Deadlock
Authors: Mark Walden
Tags: #General, #Action & Adventure, #Juvenile Fiction, #Social Issues, #Friendship, #Adolescence
To the Silver Birch Friday Night Support Club.
You know who you are.
contents
fifteen years ago
‘That man is the single most infuriating person on the face of this planet,’ Maximilian Nero said angrily as he strode out of the restaurant and on to the busy pavement. Around him the crowded Hong Kong street bustled with activity, illuminated by the countless neon signs that hung from every shopfront and doorway. Diabolus Darkdoom followed him out on to the street, handing a wad of banknotes over to the owner, who had run out after them complaining noisily. He caught up with Nero and sighed, shaking his head.
‘Can’t be built,’ Nero said irritably. ‘I’ll show him can’t be built.’
‘You did ask his opinion, Max,’ Darkdoom said. ‘You can’t get angry with him just for disagreeing with you.’
‘He’s only offended because I completed the design myself,’ Nero said.
‘Max, you know I have the greatest respect for your abilities,’ Darkdoom said, ‘but even I have to admit that your finished design seems a touch ambitious and he is the most well-respected architect in the business. There aren’t many people who can design and build the sort of building that is required in our line of work and your –’
‘So you’re taking
his
side now, are you?’ Nero said.
‘Never mind,’ Darkdoom said, throwing up his hands. ‘I’m not getting involved. This is between you and him. If you want to build the new facility for H.I.V.E. in an active volcano then that’s exactly what you should do. It’s your baby.’
‘If he’d done a slightly better job of hiding the last facility maybe we wouldn’t be in this position in the first place,’ Nero said.
‘Maybe, but it might have been more diplomatic not to actually have said that to him,’ Darkdoom said with a slightly exasperated-sounding sigh. ‘Then we could have at least finished what was turning out to be an exceptionally good meal.’
Nero raised his hand and hailed one of the city’s distinctive red taxis.
‘Although, at least now I do actually know what happens when an immovable object meets an irresistible force,’ Darkdoom said under his breath as the cab pulled up and Nero climbed inside.
‘Airport, please,’ Nero said to the driver as Darkdoom sat down beside him and slammed the car door shut. ‘It’s not as if I don’t have enough to worry about at the moment, Diabolus. Number One’s demanding to know why Overlord’s behind schedule and Xiu Mei tells me that they’re still months away from activation. It doesn’t matter how many times I tell him that it’s risky to rush the project, he still insists that it’s the future of G.L.O.V.E. Meanwhile, I’ve got Professor Pike in the other ear telling me that he’s working on a similar AI project for the school, but that he’s years away from perfecting the behavioural restraints that will make it safe to use and that’s why Overlord is too dangerous.’
‘Max, you’re my oldest friend,’ Darkdoom said, ‘and I think you’re one of the most brilliant men on G.L.O.V.E.’s ruling council, but everybody needs a break sometimes, even you. For goodness’ sake, just take a couple of weeks off and go and lie on a beach somewhere.’
‘I’m sorry, Diabolus,’ Nero said with a sigh, ‘I don’t mean to moan. It’s just that the temporary facilities we’re using at the moment are completely inadequate. I need to at least get construction started on H.I.V.E.’s new facility; maybe then I can take a break for a couple of –’
Suddenly, the rear windscreen of the taxi exploded in a shower of glass and the driver of the cab slumped forward on to his steering wheel.
‘Sniper, get down!’ Nero yelled as the taxi swerved, out of control, into oncoming traffic. He took cover behind the seat as more high-velocity rounds buzzed through the air above them. There was a sickening crunch and the taxi spun around as it made glancing contact with another car. The cab bounced across the pavement as pedestrians scattered in all directions and slammed into the plate-glass window of a shop frontage. Nero and Darkdoom scrambled out of the wrecked car, knowing that they would be sitting ducks if they stayed inside it. They took shelter behind the wall next to the shattered window as the last of the shop’s customers ran past the angrily gesticulating shopkeeper and fled through the back door.
‘Are you hit?’ Nero asked Darkdoom.
‘No, you?’
‘No,’ Nero replied, picking up a piece of glass from the floor. ‘Did you see where the shooter was firing from?’
‘No,’ Darkdoom replied. ‘Shots were on a flat trajectory though. He’s got to be somewhere at ground level.’
Nero held the piece of glass in just the right position to allow him to see a reflection of the chaotic scenes in the street outside the shop. People were running in all directions and the traffic had ground to a halt. There was only one figure that was out of place, somebody dressed in a skintight black outfit and mask who was walking slowly towards the shop with an assault rifle raised to their shoulder. A split second later there was a sudden muzzle flash and the piece of glass in Nero’s hand exploded. Nero snarled in pain as shards of glass buried themselves in his hand.
‘Are you armed?’ Nero asked, through gritted teeth.
‘No,’ Darkdoom replied, pulling a communicator from his inside pocket. ‘I’ll call for backup.’
‘They won’t get here in time,’ Nero said, cursing himself for not bringing a weapon. He had known that the man they were meeting for lunch was no threat to them and so he had let his guard down. He realised now that that might have been a fatal error. ‘We need to move.’
Nero ran towards the back of the store with Darkdoom just behind him. He burst through the beaded curtain that separated the front of the shop from the storeroom at the rear, just in time to see the shopkeeper running through a door at the far end of the racked shelving that filled the area.
‘This way,’ Nero said, running towards the door. They ran out into a rubbish-strewn alleyway lined with fire escapes and doorways. Nero looked up and down the alley, trying to spot anything that might give them even a slim tactical advantage over whoever it was that was hunting them.
‘Here, help me,’ Nero said, as he closed the shop door behind them and started to push a wheeled dumpster in front of it. He knew it wouldn’t stop their pursuer, but it might slow them down. The two men quickly rolled it into position and Nero engaged the brakes on the wheels.
‘We need to split up,’ Nero said after a moment’s thought. ‘Give that assassin two separate targets.’ He pulled his own communicator from his jacket pocket and activated its homing beacon.
‘The backup teams can track us both individually and at least this way one of us will survive if the worst comes to the worst.’
Darkdoom frowned, but he knew that there was no point arguing with Nero at a time like this. His friend had always been the superior tactician. Even if he didn’t much like the sound of this particular idea, he had to admit that it did make strategic sense.
‘OK,’ Darkdoom said, nodding down the alleyway. ‘I’ll go this way. Don’t get yourself killed, Max.’
‘I always try to avoid it,’ Nero said with a crooked smile. ‘Be careful, we don’t know whether we’re dealing with a lone hitter or a team yet. There could be more of them out there.’
Darkdoom gave a quick nod and ran off down the alleyway. Nero looked up at the fire escape above him. Heading for the rooftops was risky – it would be all too easy to get trapped up there – but that risk was outweighed by the advantages that elevation would give him. He ran to the ladder leading to the steel staircase and climbed quickly up it. He was halfway to the roof when he heard a bang from below him and saw the door to the shop being slowly forced open. He made it up two more flights of stairs before the black-clad assassin shoved the door open wide and walked out into the alley. Nero froze, watching as the figure looked down the alleyway in both directions. With luck, Nero thought to himself, the assassin would choose the wrong direction and give Darkdoom more of a head start.
A moment later the assassin looked straight up at him, raising his assault rifle. Nero bolted up the remaining stairs, taking them two at at time, sprinting for the roof as bullets pinged off the metal around him. The assassin fired just two short bursts before climbing up on to the fire escape, coming after him. Nero reached the top of the steel staircase and ran on to the roof, looking desperately for the best escape route amongst the numerous air-conditioning vents and skylights that surrounded him. Below him, he could hear the assassin sprinting up the metal stairs; Nero knew he only had seconds.
He ran to the far side of the roof and looked down at the four-storey drop to the street below. Too far to drop. He heard a noise behind him and turned to see the assassin climbing on to the roof, rifle raised. Whoever they were they had scaled the side of the building in a fraction of the time it had taken Nero. He took a deep breath; he had always known that it might end like this some day, but he wasn’t going to give his killer the satisfaction of hearing him beg for his life. The assassin lowered the rifle and then dropped it to the floor, before pulling off the black mask that hid their face. Nero’s eyes widened in surprise as the young woman dropped the mask and drew the twin katanas from her back, their silver blades glinting. She could not have been more than sixteen years old, with short black hair, her pale, pretty face betraying no hint of any emotion as she advanced across the rooftop towards him. He had no idea who she was, but there was something hauntingly familiar about her.
‘Anastasia Furan sends her regards,’ the girl said as she approached. ‘She wanted you to know that this is for Elena.’
‘I should have killed Anastasia when I had the chance,’ Nero said, taking a step backwards, feeling a grief that he had long hidden washing over him again at the mention of Elena’s name. ‘And now she sends one of her brainwashed children to kill me. I might have known she wouldn’t have the guts to face me herself.’ Nero heard a rumble from the street behind him and glanced over his shoulder as the girl approached, weapons raised.