The Fall (7 page)

Ana recoiled from the pole, backing further against the shelves though there was nowhere to go. ‘You knock me unconscious and you’ll never find it.’

The Warden’s eyes sparkled. Suddenly, he shoved her against the shelves, forearm pressing hard into her neck, catching her windpipe. Her skull thudded against a plank. Keeping one arm against her throat, he held up the Stinger with the other, close enough to her cheek that she could feel the air vibrating.

‘The body can take up to twenty or thirty small electric shocks before the brain cuts out. I could switch this back to a number 4 setting and we could give it a try. Never had a chance to test the information.’

Ana was choking and trembling.

‘What’s the disc in?’

‘A wooden star pendant,’ she croaked.

Gone

Dombrant gripped the humming Stinger. ‘Faster,’ he said, as Ana tossed out the contents of another box and scrambled through the belongings in search of the pendant. The Warden was standing between her and the storeroom door, blocking any possible escape. Her only small hope was that he had his back to the door. If someone came quietly, he wouldn’t see them.

‘Leave them,’ Dombrant ordered. Ana stopped tidying away the electronics and personal contents she’d been checking through, and went on to the next box. The Warden reached around her, grabbed the box and tipped it upside down. Interfaces, wallets, discs, and an old-style mobile phone scattered across the shelf. He whipped up the wallet. ‘No points for tidiness,’ he said. ‘Get a move on.’

She rifled through the stuff, watching him from the corner of her eye as he counted the cash in the leather pocketbook.

‘Nice friends you’ve made,’ he said. After a moment, he returned the money and threw back the wallet. ‘Have you stopped to ask yourself why none of the followers are allowed to keep their own money? Why they have a rigorous system that doesn’t let them enter or leave the Project without special permission? Why the leaders won’t let them use their interfaces, making them totally disconnected from the real world?’

Ana swallowed. All good questions. All questions she hadn’t yet totally answered to her satisfaction. She glanced at him.

‘This guy Cole’s been manipulating you from the very beginning.’

She nodded. ‘And you just want to help me.’

‘No, I couldn’t care less either way.’

She continued searching in silence. The Warden re-synched his interface to the contact lens in his left eye, which cut out the ambient light in the room so she could barely see.

‘You’ve got three minutes to find the disc,’ he said, switching on a battery powered torch and thrusting it into her hand. ‘Seven of them are headed this way. And I bet one of them is your boyfriend. If I’m forced to take them all on at once, I won’t be accountable for whether I leave them breathing or not.’

The blood drained from Ana’s face. How could he even consider taking on seven of them? ‘You’re . . . you’re just a Warden,’ she stuttered.

‘It’s a cover. You know that. Deep down, you know what I am.’

‘Some sort of Special Ops?’

‘Two minutes, Ana,’ he said, backing towards the door. She gripped the torch between her teeth and began shaking out boxes. She didn’t want anyone to be hurt because of her. No deaths. The Warden could be bluffing, but some part of her sensed he wasn’t. He wouldn’t have entered the Project alone if he wasn’t some kind of elite, highly-trained military officer.

‘Hurry up!’ he shouted from beyond the stock room.

 She scrambled about, tossing irrelevant objects aside, pulling random boxes from the shelves and tipping them upside down. She scanned back and forth over spilled electronics, her hands fluttering through the piles, searching for the cool wood carving of the star pendant.
There!

‘I’ve got it!’ She snatched up the pendant and leaving behind dozens of over-turned boxes, ran to join the Warden in the main registration area. ‘I’ve got it,’ she said again. She squeezed the star necklace in her palm, then held it up to the Warden.

Dombrant hooked his arm around her. In one sweeping movement, his knuckles were digging into her throat, knife pricking the side of her neck. ‘I’ll take that,’ he said. His hand wrapped around the chain and she let it go. ‘They’re here.’ Amusement lined his voice, like he was enjoying himself. She strained to hear beyond the building.
Here where? Outside the door? On the roof?

Dombrant tilted the point of the blade away from her face. The bottom edge dug a fraction into her throat so that she had to advance to avoid getting cut. Guiding her with just the slightest twist of his wrist, he moved them down the brick passage towards the hole in the Project wall.

She shuffled forwards, shining the torch ahead to guide her step. Every skin cell on the surface of her body prickled. He was using her to shield himself.

The ten-foot long corridor ended in a wall of concrete brick. A rough oval window had been knocked through.

‘Give me the torch,’ he said. She handed it back to him. The knife around her throat loosened and the light vanished. Up ahead, through the hole, lay pitch-darkness. Behind Ana, the tiny luminous circuitry in Dombrant’s eye was her only point of reference.

‘Let’s see how well you do.’

Again, she heard the levity in his voice. He was too confident. She climbed up into the hole, scooted along and lowered herself down the other side. Her feet hit soft earth. She glanced back. The Warden was climbing through the gap after her. She had a thirty-second head start.
Let’s see how well you do.
Had he been daring her to run? She hesitated and Dombrant jumped down behind her, swiftly wrapping his arm with the knife around her neck again.

She tiptoed forwards and swept aside layers of vines that hung around the exit. They ducked around a gap in the tall bush and moments later were standing in an overgrown back garden in the City. A faint light glowed two houses down the road. Weeds and shrubs and abandoned children’s toys cast twisted shadows in the moonlight.

There was a movement to their left.

‘Come any closer and I’ll slit her throat,’ Dombrant warned, shuffling Ana to the right.

‘We don’t want anyone getting hurt,’ a voice called. It sounded like Tobias.

‘I don’t want to hurt her,’ Dombrant answered. ‘I just came for something she took that belongs to her father. You back off and I’ll leave her on the corner of West Hill, just two minutes from here. Everyone walks away.’

For a moment no one responded. Ana felt the hard pulse in her wrists. Wind gusted across her face and the trees whispered, shaking their leaves.

Dombrant’s knuckles slackened against her throat. He was getting ready to move.

‘What assurances do we have you won’t be back?’ Tobias again.

‘I came alone. Just for the disc. That’s all we want.’

‘Then leave Ana.’
Cole!
Instinctively, she wanted to tilt her head towards his voice but such a big move would result in her getting cut. The pressure in her chest doubled. She was more afraid for Cole’s safety than she was for her own. Her father might have ordered Dombrant not to hurt
her
too badly, but he’d be delighted if something happened to Cole.

She dropped her gaze, trying to calm herself. Her eyes settled on Dombrant’s Stinger, now switched off and dangling from a loop on his belt.

‘I told you I’ll leave her on the corner of West Hill,’ the Warden said.

Another silence, longer than before. Dombrant began pushing her forward. There was no point in pretending to resist the blade at her throat. They were halfway across the lawn when there came a shout.

‘No!’

Dombrant’s head whipped back. Ana couldn’t turn, but she somehow knew what was happening. Tobias was shouting at Cole, not the Warden. She squinted as far around as she could. From the corner of her eye, she saw Cole step into full view, blocking their way, a steel pole like a hand trident clenched in his fist.

‘You’re not taking Ana.’

‘Don’t be stupid,’ Dombrant said, ‘or she’ll get hurt.’

‘If you only want the disc, then you can let her go.’

‘And then what’s to say you’ll let me go?’

‘There are only two of us,’ Cole said. ‘You’ve got a knife. You’ve been well trained or else you wouldn’t have got this far. Right now all the advantages are on your side. But,’ His voice deepened with menace, ‘if you take her beyond this house, onto a City street, seven of us will pursue you. And more will come shortly after.’

Dombrant didn’t miss a beat. He grabbed Ana’s shoulder and, removing the knife from her throat, swung her out of the way. As she fell, she thrust out a hand and grasped for his Stinger. It dropped through the loop on his belt hitting the ground. In the same moment, Cole’s trident whooshed through the air towards the Warden. Dombrant dodged to one side, then lashed out, slicing across Cole’s arm. Cole let out a muffled cry. As Ana scrambled through the damp grass for the Stinger, Tobias hurtled towards the Warden from behind. Dombrant ducked, spun round and slammed his elbow hard into Tobias’ back. The Chief of Security dropped to his knees.

On his feet again, Cole raised his pole and struck out. But Dombrant saw it coming. The blow connected without force. Recovering instantly, the Warden bounded forwards to attack. Ana crawled to meet him, ramming the Stinger up to its number 1 setting. As Dombrant kicked out, shoe smashing down on Cole’s right kneecap, Cole’s leg crumpling beneath him, she jammed the Stinger into his leg. Dombrant turned, but he was too late. She was already pressing the release button.

*

Ana crouched beside the Warden. Her hands shook as she fumbled to find his pulse. A Stinger wasn’t supposed to kill anyone, but Dombrant had lost consciousness and fallen with such violence, it had shocked her.

She found a rhythmic beat in his throat. Reassured, she wiped sweaty fingers down her trousers and picked up the Warden’s knife. Jasper’s star lay beside it. She hooked up the pendant and tucked it into the pouch of her hooded top, then scampered back to Cole. He was rolling on the ground gripping his smashed up knee.

‘Is there a medicine kit in the registration cabin?’ she asked.

‘Here,’ Tobias gasped, winded from the blow to his back. He removed the whistle from around his neck. Ana took it and handed him the Warden’s knife. She had no use for it. After all those minutes of having the blade pressed against her throat, she wanted it as far away from her as possible.

The whistle screeched with a deafening sound that guards half a mile away would hear. She returned the whistle to Tobias, then touched Cole’s arm, wanting to help him but not knowing how. Her fingers came away sticky. She held them up to the light and saw they were darkly stained.

‘Cole, you’re bleeding.’ He groaned. ‘I’ll just have a look.’ She started to lift his sweater.

‘Leave it, it’s fine. It’s my knee that’s killing me.’

From behind the wall, there came an answering whistle.

‘We’re here,’ Tobias called towards the darkness.

There was rustling, then four male figures and one female swept out of the vines and heather bush that hid the gap in the Project wall, trident fighting poles at the ready. Only one of them, the leanest, had a knife. As he stepped closer, Ana recognised Blaize, the hunter.

A smile lit up his face as he took in the scene. ‘Hope we’re taking him,’ he said, giving the Warden a kick. Dombrant moaned. ‘Better hurry if we are. He’s coming round.’

Mikey’s brother, the dark-haired man who Ana hadn’t seen since he’d escorted her to the Project with Blaize, stepped forward. ‘We can’t take a Warden.’

‘Don’t get your panties in a twist, Ed,’ Tobias answered. ‘I’ve just got a few questions for him, then we’ll let him go. And Blaize,’ he added, ‘if you kick him again, you’ll be milking the cows for a month.’ Blaize laughed but it sounded forced.

Four of them dragged the Warden into the bushes. Easy banter and insults flew between them as they struggled to lift Dombrant through the hole. Ana helped Cole to his feet. He dangled his arm over her shoulder, and with Tobias on the other side, limped across the garden leaning heavily against them.

In the registration cabin, Blaize lit the lanterns on the walls and Tobias sent two guards to clean up the storeroom. Ana helped Cole to sit on the one available chair, maintaining a firm hold on the Stinger, as though it could somehow restore her sense of lost control. Dombrant was sprawled across the floor. Ed searched him, removing his interface and checking for weapons.

‘Blaize,’ Tobias said, ‘there should be a medical kit in the storeroom – go and have a look would you?’ Blaize ambled to the storeroom where the hearty complaints of the guards who’d been asked to clean up drifted through the open door.

Dombrant stirred.

‘He’s waking,’ Ed said. He handed Tobias the Warden’s flick knife, a pair of cuffs and a metal tube the size of a straw.

‘Where’s the disc?’ Tobias asked.

Ed shrugged. ‘That’s all he’s got on him.’

‘Did he find it?’ Tobias asked Ana. She shrugged. ‘Tell them to start looking for it in the storeroom,’ he instructed Ed.

Dombrant groaned and pushed himself up to slump against the wall. He dug around in his trouser pocket. When he didn’t find what he was looking for, his eyes latched onto Ana. She shifted awkwardly, hand folding over the star in the pouch of her sweater.

Tobias stepped forward, metal baton in his hand. ‘Why are you alone? Where’s your team?’

Dombrant shook his head. ‘No team.’

Tobias sneered. ‘I find that highly unlikely. But we’ll know one way or another soon enough.’

Dombrant flexed his fingers and rolled his head, testing his muscle co-ordination.‘The other two in my unit aren’t exactly scrupulous,’ he said. ‘Ana’s father didn’t trust them not to mortally injure his daughter in the process of recovering what she’s taken from him.’

Ana wondered if this was true.

Tobias scratched a finger across his stubbled chin, also weighing up the validity of this information. ‘I want you to give Dr Barber a message,’ he said. ‘Firstly, the moment you leave, Ana will be leaving too. So there’s no point in him sending anyone else in to retrieve her. And secondly, if he does send anyone else over that wall, he can expect all kinds of havoc to break out across the Highgate Community.’