Shattered Minds Read online

  Charlie reveals her face. She scans Aliyah’s VeriChip, presses her thumb to the panel, then crouches down to present her false eye. A few tense seconds as the machine processes. Then the small red light turns to green. Charlie pushes the door open and the Trust sneak through, the special Kalar suits making them almost invisible. Charlie closes the door behind her. She takes a deep breath before pulling the hood back over her face.

  The underground parking lot is completely empty of hovercars. They keep to the edges, the only sounds their echoing footsteps against the concrete and their ragged breaths. At the next door, all they need is Aliyah’s employee badge and they’re through again. The main building of Sudice is all clear windows, cold metal and marble. They stand at the very edge of the grand lobby. Being here again is strange. Carina’s been here many times in the dark of night, when she was working late. It’s almost as if she’s stepped back to her time in the SynMaps project. Almost.

  They’ve all studied the blueprints countless times. Single file, they edge around the lobby and make their way to the head security room. There’s a ring of Waspbots watching it, dead to the world thanks to Raf. Kivon takes out three small orbs and throws them. They hit the Waspbots in quick succession, spreading out along the metal casing. The bots jerk and then fall to the floor, short-circuited.

  Raf gives Kivon a high five, and then a little kiss.

  They break into the security room. The wallscreens are full of cameras throughout the building. Control access points for human guards to be able to override aspects of the security system. Just what they need. Raf begins his work, with Charlie and Dax offering advice in low voices. Kivon covers the door. Carina stands next to him but ultimately feels a little useless. She should have made better use of her time at the compound – brainloading how to fight, brushing up on hacking. Something, anything. Instead, she focused on clinging to sobriety.

  ‘Um,’ Raf says. ‘It’s not working.’

  Dax swivels his head towards the shorter man.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘We’re locked out, even though we shouldn’t be. These are controls anyone’s meant to be able to change – in case of an emergency or something,’ Raf says.

  A buzz sounds in all of their implants.

  ‘Good evening, Carina and friends,’ Roz’s voice says pleasantly.

  They all freeze. Carina checks her implants. The outside signal is blocked. If Kim noticed Roz leaving the Omni Hotel, there was no way to sound an alarm, even through subfrequencies.

  ‘Oh fuck,’ Raf says. Carina agrees.

  Even now, through the small window of the security door, she can see Roz walking down the hallway, flanked by men and women in Kalar suits with guns. A flock of AI Waspbots circles above them, ready to strike. She’s changed out of whatever ball gown she wore to the press expo, and is clad head-to-toe in Kalar.

  ‘How many of those bot killer things do you have?’ Carina asks Raf.

  ‘I only have five more.’ His eyes narrow as he takes in what’s happening outside.

  There are at least seven Waspbots, and an equal number of guards for Roz. Fifteen people and bots versus their four, plus if Roz knew they were coming here instead of the LA headquarters, then the whole building could turn against them.

  Kivon passes the information to the others. Raf’s shoulders are hunched as he works at the controls in the security room. Kivon bars the door with one of the metal chairs, in case Roz can override the locks. It won’t stop them for long, but it may slow them down.

  ‘I have an idea,’ Raf says. ‘It’s risky as fuck, though.’

  There’s an aching hesitation, but Charlie gives a terse nod. Raf’s fingers fly as he calls down code from his offline implants.

  The server room is two floors above them. They are meant to have finished here and be there by now, sending out all the information, looking out those clear windows to the glowing bay and knowing the world is about to change. So close. So impossibly far.

  ‘Come on out, Carina,’ Roz says. ‘There’s no point fighting. You don’t have a chance. Come out with your hands up and I won’t shoot your friends.’

  ‘Liar,’ Carina spits at her through the bulletproof glass.

  Roz laughs. Carina can’t see her face beneath the Kalar suit. If she could, she’s certain it would be creased into a feral grin, her eyes bright. An expression not unlike Carina’s in the Zealscape, so many times before.

  ‘There!’ Raf cries behind him, and a second later, the Waspbots begin to fire on Roz and her human guards. ‘Reverse engineered the command key from the—’

  ‘Now is really not the time, Raf,’ Charlie says, loading her gun.

  Roz screeches, and several of her guards scream. They duck for cover.

  ‘Come on, to the server room,’ Charlie says.

  They open the door and dart out. Roz is near the end of the hallway, ducked down, firing back at the Waspbots. One bot is hit and it falls, crashing to the floor in a fountain of sparks. She shoots in the Trust’s direction, and bullets from the other guards follow. They ricochet against the walls, the noise so loud it seems to vibrate within Carina’s skull.

  Someone behind her cries out. She can’t afford to look back. All she can do is put one foot in front of the other as fast as possible. They turn the corridor and start running up the stairs. A lone AI follows them – Roz has somehow turned it back, perhaps, or it’s one from another part of the building. Kivon throws one of his weapons and the Waspbot halts then tumbles down the stairs. As they all turn back to watch, Raf stumbles.

  His hands go to his stomach and come away darkened with blood. He looks to Kivon and falls. The bullet shouldn’t have gone through at that angle. Carina grows cold, wondering if Roz has access to bullets specially designed to pierce Kalar suits.

  Kivon catches him, holding him in his arms. ‘Come on,’ he says. His face is harsh. He shifts Raf and uses his hand to press against Raf’s wound. Raf screams. Carina reaches into the pack on his back and takes out the remaining bot killers. Footsteps sound below and they all sprint to the server room. It’s locked.

  Charlie takes out the kit to break in. Her hands are shaking. Raf’s breath is coming in ragged gasps. It’s like the silo all over again.

  It’s a disaster in the making.

  As they cover Charlie, the first of Roz’s guards crest the top of the stairs. Kivon takes aim and fires. The guard staggers but does not fall. Carina takes aim next, her heart aching as she aims right for the throat.

  She fires. He falls, his scream cut silent. There’s a chance that’s another kill to add to her tally.

  The next person appears. She fires again, three times.

  Carina and Kivon do most of the shooting. Dax gives Raf first aid, smearing Amrital onto the wounds, and she doesn’t have the heart to ask Dax what the prognosis is, especially with Kivon there. It doesn’t look good. Dax injects Raf with something that will slow his heart rate, something else to help with blood clotting. It might buy him time, but only if they can escape this building within the next hour.

  Four of Roz’s guards lie sprawled on the floor among bullet shells, broken glass from the windows. One body is pooled with blood, and the warm, iron scent reaches Carina. It feels just as thrilling as a Zealscape. Or more. This is real danger.

  Carina doesn’t know where Roz is.

  ‘Yes!’ Charlie cries out behind them. The door swings open. They shuffle into the server room, but Carina stays behind.

  ‘Come on, what are you doing?’ Dax asks, eyes wide.

  ‘I need to go find Roz,’ she says.

  ‘I’ll come with you.’

  She shakes her head. ‘You’re not a fighter. You should stay with Charlie. She has to do this on her own now, and she doesn’t have the skills that Raf does. You and Kivon have to help.’ Another guard comes up the stairs. Carina pushes Dax back into the server room and takes cover behind the open metal door just in time. The bullets blast against the door.

  She ta
kes aim and hits the man in the gun arm. It knocks the weapon from his hand, giving her time to aim again and hit him in the throat. She twists and looks at Dax, who gazes at her with his mouth open, a hint of fear in his eyes that he can’t contain. Good. He should still be a little afraid of her.

  ‘This is between Roz and me.’

  ‘Be careful,’ he says. ‘Try not to go down in a blaze of glory.’ The words are meant to be flippant, but his tone is not.

  She flashes one of her stiff smiles at him. ‘I’ll do my best.’

  There’s no lingering last kiss. There’s no time, and they’re not in one of Isaac Clavell’s films. There’s an instant of eye contact, of understanding. And then Carina turns and walks down the stairs, gun at the ready in her hand, only pausing to rip the Kalar hood off of the fallen soldiers and shoot them in the head to make sure they’re truly dead. She doesn’t turn back to see if Dax is watching.

  FORTY TWO

  DAX

  Sudice headquarters, San Francisco, California, Pacifica

  Dax hears the gunshots against the closed door. He cracks it open, sees the corpses, but not Carina. He stares for a few precious moments at the fallen bodies. Is it any worse, seeing the blood rather than a prone, Kalar-clad form, or knowing that it is Carina who has done this? He closes the door again and turns away.

  The server room looks as he expected. It’s small, the servers black and glowing with blue light. The machinery whirrs gently. It seems almost peaceful in here after the gunshots, the crash of glass and desperate run for their lives.

  Charlie has already started trying to link the server to a connection. They’ve brought an older piece of tech with them, a router that will work with a secure line. Another one of Raf’s ideas. Their own relay to bypass the safeguards. Everyone’s so used to everything being synced wirelessly and accessed by implants, they might not have a good defence against something old enough to actually need wires. Raf created a converter, and Charlie’s trying to plug it in.

  Dax looks at Raf, worried. He’s fully unconscious. His vitals are steady, for now, but they need to get him to somewhere with medical equipment. He has all he needs back at the Trust headquarters, but who knows if that’s safe, or if Sudice found it and trashed the place? They might have to drop Raf off at a hospital like they did for Dax, and the thought fills him with terror. What if they do the same thing to Raf as they did to him, and use his mind for their own purposes?

  Charlie is shaking, but she’s managed to attach Raf’s device. She starts to prep the connection. Dax puts a hand on her shoulder and squeezes for reassurance.

  Kivon saves their lives. ‘Duck!’ he screams, opening fire.

  Dax glimpses one of the ceiling tiles moving, and a Kalar-swathed head peeks down along with the point of a gun. He falls behind a server, panting. Kivon’s firing. Charlie’s somewhat shielded by the column of servers as she works frantically. She’s shaking so much she can barely type and keeps having to go back and rewrite sections of code. What if a bullet hits the main server? Several of the backups are already down, the blue lights extinguished. Water pools on the floor where some of the bullets fractured the water lines cooling the servers. If it all goes, then they’re trapped. All this for nothing.

  Kivon is protecting Raf, and at this angle he has no hope of hitting the shooter. Or is it more than one person above them? In the melee, Dax can’t tell. He’s never been so fucking afraid in his life. Kivon cries out and crumples.

  Dax clutches his gun, moving closer to the other man. Kivon’s been hit in the shoulder, but it’s a graze. It doesn’t seem to have breached his Kalar, but he’s broken his clavicle. He’ll be in so much pain he won’t be able to see straight.

  It’s up to Dax. He tries to find his focus. He darts around a wall of broken servers and fires upwards. He hits the man in the face, and their attacker falls from the ceiling down to the floor, landing on his neck. The crack is loud in the silence. The man does not move.

  The Trust all stare for a moment. He was trying to kill them, and it’s not the first corpse they’ve seen tonight, but the aftermath of a death still leaves them stricken. Dax crawls over to Kivon and rummages in the first-aid kit. ‘Any other injuries for you or Raf?’

  Kivon shakes his head, his lips clamped shut in pain. ‘Fucking rookie mistake. Shouldn’t have gotten hit.’

  ‘You’re protecting Raf. Hard to keep your head when the person you love is hurt. My only advice is to take that fear and pain and try to turn it into rage.’

  He nods, features tightening. Dax takes the painkillers and sticks one in Kivon’s neck. Kivon’s tight muscles relax, and he gives Dax a nod. Dax moves closer to Charlie. He’s not been hit but all his muscles feel like they’ve taken a beating.

  ‘You hurt?’

  She shakes her head, frowning over the servers.

  ‘Any luck?’

  ‘Some. I’m just so slow compared to Raf. And I’m worried I’m going to miss something vital. Is Raf totally out?’

  ‘Fully unconscious. I’m sorry, but you’re on your own here.’

  ‘I got you and Kivon. Better off than most. Where’s Carina?’

  ‘She’s gone after Roz.’

  ‘Hope she buys us some time. I need all I can get.’

  Dax leaves her to her work, knowing what he has to do. He takes his gun and creeps closer to where the hit guard lays, keeping cover when he can. When he reaches the body, he kicks the extra gun over to Kivon. He aims his weapon up towards the ceiling, making sure no one else is there. He’s in the open – if anyone is there, now is when they’ll fire. To be safe, he shoots into the ceiling a few times, the sounds ringing in his ears. No cries of pain.

  Dax reaches out and pulls the Kalar hood off the guard who tried to kill them all. He looks heartbreakingly young. He’s not dead. He blinks slowly. By the way the blood runs out of the corner of his mouth and ears, though, Dax knows he doesn’t have long. He presses the gun against the boy’s temple. The boy closes his eyes.

  Dax fires.

  FORTY THREE

  CARINA

  Sudice headquarters, San Francisco, California, Pacifica

  Carina sees no one on her way back to ground level. She feels exposed despite the Kalar suit. The bodies of Roz’s guards are below. She counts five. Gunshots sound above from the direction of the server room. Her steps slow. She should help. What if any of them are hurt?

  The low beep of the intercom sounds. ‘Carina,’ Roz’s disembodied voice says, low and clear. ‘Come on, Carina. We have unfinished business, don’t we?’ She gives a laugh and it sends a shiver down Carina’s spine. Of anticipation or fear, she’s not sure. Both.

  ‘I’m coming,’ Carina mutters, and makes her way up the stairs.

  The entrance to the lab is just as she remembers it. Shiny, clean and untouched by the gunfire and fighting below. Carina holds her gun. She’s low on bullets, but by her calculations of the bodies downstairs and the one in the server room, there could still be one guard unaccounted for. She should be able to manage one more guard and Roz. She hopes she can.

  She walks down the corridor, opening each door and checking it with her gun. There’s her old office. It looks similar – Carina never bothered personalizing it, and whoever works in there now hasn’t done much to it either.

  Carina reaches the end of the corridor. There is the lab. Beautiful instruments, that sprawling view of San Francisco glittering below them. This was almost her home once. Where she came right after waking up, and left just before she went to sleep. Her life was here, with Mark, Kim and Aliyah. With Roz at the helm, for a brief period Carina had felt she was doing something worthwhile. Then it all fell apart and shattered.

  Roz is standing there, in her dark Kalar suit. Though Carina can’t see her face, she’d know that confident stance anywhere. Roz’s gun is aimed right at Carina’s throat.

  ‘Let it go, Roz,’ Carina says. ‘You’re not on the right side in this and you know it.’

  ‘The righ
t side is all a matter of perspective,’ Roz says, words clipped. She’s frightened but determined not to let it show. Carina can use that.

  ‘Why haven’t you brought the full force of Sudice and the police on us?’ Carina asks. ‘Just a small selection of guards. A few bots. What are you afraid of? Does Mantel know what you’re really up to?’

  ‘It does not take the full might of Sudice to take you down. Don’t get ahead of yourself.’

  ‘Your bots are dead. Your guards are gone.’

  ‘Not all of them, Carrie.’

  Carina feels strong arms wrap around her, one hand knocking her gun to the ground and the other crushing her windpipe. The last guard, silent as a shadow, and she curses herself for a fool.

  Roz walks up to her and pulls off the bulletproof hood. The guard presses something against her neck, but she can’t tell what it is. It doesn’t feel as sharp as a knife, it’s too thick.

  ‘Oh Carrie, you have caused me so much fucking trouble,’ Roz says, voice sweet as sugar.

  ‘The Trust will send all they have out,’ Carina says. ‘No matter what you do to me.’

  ‘Oh, please. Do you think I’m an idiot? We’ve dropped an extra firewall as tough as a Kalar suit around the building. Nothing’s going to get out tonight.’

  Carina sags. All this work. All that effort getting the information, dragging it from memories best left forgotten, for nothing. She’ll die here tonight, with the rest of the Trust.