Against Gravity (38 page)

“Hey, how you doing?” Audrey greeted him with a grin as he approached the craft.

“I didn’t know that you knew how to handle one of these things.”

“Commercial rather than military, though,” she explained. The black streaks of her augment-growth were vivid under the dim red light of the dawn that was creeping over LA’s
broken rooftops. “Buddy’s catching some zees, so I’m doing a little maintenance. Couldn’t sleep, then?”

“Not any longer.” Kendrick glanced around. “Is it just us left?”

Audrey shrugged. “You, me, Bud – rest are all gone.” She squinted at him. “You feeling okay?”

“Fine – just got up.”

She shrugged again. “Don’t wander off and get lost, now. Remember, not much in the way of law around here, so stick to the compound, okay?”

Kendrick nodded. “Got it.”

Audrey smiled uncertainly, then turned her attention back to the ’copter’s exposed innards. Soon Kendrick heard the sound of a bolt being unscrewed followed by a muttered expletive.
He stepped back inside the hut, aware of the woman’s eyes constantly glancing after him.

Had someone called his name? He tensed and peered out of a window through which he could see nothing unusual. Maybe it had been Buddy he’d heard.

No: he came across Buddy in another room, curled up in a cot and fast asleep. Of course, he could have muttered something in his sleep . . .

There it was again: the faintest whisper, barely the suggestion of his name. Kendrick wondered if it was McCowan. Without really thinking about it, he slipped quietly through the ramshackle
building until he found another door at the rear, which opened without a sound. The high fence surrounding the compound made it impossible for casual passers-by – had there been any –
to spy on them.

He noticed another gate in the fence, presumably leading out onto a different street.

“Kendrick,” whispered a voice somewhere nearby. He stopped, motionless. Nobody was visible.

He stepped out onto the street, moving as quietly as he could. Not McCowan: someone else? In either direction he could see rows of broken buildings, barren and lifeless.

Perhaps this was a bad idea. He should go back inside the fence.

Then Kendrick noticed the car, deep in the shadows of one building that had survived the atomic blast largely intact. His augmented senses picked the vehicle out in vivid detail, and he could
see that its windows were silvered. It stood several blocks away from the compound where Audrey was still working on the ’copter.

The car looked shiny and new, incongruous amid so much devastation. Beside it stood Smeby.

Kendrick glanced over his shoulder and caught a strange movement, as if a distorting lens had passed in front of some scrubby bushes growing out of the cracked pavement. He realized with a start
that it was someone wearing camouflage like that built into the skin of Buddy’s helicopter. The hazy motion halted, resolving itself into a figure holding a rifle pointed at Kendrick’s
head.

Kendrick glanced towards Smeby again, catching a glint of light on a lens from a glassless window in the building looming up behind the car. Another soldier was undoubtedly positioned there, his
gun trained on Kendrick.

The compound was surrounded – and only three of them were left to defend it.

Perhaps they’d traced him by some arcane means that didn’t require tracking his wand; perhaps they could still trace him through the lingering Trojan nanites that Hardenbrooke had
inserted in his augmentations. In which case, it was conceivable that they knew nothing about Buddy, Audrey, or any of the recently departed Labrats.

Somehow, though, Kendrick suspected otherwise. As he turned to retreat towards the gate, a bullet slammed into the ground and noiselessly kicked up a puff of dust in front of him.

Realizing that he was cornered, he stepped back onto the road and moved slowly towards the vehicle.

When he reached it, Smeby was leaning against the hood with his arms folded. “I don’t know what you want,” Kendrick snarled, “but I’m not interested.”

“I haven’t even said anything yet.” Smeby smiled. “But Mr Draeger has a fresh proposition for you.”

“I already told you—”

“Just hear me out, okay?” Smeby snapped. “We’ve decided to forget about what happened last time – Mr Draeger feels there’s too much at stake.”

Kendrick sensed a movement around the corner of the nearby building. He stepped away from the car, Smeby’s gaze following him. At least a dozen more men were standing in a loose group
beside a truck parked in the adjacent street. Although dressed in civilian clothes, they certainly looked like soldiers.

A cigarette butt glowed in the dim dawn light like a firefly as one of them drew smoke into his lungs. Their keen eyes studied Kendrick emotionlessly.

“Doesn’t look like much of a welcoming committee to me,” muttered Kendrick, returning his gaze to Smeby. “Who are those guys, anyway? Los Muertos?”

“Of course not,” Smeby said impatiently. “If we wanted to cause you that much trouble, you’d have known about it long before now. Don’t you even want to know what
we want – or would you rather go through all this blind?”

Kendrick glanced back towards the fenced-off compound. Then he spat on the ground in front of Smeby’s feet.

“Fine,” he said. “Tell me what you want.”

Smeby swung the car door open and gestured for Kendrick to get in. Kendrick stared back at him, his expression wary.

“Mr Draeger is in the fucking car, Gallmon. I’m not trying anything.”

Kendrick bent down and looked inside. Draeger was indeed in the car, sitting back on a long couch that took up a large amount of space within the vehicle. With considerable misgivings, Kendrick
climbed in.

Smeby slid in after Kendrick and took a seat beside him, both of them facing towards Draeger. The car had no manual control and therefore lacked a driver’s seat, which allowed them extra
room.

Draeger leaned forward. “Mr Gallmon, I’m a fair-minded man. I’m as fascinated as you are by what’s happening far above our heads.”

“You should have become a Labrat yourself, then,” said Kendrick. “But maybe you wouldn’t have liked it so much.”

“Oh no, I would have,” Draeger replied. “I have a disease of the nervous system. Neurological damage in the womb that affected millions of unborn children, a by-product of the
environmental excesses of previous generations. The nanotechnology that created your augmentations would kill me within hours. It’s an irony that I therefore can’t get to see the
Promised Land that it seems so many of you have already glimpsed.”

“The experiment that Sieracki carried out on me and three others,” Kendrick replied. “That’s why you’re so interested in me, isn’t it?”

“I already warned you that the
Archimedes
is a privately owned vessel,” Draeger continued, ignoring him. “Any attempt to land there constitutes trespassing. The offshore
launch facility you’re using is extremely vulnerable to attack. You should remember
that
.”

“Fuck you. Just don’t you threaten me—”

“The danger isn’t from
me
, Mr Gallmon. It’s from Los Muertos. They are as aware of your plans as I am. I’m offering your friends my protection.”

“Your
protection
?” Kendrick laughed. “They need someone to protect them from
you
.”

“It’s a sincere offer. It would be very stupid of you not to take it seriously.”

Kendrick gazed soberly at Draeger. He didn’t doubt his sincerity at all. Rather, it was what the man didn’t say that worried him.

“Taking an offer like that seriously is one thing. It’s not the same as agreeing to it.”

“I can help Caroline Vincenzo.”

Kendrick was thunderstruck. “She doesn’t need your help,” he said numbly. How did Draeger
know
?

“You might be interested to learn that she visited a Labrat-friendly clinic in Glasgow. Friendly enough not to contact the police and inform them of her visit. Nonetheless, we managed to
obtain certain records, which show that the rogue growths in her body are accelerating rapidly. She may not live long enough to survive the trip to the
Archimedes
. But I can help
her.”

“In return for my cooperation?”

Draeger smiled gently. It wasn’t the smile of a winner, of someone who believed they held the upper hand. Rather, it was the smile of someone who believed completely in the rightness of
what they were saying and doing. Someone who was waiting for the rest of the world to recognize the logic of their actions. It was the smile of a madman.

“Is that why all those men are out there? In case I don’t agree to cooperate?”

“I don’t need to coerce you, Mr Gallmon. Once you reach the launch facility you’ll have no choice but to cooperate. Without my help, you won’t get even a hundred feet
into the air.”

“That’s a threat?”

“It’s an observation.”

“Why me, Draeger? Why not try and persuade Buddy or any of the others?”

“None of them are as important as you. Surely you understand that now? The growths within your body have the greatest affinity with the nanite intelligences on board the
Archimedes
.
And now you have been blessed with gifts from the intelligences still residing within the Maze, which will grant you access to the space habitat concerned.”

Remember he’s crazy
. Kendrick didn’t want to disabuse Draeger of his delusions, not while there might just be some chance of turning this to his advantage.

He glanced at Smeby, who sat with one leg crossed over the other, his expression as non-committal as if they were sitting in a restaurant discussing the relative merits of the wine list.

Kendrick sat back. “All right, what now?”

“You can tell me now if you accept, on behalf of your friends, my offer of safe escort to the
Archimedes
.”

“In return for which, they and I allow you to retrieve any scientific data you like from the
Archimedes
, along with whatever records still exist up there, without our
interference.” Kendrick was careful to emphasize
whatever records
. He wanted Draeger to understand that he knew there were incriminating documents on board the space station.

Draeger nodded carefully. “That would be correct.”

Kendrick smiled back, reached over and clicked the car door open. “No.”

“You’re making a mistake,” Smeby said, a clear warning in his voice.

“Am I?” Kendrick couldn’t keep the anger out of his voice. “The way I see it, you need us a hell of a lot more than we need you. You want something that’s on board
the
Archimedes
, but you can’t get it without us. You should know by now that the others would never agree to anything if they knew it was coming from you.”

He climbed out into the street and glanced back inside the car. “If we need you, we’ll let you know. But, frankly, don’t wait around.”

He slammed the door shut on them. But Draeger just looked quietly serene, as if he held some precious secret that the rest of the world knew nothing about.

Kendrick walked quickly back to the compound, feeling the skin between his shoulder blades burning every step of the way. But no shots rang out.

Buddy stirred groggily from his cot. “You’re sure about this?”

“Very sure.”

Buddy pressed the palm of one hand against his forehead and swore softly, still half asleep.

“I don’t know how rational Draeger is likely to be,” Kendrick told him. “He’s fighting for his survival.”

Next he turned to Audrey, who stood, looking worried, in the doorway. “How long before we head off?”

“Took most of the night to take care of refuelling and maintenance. You’ve come a long way in that ’copter, so it’s best to check everything twice so we don’t have
any nasty surprises after we’re airborne.” Her eyes half closed as she became momentarily deep in thought. “But give me twenty minutes, tops, and she’ll be ready.”

“Can you make it ten?”

Audrey nodded hesitantly, then slipped away, looking pale.

“Jesus. So Draeger really is here?” Buddy sounded more awake now. He started to pull on a pair of boots. “How long you think we got?”

“Hard to say. He has a small army with him back there.”

Several minutes later they heard the steady drone of choppers approaching, fast.

Kendrick had stepped outside to see if anyone was trying to enter the compound. He turned in time to see Buddy emerge from the doorway, still zipping up his fly.

“The tarpaulin,” Buddy urged him. “Help me get it off.”

Kendrick nodded, and they unveiled the helicopter, its now-exposed skin gleaming black in the early-morning light. Kendrick saw Audrey staring off towards the east, and glanced in the same
direction. Small shapes, rapidly growing larger, were heading towards them in a line across the sky.

Time’s up
.

Kendrick was surprised that the attack came from the air. Draeger’s men, after all, had moved on foot. But then, he remembered, Draeger wasn’t the only hostile force they had to deal
with. The approaching aircraft could also belong to Los Muertos.

Buddy was now in the pilot’s seat. The helicopter’s rotors whined into life, producing a steady, deafening wail within seconds.

Audrey was nowhere to be seen as Kendrick pulled himself on board, the rotors beating at the air inches above his head. Buddy mouthed her name and Kendrick jabbed a finger towards the nearest
building.

He saw Audrey emerge from a doorway. She was carrying some sort of weapon, a wicked-looking black thing with a snub nose. Kendrick started to climb back out of the ’copter, feeling that he
should help her in some way.

Buddy placed a gloved hand on his shoulder and shook his head. Kendrick hesitated, realizing what Buddy was saying: it wasn’t likely he’d be much use.

Audrey had slung the weapon over her shoulder on a strap before leaping up in an augmented blur to grab the lower edge of the building’s roof with both hands. She pulled herself up
effortlessly onto the sloping surface, running up to its apex just as out of nowhere a roar of rotors beat deafeningly down around them.