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I moistened my lips and started reporting Tobias’s position and plan. “Tobias is east of us, at the junction between the major corridor holding the northbound express belt and a side corridor. He has two stolen guns that are set to kill. He’s wearing a hasty uniform, and something that feels like combat armour, but the glimpse I got of it was blue rather than grey. No hood.”
“Tobias is wearing the version of combat armour that’s designed to blend in with the blue uniforms of hasties,” said Lucas. “They have hoods, but Tobias hasn’t pulled his up yet. People will assume he’s a hasty wearing combat armour to go to a special training exercise, but having the hood up would make everyone deeply suspicious.”
“Tobias expects us to come riding along the express belt within the next ten minutes,” I said. “He thinks we’ll leave the express belt at the next interchange and find a defensive position for me to check the area.”
“Which is the plan we’d be following with any ordinary target,” commented Lucas.
Adika rattled out orders that started moving the Chase team east.
“If Tobias can get clear forehead shots, he’ll take them,” I said. “Otherwise he’ll go for the body and use double shots on kill setting. Once he’s taken down two targets, he’ll escape by running down the side corridor and going through a door into a large maintenance area. Tobias thinks the area is part of the air and water circulation system, but he doesn’t care if he’s right or not. The important thing is it connects to multiple maintenance crawl ways and ladders.”
My forehead was itching at the thought of Tobias shooting me there, and I lifted a hand to rub it. I’d been following Megan’s instructions to use a healing ointment on my bruised cheek and eye, but there was still a lingering soreness that reminded me of Tobias punching me. I was no longer sure if that had been an accident, or if he’d intended to hit me after all. We were well past the point where it mattered. Tobias didn’t just want to hit me now but to kill me.
“Tobias is planning to use the last digit of his gun’s serial number to decide which route to take,” I said. “Why would he do that?”
“As a defence against you reading his mind while he’s escaping,” said Lucas. “He’s got a stolen gun, he doesn’t know the serial number, and he won’t look at it until it’s time to make the decision. You won’t be able to tell us Tobias’s planned route if he doesn’t know it himself.”
“There are two possible side corridors, both with doors into that maintenance area,” said Adika. “We need more information, Amber.”
“There’s a flashing sign above the express belt, displaying the message about clearing the belt for Strike team emergency response.”
“Those signs are everywhere,” said Adika in frustration. “We need something else.”
My head was throbbing with Tobias’s hatred of all of us, and of me in particular. “I can only know what Tobias is thinking about,” I snapped at Adika. “I can only see what Tobias is looking at. Right now, he’s thinking about killing me, and his eyes are fixed on the express belt.”
“Liaison, can you use the belt traffic control system to individualize the messages on the overhead signs?” asked Lucas.
“Yes,” said Nicole. “Amber, watch the sign for a small number appearing in the bottom right-hand corner.”
I watched the sign. “407,” I reported.
“It’s the northern one of those two side corridors,” said Nicole. “The one leading from the express belt to a housing warren.”
Adika was giving more orders to his men. I ignored those, focusing on Tobias’s thoughts and the view through his eyes.
“Tobias just glanced sideways,” I said sharply. “There’s a group of about twenty travellers waiting for the express belt to reopen. Tobias is standing beside them, planning to use them as a shield so the Strike team can’t shoot back at him.”
“Waste it!” said Adika. “We need to get those people out of the way.”
“We can’t evacuate them without alarming Tobias,” said Lucas. “If we try to capture him in either his current position, or in the corridor leading to the housing warren, we’ll have bystanders caught in the crossfire. Adika, we’re going to have to send Tobias into the maintenance area. Place the Chase team there ready to catch him.”
Adika rattled off another series of orders.
“Amber, does Tobias have priority kills?” asked Lucas.
“He has two priority kills,” I said. “He’s planning to kill Adika first and then me.”
Rothan groaned. “I’m now acting Strike team leader. Adika, retreat to the park to help defend Amber.”
“You’re taking my command, and ordering me to retreat to the park?” asked Adika incredulously.
“Yes,” said Rothan. “You know the rules. You can’t be on the Chase team if you’re the target’s first priority kill. We need to focus on taking down our target, not bodyguarding you. Besides, Tobias will waste vital seconds looking for you before shooting at someone else.”
“And what if I refuse to retreat to the park?” asked Adika.
“Then I shoot you on stun and get someone to drag you there,” said Rothan.
“Really?” Adika made the single word hold infinite menace.
“Really,” said Rothan.
There was a second of utter silence on the crystal comms, as if everyone was holding their breath, and then Adika spoke in a grudging voice. “Retreating to park, but if you mess this up, Rothan, then you’re going to be scrubbing slime vats for the rest of your life.”
“I’m fully aware that whatever happens from now on, I’m going to be scrubbing slime vats for the rest of my life,” said Rothan. “Kaden, Dhiren, Caleb, I’m adjusting your positions to cover the gap in our net.”
It was a few seconds before Rothan spoke again. “We’re in position, Lucas.”
“Nicole, reopen the express belt,” said Lucas.
Tobias was watching impatiently for figures coming into view on the express belt. He was surprised by the mass movement of people joining the belts, and threw a look at the overhead sign. When he saw it had stopped flashing and now read “belt open”, he turned and ran down the side corridor.
... belt has reopened, so Amber and the Alpha team aren’t coming. Waste it, why aren’t they coming? What would ...? They aren’t coming because they’re already here!
“Tobias has worked out we aren’t coming because we’re already here!” I yelled. “He’s guessed we’ll be trying to trap him in the maintenance area, so he’s running for the housing warren. He’s pulled up his combat armour hood. He’s looking at his gun. The serial number ends in eight.”
“Chase team, pursue Tobias to housing warren,” ordered Lucas. “He’ll be following any corridor sign that includes the number eight. Liaison, sound the escaped prisoner alarm in that housing warren and send it into lockdown.”
“Strike team, check your new group designations,” said Rothan, in the breathless voice of someone running. “Red group go to housing warren north, blue group south, green group east, yellow group west. Keep guns on stun, so you don’t have to worry about shooting bystanders.”
There was a pause while he gulped in air. “Find secure defensive positions, take cover, and wait. Tobias will be taking random corridors in the maze of a housing warren. He’ll be running around in circles. We don’t run after him. We stay still and wait for him to blunder into one of our defensive positions.”
I was still linked to Tobias. He was in the housing warren now. The escaped prisoner alarm was shrilling from overhead speakers, with a voice interrupting at intervals to repeat the same message.
“Lockdown. Lockdown. Lockdown. Escaped prisoner. Adult male, aged nineteen, wearing hasty combat uniform. I repeat: wearing hasty combat uniform. Threat level extreme.”
Tobias felt an instinctive reaction to the alarm. He’d been a child on Level 20, and trained to respond to the lockdown order by banging on the nearest apartment door and calling for help. The people inside would let in anyone who didn’t match the description of the escaped prisoner, and then lock and barricade their door against the threat.
Now Tobias was the threat he’d been trained to fear. He was the one being hunted. He kept running, his thoughts screaming in panic, and colliding with walls in his haste to turn corners. He couldn’t plan his next move, he had to keep running so fast that he didn’t have time to think, because Amber would be inside his head right now, spying on him.
A startlingly vivid image appeared of me wearing the robes of a nosy, my face looking almost normal except for purple eyes. Then I gave an unnaturally wide smile that revealed inhumanly long and viciously pointed teeth.
I tried to block that image out, focused on the view from Tobias’s eyes, and kept calling out the numbers on the signs he saw. Logic said that I had no reason to worry about hunting down Tobias now. Logic said that my Strike team had their guns on stun so he would be captured unhurt. Logic said that Tobias was the one who might kill someone at any moment. I was getting swamped by Tobias’s emotions though, feeling his desperation at being hunted, and wanting to help him escape.
I mustn’t help Tobias escape. I wouldn’t help Tobias escape. I focused on reporting his movements to my team.
“Corridor 28 going north.”
“Red group, Tobias is heading straight for you,” snapped Lucas. “Strike time. Amber, start running circuits on red group now!”
“Going circuit,” I acknowledged.
It was far harder than usual to escape my target’s mind. Tobias’s frantic emotions were like hooks digging deep into me, but I ripped free. My head was throbbing with pain as I opened my eyes. I urgently studied the screen of my dataview to see who was in red group.
“Kaden.” I was hidden behind two stacks of crates, staring through the narrow gap between them, and saw the blue-clad figure of Tobias in the distance. He was ...
“Dhiren.” I was up in a maintenance crawl way, peering down through a gaping hole at the corridor below. I had a terrible view here, but I was guaranteed to take Tobias by surprise. In friend or foe holo training sessions, Tobias always made the mistake of not looking up for threats, so ...
“Caleb.” I was crouched down inside a storeroom, with the door open the tiniest of cracks. I needed to wait until Tobias went past before ...
“Kaden.” I saw Tobias pause, stare suspiciously at the door of the storeroom where Caleb was hiding, and kick it open. There was the sharp sound of a gun on kill setting as Tobias fired his gun into the room. I jumped sideways to start shooting at ...
“Dhiren.” I heard the sound of a second shot on kill setting as I dropped down through the hole, landed on the corridor floor, and ...
“Caleb.” My shoulder felt like it was on fire, and I’d dropped my gun when Tobias shot me the second time, but I launched myself at him. I knocked Tobias back through the doorway into the corridor, and ...
“Caleb is hit,” I shouted. “Left shoulder.”
Kaden and Dhiren spoke in unison a second later. “Target secure.”
“We’ve stunned Tobias, and we’re putting him in restraints now,” added Kaden solo.
I was still linked to Caleb. The higher levels of his thoughts were breaking into pieces and vanishing. I was sick with fear that he was dying, but then I saw the subconscious levels of his mind moving into what looked like sleep patterns.
“Caleb has passed out,” I said.
“Caleb didn’t just pass out,” said Kaden. “He got caught in the crossfire and stunned by us. Tobias has shot him in the left shoulder twice on kill setting, but the shots were crucially clear of his heart, and hit in slightly different places. Caleb’s going to need surgery, but his combat armour reduced the damage enough to save his life.”
I pulled back into my own head, and covered my face with my hands. I was used to being hit by reaction a few hours after an emergency run. This time it was hitting in only seconds.
If Tobias had been a more accurate shot, Caleb would be dead. If we’d stayed on the northbound express belt rather than approaching through the park, several of us would be dead. Instead, Caleb would live, we’d all live, but how could I rejoice about that as a happy ending when my head was still filled with Tobias’s thoughts and emotions?
I was seeing the situation from Tobias’s viewpoint, and thinking of the memory reset that lay ahead of him. There was no longer any hope of him going into the next Lottery and making a fresh start with a career in Hive Defence. After what had happened today, Tobias’s record would surely be flagged to prevent Lottery imprinting him for any combat role at all.
“I’m worried about Amber,” said Adika. “She’s huddled up in a ball and crying.”
Buzz’s voice spoke on the crystal comms. “Amber, please speak to me. Tell me what’s wrong.”
I was aware of what Buzz was saying, but it was hard to think of words, let alone say them aloud.
“Amber? Amber?” Buzz’s voice gently nagged at me. “Does your head hurt?”
I finally managed a reply. “Yes. It’s like there’s a hammer pounding at my skull, and when I think of what’s going to happen to Tobias ...”
“I can’t believe you’re still worrying about Tobias,” said Adika. “He was planning to kill you, Amber. If he hadn’t been so incompetent, he’d have killed Caleb, and ...”
I interrupted Adika, opening my eyes to look up at him, and screaming in outrage. “Tobias had a perfect right to shoot Caleb. He had a perfect right to shoot all of us for conspiring against him. What happened to him was so unfair, so ...”
I heard what I was saying, broke off my tirade, and gasped in panic. “No, that’s wrong. Those aren’t my words. Those are Tobias’s words!”
