Enemy Invasion (16 page)

Robert protested, “Why can’t I just teleport directly into the camp? I can grab Hack and we’ll be out of here.”

Craig shook his head. “Too risky. We don’t know the kid’s exact location or enough about the camp defences. You could teleport right into a group of guards.”

Sarah nodded. “He’s right, Robert. We need to be careful.”

For once her brother didn’t argue. They each grabbed their backpacks. Louise and Wei were already at the exit door, eager to get outside after being cooped up in the jet for hours. Craig
walked over, operated the hatch and went out first.

It was approaching midnight, but the air was still amazingly warm and humid. Sarah felt the sweat prickling her skin within seconds of stepping off the jet.

“Let’s move,” Craig ordered, and started off across towards the treeline at a half-run, closely followed by Robert, Louise and Wei. Sarah paused only to give a final command to
the jet.

Defensive systems engage.

The ramp retracted into the jet and the door closed. Sarah moved away as motion detectors linked to gun turrets concealed by the undercarriage went operational. In the darkness, the jet was
practically invisible up to a few metres away, but anyone who did go snooping around would get a nasty shock. Satisfied their way off the island was as safe as she could make it, Sarah ran off
after the others.

Running, as it turned out, was not an easy task in the intense humidity of the island night. By the time Sarah reached the trees, she was panting as if she’d run a full kilometre. She
looked at the jungle ahead – uneven ground, vines draped at head-height and roots underfoot – and understood that a few kilometres’ hike was going to be quite an undertaking.
Maybe Robert’s instinct about teleporting to the camp hadn’t been so bad after all – at least they could get closer. She mentally projected ahead, scanning for the camp to the
north of the island and sensed…

Nothing.

With a frown, she tried again – attempting to make contact with the minds of the soldiers in the camp or anything that would give them a handle on their target.

Again nothing.

It was as if a blanket had been thrown over her psychic senses, and she didn’t like it. It was like going suddenly deaf or blind. The closeness of the night and the jungle pressing in
around them seemed instantly more threatening…

A low chuckle echoed through the back of her mind, like something she had heard before but couldn’t quite remember where…

“Sarah?” Robert said, placing a hand on her arm. “Are you all right?”

She came back into the moment and gave him a smile. “I’m fine. I just felt…”

“What?”

“Nothing,” she said. There was no point in worrying him just because she got spooked by the jungle. “Just feeling a little light-headed from the heat, I guess.”

“This level of humidity will do that,” Craig said. “You’ve all got water in your packs, so keep hydrating. Walk steadily, no unnecessary movements. We’re all about
conserving energy. Sarah, I take it you’ll be able to sense any enemies hanging around in the bush?”

She felt sheepish as the eyes of the others fell upon her. “Uh, maybe not at the moment. Feeling a little bit off my game. Sorry.”

If Craig was worried by this information, he didn’t show it. He removed a set of night-vision goggles from his belt and put them over his head. “Okay, I’ll take point,”
he said. “Robert, bring up the rear. Louise stick close to me – be ready for action in case I need you.”

She gave him a little salute. Wei put up his hand like a kid in a classroom. “What about me?”

“Maybe not such a good idea to start a fire in a jungle,” Craig said, referring to Wei’s pyrokinetic power. Then, when he saw the boy’s face fall, added, “You can
light up the camp before we leave.”

Wei grinned. Craig turned and started forward into the jungle, machine gun at the ready, brushing aside vines and moving almost silently despite the carpet of leaves and debris on the ground.
The others followed, a little less expertly. As Sarah brought up the rear with Robert, she had the feeling of a presence out in the jungle once more…

Something watching…

And drawing them in…

16

“How much longer is this going to take?” Major Bright demanded as technicians weaved around the cameras and other equipment packed into the lit square. Bright
regarded them with contempt – they were Good’s people, nerdy, nervous types, not soldiers. And as such, they’d needed paying ten times a soldier’s wage just to get them out
of their air-conditioned offices in California and to the island.

Marlon Good, who was poring over a computer screen, didn’t look round. “It will take as long as it takes. You want to get this right, don’t you?”

“I want to get this done.” Bright began to pace the centre of the lit area.

Have patience,
the Entity warned in his head.
This is why we need Good. Let him do his job.

I’d like to break that runt’s neck.

The Entity chuckled.
Eventually you’ll get your chance. But not tonight. Think of our plans. Think of the future.

Bright clenched and unclenched his fists.
I don’t like waiting.

Don’t worry. There will be plenty for you to do soon enough.

Meaning?

The Entity chuckled again.
I’ll leave it as a surprise. Something for later…

Before Bright could press further, one of the technicians gave Good the thumbs up from a computer on the other side of the square.

“Excellent,” Good said. He walked over to the medical cabinet and removed an injection tube.

“What are you doing?” Hack said, rising to his feet.

“Giving sleeping beauty something to perk her up. Just a little stimulant.”

He jabbed May’s arm with the tube. The effect was instantaneous: with a gasp, she half-rose from the chair, eyes wide, hands gripping the armrests. Her entire body was shaking, muscles
taut. Hack placed his hands on her shoulders and gently eased her back down.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” he said.

May looked at him wildly, but then some recognition came into her eyes. “Where…are…we?” she asked, barely able to talk because of her racing heart.

“In one of the hangars,” Hack explained. He gave her a bottle of water to drink from. “Just try to breathe. You’ve been given a shot.”

May nodded. She touched the collar around her throat and looked at Hack with alarm.

“Don’t try to take it off,” Hack warned, pointing to his matching collar. “Explosives. Mine too.”

Again May nodded her understanding. She bent forward and stared at the floor between her feet, trying to get herself under control. Hack looked up at Marlon Good accusingly.

“You’re going to kill her like this.”

“She can take it.” Good tossed the injection tube back in the cabinet as he walked to the computer, neglecting to close the cabinet doors. Hack considered for a split second –
everyone at ground level was occupied with the cameras and computers, but were the snipers watching him every second? The chance had to be worth taking. He moved round so he was crouching on the
other side of May, then reached back with his hand, shielding the motion as much as possible with his body. His fingers brushed the smooth metal of the injection tube. He grabbed it and stuffed it
in the pocket of his jeans. For a moment he didn’t breathe – expecting the report of a rifle, or the heavy hand of Major Bright to close on his shoulder.

Seconds passed.

It didn’t happen.

Hack had to stop himself from laughing with relief. Now he had a weapon.

“What are they doing?” May asked, her voice barely a whisper. If she’d noticed him grab the stimulant, she didn’t show it.

“I don’t know,” Hack said, looking round, “but I think we’re about to find out what all this is about.”

Marlon Good had moved into the centre of the square as the technicians took positions at the cameras and computers. A kind of hushed anticipation fell over the area. Even Major Bright took a
step to the edge of the light and waited in silence, giant arms folded across his chest. Good brushed a speck of dust from the lapel of his jacket and turned to face the largest of the cameras. He
pointed to the technician behind it.

“Action.” Then…

“Citizens of the world,” Marlon Good said to the camera, basking in the imagined attention, “good evening. And welcome to my secret lair somewhere in the Pacific
Ocean.”

Good laughed to himself. In the corner, Major Bright rolled his eyes, but he said nothing.

Good snapped his fingers and held up his right hand before him, palm open. A blue-tinged holographic image of a rotating globe appeared above his hand. Hack sensed he had a mini holo-projector
concealed up his sleeve.
Very clever – he’s quite the showman,
he thought. In addition to his money, was this why Bright needed the American? To be the public face of whatever
terrible plans they had for the world?

“Consider the earth,” Marlon Good said, eyeing the planet rotating above his hand as if it was a precious jewel. “So very fragmented. Different languages. Different
governments. Different cultures. Bad for unity. And bad for progress.”

He touched the index finger of his right hand to the image and it slowly began to turn red, until the entire globe had changed colour.

“We intend to put an end to this disunity. We have the means to create a new world order. The old factionalism of individual countries and companies will be swept away and in its place we
will install a single government.” He closed his fist over the image and the world disappeared. “By the time this message is broadcast, we will already have demonstrated the awesome
power at our command by taking over a major capital city in less than a day. We call upon the remaining nations of the world that have not already fallen to surrender unconditionally. You will be
treated with…mercy.”

Good paused for a moment and clasped his hands behind his back.

“Tonight you will be witness to the greatest technological revolution since the invention of the internal combustion engine. Let our children and our children’s children know that
this is where the new world began.” Good’s face cracked into a grin and he waved his arms wildly, surprising even Major Bright with his sudden change in tone. “I know, booooring!
But don’t you want to see the demonstration? Wouldn’t you like to see how we’re going to take over the world?”

Good signalled to his people waiting in the darkness surrounding the square. “Bring in the hypersphere!” He winked at the camera. “Trust me, this is cool.”

Technicians appeared, wheeling a huge, circular trolley before the cameras. On this trolley stood a metal frame and within the frame a black sphere the size of a small car was suspended, perhaps
by some kind of magnetic field. The surface of this sphere was perfectly smooth and it was possible to make out etched patterns, almost like letters, but of a totally alien language. As the
technicians backed off, Marlon Good stepped forward and tapped the sphere with his finger. It began to rotate slowly on its axis, the perfect, dark surface reflecting the studio lights.

“An object of alien origin – salvaged from the recent meteorite storm that almost ended life on earth,” he explained. “I’m sure you all heard about it. Most of the
meteors collided in space, broke into pieces and burned up harmlessly in our atmosphere. A few larger fragments did manage to survive, however. This piece was retrieved from an area of Antarctica
so remote, even the penguins don’t go there. We call it the hypersphere.”

At the edge of the area, Major Bright wound his index finger in a
hurry up
motion. Marlon Good took the hint and started speaking even faster.

“This rock is possessed of amazing properties beyond the science of our time. In its natural state, it’s perfectly harmless – dormant, as you see here. But with the right
catalyst, it can become one of the most powerful forces this world has ever seen. Now we have that catalyst.” Good looked round. “Major Bright, would you care to begin the
demonstration?”

Bright unfolded his arms and strode across the square. Three cameras followed his movement, but he acknowledged none of them – almost as if they were beneath his attention. He headed
directly for Hack and May and stopped before them, arms held out to them.

“Take my hands, children,” he ordered. “It’s showtime.”

17

The two mercs patrolling the eastern perimeter never knew what hit them. As they passed one another on their circuit of the area an invisible force grabbed them both and
dragged them twenty metres into the jungle. One smacked head first into a tree and was immediately out for the count. The other skidded to his knees at the feet of a nine-year-old girl standing
amid the trailing vines. His rifle was lost, so the merc reached for his pistol. Something heavy hit him on the back of the head and he went down.

“I’m only going to ask you once,” Commander Craig hissed as he pressed the machine-gun muzzle into the merc’s skull. “Where are you keeping the boy?”

The merc glared back at him. “Shoot me and you’ll bring the whole base down on yourself.”

Craig nodded at Louise. “That girl can turn you inside out with a thought. Don’t make me tell her to demonstrate.”

The merc swallowed heavily and looked at Louise with widening eyes. She smiled sweetly at him.

“There’s a set of brick buildings to the south of the camp,” the merc said. “Cells. That’s where we’re holding him.”

“Thanks,” Craig said, and smashed him across the face with the butt of his gun. He looked at Sarah and the others. “He should be out for a while.”

They headed to the metal fence. Wei stepped forward and put his fingers through the chain links. His hand glowed red-hot and the metal around it began to melt. He waited until a suitably large
hole had been burned in the fence and then removed his hand. He gestured for the others to go through.

Craig grinned as he passed. “Nice work, Wei.”

They ran to the cover of a set of crates as a searchlight swept the area, illuminating the shadows.