Cyber Dawn (A Ben Raine Novel) (29 page)

The brightness faded and I was able to make out Stevens, who stood several feet away. He lifted an assault rifle off his back, only to be cut down by a wave of bullets.

I turned away and wrapped an arm around Sarah. I dragged her across the floor and under the large library table that held the computers. I covered her body with mine the best I could. Bullets smashed into the table above us. Shattered computer parts littered the floor.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched another CyberLife guard fall, dead from a bullet wound to the head. I couldn’t bring myself to feel sorry for the man.

To my left, Alex lay on the ground less than six feet away. She was curled up in a fetal position with her eyes and mouth slammed shut.

“Stay down,” I said to Sarah.

I slid across the floor and grabbed Alex by the arm.

She flinched.

“It’s okay,” I said.

Bullets whizzed by as CyberLife and the attackers continued to exchange gunfire. Alex tilted her head up and opened her eyes. With only brief hesitation, she reached out and took my hand. Together, we crawled back across the floor and rejoined Sarah under the relative cover of the table.

A half-minute later, the gunfire ceased.

Smoke filled the room along with the smell of gunpowder and burning electronics. I heard heavy footsteps moving around the room. Before I could think of a plan to escape, a pair of black combat boots appeared in front of the table.

Then the smoking barrel of an automatic rifle.

“You three, come out,” a man commanded. “Now.”

Out of options, we obeyed.

Once standing, I counted six men in full, all-black, body armor. Their faces were covered with goggles and masks. Like the CyberLife guards, each carried an assault rifle. All were aimed directly at us.

My heart sank when I realized something was missing. No badges. No
SWAT
or
POLICE
written in large block white letters.

I surveyed the room. Dr. Merrick sat on the floor with his back against a bookshelf. His gray suit jacket and white shirt were dotted with blood stains.

“Room is secure,” the man said into a radio. “We’ve got seven minutes before the police arrive. Bring her in.”

“Who are you?” I asked.

He ignored me.

Two more commandos entered into the room. They were followed by a tall, black-haired woman wearing a sleek, form-fitting black body suit. She walked with a confident, elegant stride. She was beautiful and had a figure nobody on the planet could miss.

She approached the guard standing next to me. “Any casualties?”

“No, ma’am,” the guard replied. “We caught them by surprise.”

The woman turned to face me.

“You must be Benjamin Raine,” she said.

She pulled a black glove off her hand and extended it. When I didn’t take it, the guard poked me in the shoulder with the barrel of his gun.

I shook her hand. Like her icy blue eyes, it was cold.

“I’ve heard so much about you,” the woman continued. “Megan always had nice things to say.”

She knew Megan?

“She said you’re a smart young man. Of course, she refused to tell us your name. So it wasn’t until a few days ago when we learned exactly who you were.”

“Who . . . are you?” I asked.

The woman smiled. “Oh, how rude of me. My name is Maya Sage,” she said. “President and CEO of Paragon Technologies.”

Her name sounded familiar. After a moment, I remembered why. Maya Sage was the CyberLife executive who fired Carter and his team.

I glanced at Alex. She sent a message.

Don’t trust her.

I replied with a subtle nod.

“You probably haven’t heard of us,” Sage said. “Alex here is welcome to try and find us online, but she won’t. We’re a new player in the global market for cybernetic technology. And now, thanks to you and Megan, we’re also the leader.”

The woman turned to Alex, and said, “Megan told us a lot about you as well. But I must admit, I didn’t expect you to be part of the deal. Nice little bonus. Two cyborgs for the price of one.”

Several of the guards chuckled.

Sage then turned to Sarah. “And who might you be?”

“Leave her alone,” I said quickly.

Sage turned and cocked her head. “Am I bothering her, Ben? I just want to know her name, that’s all.”

She turned back to Sarah.

“I’m Sarah.”

“Nice to meet you, Sarah. How’d you get mixed up in all this?”

Sarah stared back, but didn’t respond. Sage shrugged, and said, “No matter then. Kill her.”

The man standing behind Sarah shoved her to her knees. He pulled a gun off his hip and placed it against her head.

“Wait, no!” I yelled, wondering why all these adults were determined to shoot Sarah. Again.

It’s your fault, Ben.

“She’s my friend,” I said. “Please . . . don’t hurt her.”

Sage waved her hand and the guard lowered his gun. “That’s better.”

“She’s been helping me figure out why Megan was killed,” I continued. “That’s all. She has nothing to do with this.”

Sage turned back to Sarah. “Oh, are you the hacker who helped Megan copy the files?”

Sarah swallowed hard and then slowly nodded her head.

“Well thank you for that.”

“Screw you,” Sarah growled. The guard hit her and she fell to the floor.

I lunged for her, but the butt of another guard’s assault rifle ended my rescue attempt. I doubled over, holding my stomach and gasping for air.

“Now, Ben,” Sage said. “You’re a bright kid. Let’s keep this civil, shall we?”

I made eye contact with Sarah. Her face was contorted in pain. Blood dripped down the side of her head where the guard hit her. Her lips trembled.

“Please, I’ll do whatever you want,” I said. “Just let Sarah and Alex go. The files are in my head. You can have them.”

Sage smirked. “That’s nice of you, Ben. Of course, you do know, that Megan was including you in the deal?”

“That’s fine,” I said quickly. “Just let them go. Please.”

After a pause, Sage said, “I can’t do that, Ben.”

“Three minutes, Ms. Sage,” the guard said.

Sage turned to another man I hadn’t noticed before. He was smaller than the others, had messy hair and a pair of over-sized glasses. He wore a black combat suit, but wasn’t wearing the helmet or goggles, and I didn’t see a weapon. Instead, he was holding a tablet computer with a long rubber antenna sticking out its side.

“Make sure neither of them can transmit,” Sage said, nodding at Alex and me.

“Already done,” the man replied. “I’ve jammed her outside comms already.”

“What about his?” Sage interrupted.

“No need. Already deactivated. Probably by the CyberLife team.” He nodded at me. “She has an open encrypted channel to him, but I’m working on shutting that down now.”

“Two minutes,” another guard said. “Looks like a half-dozen patrol cars.”

“What about the SRT team?” Sage asked.

The man looked at his tablet before replying. “They lifted off from the construction site two minutes ago. Team two has already departed the area.”

“Good,” Sage said. “Use the remaining Hellfire to slow the cops down.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Sage walked to where Merrick sat hunched against the bookshelf. Blood now completely soaked the front of his shirt and suit. Sage kicked his foot and frowned. “A pity,” she said, shaking her head. “I wanted the famous Dr. Merrick to know who took his company down.”

I stared at Merrick and felt another pang of loss. He betrayed me, no doubt about it. But just like Megan, good or bad, he’d been a big part of my life.

“You don’t think the cops are just going to let you walk in and take over CyberLife,” Sarah said. “Not after what you’ve done. You killed FBI agents.”

Sage turned to look at Sarah. She smiled, and said, “Smart and pretty, Ben. Good work. She reminds me a lot of Megan.”

I bit my lip, not wanting the guard to retaliate against Sarah again.

“Don’t worry about the
authorities
,” Sage said. “I have friends in high places.”

“Why go through all the trouble to get me and the data?” I asked. “Why not just buy the company or something.”

“Good point, Benjamin. But there was no way Merrick would ever sell. Especially not to
me
. Let’s just say we didn’t part on the best of terms.”

“Ma’am,” a guard said. “One minute.”

Just like on the highway east of town, my system picked up a Hellfire missile launch.

Three seconds later, a loud explosion shook the library.

“Make that five minutes,” the guard said.

I swallowed hard.

More killing.

Not sure when I’d get the chance again, I asked the one question that started it all.

“Did I have cancer?”

Sage looked at me and sighed. With the hint of a frown I thought might actually be genuine, she said, “No, Ben, you didn’t. Neither did Alpha Eight or any of the others.”

“Why?”

Sage shrugged. “Business. CyberLife was trying hard to win multiple Department of Defense contracts. They were worth billions and would have made the company—and Merrick—the richest in the world. The problem was, the nature of the cybernetic implants and the surgery to install them required test subjects. Young, healthy test subjects. Kids in their prime—both physically and mentally—to stand up to the rigors of years of surgery. Not an easy task.”

I was too stunned to speak.

“We paid doctors around the country to find candidates,” Sage continued. “I don’t remember your specifics, but I’m guessing you just visited the doctor on the wrong day. Same with Alex here.”

“And the kids who died?” I asked. “The other Alphas.”

She shrugged. “It took CyberLife six tries to perfect it. Before they made you.”

“How do you know all this?” I asked.

“I was one of Merrick’s top executives. We had a . . . falling out. He got cold feet experimenting on kids. So I left and started Paragon.”

She paused, then added, “I don’t get cold feet.”

Sage raised her hand to cut off any further questions.

“We’ll have plenty of time for questions later, Ben,” she said. “We’re going to be spending a lot of time together. You, me, and Alex.”

My eyes shot to Sarah. Sage followed my gaze and frowned.

“Unfortunately, your friend can’t go where we’re going. And she knows too much.”

“Please,” I begged. “Just let her go. Or bring her with us.”

“I’m sorry,” Sage continued. “I promise we’ll make it quick. She won’t suffer.”

“No,” I said. “If you hurt her, I won’t help you. Ever.”

Sage shook her head. “You will. Just like Alex, you don’t have a choice. It’s sort of a quirk of your cybernetic programming that you may not know about just yet. It has a mind of its own. Only, thanks to Megan, we know how to control it.”

Sage waved her hand.

Two guards moved forward and grabbed Alex and me. Another two picked up Sarah by the arms and dragged her away.

Tears welled up in my eyes. After all we’d been through, I failed to protect her after all. Megan and Sofia were dead because of me.

Now Sarah, too.

As the guards pushed us toward the library door, a new message appeared on my HUD.

I stared at the message. Out of the corner of my eye I caught Alex’s gaze. Her eyes turned upward. A second later, another message:

An aerial view of our school appeared on my HUD. I spotted a large black helicopter, its rotors slowly spinning, in one of the back parking lots of the school. I could also see flashing lights in the distance and the wreckage of several burning police cars on the street outside.

A plan formed in my mind.

I glanced around and caught sight of Sarah just as the two guards dragged her around the corner and down an aisle of books. If I didn’t hurry, she was dead. I looked back at the Reaper and
thought
what I wanted to do next.

“Ma’am, something is wrong,” the guard with the tablet said. “His comms are active again.”

Sage whirled around to face me. “Shut him down!”

“I’ve lost control of the Reaper!” the man added.

The two guards next to me stopped and raised their weapons.

“Get control back!” Sage screamed. “Now!”

The man shook his head while he stabbed his finger at the screen. “I–I–I . . . can’t.”

On my HUD, the glass ceiling of the school library grew larger and larger.

The sound of the drone’s engine and the screech of stressed metal reverberated through the library.

The commandos heard it, too.

The men flanking me let go and broke for cover. I momentarily hesitated as I watched the surreal experience unfold through my own eyes and the small display on my HUD.

An instant later, I turned and ran after Sarah. The first two aisles were empty, but down the last aisle I spotted her and the two guards. She was on her knees, head down.

The sound of shattering glass filled the room.

One of the guards raised his pistol.

“No!” I screamed.

48

I dropped to the ground and slid close to a metal support column. The explosion bloomed outward and leveled everything in its path. The library’s giant metal shelves blew over like dominos.

The guard pulled the trigger just as he was crushed by a shelf full of books.

Sarah collapsed to the ground.

“Sarah!”

Through the intense smoke and heat, I crawled through the triangle-shaped gap left between the shelf and where it lay propped against the wall. I reached Sarah and quickly pushed dozens of books off her body. I grabbed her head and turned it quickly, looking for the bullet hole.

“Sarah!”

The only wound I could find was from where the guard had hit her.

Her eyes popped open. “Ouch, Ben!” she said. “You’re going to break my neck.”