2041 Sanctuary (Dark Descent) (69 page)

On the platform, a couple of hundred feet above the ground, they helped one another limber up for the next stage. Riley then pressed a button on his helmet, sending his visor down over his eyes. ‘I’ll go first; I can enhance my vision to help guide us.’ He edged off the platform and onto the first series of ledges and handholds.

Sarah followed suit and the two of them crept down the face of the atrium wall. Halfway down to the next platform Sarah’s confidence rose, she felt strong and in control, her training at the SED making the descent easier than she could have hoped.

‘We need to pick up the pace,’ Riley said from just below.

Stopping, the fingers of both hands wedged into one large vertical crack, she steadied herself. ‘What’s the problem?’

‘Look down – at the building.’

Sarah angled her head to see that bright light streamed out of the bottom five floors of the SED; even as she watched, lights to the sixth blinked on. General Stevens was searching each floor one by one; methodically hunting them down. Soon the search would reach the higher levels and they’d stick out like sore thumbs in a toe factory.

They picked up their rate of climb to reach the lower platform just as illumination blazed forth from the storey next to them. With no time to spare they used the steel ladder to carry on down, hoping they wouldn’t be seen by a cursory glance from a soldier searching for them on the inside. Curiously the final rungs before the ground proved to be the part of the climb most fraught with danger. The ring of soldiers preventing anyone escaping from the SED stood barely thirty feet away, guns at the ready and fully alert for what they assumed was every eventuality. Corroborating the well-known expression that fortune favours the brave, the area they stepped down into benefitted from a shadowy cast and while the General’s personnel gazed in towards the building, Riley and Sarah were actually behind them in the opposite direction.

Sneaking amongst the various crates, boxes and other non-specific detritus that marred the clean-cut lines of the atrium’s outer rim, Sarah and Riley cut a path to the nearest exit. With a final look at the SED’s steel and glass exterior, they departed, vanishing like thieves in the night, leaving only the transient aftermath of their actions behind them.

Chapter Forty Six

A few hours had passed since Sarah and Riley had encountered one another outside the shuttle bay’s control centre and first light within the USSB had broken; replicating the cosmic dance of Earth’s planetary body and the life-giving star at the centre of our blessed solar system.

Not wanting to attract attention by returning to their respective apartments, housed close to the SED, they’d decided to retreat to Riley’s second home, a place he owned ten miles away on the other side of the base. It was a large diversion, but a necessary one if they were to maintain an inconspicuous distance from the scene of the crime. Travelling separately, in order to avoid any undue attention by the authorities, Sarah rendezvoused with Riley at the proposed monotube station before walking the rest of the way to his home.

The door to his apartment slammed shut with a resounding bang, allowing Sarah to breathe a welcome sigh of relief. They’d made it, escaping General Stevens’ clutches hopefully with him being none the wiser as to who’d disrupted his nocturnal activities.

Sarah followed Riley through the open-plan interior of his quintessential bachelor pad, taking in the plush surroundings. ‘Phew, that was a mission and a half,’ she said.

Riley flashed her one of his infectious grins. ‘You could say that.’ He opened his fridge, removed two bottles of water and chucked one to her before opening his and taking a long drink.

Slipping her rucksack to the floor, Sarah unsnapped the cap on her bottle and gulped down the cool, thirst-quenching fluid.

‘So,’ Riley said, his dark brown eyes fixing on her as she drank, ‘why were you spying on the military in the middle of the night?’

She lowered her bottle. ‘I could ask you the same question.’

‘How do you know I was spying?

‘Weren’t you?’

‘Yes, but I was there under orders, I’m pretty sure you can’t say the same.’

Sarah felt under pressure as she attempted to execute the lie she’d been concocting ever since they’d made their escape. She’d known the question would come and now that it had, she had to deliver. ‘A woman I met yesterday at the SED, Anne-Marie her name was, told me the army were bringing in something else later that evening. I wanted to see what it was.’

Riley considered her for a moment, the silent interlude making her feel increasingly nervous. She covered up her fears by taking some more sips of her water.

Riley chuckled. ‘Scrub what I said about Cora being crazy, you take the biscuit. No, make that the whole biscuit barrel!’

Sarah laughed with him, hoping he wouldn’t notice the anxiety it masked. ‘What can I say? I just can’t stand secrets.’

‘In all seriousness though, Sarah,’ he said, his smile fading, ‘you can’t afford to take these risks. We only got away by the skin of our teeth. As fun as it was, your luck will run out. Curiosity killed the cat ‘n’ all that.’

‘I know, you’re right,’ she said, knowing full well she had to take many more such risks in order to get back to the surface. ‘I’ll behave from now on.’

Riley made a dismissive gesture. ‘There’s no need to become Mother Teresa, just make sensible decisions; reconnoitring General Stevens and his band of merry men isn’t sensible by anyone’s book.’

‘You were doing it.’

‘Under Locke’s orders, and besides, I know the SED inside out and upside down. Plus, to my shame, I have my father to back me up if I do cross the army’s fine line. You, on the other  hand—’

‘Hmm.’ Sarah decided to change the subject. ‘I take it you saw what they brought back?’

‘I did, you couldn’t miss the damn thing. I’m almost certain it’s what we saw those scientists analysing in the ground of that Anakim structure. It had the same energy reading, too.’

Sarah nodded. ‘That was my first thought and if the energy reading’s the same as you say – did you see the liquid inside it?’

‘Yeah, held in some kind of transparent container.’

‘Any idea what it could be?’

He shook his head. ‘Not a clue. I just hope it’s nothing dangerous.’

‘They went to a hell of an effort getting it back to base,’ she said. ‘They must have some plan for it.’

‘The power source will be what they’re after,’ he replied. ‘Figuring out how to get the Anakim’s technology to work is the holy grail of the moment. Although others would argue deciphering their texts takes precedence.’

‘I’m surprised they haven’t already cracked it,’ Sarah said, ‘their writings, I mean, the amount of people they have working on it.’

He sat down on a stool. ‘I think they would have, if the Anakim’s civilisation hadn’t gone on for hundreds of thousands of years. Their scripts differ throughout the ages. We may have a lot of sources now on display in the Smithsonian‘s Museum of Sanctuary, but very few are from the same time period and they’re next to useless as tools for cross-referencing.’

Sarah, taking his cue to sit, hopped up onto the kitchen counter, letting her legs dangle down. Finishing her drink she began fiddling with the lid.

‘Were you shouting something just before I arrived?’ Riley said. ‘Before I saved the day?’

‘I might have been.’

He grinned. ‘I’m sure I heard you saying
sod you
at the top of your voice.’

‘It just came out.’ She felt her neck and face flush in embarrassment.

Riley laughed, teasing her. ‘I’ll have to remember that one when I’m being chased by armed guards –
sod you
!’

Sarah chucked her empty bottle at him. He ducked and it bounced harmlessly off the countertop behind.

‘So,’ she said, ‘will you be telling Cora we matched her feat of jumping from the SED’s roof to the climbing platform?’

‘Probably not, I don’t want word getting out; someone might put two and two together and figure out it was us in the SED tonight. Let’s not give the army any more help in finding out it’s us they’re after.’

‘Cora wouldn’t blab about it, though,’ Sarah said, ‘she hates the military more than anyone. I’m sure it won’t hurt if I just tell her on the quiet. I want to see her face when she finds out she’s been bettered by a puny
girl
like myself.’

‘It’d be best to leave it.’

His tone made Sarah think twice about his motives for keeping shtum and she frowned in realisation. ‘Cora didn’t make the jump at all, did she? You lied to me.’

Riley made a face and got up, his body language appeasing. ‘Hear me out before you judge me too harshly. I thought if you believed Cora had done it, it would spur you on. Everyone had agreed it could be achieved, it’s just no one had the motivation to risk their life in proving it. Well, that’s not true; a few people would have attempted it had Locke not forbidden it and placed cameras there to stop anyone stupid enough to go against his orders.’

Sarah glared at him, her trust in him weakened.

‘I needed to give you the confidence to do it,’ he continued, battling to win her back round. ‘You were facing life imprisonment and I knew Locke and my father would see to it I’d get away with a hefty rap on the knuckles. I didn’t do it to save my own skin.’

‘So,’ she said, ‘you risked your life for me?’

Riley still looked worried. ‘Err, you could look at it like that, I suppose.’

‘Why would you do that?’

He walked up to her. ‘You’re part of my team, all for one and one for all.’

‘And you say I’m crazy?’

‘In a good way.’ He put his hands on her knees.

Sarah glanced at the over familiar gesture and then back to his face, searching for something more, something she’d seen before back when they’d kissed during the Deep Reach mission.

He moved away from her, the moment passing. ‘I better take my helmet back.’ He stooped to pick up her rucksack where she’d stashed his headgear for him.

‘No!’ She jumped down and rushed over to snatch the bag from his hand and put it behind her back.

Riley looked at her in surprise, before grinning. ‘What have you got hidden in there?’ He tried to lean round and grab the bag from her.

‘Nothing.’ She struggled to pull out the high-tech helmet behind her back while fending him off from the front.

He backed her up to his front door. ‘Come on, what secrets have you got in there? Some cake stolen from Locke’s personal stash? Some of Cora’s kit? Or a saucy costume, perhaps?’

Sarah laughed, trying to appear innocent. ‘No, nothing like that.’ Freeing the helmet she pushed it into his hands. ‘There you go, all done.’

Riley, still smiling, put the headgear to one side. ‘There’s something in there you don’t want me to see, isn’t there?’ He made a grab for the bag again.

You’re damn right there is
, she said to herself, knowing she might be able to explain away the air-shuttle manual, Deep Reach uniforms and waypoint beacons, but never the shaped charges. Realising he wasn’t giving up, she dumped the bag behind her back and planted a big kiss full on his lips. Pulling away he looked at her in shock, an expression probably mirrored on her own face.

Before she knew it they were kissing again, their mouths opening as he pressed her up against the door, his body against hers. His hands were unbuttoning her uniform and she found herself losing control.

‘Wait.’ She pushed him away. ‘I can’t do this.’

He looked at her, smiling, before leaning in to kiss her again. Despite her protestation this lingering kiss increased her arousal further and she had to make a superhuman effort to push him away a second time.

‘No,’ she said, grabbing the rucksack, ‘I can’t.’

Opening the door and walking through, she slammed it shut behind her. Leaning against the closed door, her head falling back onto it, she breathed deep while her heart beat loudly and her body ached for the release she’d just denied it.
I have to go
, she told herself, realising the longer she stayed, the greater the temptation to return built within her. Cursing herself, she strode away from Riley’s apartment, her mission at acquiring supplies for her, Trish and Jason’s escape plan complete, but her carnal desires for Riley frustratingly unfulfilled.

Chapter Forty Seven

That same day, after fleeing Riley’s embrace, Sarah met back up with Trish and Jason to report on the success of her first supply run. Once again they chose to bask in the New Park district beneath the bright yellow rays of the USSB’s monstrous weather simulating dome. Rather than discuss matters in a restaurant, as before, this time they decided to take a picnic amongst one of the well-tended meadows that bordered an outlying park.

Beautiful butterflies danced and swooped amongst the wild flowers and grasses. Birds sang in nearby trees and there were even signs that rabbits frequented the area, their droppings prevalent on a grassier section a little way away. Sarah never ceased to be amazed by the ecosystem the GMRC had managed to create within the subterranean base. If she hadn’t known any better, if the sky didn’t look a tad unreal, she could easily have believed they were on the surface, not thousands of feet below the ground.

With nature’s sweet aromas surrounding them, the three friends chatted for a while before Trish asked to see the air-shuttle manual. She listened as Sarah told Jason about her brush with General Stevens’ men and Riley’s rescue.

‘I can’t believe he tricked you into jumping,’ Jason said, around a mouthful of sandwich, ‘I’d have told him where to go.’

‘If he hadn’t,’ Sarah said, regretting ever mentioning it, ‘you’d probably have never seen me again. I’d be locked away in a military cell for the rest of my days.’

Jason’s expression turned serious. ‘Hmm, that doesn’t sound too bad.’

‘What?’ Trish appeared nonplussed. ‘Not too bad? How do you figure that?’

‘We wouldn’t have had to look at her ugly mug again, that’s gotta be a win in anyone’s book.’