Deadlock (2 page)

‘Enough talk,’ the girl said, her voice calm.

‘I couldn’t agree more,’ Nero replied. He turned and jumped from the roof, disappearing from view. The girl sprinted to the edge and looked down into the street below. She cursed under her breath in Russian as she saw Nero kneeling on the roof of the red double-decker tram that was trundling away down the street, picking up speed. She turned, sheathed her weapons and sprinted along the edge of the roof, gaining slowly on the tram. When she reached the end of the roof she vaulted over the low wall and leapt into the air, landing on top of a lamp post with seemingly impossible agility, before springing on to the roof of a passing lorry that was only twenty metres or so behind the tram.

Nero looked back over his shoulder and saw the girl land on top of the truck like a cat. ‘Impressive,’ he said under his breath as the girl waited patiently for the lorry to close the distance to the tram. Whoever this young woman was, she had obvious talent.

He had heard the stories about the abilities of the Furans’ young killers, but this was the first time he had seen them first-hand. He turned and looked ahead of the tram and saw that they were approaching a set of traffic lights that were just turning red. The truck pulled alongside the tram as it slowed to a halt and the girl vaulted on to the other vehicle. Nero sprang to his feet and charged at the girl, slamming into her hard as she landed. They fell on to the roof, grappling with each other. Nero tried to use the advantage that his extra weight and strength gave him to pin the girl down, but she was just too quick. She delivered a swift blow with the heel of her palm to his chin, his head snapping back, and she squirmed out from underneath him. Nero grabbed desperately at the hilt of one of the swords in the crossed sheaths on her back and pulled it free, rolling away from the girl and struggling to his feet as the girl leapt up and drew the other katana, dropping into a double-handed attacking stance. Nero backed away, holding the blade of his weapon in front of him defensively, trying to ignore the pain from the splinters of glass still embedded in his palm. Now the odds were at least slightly more even, he thought to himself.

The girl took three quick strides towards him, her weapon flashing through the air as she advanced. Nero countered the first couple of blows, astonished by the speed and ferocity of the young girl’s attack. He knew how to fight with a blade, but all that meant was he knew almost instantly that he was hopelessly outmatched. The girl’s blade was like an extension of her body, moving too fast to follow, let alone counter. The tip of her sword scythed across his chest, leaving a deep bloody cut and Nero staggered backwards. The girl drew back the sword and struck, the tip of the blade spearing deep into Nero’s thigh and he gave a pained gasp as he felt his leg give way beneath him. He fell to one knee as the girl raised the katana high above her head ready to deal a killing blow.

The traffic lights turned green.

The tram lurched forward and for an instant the girl was caught off balance. Nero desperately, swept his own blade upwards, catching her off guard and leaving a long, deep gash in her cheek. The girl stepped backwards, her left hand instinctively flying up to her face as the savage wound began bleeding profusely. Nero flung his sword to one side and threw himself forwards with a grunt, trying to ignore the searing pain in his thigh, and tackled the girl, wrapping his arms around her waist. The pair of them flew off the top of the tram, dropping several metres before slamming down on to the roof of a car below. The katana flew from the girl’s hand and clattered into the road, the impact stunning her and knocking the air from her lungs. Nero rolled off her and dropped to the ground with a pained gasp. He picked up the girl’s fallen sword and turned back to her just as she rolled off the car’s roof. He raised the sword quickly, pressing its tip to her throat, sending a drop of blood trickling down her neck. He saw her tense, ready to strike.

‘Don’t,’ Nero said. ‘You may be fast, my dear, but nobody’s that fast.’

The girl glared back at him, half her face covered in blood, her eyes narrowing.

‘You have no idea how fast I am,’ the girl said. Nero barely even saw her move as her stiffened knuckles struck his wrist, the sword dropping from his numb fingers and into her other hand. She spun the sword, bringing it to Nero’s throat as he took a step backwards.

‘Time to die.’

The single shot rang out and the girl slammed back into the ruined car, sliding to the ground with a startled expression on her face. Darkdoom stepped out from behind a nearby van and lowered the assault rifle that she had abandoned just a few minutes earlier on the rooftop, its muzzle still smoking.

‘I had second thoughts about the whole splitting-up thing,’ Darkdoom said, ‘fortunately for you. The backup chopper’s two minutes out. Are you OK?’

Nero gave a nod and kicked the sword away from the girl’s hand before kneeling down beside her and feeling for a pulse in her neck.

‘Tell the backup team that we have an urgent med-evac,’ Nero said, applying pressure to the wound in the girl’s chest.

‘Are you joking?’ Darkdoom said as he began to hear the first wails of police sirens in the distance. ‘She very nearly killed you. Why on earth would you want to save her life?’

‘Because this girl was sent by Anastasia Furan, Diabolus,’ Nero replied, ‘and she might just be the only person who can help us find her.’

Nero watched as the nurses transferred the unconscious girl from the wheeled gurney to the hospital bed on the other side of the thickened glass window. They spent a couple more minutes hooking her up to monitors and putting in an IV line before filing out of the room past the two armed guards stationed outside, a heavy steel door sliding shut behind them with a thud. The girl had just returned from emergency surgery and, lying there unconscious with her chest swathed in bandages and a dressing on the vicious wound on her face, she did not look anything like the threat that she quite clearly was.

‘How is she, Doctor?’ Nero asked as the head of the G.L.O.V.E. medical facility approached.

‘Critical, but stable,’ the doctor replied. ‘It’s a miracle she survived at all. A gunshot wound like that . . . well, let’s just say she is stronger than she looks. It will take time for her to recover fully, of course, but I believe her prognosis is good.’

‘When she is strong enough, I want her transferred to the temporary H.I.V.E. facility,’ Nero said. ‘Until then, be extremely careful, Doctor. Keep her restrained at all times and maintain twenty-four hour surveillance. This particular patient is very, very dangerous.’

‘Understood,’ the doctor said with a nod. ‘Number One wishes to speak with you. You can use the teleconference system in my office if you would like.’

‘Thank you,’ Nero said as the doctor gestured to a door at the far end of an adjoining corridor. ‘That will be all.’

Nero looked back through the window as the doctor walked away and looked again at the girl lying in the bed. There was something about her that he could not put his finger on, something that was telling him that he had to try to help her, despite what she had done.

‘You’re getting soft, Nero,’ he muttered to himself, ‘and one day it’s going to get you killed.’

He turned away from the glass and headed to the doctor’s office. He sat down behind the desk and activated the teleconference system. The screen lit up with the familiar logo of G.L.O.V.E., the Global League of Villainous Enterprise, a closed fist smashing down on a splintering globe with the words ‘Do Unto Others’ beneath it. He punched in the code that would connect him with Number One, the head of G.L.O.V.E.’s ruling council.

‘Please confirm identity,’ a synthesised voice said a few moments later.

‘Nero, Maximilian, authorisation code sigma nine delta seven,’ Nero replied. A few seconds later a silhouetted figure appeared on the screen.

‘Good morning, Maximilian,’ Number One said. ‘I have just finished reading your report on this recent unpleasantness in Hong Kong. If what this girl said is true, it is most disturbing. I had hoped that we had heard the last of the Furans after their disappearance, but unfortunately that does not appear to be the case.’

‘Indeed,’ Nero replied. ‘I have requested a termination warrant be placed on them. With your permission I would like to carry out the warrant personally.’

‘I will consider your request,’ Number One replied. ‘I am always wary of letting these situations become too personal, Nero, you know that. I am aware of your history with the Furans and I do not want to see a personal vendetta endanger G.L.O.V.E.’s interests.’

‘You can trust me to handle the matter professionally, sir,’ Nero replied.

‘As I said, I shall consider your request,’ Number One said. ‘And what of the girl? Do you believe she will cooperate?’

‘I don’t know,’ Nero replied. ‘She is still recovering from surgery at the moment. It is impossible to say how deeply she was indoctrinated during her training. It may take time to persuade her to give the Furans up.’

‘There are quicker methods of persuasion, Maximilian,’ Number One said, ‘more painful methods.’

‘I think she could be useful,’ Nero said, shaking his head slightly. ‘Let me see if I can turn her; that way we may gain an asset at the same time as ridding ourselves of a threat.’

‘I leave it to your discretion,’ Number One said, ‘but I want results quickly. This was not just an attack on you and Darkdoom, this was an attack on our entire organisation. Our retribution must be swift. The girl must tell us what she knows and soon. My patience has its limits, Nero.’

Nero knew all too well what happened to anyone who overstepped those limits.

‘I will report my progress with her directly to you,’ Nero replied.

‘See that you do,’ Number One said. ‘Do unto others.’

‘Do unto others,’ Nero replied with a nod and the connection was cut.

A few hours later, Nero walked into the room where the wounded girl lay strapped to the bed. She was conscious now and she glared at him as he approached.

‘You should have killed me when you had the chance,’ the girl said, her voice dripping with venom.

‘I still have that option,’ Nero replied. ‘I am simply choosing not to exercise it at this precise moment. Now, you know my name, but I do not know yours. What should I call you?’

‘My name is Raven,’ the girl replied, still glaring at him. ‘And that is all you will get from me.’

‘Not your codename,’ Nero said, shaking his head, ‘your real name. What is it?’

‘My name is
Raven,
’ the girl hissed back at him. ‘I have no other name.’

‘Very well, Raven,’ Nero replied, ‘I imagine that someone like you must find this kind of incarceration rather boring, so I’ve brought this.’ He held up the battered leather-bound book that he was holding. ‘I’m afraid I can’t release your hands, since I suspect that they would end up around my throat. So, I’m going to have to read it to you. I hope you like it, it’s one of my favourite novels and my father read it to me when I was young.’

‘Do what you like,’ Raven replied with a dismissive sneer. ‘It makes no difference to me.’

‘That’s exactly what I used to say to my father,’ Nero replied with a smile, opening the book and turning to the first page. He cleared his throat and began to read.

‘
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times
. . .’

Nero looked down into the combat training area and watched as Raven swiftly incapacitated the men around her. It had been three months since her arrival at H.I.V.E.’s temporary facility in the Alps and her recovery from her injuries had been astonishingly quick. The men she was fighting were no ordinary sparring partners. They were some of the very best of G.L.O.V.E.’s special forces operatives and yet they were being systematically humiliated by the teenage girl in the middle of the room. Initially they had attacked individually, obviously feeling that it would be unfair for her to have to take on more than one of them at once, but that restraint had quickly been abandoned. There were more guards stationed around the edge of the area with the prototype Sleeper stun guns that Professor Pike had just developed. The Professor assured him that these new weapons would incapacitate anyone without causing any lasting physical harm. He hoped for the sake of the men in the room that he was right.