encased in the moon boot, instead of offering sympathy, she had hefted her crutches and immediately proposed a race through the ward.
Former Constable Blanco arrived next. Plenty of people had said she should be reinstated after shooting Viper and helping to save the town. But others suspected she had worked for Viper, and shot her to stop anyone finding out. The investigation was ongoing. Blanco patted Anya on the shoulder and sat near the back, her expression unreadable.
Finally the rest of Jarli’s family arrived. Kirstie sparkled in a sequinned dress. Mum held Dad’s arm in a fierce grip—she was never letting him out of her sight again. Dad still looked thin after his stay in Viper’s prison.
Detective Zee Arno entered and sat near the back with Blanco. While visiting Jarli in hospital, Arno had updated him on the case. Apparently all Viper’s criminal clients had believed they were getting the identities of people she had secretly killed, but Viper had actually imprisoned most of her victims instead. Now they were free—the prisoner transport truck had been found, parked on the side of the highway a few kilometres out of town. This meant all her clients had been suddenly EXPOSED. The police were rounding the last of them up now.
Arno wasn’t sure why Viper had kept her victims alive, or freed them afterwards, or even why she had given them real people’s identities instead of invented ones. But Jarli thought he understood. Viper had known her clients were evil people. She would have wanted them to be caught after they had served their purpose. She was a villain. But she hadn’t seen herself as one.
Jarli wondered why she hadn’t put Dad and Doug on the truck with the other prisoners. Maybe to protect Cobra’s cover for a little longer. He supposed he would never know for sure.
Doug entered the chapel with his parents. As long as Jarli had known him, Doug had always looked like he was at a funeral. Not today, though. He didn’t look happy exactly, but . . . peaceful. Jarli thought that a lot of the anger and sadness Doug seemed to radiate had actually been fear. Now that Viper was dead, his fear was gone. He was a whole new kid, or at least a refurbished one.
Dana Reynolds was last through the door. Jarli hardly recognised her without the thick sheen of makeup. She had no microphone, no camera crew. She nodded to Jarli and sat alone, halfway to the front.
No sign of Plowman. The robot’s anaesthetic spray had affected him worse than Doug, causing some complications. But Jarli had seen him at the hospital, and he had been awake at least. He’d even started to talk like his old self. Confident and paranoid at the same time.
Doug and Bess settled in behind Jarli and Anya, leaving their families further back. Doug touched Anya’s mother on the arm. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘Your husband saved my life.’
‘Mine too,’ Bess added.
Mine too, Jarli thought. It was only because Scanner had rescued him from Cobra that Jarli had been able to stop Viper. In a way, Scanner was the one who saved the town. It was a shame that so few people were here for his funeral.
Soon a middle-aged woman carried a leather-bound book to a lectern and started making a speech about Scanner’s life. His real name had been Rick, and he’d been born in a town called Premiovaya. She told some funny stories from his childhood and the early years of his marriage. She talked about how much he had loved his twin daughters, and his courage when one of them died. Jarli looked at Anya in shock. She didn’t take her eyes off the coffin.
The celebrant didn’t give many details of Scanner’s life after he moved to Kelton. Jarli wondered if she knew why the details were scarce from that point on. He wondered if she knew how many lives he had saved.
But, Jarli remembered, Scanner also used innocent people as bait to lure Viper out. The celebrant didn’t mention that either. The world was complicated.
Anya’s mother approached the lectern and read a poem, her voice cracking. It had been translated into English, so it didn’t rhyme. After that, Anya stood up and sang a song, quietly, but perfectly in tune. By the end, tears were streaming down Jarli’s cheeks.
Eventually the coffin sank slowly into the floor. The hidden speakers played a pop song from twenty years ago—a favourite from Scanner’s youth.
There was no ceremony like this for Cobra. No-one knew who he really was. His body lay unclaimed in the morgue. The doctors said his scars indicated multiple surgeries over many years. Even his old face, the one he had worn when he first met Jarli, hadn’t been the original.
Viper didn’t get a funeral either. She had no family. Most of the soldiers she’d served with were dead. None of her colleagues from the school were willing to pay for a headstone, and there was no body to bury under it. All of the teachers insisted that they hadn’t been friends—they had barely known her.
She was simply gone.
After the funeral, sandwiches and muffins were served in a little function room next to the chapel. The adults sipped coffee and talked in hushed voices.
Jarli’s ankle was too sore for him to stand, so he sat on a couch in the corner with a cup of tea. Soon Bess came to join him. Then Anya, then Doug. They all sat together in silence for a while.
‘I heard about the offer,’ Anya said finally. ‘From the university.’
Jarli hadn’t wanted to share this news. Not here. ‘How did you hear that?’
Anya smiled, but said nothing.
‘What offer?’ Bess asked. ‘What university? What’s going on?’
Jarli cleared his throat. ‘The City Institute of Technology offered me a place. They said I can start studying coding there next year, if I want to. I don’t even have to finish high school.’
‘That’s amazing,’ Doug said, with a strange smile.
‘It’s ridiculous,’ Jarli said. ‘I guess they wanted to get in before any other offers. Use me for publicity, maybe.’
‘Are you gonna take it?’
‘Of course he’s taking it,’ Bess said. ‘Right?’
Jarli raised his eyebrows. ‘And leave you guys? No way!’
‘You have to,’ Bess said. ‘Remember that excursion to the CIT last year? They have the biggest library I’ve ever seen. If you don’t accept, I have no excuse to visit.’
‘I’m serious, Bess.’
‘So am I. It’s only three hours away—we’d see each other all the time.’
Jarli sighed. ‘I’ll think about it, I guess.’
A pause.
‘You know,’ Anya said, ‘my mother wants to move back to the city.’
‘Really?’ Bess asked.
‘We were only here for Dad’s job. She doesn’t want to stay.’
‘How do you feel about that?’
‘Well, I would feel OK about it if Jarli were moving there too.’
Jarli thought about it. With Anya living there and regular visits from Bess, it wouldn’t be so lonely. His Mum and Dad had been enthusiastic about the opportunity, when he finally told them. Even Kirstie had sounded proud of him.
‘What about you?’ Jarli asked Doug. ‘Would you visit?’
‘No,’ Doug said. He still had that strange smile.
‘Oh.’ Jarli sipped his tea. His disappointment lingered in the air.
‘I already accepted my place,’ Doug said. ‘So I’ll be there full time.’
Jarli choked on his tea. Doug laughed.
‘Don’t look so surprised, Truth Boy. I applied for CIT’s robotics course. Maybe they want you for publicity, but they want me for my unparalleled genius.’ He slapped Jarli’s knee. ‘So, are you coming, or what?’
FREEDOM
Maria Eaton watched from her vehicle as the police led Fisher out of the building in handcuffs. The officers were gentle with him. Respectful of his rank. He didn’t appear satisfied with this, though. He was red-faced, his hair dishevelled, the buttons through the wrong holes on his shirt. He was blustering, and it looked like the cops were ignoring it. Eaton hoped he would look up and see her through the windscreen, but he didn’t.
He wouldn’t have recognised her anyway. Blanco’s bullet had changed her face. When people saw her, they looked quickly away, but no-one recognised her as Viper.
This was ironic, since the gunshot had widened her mouth and taken a chip out of her tongue. She’d even acquired a hissing lisp. She looked and sounded more like a snake than ever.
It was all fixable, though. Eaton would change her face as soon as she found a new one she liked.
She still wasn’t sure exactly how she had survived. Divine intervention, maybe. Fate. She had woken up on the wet stone floor of an old coal tunnel under Kelton, vomiting water, her face bleeding. She had no memory of the gunshot. She didn’t even remember what she had said to the kid on the clifftop.
One cop put a hand on Fisher’s head, carefully pushing him down into the back seat of the patrol car. She said something to the other officer, who nodded grimly. Then they climbed in and drove away.
Eaton decided not to follow. She had told the world what she knew about him, and everyone had finally listened. The justice system had eventually worked. Things hadn’t gone to plan—both she and Fisher were still alive. But it was enough. She’d had her REVENGE. I She had her freedom. She still had money, stored in Plowman’s untraceable cryptocurrency. Once she had a replacement identity, a new life was within her grasp.
She wasn’t angry anymore. The truth had set her free.
Eaton watched as a young woman walked out of the coffee shop next to Fisher’s office and raised her arm, looking for a taxi. Her face was nice and symmetrical, with arched eyebrows and a slightly wide chin.
Yes, Viper thought. That will do. She started the engine of the taxi, and drove.
THE END
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you to the team at Scholastic Australia for giving me the chance to write this series and for helping it reach its potential. Special thanks to Andrew Berkhut, Lorae Harbottle-Purs, Sarah Hatton, Angie Masters, Chad Mitchell, Claire Pretyman, Cassandra Rathbone and Kate Wenban. It’s hard to write 1000 pages in which characters (generally) can’t lie. Harder still to set up a twist in book one and reveal it in book five. It would have been impossible without your support.
Thanks to everybody at Simon & Schuster for taking a leap of faith on the series, especially David Gale and Amanda Ramirez.
Thank you to all my friends at Curtis Brown, without whom I couldn’t do this for a living. Special thanks to Clare Forster and Benjamin Stevenson.
Thanks to all my friends and family, who read drafts, helped me juggle various life things and played D&D with me whenever I needed a break. There are too many of you to name, but special mentions go to Venetia, Mum, Dad, Beth, Tom, Alice, Chris and Red. Ash, you haven’t really helped yet—I’ll put you to work when you’re older.
Lastly, thanks to all the readers, parents, booksellers, teachers and librarians who really got behind this series. Jarli and his friends wouldn’t exist without you. I hope you’ve had as much fun as I have!
Jack Heath is the award-winning author of 30 thrillers for adults and children. His books have been translated into six languages and adapted for film. He lives on the land of the Ngunnawal people in Canberra, Australia.
Published by Scholastic Australia Pty Ltd
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First edition published by Scholastic Australia Pty Ltd in 2019.
This electronic edition published by Scholastic Australia Pty Limited, 2019.
E-PUB/MOBI eISBN: 978-1-74383-747-4
Text copyright © Jack Heath, 2019.
Photo credit: Ben Appleton/Photox 2019.
Illustration and Design copyright © Scholastic Australia, 2019.
Additional illustrations. Cover: cliff © istockphoto.com/DNY59; concrete floor © leolintang/Shutterstock.com; fire © polygraphus/Shutterstock.com; man jumping © MaxFX/Shutterstock.com; running man © istockphoto.com/PeteSherrard; volcano smoke by Jens Johnsson on Unsplash. Internals: banner © istockphoto.com/Lava4images; frame © istockphoto.com/gn8; grunge border © Gordan/Shutterstock.com; map icon © ananaline/Shutterstock.com; sports © Luciano Cosmo/Shutterstock.com.
Jack Heath asserts his moral rights as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, unless specifically permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 as amended.
Jack Heath, Armageddon
