2041 Sanctuary (Genesis) (25 page)

‘We need to go back!’ Jefferson said, bringing up the rear.

Locke shook his head. ‘No, we go on.’

‘Look out!’ Riley dragged Sarah forwards as a sudden gust of wind whipped up waves of burning tar.

Fire roared over the bridge and Jefferson jumped back. The bearded archaeologist cupped his hands and shouted, ‘I’ll find another way round!’

Riley called out a confirmation as Sarah felt the heat flood over her.

Trapped with Riley and Locke between rising flames, Sarah’s panic tightened its grip.

Locke shielded himself from the fire and held something up in his hand.

Through his visor, Sarah saw Riley’s expression turn to shock. ‘No!’ he said.

‘We have no choice!’ Locke pointed at the flames. ‘We go forward or back, either way we have to extinguish the fire.’ He turned and threw the device onto the bridge before them.

Riley pulled her into a crouch as an explosion ripped through the air. The ground shuddered and stone debris rained down around them.

The heat in front reduced and Sarah opened her eyes. The walkway that Trish and Jason had already navigated was now a gaping chasm into the scorching abyss beyond.

‘Why did you do that?!’ Sarah said, looking at the massive barrier between them and safety.

‘So, I can do this.’ Locke produced a grappling gun and fired a bolt into the crumbling stone near Trish’s feet. Connecting the cable to his harness, the SED commander swung out over burning tar. His feet skimmed the flames mid-flight and he twisted round to shoot another anchor back from whence he came. The bolt slammed home and the second cable slowed his momentum as it unwound from his gun. An instant later Locke reached out to cling to the bridge support halfway between the boiling tar and the walkway above. With an agility that belied his age, Locke scaled the crumbling stone and rejoined Trish and Jason, where he disconnected the cable and threw it back to Sarah.

‘You go first.’ Riley pulled down the zip on her decontamination suit and clipped the cable to her harness beneath, then handed her his grappling gun.

Sarah eyed the jump and the black ooze that wept from the newly exposed stone below Locke’s feet. As she watched, the fires took hold and crept up the face of the destabilised bridge. She gazed down into the pit. Visions of Trish aflame and falling to her death spun through her mind like quicksilver. Over and over again Sarah’s own screams of anguish repeated like an omen from the past.
Love you
, Trish’s voice said as she slipped from Sarah’s grasp.
Love you
.

‘Sarah,’ Riley said, looking at the fire behind. ‘You need to go.’

She looked at him and shook her head. ‘I can’t do it.’

‘Of course you can. You have to, you don’t have a choice.’

Sarah glanced back to where Jefferson disappeared back the way they’d come. ‘Look,’ she said, pointing, ‘the flames are dying down; in a few minutes we can go back and find another way round.’

‘In a few minutes Goodwin might have gone. In a few minutes the colonel or those assassins will be on us.’ He frowned and grasped her arms. ‘Sarah, you’ve made jumps far harder than this. Remember the SED when we jumped to the atrium wall – remember your training!’

‘That had no smoke! No fire!’

‘And no cable,’ he said, giving her harness a jiggle, ‘this is safer, you must see that.’

Sarah looked back to where the fire spread and pointed. ‘It’s too late … the flames.’

Riley grew angry. ‘Sarah—’ He winced as he lowered his arm.

She looked at him and realisation dawned. ‘You were going back anyway, weren’t you?’ she said in accusation.

‘I can’t make the climb,’ he said, ‘my shoulder’s too bad. If I get the chance I’ll go around and catch up to Jefferson.’

She made a decision and unclipped the largest of the Anakim pendants from the chain at her neck.

‘Jason!’ she said, waving her friend forward.

‘Sarah,’ Riley said, ‘what are you doing?’

She glanced at him. ‘Where you go, I go.’

Jason moved past Trish and Locke on the far side of the chasm.

She held up the five sided disc. ‘We’ll find another way round. Find Goodwin and the transportation device and I’ll meet you there,’ – she wound back her arm – ‘catch!’

She threw the ancient artefact into the air and Jason’s eyes grew wide as the pendant sailed towards him.

Horrified, Sarah’s heart skipped a beat as her throw went wayward, but Jason sank down onto one knee and snatched the metallic pendant from its flight into ruination.

Trish stepped forward as the flames swept higher. ‘What are you doing?!’

‘I’ll meet you there!’ Sarah waved her on. ‘GO!’

Trish hesitated, her expression a mixture of confusion and fear.

‘Don’t worry, the flames are clearing,’ – Sarah gestured behind – ‘we’ll find another way, but we can’t afford to lose Richard Goodwin, we need that transportation device!’

Jason tugged on Trish’s arm as the flames licked at their feet.

‘Go!’ Sarah said, shooing them on.

Trish gave her one last look of despair and turned to follow Jason into the smoking fires.

‘Another minute,’ Riley said, his voice muffled by his breathing mask, ‘and we go through.’

Sarah nodded as her friends disappeared into the fog while behind them, Locke hung back to make sure she and Riley made it to safety.

Heat-filled seconds passed and, as the flames crept lower, they prepared to make their move.

‘This bridge is unstable,’ Riley said. ‘You need to unclip now.’

As Sarah went to detach herself from Locke’s cable the narrow bridge beneath their feet lurched sideways. Sarah let out a shout and Riley wrapped his arms around her. ‘Hang on!’ he said.

The stone bridge collapsed, Sarah screamed and they plummeted into freefall.

The cable connected to her harness whipped taut and they arced down into the steaming pit before slamming into the other side. Riley grunted as he took the impact and the fires seethed around them. ‘Climb!’ he said.

Sarah fought her way up through smoke and fire. Black tar stuck to her hands and feet and the temperature gauge on her visor soared. Seconds of torment came and went and Sarah heaved herself onto the walkway above.

Brushing the flames from her body, she threw herself down and plunged her arm back into the smoking fires. ‘Grab my hand!’

Riley reached out and grasped her wrist.

Sarah tried to pull him up, but his weight was too great. She braced her feet either side of the walkway and gripped his harness with her other hand.

‘You need to climb!’ she said, gritting her teeth.

The flames blackened Riley’s coveralls and he sagged against the wall. ‘I can’t,’ he said, panicking, ‘my shoulder’s not strong enough!’

Sarah gazed down at him as the fire spread to her arms. ‘I’m not going to let you die!’

He shook his head. ‘Sarah, it’s no use, let go!’

The image of Trish falling into nothing seared into her mind. She locked her eyes to his and her grip tightened. ‘NO!’ She sucked in air through her mask. ‘Now PULL!’

Mustering every ounce of strength she had, Sarah’s muscles surged with adrenaline as she stretched every sinew in her body, every atom of her being. Riley cried out in agony as he forced his shoulder to work. The flames grew and the heat seared and Riley inched higher. Bit by bit, their combined willpower brought Riley to the brink and then – finally – over into blessed salvation.

Patting down the flames that sought to cook them alive, they collapsed to their knees in a fierce embrace.

She retracted her visor and breathing mask and he did likewise. Stained with soot and sweat, they shared a lingering kiss.

He leaned back to look into her eyes and smiled. ‘That was close.’

A laugh of joyous relief escaped her lips and she kissed him.

‘I thought you were going to let me go,’ he said, pulling away again to hold her gaze.

‘I’m never letting you go.’ She turned serious. ‘Don’t you remember? Where you go, I go.’

He grinned and then his expression changed to one of confused shock.

Riley looked down at his chest and Sarah followed his gaze. A patch of dark red soaked through his uniform and the glint of steel cut through the fabric.

‘Sarah?’ he said in fear, as blood trickled from his mouth.

Riley toppled into her arms and Sarah saw Dresden Locke standing behind him, a large knife in his hand, its long blade dripping with blood.

Sarah’s shock turned to an anguished scream. ‘NO!’

Riley grasped her jacket as he battled for breath and she lowered him to her lap.

Locke opened his helmet and knelt down next to them. ‘I’m sorry, Riley,’ he said, his eyes full of genuine sorrow. ‘I couldn’t let you get to the surface, I hope you can see that.’

Sarah didn’t know what was happening. Riley coughed as he tried to speak and more blood spilled out of his mouth. Sarah pulled him higher and pushed her hand against his chest in a vain attempt to try and stem the flow of vital fluid.

‘Wh – why?’ Riley said, between gasps.

Locke sighed and hung his head. ‘I’ve told you before,’ he said, looking up at Sarah and then back to Riley, ‘I look after my own. If Sanctuary is exposed, my life’s work was for nothing, but more than that – much more than that – the lives of the thousands of men and women who’ve worked in the SED for over two hundred years will have all been in vain. Sanctuary will become embroiled in a war between us and those on the surface. Some secrets are worth dying for, and this is one of them.’

Riley shook his head. ‘You know – I wouldn’t – let – that happen.’

‘I couldn’t take that chance. If you had time to reflect, you’d understand I had no other option. And you’d realise – like I have – that the SED must go on. I’m sorry it had to end like this,’ – Locke laid a hand on Riley’s shoulder – ‘you were like a son to me.’

Riley opened his mouth to try and speak, but nothing came out. After a moment he managed to say, ‘I have – a father, and you … you were – never – him.’

Locke nodded. ‘You’re right, a father gives, and sadly it’s left for me to take.’

Riley struggled in Sarah’s arms. ‘Go … to hell.’

Locke looked behind them into the fiery mists. ‘Maybe I will, but I’ve still got one more thing to take.’

Riley shook his head.

‘I don’t have the pendant,’ Sarah said, her voice sounding like it belonged to another person.

Locke didn’t seem to hear her; he looked back at his dying colleague. ‘I’m sorry, Riley,’ – he stood up, knife in hand – ‘she knows too much, they all do.’

Riley tried to rise, but he dropped back down and looked up into Sarah’s eyes in despair.

Sarah looked at Locke, her mind numb.

Locke thrust the knife at her heart, but Riley’s hand came up to grasp the blade.

The SED commander’s look of shock turned to anger as he tried to pull the knife free. Riley’s grip tightened, blood flowed and Sarah put her hand behind his to stop the blade’s advance.

Locke gave a growl of frustration and pushed his fingers into Riley’s chest wound.

Riley groaned, his grip loosened and Sarah felt the blade slide into her palm and she gasped in pain. Blood welled between her fingers and she used her other hand to grasp Locke’s wrist to force him back.

The SED commander stared into her eyes and leaned into the knife.

Riley clenched his teeth in desperation as the blade bit deeper into his hand, severing tendon and crunching through bone.

The ground shook and Sarah’s visor flashed up a host of warning symbols. Locke swayed to the edge and wrenched the knife clear.

The ancient walkway shuddered again and Locke stood for a moment, torn between killing Sarah and saving his own skin. The tremors continued and the latter won out as he retreated to safety, and with a final look back, he turned to disappear into acrid smoke.

Chapter Forty One

Sarah moved Riley away from the flames and laid him down as the ground continued to shake. She removed his helmet and her own before opening his jacket to reveal the wound. Pressing down with trembling hands she tried to stem the bleeding, but try as she might the deep gash refused to heal.

Riley groaned in pain.

‘I’ll get help,’ she murmured, and looked round in a daze.

But only fire and smoke remained. Sarah’s nightmares had come true, re-imagined from the old to the new.

No one could help them now.

She daubed at the blood with his jacket, revealing a tattoo of a crucifix beneath. She stared at the symbol, wondering why she’d paid it no heed before.
Why had Trish’s affiliation to the Vatican felt like a betrayal when Riley’s had not? Because I was too busy enjoying the sins of his body to care
.

Riley grasped her hand and tried to speak.

She lent closer.

‘Leave me,’ he whispered, ‘get to the surface.’

She shook her head as tears rolled down her cheeks. ‘I’m never letting you go.’

‘You … must.’

She held back a sob. ‘I’ve only just found you.’

He reached up and touched her cheek to wipe away a tear. ‘You’re pretty … when you cry.’

Sarah stroked his face as his breathing eased and his eyes closed.

The ancient walkway still shook and his eyes fluttered back open. ‘Sarah,’ he said, his voice full of fear, ‘where are you?’

‘I’m here,’ – she lent over him – ‘I’m right here.’

He grasped her hand tighter. ‘You must … go.’

She stroked his cheek with her thumb. ‘I don’t want to go on without you.’

He gave a weak shake of his head before his gaze drifted down to her neck and his expression changed to hope. He tried to raise his other hand and his breathing grew ragged. Sarah helped his effort and he guided trembling fingertips to brush the golden cross that hung down from her chain.

His eyes grew distant. ‘I see it,’ he said, weak fingers reaching to nowhere, ‘so beautiful, so—’

‘No!’ Sarah grasped his face. ‘Riley, don’t leave me, don’t leave me here alone!’

He frowned and his focus returned to her face. ‘I’ll always … be with you … Sarah,’ – his voice grew fainter – ‘have faith … there’s always light … in the dark.’ He looked into her eyes as his grip went loose. ‘I … love … y—’